Planners and EPC scope

In my suggestion, planners who delegated to manage and control the project or the
manufacturing site must understand engineering drawings, specification, detail scope and
quantities. A planner who is sitting in front of the computer and just playing with Primavera
or MS Project program and doesn't read and understand engineering drawings,
documents,specifications and dependencies among the disciplines/tasks is a just program
operator.
Generally, planner who fully involved with EPC project must read and understand all aspect
of engineering, procurement and construction methodologies. The following exercise is a forinstance for an EPC project plan(schedule, cost and resources).
(A) For engineering and construction schedule, you must study the deliverables and
dependencies among the disciplines
1. Process engineering ; P&ID (Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams) , PFD (Process
Flow Digrams),
2. Piping engineering ; line list, plot plan, piping GA (general arrangement), tie-in list,
piping BOM (bill of materials)
3. Mechanical engineering; equipment list, data sheets, equipment GA
drawings, requisitions, technical bid analysis and specifications
4. Civil engineering; civil foundation plan, piling location plan, structure GA drawings,
underground drawings
5. Electrical & Instrumentation; electrical and instrument cable/tray routing plan,
instrument index and lists
(B) For procurement schedule, get the requisitions for all disciplines and understand the work
steps such as
(a) Inquiry issued to bidders
(b) Bid evaluation and owner approval
(c) Purchased Order to Vendor
(d) Vendor drawings receive
(e) Fabrication
(f) Final Inspection and
(g) Delivery at site
(C) In summary, gather the following basic information after the contract awarded.
(1) Meeting of Minute during tendering
(2) Project contract
(3) Base line scope and bill of quantities
(4) Project Execution Plan
(5) Budgeted cost and man hours
(6) Estimated cost
(7) Tender schedule
(8) Risk assessment

Review the engineering drawings and specification as mention in "A" & "B" as and when
required. Create your project schedule based on the information "A", "B" and "C". Assign the
man-hours based on the approved schedule and productivity rates. Then, the required
resource plan can be developed.

Sample WBS for Mechanical Equipment Installation Work

The below sample WBS is used for mechanical equipment construction work for a
petrochemical project. The scope for the following WBS are installation of static
equipments such as shell & tube heat exchangers, columns & vessels, boiler and
demineralization plant, and installation of rotating equipments such as Air Fin Cooler,
pumps, blowers and compressors. You may modify it to suit your project scope and
requirements.
WBS Code
Description
ME
Equipment Installation Work
ME.1
Area Major
ME.1.1
Static Equipments
ME.1.1.1
Column/Vessels
ME.1.1.1.1
Equipment No
ME.1.1.1.1.1
Chipping & Padding
ME.1.1.1.1.2
Lifting & Rigging
ME.1.1.1.1.3
Alignment
ME.1.1.1.1.4
Inspection
ME.1.1.1.1.5
Grouting
ME.1.1.2
Shell & Tue Exchangers
ME.1.1.2.1
Equipment No
ME.1.1.2.1.1
Chipping & Padding
ME.1.1.2.1.2
Lifting & Rigging
ME.1.1.2.1.3
Alignment
ME.1.1.2.1.4
Inspection
ME.1.1.2.1.5
Grouting
ME.1.2
Package Equipments
ME.1.2.1
Boiler Installation
ME.1.2.1.1
Equipment No
ME.1.2.1.1.1
Main Parts Installation
ME.1.2.1.1.1.1
Main Body
ME.1.2.1.1.1.2
Economizer
ME.1.2.1.1.1.3
Air Pre-heater
ME.1.2.1.1.1.4
Stack
ME.1.2.1.1.2
Stairway and ladder installation
ME.1.2.1.1.3
Duct & Damper Installation
ME.1.2.1.1.4
Accessory Installation
ME.1.2.1.1.4.1
Fan
ME.1.2.1.1.4.2
Silencer
ME.1.2.1.1.4.3
Soot Blower
ME.1.2.1.1.4.4
Burner
ME.1.2.2
Demineralization Plant
ME.1.2.2.1
Equipment No
ME.1.2.2.1.1
Chipping & Padding
ME.1.2.2.1.2
Lifting & Rigging
ME.1.2.2.1.3
leveling & grouting
ME.1.2.2.1.4
Alignment for rotating equipment
ME.1.3
Platforms/Ladders
ME.1.3.1
Equipment No

ME.1.3.1.1
ME.1.3.1.2
ME.1.3.1.3
ME.1.4
ME.1.4.1
ME.1.4.1.1
ME.1.4.1.2
ME.1.4.1.3
ME.1.5
ME.1.5.1
ME.1.5.1.1
ME.1.5.1.1
ME.1.5.1.2
ME.1.5.1.3
ME.1.5.1.4
ME.1.5.2
ME.1.5.2.1
ME.1.5.1.1.1
ME.1.5.1.1.2
ME.1.5.1.1.3
ME.1.5.1.1.4
ME.1.5.1.1.5

Assembly at site
Install at site
Inspection
Internal Tray Installation
Equipment No
Preparation
Installation
Inspection
Rotating Equipment
Air Fin Cooler
Equipment No
Access platform installation
Tube Bundle Installation
Mechanical Part Installation
Final Alignment
Pump/Compressor/Blower
Equipment No
Chipping & Padding
Lifting & Rigging
Leveling & Grouting
First Alignment
Final Alignment

Example: for Pump / Compressor / Blower

Chipping & Padding - 5%
Lifting & Rigging - 20%
Levelling and Grouting - 5%
First Alignment - 25%
Final Alignment - 35%
Final Check & QC Documentation Sign off - 10%

Sample WBS for Design and Build Project

Design and build contracts are usually performed by the contractor, who is responsible for the
detailed design and construction. Below is a simple WBS for a building construction which
may differ from your project scope, nature and organizations preferences. However, this is a
starting point for you to explore your idea to suit your project needs.
1. Design and Engineering
1.1
1.2
1.2.1
1.2.2
1.2.3
1.2.4
1.2.5

Architectural Design
Civil and Structural Design
Design Preparation and Submission
Design Review
Design Revision
Design Approval for Construction
Issue Construction Drawing

2. Procurement
M & E Materials
Piling Materials
Architectural Finishes
Structural Materials
3. Pre-construction
3.1 Mobilization
3.2 Demolition/Modification (as required)
3.3 Pre Fabrication
3.3.1
Precast concrete
3.3.2
Prefab piping
3.3.3
Prefab structural steel
4. Major Construction
4.1 Location (i.e. Building A, B)
4.1.1 Piling
4.1.2 Civil foundation
4.1.3 Structural Works
4.1.4 Architectural and M & E Works
4.1.4.1 Electrical lighting and Earthing
4.1.4.2 Architectural Works
4.1.4.3 Painting, Fittings, Furniture
4.1.4.4 IT network system
4.1.4.5 Fire Protection system
4.1.4.6 HVAC System
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4

P6 Filters Most Used in Schedule Reporting (Activity Filtering)-Part2

Prepare Schedule Analysis Filters

In last week, P6 Filters Most Used in Schedule Reporting (Activity Filtering)-Part1 has been
published and we have discussed how to build Lookahead filters. This week, we will discuss
on Schedule Analysis Filters.
If you are working on level3 schedule, it involves baseline schedule quality assessment and
analysing project status. This can be achieved by using schedule analysis filters also known
as schedule review filters. The most common used filers are
(1) Analysing Critical Activity
(2) Combined Filters (existing) to analyse Constraint, Negative Float, In progress and
Milestone Critical activities
(3) Analysing Total Floats

(4) Filter for Delayed (Behind Schedule) Activities

(5) Current Milestone Variance against Baseline
(6) No relationship (Broken Logic) Activities

1-Default Filter for

Analysing Critical Activity
1) To find critical activities, Select predefined filter
Critical listed under Default Filter list. See below.

To understand more on default Critical filter, lets find

out what criteria is set for Critical Filter.
- To view filter criteria, you need to copy it to user defined filter as you are not allowed to
modify in default filter list.
- Once you have copied to user defined filter, select "Modify" to see filter criteria.

- Filter criteria for Critical: Critical equal yes (It means that critical activities will be
displayed as set in project default setting). See figure below.
- As P6 project default setting for Critical is set to Total Float Less than or equal to 0, use
this P6 default filter Critical if you intent to search critical activities with Total Float
duration less than or equal to 0hour (day).

2) To find longest path activities scheduled to be done,

select Longest Path listed under Default Filter list.

To understand more on default Longest Path filter, view

filter criteria.
- To view filter criteria, select "Longest Path" filter , then copy it to user defined filter as you
are not allowed to modify in default filter list.
- Once "Longest Path" filter is in user defined filter, select "Modify" to see filter criteria.
Then, you will see criteria for Longest Path filter has been set as below.

