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How can I prepare a report to see which projects use my Global Activity
Codes? ie: Can I prepare a report where I can see all the “Global Activity
Codes” used in each project in my Primavera P6 database?
Posted by one our P6 trainees, it was a question I’d been asked before
and so I was ready with my standard answer….
True, I’m not yet ready to buck the status quo on a lot of things, but
maybe I could improve how quickly I am prone to give my pat answer “P6
won’t do that.”
They let you get majorly categorizical with your projects 10,000 activities.
They let you filter, group, slice, dice and puree your project data in
umpteen ways.
Since they can be used across multiple projects and new entries are
easily imported with an xer file, Global Activity Codes can seemingly
spread like locusts in your P6 database, making a big mess.
(Ok, maybe locusts is not the right analogy, but I think you get the idea).
How to Build a Report to Audit P6 Global
Activity Codes
So I got curious, dug in and figured out how to generate a report that tells
you which Global Activity Codes are used on which projects.
If you want to audit ALL Global Activity Codes, then you’ll have to open
ALL of your database’s projects and run the report.
I have over 250 projects in my database and I can open them all at the
same time with only a slight impact on my PC’s performance.
From the Activities screen, goto Tools menu -> Report Wizard. Create
a New Report.
So here we will first set columns & grouping for the Activity Codes
subject, then for the Activity Code Assignments subject.
Here are the columns we will want for the Activity Codes subject.
Now the Group & Sort options. Let’s group the P6 report data by Activity
Code Type Scope. (This defines what type of activity code it is, either
Global, Project or EPS.)
Moving on the 2nd subject area, Activity Code Assignments. Pick these
columns.
Now set the Grouping to be by Project.
Make sure you check on “Show Summaries Only”, otherwise you’ll get a
monster activity report.
I find that sometimes if you do try to filter, say including just Global activity
codes, the report output isn’t right. So leave the filters out for the moment.
Click Next in the Wizard, until you see the button to Save the report.
Why?
Primavera P6’s Report wizard will only take this Global Activity Code
report so far.
Using the Wizard, you have no control on layout, and for some reason the
columns are always lacking in width.
But if you’re not afraid to get dirty, we’ll fix it up and get something we can
use.
Not many of us venture into the P6 report editor too often, so I hope
you’re ready for a further trip to the ugly world of 1990s user
interfaces. Yuck!
The first thing I want to do is to fix the scrunched data by moving columns
out. This image shows what I’m going to move.
At the same time, I’m going to expand the Project Name column and the
two above it like so.
That’s better.
I’m going to click in the row to the right of bolded Activity Code Type (just
below the blue highlighted Data Source Header Area).
Now I can click the “AB” icon at the top toolbar of the editor – the one
that says “Add Text Cell” if you hover over the icon.
This adds a new data cell or column to the report. Here are the setting for
the Properties popup box.
NOTE: I had to drag the Properties box window wider to see the full
column names in the dropdown list. Try it.
Just click the X on the box to close it.
Now, click Save in the bottom right of the editor to Save your report.
Note that I did remove some extra column headers that weren’t needed to
clean it up a bit and I renamed one header as well. I also expanded the
width of the report to 11 inches.
Which Primavera P6 Global Activity Codes are being used and on what
projects?
If you’re an administrator of a Primavera P6 install, this report can help
you see which Activity Codes can be purged and which can be kept.
You could also use this report on individual projects as well like say a
project imported from a subcontractor. You would be able to quickly see
which Global Activity Codes are in use.