Primavera is an enterprise project portfolio management software. It includes project management, product management, collaboration and control capabilities, and integrates with other enterprise programs such as Oracle and SAP ERP systems. Primavera was launched in 1983 by Primavera Systems Inc., which was acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2008[1].

Products and versions

As of 2008 Primavera Systems supported long-standing products - P3 and Sure-Trak - and the most recent version of P6. The long-standing P3 product in its various forms was used by 25% of the heavy construction industry, its predominant customer base; the next most popular software was used by 11%.[2] Nearly 40% of general contractors with annual revenues of $5M to $10M used Primavera P3. By comparison, the P6 version was not enrolled in a 2008 CFMA study of the United States construction industry. The change from P3 version to P6 version is based on a move from DOS-type shortcut keys to mouse-based icons. Thus, a software application that was once very fast to use, but based on shortcut functions (which some users found difficult to master) moved to a mouse-based application that is faster to learn, but once mastered never reaches the same speed of use. The Primavera Project Planner DOS core was released in 1983[3] and the Windows P3 interface was released in 1994.

After a version lifespan of 27 years, Oracle discontinued sales of the P3 and SureTrak versions on December 31, 2010. [4​].

In 2012, Primavera P6 EPPM Upgrade Release 8.2 added capabilities for governance, project team engagement, and project visibility. Mobile PPM was introduced through the Primavera P6 Team Member for iPhone and Team Member Web Interface, to streamline communications between project team members in the field and in the office. Additionally, Primavera P6 Analytics Release 2.0 gained new enterprise reporting tools and dashboards to monitor and analyze performance data, including geospatial analysis. Organizations could also investigate comparative trends and cause and effect across multiple projects with Primavera Contract Management Release 14, as it included the report writing capabilities of Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher.)[5​].

In April 2013, Oracle Corporation announced the release of version 8.4 of Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management. This version incorporated material from Oracle's 2012 acquisitions of Skire and Instantis.