Primavera P6 PPM Version 21: Activity Critical Path Toolbar

There is a new toolbar in Version 21 titled Activity Critical Path.

• The Toolbar is displayed by right clicking on any toolbar and checking the Activity Critical Path option.
• This will display the toolbar (see picture on the right).

IMPORTANT NOTE: Clicking on a button will activate the command and clicking again will deactivate the command.

The Oracle Cumulative Feature Overview file states:

To aid in the resolution of delayed critical paths before they become project over-runs, P6 Professional can show:

• Activities on up to 30 activity-driven critical paths, calculated on the forward pass, backward pass, or forward and backward passes (with or without resource leveling).
• The activities on up to 30 resource driven critical paths, calculated on the backward pass with resource leveling.

This Oracle description is not clear and I will work through the icons one at a time and explain how the functions work.

Function:

The schedule on the right has no relationships between activities and has been levelled.

When selecting A1040 and Backward Activity Critical Path you will see the result on the right.

When selecting A1040 and Backward Resource Driven Critical Path you will see the result on the right.

Note: Review the Backward Activity Critical Path now and then come back and review this one.

Function

This increases the value of the Maximum Multiple Critical Path Counts.

Function

This is not a command button but displays the number of Maximum Critical Paths that has been set by the user.

Selecting one Maximum Critical Path Count (see picture on the right).

Selecting two Maximum Critical Path Count (see picture on the right).

Thus this command determines how many chains of events you wish to see.

Function

This decreases the value of the Maximum Multiple Critical Path Counts.

Function

This opens a form allowing the setting of the Maximum Multiple Critical Path Counts.

Function

Clicking this button hides and displays the current applied Group and Sort bands. Hiding the bands enables the user to see the chain of events as an uninterrupted single chain of activities:

• Group and Sort enabled (see picture on the right)
• Group and Sort disabled (see picture on the right)

Function

This option displays the chain of events before a selected activity that has the least amount of Float. If there is a critical path it will display this and if there is not, then it will find the chain of events with the least amount of float to the start of the project and display this as the Backward Activity Critical Path.

The picture on the right displays the Backward Activity Critical Path from activity EC1500, which is a chain of events that is on the schedule Critical Path.

Function

This option displays the chain of events after a selected activity that has the least amount of Float. If there is a critical path it will display this path and if there is not, then it will find the chain of events with the least amount of float to the end of the project and display this as the Forward Activity Critical Path.

The picture on the right displays the Forward Activity Critical Path from activity EC1840, which is a chain of events that is not on the schedule Critical Path.