Deltek Open Plan User's Guide
Deltek Open Plan User's Guide
Deltek Open Plan User's Guide
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Copyright
While every attempt has been made to ensure that the information in this document is
accurate and complete, some typographical or technical errors may exist. Licensee
acknowledges that Deltek Systems, Inc. is not responsible for any kind of loss resulting
from the use of this publication.
This page shows the original publication date. The information contained in this
publication is subject to change without notice. Any improvements or changes to either
the product or the book will be documented in subsequent updates.
Subsections ...............................................................................................................400
Defining Subsections............................................................................................................. 403
Outlining .....................................................................................................................405
Defining Outlining .................................................................................................................. 407
Linking ........................................................................................................................408
Defining Links ........................................................................................................................ 409
Modifying Hierarchal IDs Using Indent and Outdent..............................................411
Automatic Numbering within a Spreadsheet ..........................................................412
Chapter 21 — Histogram Views........................................................................ 415
Overview.....................................................................................................................416
Working with Resource Histograms ........................................................................416
Displaying Resource Information ............................................................................419
Displaying Earned Value Information ......................................................................422
Customizing Resource Histogram Views ................................................................424
Selecting Resources.............................................................................................................. 424
Resource Histogram Display Options ................................................................................... 426
Customizing the Date Scale .................................................................................................. 428
Working with Risk Histograms .................................................................................428
Customizing Risk Histogram Views.........................................................................430
Selecting a Key Activity ......................................................................................................... 430
Risk Histogram Display Options ............................................................................................ 431
Customizing the Date Scale .................................................................................................. 431
This document uses Adobe™ Reader™ to display the Deltek Open Plan User’s
Guide. To learn the various features of Acrobat Reader, consult the Rader online
help system.
The Migration Utility does not work with Open Plan data prior to 2.5. If
you need to migrate this data to Open Plan 3.x, you must first open it in
Open Plan 2.5 or 2.6 and resave it with a new name using the Save As
command.
Since the Migration Utility works with a copy of your data, your original data
remains in its current location. However, as with all operations that deal with your
valuable data, you should always create a complete backup before proceeding.
For information on migrating your data, refer to the Deltek Open Plan Data
Migration Utility documentation.
In the strictest sense of the word, Open Plan data is stored in tables in the data
source rather than in files. However, in order to make explanations of the software
easier to understand, dialog boxes, menus, and the Open Plan documentation refer
to Open Plan data as “files.” This allows us to describe such operations as opening
a file, saving a file, etc.
Chapter Summaries
Chapter 1 discusses the Professional and Desktop editions of Open Plan and covers
the basics of getting started with the program. It concludes with a discussion on the
types of documentation supplied with Open Plan.
Chapter 2 discusses the basic skills common to many Windows applications (such
as selecting commands, working with dialog boxes, and using the mouse) as well as
how to cut, copy, and paste.
Chapter 3 describes the Open Plan Explorer interface and discusses how to manage
your project data using the commands available in the Open Plan Explorer.
Chapter 4 discusses how to create new files using Open Plan default settings and
using custom settings. The chapter concludes with a detailed description of each
page of the New File Wizard.
Chapter 5 begins with a discussion of the Properties dialog box for auxiliary
(resource, code, and calendar) files and view files and concludes with a discussion
of the Project Properties dialog box.
Chapter 6 outlines guidelines for planning activities and describes the types of
information you can enter in Open Plan for activities and relationships. The chapter
also includes procedures for entering activity and relationship information and
concludes with discussions of a number of utilities related to activity information.
Chapter 7 contains discussions on defining resources in Open Plan, including such
topics as creating a resource file, reserving resources for projects, and displaying
resource information.
Chapter 8 begins with a description of the different methods you can use to enter
resource assignments. This is followed by a section on resource allocation and
concludes with sections on effort-driven activities and defining assignment profiles
manually.
Chapter 9 starts with a discussion on calendars in Open Plan and ends with
discussions on creating and maintaining calendars.
Chapter 10 begins with a brief discussion of basic cost control and earned value
concepts. It concludes with discussions on planning costs, capturing actual costs,
and reporting on costs.
Chapter 11 discusses working with project code files, entering codes, displaying
code information, and entering code assignments
Chapter 25 discusses how to modify the system options defaults using the different
tabs of the Options dialog box.
Appendix A is a glossary of terms used throughout the Deltek Open Plan User’s
Guide.
Appendix B contains a list of keyboard shortcuts.
This icon refers you to other sections of the user guide for additional
information of the subject being discussed.
