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PMP vs Primavera
Many people think PMP and Primavera are one and the same thing! I have met several people who think that by taking PMP or Primavera training they will learn same or similar things. It is not true at all. Primavera is software and PMP is a theoretical study.
Read on and find out how PMP and Primavera differs from each other, and what they are all about.
Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification
PMP certification is conceptual, theoretical, it is not practical teaching. PMP is all about tools, techniques, methods, inputs and outputs associated with different activities.
PMP guides you how to do a certain thing in a proper way, in a way which is more productive, easier and manageable.
For example, if you want to calculate duration of an activity, PMP teachings will tell you how you can calculate near to accurate duration of the activity. You will be provided with techniques that you can use to calculate the duration. To calculate the duration, PMP gives three techniques: 3-point estimation, analogous estimation and parametric estimation. Using either of these or all of these techniques, you can calculate near to accurate duration of the activity, and you will be saved from guessing the duration, which could be unrealistic and which can affect the entire project badly.
In the same way, PMP gives you techniques to do many other things so that you can do these better, without a problem and so that your work is more productive. These techniques are related to all kinds of work, e.g. techniques to work with product/project quality, scope, time, cost, risk, communication, procurement, HR and stakeholders.
Oracle Primavera
Primavera is software by Oracle, a US based company. It allows you to record detail of your project work i.e. WBS, activities, resources, costs, etc. Without software you cannot record, compile and organize all detail of the project properly. Furthermore, Primavera re-calculates the project detail i.e. cost, man-hours, duration, etc. every time you make any change, anywhere in the project. This cannot be done in any other software like Excel, Word, etc.
If you have studied PMP, you can plan your project work in Primavera work more realistically and more properly. For example, you have learnt how to calculate duration of the activity through PMP. Once calculated, you can now enter that in Primavera, and you can do that for all the activities. Similarly, all other techniques, methods you have learnt in PMP, you can now practically implement them in Primavera.
Conclusion
Both PMP and Primavera are different things. However, if you learn them both, you will become expert in project management, not only in concepts but in practice, too.
Nowadays, employers demand that employees should have studied both - Primavera and PMP. Especially, if you are planning to go or are presently in Middle East, you will realize that knowing Primavera and PMP, both, is like a necessity. And if you have studied them both, you can find plenty better job opportunities for you.
This was difference between Primavera vs PMP explained. I hope you found this information useful.
Also read:
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It is difficult to change the currency for each resource. Hence, it is better to change the base (default) currency in Primavera. By changing the default currency, all the resources and expenses will show monetary value in the Default currency that you have set.
Here is how to change the default currency in Primavera.
Step 1: Open 'Admin' menu and click on 'Currencies'
Step 2: The first currency that you see on the top of the list is in US Dollars. It is Default Currency. Rename this to another currency. Enter the currency name, any symbol, and currency ID
Step 3: Click 'Close' to close the window.
That's it. You have changed the Default currency. Now, in every window of Primavera and in the reports, the Default currency will show.
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After project planning, we enter project monitoring and controlling phase. In this phase we:
- Collect and update status of activities (e.g. when started, how much progressed).
- We also make changes requested internal or external of the project.
- This process is called Schedule Model Maintenance.
- Collect and update resource information (e.g. how many man-hours consumed, how much equipment and material used)
- Monitor schedule and control as required.
- Incorporate risk control activities to avoid, mitigate, transfer or accept risk.
- Change baseline if required
- Document changes.
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What is Use of Anticipated Start and Anticipated Finish dates in Primavera P6
You might have seen field to enter Anticipated Start and Anticipated Finish dates in Primavera P6. You will find these fields in the Projects window and WBS window. So what is their use? These are useful as I will explain below.
Suppose you have not yet added activities in the project and you still want to display bar in the Gantt chart, enter Anticipated dates. It is because you might already know that without having activities there is no bar in the Gantt chart, so by entering Anticipated dates, you can show the bar.
Remember three points about Anticipated dates:
- If you entered anticipated dates for a project, the same anticipated dates will show in WBS window, for the project bar.
- If in the WBS window you change anticipated dates for the project level, these dates will also change the anticipated dates in the project window.
- However, you can add WBS elements and each element can have independent anticipated dates, which will also show their own bar in the Gantt chart
So now you know the advantage of using anticipated dates. The fact that you can show project bar and WBS bar even before adding activities makes is very useful to have the anticipated date fields.