If you’re part of the Primavera Community you know what the bane of most user’s existence is. It’s, of course, Java.  Java, that once heralded Sun developed software that enabled developers to deploy code on almost any platform, has had it’s issues lately to say the least.  In Primavera software, Java is most common in the applets that run within P6 and is the cause for most of the support calls relating to stability and performance.  Users have been waiting patiently for Oracle to clear the decks of Java applets within P6.  As of version 17.7, which will be released the week of July 17, 2o17 they will have made significant inroads into delivering on that promise.

In this new release most Java applets will be replaced with HTML5 views and those few that remain can be disabled.  The new HTML5 views in 17.7 are:

The Java Applets that remain and can be “switched off” include:

There are many other refinements and new features in Primavera P6 included in the release that we’ll discuss at a later date.  But for most users the ability to cut down on your Java intake is a great reason to look at upgrading to the new release.  We’d be glad to help you evaluate your current P6 environment with our P6 Health Check and recommend how you can chart your best path forward.

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Oversight of seemingly small projects can result in devastating consequences.

Recently an article ran in the Cleveland Plain Dealer about a tragic fatal accident where a Columbiana county mother was killed when a truck lost control, due to a pothole. The article caught my eye for two reasons, first because the attorney representing the woman’s family was a high school friend and secondly because this record judgment paid by the taxpayers of Ohio was the result of a pothole that was not fixed in a reasonable amount of time.

So I bet you’re wondering what this has to do with the subject we cover here which is project management? I’ll be glad to make that connection. Since CBA has a long relationship with ODOT we know that at the time of the accident in 2008 ODOT was still using Primavera P3 and SureTrak as their construction project management standards. Since those tools were designed to schedule and track single projects it would be very easy to lose sight of a seemingly small project such as patching this particular pothole in a timely fashion, which was the basis for the record judgment. ODOT has now made the transition to P6 and along with stellar project management capabilities it provides enterprise project portfolio management capabilities by being able to track and manage your whole project portfolio and manage it by exception. This is an important point because knowing when a particular project in your portfolio needs resources or is in danger of not meeting it’s start or finish date enables management to easily spot and address the issues, that as pointed out here, could lead to catastrophic consequences.

Since both P3 and SureTrak were discontinued by Oracle at the end of 2010 many of our customers have migrated to Primavera P6, however they still attempt to use this powerful new product in the same fashion as they did with the older less capable products. In essence they are completely ignoring the enterprise project portfolio features of the product therefore potentially exposing themselves to the same types of oversight issues that exposed ODOT to this record judgment. Some may say managing multiple projects in P6 adds a layer of complexity that previously didn’t exist and I wouldn’t disagree with them, but I would say that trying to manage tens if not hundreds of projects simultaneously without the project portfolio capabilities of P6 increases that level of complexity exponentially. With the help of CBA’s professional services team we can provide the guidance and training necessary to achieve your project management goals and avoid letting a comparatively small project apple spoil your whole project management barrel.

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Visit CBA at COLLABORATE13 located at booth 1371

During the course of the year we have the opportunity to participate in a number of quality events.  The event we feel that has the most value  for us and our customers is Collaborate.  Collaborate is centered around education and networking, since it is sponsored by the Oracle Application User Group, Primavera Special Interest Group and Quest it has an independent point of view.  For the Primavera user community this event has far and away the deepest collection of sessions presented mostly by the user community.  In fact, once again this year one of our own is presenting at Collaborate.

On Tuesday April 9th CBA  Sr. Consultant Bryan Gardner who for 18 months was an integral part of the project team implementing Contract Management at Cenovus, will be delivering a joint presentation with Cenovus on Integrating PCM Cost Tracking with JDE 9.0.  PCM was selected by the Project Controls Group within Cenovus Energy Inc. as the preferred application for tracking project costs for their Canadian oil sands projects. JDE 9.0 was the selected as the Supply Chain application with the finance cost accounting structure. This presentation will demonstrate the challenges and method of integrating two cost structures within the constraints of the ERP system implemented at Cenovus, as well as extending the cost tracking to external sources such as the legacy system and external stakeholders.

