Chapter 1

Introduction to Primavera P6

1.1 Introduction
Primavera was launched in 1983 by Primavera Systems Inc. and was acquired by Oracle
Corporation in 2008.Primavera software includes project management, product
management, collaboration and control capabilities and integrates with other enterprise
software such as Oracle and SAPs ERP systems.

1.2 History
Products and versions
As of 2008 Primavera Systems supported long-established products - P3 and Sure-Trak and the newer P6 version. The long-standing P3 product in its various forms was used by
25% of the heavy construction industry, its predominate customer base; the next most
popular software was used by 11%.Nearly 40% of general contractors with an annual
revenue of $5M to $10M used Primavera P3. In comparison the P6 version did not
register in a CFMA 2008 survey of the United States construction industry. The P3
version to P6 version change is based in a move from DOS-type shortcut keys to mousebased icons. Thus a software application that was once very fast to use but grounded in
shortcut functions (which some users found difficult to master) moved to a mouse-based
application that is quicker to learn, but once mastered never achieves the same speed of
use. The Primavera Project Planner DOS core launched in 1983and the P3 Windows
interface launched in 1994.

After a 27-year version life, Oracle ceased sales of the P3 and SureTrak versions on
December 31, 2010.
In 2012, Primavera P6 EPPM Upgrade Release 8.2 added capabilities for governance,
project-team participation, and project visibility. Mobile PPM was introduced through
Primaveras P6 Team Member for iPhone and Team Member Web Interface, to streamline
communications between project team members in the field and in the office. In addition,
Primavera P6 Analytics Release 2.0 gained new enterprise-reporting tools and dashboards
for monitoring and analyzing performance data, including geospatial analysis.
Organizations could also investigate comparative trends and cause-and-effect in multiple
projects with Primavera Contract Management Release 14 as it included the reportwriting capabilities of Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher.
In April 2013 Oracle Corporation announced the release of version 8.4 of Primavera P6
Enterprise Project Portfolio Management. This version incorporated material from
Oracle's acquisitions of Skire and Instantis in 2012.

1.3 Current Software by Oracle Primavera

Today, Oracle Primavera services project-intensive industries such as engineering and
construction, aerospace and defense, utilities, oil and gas, chemicals, industrial
manufacturing, automotive, financial services, communications, travel and transportation,
healthcare, and government.

The PGBU is currently focusing on providing web-based Enterprise Project Portfolio

Management software that encompasses resource allocation, cost reduction, supply-chain
efficiency, and decision-makingusing real-time data, for the Enterprise market.

Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management

Primavera P6 Professional Project Management

Primavera P6 Analytics

Primavera Portfolio Management

Primavera Contract Management

Primavera Risk analysis

Primavera Inspire for SAP

Primavera Earned Value Management

Primavera Contractor

Primavera Unifier

1.4 Primavera P6
The recognized standard for high-performance project management Primavera P6 Professional
Project Management, handles large-scale, highly sophisticated and multifaceted projects.

Organize projects of up to 100,000 activities with unlimited resources and an unlimited number
of target plans

Protect Yourself Against Claims

With Primavera applications, you can rigorously enforce a consistent process and
workflow, from requests for information (RFIs) to change orders. And with the sound
Primavera documenting capabilities, you can ensure accountability for all project partici
pants as well as collaboration across the team. The Primavera product line also enables
you to manage updated contracts and maintain rigorous change order processes to reduce
claims.
Boost Profitability through Standardization

Primavera solutions enable you to standardize your business processes and best practices
across all your projects. With everyone using common tools to communicate, you
enhance

project collaboration and execution. The benefits are greater consistency,

meaningful metrics, and standardized reports across projectswhich ultimately lead to a

better bottom line.
Project ManagementAny Time, Anywhere

With projects located throughout the region and the world, you need a project
management solution that can scale precisely to your needs. Only the Primavera product
line brings you a system that is 100 percent accessible over the Web and as easy to
deploy and use in your home office as it is in the field.
Avoid Costly Surprises

Primavera solutions provide immediate access to critical project information for realtime, informed decision-making. With superior analysis and forecast metrics, you will
spot prob
lems early, mitigate risks, and make practical course correctionslong before a crisis
occurs.
Optimize Labor, Equipment, and Materials With the Primavera product line, you can balance

all resource requirements across multiple projects for labor, materials, and equipment. Its
resource management and capacity planning functionality lets you identify capacity
requirements for meeting future project and program needs.

Plan, Manage, Control, and Deliver Projects of Any Size

Standardize Best Practices Primavera solutions prevent surprises by helping you optimize

business processes and evaluate and mitigate project risks with organizationwide
visibility into project-level leading indicators, project performance metrics, and actualcost worksheets. You can perform multiple analysesby division, owner, type of
project, funding source, and moreand access real-time information for sound decisionmaking through intuitive, personally configurable dashboards.
Assess Project Performance

Primavera solutions help you meet business objectives by aligning your projects and
programs with strategic business objectives through advanced what-if scenario modeling,
capacity analysis, tabular scorecards, rich graphics, and resource optimization. With
powerful analytics, you can see across projects to prioritize your backlog, plan and
allocate resources, proactively manage your business, and easily communicate the
performance of projects and programs to stakeholders. With dynamically linked

graphical analysis, you can control cash flow by quickly tracking current and future cash
flow impact and other critical business metrics across your programs.
Control Job Costs

With Primavera solutions, you can monitor performance across multiple projects at a
glance, all the way to completion. Configurable key project performance indicators,
includ ing actuals-based performance forecasts, foster proactive action so your projects
are kept on

track. The program-level cost worksheet automatically collects and

summarizes cost details across multiple projects, so you can track program costs at every
step. You can group and organize information in an easy-to-read spreadsheet to quickly
understand variances.

Revolutionize Your Project Execution and Program Management

Amid challenging economic conditions and an era of heightened accountability, the
importance of operational excellence may perhaps be at an all-time high. Architecture,
engineering, and construction firms cannot afford to rely on the project delivery approach
of the past. Every new project must not only be aligned with strategic business objectives
but must also be delivered successfully, on time, and within budget every time. In this
difficult collaboration environment, firms must leverage effective technology to maintain
accountability, achieve project and program transparency, and standardize best practices
to ensure ongoing business success.
For 25 years, businesses have embraced Primavera project and program management solu
tions to make better decisions, improve project delivery, and effectively prioritize projects
and resources to deliver tangible business value. Oracles comprehensive, end-to-end set
of project and program management solutions is designed to reflect the unique business

processes and challenges that architecture, engineering, and construction firms face
today, enabling them to

Chapter 2
Planning in Scheduling in Primavera

Chapter 3
Literature Review

3.1 Project Management

Since 1983 the Primavera Systems (http://www.oracle.com) have been developing their
PMS package for construction and today it has become a leading provider of the Project

Portfolio

Management

(PPM)

solutions

for

the

construction

industry

Galloway(2007)Primavera is suitable for project-oriented and mature companies that one can
mainly find in developed countries. However, Primavera can rarely be found in the transitional
economies. Furthermore, while Primavera was once mostly used to handle large and complex
projects, today it is also used for many projects valued at under $100 000 Kim .K (2012)

The first version of Microsoft Project (www.microsoft.com/project/) was released for the DOS
platform in 1984. The application was designed primarily as an easy-to-use tool. Since its birth,
the MS Project has always been a popular tool among the project managers , but has never
become the number one PM tool. This is even more evident in the construction industry, as it was
never entirely aligned with the industry's special processes and procedures

Along with the managerial purposes, the PMS can also serve as a quality management
system. Thus, it can act as an enabler of the PM and IS improvement and as such, it plays
an integral part in managements of the construction projects [ ]. Furthermore, today's
PM standards, i.e. BS 6079- 1:2002 and BS 6079-2:2000 define and advocate the use of
the IS/IT in project management. The presence of the PMS becomes even more important
when considering the fact that many construction organizations in the transitional
economies have no such system in place as the management education was not present in
SEE during the socialist regime . Therefore, any improvement of the PMS will probably
influence the industry's performance

Gala (http://gala-construction-software.com/) stepped onto the market in 2003 as a PMS for the
SEE construction industry. It uses a large database of normative work, material, equipment, and it

provides analysis of the cost. While the SEE civil engineering standards aid managers in
producing the estimates, Gala is aligned with the SEE business conduct and it supports on-site
management and procedures prescribed by local regulations. Through the double loop learning,
GALA also supports quality assurance in PM. However, its application in a multi-project
environment is of a limited use.
If a construction company wants to implement a PMS that is aligned with the SEE business
conduct, in our review of the three PMSs, we concluded that it should use the Gala.
However, if it wants to implement a detailed enterprise portfolio project management (EPPM),
made for the environment of developed economies, it should use the Primavera, and lastly if it
wants to use a simple multi- purpose tool, it should use the MS Project

In the past, the construction industry was focused on the economics,

time and safety of construction projects. In the past few years
environmental considerations along with community impacts have also
been major factors in the construction process. Electronic project
management makes it possible for managers and construction
engineers to keep up with the new trends in construction. The Journal
of Construction Engineering has an article entitled Construction
Engineering Today published September 20, 2010 that highlights the
issues involved with a specific construction project as well as the
methods that were used in solving them. The challenge with using data
analysis is providing meaningful data rather than just interesting
information. It is also important to obtain all the information that will
be necessary in analyzing the data in order to best utilize the data
collection. Software has provided for more efficient design and

construction solutions which translate directly to more cost-effective

designs. Electronic project management software isnt beneficial to the
project unless it is utilized effectively and in order to do that the
communication between all members of the project must be timely
and open. The use of electronic time cards and field information
systems has allowed the increased use of unit costs as the metric
because the actual unit costs are available on-screen as soon as they
are input into the program.
Construction Engineering Today highlights their approach to assuring
all measures of the construction process are covered. They suggest
laying out an initial work plan that contains step-by-step sequences,
details for each step, safety, environment, community, quality,
responsibilities, budget and schedule. The management team must
first define the problem that is going to be addressed and then develop
a solution to the problem with a work plan. The management has the
opportunity to go through the plan and identify any potential issues
before they arise and cost the contractor money. Weekly meetings are
held to go over daily coordination and budget and schedule metrics
that will be utilized in the phase of the construction they are on. The
productivity measures that they are looking to obtain with the
electronic project management software are defined in the work plan
and are used as the baseline for improvement as the project
progresses. If the plan is not communicated effectively, it becomes

useless. At the end of the day, the plan is summarized on a single page
with the key information for that days activities. The paper concludes
with the education required for todays construction process and
emphasizes that eh skills need to be taught using basic tools so that
the skills are learned rather than the software being learned so the
software can eventually be another helpful tool, rather than a crutch
used in place of the construction knowledge.

3.2Techniques
Chevron in Alaska: The Quest for Oil and Natural Gas in America's
Largest State
With the help of Primavera P6, the organization is streamlining its business processes,
and building a more collaborative environment across Alaska. Averon (2012
Chevron is one of the world's largest integrated energy companies and the leading
marketer of refined products in North America. Its interests range from exploring and
producing oil and natural gas to manufacturing, marketing and transportation, chemicals
manufacturing and sales, geothermal and power generation. The company is also
committed to developing "green" alternative fuels to meet the rising global demand for
clean energy.
The Challenge: Coordinating multiple projects across a vast region
Chevron's U.S. upstream operations are concentrated in the San Joaquin Valley in
California, the near shore and deepwater Gulf of Mexico, the MidContinent states of

Alabama, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming, and onshore
and offshore Alaska.
Although Chevron has an interest on the Alaska North Slope, Chevron's affiliate Union
Oil Company of California has an extensive investment in the Cook Inlet Basin in the
Southcentral area of the state, where it operates 10 oil rigs and five producing natural gas
fields. Responsibility for maintaining and upgrading the organization's current facilities,
as well as developing new above ground infrastructure, lies with the Facilities
Engineering Group.
"We have multiple projects that are using the same crews and resources, and we're trying
to manage all of these as one big project," says Bill Davidson, FE project planner for
Chevron's Facilities Engineering Group.
Making that difficult was the fact that many of the Group's projects were siloed. "We've
probably got 50 projects going at any given time and about $60 to $80 million dollars
worth of projects that we're working on," explains Tom Gould, FE projects coordinator
for

Chevron's

Facilities

Engineering

Group.

"We were using another scheduling tool, which meant an individual file for each
schedule, and we couldn't manipulate the data. We had poor integration of our projects
and no one was sure who was doing what."
The need for visibility
Without visibility into its projects across Alaska, the Group had no way of mitigating
construction delays. "We don't want to start construction on a particular project until
another project finishes because they may share the same crew," says Davidson. "If

construction on the first project is delayed, it also pushes out the other project. We needed
a

way

to

coordinate

that."

Chevron was also having difficulty monitoring the progress of its projects. The inability
to integrate costs with schedules made it difficult for project managers to be sure of
whether

they

were

on

time

and

on

budget.

The Solutions: Oracle Primavera P6 for Portfolio Management

In early 2008, Chevron turned to Primavera P6 in order to manage its widespread projects
as part of one portfolio.
"The Number One reason we're using Primavera is for portfolio management," says
Davidson. "Today, using one centralized database is allowing us to manipulate our data to
get

what

we

want

from

it."

"We now have the capacity to link projects and let the logic flow," he adds. "It's easy to
filter for certain types of projects to look at how they play against each other. For
example, we can request data for a particular platform project, or for all the projects
being

handled

by

one

project

manager."

Efficiencies through better communication

One of the most critical areas for Chevron's project coordination is offshore. An oil
platform can accommodate only a certain number of people at a time, based on how
many personnel can fit into an escape capsule in the event of an emergency. Further, the
drilling deck -- only 100 feet by 100 feet -- may have people working on as many as six
different projects, so the number of people on board and the amount of space required to
perform

the

work

must

be

addressed

in

advance.

"We're using Primavera to determine whether or not we might be exceeding our

capacity," says Davidson. "We can look at all the projects underway on that platform and
see how many people are likely to be on it at a certain time. We can move projects around
or link them up to make sure we're not courting danger because of too many people on
that platform."
The ability to predict simultaneous operations is also saving the organization money by
eliminating the potential for unnecessary mobilization costs. In the past, it was possible
for people to be transported to a platform only to be turned away for lack of space.
Integrated costs and schedules
With the help of Primavera P6, Chevron can now keep a closer eye on the money. The
integration of costs and schedules allows the organization to look at performance across
the portfolio and make decisions based on its projects collectively.
"We've got planned value in Primavera. We can spread the cash flow out. We can look at
what we plan to spend, and as committed value comes in, we can see where we are," says
Gould.
In addition, Primavera's Web-based dashboard will allow senior management in Houston
to monitor how well the Alaska asset is doing overall -- is the suite of projects ahead or
behind, and is the money budgeted being spent properly?
"We'll be able to report to Chevron management where we are with a much higher degree
of accuracy in terms of the portfolio and overall project budget," Gould explains.

Future plans include using the integrated schedules to forecast cash flow. For example, by
comparing how much the organization planned to spend in January and February with
how projects actually changed the forecast during that time, the Group will be able to get
updates on whether their cost forecasts will be accurate going forward, and take the
necessary

steps

to

stay

on

track.

The Benefits: A streamlined, collaborative environment

One of the major benefits of Primavera P6 has been the creation of a collaborative and
open office environment. "One of our biggest success stories is a new level of
collaboration among departments," says Davidson. "It facilitates Drilling talking to
Facilities Engineering, and Facilities Engineering talking to Asset Development. We're all
looking at how our particular projects impact one another and taking a new level of
ownership

of

the

data

in

the

schedules."

If it's Alaska, it's Primavera One unexpected benefit of implementing Primavera has been
a boon to its hiring efforts. In the search for schedulers to work on its many projects,
Chevron discovered that nearly all of those in the oil and natural gas industry in Alaska
are experienced in Primavera. "So moving to Primavera gave us a much wider pool of
people

available

to

develop

schedules,"

says

Centralized

Gould.
data

Today, using one centralized database is helping Chevron to eliminate disparate

information, once located in silos across the organization, and ensure that all project
managers

are

working

from

the

same

real-time

data.

The Facilities Engineering Group is now developing project controls resources and

hoping to add a cost expert to the team. The Drilling department also uses Primavera and
plans are underway to add additional departments -- Maintenance and Major Equipment,
for example -- and eventually provide access to outside contractors. "Slowly but surely,
the majority of people working in Alaska will be using the Web-based Primavera solution
to

access

information

from

the

centralized

database,"

says

Gould.

Building on the solution

The Group is looking forward to using P6 as it begins planning its 2010 budget, not only
to plan and execute its projects, but also to choose which projects to do first and which
ones

to

hold

back.

"We'll be able to see how we're doing against the budget, whether we have the right
projects underway and whether our costs are accurate," says Gould.
There are also plans to integrate Primavera with the organization's SAP financials system.
For now, planned costs are managed in Primavera, while actual costs are captured in SAP.
"We'd like to integrate that so we can report on both those things from one platform,"
explains Gould.
To date, most of the resourcing is focused on construction and project managers.
However, going forward, Gould and Davidson say they want to extend that to manage
construction

crews

as

well.

And finally, their mission is to set the stage for Primavera as the companywide standard
in a few years. "Other areas of Chevron are watching us to see if, given our experience,
the solution would work across the unit," says Davidson. "Ultimately, it has the potential

to

be

expanded

across

Chevron."

On the path to success

"Chevron made a decision to invest additional money in the Cook Inlet region, and the
visibility gained through Primavera is allowing us to better manage the asset development
portion

of

the

work,"

says

Gould.

"There's no question that we are going to continue building our success with Primavera,"
Gould adds. "The benefit today is that we now have a portfolio-type schedule that's
linked with the schedules of other groups in the building. We can manage the big picture
in terms of how they all interact with each other rather than as separate entities.
"And the ability to link those schedules with costs in one program? That's Nirvana."

Chapter 4
Construction Management

Chapter 6
Conclusion

Literature Review
Edit 0 8
References

"Chevron in Alaska: The Quest for Oil and Natural Gas in America's
Largest State." Integrated Project Management Solutions. Nu
Solutions Consulting, 2011. Web. 16 Feb. 2012. <http://www.nusolutions.com/chevron_casestudy.php>.

King, Sharon. "IT Strategies." E-mail interview. 1 Feb. 2012.

McTavish, Robert, and Robert Stallard. "Construction Engineering

Today." Journal of Construction Engineering and Management 137.10
(Oct. 2011). ASCE. EBSCOhost. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.

New Features of Primavera Contract Management Release 13.

Oracle's Primavera Contract Management, 2009. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
<http://www.oracle.com/partners/en/knowledgezone/industries/042517.pdf>.

"Primavera P6 Migration." Turner Construction. OnTrack Project

Planning and Scheduling, 30 Sept. 2009. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
<http://www.ontrackscheduling.com/images/Primavera_P6_Migration
_Turner.pdf>.

In the past, the construction industry was focused on the economics,

time and safety of construction projects. In the past few years
environmental considerations along with community impacts have
also been major factors in the construction process. Electronic project
management makes it possible for managers and construction
engineers to keep up with the new trends in construction. The Journal

of Construction Engineering has an article entitled Construction

Engineering Today published September 20, 2010 that highlights the
issues involved with a specific construction project as well as the
methods that were used in solving them. The challenge with using
data analysis is providing meaningful data rather than just interesting
information. It is also important to obtain all the information that will
be necessary in analyzing the data in order to best utilize the data
collection. Software has provided for more efficient design and
construction solutions which translate directly to more cost-effective
designs. Electronic project management software isnt beneficial to
the project unless it is utilized effectively and in order to do that the
communication between all members of the project must be timely
and open. The use of electronic time cards and field information
systems has allowed the increased use of unit costs as the metric
because the actual unit costs are available on-screen as soon as they
are input into the program.
Construction Engineering Today highlights their approach to
assuring all measures of the construction process are covered. They
suggest laying out an initial work plan that contains step-by-step
sequences, details for each step, safety, environment, community,

