Most organisations do not arrive at Primavera by choice. A client asks for an XER file, a framework requires an integrated programme, a project outgrows what Microsoft Project or a spreadsheet can hold, or a parent company standardises. The decision to move is usually made quickly, and the mistakes are made in the first month: schedules converted rather than rebuilt, no enterprise structure or coding agreed before people start, and planners applying Microsoft Project habits inside a tool that does not work the same way.
The Primavera Migration Readiness Assessment is a fixed scope, independent review for organisations moving from Microsoft Project, Excel, Asta Powerproject or another planning tool to Primavera P6 or Oracle Primavera Cloud. It tells you which platform fits your projects and contracts, what will carry across and what will not, what should be built fresh, and what the team needs before the first live programme goes into the new system.
Who it is for
Contractors and consultancies whose clients now require Primavera P6 files, or an integrated programme that a spreadsheet cannot produce, and who need to be running the tool credibly by a contract start date.
Owners, developers and asset operators running a growing portfolio in Microsoft Project or Excel who need multi project reporting, a shared resource pool and a defensible baseline, and are weighing Primavera P6 against Oracle Primavera Cloud.
Planning teams who have been told to move and asked to price and plan the migration, and have no basis for the number or the sequence.
Organisations already part way through a move that has stalled, where the schedules imported but nobody trusts what came out.
Primavera P6 or Oracle Primavera Cloud: which one?
The two are different products, not old and new versions of the same thing. Primavera P6 remains the file format most clients and contracts ask for, and XER exchange is often the deciding factor. Oracle Primavera Cloud offers portfolio, resource and risk views in a browser with no on premise administration, but its data model, coding, baselines and reporting behave differently, and it is not the right answer simply because it is newer.
The assessment answers the question on your projects, your contracts and the people who have to open the files, and gives the recommendation in writing with the reasons. If you want the background first, our comparison of Oracle Primavera Cloud and Primavera P6 and our guide to Primavera P6 against Microsoft Project set out the differences.
What the assessment covers
- What you actually have. The live schedules, templates, spreadsheets and reporting packs, who builds them, how they are updated, and which of them matter. Estates always contain more than anyone expects and less of it than anyone expects is worth carrying.
- Convert or rebuild. For each live schedule, whether an import from Microsoft Project XML or a spreadsheet will produce something usable, or whether it is faster and safer to rebuild against standards. Excel schedules have no logic and are always a rebuild; Microsoft Project schedules convert, but task types, constraints, calendars, resource units, custom fields, baselines and summary structure rarely survive untouched.
- The standards to set before day one. Enterprise project structure, organisational breakdown, calendars, activity codes, WBS conventions, naming, layouts and filters, baseline rules and the update cycle. This is the work that is skipped in most migrations and regretted in every one of them.
- Contract and client requirements. What your contracts require the programme to show, whether under NEC4, JCT or a bespoke form, which file formats clients demand, and how the new tool will meet them from the first submission.
- Reporting and integration. What currently feeds cost, progress and dashboard reporting from the schedule, what breaks when the source changes, and what replaces it.
- Administration and licensing. Who will own the environment, what governance is needed, and the hosting and licensing routes that suit your size, described plainly and without commission.
- The people, which is usually the real constraint. Who needs to be trained, on what, in which order, and what habits from the previous tool have to be unlearned. A planner fluent in Microsoft Project can produce a poor P6 schedule very quickly.
What you receive
A written readiness assessment stating plainly whether you are ready, partly ready or not ready, and what would have to change, with a platform recommendation and the reasons for it.
A migration scope with the work broken down by schedule and by task, so that a credible cost and duration can be built from it rather than guessed at.
A convert, rebuild and retire list for the schedules and data you hold. The retire list is frequently the most valuable output: nobody should pay to migrate a spreadsheet that has not been opened since the project closed.
A standards pack outline: the enterprise structure, calendars, codes, layouts and update rules the new environment should start with, ready to be built or handed to whoever builds it.
