Is whether it is possible to get Primavera project into Time-Distance diagram so easily?
My question is whether it is possible to get Primavera project into Time-Distance diagram so easily? That's so hard to manage linear project on gantt chart only in time manner. I would like to get the same data lying on the graphical presentation and I would like to see resource calculations, cost calculations, team placements, mobilisations, labour camps etc which are all based distance. That's possible to do this is in Excel manually but it takes days and it is only static data. Whenever I need to make reschedule/edit etc it is just disappointment. I hope that somebody will lead me for this...
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TimeChainage v TILOS
Hi Tekin,
I would like to clear up a misunderstanding you seem to have about TimeChainage.
TimeChainage is not an Excel based application, it is a fully featured stand alone planning package. Although the first version came out over 12 years ago, it has been steadily developed over the years and is now a very powerful tool.
I was not knocking Tilos in any way, but people should not be given the impression that Tilos is the only game in town. TimeChainage has features that Tilos does not (in particular to do with presentation and progress tracking) and is priced very differently. It has been proven on a variety of projects including large scale projects such as Heathrow Terminal 5 and London Crossrail.
TimeChainage is very easy to use, has a lot of flexibilty built in, and produces great looking and very readable charts. It is designed to be used alongside Primavera/MS Project etc as most clients require Gantt Charts in the contract and often specify the software. For that reason it does not support resources or costs. It is very good for developing programmes and producing "what-ifs" etc as full programme logic and constraints can be entered. It also has unique features for tracking progress making it fantastic for showing progress against the original plan (or various Baselines).
I hope this gives you a better picture of what TimeChainage is about.
Peter
Hi Peter,I highly appreciate
Hi Peter,
I highly appreciate your excel base development on Time-Distance.
But I agree with Hubert regarding comment about integration. Infrastructure projects are extremely developed last 10 years. It became mega project and require more and more. 10-15 years ago Time-Distance was used more for reporting purposes. That is why today professional software must to have.
First of all TILOS doesn’t need any other planning software for managing all process. It is fully supporting PMI methodology. I will answer first how TILOS will be used without any other system and later on I will give you good key studies how it will work together with Primavera, MSP, ASTA and BIM.
TILOS give you opportunity very early project level while no detail project available, using buy Quantity/work rate and BoQ, TILOS can be used for estimation of work, duration, work rate, dates, Quantity etc. This level you can get project cost, income and cash follow diagram. Inside of TILOS user will find cost and income accounts and many users use TILOS preparing offers and initial plan. As you know Infrastructure project generally design and built contract and scenario management will really help user to present customer and management alternative planning scenarios.
TILOS has own Gantt chart, and it work automatically with Time-Distance diagram. It means users have a choice, create plan from distance diagram or Gantt chart. When you make your plan in one format other one is ready. This is working on real time base. I mean no extra work. You can even display both view in one layout and track changes immediately.
All type of project relation available such as FF, FS, SS, SF and other system. But as I said, if the software needs to dedicate Infrastructure project, it should have more than others. TILOS has relation type call “calculation point”, extra lag types not only FS+5d but also “equipment mobilization”, “%work duration of predecessor”, “calendar time”, “working time”, “distance to successor”, “predecessor is as”, “predecessor has length”, also “synchronized distance and speed, and of course link category. This is a simple example, I cant go each detail what TILOS has nor others, but I would like to tell TILOS has every functionality which Primavera has and also TILOS has unique detailed planning features.
Just summary what TILOS has WBS, Hammock Activities, Constraints, Activity Coding system, notes, steps, EVM, RSM (Repetitive Scheduling Method), LOB, time-distance-cost-income-net cash follow integration, very strong resource management, baseline management, more than 5 method for progress update, clash management, using by sub project multiple project management, and etc.
But for me the most important things TILOS has know-how. For example CPM, and distance diagram can integrate inside of TILOS with Land Profiles, GIS, Type of Land, etc. Today TILOS is major contract requirement of many infrastructure projects. Let’s look at the Metro project only; it’s used Warsaw Metro, Copenhagen Metro, Istanbul Metro, Moscow Metro, Qatar Metro, Chennai Metro, Delhi Metro, Hyderabad Metro, and Budapest Metro and 50 more others. This is the same if you look other industry.
TILOS exist over 20 years and becoming much stronger with each version. 10th of 10 biggest construction companies are already customer of TILOS. It’s represented over 80 countries with Professional Partners. And there is a huge development team who develop the software together with industry specialist.
Coming back how it works integration. There is a perfect and easy way TILOS work together with Primavera, ASTA and Microsoft. TILOS developed Integration Plugging, you just need to install and connect DB. TILOS development team also working on to make better integration with other PPM and with each new version it is approaching to perfect. This is respect to customer giving opportunity using other system if they feel comfortable. You can find in Forums how integration works.
Tekin
Primavera into Time-Distance
In my view, there is not going to be many occasions when it will be quicker or easier to create a time chainage chart directly from Primavera than producing one from scratch. This assumes you have the right time chainage software of course. I spent a few years creating time chainages with Excel and as you said, it is slow and painful to do. I created a software application called TimeChainage (long before Tilos) which is a full spec planning application which produces time chainage charts. If you have the programme in P6 already, transferring to TimeChainage manually is a surprisingly quick and easy process. You will then have all the logic and constraints in the time chainage programme which then makes updating/revising a fast process.
If you are interested in TimeChainage then please see my web site at www.pclarke.co.uk or email me at info@pclarke.co.uk
Regards
Peter
Creating Time Distance Diagram Easy!
The full schedule transformation incl. relationsships, resource and cost assignments can be achieved using the TILOS add on to transfer the data to TILOS.
The exchange scope can be defined by profiles: Primavera TILOS Tasks-Links-Resources Profile.xml contains settings for all mentioned objects. 3 Items need to be customized based on P6 file:
Location axis start and end coordinates / Task template to be used for new task.
This automates the transfer. Let me know what field you would use for this attributes and I can adapt the profile for your specific needs to get the wished results.
Some more information can be found under: http://blog.tilos.org/tilos-tricks/data-exchange-from-cpm-gantt-chart-to-linear-schedule-tilos/
Once it is initially implemented, it works for all projects done in the same way.