Claim Digger Baseline Schedule V.

S Revised Schedule Comparison Tool

Claim Digger is one of primavera software built in tools:
P6 Claim Digger is very useful tool to find difference between two versions of schedule or Baseline Schedules V.S Revised Schedules using primavera P6 without any additional software required.

First let me explain what is the benefit of using Primavera P6 Built in tool Claim Digger. Mainly the The Clam Digger is comparing two schedules and find out what is the difference between two of them, Differences are identified as per the following terms:

Claim Digger

1- Total Float 2- Calendar Name 3- Free Float 4- Critical Activities 5- Activity Name 6- WBS Name 7- WBS Code 8- Primary Constraint Type

9- Primary Constraint Date 10- Actual Expense Cost 11- Remaining Expense Cost 12- At Completion Expense Cost 13- Budgeted Expense Cost 14- Planned Finish Date 15- Early Finish Date 16- Early Start Date 17- Actual Start Date 18- Late Finish Date 19- Late Start Date 20- Planned Start Date 21- Actual Finish Date 22- Original Duration 23- Actual Duration 24- Remaining Duration 25- At Completion Duration 26- Actual Cost 27- At Completion Cost 28- Expense Percent Complete 29- Price Per Unit 30- Budgeted Cost 31- Remaining Cost 32333435Activity Percent Complete Duration Percent Complete Physical Percent Complete Units Percent Complete

36- Actual Labor Units 37- Budgeted Labor Units

38- At Completion Labor Units 39- Remaining Labor Units 40- Activities Added/Deleted 40.1- The following Activities have been added to the project 40.2- The following Activities have been deleted from the project 41- Activity Code Assignments Added/Deleted 42- Relationship Differences (Predecessor / Successor Relationships added or Deleted) 43- At Completion Units 44- Budgeted Units 45- Remaining Units 46- Remaining Units Per Time 47- Actual Units 48- Budgeted Duration 49- Remaining Duration 50- Resource Assignments Added/Deleted 51- Activity Steps WoW Do not you think it is an amazing tool ??!! , It will spot any variance between two versions in the schedule.

When you should use Claim Digger, Applications of using This tool : 1- When you receive a new version of the time schedule from the contractor, Then you should use Claim Digger to check what has been changed on the schedule. 2- When you Receive an update of the time schedule, you should check that nothing changed from the baseline original duration, relationships and constrains. 3- Before submitting your schedule to the client after new revision or update, just run fast check to ensure that noting went wrong.

How to work with Claim Digger Step by Step :

1- open claim digger from primavera p6 tools menu as per the following photo:

Primavera P6 Menu

2- Select the Revised schedule and the Project Schedule Baseline (The two versions of the schedules you want to compare) as per the following photo :

Revised Schedule V.S Baseline Schedule

3- Click on Advanced Options to choose what is the output values you want to see in the report. Note: you can choose Group Report by Activity in the advanced setting if you want primavera to group all the terms i mentioned above (what ever you choose from the 51 term mentioned above) by activity.

Claim Advanced Options

4- Choose the report format (HTML or CSV) The HTML format will be opened by any explorer such as Firefox, chrome or Microsoft Internet explorer

Digger options

5- Click compare to run the Software

Compare two schedules

6- Sample of Claim Digger Reports: A- HTML Report

Compare two projects schedules HTML Report

B: CVS Report

Compare two projects schedules CVS- EXCEL Report

Oracle primavera p6 different between activity percent complete

percent complete in oracle primavera p6 are used for calculation of actual progress what are the different between them ? we will take in thins topic about each type of percent complete in primavera p6.

1- Duration % complete:

Duration % of Original (or Planned) threshold value is expressed as a percentage. An issue is generated if the ratio of the activitys actual duration to its original or planned duration (actual duration / original or planned duration * 100) falls beyond the threshold values. How it is calculated in primavera p6 : Duration percent Complete(P6) = ( [Original Duration] [Remaining Duration] ) / [Original Duration] Example of calculating Duration % Complete : Original Duration: 20d , Actual Duration: 15d and Remaining Duration: 18d [Duration % Complete] = (20-18)/20 = 10% to use the Duration % complete for an activity you should select the Duration % complete type from the activity details general tap as shown in the photo below

Duration percent complete primavera p6

Duration percent Complete for WBS Elements

The previous explanation was focused on Duration % Complete for Activities. Duration % Complete is also calculated for WBS Elements, but I strongly recommend you not to use Duration % Complete to track a WBS Elements progress. Thus I have not included an explanation of the calculations here.

2- Units % complete:

Each assigned resource and assigned expense creates units in Primavera P6. The number of units depend on duration of the activity and your current settings the Units % is calculated from the actual and

remaining units, Units % Complete = [Actual Units / At Completion Units] x 100. see the figure below for more understanding

units percent complete primavera p6

Units % Complete for WBS Elements

The previous explanations were for activities Units % Complete. This field is calculated in the same way for WBS Elements. However, I recommend you to use Earned Valueand Performance % Complete for the WBS Elements instead of Units % Complete and Duration % Complete.

