In Oracle Primavera Cloud, Views are unique interface configurations. They determine how the Activities screen displays at any given time. The displaying view controls everything from the columns in the table to the tabs in the Details section. Users can configure personal views to adjust how data displays. However, administrators can also create standardized sets of views for their end users. We recommend all administrators do this, as it will make it easier for newer schedulers to start working in the program.

Unlike in Primavera P6, Oracle Primavera Cloud does not currently allow you to create Global views for all users to access. However, the program does allow you to create Workspace views. With workspace views, you can allow all users within a specific workspace access to a set of views. Unfortunately, workspace views do not push down like other workspace data. Views created within a parent workspace will not be available within the associated child workspaces. This can make it difficult to easily share workspace views across the database – especially if you have many workspaces set up.

Thankfully, you can share Views from one workspace to another using the Import/Export Configuration Data tools. In this article, we will cover how to share Workspace data, like views, across multiple workspaces in the database. The following tools are available to Oracle Primavera Cloud users who have access to add and edit workspace data.

What are Workspace Views?

Workspace views are views that are available for all projects within the workspace. Every user within a project in the workspace will have access to these views. Workspace views are attached to the workspace, rather than the project or the user. If you move a project from one workspace to another, the project will no longer have access to the previous workspace’s views.

At this time, there is no way to create global views that apply to all users and all projects in Oracle Primavera Cloud. The closest alternative is workspace view. Unfortunately, unlike most workspace data, workspace views do not automatically push down. If you create a view in a parent workspace, it will not automatically be available in the child workspace. Fortunately, you can share workspace views across workspaces using the Export/Import Workspace Configuration tools.

Configuring Workspace Views

Before considering how you’ll be sharing your workspace views, you’ll need to create them. To create a workspace view, first open up a project within the desired workspace. Navigate to the Activities screen, where you’ll be creating and setting up views.

Using the Views menu, select Manage Views. You can add a new view by selecting Add – but this will always add a Personal view by default. If you want to create a new Workspace view, right click on the Workspaces tab and select Add.

You can also quickly copy and paste Views from Personal, Project, or Standard to Workspace as needed. To do this, right click on the desired view and select Copy. Then, right click on the Workspace tab and select Paste. The desired view will now be available for the Workspace. You can now double click on the view’s name to adjust it.

With a view created, use the Manage Views menu to adjust the display. From here, you can configure the Columns and Grouping bands that appear in the table and the way that the Gantt Chart displays. Use the tabs up at the top of this screen to make all needed changes to the view. 

Once you have the view set as you need, you can select Save to save the view to the workspace. This view will now be available for all users and projects within the current workspace. However, this view will not automatically push down. Child workspaces to the current one will not have access to these views by default. You can, however, share this view across other workspaces by exporting and importing configuration data.

Exporting Workspace Configuration Data

To share workspace data across workspaces, navigate to the Workspaces screen by selecting Object Selector > Workspaces > View Workspaces List. Right click on the workspace in which you just created the View and select Export Configuration Data.

In the Export Configuration Data window, you’ll find a list of all workspace data under the Available box. Double click on any of the values you wish to share to add them to the Selected box. To share views, double click on the option for Named Views > Activity. Because Activity views can include columns for Codes and Configured Fields, these values will automatically add to the Selected box as well.

Then, press Next.

Under Summary, you’ll find a list of all Codes, Configured Fields, and Named Views. You can’t adjust the values in this screen, but you will be able to pick and choose exactly what to import later on. Select Download and a zipped folder called ConfigData will automatically download to your computer. You do not need to unzip this folder – you’ll be able to import it in exactly as it is.

Importing Workspace Configuration Data

With the Workspace Configuration data exported, you can now import it into the desired workspace. To do this, right click on another workspace on the same screen and select Import Configuration Data.

In the Import window, select the ellipses button to search your computer. Select the zipped file that you just downloaded, and select Import.

In the Import Data Package screen, you can choose which data from the package you want to import in. For each data item, you can also choose between three actions – these actions will only apply if duplicate objects are found during import. Essentially, this is what will happen if you already have data in the selected workspace that matches data that you’re importing in. You can choose between the following:

• Keep Existing: This will keep the data that already exists in the workspace, and won’t import the matching data. If you already have a matching view in the workspace, this option will keep the existing one and not double it up via import. This is typically the most ideal setting.

   

• Update: This will update the existing object in the workspace with the version from the import. Essentially, this replaces the view that’s already in the workspace with the view you’re importing in – preventing the doubling up of views.

   

• Create: This will create a new object from the import, and keep the existing one. If the view already exists in the workspace, this option will double it up.

Then, select Import. The last screen will show you everything you’ve imported into the workspace, along with any errors – if they occurred. Select OK, and you’ll now have access to the created views within the Workspace. You can repeat this process to all workspaces if you want to set up global views that every user has access to.

It’s important to remember to import in this configuration data as you create additional workspaces. Another thing to keep in mind is that these are not live links. If you adjust the view configuration in one workspace, it will not adjust the view configuration in other workspaces. Instead, you’ll need to perform that change individually within each workspace, or export/import the configuration data again with the Update option.

Summary

Views are unique interface configurations in Oracle Primavera Cloud. They allow you to adjust the Activities screen to show different types of data for different workflows. For administrators, it is often useful to create a set of standardized views for end users to access. However, at this time, there is no way to create global views that apply to everyone. Instead, the closest alternative available is workspace views. Workspace views are available to all projects and all users within a workspace. Although workspace views do not push down on their own, you can share them across workspaces using the Import/Export Configuration Tool. With this tool, administrators can set up standardized views for all end users to access.

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Lauren Hecker is an Oracle Primavera Cloud, Primavera P6, and Microsoft Project instructor who teaches onsite and virtual scheduling courses. To see her next open enrollment course, please visit our calendar. To schedule an onsite or private training course, please contact us!