quality, responsibilities, budget and schedule. The management team

must first define the problem that is going to be addressed and then
develop a solution to the problem with a work plan. The management
has the opportunity to go through the plan and identify any potential
issues before they arise and cost the contractor money. Weekly
meetings are held to go over daily coordination and budget and
schedule metrics that will be utilized in the phase of the construction
they are on. The productivity measures that they are looking to obtain
with the electronic project management software are defined in the
work plan and are used as the baseline for improvement as the
project progresses. If the plan is not communicated effectively, it
becomes useless. At the end of the day, the plan is summarized on a
single page with the key information for that days activities. The
paper concludes with the education required for todays construction
process and emphasizes that eh skills need to be taught using basic
tools so that the skills are learned rather than the software being
learned so the software can eventually be another helpful tool, rather
than a crutch used in place of the construction knowledge.

Cost of Oracle Primavera from the Oracle Web Site

Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio

Management
Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management is an integrated
project portfolio management (PPM) solution comprising role-specific
functionality to satisfy each team member's needs, responsibilities, and
skills. This 100% web-based solution can be used to manage projects of
any size, adapt to various levels of complexities within a project, and
intelligently scale to meet the needs of various roles, functions, or skill
levels in your organization and on your project team.
The solution enables project-driven organizations to achieve a competitive
advantage through Enterprise PPM (Project Portfolio Management). With
Primavera, organizations will be able to better execute amid economic
uncertainty, respond quickly to unexpected changes, and create value for
their organizations and stakeholders all through effective optimization
and management of projects, programs, portfolios and people.

Primavera P6 Migration
Case Study:
Turner Construction, Inc.
OnTrack Scheduling worked closely with Turner Construction,
Sacramento Business Unit, to leverage the
value-added benefits of Primaveras latest software release,
conducting a full scale conversion from its
existing use of P3 and SureTrak, to a server-based P6 platform in a
few short weeks.
Project Goal
The goal of the P6 implementation was to create a unified scheduling
process that standardized the myriad
of project schedules developed within Turner for projects ranging
from $40 - $600 million in value.
The Process
First, OnTrack performed an assessment of Turners current project
load to determine the scope of work
for the conversion. We conducted an inventory of all projects
currently under construction, identifying the

scheduling software used for each project and determining which

ones were suitable, i.e., worthwhile, for
migration to P6. Approximately twelve schedules, comprising
between 1,000 and 6,000 activities each,
were subjected to the P6 migration process based on their size,
phase of construction, and various
specification requirements. Projects not meeting the minimum criteria
were excluded from the conversion.
OnTrack converted and imported each project schedule into P6,
seamlessly integrating all of the project
components and activities into a cohesive program for tracking,
coordinating and sharing information
among the extended project team. The initial effort was accomplished
within two to four weeks, with
final implementation occurring within a few months and ongoing
training continuing after six months.
Deliverables
In addition to migrating the schedules into P6, we produced the
following deliverables:
Standards Manual to help ensure company-wide scheduling

standards
Setup Enterprise Project Structure (EPS)*
Setup Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS)*
Setup and implementation of the Administrative Access Rights and
Security settings
Joint development of methods to further advance the
implementation of Lean Principles
Development of a Sharepoint site to serve as the central
communications hub for all things
Scheduling Related
Provided archive location for over 100 legacy projects

Ongoing Support
OnTrack continues to provide individual training to in-house project
schedulers, project executives,
project managers, superintendents and project engineers. We also
re-introduced the concept of
regularly scheduled informal internal P6 Users Group meetings.
Benefits and Results
In addition to creating a central repository for all Turner projects, the

P6 implementation has enhanced

the following functions:
Increased accessibility to data, i.e., simultaneous review of a
schedule by multiple parties via
Central Server and P6 Web.
Achieved better uniformity and consistency in schedules due to
standardization of current and past
scheduling data.
Enhanced executive reporting - company standards and projectspecific reporting in one place.
Improved data security and back-up procedures.
As a result of this successful migration, other Turner Business Units
are considering implementation of the
same processes for their scheduling operations.