NOTE:
Make sure you understand very well how the critical activities are defined and set in your
project setting when you are dealing with longest path or critical activities.
All the critical activities may not be on longest path but longest path activities are all critical
if Make open-ended activities critical and Total Float less than or equal to have been
selected in Schedule Options box and project default setting. See below figures.

In Schedule Options window (Select Make open-ended

activities critical and Total Float less than or equal to)

In Project Default Setting (Select Total Float less than or

equal to)

2- Combined Filters (existing) to analyse

Constraint, Negative Float, In progress and
Milestone Critical activities
P6 existing default filters are handy to analyse in-depth schedule analysis if you know how to
utilize them.
1) To find Critical Activities with Finish Constraint, select both Critical and Has Finish
Constraint. See below.

2) To find Critical activities with Start Constraint, select both Critical and Has Start
Constraint.
3) To find Remaining Critical activities that have been started (in progress), select both
Critical and In progress.
4) To find Negative float (total float less than 0 duration), select Negative Float filter.
5) In case you might just want to review critical milestone activities, then select both
Critical and Milestone.
6) To find milestone activities on longest path, select Longest Path and Milestone.

3- How to Create Customized Filter for

Analysing Total Floats
Suppose you are working on a major capital project with thousands of activities. Then, you
might want to review activities with total floats, for instance.
(a) 0 to 5 days (you may want to define as critical)

(b) 5 to 20 days (you may want to define as near critical)

(c) More than 30 days (you may want to analyse the excessive free float using this criteria)

To build a filter to find the activities with Total Float (0 to

5 days),
1) Go to Filter, then select New to create new filter.

2) Untitled filter (a new filter) box as shown in below will appear the moment New tag is
clicked.

3) Set filter criteria and give filter name

(A) Select Total Float from drop down list
(B) Select is within range of
(C) Enter 0 for low value and 5d for high value to return float within 0 to 5 days
(D) Give a filter name that make sense for everyone, Total Float = 0 to 5 days

4) Once you have done item (3) , click Ok and then select Apply to see filter result.

-To build a filter to find the activities with Total Float (5 to

20 days),
1) Follow the same steps as above (0 to 5 days total float),
2) But you just need to enter 5d (low value) and 20d (high value) to return activities with total
float within 5 to 20 days

-To build a filter to find the activities with Total Float

more than 30 days,
Follow the same steps as above (0 to 5 days total float), with the following changes.
(A) Select is greater than
(B) Enter 30d to find the activities with total float duration more than 30 days. See below.

4- How to build filter for Delayed (Behind

Schedule) Activities
It is handy to create a filter that search delayed activities in case your project is running
behind schedule. By using Behind Schedule Filter, those delayed activities can be
highlighted to action owners so that they can stay focus on their action items. You need to
know how to build And and Or options filter (create a nested filter) in order you to build
behind schedule activities filter.
Follow the following steps by steps procedure,
1) Go to Filter, then select New to create new filter.
2) Untitled filter (a new filter) box will appear the moment New tag is clicked.
3) Name the filter as Behind Schedule Activities.
4) Select Any of the following (see below)

5) Select All of the following in 2nd row.

6) Add BL Project Finish in 3rd row. Project Baseline must be available in your project in
order to use this filter. If you are unsure how to maintain and assign a project baseline, learn
more at How to fix the problem Baseline Changes with the Data Date changes

7) In 3rd row, set the parameter as BL Project Finish is less than or equals to DD,
Add Activity Status is not equal to Completed in 4th row.

8) Select 1st row and add new row for additional criteria.

9) The moment Add tag is selected, a new row (2*) appears as 2nd row of the filter and the
additional function or also appears in the filter box as below.

10) Select the new row (2*) and click Add to add an additional rows.

11) Once a new row (3*) appear, select BL Project Start and set the criteria as is less than
DD.
12) Then, add a new row again (4*) and select Activity Status from drop-down list. Set the
criteria as equals Not Started.
Finally, you have built a filter that return
(a) Activity planned to started before status date but not yet started
(b) Activity planned to finish by status date but not completed.

13) Click OK to close filter box window, then Apply filter to run filter.
You should be able to review activity lists that are behind schedule as below.

5- How to Filter to Show

Current Milestone Variance

against Baseline
Suppose you want to analyse your project status against project milestones. You also want to
highlight current project milestone date variance to management. Then you need to select
(a) Variance Baseline Project Start Date filter
(b) Milestone filter and
(c) Not completed filter
1) First of all, build a customized filter for Variance-BL Project Start Date as this is not in
predefined filter list.
2) Go to Filter, then select New to create new filter.
3) Untitled filter (a new filter) box will appear the moment New tag is clicked.
4) Name the filter that makes sense for project team. For instance, Variance Baseline Project
SD not equals to 0 (see below).
5) Select Variance-BL Project Start Date from Parameter drop-down list and set the criteria
as Variance BL Project Start Date is not equal to 0d (d for Date). See below figure.

6) Click Ok and select the existing predefined filters Milestone and Not Completed to
filter remaining milestone activities.

Finally, you should be able to see schedule variance for Milestone as below. Negative
schedule variance means project is behind schedule and positive means project is ahead of
schedule.

NOTE:

Show the column Variance-BL Project Start Date to see schedule variance in activities
view.
Select Project Baseline Milestone bar in Bars window to see milestone schedule variance
on Gantt chart. Project Baseline must be available in your project in order to use this filter. If
you are unsure how to assign
and maintain project baseline line, learn more at How to fix the problem Baseline Changes
with the Data Date changes

6- How to Filter No relationship (Broken

Logic) Activities
In order to monitor project performance, make sure you have a good schedule. All activities
must have a predecessor and a successor except project start and finish. So check any broken
project logic activities when you review project schedule.
Follow the following steps by steps procedure,
1) Go to Filter, then select New to create new filter.
2) Untitled filter (a new filter) box will appear the moment New tag is clicked.
3) Name the filter as No relationship activities.
4) Select Any of the following and add (see below)

5) Select Predecessor in 2nd row. Set the parameter Predecessors equals blank. See
below.

6) Select 2nd row and add a new (3rd row) to set filter parameter as Successors equals
blank. See below.

7) Click Ok and Apply to run the filter.

8) Show Predecessors and Successors columns if you want to display activities with no
relationship. All activities (completed and remaining activities) with broken logic are
displayed if you just use this filter alone.

9) Select additional filter Not Completed from Global filter list to show remaining
activities with no relationship (broken logic). See below.

I hope you learnt how to build Schedule Analysis Filter by now.

How to Constraint A Schedule Wisely

Many of us use constraints which impost a date on finish or start of an activity/milestone
especially on major event (i.e. equipment delivery date, subcontractors foundation
completion date, contract award date, project completion date, etc. ) in schedule as Primavera
P6 schedule date might be changing whenever we schedule. And it is not feasible to readjust
those date changes again and again. In some cases, we might use hard constraints (e.g.
Mandatory Finish) to monitor the dead line date as soft constraints (e.g. Start on or After,
Finish on or After, etc.) dont hold the dead line date.
But! There might be a problem when hard constraint (inflexible constraint) is used in the
schedule.
According to PMI, Practical Standard for Schedule, Date constraints restrict a projects
natural flow, disregard the effects of risk, and limit the usefulness of schedule risk
analysis. Date constraints should be avoided whenever possible and used only when
compatible with a projects expected course of development. When a date constraint
becomes necessary, flexible constraints are preferred over inflexible constraints.

Problem with Hard Constraint

Schedule constraints especially hard constraints make it difficult to determine the longest
path or near longest path as CPM calculation doesn't override this kind of constraint. That
means it make Complete Longest Path invisible. See the following scenarios.
In both scenarios, the Complete Longest Path is not visible due to the use of hard constraint.
The longest path is broken.
Constraint with Positive Float (Before project starts or on schedule)

Constraint with Negative Float (Delayed to progress)

In case a hard constraint is necessary to be applied in

order to monitor a dead line of major event, here is good
news

Add another milestone which has a hard constraint as hanging milestone without
having successor.
Do not impost any constraint on existing milestone.
As an existing activity/milestone is not imposed by a constraint date, it makes a
Complete Longest Path visible in both situations. At the mean time we are able to
monitor a dead line with a hanging milestone. See the following situations.

No Constraint Date with Positive Float (Before project starts or on schedule)

No Constraint Date with Negative Float (Delayed to progress)

Important Note to beginners

Select the Longest Path Scheduling Option in order to determine the critical path as longest
path.
How to change the scheduling option in P6??
Press F9 or Tools > Schedule
Click Option when Schedule box appears
Select Longest Path Option under General Tag. See in Fig-1.

The advantages and disadvantages over Retained Logic vs. Progress Override
Option in P6
While Retained Logic and Progress override are the two options available in P6 which enable
the scheduler to analyse in different scenarios, each option has advantages and disadvantages.

