Jason KleinmanProject Controls Systems Integration SpecialistParsons Corporation
Case Study: Migrating from P6v7/CM13 to P6R8.2/CM14
Parsons by the numbers
Headquartered in Pasadena, CA
More than 11,500 Employees
$2.7 billion in revenue in 2011
100% owned by Employee Stock Ownership Trust
2,200 Projects
50 States
25 Countries
79 Languages spoken
7,700 college degrees/professional registrations
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Corporate Core Values
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SAFETY
QUALITY
INTEGRITY
DIVERSITY
INNOVATION
SUSTAINABILITY
As an industry-leading provider of
high-value technical and
management solutions, we are
firmly committed to maintaining a
safe and healthy environment in all
of our offices and on each of our
projects.
We are committed to providing high-
quality services and products. We
meet the mutually agreed-to
requirements the first time and
strive for continuous improvement of
our work processes.
We uphold our reputation for
integrity in the marketplace and
provide an ethical work environment
for all of our employees. We will do
the right thing each time we face a
tough decision.
We actively pursue diversity in
our workforce composition, the
markets we serve, and the
services we provide. We
recognize that the technical
challenges we solve require new
perspectives and open minds.
Through inventive processes and
unique solutions, we provide
unmatched value to our customers.
We foster creative work
environments where we always
challenge ourselves to improve our
processes and procedures.
In all that we do, we are
conscientious of the impact that our
work has on the environment. We
help our customers do the same by
providing clean, efficient, healthy,
and effective solutions on all of our
projects.
Current P6 and CM Usage
Contract Management:
225 Users
30 Database Groups (US)
30 Database Groups (MENA)
P6:
266 Users
55 Databases (US)
39 Databases (MENA)
Currently Supported by my team (IS Project Controls) of 7 FTE’s all of which are subject matter experts on various Project Controls applications.
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Why so many databases?
154 databases between CM and P6!
Used for both internal projects as well as external.
Contract requirements Certain government projects/programs require data
segregation
Multiple project sites with completely segregated environments
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Why Upgrade?
IT Reasoning Reduced Server footprint ($$$ Savings)
Less patching
Less monitoring
Less energy usage
Less licensing costs
Less hardware costs
Project Reasoning Increasing number of contractors and projects requesting
R8.Schedulers/PM’s receiving version 8 XER files
Enhanced reporting
Team Member available for use in the field (Mobility!!!)
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Upgrade Planning
What hardware is required?
What software is required?
What licenses are required?
What training is required for administrators?
What training is required for end users?
Will all databases be upgraded? If not, which will? How long will both environments be
available?
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Required Hardware
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Minimum required servers:
1. Citrix Application Server: P6 Client Application
(optional if client application is installed on users PC’s)
2. Web Server: P6 Web App, API, Web Services, Team Member, CM14 and
CM14 Web Services
3. Reporting Server: WebLogic/BI Publisher 11gR2
4. MSSQL Server
Future Servers:
1. Additional Web Server for clustering/load balancing.
P6v7 and CM13 Environment (US)
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P6 Client
App (Citrix)P6 IAPI
Web Services
JBOSS
P6 Web
Application
JBOSS
CM 13 SP5
Site 1
JBOSS
CM 13 SP5
Site 2
JBOSS
MSSQL Server – P6 MSSQL Server –
CM Site 1
MSSQL Server –
CM Site 2
P6v7 and CM13 Environment (MENA)
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P6 Client
App (Citrix)P6 IAPI
Web Services
JBOSS
P6 Web
Application
JBOSS
CM 13 SP5
JBOSS
MSSQL Server – P6 MSSQL Server – CM
P6R8 and CM14 Environment (US)
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P6 Client
App (Citrix)WebLogic 11gR2
Web Server
P6R8 Web App
P6R8 IAPI
P6R8 Web Services
P6R8 Team Member
CM14
CM14 Web Services
WebLogic 11gR2
Reporting Server
BI Publisher 11gR2
MSSQL Server
P6/CM
Unifier Test Server
P6R8 and CM14 Environment (MENA)
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P6 Client
App (Citrix)WebLogic 11gR2
Web Server
P6R8 Web App
P6R8 IAPI
P6R8 Web Services
P6R8 Team Member
CM14
CM14 Web Services
WebLogic 11gR2
Reporting Server
BI Publisher 11gR2
MSSQL Server
P6/CM
Unifier Test Server
Required Software/Licensing
P6 R8 Client Application
Web Application
IAPI/Web Services
Team Member
CM 14 Web Application
Web Services
BI Publisher 11gR2
WebLogic 11gR2
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Web Services and Team
member licenses available
separately and cheaper than
full P6 license – useful for
TM and Integrations
Web Services licenses
available separately and
cheaper than full CM license
– useful for integrations
Restricted use license included
with P6/CM licensing. Does not
include clustering or the ability to
create reports, only run them.
Administrator Training WebLogic Oracle WebLogic Server 11g: Administration Essentials (pending)
Oracle WebLogic Server 11g: Monitor and Tune Performance (pending)
BI Publisher Oracle BI Publisher 11g R1: Fundamentals Ed 1 LVC
P6R8 Self taught
CM14 Self taught
Unifier (not in production) Configuration Management (pending 2013)
Access Management (pending 2013)14
End User Training
Primavera P6 Professional Fundamentals Rel 8.2
Primavera P6 Professional Advanced R8.2
Custom developed update training
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1. Client App versus Web ApplicationOverview of P6R8: Differences with previous versions, capabilities, what's available in web that’s not in client etc
2. Client AppMenu features removed/added from clientHome Window changesEPS/Projects ViewActivities ViewWBS ViewTabbed ViewsReporting: enhancements, email reportsPage Breaks by Grouping bandTimescaled Logic Diagrams
3. Web ApplicationAdminister Menu: Users Preferences, Enterprise Data CalendarsProject Codes - dictionary on the webUser Defined Fields DictionaryResource ManagementEPS ViewCreating new projects in the webProject TemplatesAdvanced FilteringAutomatic Scheduling in the GANTT viewGrouping - Multiple HierarchiesType Ahead in Activity ViewEmail activity ViewResource Assignments View
Database Upgrades / New Database versioning
Deciding which databases to upgrade? Parsons shared database
In use and upgraded since P3e/c 3.x
Approximately 19,000 projects – 85% that haven’t been touched in 2 years
Project/Program Specific databases
Only upgraded if specifically requested by the projects PM
At what point will we require R8 for new databases?
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Shared Database Migration
Goal: Make sure all currently active projects moved to new database while permanently archiving all old data for historical purposes.
January 2, 2013
V7 Shared database switched to read only mode
March 2, 2013
Last day for IS Project Controls Team to move projects to new database
March 29, 2013
V7 Shared database detached and permanently archived
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End User Buy In
People generally hate change!
Planted the seed for upgrade a year prior to implementation Introduced to our OSS Group (PM’s, Program Managers,
Schedulers, etc)
Showed them new functionality
Performed brown bag sessions online for all end users 2 Sessions for P6 and 2 for CM at different date’s and times.
Introduced all new features and functionality
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Team Member
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Mobility is a corporate initiative!
Pushing out Team Member via Parsons App
Catalog to all P6 Users with IOS Devices.
Goal: Be able to utilize cheaper licensing for
people who only need to update tasks from
the field.
Training Challenges
People began asking us for access to new software before it was available.
People began asking us for training before it was available.
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IT Challenges
LDAP Authentication P6 – Easy
CM – Not in use currently
BI Publisher and WebLogic – Difficult
BI Publisher Multiple Data Sources and Report Folders
Access privileges
Configuring data models to pull from correct databases
Running as a windows service
WebLogic Running as a windows service
Currently researching using WLST to run Admin and Managed servers
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IT Challenges (cont’d)
Support Felt like we spent more time documenting the installation
process than Oracle did
Much better now than it was!
ID 1462323.1
How To Configure P6 R8.x Enterprise Reporting With BI Publisher 11g using
the LDAP Security Model
ID 1296971.1
Using LDAP and R8.0 Web Reporting shows "No data is available because
your P6 user name is not valid for connecting to the reporting database."
When Trying To Run Reports In P6 R8.0 Lot’s of moving back and forth
between Primavera Support and WebLogic Support and BI Publisher
Support
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Self Learning
Time is money Administrative
Could have saved weeks of time if training done before implementation
Users
Establish training environment earlier
Learned more by working through problems than we would have accomplished by any training class
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Feedback from Users
Mostly Positive!
P6 Web Application
Positive comments about GANTT chart
Enhanced calendar functionality
Templates
Currently being looked into for future projects
Type Ahead in activities view
Client Application
Tabbed grouping
Page Breaks by grouping
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Negative: Having to switch between client and web to perform administrative functions
Lessons Learned
WebLogic Perform lots of performance testing with development environment
before determining hardware requirements for production.
BI Publisher Do lots of testing prior to rolling out!
If you know Infomaker or P6 Report writer, you do NOT know BI
Publisher.
Lots of work to have different report folders for different databases
Lots of work to make it function with LDAP
R8 Web Have training available prior to letting users know about upgrade.
Have a “Sandbox” database available prior to letting users know about
upgrade.
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Contact Info
Name Jason Kleinman
Position Project Controls Systems Integration Specialist
Email [email protected]
LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/jkleinman/
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