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IntroductionRecently,inoneofDRMcNatty’sP6publictrainingcourses,aquestionwasaskedbyanattendee,“HowdoyouchangethearrangementofdaysintheTimescale?”Forexample,themostcommonsettingshowsthestartoftheweekonSunday,butwhatifyouwantedtheweektostartwithaMonday?

Theanswer,dependingonthesecuritysettingsinyourP6environment,iseitherstraightforwardorcanbeachievedbyaworkaround.Let’stakeacloserlookatthesolutions.VerifySecuritySettingsFirstoff,let’sperformasecuritycheckonthespecificinstanceofP6thatyouareworkingin.TheillustrationbelowshowstheP6trainingenvironment,wheretheAdminmenuisaccessible.ThisisanimportantcomponentespeciallyfortheP6AdvancedclassinwhichtheexercisesmakeuseofFinancialPeriods.WhenopeningP6onyourmachineistheAdminmenuvisible?Iftheanswerisyes,itwillbeasimplemodificationtochangethearrangementofdaysintheTimescale.

DECEMBER 2018 ORACLE PRIMAVERA P6

CUSTOMIZING THE TIMESCALE IN THE GANTT CHART

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Ifsecuritysettingsdonotallowaccess,theAdminmenuwillnotbedisplayed.TheillustrationbelowisfromadifferentP6Environment,thedemoserver.Shouldyourscreenlooksimilartothisinstance,thefixwon’tbeasstraightforwardbutcanstillbeachievedthroughtheuseaworkaround.

ChangingtheCalendarinAdminPreferencesTheeasyfixwillbethefirstmethoddescribed.DefinitelywanttotakeadvantageoftheAdminaccess,ifit’savailable.Aspreviouslyillustrated,selecttheAdminmenufromthetopofthescreen,andthenscrolldowntoAdminPreferencesonthesubmenu.GoaheadandclickonAdminPreferences.

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Onthelefthandside,confirmthatyouareinthe“General,”tab.Underthe“StartingDayofWeek,”clickonthedropdownmenuselectionsfor“Firstdayofweek.”NowyoucanselectwhichdaytheTimescalewilldisplay.Afterthenewchoiceismade,closeoutoftheAdminPreferenceswindowtoviewthesechangesintheGanttChartTimescale.

ChangingtheStartDayinTimescaleWhatoptionsareavailableifaccesshasbeenblockedorrestrictedtotheAdminmenu?Definitelynotasstraightforwardastheprevioustechnique,butthereisaworkaround.Itdoesn’tofferthewiderangingselectionofchoosinganydayoftheweektostart,buttherecertainlyisanotheroptionbesidesSunday.Firstoff,goaheadandopenanyprojectinP6.ThenextstepistonavigatetotheActivitieswindowortab.WiththeGanttchartdisplayed,eitherrightclickinthechartitselforselectfromtheViewmenutochoose“Timescale.”Thescreenshotbelowdisplaystheoptionsdialogbox,withthefocusbeingontheDateFormatsectionhighlightedbytheredarrow.

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ThisworkaroundrequiresmodifyingtheDateFormat“Type.”OneofthemostcommonsettingswillbeCalendar.Inthisstepthatspecific“Type,”willbechanged.FromthedropdownmenuselectWeekofYear,highlightedinthescreenshotbelow.

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Whenchoosingthe“DateInterval,”adecidingfactorcouldbehowmuchdetailtoshowintheGanttchart?Week/Day1willabbreviateeachdayoftheweekintoasingledigit,alphabeticalletterdesignation.Thisallowsforagreateramountoftheproject,ormoremonths,tobedisplayed.

Week/Day2abbreviateseachdayoftheweekintothreeletters.ItwilltakeupmorespaceintheGanttchartbutisperfectlysuitedforlookaheadschedules.Whenmoredetailisrequired,thissettingprovidesadditionalinformationinthedescription.UponconfirmingtheselectionbyclickingOK,wehavenowarrivedattheconclusionoftheworkaround,illustratedinthescreenshotbelow.

SummaryDefaultsettingsinP6displaythestartoftheweekinTimescaleasSunday.WhatiftheP6Userwantedtochangethestarttoadifferentday?Dependingonsecuritysettings,ifAdminmenuisaccessible,thischangeisbotheasyandhighlycustomizable-includingallsevendaysoftheweek.Intheeventthatsecurityaccessisrestricted,thereisstillaworkaroundavailablewhichchangesthestartoftheweektoadifferentday-ratherthanonlySunday.ThiseditionofTechTipswalkedthrougheachofthestepsinvolvedtomodifytheTimescale.