From P6 to Oracle Primavera Cloud. (Product Range, Implementation Types and Why you need to Migrate to Cloud)

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1. The Primavera Product Range Explained

Since the original Primavera P6 was acquired by Oracle in 2008, the product set has grown significantly and now includes multiple applications. This has come about mainly through acquisition, but also includes some newly developed software. 

The breadth of options available sometimes causes confusion for both our existing and potential clients as to which product is actually right for them, so in this article we’ve aimed to provide a helpful digest of what’s what and make the decision process that little easier.

For the purpose of this piece we have not included the Textura product sets, which shall be covered in another article. We’ve also left out Primavera Risk Analysis owing to it being gradually phased out, as its functions are fulfilled across other products in the Primavera suite.

The product list is as follows:

  • P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management 
  • Unifier 
  • Gateway 
  • Aconex
  • Primavera Cloud (aka Prime)
  • Primavera Submittal Exchange Cloud Service

Primavera P6 EPPM and P6 Professional 

P6 EPPM is the flagship product for globally prioritising, planning, managing and executing projects, programs and portfolios. P6 EPPM comprises two flavours: P6 Web Access and P6 Professional. These applications can be deployed on-premise, on the Oracle cloud or on other non-Oracle hosted platforms.

P6 Professional is designed to handle large scale, highly complex projects allowing you to organise up to 100,000 activities with unlimited resources. P6 Professional can also be deployed as a stand-alone application (known as PPM)

Team Member is an additional component which uses mobile interfaces such as phones or tablets to provide a quick, convenient and easy way to update project status. 

Key features of P6 include:

  • Flexible user interface
  • Streamlined enterprise reporting
  • Team member interfaces for gathering status updates
  • Integrated risk management
  • Resource management and optimization views

Unifier

This powerful project controls platform is truly the best-in-class, offering a project lifecycle management solution that is second to none. It includes workflow, business rules and earned value, along with management functionalities for:

  • Cost and function
  • Document control
  • Contract and change

Also included are capital planning, project delivery, real estate management and more. Unifier provides governance across all project phases, from planning and building to ongoing operations and management, giving you real-time visibility across projects enabling you to make fast, accurate – and cost effective – decisions.

Straight out of the box, Unifier is simple to deploy and use, but its real strength is in its ability to meet your own specific needs, with the option to create custom functionalities to accommodate bespoke business processes executed within the project controls function.

This is done without the need to write any code, by building your own functionality and using workflow and form configuration. The benefit of this is that it can mitigate the need to implement another specialist software product, putting everything you need underneath one roof while still meeting the industry standard and custom requirements.

Unifier is also deployable on-premise or in the cloud, such as via the Oracle Primavera SaaS option.

Gateway

Gateway is the glue that really sticks other applications together, creating a connected product set capable of sending data between a raft of Oracle Primavera solutions and other Oracle and third-party applications, such as Oracle PeopleSoft Projects (ESA) and SAP.

It can be implemented both on-premise and in the cloud, both Oracle and non-Oracle, where it will enable you to optimise resource usage and improve data consistency between applications.

Key Features include:

  • Web-enabled user interface
  • Application-agnostic integration capability for Primavera applications
  • Standard Java application with no dependency on third-party middleware
  • Extensible integration solution with configuration and customisation options for each business application
  • Designed for scalability and high-performance data exchange

Aconex

Aconex was acquired by Oracle as a project collaboration solution that connects with Primavera P6, complementing the existing Oracle Primavera suite. It offers project communication and collaboration including RFIs Transmittals, Submittals, project cost management, mobile updating and other functionalities surrounding the project collaboration space.

It’s a non-configurable, cloud-based management solution aimed specifically at the construction industry, enabling companies to effectively plan, build and operate complex projects.

For owners, it offers a clear and complete oversight of the project delivery, aiding risk mitigation and an easy handover process. For contractors, it facilitates a common environment for all project delivery and controls data, making it easier to keep projects both on schedule and on budget.

Key benefits of Aconex include:

  • A single source of truth for communications, documents, processes, and models, allowing you to quickly find what you need
  • Stay in control and keep processes moving, including reviews, submittals, and RFIs
  • The most connected processes and data provide insights to keep projects on track

Primavera Cloud

Primavera Cloud (previously known as Prime) is the jack-of-all-trades in the Oracle Primavera arsenal. A comprehensive, cloud-based solution, it comprises tools that allow executives, project members and field users to deliver projects and portfolios effectively, efficiently and with confidence. The huge range of functions spans:

  • Project and portfolio scheduling
  • Resource management
  • Project costing
  • Project and portfolio selection and management
  • Risk management and analysis
  • Contract and change management (including budget management and funding management)
  • Project collaboration (including functionalities like inspections)

Primavera Cloud also provides a native, purpose-built mobile application that allows users to access portfolio, project, documents, scope and activity related information in both online and offline mode.

Key features include:

  • Context-driven rich and lightweight user interface
  • Global search and navigation to major functional areas
  • Built-in workflows with an option to expand via configuration
  • Web-based interface with no client installation or plug-ins
  • Review and approval of updates to ensure project integrity
  • Embedded analytics
  • iPad and iPhone applications that support on- or offline project status updates
  • Ability to access, mark up and locally save all project documents via a mobile device

Primavera Submittal Exchange Cloud Service

If you are looking for an application to manage construction documents, Primavera Submittal Exchange Cloud Service is a secure, online system for electronically exchanging, reviewing and archiving design and construction project documentation.

Main features include:

  • Collaboration to give all project team members access to their portion of the project’s logs
  • Project setup allowing expected items from your specification manual or submittal register to be organised and uploaded
  • Document management enabling you to manage construction submittals, RFIs, RFPs, drawings, specifications, closeouts and more
  • Easy up- and download of multiple document types including Word, PDF, Excel, CAD and image files
  • HTML format archive available for download at any time for every project 

Many of the products work together as an integrated solution or will integrate with other software products and cloud environments, not just those from the Oracle Primavera suite. 

Get in touch to find out more and for help deciding which Oracle product is right for you or click here for more information to guide your choice.

2. Six reasons to bring Primavera P6 to the cloud.

Primavera P6 has established itself as the leading software for project scheduling & control and especially for complex projects in engineering & construction. However, not every P6 implementation is the same. Four different implementation types can be distinguished with differences in architecture and functionality. In this blog post we will focus on the advantages of the most recent one, P6 Primavera Cloud.

4 different implementation types

These are the possible implementation types:

  1. P6 Professional stand-alone: the P6 Professional client application and the database are installed locally on a single PC. No internet access is required.  
  2. P6 Professional PPM: same functionalities as P6 Professional stand-alone, but because the database is installed on a server, multiple users can work together on integrated schedules in a single database.  
  3. P6 EPPM: in the EPPM version many additional functionalities are offered compared to the P6 Professional. All these new functionalities are accessed through the web interface. They include enterprise resource management, risk management, BI reporting, portfolio analysis and, my personal favorite, the P6 Team Member application. P6 EPPM is designed for role-based usage. Key users can still use their familiar P6 Professional client interface to connect to the EPPM database for scheduling purposes.  
  4. Primavera Cloud: it has the same functionality as P6 EPPM, but the server is in the cloud or more correctly at an Oracle data center. Even in this setting, key users can still use the P6 Professional client interface and connect to the database in the cloud. The installation of P6 Professional was never easier by the so-called ClickOnce, which enables users to install and run P6 Professional by clicking a link on a web page.

6 reasons to opt for P6 Cloud Services

Historically, most of our customers have a type 1 or 3 implementation. But since the end of 2016, we have been stimulating new clients to go to 4, the cloud. In this article, we will give six reasons why we think you should consider moving to the cloud.  

  1. The total cost of ownership is likely to be lower and much more transparent. No IT-infrastructure costs, installation and upgrading costs, IT personnel, maintenance contracts, etc. Simply, a monthly fee per user. Parameters depend on your situation, but we have seen that the cloud is often the cheaper option in an honest comparison.  
  2. Single point of responsibility. It is Oracle’s sole responsibility that the system works and has good performance. Your IT department and your local Primavera partner (who installs P6 EPPM on premise) no longer have an impact on performance.  Going from three to one link in the chain has many advantages. It is clear who must solve service requests. 
  3. Easy upgrade. An organization can opt to upgrade to and roll-out a newer (monthly) release of Primavera P6 Cloud with a simple request by the administrator. P6 Professional client users will then be notified when a new version is available and can use ClickOnce to upgrade.
  4. Integration and scalability. Primavera P6 Cloud Services integrates easily with other products such as Primavera Analytics and Prime Projects. Primavera Analytics and Gateway for integration are such technically heavy products that on premise installation was only possible for the lucky few. Now that they are available as cloud services, these add-ons to P6 are very easy to access. The functional possibilities are vast. We will soon talk about Primavera Analytics in a later blog post.  
  5. Extended enterprise. We have been advocates for owners and contractors to integrate their schedules into one master schedule (in one database) for some time. This way of working ensures that there is a single version of the truth for the entire project.  The common practice of importing and exporting XER files is cumbersome (versions mismatches, different settings, etc.) and not without risk. Working together in one database has been wishful thinking for a long time because few IT department allowed their contractual counterpart access to their servers. With the introduction of the cloud this will change. Extended enterprise implementations are popping-up at a rapid pace. Several recent mega projects (such as le Grand Paris*) have chosen to work all together in one secured database. Advantages of this approach range from increased transparency to improved efficiency.  
  6. Security. Surprised? Do you really think that your own local server is safer than those of Oracle Data Centers which are subject to the highest security policies? Most probably not.  

Do you see other advantages or disadvantages? Please leave a comment.  

Feel free to contact us for any inquiry on Primavera Product Range. We are glad to look at your parameters to investigate a potential cloud move.  

References: 1. https://primaned.be/en/p6-to-the-cloud/ ~ 2. http://www.rpc.uk.com/insights/latest-news/from-p6-to-oracle-primavera-cloud-the-primavera-product-range-explained.php

Further Reading: https://www.oracle.com/ae/industries/construction-engineering/aconex-products.html and https://www.oracle.com/industries/construction-engineering/primavera-cloud/

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