Oracle Primavera Cloud offers a wide variety of functionality for different user types. For CPM schedulers and project managers, OPC allows you to create and manage multiple projects and programs. On the other hand, for portfolio managers, the program offers tools to manage and track portfolio performance. As a multi-faceted program, OPC provides a lot of capabilities – beyond basic project management. Because of this, the program allows you to work with five different object types: projects, portfolios, programs, workspaces, and ideas. The object types available to you will depend on your OPC license and your level of access. It’s important to understand how each object type works and what they do. This can help you determine which OPC license type to purchase.

In this article, we will go over the different object types work within Oracle Primavera Cloud. Again, you may not have access to all of these objects by default. However, we will also cover which license type you’ll need to access each object.

If you already have an Oracle Primavera Cloud account, you can see all available objects under the Object Selector.

There are five different object types available in Oracle Primavera Cloud: projects, portfolios, programs, workspaces, and ideas.

Projects

A project is a formalized plan undertaken to accomplish a set goal – such as building a structure or creating a product. For users familiar with Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project, projects in OPC will work very similarly. You build a project by defining details about the work that needs to get done. For example, what type of activities do you need to perform to complete the project? Who will be working on the project? When does the project need to start and finish? You will need to add all of these variables to the project to build a schedule. Ideally, field employees will follow this schedule to ensure that the project completes on time. In OPC, projects are typically utilized by project managers, CPM schedulers, and field employees.

Oracle Primavera Cloud allows you to create an unlimited number of projects. You can create projects from scratch, or import them in from Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project. You’ll build projects using a variety of activities, tied together with logic. Ultimately, this project will provide a schedule that tracks when each activity should start and finish to complete the job.

If you want to work with projects in Oracle Primavera Cloud, you’ll need to have access to either the Schedule or Portfolio Planning license type. The Schedule license types will allow you to create and import in projects. For any user that needs to work with projects, it’s recommended to at least have the Schedule license type. The Portfolio Planning license will also allow for project creation, but it will not provide a typical CPM schedule view. Instead, this license will allow you to track and manage the project at the portfolio level. Here, you can track how the project is progressing against set organizational goals.

Portfolios

A portfolio is a collection of projects, programs, and sub-portfolios that allows for higher level planning. Portfolios allow you to manage all of your organization’s work at once. Here, you can track overall budget planning, resource allocation, and organizational goals. This is essentially a top-down view of all work performed within your OPC database.

Portfolios are not meant for tracking individual project schedules or activities. Instead, they’re meant to track data associated with those projects that affect the organization as whole. On the financial side, portfolios allow you to perform Budget Planning and Resource Planning across all projects at once. For performance management, portfolios feature a Scorecard and a Prioritization Matrix. Here, project managers can not only track current projects but also evaluate project proposals to maximize portfolio performance.

Higher up users within the company, such as stakeholders or portfolio managers, will typically use portfolios. These users will be less concerned with the day to day work. Instead, they’ll be managing the entire organization as a whole and everything that goes on within it. The Portfolio Planning license type is the only license that supports the creation and use of portfolios.

Programs

A program is a collection of associated projects that you can open simultaneously. In Oracle Primavera Cloud, you can only open one project at a time. If you want to access multiple projects simultaneously, you would need to add them to a program

Programs allow you to view multiple related projects as if they were one large schedule. In the Schedule app, programs will display activities for multiple projects. Here, you can view and monitor how projects interact and overlap with one another. You can even create relationships between projects – such as when one project ends, another begins. In the Resources app, programs let you view resource allocation for multiple projects. This can be especially useful when multiple projects use the same resource crews.

Programs feature most of the same apps available for projects, such as Cost and Funds, Risk, and Tasks. The only difference between projects and programs is that projects will display only their own data, whereas programs will display data for all projects within it. It’s important to note that projects are not copied when you add them to a program. You’re still working with the same project throughout. If you make any adjustments to a project within a program, those changes will apply to the project outside of the program, as well. Programs are simply groups of projects you’re viewing at once.

In Oracle Primavera Cloud, the Schedule and Portfolio Planning licenses allow you to create programs. Similar to projects, the Schedule license will provide a classic CPM schedule view of the projects within a program. The Portfolio Planning license will allow you to create programs – but you won’t be able to view them as a schedule in the same way. Instead, this license will focus on the resources, budget, and performance of the program at an upper level.

