Admin Preferences

What a planner means

Admin Preferences is the enterprise-defaults dialog. Oracle Admin Menu: "Opens the Admin Preferences dialog box. Use the Admin Preferences dialog box to specify default settings established by the project administrator. You can also set the location for the online help." Enabled when "All." Corresponding toolbar: Administrator Toolbar. How-to pages: Admin, Admin Preferences.

Oracle Admin Preferences dialog (P6 Professional Only): "Use the Admin Preferences dialog box to specify default settings established by the project administrator."

Oracle Administrative preferences: "Your organization can define a series of application-wide parameters and values that apply to all projects." "While all users can view these settings, a user must have special security privileges to edit them." "There are two types of settings: Administrative Preferences and Administrative Categories." "Application administrators use the Admin Preferences dialog box to establish default settings. You can use this dialog box to check the defaults that have been defined."

This dialog is application-wide. It is not Edit > User Preferences (per-user display and session). See User Preferences. It is not Admin Categories (standard categories and values). It is not EPPM Application Settings (a different admin surface). Remaining duration is still stored in hours (remain_drtn_hr_cnt). See P6 Remaining Duration vs Percent Complete. Calendar day_hr_cnt / week_hr_cnt / month_hr_cnt / year_hr_cnt are per-calendar Hours per Time Period, not this dialog's global conversion factors. See P6 Calendars (Global, Project, Resource, Activity).

Not User Preferences. User Preferences Time Units is display of hours/days/weeks. Admin Time Periods is the conversion factor used when that display is not hours. Do not copy Admin Time Periods onto User Preferences Time Units.

Professional tabs Oracle names

Oracle Admin Preferences dialog box lists these tabs (quote Oracle's printed names):

• General tab — Oracle prints General tab - Admin Preference dialog box (singular Preference) on that page
• Data Limits tab
• ID Lengths tab
• Time Periods tab
• Earned Value tab
• Reports tab
• Options tab
• Rate Types tab
• Industry tab
• Consent Notice tab
• Status of User Acceptance tab
• Exception Site List tab

Quote Oracle's General tab vs Admin Preference (dialog-list page) spelling. Do not collapse them.

Time Periods — Oracle Time Periods tab: "P6 Professional calculates and stores time unit values in hourly increments. However, through User Preferences, each user can choose to display time unit values as hours, days, weeks, months, or years. When a user displays units and durations in increments other than hours, P6 Professional converts the data based on the Hours per Time Period settings. Conversely, if a user enters time units in increments other than hours, the Hours per Time Period settings are used to convert these input values to hours for database calculation and storage." Fields / options Oracle named:

• Hours per Time Period — "globally specify the conversion factors on this tab." How-to Set default workhours: "in the Hours per Time Period section, type the default number of work hours you want to use for each time period." Oracle's example on this tab: "Admin Preferences, Hours per Time Period = 8h/d." Oracle did not print Hours/Day / Hours/Week field labels on the Professional tab page fetched.
• Use assigned calendar to specify the number of work hours for each time period — Mark to "ignore the Hours per Time Period settings on this tab" and convert using "the Hours per Time Period settings defined in each activity's or resource's assigned calendar." Clear to "always use the Hours per Time Period settings you specify on this tab."
• Time Period Abbreviations — "For each time period increment, specify the abbreviation you want to use when displaying time unit values."

Oracle tip: when Hours per Time Period is global and does not match the activity calendar, display is unexpected. Example Oracle printed: User Preferences Time Units = day; Admin 8h/d; activity calendar 10h/d; typed 30h → display 3d6h (30/8) instead of expected 3d (30/10). See P6 Calendars (Global, Project, Resource, Activity) and User Preferences.

Earned Value — Oracle Earned Value tab: "The Earned Value tab enables you to specify default settings for calculating earned value." Sections Oracle named:

• Technique for computing performance percent complete — Activity % Complete; Use WBS Milestones; 0/100 % Complete; 50/50% Complete; Custom% Complete. See WBS Milestones Are Weighted WBS Checkpoints, Not TASK Milestones.
• Technique for computing Estimate To Complete (ETC) — ETC = remaining cost for activity; ETC = PF (Budget at Completion – Earned Value Cost) with PF = 1; PF = 1/Cost Performance Index; PF = 1/ (Cost Performance Index Schedule Performance Index); PF = (typed factor). See Independent ETC.
• Earned value calculation — "When calculating earned value from a baseline use" the baseline's At Completion values and current dates, budgeted or planned values with planned dates, or budgeted or planned values with current dates. "A preference setting (Project Details, Settings tab) controls, per project, the baseline that is used to calculate earned value: the project baseline or each user's defined primary baseline."

Oracle tip: "You can change the earned value settings for specific WBS elements in the Work Breakdown Structure window." Those WBS overrides are not this dialog.

ID Lengths — Oracle ID Lengths tab: "The ID Lengths tab enables you to specify the maximum number of characters for codes, from 1 to 40." Fields Oracle named: Project ID maximum characters; WBS Code maximum characters; Resource ID maximum characters; Activity ID maximum characters; Cost Account ID maximum characters; Role ID maximum characters.

Data Limits — Oracle Data Limits tab: "The Data Limits tab enables you to specify the maximum number of levels for hierarchical structures. You can also specify the maximum number of baselines and activity codes a project may have." Fields Oracle named:

• EPS/WBS tree maximum levels — 1-50
• OBS tree maximum levels — 1-25
• Resources tree maximum levels — 1-25
• Role tree maximum levels — 1-25
• Cost Account tree maximum levels — 1-25
• Activity Code tree maximum levels — 1-25
• Resource Code tree maximum levels — 1-25
• Project Code tree maximum levels — 1-25
• Assignment Code tree maximum levels — 1-25
• Role Code tree maximum levels — 1-25
• Maximum activity codes per project — 0-500
• Maximum baselines per project — "There is no limit to the number of baselines per project, so you can enter any number in this field."
• Maximum baselines copied with project — 1-50

Other tabs — quote Oracle's purpose sentence. Do not invent a checkbox catalog.

• General — "The General tab enables you to specify general default options, such as the weekday on which the calendar week begins. You can also specify the character that separates cost account codes to indicate hierarchy levels and the default duration for new activities." Fields Oracle named on that page: Code Separator (also "the default separator for work breakdown structure (WBS) codes in all projects"); Starting Day of Week; Finish date filters use start of Current Date, Week, and Month; Activity Duration; Password Policy / Enable password policy.
• Reports — "The Reports tab enables you to define three default sets of headers, footers, and custom labels for reports."
• Options — summarize-and-store interval (By calendar / By financial period; "You cannot clear both"); P6 Professional Online Help URL; Document Security (Invalid document types); Cost Spread (Linear Spread / Unit Spread). By financial period is the checkbox other notes cite for financial-period timescale. See Financial Periods Are Named Buckets, Not the Data Date and Summarizer Stores Rolled-Up EPS Totals; It.
• Rate Types — "The Rate Types tab enables you to provide a title for each of the five available Price/Unit fields." Default Title / User-defined Title. That is the label list, not a sixth price. See Rate Types Are Five Named Price/Unit Slots.
• Industry — "Use this tab to choose the type of industry in which you use this application. The industry you choose causes the application to use terminology and default settings for calculations that most closely align with the selected industry." Options Oracle named: Engineering and Construction; Government, Aerospace and Defense; High-Technology, Manufacturing and Others; Utilities, Oil and Gas. How-to: change is "immediately effective for new users" and "will not take effect for users who have logged in since it was last set."
• Consent Notice — "Use the Consent Notice tab to configure and enable consent notices." Consent Type list Oracle named: Add resources; Add users; Download data; Login page; Visualizer login.
• Status of User Acceptance — dialog list name. Tab page: "Use the User Acceptance tab to see a list of users who have accepted, rejected, and not yet replied to consent notices." Quote both. Do not collapse them. Forget All User Acceptance "Sets the acceptance status for all users to Not Responded for this consent notice type."
• Exception Site List — "The Exception Site List tab enables you to specify a list of websites that users can launch when displayed in user defined fields (UDFs), projects websites, or Notebook topics, by double clicking on the website and selecting Launch."

EPPM — Application Settings, not Admin > Admin Preferences

Oracle About Application Settings: "Application Settings enables your organization to define a series of application-wide parameters and values that apply globally and to all projects in an enterprise project structure (EPS)." Working with Application Settings: "Use Application Settings to specify default administrative preferences established by the P6 Administrator." Getting Here (Time Periods / Earned Value pages): Administration → Application Settings, then the page name.

Oracle Working with Application Settings lists these pages (quote Oracle; do not copy the Professional tab list onto them): Audit; Consent Notice; Data Limits; Earned Value; Eventing; Gateway; General; ID Lengths; Integration & Allow Lists; Notifications; Reports; Services; Timesheets; Time Periods.

EPPM Time Periods page: "Use this page to define the number of hours in a given time period. You can also specify abbreviations for time units." Hours per Time Period fields; Use assigned calendar to specify the number of work hours for each time period; Time Period Abbreviations fields ("minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years"). Working with Application Settings: "Define the default number of hours in a workday, workweek, workmonth, and workyear." Configuring Time Periods: "if the default Hours/Day is set to 8.0, when a user enters 1d as a duration, this value is stored as 8h in the database." That Hours/Day sentence is EPPM how-to. Do not invent it as a Professional field label.

EPPM Earned Value page: "Use this page to specify default settings for calculating earned value. You can change the settings for specific WBS elements in the Earned Value detail window in Activities page." Same three section names (performance percent complete / ETC / Earned Value Calculation). Publisher/summarizer note Oracle printed on that page: those services "always use the project baseline for earned value calculations, regardless of the Baseline to be used for earned value calculations setting in each project's preferences."

Do not copy Professional Admin > Admin Preferences, Administrator Toolbar, Rate Types / Industry / Exception Site List / Status of User Acceptance tab names, or Password Policy onto EPPM Application Settings. Do not copy EPPM Audit / Eventing / Gateway / Notifications / Services / Timesheets / Integration & Allow Lists onto Professional. EPPM Rate Types live in Enterprise Data, not on the Application Settings page list Oracle printed. See Rate Types Are Five Named Price/Unit Slots.

XER

Admin Preferences is an enterprise / database dialog. It is not an XER table.

Oracle's project XER data map TOC lists no ADMINPREF, ADMINPREFERENCES, ADMIN_PREF, or PREFERENCES table. Do not invent an ADMINPREF / ADMINPREFERENCES %T or columns for Hours per Time Period, ID lengths, data limits, Rate Type titles, Industry, Consent Notice, or Exception Site List.

PROJWBS has WBS-level EV technique columns. Oracle labels: ev_compute_type (Earned Value Percent Complete Technique), ev_etc_compute_type (Earned Value Estimate-to-Complete Technique), ev_etc_user_value (Earned Value Performance Factor), ev_user_pct (Earned Value Percent Complete). Those are the WBS overrides ("change the earned value settings for specific WBS elements"). They are not the Admin Preferences dialog. Stored tokens are unverified. See Independent ETC.

PROJECT has no ev_* columns on the cited project map. PROJECT.name_sep_char is labeled Code Separator. Oracle did not say that column is the Admin Preferences General-tab Code Separator. Do not invent that mapping.

CALENDAR day_hr_cnt / week_hr_cnt / month_hr_cnt / year_hr_cnt are calendar Hours per Time Period. They are not the Admin global Hours per Time Period row. See P6 Calendars (Global, Project, Resource, Activity).

A Viewer parse of one project XER cannot reconstruct Admin Preferences (Hours per Time Period, ID lengths, data limits, Rate Type titles, Industry, Consent Notice, Exception Site List, report header labels, Online Help URL).

Microsoft Project

Desktop Project has File > Options, not Admin > Admin Preferences.

Microsoft How Project schedules tasks: "Project calculates the duration of automatically scheduled tasks based on the definitions of the duration units (Select File > Options > Schedule)." "By default, when Project calculates duration units, one day equals 8 hours, one week equals 40 hours, and one month equals 20 working days." Microsoft Change the default task duration unit: File > Options → Schedule → Duration is entered in (default days). Change the default time unit for work: same Schedule tab, Work is entered in (default hours). Those are Project entry / duration-unit defaults for this project (or All New Projects). They are not P6 enterprise Hours per Time Period, and not User Preferences Time Units.

Microsoft Set the general working days and times is Project tab → Change Working Time (project calendar). That is a calendar, not Admin Time Periods.

They are not the same dialog. P6 Admin Preferences is application-wide (hours conversion, ID lengths, data limits, EV defaults, rate-type titles, industry terminology, consent, clickable-site list). Project Options is per file (or All New Projects) and has no ID-length, data-limit, rate-type-title, industry, or consent-notice analog on the pages fetched. Do not map them as the same setting list. Do not claim MPXJ can write a real MPP.

Don't

• Treat Admin Preferences as User Preferences, as Admin Categories, as EPPM Application Settings, or as project XER data.
• Invent an ADMINPREF / ADMINPREFERENCES XER table, or treat PROJWBS ev_ or PROJECT.name_sep_char or CALENDAR _hr_cnt as "the Admin Preferences dialog."
• Claim a Viewer reconstructed Admin Preferences from a project XER.
• Copy Admin Time Periods onto User Preferences Time Units, or treat Time Periods abbreviations as stored remaining-duration hours.
• Invent Hours/Day as a Professional field label, or invent checkbox lists Oracle did not print on General / Reports / Options / Industry / Consent / Exception Site List.
• Collapse Oracle's Status of User Acceptance (dialog list) and User Acceptance (tab page) into one invented name, or General tab - Admin Preference into Admin Preferences.
• Copy Professional Admin > Admin Preferences / tab list / Administrator Toolbar onto EPPM Application Settings, or copy EPPM Audit / Eventing / Gateway / Services / Timesheets onto Professional.
• Map P6 Admin Preferences to MSP File > Options (Schedule duration-units) as the same dialog.
• Claim MPXJ writes a real MPP.