What is the Difference Between P6 Windows and P6 Web Access in the EPPM Suite?
Written on . By CPM Solutions
So you’ve probably gone ahead and purchased licenses for the Primavera EPPM suite. Or, you’re looking for more information on the different options you have. Whatever the reason, it is vital to know the differences between P6 Windows and P6 Web Access for any decision you make.
If you’ve read the precursor article “Should I Buy P6 Professional on its Own or when it is in the EPPM Suite?”, then you should know that EPPM is the only product that will allow you to access your projects from the web with one of its components. Also, it has an advantage in extending functionality to all roles within the organization, depending on the nature and size of the project.
Why do they look different if they have similar features?
P6 Windows and P6 Web Access are NOT identical – be careful to not interchange the two! Both of them have similar functions that are completely rearranged within their own unique-looking interface and appearance. P6 Web Access is more aesthetically pleasing and has a user-friendly feel to it with dashboards and handy reporting tools on first glance:
P6 Windows Client is set up to be focused on scheduling and is stripped of aesthetics to allow for seamless updating and enhanced performance:
Although they can both access the same database of projects to make edits and changes, they have completely different purposes. You must do all the initial administrative set-up of security, structure, users, and profiles within the P6 Web Access. With P6 Windows, it is mainly a powerful scheduling tool with more technical capabilities in customizing your project. Also, you can only access your project through the web through P6 Web Access and NOT P6 Windows. Here are some diagrams to clarify:
If you ever want to use P6 Windows remotely, you must contact your IT personnel to set this up through Citrix or Microsoft Terminal Services.
What other differences are there and who should be using these?
As you can tell, there are some big differences between the two programs and features will exist in one and not the other. Although it sounds limiting, it actually benefits you in the end since each tool tailors to different end users. EPPM is an enterprise solution that separates and specializes in project management functionality for all project management roles. This knowledge will work to your advantage because you will be able to specify the quantity of specific licenses you’ll need and differentiate which employees need training for which program.
P6 Web Access and P6 Windows Clients also work differently depending on the nature and size of your project(s). For example, if you are an IT company with small sized projects, you will be more than satisfied with just the P6 Web Access component. However, if you are a big construction company or you’re in the oil or gas industry (dealing with turnarounds) you will want to use P6 to run such large projects. As well, P6 Windows has better porting capabilities with its more commonly known, .XER file type. P6 Web Access exports to an .XML file type, which is not as popular. If your project is required to be exported to consultants for updating and combining, it might be better to go with the P6 Windows because the integration is much more seamless. To get a better idea of the contrast between the two components, the following diagram illustrates this in more detail:
You should now be more familiar with the two products and hopefully, these diagrams helped simplify and create a better distinction so that you can make more accurate decisions. Oracle offers countless tools for you to maximize work potential and employee productivity, but the key lesson here is to learn which tool will be the most helpful or if it might be strategically favourable to use a combination of the tools available to you.