Side-by-Side Comparison of Primavera P6 Windows client and P6 Web Access Platform
Written on . By Tracy Mah
Oracle’s Primavera P6 project management software comes in two very different software programs, the P6 Windows and P6 Web Access. As a well-established industry standard since 1996, Primavera P6 Windows client is also called ‘P6 Professional’, ‘power client’, ‘stand-alone client’, ‘optional client’ or even the ‘always-connected Windows client’. The majority of companies use the P6 Windows client and have not yet adopted the newer P6 Web Access software. When purchasing a new P6 EPPM product license, you get both versions of project management software.
As soon as you log into both versions you will see that they are very different, however, the basic functionality of being able to create a new project, add WBS elements, activities, relationships and scheduling a project is still the same. The P6 Windows Client is usually used by the ‘power users’ like schedulers and planners, while the P6 Web Access caters to executives, or project controls who want to see more high level reports or portfolio analysis.
Below are some side-by-side comparisons of the various screens in P6.
In P6 Windows, the Projects page is used to view all the projects in the enterprise database. In P6 Web Access, it is called the EPS (Enterprise Project Structure) page.
Figure 1: P6 Windows – Projects Page
Figure 2: P6 Web Access – EPS Page (the equivalent Projects page in P6 Windows)
At the WBS level of a project, P6 Windows has a separate page where you can create and view the WBS elements. In P6 Web Access, there is no separate WBS page and it has been combined on the Activities page.
Figure 3: P6 Windows – WBS Page
The Activities pages in both platforms will have the most similarities between the two software versions. Both platforms allow similar customizations with Columns, Grouping, and filtering options for the “Layouts in P6 Windows” or “Views in P6 Web Access.
Figure 4: P6 Windows – Activities Page
Figure 5: P6 Web Access – Activities (& WBS combined) Page
The Dashboard and Portfolio pages that are in P6 Web Access are not available in P6 Windows. The Dashboard page is a highly customizable “at a glance page” of real time snapshot reports on projects or groups of projects. The Portfolio page allows ‘live’ high level analysis of your portfolio of projects.
Figure 6: P6 Web Access – Dashboards Page
Figure 7: P6 Web Access – Portfolio Page
Project Risks are another advanced feature available in P6 Web Access. Customizable Probability and Impact Diagrams can be created for each project to determine a risk score. From there a detailed Risk Response Plan can be created to mitigate each risk.
Figure 8: P6 Web Access – Risk page
The focus for Primavera in the future is the P6 Web Access software. Oracle developers are continually adding more features and abilities to ‘integrate’ it with other web based applications such as P6 Visualizer and P6 Unifier, to further enhance the Enterprise Project Portfolio Management model.