Defining default hours per time period in calendars

P6 Professional calculates and stores time unit values in hourly increments, but you can set preferences to display time units in other increments, such as days or weeks. The values specified for Hours per Time Period are used to convert hours to other time increments for display, and to convert all non-hourly time increments to hours for storage in the database.

When P6 Professional is connected to a P6 Professional database:

Administrators can define Hours per Time Period settings globally on the Admin Preferences, Time Periods tab, or they can specify that the Hours per Time Period settings should be defined per calendar.

When Hours per Time Period settings are defined per calendar, units and durations are displayed more accurately. When Hours per Time Period settings are defined globally and you set your user preferences to display units and durations in time increments other than hours, units and durations will display unexpected values when the Admin settings for Hours per Time Period do not match the work hours specified in calendars assigned to activities and resources. This occurs because the display reflects the conversion factor of the Admin Preference Hours per Time Period settings, not the hours per day defined by the activity’s or resource's assigned calendar.

For example,

User Preferences, Time Units = day

Admin Preferences, Hours per Time Period = 8h/d

Activity calendar, Work hours per day = 10h/d

User-entered activity duration = 30h

Actual duration display = 3d6h (30h duration/8h per day, based on the conversion factor set in Admin Preferences)

Expected duration display = 3d (30h duration/10h per day, based on the conversion factor set in the activity calendar)

To avoid unexpected display results, an administrator should mark the 'Use assigned calendar to specify the number of work hours for each time period' checkbox on the Admin Preferences, Time Periods tab. Then, you can specify the Hours per Time Period settings for each defined calendar, and assign these calendars to the appropriate activities and resources.

When P6 Professional is connected to a P6 EPPM database:

Administrators can define Hours per Time Period settings globally from the P6, Application Settings, or they can specify that the Hours per Time Period settings should be defined per calendar.

When Hours per Time Period settings are defined per calendar, units and durations are displayed more accurately. When Hours per Time Period settings are defined globally and you set your user preferences to display units and durations in time increments other than hours, units and durations will display unexpected values when the P6 Application Settings settings for Hours per Time Period do not match the work hours specified in calendars assigned to activities and resources. This occurs because the display reflects the conversion factor of the Application Settings Hours per Time Period settings, not the hours per day defined by the activity’s or resource's assigned calendar.

For example,

User Preferences, Time Units = day

P6, Application Settings, Hours per Time Period = 8h/d

Activity calendar, Work hours per day = 10h/d

User-entered activity duration = 30h

Actual duration display = 3d6h (30h duration/8h per day, based on the conversion factor set in P6, Application Settings)

Expected duration display = 3d (30h duration/10h per day, based on the conversion factor set in the activity calendar)

To avoid unexpected display results, an administrator should mark the 'Use assigned calendar to specify the number of work hours for each time period' checkbox from the Application Settings in P6. Then, you can specify the Hours per Time Period settings for each defined calendar, and assign these calendars to the appropriate activities and resources.