Why Assign Project Codes in P6

When scheduling multiple projects for any project-driven business, sometimes a global or
project-level picture of health does not tell the whole story.  Consider you project portfolio one
that can be assembled multiple ways leading to varying interpretations depending on how you
approach the assembly process.

Assigning Project Codes can offer a more structured silo of information for assessment, grouping
like focuses in projects so comparisons can be made effectively.  Extemporaneous information
can be filtered out so a clearer picture can be made of how your projects of like commonalities
are performing as a group.

1. Project Codes can offer a significant way of organizing information so management can
spot trouble areas within a region, work area, business division, etc.
2. Project Codes are assigned to projects at management’s discretion, allowing projects to
be organized and grouped in unlimited configurations.
3. Once Project Codes are assigned, projects are then filtered and grouped by their codes to
include only those criteria that are of interest.
4. Management then has the ability to drill down within the project grouping to identify
areas of concern (i.e. a specific company industry has severely reduced float in their
delivery times).
5. Management then has the opportunity to proactively identify the root cause of the
specific issue and make necessary corrections.
6. Potentially lost revenue and damage to customer relationships are averted.

Assigning Project Codes to your projects is a simple process that can become a valuable tool for
management.
How to set up and use activity codes in Primavera P6
You are here: Home - Primavera - How to set up and use activity codes in Primavera P6

January 6, 2014 1 Comment

Posted in: Primavera, Primavera P6 Training Online, Primavera Tutorial, project management Started by
AJ Williams

How to set up and use activity codes in Primavera P6

Oracle Primavera P6 provides the capability to setup and assign Activity Codes to activities in
your projects.  Activity Codes are used to classify, categorize, and organize activities based on
your organization’s reporting needs. Activity Codes are usually created and assigned at the
beginning of the project. For example, if you subcontract the majority of your project activities,
you may want to setup an activity code entitled “Subcontractor”. You can then establish the set
of all Subcontractors that might be used (ie. activity code values). The Activity Codes can be
assigned to activities and used to categorize, organize, group and sort, and filter activities to
support your reporting needs.

Activity Codes can be used for the following:

 Group and sort activities into specific categories in the activity table & layouts
 View summary bars on the Gantt Chart based on activity code values
 View and roll up activities in the activity table
 Summarize activities
 Filter activities
 Build reports in the wizard or editor
 Examples of activity codes include Phase, Location, Responsibility, Subcontractor

Activity codes can be setup at three levels:

 1. Global – Users can create an unlimited number of global activity codes, which are available to all
activities in your P6 database. This level enables you to organize activities within a single project
or across the entire enterprise project structure (EPS).
2. EPS – These codes are available to activities within an EPS node. Users are able to create an
unlimited number of EPS level codes. Activities can be organized within a single project or across
all projects sharing a common EPS node.
3. Project – Codes are available to activities in the project in which the codes are created. Users
can create up to 500 project-level activity codes. Project codes allow you to organize and filter
activities based on unique project reporting requirements.

This Primavera P6 tutorial demonstrates the following:

 Setup an activity code entitled “Subcontractor”

 Various methods for assigning the activity code values to activities
 How the activity code can be used to Group and Sort
 Utilize the activity code to filter activities
 Use the activity code to summarize activity information on the Activity Table and Gantt Chart.

The methods for assigning activity code values demonstrated in this tutorial are as follows:

 Activity detail tab entitled “Codes”

 The command bar to assign the same Subcontractor to multiple activities at the same time
 Right-click functionality to assign the same Subcontractor to multiple activities simultaneously
 Add the Subcontractor as a column on the activity table and utilize “fill down” to assign the
same Subcontractor to multiple activities all at once
 Global Change statement to assign the same Subcontractor to multiple activities at the same
time

