Is anyone currently using SAP and Primavera together for maintenance work order planning and scheduling? I would like to get some feedback on how you are using Primavera, what benefits it is providing, and what are some disapointments you have had if any.
Thanks

I think if you use a separate scheduling software, you can't see your PM look ahead eg into 3 months or 1 years unless you trigger the work orders first. Another problem is the unit of time of the scheduling software may be limited to one unit eg only weekly. How do you expect to update actual manhours, materials, etc from the scheduling software into the work orders? You also need an interface software.

Have you tried to use the planning board?

We used to use both Primavera and MS Project for helping manage and schedule projects and turnarounds.

As of 1-1/2 years ago we have stopped using both and now live in PS and PM Modules of SAP for both Routine day to day work planning/Scheduling as well as T/A and Projects.

If you use SAP as well as another program you are duplicating work and no longer have a real-time system.

I am likely not answering your question, however I would recommend trying to do everything from within SAP. If orders are planned correctly, Capacity planning in PM works well for day to day scheduling. And the PS module works well if properly configured for projects and T/A scheduling.

The best way to see and manage SAP PM and a Primavera soulution is a third party software called Impress

http://www.impress.com/

I worked on a global project where one division had contractors working offsite to plan and schedule shutdowns they used primavera and the company interfaced with Impress to SAP. It worked well

Jso

If using two appplications,SAP R/3 and Primavera, is duplicating work and going away from a real time system...

how come it is better to use three applications (SAP R/3, Primavera, Impress)?

quote:

Originally posted by Eugene:
If using two appplications,SAP R/3 and Primavera, is duplicating work and going away from a real time system...

how come it is better to use three applications (SAP R/3, Primavera, Impress)?

Well Eugene,

Impress is not a third application doing simulat things but it connects two system to extend their specific limts.
And one of the limits of SAP is that they have no good planning features.
That's the reason for a lot of planning and scheduling tools on the market.
The biggest challenge is to define and build interfaces which do not require duplicate work and allow a simple data transfer (which maybe in real time (at least near time) even with SAP R/3).

How do you show in Primavera a PM Lookahead for the next 3 years without triggering the work orders first?

How do you show a 3-year lookahead in SAP, and change it to allow resource levelling? We are using SAP and Primavera, with a link that allows (near) real time data transfer both ways, as SAP has proved too cumbersome. I'd rather not have two systems (plus a link to keep up to date), but I'm told that SAP does not have the planning tools to allow easy manipulation of dates.
We're entering actual man hours into CATS in SAP.
I'd be interested in more info from Doug?
Helen.

SAP indeed has an easy way of changing dates on orders. The first way is to create revisions then assign the revisions in the list editing function. This will change the dates on all orders selected

Using the graphical planning board you can drag and drop the operations or orders just like in premavera and change the dates

You can access through the list edits or directly from the leveling section. I find that CM25 gives the best results

Using the normal planning board you must dispach the operations to change the operational dates

There are many ways to set up the planning board using multiple profiles in the overall profile

The look ahead is managed in these profiles and can be set up to go as far as you need

Look at the SAP help data in the PP area for more details

We use Primavera for scheduling our RM, PM, and T/A's. Impress is the linking software and it works great. The scheduling tool was not designed to look ahead, you can run IP24 transaction to look ahead at PM Plans.

Ceetee, we are in process of looking at linking SAP to Primavera P6. What version of Primavera do you have.
Is Impress easy to use, are there any pitfalls to look out for.

Regards, Mike

Hello,
I was recently at ASUG and got following information about TA planning. Thought it will be useful for you to manage PM/PS

https://sapmats-de.sap-ag.de/download/download.cgi?id=8...NJBPC5OX2MCJKNRH6UD9

BOB

Hello,

You may also refer to following announcement from Primavera regarding interface with SAP.

http://www.primavera.com/newsroom/primavera_sap_051007.asp

Regards

quote:

Originally posted by MikeD:
Ceetee, we are in process of looking at linking SAP to Primavera P6. What version of Primavera do you have.
Is Impress easy to use, are there any pitfalls to look out for.

Regards, Mike

We use Primavera P3, once Impress is initially set-up, it's basically maintenance free.

SAP - Scheduling - and Primavera

No matter which EAM/ERP product you are using, when discussing scheduling designs, it is helpful to narrow the discussion to the type of scheduling.

A. Project/Capital project tracking - also sometimes called Long Range Planning
B. Outage/Shutdown scheduling
C. Weekly scheduling
D. Daily scheduling

If you can find one product which does all of the above in one system - then great.

Note: "staying within the product" has benefits - but lets define this. If you have to migrate data outside the EAM/ERP system then this adds additional complexity. If the base product does everything you need then great! But in some cases there are add-ons which sit directly on top of the EAM/ERP prodict which do not technically migrate any data but use the actual data in the ssystme to display the result.

Here might be some requirements for each of the above schedule designs:

A. Capital/project tracking might include schedule plus cost tracking capabilities. Cost tracking should include baseline WBS (work breakdown structure) versus Actual -with ability to calculate earned value

B. Outage/shutdown scheduling is heaviliy dependent on critical path analysis as well as resource leveling, plus bar chart output - inhors if need be. Ideally the scope and cost can be doen inside the EAM/ERP product. Oddly enough there are probably more Outage Management professionals using EXCEL for this function then not.

C. Weekly scheduling - should be automatic, and quick. This output should create a set of work for the week. This program does a comparison of craft/labor availabilities to prioritized backlog. The time to process should be under 60 seconds. And at the end of this week you should be able to extract a compliance report. You should also be able to enter REMAINING HOURS on in-progress jobs (week to week). And you should be able to enter PLANNED ABSENCES (prior to week start). And you should be able to enter REASON FOR NO START. KPI's should show backlog growth percentage, estimated hours by craft, compliance by craft, oldest work order in the system, slipped PMs.

D. Daily scheduling - users like drag-and-drop features. This is where they place a specific work order under a DATE and then assign to one or more workers. At the same time this tool shows planned availability for that day.

Regarding ability to generate Forecast PM schedule - this is defintely a good idea. The output helps the PM administrator assess the loading of work across a year timespan. I know MAXIMO handles this feature. And for you SAP users if you want such a report written we can do this in short order. All it is ...is a report....direct-run from SAP.

If you would like to read further about CMMS/EAM/ERP scheduling concepts...here is another URL link.

http://www.synterprise.com/downloads/Synterprise%20Whit...2012-16-05%20(2).pdf

p.s. -- question for the day -- can you produce a report showing those slipped PMs for the last 12 months, and which ones were not performed the most?