This is a short write up offering explanation and solution to the P6 Issue of failing to copy Project Baseline from the Maintain BL Window. I will also attempt to explain the what is the P6 Event Error Code DSECN-1089-5 all about on the basis of previous experience. I will also highlight what seems to be a P6 Bug, where the Restored Baseline copy has lost its logics (activity relationships) and what you can do about it as a Primavera User. --- Cheers, Rufran

1. 2013
Primavera Scheduling
Tips and Tricks 08-13
1) Solution to the P6 Issue of copying Project
Baseline from the Maintain BL Window
2) What is P6 Event Error Code DSECN-1089-5
3) P6 Bug – Restored Baseline copy has missing
logical relationships. What to do about it?
Rufran C. Frago, P. Eng., PMP®, CCP, PMI-RMP®
Revision 1: October 20, 2013

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGES
1.
SITUATION/PROBLEM....................................................................................................................... 3
2.
RELATED TOOLS ................................................................................................................................ 4
3.
DEFINITION ....................................................................................................................................... 4
4.
PROBLEM ANALYSIS (PA) .................................................................................................................. 4
5.
EXPLANATION/SOLUTION................................................................................................................. 5
6.
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................... 6
7.
ADDITIONAL READING MATERIALS ................................................................................................... 6
8.
APPENDICES ..................................................................................................................................... 7
8.1.
APPENDIX A – P6 Event Error Message DSECN-1089-5 ................................................................. 7
8.2.
APPENDIX B – CURRENT ADMIN PREFERENCES SETTING .............................................................. 7
8.3.
APPENDIX C – ISSUE COPYING A BASELINE FROM THE MAINTAIN BASELINE WINDOW ............... 8
9.
INDEX ............................................................................................................................................... 9
102013-Rufran's Primavera Scheduling Tips & Tricks 08-13
Author: Rufran C. Frago, P. Eng., PMP, CCEC, PMI-RMP
Page 2 of 9
10/21/2013

3. 1. SITUATION/PROBLEM
1.1. Starting @5:00 pm of April 13th, 2012. Two Users reported that they’ve tried
multiple times to create a copy of the Project Baseline from the Maintain
Baseline window but could not.
1.2. The intention was to restore the BL copy and do a What-if of some sort.
1.3. Primavera did not respond. It also shuts the program immediately after giving
the “Not Responding” message.
1.4. At other times it just sits frozen and hung. One User tried copying overnight
hoping that it might be processing and just taking time, only to come back to a
blank white screen the next morning. The P6 session was locked.
1.5. A Primavera event error appeared (see APPENDIX A – P6 Event Error Message
DSECN-1089-5).
1.6. This event error code appears when the User attempts to create a project
baseline.
1.7. This was considered a critical and major issue as there were work and reporting
deadlines on the table. The danger of contractors using the situation to start a
claim cannot be fully discounted.
1.8. The Vice President of Major Projects himself expected a quick resolution of the
problem. A fix has to be done immediately.
1.9. No error report of this type has happened in higher version of Primavera after
V6.7 SP2 but at this time, cannot be discounted.
1.10.
The Primavera database has a common work environment or a multiUser set-up. There were more than 150+ Users of varying security profiles at
the time of the incident.
102013-Rufran's Primavera Scheduling Tips Tricks 08-13 (DSECN-1089-5).doc
Author: RUFRAN C. FRAGO, P.Eng, PMP®, CCP, PMI-RMP®
Page 3 of 9

4. 2. RELATED TOOLS
2.1. Project Management-Primavera 6.1 SP1, 6.2, and 6.7 SP1/SP2
3. DEFINITION
3.1. The term “User” in this document is the person using the Primavera scheduling
tool. He can be the planner, the scheduler, the Project Manager or anyone.
3.2. Copying & pasting (or Copying with auto-pasting) is a common process of
selecting available database information from current view, copying them and
pasting to a specific target location.
4. PROBLEM ANALYSIS (PA)
4.1. Primavera Event Code error message DSECN-1089-5 had not been encountered
before.
4.2. A preliminary investigation was carried out but there was no document
referencing the above-subject error code in the existing Primavera Knowledgebase.
4.3. At first, the gravity of the situation was not precisely known.
4.4. The incident indicated that it is probably an individual User’s issue.
4.5. Further investigation found the problem to be common to several Users. As
such, the solution should be applied to all Users.
4.6. Impact of the problem: The User was not able to complete an urgent report he
needed to generate for his Project Team. It practically placed the work on hold.
4.7. Possible server issue, space requirement, maxed out processor, and a memory
overload were prime suspects but later turned out to be all negative.
102013-Rufran's Primavera Scheduling Tips Tricks 08-13 (DSECN-1089-5).doc
Author: RUFRAN C. FRAGO, P.Eng, PMP®, CCP, PMI-RMP®
Page 4 of 9

