Primavera P6 Vs. Oracle Primavera Cloud

A few years ago, cloud computing was just a concept and applications had to be run on a roomful of local servers. While we may still have local servers as backup, cloud computing is the way of the future, without a doubt, and it will change how you run your business. 

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services—including servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence—over the Internet (“the cloud”) to offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale. When it comes to cloud services, you typically pay only for the services you use, helping you lower your operating costs, run your infrastructure more efficiently, and scale as your business needs change.

The cloud is a powerhouse built to run businesses effectively and efficiently, so it’s not surprising that the computing it provides has its benefits.

Today, we’re not going to talk about local servers vs cloud computing per se, but our topic is closely related to these two. This article discusses Primavera P6 against Oracle Primavera Cloud (OPC).

Let’s get right into it.

Currently, many software companies are transitioning to the cloud and offering their programs on a subscription basis. While the thought of having to subscribe to something may sound like an added cost, overall, there are many benefits to this for the end-users: lower costs, automatic and frequent updates, and more accessibility by being able to access the program from any computer or tablet.

Oracle Primavera Cloud, also known as OPC, is a 100% cloud-first, user-optimized project portfolio management product (PPM) that offers solutions for all stages of the project lifecycle.

This makes the software a direct competitor of the equally well-loved PPM software, the Primavera P6 (professional and enterprise edition). 

Regarding project and schedule management, we noticed that several companies previously using Primavera P6 Professional and Primavera P6 Enterprise are now shifting towards Oracle Primavera Cloud. 

We understand why. As a PPM product, OPC has most of the functionality of Primavera P6. In addition to the standard features, it also has a variety of workflows, such as task scheduling, risk management, and scope.

Here’s a comparison of Oracle’s Primavera Cloud vs. Primavera P6:

How much will it cost you?

When choosing which PPM product to go with, one of the most important factors to consider is the cost. This is crucial, especially if the product must be licensed company-wide. 

Oracle Primavera Cloud offers a variety of subscription plans starting at $100 per month. On the other hand, a single perpetual license for Primavera P6 would cost anywhere from $2,800 and $3,200. Thus, in a single year, Oracle Primavera Cloud would only account for one-third of the cost of acquiring one new Primavera P6 license.

Along with being a much cheaper alternative to Primavera P6 with the same functionality, Oracle Primavera Cloud’s variety of license types lets you focus on paying for only the capabilities you need. This means that even if you need to purchase several licenses for your organization, you will still save some costs since you only have to pay for the features and services you need.

Mobile Functionality

In this age where being tied down to a single workstation is a thing of the past, the ability to bring your work with you wherever you may be is a huge advantage.

With Oracle Primavera Cloud, you don’t need to install anything on your device. In addition to having access anywhere, you will enjoy the convenience of being able to access the cloud-based platform from any computer, tablet, or even mobile device using the included app access.

Their mobile app can be downloaded for free with a product license and allows you to access project data, notifications, and discussions even while offline.

Compared with Primavera P6 Professional, P6 Professional is a standalone computer application and does not have any mobile application integration. This means you cannot view any project data on the go. When you’re away from your computer, there’s going to be a slight absence of communication and collaboration with your team.

An All-In-One PPM Solution

When using Primavera P6, you must pull up multiple other programs to perform all parts of your workflow. Meanwhile, Oracle Primavera Cloud has schedule creation, management capabilities, and so much more—all in a single platform.

Oracle’s Primavera Cloud offers various workflow solutions, including Primavera Schedule, Primavera Lean, Primavera Portfolio Management, and Primavera Progress. 

All of these solutions allow you to plan, schedule, control projects, evaluate scenarios, cost load and manage resources, create and manage portfolios, break schedules down into lean-scheduling tasks, and perform risk and scope management.

Conclusion

Aside from being a 100% cloud-based solution, it seems there are other areas where Oracle’s Primavera Cloud has advantages over Primavera P6. The former lets members of an organization communicate and collaborate better since they can view projects and databases all at once.

It’s also more intuitive as the layout has become more simplified with clear directions on how to add a project, access activities, add timesheets, and so on, directly from the homepage. 

Lastly, Oracle Primavera Cloud lets users make experimental changes to their schedules to calculate potential risks. This feature is absent in Primavera P6. The only way you could do this is to make the changes directly on your main schedule, which could lead to losing your original schedule data.

To find out more about what Oracle Primavera Cloud offers, please contact us at Globalpm.com. Our team has Oracle-certified instructors with virtual and in-person training that can help you decide which project management software works best for your business.