This icon identifies a Tip. This is an idea you may find especially
useful.
Overview
Welcome to Open Plan, your comprehensive solution to project planning and
management tasks.
Designed to cope with the most demanding requirements of project planners, Open
Plan has the capability, the flexibility, and the processing muscle to handle the
largest projects. At the same time, Open Plan takes advantage of the latest advances
in OLE automation and graphical interface design to make its power accessible to
the most inexperienced user.
This chapter begins with a discussion of the Professional and Desktop editions of
Open Plan and then covers the basics of getting started in Open Plan — the Deltek
Applications program group, starting the application, and getting help information.
The chapter concludes with a discussion of the various types of documentation
supplied with Open Plan.
With Open Plan Professional, planners can take advantage of the full range of high-
end project management features, including:
• The creation of custom views and reports
• The specification of custom calculations and nonlinear reporting calendars
• The ability to develop multi-project schedules, resource loadings, and reports
Users of Open Plan Desktop, on the other hand, can enjoy a fully featured project
management system with the ability to enter, status, and report on project data but
without some of the customizing features available in Open Plan Professional. This
allows Desktop users full access to the powerful analytical features of Open Plan
while reducing the complexity of its operations.
Typically, a planning function within an organization might consist of a small
number of Open Plan Professional users and a much larger number of Open Plan
Desktop systems. Planners using Open Plan Professional might develop custom
views and reports, and calculations, which could then be shared by Open Plan
Desktop users. In many cases, standard resource lists, coding systems, work
calendars, and even model networks would be developed and disseminated across
the entire organization. For their part, Desktop users would provide scheduling and
status inputs that could be rolled up to higher-level summaries for management
review. A more comprehensive planning and control strategy might include the use
of multi-project scheduling and resource loading in which master projects created
by Open Plan Professional users would reflect the dates and requirements of
subprojects being planned and maintained at a lower level.
By combining the different strengths of Open Plan Professional and Open Plan
Desktop, creative organizations have the strategic and tactical tools to make
corporate project management a reality.
As a part of its installation procedures, Open Plan automatically adds the Deltek
Applications folder containing a set of application shortcuts to the Windows
Start/Programs menu.
The applications represented in this folder are as follows:
• Open Plan Professional or Open Plan Desktop — The main Open Plan
application
• Deltek Open Plan User’s Guide — The Open Plan user documentation
• Deltek Open Plan Developer’s Guide — Reference and technical
documentation
• Open Plan Help —The Open Plan context-sensitive Help system
You can use the following controls to log into the active data source for your
session of Open Plan:
The active data source is set up by the system administrator.
User ID — The ID that your system administrator has set up for your use.
Open Plan remembers the user ID from the last time Open Plan was used
and automatically enters that user ID in this field. If this user ID is not the
one you wish to use, simply delete it, and enter the proper one.
You can also display help for any view or window by pressing F1.
To examine a list of topics covered in the help system, click Contents on the Help
menu. From the Contents tab of the Help window, you can select a topic by
clicking the topic heading.
For a complete description of how to use the help system, click Using
Help on the Help menu.
The Open Plan help system includes a special type of information called Clip
Notes. Clip Notes describe how to perform many common procedures in Open Plan
and are displayed in special “stay-on-top” windows that allow you to keep working
in the application.
With Clip Notes, you can keep a list of steps in view as you perform the procedure.
The first time you start Open Plan, a special Clip Note automatically appears with
tips about how to start entering information for your first project. Open Plan also
displays Clip Notes automatically when you enter a blank view or data file display.
When contacting Deltek technical support, you may need this information for
diagnostic purposes.
Overview
While offering the performance, functionality, and capacities of a high-end project
management package, Open Plan provides a graphical interface based on
recognized Windows standards. If you are experienced with using different
Windows applications, most of the basic operations in Open Plan should seem
familiar. If you are new to Windows software, however, you may want to take a
few minutes to review the material in this chapter. Once you master a few of the
basic skills required to use the Open Plan interface, you will find that these skills
apply to many features in the package.
This chapter starts with descriptions of basic skills common to many Windows
applications such as selecting commands, working with windows and dialog boxes,
and using a mouse. Next, skills related to selecting, cutting, copying, and pasting
data in the different views are discussed.
This chapter assumes that you already know how to perform basic
operations such as using the mouse to click or drag items. If this is not the
case, you may first want to review the appropriate sections of your Windows
documentation before proceeding with the information in this chapter.
Choosing Commands
To select commands in Open Plan, you can use any of the following techniques:
• You can select a command from the menu bar displayed at the top of the Open
Plan application window.
• You can select a command from the toolbar.
• You can select a command from a context menu displayed when you right-click
an object or window.
• You can use keyboard short cuts to select a command.
Each of these techniques is described in the following sections.
Menu bar
The same set of menus appears throughout Open Plan. The contents of the menus,
however, may change depending on the current window or view.
When you click the name of a menu (or press the Alt key in combination with the
first letter of the menu name), Open Plan displays the commands available from that
menu:
Notice that the names of some of the commands are dimmed. These commands are
not available in a given situation.
Some commands have a right-pointing triangle next to their name on the menu.
When you point to one of these commands, Open Plan displays a submenu of
choices related to that command.
To select a command, simply click the name of the command. You can also select a
command by typing the underlined letter in the command name.
If you do not see the underlined letter in the command name, it is possible
that the version of Windows you are using has this function turned off. To
turn on the underlining, refer to your Windows documentation.
Toolbar
To select a command from the toolbar, click the button for the command.
Commands available from the toolbar are as follows:
Open Expand
Save Collapse
Cut Expand All
Copy Collapse All
Paste Drill Down / Next Year
Print Drill Up / Previous Year
Print Preview Relationship Mode
Refresh Outdent
About Open Plan Indent
Time Analysis Bar Data Mode
Resource Scheduling Zoom In
Risk Analysis Zoom Out
To display a description for a toolbar button, position the cursor on the button.
Open Plan displays a description of the button on the status line at the bottom of the
window and, after a short delay, next to the cursor as well. To continue without
invoking the command, move the cursor off of the button.
As is the case with commands on the menu bar, dimmed buttons on the toolbar
indicate that a specific command is not available in a given situation.
Open Plan displays the toolbar in the application window by default. You can,
however, turn off the display of the toolbar at any time.
For more information on customizing the Open Plan system options, refer
to Chapter 25, “System Defaults.”
Clicking either Customize System Add-Ins Tool Bar or Customize User Add-
Ins Tool Bar displays the Customize Toolbar dialog box where you can select the
custom tools to display on the associated tool bar.
The System custom tools are defined in the addins.dat file located in the
Open Plan root directory; the User custom tools are defined in the
addins.dat file located in the User folder in the Open Plan root directory.
Clicking Select Icons for Add-Ins displays the Customize Toolbar Icons dialog
box which you can use to assign an icon to a custom tool that is displayed on one of
the Add-Ins toolbars.
The Customize Toolbar Icons dialog box allows you to change the icons used by
the Add-Ins toolbar buttons.
The dialog box contains the following options:
Add-Ins — This field lists all of the defined Add-Ins tools (both System tools and
User tools):
Icon — The current icon used for the button
Command — The name of the tool as shown on the Add-Ins menu
System tools are defined in the addins.dat file located in the Open Plan root
directory. User tools are defined in the addins.dat file located in the User
directory of the Open Plan directory.
Select Icon for Command — This field lists the available icons from which you
can choose. If you select a command from the Add-Ins list that refers to a .exe file,
the icons available in the .exe are displayed.
Replace Icon — Once you select a command from the left-hand list and a new icon
from the right-hand list, click the Replace Icon button to change the icon for the
command.
Browse Icons — Clicking this button displays an Open dialog box that you can
use to select a .exe, .ico, or .dll file that contains the new icon you want to use.
Once you have selected the appropriate file, the icons contained in the file are
displayed in the Select Icon for Command list.
You can toggle the display of the toolbars in Open Plan by pointing to
Toolbars on the View menu and then selecting the toolbars to display. Or,
you can right-click an empty area of the toolbars section at the top of the
Open Plan screen and then select the toolbars to display from the context
menu.
Add-Ins Menu
actions
Restore button
Control-menu
icon
Minimize button
Open Plan allows you to display as many windows as you want at one time. You
can also arrange, resize, and close windows as necessary.
As is common in many Windows applications, windows in Open Plan include a
Control menu that allows you to perform basic functions related to the
management of windows:
To display the Control menu, click the Control-menu icon in the upper-left corner
of the window.
To minimize a window
Take one of the following actions:
• Click the Minimize button.
• On the Control menu, click Minimize.
To maximize a window
Take one of the following actions:
• Click the Maximize button.
• On the Control menu, click Maximize.
To close a window
Take one of the following actions:
• Click the Close button.
• Double-click the Control-menu icon.
• On the Control menu, click Close.
