As its name implies, Primavera P6 Web Access is a Web-based interfaced to P6, the enterprise project portfolio management (ePPM) software from Primavera Systems, which Oracle Corp. acquired in 2008.

 

At this year’s Oracle OpenWorld, attendees received a quick overview of Primavera P6 Web Access and learned about new features introduced in the recent v7 release.

 

Executives who use Primavera P6 Web Access can view Gantt charts to view key milestones in project performance, noted John Dugo, applications engineer for P6 Web.

 

Meanwhile, project managers can now perform baseline analyses, via either a drill-down directly from their dashboard or through the Projects tab (where 10 layers of filtering are now available). Additional features for executives introduced in v7 include WBS detail windows, which include data such as budget logs, milestones and earned value; the ability to group by date interval, and new activity detail options such as the ability to add activity codes on the fly.

 

For planners and schedulers, meanwhile, the Activity Gantt can now display float, free float, plan and percent complete bars, noted Mary Parvesse, director of product development for Primavera P6. (Non-work periods for occurrences such as bad weather or holidays will appear as dashed lines.) In addition, Activity Gantt charts can now display progress when compared to either a project or a primary baseline, based on either the start or finish date.

 

In terms of activities, P6 Web Access v7 offers a new activity network, which displays groups of projects and their relationships in a diagram. Nodes can be expanded and collapsed to see various levels of the WBS; they can also be printed with customizable headers and footers, Parvesse said. Finally, P6 Web Access v7 allows for colors to be based on activity codes, she said.

 

Lastly, for subcontractors and other third parties who use Primavera P6 Web Access every day, but only for a short time, v7 now offers a Microsoft Outlook-like calendar view through which a details window is available. There is also a filtered Activity Gantt chart, which shows only the activities to which a team member has been assigned, Parvesse indicated. (Administrators set up the view to which each project contributor needs access.)

 

Along with these new features, v7 of Primavera P6 Web Access includes integration with numerous Oracle applications, including Oracle Access Manager, Oracle Identity Manager and Oracle Enterprise Manager.

 

Plans for Web Access beyond v7.0 include a risk management, advanced filtering, embedded workflows and the ability to group by multiple hierarchies, according to Primavera.