Oracle Primavera Contract Management, Business Intelligence Publisher Edition v14: A one-stop reference to concepts and usability of the core modules of a complex application with this book and ebook.

There is not enough space on these pages to list or explain the many types of information relating to a project. Some of these include a master contract, a task order relating to that master contract, a notice to proceed that allows the contractor to proceed while he or she waits for an official change order, notification documents that are official notices of an upcoming or past due event, and many more. Each of these documents provides an opportunity to record a date on which responses must be given or completion of the action must be taken. With this information, we can report on upcoming tasks that need our attention. Organizations use different acronyms and names for all the different types of documents. Every organization has its own language when talking about documents or information. When you see the word "budget" or "claim", you understand exactly what is meant by that term—or do you? You know what the term means to you and your organization, but do...

No matter the size or type of your project, information is coming in fast and furious. All aspects of a project require capturing data from documents for later retrieval, aalysis, or distribution to other parties. An organization must have a platform in place to properly capture and manage all this information.

This information can come from all kinds of sources, such as:

And this information can be delivered by many different methods, such as:

There must be a proper flow of this information, whether it is a document that is being received by the project or a document that is being sent from the project. Either direction requires proper procedures to be followed to make sure the proper data is captured and the information ends up in the correct hands for analysis and possible action.

A document flow...

Computerized systems allow us to easily incorporate a hierarchical structure in our projects as well as information within these projects. PCM allows for multiple hierarchies that can be easily switched. Hierarchical structures allow us to organize our projects at different levels. They also allow us to provide roll-up reporting at the various levels. Look at the following hierarchical structure:

You can see that security would be important at the various levels of the structure. You would not want users who have access to the Private Sector Projects to have the same access to the Federal defense projects. Security is assigned at the project level, but the hierarchical structure can give us a visual look at the different levels. When PCM is used in conjunction with Oracle's Primavera Project Management tool (P6), it is good practice to match the hierarchical structure within PCM to that of P6 and the Enterprise Project Structure (EPS).

You can also see that roll...

There is a vast amount of information used and stored on a project; everyone knows this. It is how we use that information that sets us apart. Information is received at a project in many different formats. An information management system needs the ability to accept this information in its native form and be able to manage the data in the form to be used by the different parties on the project. This is not a job for the all-powerful spreadsheet (see Chapter 4, The Almighty Spreadsheet). The system must incorporate security, accountability, and storage so that all parties that need access to this information can have it in real time from anywhere in the world.

PCM utilizes a network (intranet or Internet), a browser, a secure database back-end, and a search engine to allow users quick and easy access to the information that is relevant to them: the network to be able to access the information from anywhere; the browser for the easy-to-use, familiar interface; the security...

Information is king in this society; however, if you don't know how to manage this information or use it to your benefit, it becomes your enemy. Usually an organization does not understand this concept until it has been engaged in some sort of litigation where if it had properly managed the documents and information it would have saved a lot of time, money, and headaches.

In the next chapter we will look at all the different types of information in more detail. We will see how they can all be related and stored in PCM.