Although dialog boxes vary considerably in their functions, the following elements
are common to many dialog boxes:
• Text boxes — Enter text by typing
• List boxes — Select an item from a list of available choices
• Check boxes — Select one or more options
• Radio buttons — Click one option from a group of options
• Command buttons — Perform an operation from within the dialog box
To move between the different items in a dialog box, simply click on the item, or
press the Tab key. You can also go to a specific item by pressing the Alt key in
combination with the underlined letter in the item label.
Most dialog boxes have at least three command buttons: OK, Cancel, and Help.
Clicking these buttons has the following results:
• OK — Saves any changes you have made and closes the dialog box
• Cancel — Closes the dialog box without saving any changes
• Help — Displays help information for this dialog box
Dialog boxes usually have a default command, which you can execute by pressing
Enter. (Open Plan displays a special outline border around the default button of a
dialog box.)
You can always select Cancel in a dialog box by pressing Esc.
Tab
To display the different tabs in a tabbed dialog box, simply click the tabs.
Going from one tab to another does not automatically save any changes you may
have made on the first tab. In tabbed dialog boxes, there is only one set of
command buttons. These commands affect all of the settings in the dialog box, not
just those on the tab currently displayed. If you click Cancel or Undo, Open Plan
does not save any changes you have made to settings on other tabs in the dialog
box.
Navigation
buttons
Use these controls to go to the first record in the file, the previous record, the next
record, or the last record in the file.
You can also use the following keyboard shortcuts to scroll through the
records in the file: Page Up/Page Down (go to previous/next record) and
Ctrl+Home/Ctrl+End (go to first/last record).
If you select a group of items in the view with a modeless dialog box open, you can
use the navigation buttons on the dialog box to scroll through the selected items.
You can also configure Open Plan to synchronize multiple modeless dialog boxes
so that using the navigation buttons on one dialog box will result in Open Plan
scrolling to the appropriate item on another dialog box.
For information about enabling this feature, refer to Chapter 25, “System
Defaults.”
Because you can update multiple items without having to close a modeless dialog
box each time, Open Plan automatically saves any changes you make to an item
before displaying the next record. As a result, the OK and Cancel buttons on a
non-modal dialog box have been replaced with a Close button. When you click this
button, Open Plan closes the dialog box and returns to the view. If you have not
saved the information currently displayed, Open Plan saves the changes before
returning to the view.
Some modeless dialog boxes also include an Undo button that returns the dialog
box to its previous state and an Apply button that saves the changes you made to
the current record.
You must update information for an item before the Undo and Apply
buttons become active.
Selecting Data
When you select data in Open Plan, you indicate the item on which the next action
should be carried out. Selecting data is a basic skill that you use as a preliminary
step in a number of operations. However, the exact procedure for selecting a
particular type of data depends on the nature of the item and the context in which
the selection occurs.
You can select data in the following situations in Open Plan:
• Text displayed in dialog text boxes, edit boxes, or cells in a spreadsheet view
• One or more items in a list
• Icons in an Open Plan window
• Activities in network, spreadsheet, or barchart views
• Columns and ranges of cells in spreadsheet views
• Elements in a resource or code display
• Days in a calendar display
View filters can affect the operations of the Select All command. For
information about view filters, refer to Chapter 23, “Project Utilities.”
To select a contiguous group of columns, select the first column of the group,
then Shift-click the last column of the group.
You can also cut or copy data from a spreadsheet view, a network view, or
a display of resources or codes and then paste it into another application
such as Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Word. Open Plan stores any data as
tab-delimited text with a line feed at the end of each record. The first record
always consists of the column headings for the data you have cut or copied.
Overview
The Open Plan Explorer provides a familiar graphical user interface (GUI) similar
to Windows Explorer in order to simplify the task of managing your project data.
This chapter begins with detailed descriptions of the two panes of the Open Plan
Explorer. It concludes with discussions on how to manage your project data using
the various commands available to the Open Plan Explorer.
Splitter bar
Each folder can contain other folders or Open Plan objects such as projects and
views. You also can create custom folders within your My Folder or within any
individual project, resource, or code folder to help organize your project data. You
also can create a custom folder within a custom folder.
The custom folders you create are not available to other users in the data
source.
You can also perform standard Windows operations in the hierarchy such as
dragging and dropping objects into Open Plan folders or using a context menu to
manipulate a selected object.
The following sections detail each of the six default folders.