Chevron in Alaska: The Quest for Oil and Natural Gas in

America's Largest State
With the help of Primavera P6, the organization is streamlining its
business processes, and building a more collaborative environment
across Alaska.

Chevron is one of the world's largest integrated energy companies

and the leading marketer of refined products in North America. Its
interests range from exploring and producing oil and natural gas to
manufacturing, marketing and transportation, chemicals
manufacturing and sales, geothermal and power generation. The
company is also committed to developing "green" alternative fuels to
meet the rising global demand for clean energy.

The Challenge: Coordinating multiple projects across a vast region

Chevron's U.S. upstream operations are concentrated in the San

Joaquin Valley in California, the near shore and deepwater Gulf of
Mexico, the MidContinent states of Alabama, Colorado, Kansas, New
Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming, and onshore and offshore
Alaska.
Although Chevron has an interest on the Alaska North Slope,
Chevron's affiliate Union Oil Company of California has an extensive
investment in the Cook Inlet Basin in the Southcentral area of the
state, where it operates 10 oil rigs and five producing natural gas
fields. Responsibility for maintaining and upgrading the organization's
current facilities, as well as developing new above ground
infrastructure, lies with the Facilities Engineering Group.
"We have multiple projects that are using the same crews and
resources, and we're trying to manage all of these as one big
project," says Bill Davidson, FE project planner for Chevron's
Facilities Engineering Group.
Making that difficult was the fact that many of the Group's projects
were siloed. "We've probably got 50 projects going at any given time
and about $60 to $80 million dollars worth of projects that we're

working on," explains Tom Gould, FE projects coordinator for

Chevron's Facilities Engineering Group.
"We were using another scheduling tool, which meant an individual
file for each schedule, and we couldn't manipulate the data. We had
poor integration of our projects and no one was sure who was doing
what."
The need for visibility
Without visibility into its projects across Alaska, the Group had no
way of mitigating construction delays. "We don't want to start
construction on a particular project until another project finishes
because they may share the same crew," says Davidson. "If
construction on the first project is delayed, it also pushes out the
other project. We needed a way to coordinate that."
Chevron was also having difficulty monitoring the progress of its
projects. The inability to integrate costs with schedules made it
difficult for project managers to be sure of whether they were on time
and on budget.

The Solutions: Oracle Primavera P6 for Portfolio Management

In early 2008, Chevron turned to Primavera P6 in order to manage its

widespread projects as part of one portfolio.
"The Number One reason we're using Primavera is for portfolio
management," says Davidson. "Today, using one centralized
database is allowing us to manipulate our data to get what we want
from it."
"We now have the capacity to link projects and let the logic flow," he
adds. "It's easy to filter for certain types of projects to look at how
they play against each other. For example, we can request data for a
particular platform project, or for all the projects being handled by one
project manager."
Efficiencies through better communication
One of the most critical areas for Chevron's project coordination is
offshore. An oil platform can accommodate only a certain number of
people at a time, based on how many personnel can fit into an
escape capsule in the event of an emergency. Further, the drilling
deck -- only 100 feet by 100 feet -- may have people working on as
many as six different projects, so the number of people on board and
the amount of space required to perform the work must be addressed

in advance.
"We're using Primavera to determine whether or not we might be
exceeding our capacity," says Davidson. "We can look at all the
projects underway on that platform and see how many people are
likely to be on it at a certain time. We can move projects around or
link them up to make sure we're not courting danger because of too
many people on that platform."
The ability to predict simultaneous operations is also saving the
organization money by eliminating the potential for unnecessary
mobilization costs. In the past, it was possible for people to be
transported to a platform only to be turned away for lack of space.
Integrated costs and schedules
With the help of Primavera P6, Chevron can now keep a closer eye
on the money. The integration of costs and schedules allows the
organization to look at performance across the portfolio and make
decisions based on its projects collectively.
"We've got planned value in Primavera. We can spread the cash flow
out. We can look at what we plan to spend, and as committed value
comes in, we can see where we are," says Gould.
In addition, Primavera's Web-based dashboard will allow senior

management in Houston to monitor how well the Alaska asset is

doing overall -- is the suite of projects ahead or behind, and is the
money budgeted being spent properly?
"We'll be able to report to Chevron management where we are with a
much higher degree of accuracy in terms of the portfolio and overall
project budget," Gould explains.
Future plans include using the integrated schedules to forecast cash
flow. For example, by comparing how much the organization planned
to spend in January and February with how projects actually changed
the forecast during that time, the Group will be able to get updates on
whether their cost forecasts will be accurate going forward, and take
the necessary steps to stay on track.

