Data Exchange

Oracle Primavera P6
with
TILOS
Linear Scheduling Software

Further information is available in the help system

A guide to exchange data with TILOS linear scheduling software.

Linear project Gmbh – Karlsruhe Germany

Phone: +49 721 46 47 28-0

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 Change Log

2013-10-10 Release for TILOS V8

2013-10-17 Using filters

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 Table of Contents

1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 4
2 Installation notes .................................................................................................. 6
3 Work flow ............................................................................................................... 7
3.1 Push data from TILOS to Primavera.............................................................. 7
3.2 Push data from Primavera to TILOS.............................................................. 8
3.3 Sample profiles .............................................................................................. 9
4 Filtering data ....................................................................................................... 11
4.1 Filter on TILOS Export ................................................................................. 11
4.2 Filters on Primavera Export ......................................................................... 11
5 Category (Code) libraries ................................................................................... 12
6 Resource library data ......................................................................................... 13
7 Task data exchange ............................................................................................ 13
7.1 Task Identification ........................................................................................ 13
7.2 Order ............................................................................................................ 14
7.3 Task Template ............................................................................................. 14
7.4 Calendar ...................................................................................................... 16
7.5 Task planned resources .............................................................................. 17
7.6 Progress information .................................................................................... 18
8 Links ..................................................................................................................... 19

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1 Introduction
The XML based data exchange between TILOS and P6 provides a wider set of information to
be exchanged than the ASCII or Excel based data exchange.

The following objects can be exchanged:

Library items

 Calendars

 Units

 Account items

 Resources items

 Code libraries

 Task Template (Only from TILOS to Primavera as code library)

Planning

 Tasks

 Links

 Planned resources

 Planned expenses

 Code assignments

The exchange is an exchange between 2 different applications using different data and
management models. This document should give some helpers to get best results from the
exchange.

TILOS has more task calculation options than Primavera. Exporting a profile based task to P6
and back will lead to a case that the profile calculation gets overwritten by the import and is no
more alive in the task. The same applies to distance specific link options in TILOS.

In all cases one program should be the leading one where the major edits are done. The other
is than mainly used to visualize the data. This can be applied for the part projects: E.g. in a big
road project, the linear tasks are planned in TILOS, while the non-linear are planned and
managed in Primavera such as Bridges or all the procurements.

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 The link was designed to transfer only specific parts of projects applying filters or even merge
multiple projects in TILOS to the same Primavera project or versa.

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2 Installation notes
First step to bridging TILOS and Primavera is to install the Primavera API on your computer.

The installs can be downloaded from your e-delivery account. If you are unsure about
licensing and installation please contact your IT department or your Oracle support.

The calling mode for the database has to be local. The remote mode is not supported.

After having installed the API you may test the API based on the installed sample programs
from Primavera. All the sample programs are copied to the API folder and start with word
Demo*. If these work OK, then the connection will also work with the TILOS integration.

If there are any problems with the sample applications, contact your IT department or your
Oracle support.

Install the TILOS Exchange tools. Make sure that the installation is made to the correct API
folder. TILOS detects only the first installation folder for the API due to registry settings. If you
have reinstalled the Primavera API is always stored to a new folder. Our setup does not
recognize this.

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3 Work flow
The connection to Primavera is done in a separate program using the API of Primavera. This
needs to be installed and tested before installing the exchange module.

The exchange needs in all cases a profile, which controls the data exchange by parameters
and the settings which objects and attributes are to be exchanged.

On export a data file is created while on import the data file from the other application is read
and imported.

With TILOS 8 there are 2 modes for data exchange:

File based: Here you need to export the data first from one application and then
import that data file using the same profile or another. So it takes always
2 steps. Since TILOS 8 during creation of the data file the profile can be
added as well to the data file.

TCP/IP: The exchange module connects directly with the current TILOS session.
The exchange is controlled only by the exchange module then. TILOS
acts in this case as a server reading and providing the xml data based on
its TCP/IP interface.

The communication is handled by an additional .net application installed

along with the exchange module. This reads and creates the data files
that are used in the file based exchange in the background.

The temporary data files for the exchange are stored in the folder
…\AppData\Roaming\Tilos8 in your user area of your windows
installation.

3.1 Push data from TILOS to Primavera

Step 1: Start TILOS and open the file that you want to exchange with Primavera.

