Construction Science

08/29/2021

http://www.primaverascheduling.com/giving-notice-for-delays/

There's a book on my shelf that I love to pull down every few months because it contains such great advice for construction projects: Sweet on Construction Law.

03/03/2021

Primavera P6 contains a feature that I can take some responsibility for recommending. For those of you who do not know much of the history of Primavera P6, the legacy program - Primavera Project Planner - was introduced in 1983 by Primavera Systems. And while we are going down memory lane, Microsoft Project was introduced the same year. Ask Netscape Navigator what it is like competing with Microsoft....

Primavera P6 contains a feature that I can take some responsibility for recommending. For those of you who do not know much of the history of Primavera P6, the legacy program - Primavera Project Planner - was introduced in 1983 by Primavera Systems. And while we are going down memory lane, Microsoft...

02/14/2021

Oracle released Version 20.12 of Primavera Professional Project Management in December 2020. If you have not upgraded P6 recently, here are some of the most salient improvements since 2018: Dissolve Activities With Or Without Lag: You can choose whether or not to retain lag when dissolving activities using the Retain lag setting in the Calculations tab of the User Preferences Dialog....

Oracle released its latest version of P6 Professional Project Management in December 2020. In this post we will discuss some of the more salient changes.

09/06/2020

That's right. This is the final week to buy Primavera P6 Professional. After September 10, 2020 Oracle will no longer sell the program. Sort of... Oracle has decided to pivot away from term licenses to perpetual and cloud licenses. There are a few exceptions, but otherwise users will no longer be able to lease Oracle software for 1 to 5 years. [ 110 more words ]

That’s right. This is the final week to buy Primavera P6 Professional. After September 10, 2020 Oracle will no longer sell the program. Sort of… Oracle has decided to pivot away from te…

07/16/2020

In one of my favorite Gene Hackman films, Heist, there is a scene where his character is explaining how he solved a problem. His client (actually, a mobster he is planning to rip off) says, "you're a pretty smart guy." When Hackman's character declines the compliment, the mobster replies, "then how did you figure it out?" Hackman's response: "I said to myself, 'what would a smart guy do?'" [ 737 more words ]

In one of my favorite Gene Hackman films, Heist, there is a scene where his character is explaining how he solved a problem. His client (actually, a mobster he is planning to rip off) says, “…

03/03/2020

The Practical Professor My wife and I have a vacation home in Truckee, California. Whenever we are up there we get together with a couple who have a second home just two doors down from ours. During our last visit we met the wife's charming mother for the first time. After several hours of pleasantries she asked me a slightly odd question: [ 1,146 more word ]

The Practical Professor My wife and I have a vacation home in Truckee, California. Whenever we are up there we get together with a couple who have a second home just two doors down from ours. Durin…

10/01/2019

Resources add "weight" to a schedule. That is to say, resources can tell us the effort - in costs and/or hours - required to perform a task. Once resources have been added to an activity we now realize that tasks with similar durations are not so similar when the effort is considered. Back in the early 1980s I would sometimes be asked by owner representatives to explain how many people were required each day in order to stay on schedule. [ 796 more words ]

12/26/2018

Learning how to do something is not the same as learning why something should be done. Most of us have been told at various by a supervisor or boss to do something without any explanation. There may be some urgency in the request and for that reason alone there is not much time to explain why it needs to be done. [ 1,012 more word ]

Learning how to do something is not the same as learning why something should be done. Most of us have been told at various by a supervisor or boss to do something without any explanation. There ma…

09/23/2018

Oracle recently released Version 18 of its venerable scheduling program, Primavera P6 Professional Project Management. The latest release is only a mild upgrade from Version 17 but it does fix a problem that has bedeviled many Version 17 users: the inability to copy and paste a project that is not currently open. This error only occurs when using the standalone SQLite database. [ 202 more words ]

Oracle recently released Version 18 of its venerable scheduling program, Primavera P6 Professional Project Management. The latest release is only a mild upgrade from Version 17 but it does fix a pr…

07/31/2018

Proper scheduling requires an understanding of driving relationships. These are the most important relationships in the schedule because they drive the start and finish dates of the activities that follow. So it stands to reason that all critical path relationships are driving. In Primavera P6, driving relationships appear on the Gantt Chart as solid lines: red for critical path and black for non-critical activities. [ 964 more words ]

Proper scheduling requires an understanding of driving relationships. These are the most important relationships in the schedule because they drive the start and finish dates of the activities that…

05/08/2018

Someone asked me recently if getting a job as a scheduler would be difficult without a college degree. That is not an easy question to answer because it really depends on the industry and employer's preferences. I personally do not think a college degree is mandatory, but certainly those four years in college should count towards experience. College forces you to learn new skills every semester. [ 1,560 more word ]

Someone asked me recently if getting a job as a scheduler would be difficult without a college degree. That is not an easy question to answer because it really depends on the industry and employer&…

02/22/2018

Arguments over who owns the float in the project schedule are common. But unless the contract documents state otherwise, float belongs to whichever party that uses it first. This fact makes no one in particular happy, but a very smart lawyer once told me that the perfect settlement is the one that both parties regret the next day. Sharing the float is a fair solution… [ 938 more words ]

Arguments over who owns the float in the project schedule are common. But unless the contract documents state otherwise, float belongs to whichever party that uses it first. This fact makes no one …