Use the Activities window to add, view, edit, and delete activities for the open projects. You can divide the Activities window into top and bottom layout views, and you can customize these layouts and how activities are displayed.
To display the Activities window, do one of the following:
- Click
on the Project toolbar. - On the Project menu, choose Activities.
Refer to the following sections of this topic for information and links to concepts and tasks about working with activities and activity layouts in the Activities window:
- Working in the Activities window
- Activity concepts
- Activity tasks
- Adding activities and defining general activity information
- Working with activity relationships
- Working with activity resource and role assignments
- Working with activity steps
- Working with activity expenses
- Working with activity notebooks
- Working with activity code assignments
- Working with work product and document assignments
- Working with past period actuals
- Updating activity progress
- Working with risks
- Activity layout concepts and tasks
- Available activity layouts
- General layout tasks
- Filtering activities
- Grouping and sorting activities
- Working with Activity Details
- Working with the Activity Table
- Working with the Gantt Chart
- Working with the Activity Network
- Working with the Activity and Resource Usage Profiles
- Working with the Activity and Resource Usage Spreadsheets
- Working with Trace Logic
Working in the Activities window:
When working in the Activities window, you can:
- Use the Edit menu on the Menu bar or use the Edit toolbar to add, delete, cut, copy, paste, link, renumber, or dissolve activities, and to undo an action.
- Use the Edit menu on the Menu bar or use the Assign toolbar, Activity Details, or shortcut (right-click) menu to assign resources, roles, activity codes, predecessors, successors, and activity step templates to activities.
- Use the Layout Options bar, the View menu on the Menu bar, the Top Layout toolbar, and Bottom Layout toolbar to choose the layouts you want to display in the window.
- Use the Layout Options bar, the View menu on the Menu bar, or the Layout toolbar to customize activity layouts and how activities are displayed in the window. For example, you can customize columns of the Activity Table; group, sort, and filter activities; specify a timescale; customize Gantt Chart bars and Activity Network boxes; and more.
- Use Activity Details or the Activity Table to define general and detailed information for each activity. To show or hide Activity Details, click the Layout Options bar, then choose Activity Details, or click
on the Bottom Layout toolbar. - Compare projects against each other or against their baselines in an additional activities view alongside the original. You can configure the layout of the two views independently of each other.
Notes
- After opening the Activities window, the window remains open until you close all open projects or you close the window; if you open or navigate to another window without closing the Activities window, click the Activities tab to return to the window at any time.
- To expand or collapse individual elements of the activity hierarchy, right-click in the Activities window and choose Expand All or Collapse All.
- You need the Edit Activity ID privilege to modify the Activity ID.
- If resource security is enabled, you can only view resources from the resource root node you have access to, and resources that are assigned to the currently open project(s).
- If you are grouping by WBS in the Activities window and the project has empty WBS bands, then you should mark the Hide If Empty checkbox in the Group and Sort dialog box. Even if empty bands are hidden, rolled up data is accurate.
Activity concepts
The following topics describe activity-related concepts. These concepts apply to data you define for activities (for example, activity steps or activity types), data you assign to activities (for example, activity codes or resources), and data or features that impact activity data (for example, scheduling projects and leveling resources).
- Activities
- Activity codes and values
- Activity dates
- Activity steps
- Activity step templates
- Activity types
- Adding relationships between activities
- Baselines
- Calendars
- Earned Value
- Expenses
- Filtering data
- Future period bucket planning
- Grouping activities by field
- Grouping activities by WBS path
- Grouping by hierarchy
- Leveling resources
- Progress Spotlight
- Relationships
- Resources
- Risks
- Roles
- Scheduling projects
- Sorting
- Store Period Performance
- Summarizing activity data
- Updating progress
- Work Breakdown Structure
- Work Products and Documents
Activity tasks
You can perform all of the following tasks in the Activities window. These tasks are organized by subject area or purpose, and are not all inclusive.
Adding activities and defining general activity information
- Add activities in the Activity Table
- Add activities in the Activity Network
- Adding activities using a wizard
- Assign a calendar to an activity
- Change an activity's work breakdown structure assignment
- Copy and paste activities in the Activity Network
- Copy and paste activities in the Activity Table
- Cut and paste activities in the Activity Network
- Cut and paste activities in the Activity Table
- Renumber activity IDs in the Activity Table
- Define activity duration types
- Define activity percent complete types
- Define activity types
- Define general activity information
- Define milestones
- Delete an activity
- When connected to a P6 EPPM database: Designating an activity owner
- Dissolve an activity
- Enter activity constraints
- Enter activity durations
- Enter activity start and finish dates
- View activity float values
- View activity summaries
Working with activity relationships
- Add predecessor relationships
- Add successor relationships
- Change predecessor relationships
- Change successor relationships
- Create relationships in the Activity Network
- Create relationships in the Gantt Chart
- Delete relationships in the Activity Network
- Delete relationships in the Gantt Chart
- Edit relationships in the Activity Network
- Edit relationships in the Gantt Chart
- Remove predecessor relationships
- Remove successor relationships
- View activity relationships in Activity Details
- View activity relationships in the Activity Network
- View activity relationships in the Gantt Chart
- View activity relationships in Trace logic
Working with activity resource and role assignments
- Assign a rate type to a resource assignment
- Assign resources to activities
- Assign resources to activities by role
- Associate a primary resource with an activity
- Change the resource's role assignments for an activity
- Choose the rate source for an assignment
- Create a future period bucket planning layout
- Enter cost information for resource assignments
- Enter unit information for resource assignments
- Manually enter future period assignment values
- Remove resources from activities
- Replace resources assigned to activities
Working with activity steps
- Add steps to activities
- Add weights to steps
- Assign activity step templates to activities
- When connected to a P6 Professional database: Convert steps into an activity step template
- Remove steps from activities
- Update activity steps
Working with activity expenses
- Add expenses from the Activities window
- Assign expense categories from the Activities window
- Delete expenses from the Activities window
Working with activity notebooks
- Assign notebooks to activities
- Remove notebooks from activities
Working with activity code assignments
- Assign activity codes and values to activities
- Change activity code value assignments
- Remove activity codes and values from activities
Working with work product and document assignments
- Assign work products and documents to an activity from the Activities window
- Display work product and document details in the Activities window
- Open a work product or document from the Activities window
- Remove work product and document assignments from the Activities window
Working with past period actuals
- Edit past period actual data
- View past period actual data in spreadsheets
Working with risks
- Assigning a risk to an activity
- Removing risk assignments from activities
Updating activity progress
- Enter a physical percent complete for activities
- Highlight activities for updating
- Remove progress from an activity
- Suspend or resume an activity's progress
- Update progress for individual activities
Activity layout concepts and tasks
The following concepts and tasks relate to the layouts you can display and customize in the Activities window.
Available activity layouts
You can display the following layouts in the Activities window:
- The Activity Table
- The Gantt Chart
- Activity Details (bottom layout only)
- Activity Network (top layout only)
- The Resource Usage Profile (bottom layout only)
- The Activity Usage Profile (bottom layout only)
- The Activity Usage Spreadsheet
- The Resource Usage Spreadsheet (bottom layout only)
- Trace Logic (bottom layout only)
General Layout Tasks
- Change a layout's timescale format
- Change the display timeperiod for a timescaled layout
- Create a new activity layout
- Delete a layout
- Expand or contract the visible area of a timescaled layout
- Exporting and Importing Layouts
- Open a layout
- Save a layout as a project layout
- Save a layout in the Activities or Resource Assignments window
- Zoom in and out of a timescaled layout
- Add line numbers
Filtering activities
- Apply a filter
- Change a Gantt Chart bar's filter
- Combine filters
- Create a filter
- Create a lookahead filter
- Default filter criteria
- Delete filters
- Remove filters
Grouping and sorting activities
- Collapse or expand grouped data
- Display summary data when grouping
- Format grouping bands
- Group activities by field
- Group activities by hierarchy
- Group activities by WBS path
- Remove activity groupings
- Show a grand total
- Show field titles in grouping bands
- Show or hide empty title bands
- Sort activities
Working with Activity Details
- Change expenses tab columns.
- Change Predecessors tab columns
- Change Resources tab columns
- Change Successors tab columns
- Customize Activity Details
- View activity relationships in Activity Details
Working with the Activity Table
- Add activities in the Activity Table
- Change activity information in the Activity Table
- Change Activity Table font, color, and row height
- Change group row fonts and colors
- Copy and paste activities in the Activity Table
- Customize activity column titles
- Cut and paste activities in the Activity Table
- Define Activity Table columns
- Quickly enter the same text in multiple table rows
- Sort activity information in the Activity Table
Working with the Gantt Chart
- Add a bar to the Gantt Chart
- Add a curtain attachment in a Gantt Chart
- Add a text attachment to a Gantt Chart
- Apply a Progress Line to the Gantt Chart
- Apply Gantt Chart settings from another layout
- Attach notebook items to bars in a Gantt Chart
- Change a bar in the Gantt Chart
- Change a Gantt Chart bar's filter - under Gantt Chart
- Change a Gantt Chart bar's label - under Gantt Chart
- Change a Gantt Chart bar's settings
- Change a Gantt Chart bar's style - under Gantt Chart
- Change a Gantt Chart bar's timescale - under Gantt Chart
- Change an activity's duration in the Gantt Chart
- Change an activity's start and finish dates in the Gantt Chart
- Change the background lines in the Gantt Chart
- Create relationships in the Gantt Chart
- Delete a bar from the Gantt Chart
- Delete a curtain attachment from a Gantt Chart
- Delete relationships in the Gantt Chart
- Display all curtain attachments in the Gantt Chart
- Display the Gantt Chart
- Edit relationships in the Gantt Chart
- Hide a curtain attachment in a Gantt Chart
- Hide all curtain attachments in the Gantt Chart
- Move around a Gantt Chart
- Move to a specific activity in the Gantt Chart
- Position a bar in the Gantt Chart
- Remove a text attachment from a Gantt Chart
- Show or hide relationship lines in the Gantt Chart
- Show or hide the Gantt Chart legend
- View activity relationships in the Gantt Chart
Working with the Activity Network
- Add activities in the Activity Network
- Apply Activity Network settings from another layout
- Change activity box fonts and colors
- Copy and paste activities in the Activity Network
- Create relationships in the Activity Network
- Customize the activity box layout
- Customize the Activity Network layout
- Cut and paste activities in the Activity Network
- Delete relationships in the Activity Network
- Display the Activity Network
- Edit relationships in the Activity Network
- Move around in the Activity Network
- Reorganize the Activity Network layout
- Save and Open an Activity Network Layout
- Select the activity box layout
- View Activity Network Activity Details
- View activity relationships in the Activity Network
Working with the Activity and Resource Usage Profiles
- Define the Activity Usage Profile
- Define the Resource Usage Profile
- Display the Activity Usage Profile
- Display the Resource Usage Profile
- Filter activities according to the Resource Usage Profile
- Show or hide overtime information in the Resource Usage Profile
- Show or hide resource availability in the Resource Usage Profile
- Show or hide resource limits in the Resource Usage Profile
- Show or hide resource overallocation in the Resource Usage Profile
- Show or hide the profile legend
- View a profile of resource allocation across all projects
- View a profile of resource allocation for a specific project
Working with the Activity and Resource Usage Spreadsheets
- Copy and paste resource spreadsheet data to Microsoft Excel
- Customize Activity Usage Spreadsheet columns
- Customize Resource Usage Spreadsheet columns
- Display roles in the Resource Usage Spreadsheet
- Display the Activity Usage Spreadsheet
- Display the Resource Usage Spreadsheet
- Filter activities according to the Resource Usage Spreadsheet
- Group and sort Resource Usage Spreadsheet columns in the Activities window
- Resize the panes of the Resource Usage Spreadsheet
- Select Activity Usage Spreadsheet fields
- Select Resource Usage Spreadsheet fields
- View a spreadsheet of resource allocation across all projects
- View a spreadsheet of resource allocation for a specific project
- View a spreadsheet of resource overallocation across all projects
- View past period actual data in spreadsheets
Working with Trace Logic
- Display Trace Logic
- Move around in Trace Logic
- Set Trace Logic preferences
- View activity relationships in Trace logic