Workspaces

Workspaces are hierarchical structures that you can use to organize projects and programs. These are very similar to the Enterprise Project Structure (EPS) in Primavera P6. Workspaces allow you to customize sets of data for different types of projects. For example, you could create workspaces to organize projects by type or location. If a certain type of project tends to use similar data, like calendars and resources, you can create this data at the workspace level. Any project within the workspace will be able to use that created data – while projects in other workspaces will not. Workspaces allow you to organize and segregate projects and project data from other projects that will need to use different sets of data. Put simply, you can think of workspaces as folders that you’re organizing projects and project data within. Not only does this help you always find the data you need, it also allows you to sort data into different categories of work.

You can create as many workspaces as needed for your organization. Generally, a workspace hierarchy will help categorize objects by the type of work performed or site locations. You can create child workspaces within parent workspaces as well. 

Workspace Hierarchy Example

In the following example, we have a workspace hierarchy organized by location. This company currently has projects in New York City, Los Angeles, and Tokyo. Because NYC and LA are both US based cities, they might share some data – such as federal holidays. To share data between these two cities, this company created a parent workspace called United States. In the US workspace, they can place all US specific data – and this data will be available within any project below it. Underneath US, this company has created child workspaces for NYC and LA. This way, they can keep NYC resources separate from LA resources – but both child workspaces can access the data added to the US workspace. In this way, you can ensure that your data is available for all projects that need it.

To create workspaces in Oracle Primavera Cloud, you must have either the Schedule or Portfolio Planning license type. Typically, application administrators will create and maintain the workspace hierarchy. Non-administrators will be able to work within any of these workspaces assigned to them as a user.

Ideas

An idea is a proposal for an organizational goal, improvement, or potential project. Ideas allow users to submit proposals to administrators for review. The administrator can then choose to either approve or reject the idea. If approved, the idea will become a new project within the system. If rejected, the submitter can adjust and resubmit the idea in the future.

Users do not need access to a license to submit ideas in OPC. As an administrator, you can assign a user with the user type Idea Submitter Only. This will allow the user to create and submit ideas without using up an Oracle Primavera Cloud license. However, in order to view submitted ideas and approve or reject them, you will need to have the Portfolio Planning license type.

Summary

Oracle Primavera Cloud features different objects for different workflows. The objects available to you will depend on your level of access and assigned license type. At this point, you may be wondering what license type is best for you and your organization. This will depend on the work that you will need to perform, but here are our recommendations:

• For CPM schedulers and project managers, the Schedule license type is what you need. This is the “default” license type recommended when using Oracle Primavera Cloud. The other license types, on the other hand, are add-ons – providing additional tools and capabilities. The Schedule license type will allow you to create and work with workspaces, projects, and programs.

   

• For portfolio managers and executives, we recommend the Portfolio Planning license type. This license will allow you to plan for your organization’s work at a higher level. Rather than focusing on individual projects, portfolios let you monitor all work simultaneously. The Portfolio Planning license type allows you to create portfolios and review submitted ideas.

There are two final license types we didn’t cover in this article: Progress and Task Management. The capabilities from these licenses are now available within the Schedule license. If you purchase a Schedule license, you’ll have all of these capabilities by default. However, you can still purchase Progress and Task Management licenses separately if needed.

Progress 

The Progress license allows users to update the progress of activities assigned to them. These users will not be able to view the entire project, just their activities. Users assigned the Progress license type will not be able to view the overall schedule or add activities – they can only update them. While these users will be working with projects, they won’t have the ability to create them. This license type is useful if you need outside subcontractors to solely update their own activities with progress.

Task Management

The Task Management license allows you to perform lean scheduling using the Tasks app. Here, you can break down your project’s activities into shorter, more defined tasks and rearrange them in time. Users assigned this license type will not be able to view the full project schedule – just the tasks. While these users will be working with projects, they won’t have the ability to create them. This license type is useful if you have lean schedulers that will only be working with project tasks, rather than activities.

To learn more about Oracle Primavera Cloud, please refer to our OPC page here. If you would like to set up an OPC training or implementation session, please contact us here.

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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 custom course, please contact us!