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🔸 Deltek Acumen Fuse – Step by Step 🔸 1 to 3 🔸 Complete Schedule Diagnostics & Forensics Course
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🔸 Deltek Acumen Fuse – Step by Step 🔸 1 to 3 🔸 Complete Schedule Diagnostics & Forensics Course

Introduction to Deltek Acumen Fuse

Course Overview

  • Gavin Drysdale introduces the course, highlighting his 25 years of experience in project controls across various industries including mining and oil & gas.
  • The course is designed for a wide range of professionals such as project managers, schedulers, and risk analysts who want to enhance their skills in Deltek Acumen Fuse.
  • This comprehensive course aims to take participants from beginner to advanced levels using the S1 to S5 maturity framework applicable across the entire Deltek Acumen Suite.

Maturity Framework Explained

  • The S1 to S5 maturity framework consists of five steps aimed at reducing risk and improving schedule validation quality.
  • S1: Project Base - Non-validated schedule.
  • S2: Critique - Use diagnostics for identifying schedule issues.
  • S3: Risk Adjusted - Conduct risk analysis on identified risks.
  • S4: Optimized - Develop scenarios for schedule optimization.
  • S5: Team Aligned - Enhance confidence in forecasted dates through team buy-in.

Course Objectives and Methodology

Learning Outcomes

  • By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
  • Import project data into Acumen Fuse and set up workspaces effectively.
  • Run fuse analyses, perform logic checks, and conduct forensic analyses on schedules.
  • Standardize metrics, create export scenarios, generate dashboards, and benchmark projects.

Data Importing Capabilities

  • The course assumes basic scheduling knowledge; Primaviru P6 XER files will be primarily used but other formats like Microsoft Project are also compatible.

Initial Steps in Using Acumen Fuse

Getting Started with Analysis

  • Upon opening Acumen Fuse, users will see a welcome window indicating their licensed software version.
  • A brief overview of what constitutes a quality schedule includes:
  • Sound logic that is robust and correct.
  • Realism ensuring believability within the schedule context.
  • Adequate detail providing clarity throughout the scheduling process.

Schedule Quality Metrics

Key Attributes for Schedule Evaluation

  • Focus on six-month updates reveals critical metrics:
  • Missing Logic: Identifies open-ended activities or missing predecessors/successors.
  • Logic Density: Indicates complexity level within the logic structure.

Identifying Issues in Scheduling

  • Critical activities (34 identified), hard constraints (4 noted), and negative float (11 activities flagged).
  • Negative float indicates realism issues; excessive lags can obscure necessary detail leading to tracking difficulties.

This structured approach provides an insightful summary while maintaining clear navigation through timestamps linked directly to relevant sections of the transcript.

Understanding Merge Hotspots and Metrics in Acumen Fuse

Merge Hotspots and Schedule Sensitivity

  • Merge hotspots arise when multiple predecessors converge on a single activity, making that activity highly sensitive to schedule changes.
  • The metric score displayed provides an overall quality assessment of the schedule, highlighting potential problem areas.

Data Analysis Capabilities with Acumen Fuse

  • Acumen Fuse allows users to analyze data by grouping activities based on various fields, such as contractor performance.
  • The phase analyzer feature enables examination of metrics over different time periods for enhanced insights.
  • The intersection analyzer identifies exceptions at the intersections of ribbon and phase analyses, enhancing issue detection within schedules.

Navigating the Acumen Fuse Workspace

Overview of the Workspace Layout

  • Upon opening Acumen Fuse, users are greeted with the S1 Projects view, which is divided into three main areas: main menu, projects pane, and activities pane.

Main Menu Functions

  • The main menu controls data display and analysis; it includes options to create new projects or open existing ones.
  • There are 10 tabs in the main menu corresponding to different levels of the Ackerman Schedule Maturity Framework.

Tab Functions Explained

  • Each tab serves specific functions:
  • S1 Projects: Create and maintain project workbooks; import/view/edit project data.
  • S2 Diagnostics: Conduct Fuse analysis through the primary Acumen view.
  • S3 Risk: Perform Monte Carlo risk analysis and manage risk registers.

Exploring Project Workbooks in Acumen Fuse

Opening a Project Workbook

  • To begin analyzing projects, select "open" from the fuse button and navigate to sample workbooks like "Acumen Suite Sample Workbook P6."

Hierarchical Structure in Projects Pane

  • The projects pane displays workbooks hierarchically; selecting a parent file reveals its associated files (e.g., current schedule and cost-risk sheet).

Activities Pane Functionality

  • Selecting files in the projects pane updates the activities pane accordingly; it shows Gantt charts for visual representation of project timelines.
  • Users can expand/collapse views within the activities pane by clicking plus signs next to project IDs for detailed WBS levels.

Gantt Chart Configuration and Filtering Options

Adjusting the Gantt Chart Display

  • A double arrow indicates the correct position for dragging and dropping the remaining duration back to its original spot. The width of the Gantt chart can be adjusted by clicking and dragging the separator when a double horizontal arrow appears.
  • At this summary level, only summary bars and some milestones are visible in the Gantt chart. A green vertical line signifies the data date or snapshot of the project.

Utilizing Filters in Activity Pane

  • The circular icon (referred to as a "twirly") allows users to expand or collapse the activities pane, revealing a filters pane where activities can be filtered by type, status, or criticality.
  • Selecting "normal" hides milestones from view in the Gantt chart; deselecting it brings them back. The "select all" option shows all activities regardless of filter settings.
  • Clicking "clear" removes both filters and activity selections from view while retaining any selected filter options.