5. 4.8. Focusing on the affected User’s step by step work process before the error
happened, we began identify the reasons behind the problem.
5. EXPLANATION/SOLUTION
5.1. After replicating the User’s actions, the following was causes were identified.
5.1.1. The error was generated due to the length of the Projects Baseline
Project ID being too long exceeding the maximum characters permitted.
5.1.2. Take note of the maximum number of characters permitted for Project ID
(see APPENDIX B – Current Admin Preferences setting).
5.1.3. In this particular case, the original Project ID was already seventeen (17)
characters long; i.e. RCF PROJECTA-7Feb-12.
5.1.4. When the User decided to make this a Baseline, the suffix “-B1” was
automatically added and increased the Project ID to 20 characters long; i.e.
RCF PROJECTA-7Feb-12-B1
5.1.5. When the User tried to use the copy function in the Maintain Baseline
window, the program automatically tries to put “1” in the copy Project ID.
It now exceeded the 20 characters limit and generates the database error
(see APPENDIX C – Issue Copying a baseline from the maintain Baseline
Window).
5.1.6. Another issue was discovered in the process. The COPY function did not
work properly. The BL copy appeared to lose logic.
5.1.7. The theory was that Primavera probably assumed logic is not required,
since it was a baseline. This can be a non-issue if it stays a baseline but if
the User, for one reason or another like this situation, ever wants to restore
the baseline to a project, all the logics will be lost.
5.1.8. Further study is needed on this to concretely conclude that the Copying a
BL from the Maintain Baseline window is actually the reason behind the lost
logic.
102013-Rufran's Primavera Scheduling Tips Tricks 08-13 (DSECN-1089-5).doc
Author: RUFRAN C. FRAGO, P.Eng, PMP®, CCP, PMI-RMP®
Page 5 of 9

6. 5.1.9. INTERIM SOLUTION:
As no permanent fix was available except an upcoming upgrade that is
supposed to solve the issue, the Users was advised not use the “COPY”
Button in the Maintain Baseline dialog box (see APPENDIX C – issue
Copying a baseline from the maintain Baseline Window).
Any User who want to make a Copy of the baseline should restore the
same.
CAUTION: Do not calculate (F9) the original, restored project Baseline.
Copy it and re-instate the original back into the Maintain Baseline
window.
6. REFERENCES
6.1. Oracle Knowledge base, Project Management (Primavera), V6.1 SP1, V6.1 SP2,
& V6.7 SP1/SP2.
6.2. Frago, R. (2012). Troubleshooting Session with Third Party Consultant
7. ADDITIONAL READING MATERIALS
7.1. None
102013-Rufran's Primavera Scheduling Tips Tricks 08-13 (DSECN-1089-5).doc
Author: RUFRAN C. FRAGO, P.Eng, PMP®, CCP, PMI-RMP®
Page 6 of 9

7. 8. APPENDICES
8.1. APPENDIX A – P6 Event Error Message DSECN-1089-5
8.2. APPENDIX B – CURRENT ADMIN PREFERENCES SETTING
102013-Rufran's Primavera Scheduling Tips Tricks 08-13 (DSECN-1089-5).doc
Author: RUFRAN C. FRAGO, P.Eng, PMP®, CCP, PMI-RMP®
Page 7 of 9

8. 8.3. APPENDIX C – ISSUE COPYING A BASELINE FROM THE MAINTAIN
BASELINE WINDOW
102013-Rufran's Primavera Scheduling Tips Tricks 08-13 (DSECN-1089-5).doc
Author: RUFRAN C. FRAGO, P.Eng, PMP®, CCP, PMI-RMP®
Page 8 of 9

9. 9. INDEX
“User” .................................................................................................................................. 4
ADDITIONAL READING MATERIALS ...................................................................................... 6
APPENDICES......................................................................................................................... 7
APPENDIX A ......................................................................................................................... 7
APPENDIX B ......................................................................................................................... 7
APPENDIX C ......................................................................................................................... 8
BL copy appeared to lose logic ........................................................................................... 5
common work environment ............................................................................................... 3
COPY function did not work ................................................................................................ 5
DEFINITION .......................................................................................................................... 4
Error was due to.................................................................................................................. 5
Event Code error message DSECN-1089-5 ......................................................................... 4
event error .......................................................................................................................... 3
EXPLANATION/SOLUTION .................................................................................................... 5
FIGURE 1: Current Admin Preferences setting ............................................................. 5, 7, 8
frozen and hung .................................................................................................................. 3
gravity of the situation ........................................................................................................ 4
Impact of the problem ........................................................................................................ 4
impact of this problem........................................................................................................ 4
INDEX................................................................................................................................... 9
Maintain Baseline window.................................................................................................. 5
Not Responding................................................................................................................... 3
number of characters ......................................................................................................... 5
preliminary investigation .................................................................................................... 4
PROBLEM ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................. 4
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................ 6
RELATED TOOLS ................................................................................................................... 4
server issue ......................................................................................................................... 4
session was locked .............................................................................................................. 3
SITUATION/PROBLEM .......................................................................................................... 3
SOLUTION............................................................................................................................ 6
step by step work process .................................................................................................. 5
TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................... 2
102013-Rufran's Primavera Scheduling Tips Tricks 08-13 (DSECN-1089-5).doc
Author: RUFRAN C. FRAGO, P.Eng, PMP®, CCP, PMI-RMP®
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