Increase your productivity in Primavera P6
One thing that you can always be certain of with Primavera P6, you can always learn more. There will always be new features and functionality in each new release that you did not know existed. One question that we always hear from students in our classroom based Primavera training is if they can have more than one window or tabs opened while working in P6. Today we are going to illustrate how to use multiple windows/tabs and tiles in P6 Professional R8.2.
Did you know you could display vertical and horizontal tiles?
P6 Release 8.2 has two new features that will help improve your productivity. The first feature is the ability to open multiple windows/tabs (such as the Activities and WBS windows), and the second feature is the ability to tile the windows horizontally or vertically by opening multiple tab groups. In previous releases of P6, you could only work with one window at a time. For example, if you wanted to set up your Work Breakdown Structure, then you would have to click on the WBS button on the Directory Bar. If you wanted to work with activities, then you would need to click the Activity button. In other words, you could not work with and view both windows at the same time. Oracle Primavera solved this problem in their latest release, P6 Professional R8.2. You will now have the ability to work with multiple windows/tabs.
The benefits of these new features
Let me ask you this question. Would you like to work in the WBS and Activities windows at the same time? Your answer should be Yes! Let’s assume that you are in the process of creating the project plan/schedule for a new project. During the planning phase of a project, you will setup the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to identify the major deliverables for your project. You will also setup the activities or tasks required to complete each deliverable or WBS element. If you were able to work in both windows, the set up of your project will be much quicker and efficient. No more toggling back and forth between windows and entering in wrong information because you are trying to remember different activity codes etc etc.
P6 R8.2 enables you to tile windows vertically or horizontally by opening multiple tab groups. Tiling is very efficient when you need to work within multiple windows and do not want to move back and forth between windows. For example, as indicated above, we may need to work with both the WBS and Activities windows. We can use the tiling feature to display both windows simultaneously.
You will have two tiling options:
- Tile horizontally: the workspace is split into top and bottom tab groups (for example, the Activities tab may be on the top and the WBS tab on the bottom).
- Tile vertically: the workspace is divided into left and right tab groups (for example, Activities on the left and WBS on the right). You can display as many window tabs as necessary in each tab group.
This tutorial will provide instructions on using tab groups to display both the Activities and WBS tabs both horizontally and vertically. This tutorial will be very helpful during the planning phase of your projects. Follow the link below to access the step-by-step tutorial.
Click here to view the Tutorial
MSS Inc. can help you learn how to use P6
It is our job at MSS Inc. to help project controls professionals, project managers, planners/schedulers, and executives to understand the functionality of P6 and how it can help them manage their projects better. Despite the fact that most people are moving to P6 Release 8.2, there is still a significant portion of P6 users that are staying with P6 Release 7. MSS inc. has created a Primavera P6 online video training course that helps teach users the fundamentals of setting up projects in Primavera P6. Everyone can benefit from having strong fundamentals! Click here to access a sample course lesson. It is a great, low cost alternative to attending classroom based Primavera training. Also, we want to hear what you have to say about about our tutorials! So do not forget to comment on our blog and Like us on Facebook.