Configure PM Compass for Primavera P6 Integration

Confirm that your scheduling engine credentials are configured

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The scheduling credentials are needed whether or not you use Open Plan as your scheduling tool since PM Compass uses Open Plan functionality for all schedule changes and processes. If you do not own Open Plan, PM Compass automatically populates the username and password in EPM SA during installation. In this case, do not remove or edit the data in these fields as this will break the integration.

In order for PM Compass to apply changes and run processes for projects being managed by PM Compass, an Open Plan username and password is needed in EPM SA (Configuration » System Settings » General tab). This login information is only used for processing purposes and is not used for access control.

To confirm that everything is configured correctly, you can use the Verify Components feature in PM Compass (System Settings » Verify Components tab).

How to...

Verify the Installed Components

Confirm that your P6 connection information is entered correctly

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The next step is to confirm that your Primavera P6 URL and login credentials are entered and correct.

In order for the integration with Primavera P6 to work, PM Compass needs the Primavera P6 connection information. You can enter this information on the PM Compass System Settings Primavera P6 tab.

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Primavera P6 tab in System Settings

Confirm that user-character fields have been linked and mapped

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Before you start configuring progress, confirm that:

• User-character fields that link an activity in the schedule to the cost system have been identified.

• User-character fields that link an activity to the work package have been populated.

Warning: You should not change the Primavera P6 URL or database after you have configured fields in User Defined Data. If the new database is not a recent of copy of the current database, you can perform limited testing; however, the integration will most likely fail and you will not be able to save changes in User Defined Data or the Project Form View until all data differences are resolved.

When the Primavera P6 integration is run, the standard fields such as early dates, and so on are automatically loaded. User Defined Data is used to specify additional fields in your schedule that are used to identify the control account, work package, and other important information needed to progress your schedules. 

The Work Breakdown Structure in P6 is automatically mapped to the Code 1 field in PM Compass. Use this column to map additional user-character fields to the fields in PM Compass.

In order to link an activity to a work package, you first need to identify which user-character fields are needed by mapping them to PM Compass fields. After you map the fields in User Defined Data, they are added to the selections in the Project Form View. On the Schedule Integration tab, you choose your Primavera P6 schedule and how it links to the control account and work package. On the Progress tab, you can choose a date field to store when the progress was last submitted. 

You cannot select user defined fields from Primavera P6 that contain a comma or a quotation mark in the field name.

All Primavera P6 fields mapped to PM Compass are displayed in the Enter/Approve Progress view.

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User Defined Data Source Fields Tab when Area = Schedule

Configuring PM Compass: Add Fields to PM Compass

Link the Primavera P6 schedule project to a PM Compass project

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In the Project Details view, on the Schedule Integration tab, link your schedule projects to PM Compass projects.

• Set Primavera P6 as the scheduling tool.

• Select the linking fields.

• Select the Primavera P6 schedule that you want to associate with the PM Compass project. You can link one schedule project to a PM Compass project.

How to...

Link schedule projects to PM Compass projects

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Changing the scheduling tool

Schedule Integration tab

Load the associated project into PM Compass

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After the project is associated with a PM Compass project, you must load it into PM Compass. You accomplish this by running the process immediately or by scheduling the process to run at a later time.

Since this is the first time you are setting up this project, it is helpful to click the Run Now button on the Schedule Integration tab. This allows you to verify that you have linked the fields correctly. To confirm that the projects have been linked correctly, use the Cost Analysis Activities tab to see the activities for the selected work package. After you confirm that everything is working correctly, you can then schedule it to be a recurring overnight process.

When you click Run Now (or the scheduled process runs for the first time), the project is loaded into PM Compass and the Name field on the Schedule Projects grid of the Schedule Integration tab is populated. An email is sent to you, letting you know whether the process succeeded or failed.

Tip: Use the Schedule Analysis view to confirm that the project data was loaded correctly.

The first time that the integration is run, the PM Compass project is created by adding the activities, resources, and relationships found in the project. On subsequent integrations, an update process retains the relationship between the progress entries and the PM Compass project.

If an activity already exists in PM Compass, its resource assignments and relationships are deleted and re-added and the rest of the activity fields are updated. New activities are added to the schedule along with their resources and relationships.

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Schedule Integration tab

Schedule the process

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After you have confirmed that the project is loading correctly, click Schedule to schedule the process to run at a certain date and time on a recurring basis.

Deltek recommends that you schedule the integration for when no one is using P6. If a user is editing an activity and has not moved to a different activity, when the integration occurs, Primavera P6 performs a save and overwrites the progress that was pushed back into Primavera P6.

Updating Activity Fields

You can only update progress from PM Compass. If you want to update other fields such as the activity description, and so on, you need to make the change in Primavera P6 and run the integration again.

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Scheduling a Process

Schedule Analysis view

Schedule Integration tab

Next steps

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After integration has been set up, the next step is to configure progress.

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Configure Progress for Primavera P6