Dealing with Feature of Work (FOW) for Army Corp Projects in Primavera P6
One issue that we have come across in developing a schedule for an Army Corp Project in P6 is how to treat the Feature of Work (FOW) in the Corp specs. Often the Corp states three FOWs in the spec, for example FOW1, FOW2, and FOW3. This will only work in P3, if you try to use them in P6, they will not carryover in the SDEF conversion. This is because Primavera P6 is programmed to only allow specific Activity Codes in the SDEF Conversion. They are:
- WRKP
- RESP
- AREA
- MODF
- BIDI
- PHAS
- CATW
- FOW
Any deviation, for example an activity code named TEST, or the old P3 codes FOW1, FOW2, FOW3, will not export to SDEF!
Also important to note, the spec will probably state that the FOW length should be 30 characters. People report issues because Primavera P6 only allows a max of 20 characters. However, in the SDEF conversion P6 is programmed to import the Code Description, not the Code Value for FOW only. This means the max characters you set in P6 for FOW is moot in the SDEF export because it ignores the code. The SDEF export utility WILL cut of any descriptions longer than 30 characters.
If you have already built your schedule, are looking at the SDEF exported text file and FOW is not visible, it is probably because you are not using “FOW” as the code value.
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To summarize, our recommendations for FOW in Primavera P6 :
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- If multiple FOW codes are listed in the spec, create only one FOW (we recommend a length of 20 characters for general purpose).
- The Code and Description SHOULD BE IDENTICAL, and not exceed 30 characters.
- All descriptions greater than 30 characters will automatically truncate to 30 in the SDEF export.
