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Problem with P3EC

5 replies [Last post]
Mon, 2004-09-20 16:01
Jay Hway
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I’ve been playing around with P3ec after using P3.1 & Suretrak for the last year. P3ec does have some advantages, but I’ve run into some problems with the program. Most have been minor, such as only being able to put 1 curtain in the schedule or not being able to Print preview.

However, today I ran into a problem. I had done a monthly update (for the owner) for last month, in which I had statused an activity projecting to be 100% complete. However, because of circumstances the activity has yet to start. So when I go back to the schedule and try to unstatus the activity, P3ec won’t allow me to change the % complete. The only thing I can alter is the actual start and actual finish.

I talked to another scheduler and he said that Primavera 2.xx had a similar problem. Is there any way around this problem, besides deleting the activity and adding it back in?
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Replies

Wed, 2004-09-22 00:01
#1
Alex Wong
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Jay

If you cannot unstatus Actual Start and Actual Finish
ask your administrator, because I think they might restricted access for you not to unstatus activity
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Tue, 2004-09-21 23:51
#2
Jay Hway
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Thanks for the reply.

I understand the whole concept of unstatusing an activity. However, the problem I am running into is that the program will not let me unstatus Actual starts/finish, nor will it let me change the remaing duration or percent complete.

The reason the activity was statused as actually finished was not a way to trying to cheat the owner. I was doing an update using the PM’s 6-week look ahead schedule, which showed the activity finishing. However, due to circumstances, the acitivity did’t start till after the data date.
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Tue, 2004-09-21 23:32
#3
Alex Wong
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Jay,

To answer your first question:

Once an activity is declare as completed "Marked with Actual Finish" you cannot change the % complete unless you unmark the activity without the actual finish.

You cannot have an activity is finished but only 80% complete. - Thats is logic behind it.

However, when you unstatus the activity the following thing that you have to be very careful. Once you unmark actual start you will lost your budget if you didn’t have any actual $ or quantity. In addition, the activity OD will become 0.

That leads to your second question:

So be very careful when you status your projects. Ask yourself twice whether the activty is actually started and actually finished. I know lots of project managers like to fake progress and try to look good. As a scheduler, you have to stand firm and explain to the PM, that fake progress info will not help the project at all. Sometime will cause a lot of trobule in later stage where a claim is required. And the clients will not trust your schedule at all.
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Tue, 2004-09-21 18:36
#4
Jay Hway
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Thanks for the reply. I ran into another problem today. I was updating a schedule in P3ec, then exported it to open in P3.1. What I found was that it changed all the activities in the schedule with 1 day OD to 2 days OD. Can anyone explain this problem?
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Mon, 2004-09-20 16:20
#5
Rafael Davila
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If % complete is defined as physical you should be able to change it manually. By the other hand if % complete is based on duration it is then a calculated field, check on activity durations, remaining duration, at complete duration … you should be able to unstatus the activity durations.

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