Activity Usage Profile

What a planner means

Activity Usage Profile is a view. Oracle: "Use the Activity Usage Profile to view cost or unit values for activities in the open project over time according to a timescale you specify." "The Activity Usage Profile displays resource allocations for all activities or for the activities you select in the Activity Table, Activity Usage Spreadsheet, Gantt Chart, or the Activity Network." It is not the Activity Usage Spreadsheet (Activity Usage Spreadsheet — timescaled grid; Oracle: "You cannot change the data"), not the Resource Usage Spreadsheet (Resource Usage Spreadsheet), not typed future-period buckets (Future Period Buckets Are Typed Assignment Units, Not a Curve), not a 21-point resource curve (Resource Curves (Not MSP Work Contours)), not Store Period Performance (Store Period Performance Posts This Period, Then Zeros It), not FINDATES (Financial Periods Are Named Buckets, Not the Data Date), not Activity Network (Activity Network), and not Resource Usage Profile (resource/role histogram).

Professional — Activities window active: View > Show on Bottom > Activity Usage Profile, or Layout Options bar > Show on Bottom, Activity Usage Profile, or the Bottom Layout toolbar. Bottom Layout toolbar: "Shows or hides the Activity Usage Profile in the bottom layout" (enabled when the active window is Activities; corresponding menu: View > Show on Bottom > Activity Usage Profile). The Top Layout toolbar lists Activity Usage Spreadsheet, not this profile. Oracle did not print a Show on Top command for Activity Usage Profile.

Oracle: "The Activity Usage Profile can display labor, nonlabor, material, and expense costs and labor and nonlabor units allocated to the activities in your project over time. Costs and units allocated to activities for each period in the timescale are represented as vertical bars. You can also display curves for charting cumulative costs or units over time."

Display page: "The numbers on the left side of the Activity Usage Profile correspond to the vertical bars. The numbers on the right side of the Activity Usage Profile correspond to the cumulative curves (these numbers appear only if you include cumulative curves in the profile)."

Oracle: you can customize it to "Specify the type of information you want to display, including showing labels with the values of each bar"; "Change the timescale"; "Customize the bars and background"; "Display past period actual or actual to date values"; "Display unit and cost values by both remaining early and remaining late dates"; "Save any of these changes so that you can always access the same set of activity information, or share your Activity Usage Profile with someone else."

Filter (all vs selected; timeperiod) — Oracle: "You can filter the Activity Usage Profile to include all activities displayed in the top layout, or to include only the activities you select in the top layout. You can also filter the top layout to display only those activities that correspond to the timeperiod you select in the bottom layout." Tip: "If you apply activity filters to the Activity Table, Gantt Chart, Activity Usage Spreadsheet, or the Activity Network, these filters also apply to the Activity Usage Profile." Oracle did not print the control names for selected-activity vs all-activity, or for the bottom-layout timeperiod filter, on the pages fetched. Do not invent them. Do not copy Resource Usage Profile's "Display Activities for Selected" / Resource / Time Period checkboxes onto this view.

Activity Usage Profile Options — Display Options bar in the profile > Activity Usage Profile Options, or right-click in the profile and choose Activity Usage Profile Options. Data tab and Graph tab. Oracle titled the dialog help Project/Activity Usage Profile Options.

Data tab — Display — Cost or Units. "Display actual and earned value using financial period data": "Mark to display past period actual values (rather than actual to date values) stored in financial period intervals for the Actual bar and curve, Planned Value curve, Earned Value curve, and Estimate at Completion curve. When you choose this option, stored past period actuals are distributed evenly, within each financial period, from the financial period start date to the financial period end date, and earned value calculations are based on these stored period quantities." "If you do not choose this option, the profile spreads actual to date values evenly from the actual start to the data date or actual finish date of the activity or assignment (unless you manually enter non-linear values when planning assignments to activities)." Define page: mark it for past period actual values; do not mark it for actual to date values. If projects are summarized by financial period (administrative setting), "this option is ignored." Then, with a financial period timescale: "the profile displays past period actual values if performance has been stored for a financial period; for financial periods that do not have stored performance, the profile displays actual to date values in financial period intervals."

Data tab — Filter for Bars/Curves — Labor ("labor units or costs, depending on the selected display option"); Nonlabor (same); Material ("material costs, depending on the selected display option"); Expenses ("expense costs"; "available only if the selected display option is Cost"); Total ("total costs (Total = Labor + Nonlabor + Expenses)"; Cost only). Define page: "If you choose to display cost data, you can select more than one filter to view a combination of cost values in the project profile. To display cost totals, mark the Total checkbox." Then pick a fill pattern per type. Oracle's note on that dialog: "You cannot display expense units or total units on the spreadsheet because not all expenses are tracked using the same unit of measure." That sentence names the spreadsheet. Do not invent that it is a profile rule.

Oracle did not print a fuller field catalog than these filters and the bars/curves below. Do not invent one. The overview page listed "labor, nonlabor, material, and expense costs and labor and nonlabor units" — quote that; do not invent material units.

Data tab — Show Bars/Curves — Baseline; Budgeted or Planned ("Activity Usage Profile only"); Actual; Remaining Early ("Activity Usage Profile and Activity Profile only"); Remaining Late ("Activity Usage Profile and Activity Profile only"). For each: By Date and/or Cumulative; Color. Oracle: "To show these data by date, mark the By Date checkbox. To show these data as a curve representing cumulative value, mark the Cumulative checkbox."

Oracle labeled some of those bars Activity Usage Profile only or Activity Usage Profile and Activity Profile only. Tracking's "Specify a project profile" page uses Bottom Layout Options, Profile Settings — a different window. Do not treat Tracking Project Gantt/Profile as this Activities Show on Bottom view.

Data tab — Show Earned Value Curves — Planned Value Cost / Labor Units ("the portion of the budgeted or planned total cost or units scheduled to be completed as of the project data date"); Earned Value Cost / Labor Units ("the portion of the budgeted or planned total cost or units actually completed as of the project data date"); Estimate at Completion Cost (EAC) / Labor Units ("the estimated cost or units at completion"). Color per curve.

Oracle: "The Planned Value Cost and Earned Value Cost curves may display different values in the profile, even if the total Planned Value Cost and Earned Value Cost values are the same in Activity Table columns. This occurs when an activity has an expense with an Accrual Type of Start of Activity or End of Activity (rather than Uniform over Activity). Since these are one-time expenses, and the planned value and earned value curves are cumulative (representing total values spread over time), the planned value spread is different than the earned value spread, even though the total values are the same."

Graph tab — Vertical Lines: Major / Minor timescale increments. Horizontal Lines: Dotted, Solid, or None; Line Color. Additional Display Options: Show Legend; 3D Bars ("display activity usage bars in three dimensions"); Show Values ("display the values of each bar in the histogram"); Background Color; Calculate Average; Divide Interval Totals By; Base on Hours Per Timeperiod; Unit of Measure. Legend page: you can drag the legend; "As well as a legend, you can select the Show Values option to display the value of each bar in the histogram."

Base on Hours Per Timeperiod: Define page says the increment comes from User Preferences for the date interval ("1h for Hour date interval, 2h for Shift date interval, 8h for Day date interval, 40h for week date interval, and so on"). Graph-tab dialog help says Admin Preferences when connected to a P6 Professional database, and P6, Application Settings when connected to a P6 EPPM database. Oracle printed both. Do not invent which page wins.

Timescale — Oracle: "You can change the timescale for a Gantt Chart, profile, or spreadsheet." Layout Options bar > Timescale. Two Lines or Three Lines; Timescale Start; Font & Color; primary dates or ordinal dates. For a financial-period timescale with past period actuals: Type Calendar or Fiscal; Date Interval Year/Financial Period, Quarter/Financial Period, Month/Financial Period, or Week/Financial Period; pick the Financial Period Calendar. "You can display a financial period timescale at any time, even if you do not store past period actuals." When top and bottom both show a timescaled layout, changing the timescale (or zooming) affects both windows. Zoom in/out applies to a "timescaled layout (Gantt Chart, spreadsheet, or profile)."

Financial-period timescale + all projects — Oracle: "When you display a financial period timescale and display data for all projects (rather than for open projects only), activity and resource data must be summarized by financial period to accurately display data for closed projects." Professional database: Admin, Admin Preferences, Options tab, 'By financial periods'. EPPM database (Professional connected to EPPM): Application Settings, General link in P6, same checkbox. Oracle printed that all-projects sentence on this profile. Oracle did not print a Show All Projects control on the Activity Usage Profile pages fetched. Do not invent one.

Oracle: you can "compare the planned future period resource distribution to actual units and costs in the Resource Usage Profile, Resource Usage Spreadsheet, Activity Usage Profile, Activity Usage Spreadsheet, time-distributed reports, and the Tracking window." You do not type buckets here. See Future Period Buckets Are Typed Assignment Units, Not a Curve.