My Folder
This is your personal folder. It provides a convenient way of organizing all the
links to your projects, views, auxiliary files, and application shortcuts. These
objects can be referenced in this folder in either of the following ways:
• By creating a project
• By dragging a project, view, auxiliary file, or application shortcut from another
folder to My Folder
Deleting an object from My Folder deletes the link rather than the actual
data.
Projects
All projects in the data source — either created by you or created by someone else
and to which you have been given rights to view or manipulate — are listed in the
Projects folder together with their views and auxiliary files.
When you create a project, it is placed in the Projects folder and a link to it is
automatically placed in your My Folder. You can also drag existing projects from
this folder to your My Folder to establish a link.
Deleting a project from the Projects folder deletes both the actual project
data from the database and the link to it in My Folder. No auxiliary files are
deleted with the project in the Project folder.
Provided that you have sufficient rights and the file is not referenced by
another file, you can delete it from the Open Plan Library. Deleting a file
from here deletes both the actual data from the database and any links to
that file that may exist.
Briefcase
Briefcasing is the ability to take a copy of a project stored in the central database
and work on that copy remotely. The database restricts access to the master copy to
prevent changes being made, which would be lost when the remote copy is
returned. While briefcased, other users are only able to open the project in Read
Only mode.
The Briefcase folder displays the following information for projects that have been
checked out:
• Who has a project checked out
• The date and time the project was checked out
Users
This folder displays a list of users who are currently logged into Open Plan. The
following information is available for each user in the contents pane:
• User ID
• Login Time
• Machine ID
You can control what information is displayed in this folder by customizing the
folder headings. By default, only the User ID column is displayed.
You can also view what files a user has open by displaying the Logged-in User
dialog box:
The User Id field lists all the users currently logged into your Open Plan data
source. Selecting a user from the list displays the files that the user has open.
When you display the Logged-in User dialog box, the default user selected in the
User Id field depends on the following:
• If you display the Logged-in User dialog box from the hierarchical pane, the
default user shown in the User Id field is the first user in the list of users.
• If you display the dialog box for a specific user in the contents pane, that user is
automatically selected in the User Id field.
Regardless of how you display the Logged-in User dialog box, you still can access
all the other users from the list.
The following information is displayed for each file the user has open:
Opened File — The name of the file opened
File Type — The type of file opened (Project, Calendar, Resource, or Code)
Machine ID — The computer from which the file was opened
Opened On — The date and time the file was opened
Open Mode — The mode (Exclusive, Shared, or Read Only) in which the file is
open
Startup
Each Open Plan user has his or her own Startup folder. You can use this folder to
store shortcuts to data or applications that you want to run each time you start Open
Plan. For example, if you want a particular project to open or Windows Notepad to
start automatically when Open Plan starts, place a shortcut to it in this folder.
Dragging an object into this folder establishes the Startup link, and deleting the
icon in the Startup folder removes the link.
Hovering the cursor over an object while in the Small Icon or Large Icon format
displays a popup with a brief description of the object.
Double-clicking an object can perform the following operations:
• If the object is a folder, double-clicking expands it.
• If the object is a view or calendar, double-clicking opens the object.
• If the object is an application shortcut, double-clicking launches the application.
You can also display the Customize Columns dialog box by double-
clicking anywhere on the header bar.
In order to customize the columns in the contents pane, the folder that is
displayed must contain only like objects. For example, the objects must be
all views, all projects, etc.
Customize Columns
You can customize the columns displayed in the Details format by displaying the
Customize Columns dialog box:
From this dialog box, you can perform the following actions:
• Add fields for display
• Remove fields from display
• Rearrange the display order
• Rename columns using the Heading button
Remove Column
When you right-click on the header bar to display the context menu, notice that
each heading displayed in the Details format is listed on the context menu with a
check mark next to it:
There are three ways to remove a heading from the Details format:
• By using the Customize Columns dialog box (discussed in the previous
section)
• By using the Remove Column command
• By clearing the check mark from the heading on the context menu.
Rename Column
You can use the following dialog box to rename a column heading to reflect your
own organizational methods:
Sort Ascending
You can perform an ascending sort based on any column of the contents pane when
in the Details format. An up arrow next to the column heading indicates which
column is being sorted on and the direction of the sort.
Sort Descending
You can perform a descending sort based on any column of the contents pane when
in the Details format. A down arrow next to the column heading indicates which
column is being sorted on and the direction of the sort.
Group by Option
Clicking this item places the contents into expandable groups by object type. For
example, selecting a project from the hierarchical pane of the Open Plan Explorer,
right-clicking the Name column in the Details pane, and selecting Group by Type
places the project contents into three groups: Calendars, Resources, and System
Folder. Clicking a group heading expands the folder to reveal the contents.
