The Project Management Bridge was designed in accordance with the following guiding principles and concepts to make the system simple and manageable for both users and administrators:
- Stand alone systems – With Project Management Bridge, both PPM and the Project Management System continue to operate as they do in their standalone mode of operation. The Project Management Bridge allows them to share information, but does not attempt to have one application perform the tasks of the other application. For example, PPM should not be used to manage project level tasks, and the Project Management System shouldn't be used to group projects into portfolios.
- Unidirectional Information Sharing – A category in PPM can be set to either publish information to the Project Management System or be updated from the Project Management System. A single category cannot be set for both publishing and updating. Thus, conflicts are avoided. For example, a portfolio manager can define and use a category called Estimated Project Cost to publish cost estimates to the Project Management System. The manager can then define another category called Revised Project Cost Estimation to receive updated cost estimates made by the project manager in the Project Management System.
- This capability is further enhanced in P6 Bridge Sub-items mode which allows sharing information further down in the project hierarchy. This capability makes it possible to transfer detailed project information into PPM categories.
- Schedule Management – If a portfolio manger creates a new project in PPM, the manager can set the start and end date of the project and its phases. This information can be published once to the Project Management System, but from that point on the portfolio manager cannot overwrite the start and end dates in the Project Management System. In many systems, the Project Management System is configured as the source for updating PPM start and end dates for projects and project phases.
- Methodologies and Lifecycles – When a new project is published, the Project Management System can either use an existing methodology, or base the project on its PPM lifecycle. In the latter case, the Project Management Bridge creates a WBS element to represent each phase, basing it on the project’s lifecycle in PPM. In either case, WBS elements in the Project Management System can be set to update phase information in PPM. This is performed by matching the names of WBS elements and phases. For more information on publishing, refer to Step 6: Sub-Items Mode -- Entering Update Mapping Definitions in The Project Management Bridge Wizard for P6.
- Project Level Data Mapping – Categories in PPM can be set to publish or update information at the project level. For example, you can set a category in PPM to be updated by the total cost of the project in the Project Management System.
- Sub Project Level Data Mapping – Categories in PPM can be set to publish and update information in the task level. This information is then mapped to sub-items in PPM. For example, you can set a date category in PPM to be updated for all sub-items by the date of all milestones in P6.
Note: For more information on sub-items, see Working with Dynamic Lists in the general Primavera Portfolio Management help.
- Filtered Data Mapping – Data mapped from a field in the Project Management System to PPM can be filtered by time or resource. Time filters allow for the creation of categories such as Cost 2007 or Cost 2008 Q1. Resource filtering allows you to filter information from the Project Management System fields based on resource field information, thereby creating categories such as Programmers Work Hours and Managers Cost. For more information on mapping, refer to Step 6: Sub-Items Mode -- Entering Update Mapping Definitions in The Project Management Bridge Wizard for P6.
- Synchronization – The Project Management Bridge can be set to automatically synchronize information between the systems according to a predefined schedule. This means that the system will publish and then update information for any item in Primavera Portfolio Management that is set to be included in the synchronization. In most systems, projects will not be included in the synchronization process unless the portfolio manager determines otherwise. This helps prevent unintentional exposure of sensitive data. The portfolio manager may decide to include items in the synchronization process if the manager wants the item to be updated on a regular basis and there is no fear of exposing data to the project manager and other Project Management System users. For a detailed description of the synchronization process refer to Configuring Synchronization in Configuring Project Management Bridge after Installation.