How to quickly identify Behind Schedule and Over Budget activity by Indicator UDF in Primavera P6

Primavera P6 allows users to efficiently track schedule and budget performance using graphical indicators in User Defined Fields (UDFs). This guide will walk you through the steps to create and use these indicators to highlight activities that are behind schedule or over budget.

Identify Behind Schedule Activities

Assume you have a project with a baseline already set. After updating progress, you can use the following columns to assess schedule performance:

• BL Project Finish: The activity’s finish date from the project baseline.
• Variance – BL Project Finish: The difference between the baseline finish date and the current finish date.
  Formula: BL Project Finish - Finish

Create an Indicator UDF

1. Go to Enterprise → User Defined Fields.
2. Click Add to create a new UDF.
3. Enter a title (e.g., “On Schedule Status”) and set the Data Type to Indicator.
4. Close the dialog.

 

 

Apply Global Change

1. Go to Tools → Global Change and click New.
2. Define the condition as outlined in the picture below.
3. Click Change, then Commit Change.
4. Click OK and close the dialog.

 

 

 

Display the Indicator

Add the newly created indicator column to your activity layout. You can now quickly identify which activities are behind schedule.

 

 

Identify Over Budget Activities

To assess cost performance, use the following columns:

• Budget At Completion: The cost from the project baseline.
• At Completion Total Cost: Sum of actual and remaining costs.
• Variance – BL Project Total Cost:
  Formula: Budget At Completion - At Completion Total Cost

Create an Indicator UDF

1. Go to Enterprise → User Defined Fields.
2. Create a new UDF titled “On Budget Status” with Data Type set to Indicator.

 

Apply Global Change

1. Go to Tools → Global Change and create a new rule.
2. Set the condition as outlined in the picture below.
3. Click Change, then Commit Change.

 

Display the Indicator

Add the “On Budget Status” indicator column to your layout. You can now easily see which activities are over budget.