Different between Duration % complete and Units % Complete:

- When units are not distributed uniformly, the Units % Complete will not be uniform relative to the time and will not equal to duration percentage complete. - Even if the units are distributed uniformly and the original duration not equal to at completion duration the units percentage complete will not equal to duration percentage complete. - Only when units are distributed uniformly and the original duration equal to at completion duration the units percentage complete will equal to duration percentage complete.

3- Physical % complete:

Physical percentage complete is a calculated field, which displays the percent completebased on the relative weights of the completed steps versus the incomplete steps. The physical progress of an activity is a manually-entered value determined by the user. The Physical % Complete is not rolled-up to WBS level, because its based on an external parameters, unknown to the software. to use the Physical % complete for an activity you should select the Physical % complete type from the activity details general tap as shown in the photo below

Physical percent complete primavera p6

4- Schedule % complete:

schedule percent complete for an activity based on a straight forward calculation in primavera p6, schedule percent complete = ( [Data Date] [Baseline Start] ) / ( [Baseline Finish] [Baseline Start] ) When the Data Date is earlier than the Baseline Start date, Schedule % Complete is zero, when its after the Baseline Finish data, Schedule % Complete is 100%. Otherwise, Schedule % Complete show what percentage of the Baseline duration is passed by the Data Date. see the figure below for better understanding.

Schedule percent complete primavera p6

Schedule % Complete for WBS Elements: The Schedule % Complete of the WBS Element will be the ratio of the Baseline Costs before the Data Date to the Total Baseline Cost. The costs before the Data Date are called the Planned Value, or PV for short (Also called BCWS Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled). The total baseline cost is called Budget At Completion or BAC for short. We can now formulate the calculation of Schedule % Complete for WBS Elements as: Schedule % Completed (WBS) = PV / BAC

5-Performance % Complete:

The percentage presentation of EV is usually called Performance % Complete. Performance % Complete of the Activities under the same WBS Element is calculated by one of these six options: 1. By Activity % Complete and without resource curves 2. By Activity % Complete and with resource curves 3. By WBS Milestones 4. By 0/100 method 5. By 50/50 method 6. By x/(100-x) custom method (1) and (2) are continuous and the rest of them are milestone progresses. (1) and (2) are dependent on the Activity

progress, (3) is completely independent from the Activity progress, and the rest of them are only influenced by Actual Start and Actual Finish of the Activities.

what is the time schedule and what is the types of the schedules
What is the time schedule ?
The time schedule is a contractual document between the client and the contractor which defines the forecast sequence and progress of the work and the contractual start, finish and milestones dates. The time schedule could contain the budget cost of the project which creates the project cash flow and could contain the manpower as well which creates manpower histograms.

How it is look like?

Mainly the Time Schedule Template contains 2 main sections, Bar chart and activity list as per the photo below (Free Work Schedule Template)

What is the types of the time schedule?

There are few types of time schedule depend on the stage of the project :

1- Tender schedule: This is a schedule prepared by the contractor to the client in the very beginning stages of the project, even before the project awarded to the contractor and usually it is a summary schedule clarifying how the

contractor intend to execute the project (sequence and duration). This time schedule does not contains lot of details and issued as a part of the tender documents for future reference.

2- Master Time Schedule: The master time schedule is the first schedule to be issued by the contractor after project is awarded from the client and most contracts allow for a short duration (2 weeks approximate) to submit this schedule after the letter of award, However the master schedule should contains more details to the project rather than the tender schedule and could include budget cost, project cash flow and resources histograms.

3- Detailed Time Schedule: The detailed time schedule is very important document and should be created carefully as per the client requirements, detailed schedule should have the budget cost, resources and equipments assigned to each activity. after issuing the master schedule, the planning engineer should proceed with the detailed schedule which contains more details and breakdown such as (floor , area , zone , discipline of works . etc). Once the detailed time schedule approved from the client or the client representative (Project or Program Manager) then it called BASELINE SCHEDULE.

4- Baseline Time Schedule: The baseline schedule is the client approved version of the detailed schedule (or sometimes the master time schedule) which the progress of works will be monitored against it. The dates and the values in this schedule are fixed and can not be changed.

5- Updated Time schedule: The updated time schedule is a copy of the baseline schedule with actual dates and percentage which represent the progress of work at certain date (Data Date). Once actual values applied to a baseline schedule it became an updated schedule with forecast completion dates for each activity could be earlier than the baseline schedule which mean (Ahead of schedule) or after the baseline schedule dates which mean (Behind the Schedule).

6- Revised Time Schedule: The revised time schedule is a recovery schedule to recover schedule delays due to any reason, revised time schedule could recover 100 % of the delays in the project and shorten the durations to complete the project as planned or it could not recover any durations if it is not possible and just represent a new completion date of the project.

MS Excel Functions and Formulas you need to use regularly

List of MS Excel Functions and Excel Formulas you need to use regularly with photos and detailed explanation how to use each MS Excel Functions Formulas.