Retained Logic Option

Advantages
1. It produces the most realistic schedule if the levels of detailed information are
available and schedule logic were design appropriately. It maintains all predecessor
relationship and will not allow the remaining portion of an in-progress task to resume

until its predecessor complete. Fig-1 (Foundation work begins as the work front
available, but it is not allowed to start remaining work until piling work complete on
the remaining piles).
2. Industry standard specification most often required the Retained Logic option and
considered as best practice.
3. Owner organization favors Retained Logic as this option produce the worst case
scenario forecast completion date which signals early warning that help to expedite
Contractors to catch up the plan.
4. It signals the Scheduler to be aware of what is happening on the ground rather than
sitting in front of desk. Therefore, Scheduler has an opportunity to find out why the
agreed logic are not being followed.

Disadvantages
1. This can sometimes produce unrealistic schedule when out of sequence progress
occurs and result in inaccurate information and artificially delayed the project. This
could mislead to send the wrong message to the project team that forecast project
completion date is far behind the baseline if the Scheduler isn't aware the changes of
critical path activities and/or due to out of sequence activities.
2. As Primavera respect CPM (Critical Path Method) rule that require the correct
information and the appropriate logic to forecast a realistic completion date, it may be
difficult to use in the generic activity of works. It requires lot of experiences and
knowledge, the details information of scope and time in order to design the schedule
activity and logical sequences.
3. Scheduler will be busy with fixing logic to reflect the actual sequence in the field or
contractors current activity sequence, seeking stakeholders agreement and
documenting the changes. However, this could be on the advantage side if the effort
spent is worth. For example, correct the logic of the critical and high risk activities (if
they became out of sequence activities) that have been agreed in the estimated
schedule assurance review and schedule risk assessment.

Progress Override Option

Advantages
1. It is advantageous to run what if scenario especially when total float is analysed.
2. It is a quick way to check for Out-of-Sequence activity. The changes made in the field
can be observed. That means if the project end date is shorten significantly when

scheduling option is switched to Progress Override, you may have a lot of work to do.
It indicates there is a lot of critical out of sequence works to be corrected.
3. It might be advantageous to use this option as it will more accurately reflect actual
work done if a sufficient detailed schedule is being used. However, this may be highly
risky as generating perfect logic is very difficult to achieve in real world.
4. It will be advantageous to use progress override for the Contractor which they can try
to present the Client that project is in good shape by hiding delays.
5. It also acts as a good comparison tools to identity the individual out of sequence
activity against the Retained Logic option. That means you can compare the
individual activity that shows as continuity (not showing non-working duration) while
using progress override against the activity which is shown as the split activity
(showing non-working duration) while using Retained Logic. See Fig.1 as above and
Fig.2 as below.

Disadvantages
1. The expected forecast completion will be more optimistic and hide delays more often
as this method ignores predecessor relationships and allow the progressed activity that
can be forecasted to be completed before its predecessor finish (See Fig.2). It may
never be shown up on the critical path or nearly critical path as there is no relationship
linked to identify its criticality. This is risky as this could mislead to send the wrong
message that project could finish earlier than possible completion date if scheduler
isn't aware this is due to out of sequences activities.
2. It is also essential to revisit the logic and correct as necessary if the unrealistic result
is shown. For example; the Excessive Free Floats are found or project completion
date is shorten significantly. This could also be on the advantage side if the effort
spent in fixing the logic is worth as the changes made in schedule that project team
believes that is achievable and make sense to them.

Tips for beginners

How to change schedule calculation setting to Retained Logic or Progress Override??
Step-1 Go to Tools on the menu bar, click Schedule or Press F9.

Step-2 When Schedule window box appear, click Options

Step-3 Choose the prefer option either Retained Logic or Progress Override.

Why Out of sequence activity occurs??

There are two reasons.
Unavailability of the detailed level of scope
As the result of uncompleted engineering design/constructability study or rough estimation of
activity duration, activity description/name could lead to design generic activity name and
longer duration. (I.e. level 2 activities instead of level 3 or 4).
The opportunity and changes of conditions
As the contractor is doing everything possible to achieve more progress when the project is

under way although the appropriate logical sequence has been agreed when the baseline
schedule is being developed.
For example; Construction work may start before engineering design 100% complete
although everyone agreed to start onsite construction only after 100% design work is done
during schedule development. This could be as the result of Client forced to start Contractor
as engineering design is already delayed for several weeks and taking the calculated risk of
reworks due to uncompleted engineering works.
Another reason is that Contractor chooses to start any works where work fronts are available
so as to earn a steady progress.
How to find the out of sequence activity??
Out of sequence activity can be observed using Gantt chart (Fig.1 & 2) and Schedule log.
To view the schedule log;
Step-1 Press > F9
Step-2 Go to view log, open the log

Step-3 Find the out of sequence activities under warnings section in schedule log notepad.

If there is a significant amount of in-progress activities with out-of-sequence, consider

revising logic according to change management procedures and then update the most current
baseline to reflect the changes. Any modification in the schedule may make a schedule
unsuitable for comparison with the baseline if the baseline isn't updated accordingly which
make progress monitoring difficult.
Conclusion
I prefer to use Retained Logic most of the time as it predicts the worst case scenario outcome
that give me the opportunity to the find the gap between the plan and actual sequences. That
could also help to bring the discussion on to the table so as to resolve the issue as soon as
possible or identity new risks and opportunities. I also use Progress Override option to find
out the difference between two options and take the corrective action as necessary.
Do you have any other advantages and disadvantages of each option? Share with us in the
comment section.

P6 Filters Most Used in Schedule Reporting (Activity Filtering)-Part1

Suppose you are working on a project or maintenance schedule with thousands of activities,
then you might want to make the report (layout) for the activities scheduled to start in next 3
weeks, weekly plan(weekly progress status) report, executive summary report, milestone
reports, traffic-light report, and schedule analysis reports and so on. You can set the criteria
that determine which activities in P6 displays in the layout or project report. With the

combination of filters criteria and grouping activity column, you can make customized
layouts (reports) for your team.
The most used filters in schedule reporting and activity filtering are
(1) Lookahead filters
(2) Schedule Analysis Filters
(3) Activity Name & ID Filters
(4) Resource Filters

1-How to Prepare Lookahead Filters

1-1. Check existing filters first,
It is good to check any existing filters when you think you need a filter so as to avoid a mess
of filters in your filters list. You dont have to start from scratch when you built a filter.
1) To view the existing filters, go to View then go to Filters,

Otherwise, simply click on filter icon as show in fig below.

2) You could find predefined filters: 2 Week Lookahead, 6-Moth Lookahead, 8 Week
Lookahead filters in Global Filter section.
3) Then select 2 Week Lookahead Filter for instance, select Modify to see and understand
filter criteria.

4) Once you click on Modify, you will see predefined 2 Week Lookahead Filter box as
shown below. Click Ok if you are fine with filter criteria.

5) Use this predefined filter to display any activity planned to start in 2 week from data date
(progress cut of date) and in-progress activity. For example, see below snapshot.

If you have a privilege to modify Global Filter, you can see this. But dont worry. You
can copy it to see in your user defined filter list if you are not authorized to modify in
Global Filter.

1-2 In case you need to prepare

Customized Lookahead Filter
1) Then copy Global filter to your user filter.
2) Select and copy one of Lookahead Filter as shown in below.

3) Select Paste to see that filter to your user defined filter list.

4) Select 2 Week Lookahead Filter in User Defined filter list and Click Modify. Then,
Filter box will appear to start modify as you need.
5) Enter high value parameter DD+3W for 3 week schedule (DD is for Data Date, W is
for Week). Enter DD+5D for 5 Day Lookahead schedule (D is for Day).

1-3 How to Build Lookahead filters that

also show completed or in progress in last
week
Your project team might want to highlight the activities either in-progress (started) or
completed in last week from data date and activities going to start in 3 weeks. Your project
member may want to take credit on not only for the activities that are in progress but for the
activities that have been completed. In this case,
1) Select an existing Lookahead filter, and then select copy and paste.
2) Once you have copied an existing filter, a new filter will appear with _1 as a suffix to
existing filter name.

3) Select that new filter with _1, then click on Modify tag and give a new filter name 3
Week Lookahead for easy reference.

4) Change the filter Parameter as below.

Any of the following;
Where Start Date is within a range of DD-1W, DD+3W
OR

Finish Date is within a range of DD-1W, DD+3W

Once you applied above filter, activity list within criteria will be displayed. For instance, see
below.

1-4 How to Build Filters that Show Critical

Activities in 3 week
You might also want to search critical activities or longest path activities within 3 weeks so
that you can highlight your project team to take immediate action. You just need to select
Critical and 3 Week Lookahead filter to review Critical Activities within 3 Week time.
1) Select predefined filter Critical in Default filter list.