Navigating Project Details

  • After clearing filters, users can hide or show details using another twirly icon on the top right of the details pane. This workspace is highly configurable for displaying data according to user preferences.
  • Users are instructed to save changes by clicking on the fuse icon in the top left corner before closing, ensuring that any modifications made during configuration are preserved.
Video description

00:00 Lesson 1 – Introduction 05:25 Lesson 2 – Overview 10:14 Lesson 3 – Navigating the Workspace Learn how to master Deltek Acumen Fuse with this complete course covering everything from schedule diagnostics to forensic analysis, metric development & publishing. Taught step-by-step by a seasoned project controls expert, this 33-lesson course follows the full S1 to S5 Acumen maturity framework, giving you the tools to validate, optimise & communicate high-confidence schedules. Whether you’re preparing for schedule reviews, building custom metrics or analysing forensic snapshots, this course walks you through every major capability in Acumen Fuse with real-world examples & exercises. You’ll import project data, diagnose logic & realism issues, perform benchmark comparisons, trace dependencies & build powerful dashboards & reports. Ideal for project managers, schedulers, cost controllers, engineers & risk analysts, this course will sharpen your schedule assurance capabilities & help you deliver clearer, cleaner & more defensible project plans. By Gavin Drysdale Full Training Course Playlist (33 lessons, 14 videos) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLalJg7sgL_Kqf7RiTDH8Z6qbIWiPy3ghw Next video lessons 4 - https://youtu.be/vznqA7cO1T4 5 - https://youtu.be/Pdpo6UOX2QI 6 to 8 - https://youtu.be/5IPYWb0GJIM 9 to 11 - https://youtu.be/vFjTs_A9mdg 12 to 14 - https://youtu.be/LVDXsix1-IU 15 to 17 - https://youtu.be/6SaAqiPLIAI 18 to 19 - https://youtu.be/KfZfrmO_7p0 20 to 22 - https://youtu.be/rffENl8myjg 23 to 24 - https://youtu.be/gJ9l3iYKb0g 25 to 27 - https://youtu.be/IMZgeGnbsOE 28 to 29 - https://youtu.be/IWmr9ddIIUw 30 to 31 - https://youtu.be/JHErCBBLn3o 32 to 33 - https://youtu.be/qhXbVswaV7w Full Lesson List 1 – Introduction Overview of what the course covers & what you’ll achieve 2 – Overview of Acumen Fuse Introduction its purpose & key capabilities 3 – Navigating the Acumen Fuse Workspace Learn the main layout, navigation tools & workspace structure 4 – Setting up the Acumen Fuse Workbook Create & configure your workbook to load & compare project files 5 – Viewing, Grouping & Sorting – Activity View Customise your views by organising data using grouping & sorting tools 6 – Viewing, Grouping & Sorting – SmartGantt View Use SmartGantt to combine logic & bar chart views for diagnostics 7 – Viewing, Grouping & Sorting – Timeline View Visualise project phases & progress using the Timeline layout 8 – Project Scenarios How to create & compare multiple project versions in Fuse 9 – The Schedule Realism Advisor Use built-in checks to assess whether your schedule reflects reality 10 – Exercise 1 – Grouping, Sorting & Filtering Practice applying grouping, sorting, & filtering tools on real data 11 – Navigating the Fuse Diagnostics Window Explore the diagnostics panels & understand scorecard structures 12 – Ribbon Analysis Evaluate project health using logic ribbons across key metrics 13 – Phase Analysis Analyse the schedule by phase to uncover planning inconsistencies 14 – Intersection Analysis View how multiple metrics intersect to identify compounded issues 15 – Comparison Analysis Compare project versions to identify changes in logic & scope 16 – Trend Analysis Track metric trends over time to monitor schedule health progression 17 – Benchmark Analysis Benchmark your schedule against industry or internal standards 18 – Exercise 2 – Running a Fuse Analysis Perform a full Fuse diagnostics run on a sample project 19 – Understanding & Using the Activity Browser Use the Activity Browser to investigate logic, dates & assignments 20 – Activity Browser Modes & Views Switch between filtering, grouping, & highlight views for clarity 21 – Logic Trace Analysis Trace logic paths forward or backward to investigate drivers 22 – Adding & Creating Ribbon Views Customise or build your own Ribbon views for tailored diagnostics 23 – Logic Analysis Dive deeper into path-based logic errors & sequence problems 24 – Forensic Analysis Compare snapshots to conduct detailed schedule forensics 25 – Cleansing the Schedule Use Fuse tools to fix errors, clean logic & validate updates 26 – The Acumen Dashboard View & configure dashboards to summarise schedule health 27 – Publishing & Reporting Results Export results into Word, Excel or presentation-friendly formats 28 – Project Benchmarking Compare schedule metrics across multiple projects for benchmarking 29 – Introducing & Understanding Metrics Understand how metrics are built & how they drive diagnostics 30 – Developing & Managing Basic Metrics Create simple user-defined metrics to extend schedule evaluation 31 – Developing & Managing Advanced Metrics Use formulas, logic & weights to create complex custom metrics 32 – Exercise 3 – Creating Metrics Hands-on activity to design & test custom Fuse metrics 33 – Metric Variables, Metric Weighting & Templates Use variables & templates to standardise & scale metric sets