NV Energy, with offices in northern and southern Nevada, has been using Primavera P6 since May 2009. One key advantage, said Josh Schonbrun, supervisor of project controls, is that P6 makes it easier for the company to perform enterprise-wide resource planning and to view all project details. This was not as easy to do with NV Energy’s previous project management software, Primavera P3.

Overall, Schonbrun rated Primavera P6 an 8 out of 10 and said he was “certainly considering” an upgrade to version 7 of the project management software.

When it comes to new or retrofitting construction projects at its stations, the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) must consider the needs of the millions of commuters who ride its rails each day. In order to meet these needs, the organization uses Primavera SureTrak to manage its complex construction scheduling requirements.

Jack Donovan, an employee of the Boston-based transit system, which is the fourth-largest in the United States, explained how Primavera software helps accommodate Boston area travelers.

"Right now we're doing accessibility at our train stations -- adding escalators and elevators -- but we can't take the stations out of service. Primavera helps us fit construction schedules into the train schedule and about when tracks are not workable," he said. "People rely on us to tell them when the station is going to fully open up. Sometimes the news is bleak but, even if there's a delay, people want to know. We try to keep our passengers happy."

In addition to helping MBTA officials notify passengers of delays, Primavera has saved MBTA several weeks per project, Donovan added. If a construction job does fall behind, employees can use Primavera to quickly rework construction schedules so simultaneous jobs are not affected, he noted.

Donovan rated Primavera SureTrak a 9 out of 10.

Raymond Miller began building power plants for GE in 1978. At that time, the only computers were at GE headquarters in Schenectady, New York, and all data input was done via unreliable dial up phone terminal interfaces with thermal printers. In the 1980s, he began using Primavera construction project management software and has been using it ever since.

Over the years, he has worked in a variety of industries and has also used MS Project, Harvard Project, Timeline and Open Plan, but he keeps returning to Primavera software due to its "logical approach to building projects, detailed reporting structures and robust data analysis."

Miller has been using SureTrak for more than 25 years, and finds that its best feature is "the ability to rapidly lay out and develop a construction schedule without a huge investment in time." The $400 price tag of the product has been worth the cost, as Miller estimates that SureTrak has "possibly saved $1 million over the past four years."

He recommends the product to "anyone managing projects on a smaller scale, but a high volume of projects." While "one needs to be fairly computer literate" to utilize SureTrak effectively, Miller had no formal training and learned by using the program. It is easy to use, reports are simple to generate and "using SureTrak has allowed me the ability to input smaller scope and dollar value projects than I had before."

Due to its features and exceptional value, Miller rated SureTrak a 10 out of 10.

Without the proper tool, complex construction scheduling can be an unmanageable nightmare. Not so at Suncor Energy, where about 300 employees use Primavera Project Planner (P3) each day.

This construction scheduling software, which Suncor bought for $2,500, was more expensive than its competitors and required customization in allowing cost-allocation at the Activity ID level. However, it was well worth the extra dollars and efforts, said Salvador Carlos Hernandez Ramirez, who has worked at the Calgary-based company for two years and who has used Primavera software for seven years.

"In my last project, a combined cycle power plant, we grew from 800 activities, while the basic engineering phase was being executed, to more than 6,000 activities during startup and commissioning," Hernandez Ramirez said. "It was always the same project and P3 managed it as such, allowing schedulers to add detail and activities as information became available."

Using P3, schedulers can break complex projects into bite-size increments and then easily integrate each piece into the full project, he said. This reduces the time spent, increases efficiency and accuracy, and enables a company to allocate construction scheduling tasks to the most appropriate personnel or department. Standardized layouts make it easier for people to learn and use, speeding up training time and reducing mistakes, Hernandez Ramirez noted.

Since training, too, is often broken down into tiers, most users need only attend tier one and two classes, he said. The third session is more advanced, addressing global changes and some programming issues typically not of concern to most schedulers, Hernandez Ramirez added. And, if there is a question, documentation and technical support excel, he said: "It is the best documentation I have ever seen for scheduling. It also delves into project management problems, with real examples on earn value and schedule delays."

Overall, Hernandez Ramirez rated Primavera Project Planner (P3) a 9 out of 10.