List of Excel Functions:

1- Date and time excel functions:

DATE(year,month,day):Returns the sequential serial number that represents a particular date. If the cell format was General before the function was entered, the result is formatted as a date. Excel stores dates as sequential serial numbers so they can be used in calculations. By default, January 1, 1900 is serial number 1, and January 1, 2008 is serial number 39448 because it is 39,448 days after January 1, 1900.

MS Excel Date Function

DAYS360(start_date,end_date):Returns the number of days between two dates based on a 360-day year (twelve 30-day months), which is used in some accounting calculations. Use this function to help compute payments if your accounting system is based on twelve 30-day months.

Excel Day360 Function

NOW( ): Returns the serial number of the current date and time. If the cell format was General before the function was entered, the result is formatted as a date. TODAY( ): Returns the serial number of the current date. The serial number is the date-time code used by Microsoft Excel for date and time calculations. If the cell format was General before the function was entered, the result is formatted as a date.

WORKDAY(start_date,days,holidays): Returns a number that represents a date that is the indicated number of working days before or after a date (the starting date).Working days exclude weekends and any dates identified as holidays. Use WORKDAY to exclude weekends or holidays when you calculate invoice due dates, expected delivery times, or the number of days of work performed.

WORKDAY.INTL(start date,finish day,week end,holidays): same as the above but gives you the option to select your weekend day or days.

2- Logical excel functions: AND(logical1,logical2, ): Returns TRUE if all its arguments are TRUE; returns FALSE if one or more argument is FALSE.

IF(logical_test,value_if_true,value_if_false): Returns one value if a condition you specify evaluates to TRUE and another value if it evaluates to FALSE. Logical_test is any value or expression that can be evaluated to TRUE or FALSE. For example, A10=100 is a logical expression; if the value in cell A10 is equal to 100, the expression evaluates to TRUE. Otherwise, the expression evaluates to FALSE. Value_if_true is the value that is returned if logical_test is TRUE. For example, if this argument is the text string Within budget and the logical_test argument evaluates to TRUE, then the IF function displays the text Within budget. If logical_test is TRUE and value_if_true is blank, this argument returns 0 (zero). To display the word TRUE, use the logical value TRUE for this argument. Value_if_true can be another formula. Value_if_false is the value that is returned if logical_test is FALSE. For example, if this argument is the text string Over budget and the logical_test argument evaluates to FALSE, then the IF function displays the text Over budget. If logical_test is FALSE and value_if_false is omitted, (that is, after value_if_true, there is no comma), then the logical value FALSE is returned. If logical_test is FALSE and value_if_false is blank (that is, after value_if_true, there is a comma followed by the closing parenthesis), then the value 0 (zero) is returned. Value_if_false can be another formula.

Excel IF Function

3- Lookup and reference excel functions:

HLOOKUP(lookup_value,table_array,row_index_num,range_look up): Searches for a value in the top row of a table or an array of values, and then returns a value in the same column from a row you specify in the table or array. Use HLOOKUP when your comparison values are located in a row across the top of a table of data, and you want to look down a specified number of rows. Use VLOOKUP when your comparison values are located in a column to the left of the data you want to find.

Microsoft Excel HLOOKUP Function

VLOOKUP(lookup_value,table_array,col_index_num,range_looku p): Searches for a value in the first column of a table array and returns a value in the same row from another column in the table array. The V in VLOOKUP stands for vertical. Use VLOOKUP instead of HLOOKUP when your comparison values are located in a column to the left of the data that you want to find.

VLOOKUP Function

4- Math and trigonometry excel functions:

ROUND(number,num_digits): Rounds a number to a specified number of digits.

Rounds Function

SUM(number1,number2, ): Adds all the numbers in a range of cells.

MS SUM Formula

SUMIF(range,criteria,sum_range): Adds the cells specified by a given criteria. Range is the range of cells that you want evaluated by criteria.

Criteria is the criteria in the form of a number, expression, or text that defines which cells will be added. For example, criteria can be expressed as 32, 32, >32, or apples. Sum_range are the actual cells to add if their corresponding cells in range match criteria. If sum_range is omitted, the cells in range are both evaluated by criteria and added if they match criteria.

MS Excel SUMIF Formula

5- Statistical excel Formulas: Excel Functions AVERAGE(number1,number2,): Returns the average (arithmetic mean) of the arguments.

AVERAGEA(value1,value2,): Calculates the average (arithmetic mean) of the values in the list of arguments. COUNT(value1,value2,): Counts the number of cells that contain numbers and counts numbers within the list of arguments. Use COUNT to get the number of entries in a number field that is in a range or array of numbers.

Excel COUNT Formula

COUNTA(value1,value2,): Counts the number of cells that are not empty and the values within the list of arguments. Use COUNTA to count the number of cells that contain data in a range or array in MS Excel cells.

COUNTIF(range,criteria): Counts the number of cells within a range that meet the given criteria. Range is the range of cells from which you want to count cells. Criteria is the criteria in the form of a number, expression, cell reference, or text that defines which cells will be counted. For example, criteria can be expressed as 32, 32, >32, apples, or B4.

COUNTIF Formula

MAX(number1,number2,): Returns the largest value in a set of values.

Excel MAX Formula

MIN(number1,number2,): Returns the smallest number in a set of MS Excel values.