Primavera (P5) Project

Management
By Omar El-Anwar
Introductory
Tutorial
And Hisham Said
NOTE: This brief tutorial does not cover all the aspects and functionality of
Primavera Project Planner (P5). For more information and
troubleshooting, please refer to P5 help and documentation.

Tutorial Outline:
Topic

Page(s)

To start P5

Adding and viewing new project

4 -5

Adding and editing activities

6-7

Defining relationships

8 -10

Scheduling and Gantt chart

11 - 12

Defining and assigning resources

13 - 19

Resource usage profile

20 - 21

Activity usage profile

22 - 23

Precedence diagram

24

Activities Grouping and sorting

25 - 26

Printing

27

Backing-up your project

28 - 30

Restoring your project

31 - 34

Primavera (P5) Example

Use Primavera to schedule the construction of a pumping
plant. The table below lists the activities required to build one
plant.
Use Primavera (P5) Project Management to do the following:
1.Gantt bar chart
2.Precedence Diagram
3.Resource Usage Spreadsheet of workers, carpenters each
day
4.Resource usage profile (Histogram) of each resources
* Project will start May 12, 2008
5.Project cash flow

Carpenters hourly cost =

$40
Common labor hourly cost = $25

1. To start:

2
Password: same
as login

CEE421

. Add a new project:

To view the new project alone:

Select your
project

put activities:
click on the white space in the layout window and select add
the figure below), or press Insert on your keyboard

Edit activity data:

Activity
ID

Activity
Descripti
on

Activity
Duration
(in days)

Define relationships:

1
Click on the Activity
Details in the
Activities toolbar

Select the Relations

tab in Activity Details
window

Define relationships (cond):

3
Select an activity
(e.g. Prepare
Site)

4
Click on Assign in the
Successors window in
the Activity Details

Define relationships (cond):

5
Choose the
successor activities
for the selected
activity (e.g.
choose Construct
Footings as a
successor to
Prepare Site

6
Click Assign

In the Successors
window, Define the
Relationship type (e.g.
FS) and lag (e.g. 0)

Add other successors to the selected

activity by repeating steps 4 to 7

Note: You can define relationships by

predecessors using the Predecessors
window in the Activity Details

10

7. Scheduling:

11

Understanding Gantt Chart:

Drag the months

timescale to move
forward and backward
in time

Critical activities are

in red

Drag the days

timescale to change
timescale density

Non-critical activities
are in green

12

Define Resources:

3
Click Add

Select Project
Specific

13

Define Resources (cond):

4
We are going to
define resources
under Tutorial
Resources

6
Make sure you are
selecting Tutorial
Resources and then
click Add

14

Define Resources (cond):

8
Define the
resources one
by one

1
0
15

Define Resources (cond):

1
1

Define price, and

default and
maximum resource
availability

1
2

Note: To add a new resource, repeat steps 6

to 12

1
3

You can now

return to the
Activities view.

16

Assign resources to activities:

1
Select an activity to
assign resources to

2
Choose the
Resources tab, and
click Add Resources

17

Assign resources to activities (cond):

Select a
resource

Click
Assign

18

Assign resources to activities (cond):

Input
number of
units/day

Note: 1 man-day = 8 man-hr/day , assuming 8

hours working day.
Note: To assign more resources to the same
activity, repeat steps 4 to 6

19

. Resource Usage Profile:

1
Click on the Resource
Usage Profile from
the Activities toolbar

Select a
resource

Resource Usage
Profile for the
selected resource

20

Resource Usage Profile (cond):

Right-Click on the Resource Usage

Profile and select Resource Usage
Profile Options

You can show

resources by units or
cost
You can show
cumulative
resources usage
curve

Choose whether to show

limits and over-allocation
or not

21

. Activity Usage Profile:

1
Click on the Activity
Usage Profile from
the Activities toolbar

Histogram scale
Activity Usage
Profile histogram

Activity Usage
Profile cumulative
curve

Cumulative curve
scale
22

Activity Usage Profile (cond):

Right-Click on the Resource Usage

Profile and select Activity Usage Profile
Options

You can specify a resource

type (e.g. material) to show

23

View Precedence Diagram:

1
Click on the Activity
Network from the
Activities toolbar

2
You can zoon in and
out

3
To return back to the
Gantt Chart, click on the
Gantt Chart from the
Activities toolbar

Note: You can drag activities to have a better

layout for the Precedence Diagram.
In this view, you can add activities, change
relationships, etc.

24

Grouping and Sorting activities:

1
Click on Group and sort
from the Activities toolbar

2
Choose your criteria for
grouping, and you can multilevel grouping
25

Grouping and Sorting activities (cond):

3
Also, you can sort the
activities by clicking on the
Sort button in the Group
and Sort window

4
Choose your criteria for
sorting, and you can multilevel sorting as well

26

15. Printing:

2
Select the Options
tab

You can choose whether to

show Activity Tables, Gantt
Chart, Resource Profile, etc.,
or a combination of those

27

. Backing-up your project:

28

Backing-up your project (cond):

5
Check the project you
want to back-up

6
29

Backing-up your project (cond):

Choose the path

30

7. Restoring a project:

31

Restoring a project (cond):

5
Choose the path

6
32

Restoring a project (cond):

8
Click on Import
To

7
Choose the
project you
want to restore

1
0

9
Click Select

33

Restoring a project (cond):

1
1

1
2
34