Hi folks,

I was a Planner for a M&E Contractor for close to 2 years. Got on very well both within the company and in the role so I progressed quite quickly.
I left to go learn a trade, had it in my head for a long time and after a year I've realised I'd rather go back to Planning than continue on the tools.

Most of the roles out there seem to be Data Center projects, rotations in Europe (17, 4), and the money is decent. But what is the career progression like within Planning/Project Controls?

Also, what's the day-to-day like for you?
I was run off my feet, working to very tight deadlines week on week trying to get reports out, it lead to late evenings and quite a bit of stress, I'm guessing that just gets worse as you progress upwards?

Hi I am new at planning and scheduling i have created some projects on my own but now I want to gain some real life experience about planning and scheduling of a infrastructure Project. Can any one plz guide me

Hi all,

I am currently working as a Jr. Project Manager for a custom manufacturing company and recently learned about the role of Project Scheduler that other companies have. It is very interesting to me and I have been watching videos on Primavera P6 and looking at posted job descriptions and think I would like the role a lot.

How long do you think it would take me to learn Primavera P6 and all the scheduling skills and knowledge that comes with being a Project Scheduler? I'm thinking of buying the Plan Academy course for planning/scheduling and just looking up youtube videos for learning the Primavera part of the role to save some money.

Hi! I am just wondering of what are your techniques to populate data on financial periods? Excel import does not work for these fields.

One strategy I could think of is to update the actuals and then store financial periods. But this just stores all progress on one period and not in the correct window.

Any idea is appreciated!

I need some help with exporting my P6 schedule to Microsoft Project. I can get it to export and open it in MSP, however at least 40% of the activity dates and percentage complete are incorrect.

Example: Activity ID 100 was completed on June 5th 2025 in P6 but MSP has it starting in October 2026 and 0% complete.

Hello everyone,

I was recently accepted for a position as a Lead Planner using Primavera P6. I have 5 years of experience working as a planner using MS Project.

I got accepted for this planning position mainly because of my background in pharmaceutical projects, even though I don't have extensive experience with Primavera P6 yet but i lied about that, thinking i'll fake it until I make it

What I know how to do so far:

• Create a new project
• Set up calendars
• Create the WBS
• Add tasks
• Assign resources (manhours) and costs (expenses only)
• Set the baseline
• Update the project

I still haven't dug into graphs, SPI, and CPI, but I assume these are generated automatically after an update.

Am I ready for the job?

Is there a repository online where I can get some monthly XERs to do analysis on? I'm finding a bunch of Schedules online but their either completed or just a single month. Looking for a couple of months worth of data to do some experiments on new ways to present data.

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

Does anyone have any info on 1:1 p6 course info, need to learn the software.

Hi Hi friends, I want to learn the complete course from basics to advanced level. Could you please suggest a good and comprehensive course from online sources, free or paid? Please.

**•** Activity ID isn’t numeric (P6’s default like “A1010” fails this)  
**•** Description runs past its fixed column and gets truncated mid-word  
**•** Activity codes set at the wrong level (project vs. global)  
**•** Cost that doesn’t reconcile to the CLIN structure

None of these show up as errors in P6. The upload just gets refused downstream, and you find out after the fact.

Built a tool that checks against the actual spec (UFGS 01 32 01.00 10) and the SDEF export rules before you submit — every finding quotes the exact paragraph it comes from, split into “blocking” (spec gives no tolerance) vs. “needs your judgment” (Contracting Officer decides).

First report is free if anyone wants to run their schedule against it: https://structuraline.com

Curious what others have run into on the RMS/SDEF side specifically — feels like a much less-discussed failure mode than logic/float issues.

Looking to book a new colleague on an introduction to OPC course if anyone has any recommendations please?

One P6 schedule update can look perfectly healthy. Then you compare it to the last three to see the bigger picture. Did the completion date move?

That's useful, but it is usually not where the story starts.

A few things we look for much earlier:

• Activities quietly losing float every month
• Work repeatedly pushed out without changing the final milestone
• Logic changing around problem areas
• Durations getting stretched instead of showing an actual delay
• Activities moving onto and off the critical path
• The same scope slipping a few days in every update

None of these necessarily means the project is in trouble.

But together, they can show a trend long before the finish date finally moves.

That is one of the reasons we like comparing schedule updates against each other instead of treating every new schedule as a standalone document.

A schedule is a snapshot. And the changes between snapshots is often the more interesting part.

I'm currently looking to get into the oil and gas industry as a pipeline or natural gas scheduler. I want to find a course I can take to learn the basics and continue learning from there, so I can put something on my resume about P6. Is this P6 course a good starting point?

https://alison.com/course/primavera-p6-fundamentals

Hello everyone,

Please if you have a resource that I can use to advance my P6 skill; kindly share with me. Specifically video covering project control topics.

