Capital Programme Governance with Oracle Primavera P6 Training Course

Course overview

Capital programmes fail governance reviews when executives receive late, inconsistent or overly detailed schedule information. A portfolio may appear on track while critical interfaces, approval gates, funding constraints and contractor recovery plans are deteriorating below the reporting line. This course addresses the gap between Primavera P6 schedule administration and executive decision-making: how to establish the controls, data structures, thresholds and reporting routines that allow leaders to govern major capital investments with confidence.

Participants learn to configure Oracle Primavera P6 as a programme governance environment rather than a collection of project files. They build enterprise project structures, organisational breakdown structures, coding dictionaries, calendars, baselines, approval gates and responsibility assignments that support portfolio-level control. The course applies critical path analysis, schedule quality checks, earned value indicators, milestone governance, change control and exception reporting to capital programmes with multiple projects, contractors and delivery interfaces.

Instruction combines expert-led demonstrations with hands-on work in a realistic capital programme case. Participants use P6 to analyse a programme schedule, establish a baseline-control model, identify management exceptions and produce executive-ready dashboard and governance-pack content. They leave with a completed Capital Programme Governance Pack: a P6 governance configuration, reporting hierarchy, threshold matrix, schedule assurance checklist, executive dashboard specification and a 90-day implementation plan for their own organisation.

The course is designed for experienced project, programme and portfolio professionals who influence investment decisions, delivery assurance or executive reporting. It is particularly valuable where P6 data must become auditable evidence for steering committees, investment boards and sponsor reviews.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Configure an Enterprise Project Structure and Organisational Breakdown Structure for multi-project capital programme accountability
• Design P6 coding dictionaries, activity codes and user-defined fields that support consistent portfolio reporting
• Establish baseline, change-control and approval-gate workflows for governed capital programme schedules
• Apply schedule quality checks to identify logic gaps, excessive constraints, negative float and unreliable critical paths
• Analyse critical-path, total-float and interface dependencies to prioritise executive intervention
• Calculate and interpret earned value, milestone-performance and schedule-variance indicators in P6
• Build an exception-based executive reporting pack using P6 layouts, filters, grouping and dashboard specifications
• Produce a 90-day Primavera P6 governance implementation plan with roles, thresholds and assurance routines

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Programme Directors — who need reliable portfolio evidence for investment boards and sponsor decisions
• Capital Programme Managers — who govern multiple projects, contractors, interfaces and stage gates
• PMO Directors and Managers — who set P6 standards, reporting controls and schedule assurance processes
• Project Controls Managers — who must convert detailed schedules into defensible management information
• Senior Project Managers — who lead major works and need to escalate schedule risks with credible evidence
• Executive Sponsors and Portfolio Managers — who must challenge delivery forecasts, recovery plans and funding assumptions

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience of managing, controlling or reporting on projects within a capital, infrastructure, construction, engineering or asset-development environment. They should understand work breakdown structures, activity logic, milestones, baselines, critical path and basic schedule status updates. Familiarity with navigating Oracle Primavera P6, including opening projects and viewing activities, is expected; prior configuration experience is not required. Participants do not need programming, database administration, advanced earned value expertise or prior use of Primavera Analytics. This is not an introductory P6 scheduling course; complete beginners should first attend a P6 planning and scheduling foundation course.

Training methodology

The five days alternate focused instructor-led briefings with guided work in Oracle Primavera P6. Using a capital programme case containing delayed interfaces, inconsistent contractor schedules and a pending investment-board review, participants configure governance structures, inspect schedule quality, set baselines and create exception reports. Small-group governance workshops require participants to agree escalation thresholds and challenge recovery proposals. Daily outputs are progressively assembled into a final Capital Programme Governance Pack, followed by individual application planning for participants’ own P6 environment.

Course outline

Day 1: Programme governance architecture in Primavera P6

• Capital programme governance roles, decision rights and assurance lines
• Enterprise Project Structure design for portfolios, programmes and delivery packages
• Organisational Breakdown Structure and responsible-manager assignment
• Work Breakdown Structure alignment with investment approvals and control accounts
• P6 security profiles, access boundaries and governance accountability
• Project codes, activity codes and user-defined fields for portfolio classification
• Calendars, data-date discipline and common scheduling assumptions

Workshop: Participants configure an Enterprise Project Structure, OBS and coding framework for a simulated rail-station redevelopment programme.

Day 2: Baseline, gates and schedule control

• Baseline types and baseline-selection rules in Primavera P6
• Original, current and revised baseline comparison methods
• Schedule change-control workflows and approval evidence
• Stage gates, key decision dates and mandatory governance milestones
• Constraints, deadlines and their effect on schedule credibility
• Responsibility matrices for client, delivery partner and contractor updates
• Governance thresholds for variance, float erosion and milestone movement

Workshop: Participants create a baseline-control register and approval-gate structure, then assess a proposed contractor schedule revision.

Day 3: Schedule assurance and intervention analysis

• DCMA-inspired schedule quality checks for P6 programmes
• Logic integrity, open ends and relationship-type analysis
• Constraint review, negative float and artificial critical-path detection
• Critical path, longest path and near-critical path interpretation
• Interface milestones and cross-project dependency management
• Progress validation using data date, actuals and remaining duration
• Recovery-plan testing through what-if copies and scenario comparison

Workshop: Participants run a schedule assurance review on a troubled programme and produce an executive escalation log with evidence.

Day 4: Performance reporting for executive governance

• P6 layouts, filters and grouping for executive exception reporting
• Milestone trend analysis and forecast-date variance reporting
• Earned value fields, planned value, earned value and schedule performance index
• Portfolio roll-up rules and data consistency across project schedules
• Threshold-based red-amber-green criteria and exception narratives
• Oracle Primavera Analytics measures and dashboard design principles
• Microsoft Power BI dashboard specifications for P6-derived management information

Workshop: Participants build an exception-based executive reporting pack containing milestone, float, variance and decision-action views.

Day 5: Embedding a governed P6 operating model

• Programme controls operating model and reporting-cycle design
• Schedule submission, validation and acceptance protocols
• Governance meeting agendas for delivery reviews and investment boards
• Issue escalation paths, decision logs and action ownership
• Data-quality scorecards and schedule-assurance audit routines
• ISO 21502 principles applied to programme governance and stakeholder oversight
• Ninety-day implementation roadmap for P6 governance adoption

Workshop: Participants complete and present a Capital Programme Governance Pack and 90-day implementation plan for peer and instructor review.

Tools & standards covered

Oracle Primavera P6 EPPM, Oracle Primavera Analytics, Microsoft Power BI, ISO 21502

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions