This document compares Oracle Primavera P6 and Microsoft EPM for project portfolio management software. It summarizes the experiences of two biotech companies, one using Primavera and one using EPM. Both systems provided schedule management and cost tracking. Primavera had advantages for customization and speed while EPM was easier to use but slower. Project prioritization was important, with both companies ranking projects based on business drivers, though Primavera calculated scores while EPM used pairwise comparisons. In conclusion, Primavera P6 is preferred for its robust capabilities over the less mature EPM, though company standards could favor Microsoft.

1. Pharmaceutical Project Portfolio Management
Comparison of Microsoft EPM vs. Primavera P6 v7
Sarah Benjamin
Taurus Project Controls
April 2012

2. The Agenda
Speaker
Types of Projects
Transition from Manual Tracking into Enterprise Tool
Dimensions
Project Prioritization
Budget Management for the Portfolio
Resource Management

3. Speaker
Sarah Benjamin
Project Scheduler
Primavera P6 v7 Web Lead
Project Portfolio Manager
Consultant
Email: sbenjamin@tauruspcc.com
Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahbenjamin

4. Who We Are
Taurus Project Controls
Consulting firm formed in 2011
Interactive Planners
Schedulers
Portfolio Managers
Cost Engineers

5. Why Use Project Portfolio Management
Enhancement of the project by project scheduling system
Central system for project status that allows one-stop shopping for
answers to
“Where Are We Right Now?”
“Where Are We Going?”
“What Are We Doing Next Year?”
“What Issues and Risks Are Affecting Projects?”
Site-wide project prioritization based on business drivers
Internal resources need visibility of workload and site priorities
Flexible Cost Forecasting and Reporting

6. Types of Biotech Projects
Projects within the scope of Project Controls for each facility are
typically capital improvements
Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)
Change Control / Regulatory Approvals
Impact Assessments
Implementation Plans, Test Plans, Validation Reports
Example Projects:
Changes to Process Equipment to accommodate new products
Valve Replacements
Tank Repairs
Utility System Maintenance
Automation Improvements

7. Types of Data in the PM System
Project Business Drivers and Priority
Schedule Tracking
High Level Cost Forecasting
Project Notes
Types of Data Not in the PM System
• Transactional Cost Tracking
• Resource Tracking for All Projects

8. Situational Comparison of Microsoft EPM
vs. Primavera P6 v7
This is a situation comparison of two biotech companies
based on my personal experience over the last 4 years
Both companies are large corporate biotech manufacturers
Company A is bigger and more mature
Company B is not quite as big and has not been
manufacturing products as long as Company A
This is NOT a feature to feature checklist of all possible
software functionality in the two systems

9. Transition from Manual Tracking into
Enterprise Tool
Excel was the tool of choice for both biotech companies before
Enterprise Project Management was implemented
Excel Advantages:
Quick updates
Notes & Comments could be added anywhere
Portable – easy to attach and share
Excel Challenges:
Version Control
Changes by many users were not tracked
Project marked complete – who said it’s done?
Schedule Information Not Driven by Actual Schedules (outdated)

10. Excel Project List – The Manual Method
Disadvantages:
No single version of the Truth.
Missing Important Data like Phase, PMs, Dates, Budgets, Sponsors
Schedule Dates Not Driven By Actual Schedules And Often Outdated

11. Enterprise System Architecture
Differences
Company A’s Primavera System Maintained In-House
Speed of System = Fast
Cost per Year < $50k
Speed of System via VPN = Medium
Maintenance/Updates = Slow
IT Support = Slow
Data Loss / Backups = Challenging due to DB restoration process
Reporting Capabilities = Accessible, customizable, non-graphical
Company B’s Microsoft EPM System Hosted Remotely
Speed of System = Slow
Cost per Year > $100k
Speed of System via VPN = Slow (but VPN not required)
Maintenance/Updates = Fast
IT Support = Medium
Data Loss / Backups = Manageable due to Automatic Archive DB
Reporting Capabilities = Challenging, OLAP cubes may need consultant support, graphical

12. Company A
Oracle Primavera P6 Web Portfolio Gantt
P6 provides more options for Multi-Project Gantt view like showing
milestones for each project.

13. Company B
Microsoft EPM Web Portfolio Gantt
Microsoft EPM has a standard Portfolio level Gantt chart view that
shows one bar per project.

14. #1 Reason for Project Portfolio Management:
Schedule Management
Centralizing All Project Schedules is the #1 Reason PPM
Systems are Implemented
Schedules can have inter-project links
Schedules are more visible to all users of the software
Schedule updating is more visible to managers
Schedule reporting is simplified

15. P6 and EPM are Both
Robust Schedule Management Systems
Schedule Management Features Used by Companies A & B:
Inter-project links / logic between activities
Standardized schedule views – output to PDF
Schedule update cycles improved
Schedule reporting provided management a better view
Schedule templates
Activity level coding allowed enterprise level reporting

16. Oracle Primavera P6 Schedule Web View

17. Microsoft EPM Schedule in Project Professional

18. Graphical View of Schedule Progress
Made Outside of the PM Software
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
21-Sep
5-Oct
19-Oct
2-Nov
16-Nov
30-Nov
14-Dec
28-Dec
11-Jan
25-Jan
8-Feb
22-Feb
8-Mar
22-Mar
5-Apr
19-Apr
3-May
17-May
31-May
14-Jun
28-Jun
12-Jul
26-Jul
9-Aug
23-Aug
6-Sep
20-Sep
4-Oct
18-Oct
1-Nov
15-Nov
29-Nov
13-Dec
27-Dec
10-Jan
24-Jan
Week Ending
Baseline Plan (Early % Cumulative) Actual (% Cumulative) Baseline Plan (Late % Cumulative)
First Construction
Contract Awarded
May 8 (P)
Detail Design Complete -
Apr 3 (P)
Substantial
Completion Dec
23 (P)
Preliminary Design
Complete - Dec 23(A)
Baseline Plan
Actual
Baseline Critical
Status as of 31JAN09
11.8%
7.2%
3.6%
Project on Hold -Risk assessment to
determine exact scope of work
required is ongoing.

19. P6 and EPM:
Schedule Management Differentiators
Software Functionality Differences:
EPM is “buggy” – errors arise in schedules. It is hard to
pinpoint root cause
Customer Support for troubleshooting issues is much
better with P6
Baseline functionality is better in P6
Unlimited baselines
Naming conventions
Date stamp for last updated
Layout customizations are better in P6

20. #2 Reason for Project Portfolio Management:
Cost Management
Cost Tracking in Project Portfolio Management Software
High Level – Total Project Budgets / Forecasts
Detailed Level – Cash flow per week
Resource coding available for filtering costs
Resource Graphs show Cash Flow if detailed in schedule

21. Cost Tracking Spreadsheet in P6

22. Cost Tracking Spreadsheet in EPM

23. Cost Curves in P6 and EPM
P6
EPM

24. #2 Reason for Project Portfolio Management:
Cost Management
Software Functionality Differences:
EPM is “buggy” – forecast may change when merely
opening a project. Hard to pinpoint root cause
Customer Support for troubleshooting issues is much
better with P6
Graphical cash flow curves are possible with either tool for
the detailed activity level data, but portfolio high-level
cash flows are not as simple

25. #3 Reason for Project Portfolio Management:
Project Selection Assistance
Project Selection encompasses the initial phases a project goes
through prior to execution
Request
Rough
Scoping
Initial
Approval
Detailed
Execution
Planning
Final
Approval
Execution
Which Projects Should Be Approved?

26. Project Status = Most Important Field
Proposed
Approved
In Close Out
Complete
Cancelled
Deferred
Proposed
SG1 Approved
SG2 Approved
Complete
Cancelled
Deferred
Company B’s Options:Company A’s Options:
Project Status Code is shown in every view and report
Approvals are milestones in every schedule

27. Elements of Project Selection
What is not kept in codes and milestones? The
general story behind status changes. Why is this
important? Everyone wants to know which meeting
Project X got approved. How did we incorporate this?
P6: Project Level Notebook. EPM: Multi-line text
field in PWA

28. Project Notes = Story Line to the Project
Microsoft EPM View: Project Web Application
Disadvantage: Need to Open Project in PWA each time to view or edit notes

29. Company A’s Notebook Example
0082 Project Notebook Example:
Project Team Update
13Apr11 (AVS/PTeam): Per DJW- a meeting to discuss BCRB status to be held on 15Apr11.
30Mar11 (DJW) BCRB pending
02Mar11 (AVS/PTeam):Wait in for BCRB
16Feb11 (AVS/PTeam) Waiting for APO to Implement SOP.
0814Feb11 (DJW) Per CC meeting on 07Feb11 : · Change was discussed to whether proceed with the change or cancel. It was
decided by the subcommittee to proceed with the change since it captures the rational to remove the need to complete a CIP
between two consecutive make-ups of the same buffer in Suite Support. Change endorsed by all stakeholders; however, still
pending the BCRB endorsement form
24Jan11 (AVS): Per email from DJW: 'Waiting on a memo. There will be no PQs required. Following that, the change cannot be made
until Demo period is over and another regulatory round is complete. Expect Jun 2011 at this point.'
11Jan11 (DJW): Meeting on 07 Jan11 determined that there is reg impact. Preapproval not required. No testing required. Change
control to be completed. Target usage and sign off of CC for end of demo runs(May/June timeframe).
05Jan11 (AVS): No Change per DJW. Still waiting on Regulatory response. Moved DD and maintained RA approval date in
21Jan2011. Rebaseline?
Oracle Primavera’s Structure for Project and Activity
Notebooks is a rich-text format and is more functional
than Microsoft’s.

30. Microsoft Enterprise Project
Management (EPM) View of Projects
Status Indicators
Cancelled
SG2 Approved
SG1 Approved
Proposed
Problem
Caution
OK
No Info
Schedule/Cost Indicators

31. Oracle Primavera P6 v7 View of Projects

32. Project Selection
Which Projects Fit in the Budget?
Budgets for next year were requested between July and
September based on best info at that time
Budgets approved in October
Project portfolio constantly in flux
How to decide which projects are “IN”?
PRIORITIZATION!

33. Project Prioritization
Project Request
4 Business Drivers
Enterprise Project Management
P6 > Project Level User Defined Field
Microsoft > Portfolio Analysis
Ranking of Projects
1) Project B (top priority)
2) Project F
3) …
4) Project L
5) Project M
6) Project C (lowest priority)

34. Company A’s Business Drivers
Impact cGMP Compliance Worker Safety & Health Environmental Impact
Critical Could result in product recall, warning
letter, regulatory or enforcement
action, severe adverse effect or
consent decree.
Could result in a fatality event and/or
willful regulatory citation.
Could result in significant
environmental impact beyond the site
boundaries and/or regulatory action
and/or legal liability.
Major Could result in critical regulatory
observation, severe product quality
complaint, or equivalent. Could result
in non-compliance with approved
Level I/II.
Could result in serious injury and/or
exposure to workplace health-hazards
and/or regulatory compliance
violation.
Could result in significant
environmental impact in excess of
permitted levels and/or regulatory
compliance violation.
Moderate Could result in batch rejections, major
observation or multiple minor
observations.
Could result in injury or health
impact.
Could result in and/or enhances
current environmental compliance.
Facilitates meeting internal
environmental objectives.
Marginal Could result in internal observation. Could result in minor injury to
personnel, no compliance
issues/concerns.
Could result in and/or required to
meet current standards.
Negligible Enhances compliance in existing
operations.
Safety enhancement. Environmental enhancement.

35. Scoring Behind the Project Request to
Calculate Project Score

36. Company A’s Excel-Based Project Request
Form Showing Project Business Driver

37. Company A’s Oracle Primavera P6
Web Portfolio View – Graphical Output

38. Company B’s Business Drivers
Compliance Need
Operational Need
Capability Improvement
Unit Cost Improvement
These were ranked 0, 1, 2, or 3 based on strength and
urgency. Compliance and Operational need were
weighted higher than Capability and Unit Cost.
Microsoft Enterprise Project Management (EPM) produced a “pair-
wise” comparison of projects and ranked them in order of priority
Leadership teams judged the prioritization output and made
adjustments to keep business drivers application consistent

39. Microsoft EPM View of Project
Prioritization –Driver Prioritization

40. Microsoft EPM View of Project
Prioritization – Business Drivers
Manual Data Input from Project Request Form

41. Microsoft EPM View of Project
Prioritization - Table Output
Priority Values
are Relative
Within Each
Portfolio – Not
Consistent
Enterprise Wide

42. Company B’s Microsoft EPM View of
Project Prioritization – Graphical Output

43. Company B’s Microsoft Excel View of
Project Prioritization – Export
Advantage: These weekly Excel spreadsheets were easy to distribute, modify
and filter
Disadvantage: EPM does not export Business Driver data in the same file so
two exports had to be merged prior to each distribution, not able to include
prioritization on standard reports

44. Company A’s Portfolio Report
Generated by Oracle Primavera P6
The Project Score is a Project Code that is easily
included on any view or report

45. Project Prioritization - Commonalities
Both Companies:
Weekly Review of Priorities by Leadership Team
Management Stood Behind Focus on Business Drivers
Final Score / Ranking Drove Project Prioritization
Prioritization Drove Resource Assignments
Forcing In Allowed, but Not Commonly Utilized
Systems Do Not Track Changes to Drivers
Prioritization Drove Inclusion in Overall Portfolio Budget

46. Project Prioritization - Differences
Software Generation of Prioritization:
P6 Uses Standard Mathematical Formula
Projects Easily Ranked Against Each Other
Example: Score 14 vs. Score 12
Score is an Enterprise-wide Project Code
Microsoft Uses Pair wise Comparison
Projects Ranked within Portfolios and Score Not Easily Transferable
Absolute Value of Project’s Priority Difficult to Calculate
Rankings Kept in Separate Module of EPM, Not Project Code

47. Project Prioritization:
Theoretical vs. Practical
Both P6 and EPM use a calculation of business drivers to score
projects
Theoretically there are many more attributes related to whether or
not the project should be approved
There is considerable maturity still left to be gained at pharmaceutical
companies in regards to project selection
Net Present Value and Return on Investment are not factored in
Overall financial implications of doing projects versus not doing them
need to be better modeled to produce overall Value to the company
Better modeling requires more time spent on scoping the projects

48. P6 Portfolio View of Value Over Time

49. Resource Forecasting
High Level Resource Estimating – Immature Process
Ballpark Total Hours Provided by Each Department
Estimates Not Input into EPM or P6
Estimates Used for Approval Decision
Company A Tried Implementing a Separate Resource
Management Tool, no integration to project schedules
Company B did not have a mechanism for calculating total
resource forecasts across the portfolio
Resource Forecasting = Political Black Hole

50. P6 Resource Histogram Based on Roles

51. Microsoft EPM or Oracle Primavera P6?
Strengths to Either System:
One Single Source of Project Information
Schedule Maintenance and Automatic Roll Up / Reporting
The Ability for Future Maturity:
Improved Portfolio Management
Cost Forecasting / Tracking
Resource Forecasting / Tracking
Flexibility of Reporting for Varied Audiences
Business Intelligence Data Mining

52. Microsoft EPM or Oracle Primavera P6?
Oracle Primavera P6
Oracle Primavera P6 Wins My Heart
Speed!
Efficiency of Linking Tasks Between Project Schedules
Efficiency of Switching Between Projects for Common Tasks
like updating Project Notebooks
Web Client Customization Features and Usability
Speed!

53. Why Did Company A Choose Primavera vs.
Other Portfolio Management Tools?
Centralized Database (no file revisions)
Accessible via web portal – included with licenses
Future Integration Capabilities with SAP and/or Process Scheduling
Software
Email Notifications about Issues
WBS Standardization
In-House Expertise – Site has utilized Primavera for 10+ years

54. Why Did Company B Choose Microsoft EPM vs.
Other Portfolio Management Tools?
Company Culture Liked Microsoft Project
Believed MS Project is Easier to Use
Less Training Required for PMs

55. Based on the robust capabilities of the Oracle Primavera P6
solution compared to the relatively less mature Microsoft
Enterprise Project Management, the preference for a company
with no other influences should be to
Use Oracle Primavera P6.
Certain company cultures may already be entrenched in
Microsoft technologies and may shy away from supporting a
major Oracle-based solution due to corporate standards. This
would need to be weighed with the long term commitment that
will be made to the project management solution and the
various headaches that will need to be overcome by the
project management departmental software users and
administrators.
Microsoft EPM or Oracle Primavera P6?
CONCLUSION

56. Extra Slides for Reference
The following slides are included for reference purposes

57. References
GMP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_manufacturing_practice
Oracle Primavera
http://www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/primavera
Microsoft Enterprise Project Management
http://www.microsoft.com/project/en-us/solutions.aspx
Project Server 2010: A financial management solution for projects, programs and portfolios
(white paper)
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=216201
Portfolio strategy with Project Server 2010 (white paper)
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=194203

59. Thank You
Thanks for listening to my story.
Feel free to contact me with questions or comments.
Email: sbenjamin@tauruspcc.com
Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahbenjamin