Primavera EPPM – the Alter Ego to P6 Professional

Ever since Oracle split its Primavera P6 product line in two with P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Manager (P6 EPPM) and P6 Professional Project Manager (P6 PPM), it’s been something of a guessing game to figure out which to choose. Is P6 EPPM a web-based project management platform that suits executives and management, whereas P6 Professional is aimed at offline use by administrators and schedulers? The ‘Web is P6 EPPM’ and ‘Offline is P6 Professional’ positioning is however only a half-truth. That’s because buried inside P6 EPPM is something that looks suspiciously like P6 Professional.

Only P6 EPPM Gives You Web Access

Because it offers web-based access (whereas P6 Professional does not), P6 EPPM is a natural candidate for organizations that want large-scale deployment of P6-type functionality. Rather than installing many copies of stand-alone P6 Professional, P6 EPPM lets all authorized users in on the act at once. It also adds richer graphical representations, along with charts, pivot tables and dashboards. But equally important are the enhanced risk management and portfolio management functions, including by cost, schedule and resource. To get all of that, you need the web version of P6 EPPM.

Wimpy Clone or Web Conqueror?

Besides web-based functionality, P6 EPPM also supplies a Windows-based tool. This is what sometimes causes confusion, not to mention conjecture as to why the eminently web-based P6 EPPM with cloud-based project management possibilities should also incorporate a standalone client. Calling the Windows client in P6 EPPM a wimpy clone is a little harsh. It doesn’t quite do everything that the P6 Professional Windows client does. But it’s powerful enough to let users get on with their project management work, and it also (like its sibling, the P6 Professional Windows client) also handles massive amounts of data faster and better than the Web version.

Maybe It’s About the Migration

The strength of P6 EPPM is in its web-based operations and enterprise-wide deployment. If you have a wide variety of project stakeholders that want to view project portfolio status and activity from time to time, then P6 EPPM is the solution rather than P6 Professional. P6 EPPM also integrates with applications like Oracle’s Business Intelligence Publisher, Primavera Unifier and P6 Analytics (P6 Professional does not). It supports use by users anywhere on the planet, as long as they have a Net connection. Thanks to its in-built Windows client, it can also be viewed as providing a migration path to move from standalone project management software to web-based, centralized project portfolio management.

Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back in the Water

P6 EPPM is not the one solution from Oracle for web-based project portfolio management. The Instantis EnterpriseTrack application also provides similar web and cloud-based functionality. So now which one should you choose if you’ve decided to go web-based? Existing P6 EPPM and Instantis EnterpriseTrack users may choose to stay with their respective products, simply because they already know the application in question. Indeed, it’s no secret that Oracle acquired the user bases for each product when it bought the corresponding companies (Primavera, then Instantis). Otherwise, Oracle currently positions its Instantis solution as an enterprise-wide EPPM solution that unifies IT and business, and P6 EPPM for departmental or business unit project portfolio management, for instance for manufacturing, engineering and construction.