Hi Daniel,

I have been involved in two evaluations of the software for two separate companies that I have worked for and I believe that the application is ideally suited to smaller projects and therefore as yet I’m still not a convert, but in principle I don’t mind the application and its intent. Based on the current configuration of the Primavera timesheets (TS) module, an organization is required to list all its resources in the PM database so that they can be assigned to activities as required, this is all very good if you want to monitor the productivity of each individual, but it is also a logistical nightmare for large multi-disciplined projects.
As you would possibly be aware, often larger schedules are managed with the resources only listed as roles, and it would be handy if primavera also configured the timesheets software to allow larger organizations to continue to do this.
The other problem that you will need to contend with is the disconnect that most companies have between capturing their “actuals” and statusing their schedules, though this exsist, regardless of whether you us TS or not.

If you look at the attached link I think you will be able to see a deployment that is about as close to perfect as you could possible get, noting that it isn’t a cheap exercise, and to do it properly and dump data into the daily fields in the DB, you would void your support warranty as these fields aren’t accessible via either the API or the SDK and would require a direct OBDC link.

Primavera Newsroom

In no particular order, I have listed a number of questions that I believe your organization will need to consider aspart of the comprehensive evaluation of the software, being;
1. IT infrastructure... I’m not 100% on this… but if your using the MS SQL express DB, I’m pretty certain that if you add a whole heap of TS licenses, you will need to run a full SQL database & not a express DB… I believe that you can only hook in a max of 10 or so users into an SQL express DB deployment.
2. You will also need to consider the location of all your TS users and the knock on effect that this may have on your on security, if your organization is a global company & users from all around the world need to login & update their TS, will the system be able to operate in a secure environment (intranet) or will you open it up to the internet?
3. How many people will be using the system? Performance and management of resource data can become a big issue, especially if you have high staff turnover.
4. Evaluate the initial procurement costs and the ongoing maintenance costs? Yearly maintenance costs can quickly add up especially if your organization expands
5. Do you have a resource manager or is your organization planning on having one? This will facilitate better resource control
6. Who will be allocating resources to activities? Big question… Is it the planner or someone closer to the resources. I belive that this will really depend on the size of your projects and the number of resources… My personal thought with this, is that the planner should schedule the roles (which aren’t able be leveled) and the direct supervisors should assign the responsible resources to the activities, this ensures the most accurate data and “buy in” from the team.
7. Who is going to update the status of the schedules? Who decides on progress… I think if you went to the TS module, you would really want steps in your schedule at the say time to take away the ambiguity
8. How many industry specific awards or little quirks does you organization have? Things like project bonuses, multiple & varying OT rates etc, can really throw a spanner in the works as the TS module only has limited functionality in this area and you may then have to build a application anyhow to ensure that you get the correct data that you are chasing
9. How are your employees paid, do you have some on salary and some on wages? If so you will need to be collecting flat rate costs for the salaried personnel & varying cost for the wage based personnel
10. Are all people paid at the same time, or are some paid weekly & some monthly? This may effect how you close out your reporting cycles.
11. Resource calendar management, who will do it and how many calendars will you have? How will you manage resource availability / un-avaliablity

Hope this info helps you in making your decision and I would really like to hear your experiences if your company proceeds