This is not Resource Usage Profile (Show on Bottom histogram of resources or roles). Oracle on Resource Usage Profile: "Use the Resource Usage Profile to analyze quantity or cost usage for resources or roles." "The Resource Usage Profile is available only in the bottom layout of the Activities window." "Choose to display vertical bars to represent costs or units allocated to your resources for each timeperiod, and include cumulative curves to represent accumulated units and costs over time." That profile has a left-pane resource/role list, stacked histogram, limits / overallocation / availability / overtime, and "Display a 'banana' curve to compare early and late dates." Those sentences are Resource Usage Profile, not this view.

This is not Activity Usage Spreadsheet (timescaled grid; Show on Top or Show on Bottom). Oracle: "The Activity Usage Spreadsheet is split into two panes." "You cannot change the data in the Activity Usage Spreadsheet."

The Professional pages fetched do not print an EPPM web Activity Usage Profile. The "When connected to a P6 EPPM database" sentences are Professional connected to EPPM (where the By financial periods checkbox / hours-per-time-period settings live). Do not invent a web view.

XER

The view is a layout (Professional bottom layout on Activities). Oracle's project XER data map TOC lists no ACTIVITYUSAGE, ACTUSAGE, USAGE, PROFILE, HISTOGRAM, or LAYOUT table. Do not invent one. Profile Options (Cost vs Units, bar/curve picks, colors, legend, Show Values), timescale, and selected-activity vs all-activity are not columns on the cited TASK or TASKRSRC maps. Oracle did not name an XER table or column for this view.

What you can display as bars or curves is not a dedicated profile table:

• Typed future-period buckets: no dedicated table. See Future Period Buckets Are Typed Assignment Units, Not a Curve.
• Named curves: RSRCCURV / TASKRSRC.curv_id. See Resource Curves (Not MSP Work Contours).
• Stored past-period actuals: TASKFIN / TRSRCFIN. See Store Period Performance Posts This Period, Then Zeros It.
• Named financial-period calendar: FINDATES. See Financial Periods Are Named Buckets, Not the Data Date.

A Viewer parse of one XER cannot reconstruct whether the planner had Show on Bottom set to Activity Usage Profile, which bars/curves or filters were selected, or the last timescale.

Microsoft Project

Desktop Project has Resource Graph. Microsoft: "View resource allocation, cost, or work over time for a single resource or group of resources at a time. Information is displayed in a column graph format." "The Resource Graph view displays a bar chart view of an individual resource's workload and availability." Resource tab > Resource Graph. Blue bars (default) are at or below max units; red bars are overallocation. Format > Graph can show Work Availability. Closer to Resource Usage Profile (one resource's histogram) than to this activity histogram.

Desktop Project has Task Usage. Microsoft: "Review, enter, and edit assignments by task." Usage views "list task or resource data in rows and columns on the leftmost side of the view, and show timephased data across rows and columns on the rightmost side of the view." Closer to Activity Usage Spreadsheet than to this profile.

They are not the same object as Activity Usage Profile. Oracle's profile is activity units/cost as vertical bars and cumulative curves on Activities Show on Bottom. Microsoft's Resource Graph is a resource column graph. Microsoft's Task Usage is a timescaled assignment grid you can edit.

Do not map Resource Graph or Task Usage as the same command as Activity Usage Profile. Do not claim MPXJ can write a real MPP.

Don't

• Treat Activity Usage Profile as Activity Usage Spreadsheet, Resource Usage Spreadsheet, or the place you type future-period buckets.
• Treat it as Resource Usage Profile (resource/role histogram, stacked histogram, limits / overallocation / banana curve).
• Treat it as a 21-point RSRCCURV, as FINDATES, as TASKFIN / TRSRCFIN, or as Activity Network.
• Treat it as Tracking Project Gantt/Profile / Activity Profile (Oracle labeled some Data-tab bars "Activity Usage Profile only").
• Invent an ACTIVITYUSAGE / ACTUSAGE / USAGE / PROFILE / HISTOGRAM / LAYOUT XER table.
• Invent a full bar/curve catalog beyond Labor / Nonlabor / Material / Expenses / Total and Baseline / Budgeted or Planned / Actual / Remaining Early / Remaining Late / PV / EV / EAC as Oracle printed them.
• Invent material units (overview listed material under costs; labor and nonlabor units).
• Copy Resource Usage Profile Display Activities for Selected / Resource / Time Period, stacked histogram, or negative-value / profile-details sentences onto this view.
• Invent a Show on Top command, or an EPPM web Activity Usage Profile from the Professional-connected-to-EPPM admin sentence.
• Invent a Show All Projects control (Oracle only printed the financial-period + all-projects summarization sentence).
• Map this object to MSP Resource Graph or Task Usage and call them the same.
• Claim MPXJ writes a real MPP.
• Claim a Viewer reconstructed the planner's last Activity Usage Profile bars, filters, or timescale from an XER.