In a previous post, we walked through how to create new activities in Primavera P6. This post elaborates on that process and covers some of the choices you need to make when creating each new activity. There are several different Activity types, Duration Types and Percent Complete Types available in Primavera P6. In this post, I will discuss the various Activity Types and why you might choose one over another. A future post will cover Duration and % Complete Types.
You can find each of the options on the General tab in the details pane of each activity. Use the drop-down arrows to see the options available for each field below. Figure 1 shows the six Activity Type options.
Figure 1
Activity Type Options:
1. Task Dependent: Task Dependent activities are dependent on one or more other activities in the project. These activities cannot start until the preceding activity or activities have been completed. You will want to use this type of activity for detailed construction activities, or any other processes that need to be performed in specific sequence.
2. WBS Summary: Summary activities are used to group other activities together. They do not have a duration or a start and finish date, but they reflect the duration and schedule of the activities they group. In the example below, there are 5 activities in the WBS group. The start date of a WBS Summary Activity will automatically be set to the earliest start date of the activities in the group and the finish date of the WBS Summary Activity will automatically be set to the latest finish date of the activities in the group.
The reason you might want to use this activity type is that in P6 the colored WBS levels can’t be resource loaded like a normal activity, however a WBS Summary activity can.
Figure 2
3. Milestones: Milestone activities are used to mark significant events or achievements in the project. They do not have a duration, but they have a specific start and finish date. If you are used to using MS Project, you may be used to Milestones dates being shown with both a start & finish date. The activity will have 0 days duration so the start & finish dates will be identical. In P6 things are slightly different.
If you select the activity type Start Milestone, you will only see a start date represented in the date column. If you select the activity type Finish Milestone, you will only see a finish date represented in date column. This is normal and to be expected. See example in Figure 3.
Figure 3
4. Level of Effort: A level of effort (LOE) activity is generally used for activities that are supportive in nature and/or don’t have discrete tasks that you need to track in the schedule. For example, you could use an LOE activity for things such as Project Management, Equipment Maintenance, or Project Communications labor.
The duration of a Level of Effort activity is calculated a little differently than a task dependent activity. The duration will automatically span between its predecessor activity’s finish date and its successor’s start date. You cannot adjust the duration.
In the example in Figure 4, you can see that the "Provide Construction Management" activity spans from the Start Construction Milestone to the Finish Construction Milestone. The planned duration is automatically calculated as 35 days. The remaining duration will automatically increase or decrease if the project delays or is expedited.
Figure 4
5. Resource Dependent: This activity type is a bit tricky because the activity calendar is not followed. For instance if your normal activity calendar blocks out weekends as non-working time, this activity type may not necessarily follow that. A resource dependent activity will use a resources availability to determine the activity duration and dates.
For example, if the Carpenter works a 6-day work week according to its resource calendar, but the activity calendar is set to a normal 5-day week, the Resource Dependent activity type will override the activity calendar and allow the carpenter to work a 6 day week.
In Figure 5 you can see that when using a Task Dependent activity, it will take the Carpenter 7 days to complete 56hours of work. However, in Figure 6, you can see that by changing to a Resource Dependent activity type, the carpenter’s 6 day per week resource calendar prevails and the work is completed 1 day sooner because the Carpenter works on Saturdays.
Figure 5
Figure 6
In conclusion, now that you understand the various Activity types available in Primavera P6 you will be better equipped to make sound choices and build effective schedules.
Stay tuned for future posts describing the different Duration Types & % Complete Types. So many choices!
Feel free to reach out to Brite Ideas Project Consulting with any questions or project needs you may have.
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