Managing Portfolios

in Primavera P6 Rel 8.0 Ed 1

D72048GC10
Edition 1.0
February 2011
 1
Introduction to Portfolios
 Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

● Define a portfolio.
● Select a portfolio.
● Create a portfolio manually or by filter.
● Manage portfolios.
 Portfolio

A portfolio is a group of projects organized by criteria specific to

your needs. Examples:
● Projects you manage.
● Projects within a specific time period, budgetary range, or
geographical location.
● Projects relating to a specific company department or
strategic objective.
 Using Portfolios

● Support strategic planning and decision-making.

○ By analyzing different combinations of projects, organizations
can determine the mix and sequence that best achieves their
goals.
● Monitor specific projects or those that share specific
attributes.
○ For administrative, reporting, or budgetary purposes.
○ For personal purposes, such as tracking projects in which an
individual has a work assignment.
 User and Global Portfolios

Portfolios are divided into two categories:

● User – Available to a single user.
● Global – Available to all users.
 Manual Portfolios

● Projects are selected individually.

● The portfolio does not change unless projects are
deliberately added or removed.

Projects Manual
in EPS Portfolio

Project
Project
Project

Project
Project
Project Project
Project
 Filtered Portfolios

● Projects are selected by filter criteria.

● When filter is refreshed, additional projects that meet the
criteria are added. Projects that no longer meet the criteria
are removed.

Projects
in EPS Filtered
Project Portfolio

Projects in filtered portfolio

Project share a common characteristic
Project

Project
Project

Project
Project
Project Project
 2
Viewing Portfolio Information
 Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

● View return on investment data.
● View data in the Gantt chart.
● Customize the Gantt chart.
 Return on Investment (ROI)

ROI calculations help analyze the difference between an

organization’s investment in a project and the income it expects
from goods and services produced by the project. ROI is
expressed as:
● Net Present Value: Monetary difference between spending
and benefit.
● Return on Investment: Difference between spending and
benefit expressed as a ratio.

Return

Investment
 Gantt Chart

Displays timescaled schedule information at the portfolio,

project, and WBS level, along with units or cost data in
histogram or spreadsheet format.

Project

WBS
 Gantt Chart

Displays timescaled schedule information at the portfolio,

project, and WBS level, along with units or cost data in
histogram or spreadsheet format.
Portfolio

Project
WBS
 3
Earned Value Analysis and Portfolio Performance
 Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

● Define earned value (EV).
● Explain EV’s use in project management.
● Set Global Preferences.
● Review performance thresholds.
● View data in the Executive Summary page.
● View data in the Performance Status page.
 Earned Value Analysis

● A technique for measuring project performance.

○ Compares actual costs and schedule progress against
planned costs and schedule progress.
● Provides an objective evaluation of project performance at
any point in the project schedule.
○ Valid performance measurements across all projects
regardless of size, complexity, or budget range.
● Provides an accurate forecast of a project’s final cost and
finish date.
○ Results can be reliably predicted as early as within the first
15-20% of a project schedule.
 Essential Performance Variables

Earned value calculations are based on three essential

performance variables at any particular point in time (data
date):
● Planned Value – The monetary value of the work that
should have been accomplished by the data date if the
project had proceeded according to the baseline plan.
○ How much work should have been done?
● Earned Value – The monetary value of the work actually
performed by the data date.
○ How much work was actually done?
● Actual Cost – The actual total cost incurred for the work
accomplished by the data date.
○ How much did the completed work cost?
 Earned Value Analysis – Simplified Example

Project Plan:
10-day project to build 10 desks for $1,000
● $1,000 total value
● 1 desk per day
● $100 per desk
10 days 10 desks $1,000 (1 desk/day) ($100/desk)
 Planned Value (PV)

At the end of day 5 of the project:

● How many desks should have been built? 5 desks
● What is the value of those desks that should have been
built? 5 x $100 = $500

5 days 5 desks $500

 Earned Value (EV)

At the end of day 5 of the project:

● How many desks have actually been built? 3 desks
● What is the value of those desks that have been built?
3 x $100 = $300

5 days 3 desks $300

 Actual Cost (AC)

At the end of day 5 of the project:

● How much did it cost to build those three desks?
3 x $200 per desk = $600

5 days 3 desks $600

 Summary of Performance Variables

At the end of day 5 of the project:

Planned Value (PV) = $500

Earned Value (EV) = $300

Actual Cost (AC) = $600

 Schedule Variance (SV)

Schedule Variance is the difference between what was earned

and what was planned:
EV – PV = Schedule Variance

In our example:
$300 (EV) – $500 (PV) = – $200 (SV)

A negative number indicates that the project is behind

schedule.
 Cost Variance (CV)

Cost Variance is the difference between what was earned and

the actual cost:
EV – AC = Cost Variance

In our example:
$300 (EV) – $600 (AC) = – $300 (CV)

A negative number indicates that the project is over budget.