The Benefits: A streamlined, collaborative environment

One of the major benefits of Primavera P6 has been the creation of a

collaborative and open office environment. "One of our biggest
success stories is a new level of collaboration among departments,"
says Davidson. "It facilitates Drilling talking to Facilities Engineering,
and Facilities Engineering talking to Asset Development. We're all
looking at how our particular projects impact one another and taking a

new level of ownership of the data in the schedules."

If it's Alaska, it's Primavera One unexpected benefit of implementing
Primavera has been a boon to its hiring efforts. In the search for
schedulers to work on its many projects, Chevron discovered that
nearly all of those in the oil and natural gas industry in Alaska are
experienced in Primavera. "So moving to Primavera gave us a much
wider pool of people available to develop schedules," says Gould.
Centralized data
Today, using one centralized database is helping Chevron to
eliminate disparate information, once located in silos across the
organization, and ensure that all project managers are working from
the same real-time data.
The Facilities Engineering Group is now developing project controls
resources and hoping to add a cost expert to the team. The Drilling
department also uses Primavera and plans are underway to add
additional departments -- Maintenance and Major Equipment, for
example -- and eventually provide access to outside contractors.
"Slowly but surely, the majority of people working in Alaska will be
using the Web-based Primavera solution to access information from
the centralized database," says Gould.

Building on the solution

The Group is looking forward to using P6 as it begins planning its
2010 budget, not only to plan and execute its projects, but also to
choose which projects to do first and which ones to hold back.
"We'll be able to see how we're doing against the budget, whether we
have the right projects underway and whether our costs are
accurate," says Gould.
There are also plans to integrate Primavera with the organization's
SAP financials system. For now, planned costs are managed in
Primavera, while actual costs are captured in SAP. "We'd like to
integrate that so we can report on both those things from one
platform," explains Gould.
To date, most of the resourcing is focused on construction and project
managers. However, going forward, Gould and Davidson say they
want to extend that to manage construction crews as well.
And finally, their mission is to set the stage for Primavera as the
companywide standard in a few years. "Other areas of Chevron are
watching us to see if, given our experience, the solution would work
across the unit," says Davidson. "Ultimately, it has the potential to be
expanded across Chevron."

On the path to success

"Chevron made a decision to invest additional money in the Cook
Inlet region, and the visibility gained through Primavera is allowing us
to better manage the asset development portion of the work," says
Gould.
"There's no question that we are going to continue building our
success with Primavera," Gould adds. "The benefit today is that we
now have a portfolio-type schedule that's linked with the schedules of
other groups in the building. We can manage the big picture in terms
of how they all interact with each other rather than as separate
entities.
"And the ability to link those schedules with costs in one program?
That's Nirvana."

References

"Chevron in Alaska: The Quest for Oil and Natural Gas in America's
Largest State." Integrated Project Management Solutions. Nu
Solutions Consulting, 2011. Web. 16 Feb. 2012. <http://www.nusolutions.com/chevron_casestudy.php>.

King, Sharon. "IT Strategies." E-mail interview. 1 Feb. 2012.

McTavish, Robert, and Robert Stallard. "Construction Engineering

Today." Journal of Construction Engineering and Management 137.10
(Oct. 2011). ASCE. EBSCOhost. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.

New Features of Primavera Contract Management Release 13.

Oracle's Primavera Contract Management, 2009. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
<http://www.oracle.com/partners/en/knowledgezone/industries/042517.pdf>.

"Primavera P6 Migration." Turner Construction. OnTrack Project

Planning and Scheduling, 30 Sept. 2009. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
<http://www.ontrackscheduling.com/images/Primavera_P6_Migration
_Turner.pdf>.