2) Select 3 Week Lookahead Filter in your User defined Filter list.

If 3 Week Lookahead Filter is not in your filter list, create a new filter.
To create 3 Week Lookahead Filter, follow the steps as stated in 1-2 In case you need to
prepare Customized Lookahead Filter and 1-3-How to Build Lookahead filters that also
show completed or in-progress activity in last week.

P6 Filters Most Used in Schedule Reporting (Activity Filtering)-Part2

Prepare Schedule Analysis Filters

In last week, P6 Filters Most Used in Schedule Reporting (Activity Filtering)-Part1 has been
published and we have discussed how to build Lookahead filters. This week, we will discuss
on Schedule Analysis Filters.

If you are working on level3 schedule, it involves baseline schedule quality assessment and
analysing project status. This can be achieved by using schedule analysis filters also known
as schedule review filters. The most common used filers are
(1) Analysing Critical Activity
(2) Combined Filters (existing) to analyse Constraint, Negative Float, In progress and
Milestone Critical activities
(3) Analysing Total Floats
(4) Filter for Delayed (Behind Schedule) Activities
(5) Current Milestone Variance against Baseline
(6) No relationship (Broken Logic) Activities

1-Default Filter for

Analysing Critical Activity
1) To find critical activities, Select predefined filter
Critical listed under Default Filter list. See below.

To understand more on default Critical filter, lets find

out what criteria is set for Critical Filter.
- To view filter criteria, you need to copy it to user defined filter as you are not allowed to
modify in default filter list.
- Once you have copied to user defined filter, select "Modify" to see filter criteria.
- Filter criteria for Critical: Critical equal yes (It means that critical activities will be
displayed as set in project default setting). See figure below.
- As P6 project default setting for Critical is set to Total Float Less than or equal to 0, use
this P6 default filter Critical if you intent to search critical activities with Total Float
duration less than or equal to 0hour (day).

2) To find longest path activities scheduled to be done,

select Longest Path listed under Default Filter list.

To understand more on default Longest Path filter, view

filter criteria.
- To view filter criteria, select "Longest Path" filter , then copy it to user defined filter as you
are not allowed to modify in default filter list.
- Once "Longest Path" filter is in user defined filter, select "Modify" to see filter criteria.
Then, you will see criteria for Longest Path filter has been set as below.

NOTE:
Make sure you understand very well how the critical activities are defined and set in your
project setting when you are dealing with longest path or critical activities.
All the critical activities may not be on longest path but longest path activities are all critical
if Make open-ended activities critical and Total Float less than or equal to have been
selected in Schedule Options box and project default setting. See below figures.

In Schedule Options window (Select Make open-ended

activities critical and Total Float less than or equal to)

In Project Default Setting (Select Total Float less than or

equal to)

2- Combined Filters (existing) to analyse

Constraint, Negative Float, In progress and
Milestone Critical activities
P6 existing default filters are handy to analyse in-depth schedule analysis if you know how to
utilize them.
1) To find Critical Activities with Finish Constraint, select both Critical and Has Finish
Constraint. See below.

2) To find Critical activities with Start Constraint, select both Critical and Has Start
Constraint.
3) To find Remaining Critical activities that have been started (in progress), select both
Critical and In progress.
4) To find Negative float (total float less than 0 duration), select Negative Float filter.
5) In case you might just want to review critical milestone activities, then select both
Critical and Milestone.
6) To find milestone activities on longest path, select Longest Path and Milestone.

3- How to Create Customized Filter for

Analysing Total Floats
Suppose you are working on a major capital project with thousands of activities. Then, you
might want to review activities with total floats, for instance.
(a) 0 to 5 days (you may want to define as critical)

(b) 5 to 20 days (you may want to define as near critical)

(c) More than 30 days (you may want to analyse the excessive free float using this criteria)

To build a filter to find the activities with Total Float (0 to

5 days),
1) Go to Filter, then select New to create new filter.

2) Untitled filter (a new filter) box as shown in below will appear the moment New tag is
clicked.

3) Set filter criteria and give filter name

(A) Select Total Float from drop down list
(B) Select is within range of
(C) Enter 0 for low value and 5d for high value to return float within 0 to 5 days
(D) Give a filter name that make sense for everyone, Total Float = 0 to 5 days

4) Once you have done item (3) , click Ok and then select Apply to see filter result.

