Integration & Data Migration
Primavera P6 rarely lives alone. There is an ERP that owns the cost codes, a Unifier or document system that owns the workflows, a subcontractor who insists on Microsoft Project, and a decade of legacy schedules in formats nobody remembers choosing.
Integration and migration work is where I connect these worlds — with Oracle's own tools where they fit, and small custom-built utilities where they do not.
Typical engagements
Primavera Gateway flows between P6 and Unifier, ERP or other systems — designed, configured and documented so the sync rules are explicit rather than tribal knowledge.
Microsoft Project ↔ P6 migrations, both directions: mapping calendars, constraints and resource logic that the naive export/import silently mangles. The same applies to consolidating subcontractor MSP programmes into a P6 master schedule.
Legacy-to-EPPM moves: lifting years of projects from old P6 professional databases, cleaning codes and calendars on the way, and landing them in a freshly structured EPPM environment — usually alongside an implementation.
Custom tooling where off-the-shelf is overkill: small, single-purpose utilities for XER cleanup, bulk updates, validation checks or exchange formats a client system demands. Fifteen years of these little tools have saved clients from many oversized platform purchases.
The data-safety rule
Every migration runs against a copy first, with a reconciliation report — activity counts, relationship counts, date and float comparisons — before anything touches production. Boring by design: migrations should be the least exciting week of the project.
Frequently asked questions
Gateway or a custom tool?
Gateway when the flow is ongoing and between systems it supports well; a custom utility when the need is one-off, small or awkwardly specific. The honest answer is cheaper than the reflexive platform answer more often than vendors admit.
Will we lose data in an MSP-to-P6 migration?
Not if it is mapped deliberately. The two tools model calendars, constraints and resources differently; the naive transfer loses information silently. The reconciliation report exists so you never have to take my word for it.
Can this run without downtime?
Migrations are staged against copies and cut over in a planned window — typically a quiet weekend, agreed with your IT.