A training and capability plan naming who needs what, and a risk list of the things that stall migrations part way through.
How Microsoft Project and Excel schedules move to Primavera
Microsoft Project files go into Primavera P6 through the MSP XML format, and into Oracle Primavera Cloud from P6 or from XML. Names, durations, links and dates usually arrive intact. Fixed duration and fixed unit task types, deadline and constraint types, calendar exceptions, per cent complete methods, resource units and rates, custom fields and baselines all have P6 equivalents that behave differently, and summary tasks become WBS nodes rather than activities. Every converted schedule needs its logic, calendars and constraints checked before it is trusted, and many are cleaner rebuilt. Where the destination is P6 and the programme also has to satisfy a main contractor's specification, our MS Project to Primavera P6 conversion service does the rebuild and the compliance check as one piece of work.
Spreadsheets hold activity lists and dates but no relationships, so there is no network to calculate from. Moving from Excel is a rebuild: the activities can be imported, and the logic, calendars, resources and coding are built in the new tool against the standards agreed first. That is not a disadvantage. It is the point at which the schedule becomes something that can be relied on.
Whichever tool you come from, the first live programme built in the new environment is the one that matters. We recommend it is built with support, checked against the contract's programme requirements, and used as the template for the rest.
Common mistakes this assessment prevents
- Importing everything, then discovering that half the schedules were dead and the live ones need rebuilding anyway
- Starting to build before the enterprise structure, calendars and codes exist, so every planner invents their own
- Choosing Oracle Primavera Cloud when clients require XER files, or choosing P6 when nobody will administer it
- Carrying Microsoft Project constraint and task type habits into P6, and producing schedules that fail the client's programme review
- Treating training as a day at the end rather than the thing that decides whether the migration works
- Pricing the migration before anyone has counted what is being migrated
Questions we are asked
Can you convert a Microsoft Project schedule to Primavera P6? Yes. P6 imports Microsoft Project files through the MSP XML format, and Oracle Primavera Cloud can import from P6 or from XML. What survives is the question: names, durations, links and dates usually carry across; task types, constraints, calendars, resource units, custom fields, baselines and summary structure often behave differently and need to be checked and reworked. In many cases it is faster and cleaner to rebuild against standards than to convert and repair, and the assessment tells you which applies to yours.
Can an Excel schedule be moved into Primavera P6 or Primavera Cloud? Activity lists, dates and durations can be imported, but a spreadsheet has no logic network, so there is nothing to calculate a critical path from. Moving from Excel is a rebuild rather than a conversion: the activities come across, and the relationships, calendars, resources and coding are built in the new tool.
Should we move to Primavera P6 or to Oracle Primavera Cloud? It depends on who has to open the file, how many projects and users you have, and how you report. Many clients and contracts still require XER files, which points to P6. Organisations that want portfolio and resource views in a browser with no on premise administration lean towards Oracle Primavera Cloud. The choice should be made on your projects and contracts rather than on the newer name, and the assessment gives the recommendation in writing with reasons.
How long does a move from Microsoft Project or Excel to Primavera take? It depends on how many live schedules there are, whether they convert or need rebuilding, how much standard setup has to be created, and how quickly the team can be trained. The assessment breaks the work down so that a duration and a cost can be built from it rather than guessed at.
Do we need Primavera P6 training as part of a migration? Almost always. Planners fluent in Microsoft Project or spreadsheets build in P6 quickly, but habits carried over from the previous tool are the most common cause of poor P6 schedules. The assessment states who needs training, on what, and when in the sequence, and we deliver that training if you want it delivered.
Independence
We do not resell Oracle licences and we take no commission on software, hosting or training products. If the assessment concludes that Microsoft Project still serves you and the pressure to move is not real, that is what it will say. If it concludes that you should move, we can build the environment, rebuild the schedules and train the team, through our Primavera P6 consultancy, Oracle Primavera Cloud consultancy and training, or hand the scope to whoever you choose.