-To build a filter to find the activities with Total Float (5 to

20 days),
1) Follow the same steps as above (0 to 5 days total float),
2) But you just need to enter 5d (low value) and 20d (high value) to return activities with total
float within 5 to 20 days

-To build a filter to find the activities with Total Float

more than 30 days,
Follow the same steps as above (0 to 5 days total float), with the following changes.
(A) Select is greater than
(B) Enter 30d to find the activities with total float duration more than 30 days. See below.

4- How to build filter for Delayed (Behind

Schedule) Activities
It is handy to create a filter that search delayed activities in case your project is running
behind schedule. By using Behind Schedule Filter, those delayed activities can be
highlighted to action owners so that they can stay focus on their action items. You need to
know how to build And and Or options filter (create a nested filter) in order you to build
behind schedule activities filter.
Follow the following steps by steps procedure,
1) Go to Filter, then select New to create new filter.
2) Untitled filter (a new filter) box will appear the moment New tag is clicked.
3) Name the filter as Behind Schedule Activities.
4) Select Any of the following (see below)

5) Select All of the following in 2nd row.

6) Add BL Project Finish in 3rd row. Project Baseline must be available in your project in
order to use this filter. If you are unsure how to maintain and assign a project baseline, learn
more at How to fix the problem Baseline Changes with the Data Date changes

7) In 3rd row, set the parameter as BL Project Finish is less than or equals to DD,
Add Activity Status is not equal to Completed in 4th row.

8) Select 1st row and add new row for additional criteria.

9) The moment Add tag is selected, a new row (2*) appears as 2nd row of the filter and the
additional function or also appears in the filter box as below.

10) Select the new row (2*) and click Add to add an additional rows.

11) Once a new row (3*) appear, select BL Project Start and set the criteria as is less than
DD.
12) Then, add a new row again (4*) and select Activity Status from drop-down list. Set the
criteria as equals Not Started.
Finally, you have built a filter that return
(a) Activity planned to started before status date but not yet started
(b) Activity planned to finish by status date but not completed.

13) Click OK to close filter box window, then Apply filter to run filter.
You should be able to review activity lists that are behind schedule as below.

5- How to Filter to Show

Current Milestone Variance

against Baseline
Suppose you want to analyse your project status against project milestones. You also want to
highlight current project milestone date variance to management. Then you need to select
(a) Variance Baseline Project Start Date filter
(b) Milestone filter and
(c) Not completed filter
1) First of all, build a customized filter for Variance-BL Project Start Date as this is not in
predefined filter list.
2) Go to Filter, then select New to create new filter.
3) Untitled filter (a new filter) box will appear the moment New tag is clicked.
4) Name the filter that makes sense for project team. For instance, Variance Baseline Project
SD not equals to 0 (see below).
5) Select Variance-BL Project Start Date from Parameter drop-down list and set the criteria
as Variance BL Project Start Date is not equal to 0d (d for Date). See below figure.

6) Click Ok and select the existing predefined filters Milestone and Not Completed to
filter remaining milestone activities.

Finally, you should be able to see schedule variance for Milestone as below. Negative
schedule variance means project is behind schedule and positive means project is ahead of
schedule.

NOTE:

Show the column Variance-BL Project Start Date to see schedule variance in activities
view.
Select Project Baseline Milestone bar in Bars window to see milestone schedule variance
on Gantt chart. Project Baseline must be available in your project in order to use this filter. If
you are unsure how to assign
and maintain project baseline line, learn more at How to fix the problem Baseline Changes
with the Data Date changes

6- How to Filter No relationship (Broken

Logic) Activities
In order to monitor project performance, make sure you have a good schedule. All activities
must have a predecessor and a successor except project start and finish. So check any broken
project logic activities when you review project schedule.
Follow the following steps by steps procedure,
1) Go to Filter, then select New to create new filter.
2) Untitled filter (a new filter) box will appear the moment New tag is clicked.
3) Name the filter as No relationship activities.
4) Select Any of the following and add (see below)

5) Select Predecessor in 2nd row. Set the parameter Predecessors equals blank. See
below.

6) Select 2nd row and add a new (3rd row) to set filter parameter as Successors equals
blank. See below.

7) Click Ok and Apply to run the filter.

8) Show Predecessors and Successors columns if you want to display activities with no
relationship. All activities (completed and remaining activities) with broken logic are
displayed if you just use this filter alone.

9) Select additional filter Not Completed from Global filter list to show remaining
activities with no relationship (broken logic). See below.

I hope you learnt how to build Schedule Analysis Filter by now. Happy Scheduling.