 Variance vs. Performance Index

● Schedule and Cost Variances merely indicate how much a

project is ahead/behind schedule or over/under budget.
○ A variance of $300 is significant on a $1,000 project but
considerably less significant on a $10 million project.
● Schedule and Cost Performance indices each provide a
ratio that relates variances to overall project dimensions
and accurately gauges performance regardless of project
size.
○ Performance indices can be used to forecast final schedule
and cost outcomes.
 Schedule Performance Index (SPI)

The Schedule Performance Index is the ratio of what was

earned to what was planned:
EV/PV = Schedule Performance Index

In our example:
300/500 = .6

A number less than 1.0 indicates that the project is behind

schedule. For every dollar of physical work this project had
planned to accomplish, only $.60 was actually completed.
 Cost Performance Index (CPI)

The Cost Performance Index is the ratio of what was earned to

the actual cost:
EV/AC = Cost Performance Index

In our example:
300/600 = .5

A number less than 1.0 indicates that the project is over budget.
For every project dollar spent, only $.50 in physical work was
accomplished.
 Earned Value Graph

Key
SV Schedule Variance
Actual Cost CV Cost Variance
ETC Estimate to Complete
BAC Budget at Completion
Planned Value EAC Estimate at Completion
VAC Variance at Completion

Earned Value
 4
Analyzing Portfolios
 Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

● Customize the Portfolio Analysis page.
● Edit a portfolio view.
● Create a portfolio view.
● View waterline analysis.
● Create a scenario.
● View the Capacity Planning page.
 Analyzing Portfolios

Several tools and techniques used to analyze portfolios

are introduced in this lesson:
● Bubble chart
● Waterline
● Scenario
● Capacity planning
 Bubble Chart

A bubble chart adds a third dimension – the size of the bubble –

to a typical scatter chart using points on the X axis and Y axis.
● A fourth element, bubble color, can be added.

Bubble size
Y axis

X axis
 Waterline Analysis

● Sorts projects into two separate groups based on sorting

and constraint limit.
○ Projects that collectively meet the constraint limit value
appear above the waterline (white background).
○ All other projects appear below the waterline (blue
background).

Project 1
projects that collectively
Project 2 meet constraint limit
constraint limit
Project 3
sorting order other projects

Project 4
Project 5
 Scenario

● A view saved with its data.

○ Data does not update as in a regular view.
● Serves as a snapshot of the portfolio at a particular point in
time.
○ Useful for creating a historical record.

regular view
updates with latest
data

scenario frozen
with January 2018
data
 Capacity Planning Chart

Enables you to analyze role staffing requirements and

allocation over time for projects in the portfolio.

available
capacity
limit
labor units
required
units

time
 5
Dashboards and Portfolios
 Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

● Customize a dashboard.
● Filter a dashboard by a portfolio.
● Create a portfolio view portlet.
● Customize a portfolio view portlet on a dashboard.
● Create and open a project from a portfolio view portlet.
 Dashboards

● Each dashboard is like a personalized homepage.

● Information displayed in small data windows called portlets.
○ Portlets display a specific type of project information.
○ Some portlets can be customized.
● Dashboard data filtered by:
○ A single project
○ Multiple projects
○ A portfolio
● Multiple dashboards can be displayed.
● Dashboards can be shared with other users.
 Portfolio View Portlets

● Display portfolio view in portlet on dashboard.

○ Display existing view
○ Create new view
● Data displayed as:
○ Bubble chart
○ Histogram
○ Scorecard
○ Pie chart
○ Side-by-side histogram
○ Stacked histogram
 A
Overview and Navigation
 Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

● Open existing projects.
● Use context-sensitive P6 Help.
● Navigate the Projects section.
● Use the Activities page to view project data in multiple
formats.
 Navigating P6

Two areas of the screen do not change as you navigate

through the application:
● Title bar — Displays the Oracle Primavera logo and
provides access to administration (including My
Preferences), printing, context-sensitive P6 Help, and
logging out.
● P6 navigation bar — Provides access to sections in P6:
Dashboards, Portfolios, Projects, Resources, and Reports.
 P6 Sections

● Dashboards — Use data windows called portlets to display

portfolio, project, and resource data.
● Portfolios — Create portfolios of projects and use
customizable reporting features to track project status and
make informed decisions about strategic initiatives.
● Projects — Create and manage projects, request or staff
resources, and update project status.
● Resources — Review resource assignments, analyze
allocation, and configure resource and role teams.
● Reports – Create, manage, and deliver reports via Oracle
Business Intelligence (BI).
 P6 Pages

Some sections are divided into pages that provide specific

information and functionality. Access pages via the section’s
navigation bar.
Availability and arrangement of pages is based on each user’s
User Interface View.
● Pages in Portfolios section — Analysis, Capacity Planning,
Performance Status, Gantt Chart, ROI, Details.
● Pages in Projects section – EPS, Activities, Workspace,
Team Usage, Issues, Documents, Risks.
● Pages in Resources section – Administration, Planning,
Assignments, Analysis.