Dashboards in Primavera P6 EPPM are a great capability, allowing users to manage them for a single project or for a portfolio of projects. There are a number of portlets covering most scenarios which allow the user some flexibility to build to the requirements for their organization. Primavera P6 EPPM dashboards can be created containing a portfolio of projects in the same category, for example, construction, energy, manufacturing, etc. depending on the organization.
This article will take you through step-by-step on how to create a dashboards in Primavera P6 EPPM.
When we login to Primavera P6 EPPM, we are presented with a dashboard screen and by clicking on ‘Dashboards’ in the top left-hand corner of the screen. There we can click ‘Manage dashboards’ from the drop-down menu.
Two options appear ‘Displayed Dashboards’ and ‘Available Dashboards’. By clicking on the arrow on the far left next to ‘Available Dashboards’, a list of available dashboards appears, as shown below in Figure 1.
Figure 1
We select ‘Personal Workspace’ from the list of options and when we check the box to select it, ‘Personal Workspace’ moves to the top folder ‘Displayed Dashboards.’ By clicking on it we enter the ‘Content’ tab. Under the ‘General’ tab, we give our dashboard a title of ‘Steve’s Workspace’ and from the dashboard filter we select ‘Portfolio Construction Projects’.
Under ‘Project Performance’ we select the items we want to display on our dashboard; ‘Schedule Performance’ and from the drop-down arrow ‘To Date Values’ and ‘Forecast at Completion’, ‘Project Statistics’, ‘Project Health’, and ‘Project Gantt Chart.’ As displayed below in Figure 2.
Figure 2
As we want to display the Project Statistics, by checking this box we have an option to customize them by selecting the ‘customize’ in the middle of the screen. A new screen appears where we can select our desired project statistics from a drop-down menu on the far left of the screen or search for their items by typing in the ‘Available Columns’ box.
By double-clicking on our selection our Project Statistics move into the Selected Columns box, where we can adjust the order of our columns by highlighting the item and using the up and down arrows on the far right of the screen, as displayed below in Figure 3.
Figure 3
When we click ‘Save’ in the bottom right-hand corner of our screen the customize box disappears and we return to the screen in Figure 2. Next, we select the ‘Layout’ tab where all our selected project performance items are displayed. Under each project performance item, we have the option of selecting narrow or wide for our portlets. We select wide for our Project Statistics and using the arrows on the far right move our project performance items until we are content with the layout, as displayed in Figure 4.
Figure 4
Next, we select the ‘Access’ tab and we select ‘Current User’ as we want to be the only user with access to ‘Steve’s workspace.’ As shown below in Figure 5.
Figure 5
Lastly, we select the ‘Content’ tab, and in the bottom left-hand corner select ‘Save and Close’. When we return to ‘Dashboards’ we can see our newly created ‘Steve’s workspace’ as shown below in Figure 6.
Figure 6
When we select ‘Steve’s Workspace’ our dashboard is displayed with our portfolio of projects. Figure 7 displays the top half of the dashboard and Figure 8 the bottom half of the dashboard below with all seven portlets.
Figure 7
Figure 8
Summary
Dashboards in Primavera P6 EPPM are versatile and fairly easy to construct. Once you have selected all the portlets for your dashboard, care should be taken when configuring your dashboard layout. Where you have a lot of information to display for example project statistics, a wide layout may be advisable.
Selecting the user availability is also important with the ‘Current User’ limiting access to you, the ‘All Users’ allows anyone in the organization to have access to your dashboard and ‘List of Users’ would allow the project team access to your dashboard.