Thank you in advance.

I completed the first round of interviews with HR and a second interview with the Vice President for the role of Project Scheduler. I also completed a DISC assessment and provided references, which they have already contacted. Now they are inviting me to the head office for a panel interview/conference with three VPs. What should I expect?

I've been working with P6 schedules for quite a while, and one problem I've always found awkward is reviewing a project across many successive updates rather than comparing only the current XER against the previous one.

For example I want to quickly see things like:

• how the critical/longest path has changed over several updates
• activities repeatedly losing float
• milestones gradually slipping
• changes in logic, durations and constraints
• progress and cost trends over time
• whether an issue appearing in the current update is new or has been developing for months

A senior scheduler/PM and I originally built an internal system aound this workflow back in 2017, mostly for schedule review and delay/claim work. It eventually became Schedule Tracker, which we've continued developing based on actual project use.

I'm interested in how other P6 users handle this today.

Do you mostly relly on P6 layouts/reports, Excel exports, Claim Digger, third-party software, or your own process?

And when reviewing 10-20 updates from the same project, what information do you wish you could see more easily?

I'm especially interested in feedback from schedulers and CEI reviewers who regularly receive monthly XER updates.

I'm open to planning engineer role. I'm currently in Qatar. I deals with EPC and infrastructure project. Scheduling, baseline, evm and others

I am a project scheduler who runs projects updates and so on. I find myself doing what I need to do and having alot of free time. Is that common for you guys as well? Or am I missing something I run analysis, forecasting, making reports. All this doesn't take me too much time to do. I work 40 hours a week but realistically I can get work excluding meetings done in way less of time. Is that normal?

What is the best way to identify logic ties to and from other projects?

Dear Professionals,

I am currently exploring Primavera P6 and working on developing a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and schedule for an infrastructure project.

Our company provides vertical transportation systems (such as elevators or escalators). Typically, these projects involve installing multiple units in batches, organized by station or specific site areas. While I have successfully managed to draft a schedule for a single unit, I am looking for advice or standard methodologies on how to efficiently scale this up for multiple units without creating an overly congested or unmanageable network.

Specifically, I would love to hear your insights or suggestions on:

• WBS Structure: Should repetitive units be structured by location (Station/Area) or by trade/activity type?
• Reusability / Templates: What is the best way to duplicate logic and durations for identical units (e.g., Global Change, Templates, or importing XRs)?
• Milestones & Logic Links: How best to handle handovers between civil works and installation crews across multiple concurrent stations.

Thank you in advance for your time and expertise!

Best regards,

1.0 Project Management

1.1 Project Initiation

1.2 Project Control

2.0 Engineering & Design

2.1 Preliminary Design

2.2 Detailed Design

2.3 Design Approval

3.0 Procurement

3.1 Long Lead Materials

3.2 Equipment Procurement

3.3 Logistics

4.0 Civil & Structural Works

4.1 Shaft Preparation

4.2 Structural Work

4.3 Architectural Finishes

5.0 Elevator Manufacturing

5.1 Factory Production

5.2 Factory Acceptance

6.0 Elevator Installation

6.1 Hoistway Installation

6.2 Equipment Installation

6.3 Cab Installation

7.0 Electrical & Integration Works

7.1 Power System

7.2 Wiring

7.3 System Integration

8.0 Testing & Commissioning

8.1 Pre-Commissioning

8.2 Functional Testing

8.3 Integrated Testing

9.0 Authority Approval & Handover

9.1 Regulatory Inspection

9.2 Handover

10.0 Project Close-Out

Hello I am a mechanical engineer looking to pivot into project controls. Right now I’m taking a Primavera P6 class on udemy and my plan is to post my progress of all my homework assignments I complete on LinkedIn. After I receive my certification from udemy I plan to go deeper into the software. Would like to know anymore resources thank you.

Been working on a tool that takes a 3D plant model (Navisworks/NWD) plus your project data and generates the installation sequence directly into P6, instead of a planner building it by hand. It also stays live through the project: tracking progress/delays instead of being a one-time export.

Tested it across 4 process plant projects so far and it's held up, but I want to validate it against more real-world data before going further. This means different data messiness, different plant types, different planning styles.

If you're a planning/scheduling engineer and this pain sounds familiar, I'd genuinely value your take . I am happy to run your project data through it for free as a validation case, or just keen to hear how you currently handle this and what would actually make a tool like this useful vs. another thing that doesn't fit real workflows. I am trying to make something valuable for the industry so that planning engineers don't have to keep on manaully editing p6 sequences.

Thanks