Step 2: If TCP/IP = On: This step is not needed. Continue with steps 3.

In TILOS export the project as XML using the menu option: File / Export. This is
described in the help system of TILOS. Use a profile that is designed for data
exchange with Primavera (our samples have Primavera a part of the name.)
Remember which profile was used and which data file was created.

Step 3: Start the exchange program from your windows menu and select the option: Import
to Primavera.

Step 4: If TCP/IP = On: This step is not needed. The file opened in TILOS is shown. If no
project is opened in TILOS, then an error is shown. Continue with step 5.

Select the data file that you want to import. If the data file contains a profile, then you
can check the option: Use profile from data file (pre-selected) and continue with
step 6. If you do not want to use the embedded profile, continue with step 5.

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 Step 5: Select the profile that you want to use for the import. You can edit the profiles in
TILOS itself before export or using the menu point: Tools / XML profile editor.

For later reuse you may save the file configuration. Press button “Save settings”.

Step 6: Press Next to continue

If TCP/IP = On: In the background the data file for the exchange is now generated
based on the profile settings.

Step 7: Select the project in Primavera to which you want to import the data to. The default
Project-ID is taken from the TILOS project ID if the project info section has been
added to the data file.

If you want to create a new project, press the + Button to create a new project.

Step 8: Press next to start the import of the data.

Possible error are listed in the report window.

3.2 Push data from Primavera to TILOS

Step 1: If TCP/IP = Off: This step is not needed at this point. Continue with step 2.

Start TILOS and open the file in TILOS to which that you want to export the data to.
There should be only one instance of TILOS running at this time. If there are multiple
running the first found instance will be used.

Step 2: Start the exchange program from your windows menu and select the option: Export
to TILOS.

Step 3: If TCP/IP = On: This step is not needed. The file opened is TILOS is shown. If no
project is opened in TILOS, then an error is shown. Continue with step 4.

Select the data file that you want to use for export. If the profile should be added to
the data file, select the option: Add profile to data file.

Step 4: Select the profile that you want to use for the export.
You can edit the profiles in TILOS using the menu point: Tools / XML profile editor.

Step 5: Press Next to continue

Step 6: Select the project that you want to export.

Select the filter that you want to use for export. If no filter is set, then all task data
will be exported. If no filter is selected, then no code libraries are exported. However,
task attributes being converted to code libraries get always exported.

Step 7: Press next to start the Export of the data.

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 Step 8: If TCP/IP = On: At the end of export, the data are automatically pushed to TILOS
and you can view the result in TILOS. The export is finished.

Otherwise import the data to TILOS using the Menu File / Import.

3.3 Sample profiles

Along with the installation there are sample profile provided. This allows an initial data
exchange that you can later adapt to your own need.

Primavera Task Links WBS.xml

This profile exchanges tasks, links and WBS information. The location is taken from 2 user
defined fields DistanceStartText and DistanceEndText. Text fields have been choosen to
support formats containing “+” symbol.

The task template is exchanged to the code library TILOSTemplate by default. The matching
item is the Name of the task template that need to match with the code description.

If you export from TILOS to Primavera, the whole TILOS template library gets exchanged. If
you transfer from Primavera to TILOS, then only the name of the task template to be used is
exchange as a task attribute, not the code library. Missing items in TILOS are automatically
created. To create a complete template library from Primavera codes is not possible as too
few arguments are supported.

If you use a different code library to match with TILOS template, then you need to change the
profile.

Do not forget to change also the name in the parameters.

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 If you do not Export whole task template library, then you will have only those entries in the
code library, where tasks refer to. The first characters from the code entry are taken from the
template name in TILOS.

See more info in section Category (Code) libraries.

WBS gets exchanged with TILOS WBS. In the parameters the option: Project ID is part of
exchange WBS has been switched of. So the project ID is not part of the WBS.

Primavera Task Links WBS Resources.xml

This works the same as above, but in addition, cost and resource data are exchanged.

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4 Filtering data
4.1 Filter on TILOS Export
Exporting the data from TILOS you can apply a standard filter stored in your TILOS file. This
controls which tasks get exported.

The name of the applied filter gets stored in the profile. The filter itself is stored in the TILOS
file.