• Objective 1: Demonstrate the combination of two cost structures in PCM

• Objective 2: Extending JDE enterprise cost accounting into PCM project cost accounting

• Objective 3: Show how standardization works in an enterprise environment

 Here is the schedule of all the Primavera sessions:  Collaborate Primavera Schedule

By attending Collaborate 2013 for over five exciting days, you can trade ideas with more than 5,000 like-minded attendees, network with Oracle Corporation and more than 250 top third-party providers including CBA in the Exhibitor Showcase and choose from nearly 1,000 educational sessions to attend. Collaborate provides the best opportunity to explore how you can get the most out of your existing products and learn about others that you can integrate into your environment.  Here is a link to find out more about Collaborate 2013 and register for the event http://collaborate.oaug.org/registration .  If you are attending please visit CBA at booth 1371 to visit with myself and CBA President Don Monteleone and enter to win a iPad.

In Memorium – Aaron Buda

Last week the CBA family suffered a tragic loss.  Aaron Buda the 24 year-old son of CBA Sr. Consultant and P6 Implementation Specialist Terry Buda was killed on January 29th in a 6 car accident in his hometown of Lansing, Mi.  Our thoughts and prayers are with Terry and his family as they deal with this tragedy.  I wanted to use this space to post the following article written in the Lansing State Journal (which tells the importance of Cpr Training in Mississauga) after the accident that sums up what a special person Aaron was:

Aaron Buda Remembered for His Passion.

Soon after he signed on at Biggby Coffee’s headquarters in East Lansing, Aaron Buda’s co-workers came to appreciate the passion and enthusiasm he brought to everything he did, including the carnitas and baked goods he brought to the office.

“He was always smiling, full of laughter,” said Katie Koerner, a public relations assistant for the coffee shop chain. “He was also a very good cook. He’d continually bring us cookies and goodies. He was known for his carnitas.”

On Wednesday, friends and family were trying to cope with the loss of Buda, 24, who was killed Tuesday morning in a crash involving six vehicles on Interstate 496 in Lansing. Police closed parts of the freeway for several hours after the crash.

Three other people suffered minor injuries. Lansing police have released few details about the accident, saying the investigation could take several days.

“There’s just disbelief,” Koerner said. “How can something like this happen to a person like Aaron, to someone who was so full of life?”

Buda grew up in Davison near Flint and joined Biggby in early 2011, friends and family said. Before that, he attended Michigan State University for a short time and worked as a legal assistant at a Lansing law firm.

Buda loved to cook and also enjoyed weightlifting and body building, they said.

“He was amazing, talented and intelligent and a wonderful husband to his beautiful wife,” said his sister, Jilleanne Buda, of Portsmouth, Va.

Koerner and Sue Vander Jagt, Biggby’s accounting and human resources director, described Buda as personable and outgoing. He started out in the accounting department and was promoted to manager of organic development less than a year ago – a position he helped develop, they said.

In that role, Buda worked with franchise owners to help them grow their businesses, they said.

“He was the definition of a Biggby enthusiast,” Koerner said. “He wore Biggby attire during weightlifting competitions. He had such a passion for what he did and the company he worked for.

Buda is survived by his wife, Jennifer; parents Terry and Lori Buda; and siblings Dominic, Jilleanne and Victoria.

Services for Aaron will be held at Harmony Baptist Church 5106 E. Bristol Rd Burton, MI.

Please include Terry and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

If you missed it in the endless stream of Oracle acquisitions, in September 2012 Oracle acquired the assets of Skire.  Skire made it’s mark by  providing a complete set of management and government tools across all project phases from planning and building to operations, enabling companies to effectively manage their capital and construction programs. By combining Skire with industry leading capabilities from Oracle Primavera products, Oracle intends to create a full life-cycle Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM) platform that provides a comprehensive offering from capital planning and construction to operations and maintenance for owners and operators, contractors and sub-contractors.  The ability to execute on that premise is being watched very closely by us at CBA and by extension our Primavera Contract Management customers.  While this is an exciting development bringing a true SaaS model, cloud-based solution to the Primavera family, it also puts into question the future of traditional Primavera products especially that of Oracle Primavera Contract Management. Associating cloud-based software like those developed by ipscape.com, to business helps in making communication efficient.

Oracle Primavera has already crowned Skire as the eventual replacement for Contract Management due primarily to the fact that Skire already contains 70% of the enhancement requests received for Contract Management.  Right now Skire is in a sort of hibernation and is in controlled release until the first Oracle re-developed versions and new modules are released in January through March 2013 according to Oracle Primavera.  For a sneak peak and an understanding of the Oracle roadmap for Skire, Oracle Primavera is hosting a webinar tomorrow December 5th, at 12:00 noon EST.  Here is a link to register for the webinar https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=541959&sessionid=1&key=1648A6E955E7AA28696AB99D2A8A881D&partnerref=bulletin&sourcepage=register.  In the weeks and months to come we will continue to provide information and insight into this development.  Our CBA Sales and Technicalstaff will be glad to answer any questions you may have to help you understand the strategy and direction of both Skire and Contract Management.

