Primavera P6: Optimizing planning with drag and drag cost.

Name: Primavera P6: Optimizing planning with drag and drag cost.
Rating: 3.6 (12 reviews)

Faster: Advanced Project Scheduling for Increased Profitability and Impact

Created byJan van den Berg

Last updated 9/2026

English

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What you'll learn

You will learn to manage project time. "Time is King"
You will learn to optimize the schedule with drag and drag cost.
You will learn to computerize the full cost of project activities.
You will learn to deal with resource elasticity using DREDD.
You will learn how to calculate expected project profit and benefits.
You will learn how to create and monitor the CPI, SPI and DIPP.

Course content

11 sections • 56 lectures • 1h 10m total length

What are the course objectives.0:34
Discover how to optimize project schedules using drag and drag cost techniques to create business value and benefits for small and large projects.
What will you learn1:06
Primavera P6 shows how to manage project time, optimize schedules with drag and drag cost, assess full costs, and balance resource elasticity against project benefits to maximize profits.
Bio Jan van den Berg0:29
Owner's or contractor's point of view2:35
Examine Primavera P6 planning optimization from an owner's or contractor's perspective, highlighting drag and drag cost considerations.

Scheduling methods, tools, and techniques4:37
Explore scheduling methods, tools, and techniques to optimize project timelines using scheduling models that define task sequences and durations, account for dependencies, resources, risk, and human factors.
Critical Path Method (CPM)6:36
The critical path method identifies the longest sequence of dependent tasks to determine project duration, using a network diagram and early and late start and finish dates.

Introduction of the drag and drag cost technique.0:14
Learning example0:26
Question 1: What is the project duration?0:06
Question 2: What is the DIPP0:53
Formule for the DIPP0:20
How to calculate the DIPP in the example.0:20
Question 3: Starting DIPP with 45 days duration0:12
Question 4 critical path0:12
Question 5 Drag0:09
What is Baselining a project schedule?1:02
Benefits plan of the project created in Primavera P62:31
Explore Devaux's Dip, a single value index monetizing scope, time, and cost for project benefits in Primavera P6, akin to SPI and CPI.
Spending Plan0:17
Baselining the project schedule1:19
Set and compare the project baseline with the current schedule, showing the baseline stays fixed while the schedule moves. Reset the baseline and prepare to determine the drag.

What is DRED and how to calculate0:51
Penalties and bonuses1:16
Schedule margin1:26
Plan or aim for the costs and benefits of this project.0:54
Strategy to realize better Benefits.0:39
Activity B is already reduced to 7 days0:35
How to create 5 days schedule margin7:57
Use primavera p6 to create a 5-day schedule margin by adjusting durations, adding resources, and establishing a new baseline, balancing schedule feasibility with project monetary value limits.
Baselining the optimization of the project0:43

What is the Schedule Performance Index (SPI)0:10
What is the Cost Performance index (CPI)0:09
Metrics for tracking progress0:31
Summary of the schedule update DD 19-03-20230:37
Video Updating the schedule 19-03-20234:32
Update a Primavera P6 schedule by applying progress, updating resources, recording actual units and costs, and rescheduling to reflect later dates.
Overview of the project with Gantt chart , EVM and histograms0:55
Overview of the spreadsheet earned value4:17
Results of the DIPP for project status D.D. 19-03-20230:08
Updating the schedule at D.D 02-04-20230:32
Update of the schedule at D.D. 02-04-20230:23
Earned Value data D.D. 02-04-20230:41
Strategy to make the most benifit.0:14
Drag, and drag cost calculations1:15
Results of the update D.D 23-04-20230:22
Final project results benefits1:07
Let's look at the results in Primavera P6 and graphs in Excel7:30
Explore Primavera P6 insights by comparing baseline cost and schedule to actuals, analyzing cost and schedule performance indices, and visualizing results with Gantt charts and Excel graphs.
Lessons learned0:17
Histogram and S-Curves for the total project0:05

Requirements

Advanced knowledge of Primavera P6 and Earned Value Management.

Description

Course Objective: Introduction to Primavera P6

This course equips students with advanced Primavera P6 techniques to optimize construction Project planning and scheduling. Students will learn to enhance Project performance, increase profitability, and maximize business value by leveraging critical path drag and cost analysis.

Critical Path and Drag

A critical path is a sequence of activities directly impacting the Project's overall duration. Drag, an essential concept in Project scheduling, quantifies the delay caused by a critical path activity or the potential time savings from accelerating it. (Stephen Devaux)

Beyond Traditional Project Management

While traditional Project management, as outlined in the PMBOK Guide, emphasizes execution and on-time, on-budget delivery, this course goes deeper into strategic Project management. Key objectives include:

Maximizing Business Value: Identifying and capitalizing on opportunities to increase the overall value derived from projects and investments.
Enhancing Profitability: Implementing strategies to improve Project margins and overall financial performance.
Realizing Broader Benefits: Recognizing and addressing the wider societal and environmental implications of projects, such as reduced traffic congestion, accelerated drug development, and improved public health outcomes.
Beyond planning and drag analysis, you'll learn to track Project performance using earned value metrics — calculating and monitoring the Schedule Performance Index (SPI) and Cost Performance Index (CPI) throughout execution. You'll build spreadsheets to track earned value, interpret Gantt charts alongside EVM histograms, and use the DIPP to report Project status — giving you a complete toolkit for both planning and control.

By mastering these advanced techniques, students will be empowered to drive significant improvements in Project outcomes and contribute to organizational success.

Who this course is for:

This mastercourse is for projectmanagers and project planners/schedulers who want to learn how to use drag, drag cost and the DIPP to enhance profits of a project.

Primavera P6: Optimizing planning with drag and drag cost.

What you'll learn

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Course content

Introduction of course objectives and what will you learn4 lectures • 5min

Introductie in scheduling projects2 lectures • 11min

How to create greater benefits with drag and drag cost technique.13 lectures • 8min

Computing Drag4 lectures • 4min

Computing drag cost.2 lectures • 1min

Computing true cost2 lectures • 1min

Question 8: What is the impact if activity G takes 14 days?1 lecture • 2min

Question 9: Impact on activity B1 lecture • 1min

How to deal with DRED8 lectures • 14min

Tracking the project bij investment value, and earned value.18 lectures • 24min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: