How can I install Primavera on a virtual machine?

You can use Oracle Virtual Box or Citrix, but performance can be impacted.

How can I have specific crew mix loaded in Primavera?

You can add resources in Primavera (Client or Web) and specify them as labor, nonlabor or materials. Sounds to me that you want to have skilled laborers as resources and that is fine. Probably want to break the resources out by group. Carpenters, welders, plumbing, etc. You can then assign each resource a specific bill rate that will roll up to your respective project.

Is there a way I can print a report with notebook topics?

Yes, you can do that via the reports section in the client. Go to Reports>Add New>Select Notebook topics. Depending on project access or prior report settings you will get the notebook topics. If this is for web, you may have to configure a BI Publisher report.

How can I set hours to 48 hours per week? 10 for M-TH and 8 for FR?

You only have a choice to make it a fixed hours per day. In client, go to admin preferences, time periods and change to 10 hours a day. That will give you 50 hours a week I know, but don't think you can set 10hr days, but 48 hour week. In the web you can most likely do it via calendars, but it will be tedious.

Is there a way in the web v 8.3 to decouple the ability to edit the notebook and edit the WBS structure?

You would probably want to create a specific role that does not allow the ability to edit the WBS or activities, but can still view the project information.

Deny the ability to add activities where child elements exist? i.e. if 1 of the 9 phases have a third level, deny the ability to add an activity to that high level phase (level 2)?

You can’t do it in administration of profiles, but rather you would just grant them access to the WBS nodes you want them to add activities into. This really is more of a longer conversation that would really need to be flushed out with a lot more detail with the organization's superusers and stakeholders. The administration of doing so can be tedious and create more work as each responsible manager in the WBS then has to be maintained.

I want to only allow the ability to add WBS elements below this 9 phase WBS? i.e. Level 3 and below?

You could grant WBS security to the ones you want people to have access to with assigning them in the responsible manager. This means that these users are assigned to a group that is then assigned to the WBS that you want them to work on. The administration of doing so can be tedious and create more work as each responsible manager in the WBS then has to be maintained.

How does security work in regards to the WBS?

You can assign security at the WBS level, but it is not advised. You can assign a separate Responsible Manager to the WBS.

How do I grant resource access?

Where can I find out what client & browser are compatible with P6 EPPM 8.4?

P6 EPPM 8.4 Tested Configurations

Which version has significant advantage over the other and which one is more preferred in the industry to develop and maintain schedules and why?

The differences between Oracle/Primavera’s Version 8.3.2 client/server-based P6 Professional and the web-based, P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Manager (EPPM).

Items in P6 Pro not in EPPM

• Global Change (very important feature)
• Visualizer Time Scaled Logic Diagram (important feature)
• XER Import and Export format (important for backward compatibility)
• Reflection Projects
• Tabbed and Titled Views
• Line Numbers
• Much better layout printing control
• Built-in report writer (easier to use than BI Publisher add-on)
• Application Program Interface (API) (EPPM still uses the SDK)

Items in EPPM not in P6 Pro

Understand that EPPM is the preferred future platform for which most new development and add-ons will be created. Stand-alone installations of EPPM are not recommended. EPPM is significantly slower at processing large number of activities and cannot handle very large schedules.

• Calculated User Defined Fields (UDF) Pro just has UDF
• Added/ modified table structures to accommodate the Business Intelligence suite of programs including
o BI Publisher (required for reports)
o BI Analytics
• Schedule Checker
• Schedule Preview
• Approve Updates
• Very thorough Risk Register
• Email updating
• Better security
• Team Member with smart phone schedule updating
• Integration with Unifier (enhanced resource functionality)
• Templates
• Portfolio Views and Comparisons (what-if scenarios analysis)
• Dashboards with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• Display Primavera Contracts Manager (PCM) Project Workspace
• Display PCM Portal for costs
• Capacity planning
• Content and Document Management
• Web services for integration

Why don't my durations come over in my template?

When creating the template you need to select "used planned costs and units" in the template configuration.