By now, if you’re an Oracle Primavera P6 user you’ve probably heard about the problems with large XER files, slow XER import processes and the problems with POBS data in the Primavera P6 database. We showed you how to circumvent those POBS issues either by cleaning up your XER file before import or by cleaning Primavera P6’s POBS tables from the database itself.
Oracle Support has confirmed this presence of this bug in the software as far back as Primavera P6 v8.3. And they report that patches were released to the following P6 versions:
- r8.3.12.0
- r8.4.8.0
- r15.1.5.0
- r15.2.1.0
The patch would alter the import and export processes so that no POBS would be exported to a P6 XER file, and no POBS data would be imported from an XER file containing that data.
No POBS Data Problems in Primavera P6 16.1
However, for those who have not obtained those patches, rest assured that Primavera P6 v16.1 fixes this POBS problem (see what else is new Primavera P6 release 16.1)
I ran some tests to confirm this was the case.
First I exported an XER from a copy of Primavera P6 v15.2, one that was sure to have POBS problems. The exported XER file was over 1Mb in size even though the project inside was less than 30 Activities.
I then imported the XER file in a copy of Primavera P6 v16.1. I noticed that during the import process, I didn’t see the usual “Loading POBS Data” message and progress bar.
I then re-exported the project from the same P6 database. Looking at the file size, it was only 23KB (as it should be). I also opened the XER file in Notepad++ to confirm there was no POBS data inside. Confirmed!
Still Struggling With POBS Data Issues?
If you you are still having problems with large XER files and slow importing in Primavera P6, then you might check out some of the POBS cleaning utilities available from various vendors on the web. Some are free and some are not. I recommend this one created by Plan Academy fan Ahmet Kochan which is incredibly simple to use.
Alternatively, you can patch or upgrade your version of Primavera P6 Professional or EPPM to the latest version. But whatever you do, it seems we will not have to struggle with this problem any longer.