4.2 Filters on Primavera Export

For the export from Primavera the filter definitions are stored in the Profile. The settings can’t
be edited in profile editor, only in the exchange program.

There are 3 types of filters:

Activities This filter allows to filter the activities to be exported. All activity attributes in the
combo list can be used.

Not all operators can be used for all fields. For codes and UDF fields we can only
apply positive filters as only is this case we can select the activity and later the
links.

Code assignments: IsAssigned, Equal. No other operator will work.

UDF Text Fields: Equal, Greater than or Equal. No other operator will work.

To get all tasks where a UDF field has been edited, use Greater than or Equal =
! This is a very low character in ASCII table, so all edited field will be added to
filter result.

The value is entered directly into value field.

Wildcards (*) are supported only in combination with the operator Like. Please
use % instead of *.

Multiple filter lines on Activities work like “And”

Codes By default no code libraries are exported. Only those that are nominated in the
code filter list. Each Code filter line is independent. They work as or.

Resources In general all used resources are exported if the profile specifies also to export
resources. However using a filter that may include also user defined field allow to
take only specific resources that should be shown in TILOS.

Same conditions as for Activities.

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5 Category (Code) libraries
Code libraries get only exported when they are checked in the profile for export and when they
are set in the filter lines for export. As there can be many global, eps or project based code
libraries, we did not want to export them all and blow up the TILOS file by this.

To enable the exchange for codes and its assignments, you need to add 3 items to the profile:

In the sample above, only the code library with the name “CodeEPS” gets exported.

Category Allocations are only exported for those items where the library itself is also exported.

Priority of similar code library names:

On Export: First check if Project Code library with that name exists. If not test EPS, If not test
global. The first found is taken.

On Import: First check if Project Code library with that name exists. If not test EPS, If not test
global. If no matching item is found, a new project related is created. This can later be
converted to a global one in Primavera.

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 Transformation of code entries to task attributes:

This is working in both directions.

In Primavera a code is used for defining the sections inside the project. In TILOS there is a
sector library with that values. This 2 fields should be matched.

The TILOS attribute Sector is referenced to the code library POS (Position) in Primavera. The
name of the code library has to be announced in Extra parameter.

There are 2 functions, one is based on the path information (01.01) the other on the
descriptions.

In this case the library itself needs not to be exported at all.

During import to Primavera not existing entries will automatically be expanded.

6 Resource library data

The Primavera resource library can be exchanged with TILOS library.

TILOS account is transferred to Primavera Account list and versa.

TILOS resources can be transferred to the Primavera resource list and versa.

7 Task data exchange

This section describes how the exchange of task data works.

7.1 Task Identification

TILOS has two options for the identification of tasks during data exchange. This is controlled
by the parameter: Task-Identifier having 2 options. The associated XML tag is UID.

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 TASK-ID: On export the UID field is filled with the content of the TASK-ID. During
import, if a task with that TASK-ID is not found then a new task is created
and TASK-ID is set based on the value in the UID tag of the XML file.

GUID The GUID (Global Unique ID) field is a simple text field assigned to each
task inside TILOS. It is a long 32 characters string calculated at run time.

In Primavera a user defined field is used for storing this value.

- If content of UID does not match with any GUID of TILOS, a new task is
created. This gets the imported GUID value assigned. A new TASK-ID is
generated and assigned to this task.

- On export, if GUID field is empty, it is filled with a worldwide unique value.

- If a task is copied in TILOS, the GUID field is emptied.

- User has full control of those fields, he can overwrite this at any time, but
this might affect future updates.

- The GUID field of TILOS can be made visible in the task general tab in
the section other attributes.

- Our recommendation is to use the TASK-ID. Only if data from multiple

projects are merged into same TILOS file the GUID will make sure, that in
each project unique ID’ s are used.

To work with GUID, the parameters in the profile need to be synchronized both for TILOS and
for P6.

The tag parent UID is not needed for the Primavera data exchange as it has no summary
structure.

7.2 Order
For TILOS exports the field order can be used to export the natural sort order for the activities.
This field can be mapped with any numeric field in P6 and can be used as sort field.

7.3 Task Template

For creating new tasks inside TILOS it is very important to set the attributes of each template.
This saves lots of editing work in TILOS as all tasks having same template assigned appear in
the same style.

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 Either the Template-ID or the Template name can be used.

If the imported template does not exist, then a new entry is generated. If the attributes of this
template are edited and the button Adjust Task to Task Template is pressed in the Task
Template library, all tasks will be updated to the new settings.

You need to add either Task Template Name or Task Template ID to your exchange profile.
For import you should have only one set.

Tasks Template as User defined field

The easiest way of defining the task template name is to set a text field containing the names.
Inside the profile editor you need to link TILOS template with this user defined field. Here we
recommend to use task template name.

Task Template as Code assignment

As the code library contains a path and description, both, ID or template name can be used for
exchange. In this case the name of the code library has to be set in Extra parameter.

Read more about code exchange in section general.

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 If you have no structured task template library based on UID values matching with the code
path in Primavera, we recommend to use task template name.

7.4 Calendar
TILOS has a Calendar-ID and a calendar name. Primavera only calendar name. So name and
ID of TILOS write to the same attribute in Primavera.

Since 7.0.02 the creation of a calendar UID has changed in TILOS:

The UID length has been expanded from 25 to 32 characters and now has the same length as
the field name.

If CalendarID = “” and Name is changed, then CalendarID is always set to name.

If CalendarID = Name and Name is changed, then CalendarID is always set to name.

If CalendarID = “” then on XML export CalendarID is always set to name.

Day Definitions in TILOS Calendar

Day definitions names, that are imported from others applications have a special names
generated from the working shifts.

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7.5 Task planned resources
Task planned resources are shown after import, in the tab Resources.

Resource-ID This defines which resource is assigned based on matching ID. If

this field is empty, then TILOS interprets the record as a pure
cost assignment.

AccountID This defines the account to which the costs are allocated.

Setting the parameter “Resource import mode” in the TILOS application parameters dialog box
in the XML profile editor. Parameter: Resource import mode = Simple.

In this mode, only simple resource values are exchanged and not the advanced models from
TILOS. This allows a simple exchange of resource data with other programs. The following
data fields are evaluated:

Quantity This value contain the total consumption or effort of the resource.

Totalsum This value contains the cost

CostIsIncome if true, the Totalsum is interpreted as income.

Assignment Possible values:

Fixed: On Import this gets converted to one of the TILOS
models: Fixed (cost), Quantity: (consumable) or Hours
(permanent).
Quantity: This is converted on import to Units/time.
Variable: On Import this gets converted to one of theseTILOS
models: CostPerHour (cost), QuantityPerHour: (consumable) or
Allocation (permanent).

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7.6 Progress information
The progress of a task is exchanged using the Progress % value.

From Primavera to TILOS

TILOS can read this value only if progress modell = „Simple %“. In TILOS it is recommended
to have the following settings in tools options:

The deactivated option: Allow to change tasks with simple progress makes sure that
progressed tasks coming from Primavera are not moved at all during reschedule in TILOS and
keep therefore their position.

From TILOS to Primavera

If progress is recorded in TILOS and should be transferred to P6 all types of progress method
can be applied. Make sure that the parameter:

This groups the part tasks created from progress entries into one single tasks while calculating
the progress.

During import to Primavera the following adjustments are done:

If Progress > 0 then the status is set to Started and the actual start date is set to imported
start date from TILOS. The % finished value is set and Exp. Finish is set to value imported for
end date from TILOS.

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8 Links
The minimum information set required to export and import links are:

Predecessor-Identifier Refers to selected Task-Identifier

Successor-Identifier Refers to selected Task-Identifier

Link type Can be SS,FF,SF,FS where S = start and F = Finish

Lag type Working = Working time and Elapsed means calendar time.

Lag Lag as numeric values referring to input below.

Lag time unit Time unit from TILOS.

TILOS advanced link settings can’t be exchanged with Primavera.

Export links to not exported sub-projects: Check this box to export even those links that are
related to any other Sub-Project that is not in
export scope (see also Task Links).

Delete not updated local links: If this option is set, all remaining not updated
Local Links during import get deleted after import.

Delete not updated external links: Same as above, but for External Links.

Support TILOS link attributes Yes means that any additional TILOS link
attribute, if defined in a profile, are exported.

No means they are ignored.

When exchanging data with other project

management systems this option should be set to
“No” as these values are not supported by other
planning systems.

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