In Primavera P6, we can quickly identify behind schedule and over budget activity by using graphical indicator in User Defined Field.

I will show you how to do it.

Supposed that we have a project which has baseline. After update progress, we can show these column the see whether an activity is behind schedule:

• BL Project Finish : Activity finish date from Project Baseline
• Variance - BL Project Finish : Duration between BL Project Finish date and current Finish date. Calculated as BL Project Finish - Finish

Now we will create Indicator.

Go to menu Enterprise -> User Defined Fields.

Click Add to create new.

Enter Title and Select Data Type : Indicator

Close dialog.

Go to menu Tools -> Global Change. Click New.

Enter data as in below picture:

Click on Change button. Then Commit Change button

Click OK and Close.

We will show the Indicator column.

Now we can quickly see what activity is behind schedule:

We can do in similar way for the Cost.

We can show these column the see whether an activity is over budget:

• Budget At Completion : Cost from Project Baseline
• At Completion Total Cost = Actual Total Cost + Remaining Total Cost
• Variance - BL Project Total Cost : is calculated as Budget At Completion - At Completion Total Cost

Create User Defined Field : On Budget Status:

Create new Global Change with below information:

Click on Change button. Then Commit Change.

We will show the Indicator column.

Now we can quickly see what activity is over budget:

About the Author : Khuong Do

Khuong Do is a Project Planner / Scheduler in Civil Engineering, Transportation, and Oil & Gas Industry. He has worked as a Primavera Consultant Specialist since 2006 and willing to share his passion for Primavera through lots of Tips & Trick on his personal blog : https://doduykhuong.com