Since the acquisition of Primavera by Oracle in 2008 we have seen first hand the the influence this powerful corporation has had on the once tight-knit Primavera user community.  In case you are not well acquainted with CBA we are a founding PAR (Primavera Authorized Reseller) that pioneered Primavera products introducing them to much of the large install base in the mid-west from their infancy in 1984 through the Oracle acquisition and  beyond, continuing today to provide Oracle Primavera products and associated professional services and training as an Oracle Specialized Gold Partner.  Since 2008 we  have helped our customers handle all the complexities in dealing with a far larger and geographically dispersed organization that is Oracle today.  We find it curious that organizations with which we have long-standing relationships always call Oracle first for Primavera questions.  I’m not talking about support calls here, that is another subject for another day, but routine questions regarding licensing, new product information, training, etc.  I thought it would be illuminating to discuss how those calls are handled by Oracle and how one call to CBA can provide much more information in far less time. 

As I said earlier we are an Oracle Specialized Gold Partner, so we obviously are proud of our relationship with Oracle, but as an independent organization and admittedly small business we operate differently.  When someone has a Primavera question and calls Oracle they are typically  transferred by the call center to the voicemail box of Katie, Lead Distribution Specialist in Houston Texas, Katie then transfers your voicemail to Jeff a Business Development Specialist in Missouri, who may call you to determine what your needs are and specifically if you need any additional licensing.  Now here’s where it gets complicated Oracle has a direct sales staff that handles organizations with over a billion dollars in sales per year and a channel sales staff that is tasked with adding and supporting channel partners like CBA.  Many of the new partners are just that, very new to Primavera.  They may have a history selling other Oracle technologies, or no business history at all, just a desire to set up shop and try their luck at selling project management solutions.  One organization in this category that we know of has gone so far as to buy a canned video testimonial off the internet (yes believe it or not there are sites that do that) with two people right out of central casting with no names and never even mentioning the company, it’s products or services and audaciously place it on the home page of their website (and on YouTube as well).  Ah, the internet what an amazing place!   I bring this up only because the next part of your calls journey once Jeff has determined the potential net worth to Oracle, will either get distributed through Lorraine in Philadelphia, or Angie in Chicago, to CBA or another partner as a lead, or get handled by an Oracle Sales Assistant and eventually to an Oracle Account Executive handling one of the billion dollar plus organizations.  We have received these email leads days after the person orginally placed their call and in some cases has called several times, or has talked to another partner without the expertise to provide the necessary help.  The funny thing is Oracle is only concerned with your software needs, since they discontinued Primavera training from Oracle University last May, so if you have a training or implementation question I’m really not sure where those calls go.  I do know your support questions are usually handled by Raluca out of Romania.

Here is what happens if you call CBA directly (at either 419-874-0800 or toll-free at 800-874-8080).  Most likely if you call us during business hours Linda our office manager will personally take your call.  Linda has been with CBA for over 10 years and has done everything from setting up training classes to ordering manuals to sending out OLSA’s (Oracle License and Support Agreements).  She knows and can navigate Oracle better than anyone I know, even those within Oracle itself.  In many cases your quest for information stops right here with Linda, since she can answer many of your questions on the spot.  If you need further assistance Linda will route your call to either a CBA Account Manager, or one of our certified consultants or trainers.  The great thing about calling CBA first is that our concern isn’t just to sell you software, but as a full-service Oracle Primavera partner we can deliver exceptional training and implementation services that Oracle itself and many other partners can’t provide.   Our goal is to provide an exceptional customer experience from the second you contact us and at every touch point within our organization, whether it is for professional services, training , software, support, or those general questions that seem to take a tour through the Oracle world.  So save yourself a lot of time and effort and get all your Primavera questions answered with one call to CBA.

While many new partners are challenged to even have one person with Primavera knowledge on staff CBA has a deep bench of over 20 Primavera experts working in the field today from Cenovus in the oil sands of Canada to FirstEnergy and DTE in our own backyard and everywhere in between.  CBA consultants, trainers and those on staff augmentation assigments are managing  projects from inception through execution in the most demanding environments.  To demonstrate our deep domain knowledge and expertise CBA is having a live Webinar in June with 10 of our top consultants and trainers leveraging their real-world experience to answer your Primavera questions.  Look for a formal announcement and sign-up instructions coming soon.  Remember with CBA one call does it all (419-874-0800 or toll-free at 800-874-8080).