Step 1: Setup the activity code by accessing the Enterprise menu, Activity Codes.
Step 2: Setup the Activity Code and the various values. The image below reflects Global level
activity code Subcontractor with six values (Jones, Wellair, Joes etc).
Step 3: Assign the activity code by selecting an individual activity, access the “Codes” tab in
activity details, assign the desired Subcontractor.
Step 4: Assign the same subcontractor to multiple activities by selecting the activities (shift or
control click), accessing the “Activities Codes” button from the Command Bar on the right and
then assign the desired Subcontractor (See Step 5). Notice that the Subcontractor Activity Code
has been added as a column on the Activity Table.
Step 5:  (continuation of step 4) Assign the desired Subcontractor to the highlighted activities.
Step 6: You can also select the activities, right-click, select Assign, and then Activity Codes to
assign the same Subcontractor to multiple activities. The image below reflects the process of
selecting the activities, right-click, select Assign Activities Codes. Step 7 reflects the
Subcontractor “Jones” assigned to the Foundation activities.
Step 7: (continuation of Step 6) This image reflects the Foundation activities after assigning
Jones as the subcontractor.
Step 8: The next few steps demonstrate the Fill Down functionality. The image below reflects
the selection of SEIC as the Subcontractor for activity BA3000 under Structure. This selection
was assigned by double-clicking on the Subcontractor column.
Step 9: To continue to Fill Down, select the activities (shift or control click).
Step 10: To continue with Fill Down, right click in the Subcontractor and select Fill Down.
Step 11: The image below reflects the Structure activities after assigning SEIC as the
Subcontractor using Fill Down.
Step 12: The next few steps demonstrate the use of Global Change to assign the Subcontractor to
the activities in the Mechanical WBS. Global Change can be accessed from the Tools menu. This
function must be used with caution and should be limited to experienced users! 
Step 13: The image below reflects the Global Change Assign Mech/HVAC Subcontractor.
Step 14: Setup the Global Change statement. The image below depicts the statement that if the
WBS is under Mechanical, assign WELLAIR as the Subcontractor. Click Change (on the right)
to preview the changes.
Step 15: View the Global Change Report to preview the changes and select Commit Changes
(bottom right corner) to actually change the data. Caution: this feature should only be used by
experienced users because this process is irreversible after Commit Changes is selected.

*It is highly recommended that you backup your project prior to executing a global change.
Step 16: The activities under the Mechanical WBS reflect WELLAIR as the Subcontractor after
Global Change.
Step 17: After the Subcontractors have been assigned, Group and Sort can be used to organize
activities by Subcontractor. Access the Layout Options bar & select Group and Sort.
Step 18: Select to Group By Subcontractor.
Step 19: This image shows the activities grouped by Subcontractor.
Step 20: Notice the black Summary bars on the Gantt Chart for each Subcontractor.
Step 21: Click Collapse All to see Summary bars just for the Subcontractors.
Step 22: You can utilize Filters to narrow down the activities displayed. If you wanted to
provide each Subcontractor, for example WELLAIR, with a report containing their activities,
then a Filter Statement can be used (see image below).
Step 23: Save the filter statement and apply the filter.
Step 24: The layout below reflects the filter applied: SUBCONTRACTOR IS WELLAIR. This
type of report could be given to each Subcontractor to provide the information and schedule for
those activities that are assigned to them.
Creating a Resource Code

We’ll start by showing you how to create a Resource Code in P6 which we will call “Manager”
and a Code Value for it called “PM”.

1. Click on Administer, Enterprise Data in the menu bar, and choose Resource Codes.
2. Click on the Add Code icon.
3. Type the New Resource Code name “Manager”.
4. Click on the Add Code Value button, to add PM to the Manager Resource Code and a
description. You may add as many Code Values as you wish.
5. Click on Save in the resource code window to save your changes.

Assign Resource Code Values

You can assign code values to resources using the Codes tab in
Resource Details or by creating resource code columns in the Resources window and then
assigning values in the columns.

To use the Codes tab, click the Display Options bar and choose Details (the box next to the
Details command should be marked). Click the Codes tab, then Assign.

To use columns, click the Display Options bar, then choose Columns, Customize, and add one or
more resource code columns.

A resource usage profile can also be grouped by Resource Codes.  This allows the user to click
on, for example, the manager’s name in the profile and see a rollup of all of the limits for the
resource under that manager’s name.  This view is useful for creating a great capacity planning
report. These views can be accessed via the Resource page under Resource Usage or via the
Activities page by selecting the Resource Usage Profile tab.

Group and Summarise Using Resource Codes

Another neat tip is to use Resource Codes for grouping and sorting in Resource Assignments. In
a Resource Assignment layout, click the “Group and Sort By” tab. Grouping by Resource Codes
enables you to quickly see the activities that are assigned to a particular area of responsibility or
that are being performed by a specific group throughout your organisation. Click a group band to
see a summary or rollup of a particular group.