Right-clicking a group heading displays the following additional options:
Collapse — Collapses the selected expanded group heading
Collapse All — Collapses all expanded group headings
Expand — Expand the selected group heading
Expand All — Expands all group headings
Group Ascending — Sorts the groups in ascending order. (This is the default.)
Group Descending — Sorts the groups in descending order
Ungroup — Removes the applied grouping
You can sort the contents within the groups (but not the groups themselves)
in ascending or descending order by right-clicking a column heading (not a
group heading) and selecting Sort Ascending or Sort Descending
Ungroup
Clicking this item allows you to remove the applied grouping. You can access this
item by either right-clicking a column heading or a group heading.
Best Fit
When applied, the Best Fit option instructs Open Plan to resize the width of a
selected column. Open Plan will either shrink the column width by eliminating
unneeded space or widen the column to properly display all entries.
You can also resize a column’s width manually by placing the cursor at
either edge of column’s header. When the cursor changes to this shape ,
click and drag the column edge to the desired width.
Select an open
project.
Open Plan displays the following dialog box when you click Open on the File
menu or click the Open button on the toolbar:
You can use the List Files of Type list to display the project, calendar, resource, or
code files from which to select.
Before you can open a file, you must specify the mode in which to open it:
• Default — If you are opening a project, Open Plan opens the project and its
auxiliary files in the mode specified on the Preferences tab of the Project
Properties dialog box. This setting overrides the default access mode for the
auxiliary file as set on its own Properties dialog box.
• Exclusive — Opening the file in this mode allows you to update the information
for the file and save any changes. Other users must use the Read Only mode if
they wish to open the file while you are using it.
• Shared — Opening the file in this mode allows other users to open the file in the
same mode, giving them the ability to make changes while you have it open.
• Read Only — Opening the file in this mode means you cannot edit the
information in any way.
If the file you want to open is already open by another user, Open Plan enables or
disables the four access modes as appropriate depending on the mode in which the
file is already open. For example, if the file you want to open is already opened by
another user in Exclusive mode, Open Plan will disable the first three modes and
only allow you to choose Read Only.
You can open multiple files at once by Shift-clicking or Ctrl+clicking the desired
files.
For more information on the exclusive, shared, and read-only modes, refer
to Chapter 24, “System Utilities.”
When you create a new file, the following dialog box is displayed:
You can use this dialog box to define the following settings:
File Type — The type of file to create: Project, Calendar, Resource, or Code
Name — The name for the file
Description — The description for the file
Use previous settings as defaults — Selecting this option instructs Open Plan to
create the new file using the settings from the last time you created a new file. This
setting is disabled for Calendars and Codes.
Clicking Next will take you to the first page of the New File Wizard. Clicking
Finish creates the file using default settings. If you do not select the Use previous
settings as defaults option and then click Finish, the file is created using Open
Plan defaults.
For more information on using the New File Wizard, refer to Chapter 4,
“Creating a New File.”
Saving Files
Open Plan allows you to save a file with its current name using the Save command
or under a different name using the Save As command. These commands are
available as follows:
• If you opened the file in Exclusive mode, you can use the Save or Save As
command at any time.
• If you opened a file in Shared mode, the Save command is not available. To
save the project under a different name, use the Save As command. (Normally,
Open Plan saves your changes to project, code, resource, and calendar files
opened in Shared mode as you make them.)
For more information about working with files opened in Shared mode,
refer to Chapter 24, “System Utilities.”
• If you opened the file in Read Only mode, the Save command is not available.
You must use the Save As command to save the file under a different name
before you can make any changes to it.
When you click Save As on the File menu command, Open Plan displays the
following dialog box:
With this dialog box, you can save project and data files to your database.
Depending on the circumstances under which you perform the Save As, the
following rules apply:
• When you create a copy of a project, the new project maintains the same
auxiliary file attachments as in the original project.
• When you create a copy of an auxiliary file, if you want a project to use the new
file, you must attach it to the project by either dragging it from the Open Plan
Library and dropping it on the project or by using the Files tab of the Project
Properties dialog box.
You cannot perform Save As on a file if there is another file open which
refers to it. For example, if you open project CLEAN and then try to
perform a Save As on the calendar file CLEANCAL, you are given the
following warning: "Cannot perform Save As on Calendar File
CLEANCAL because there are open objects referring to it." Since CLEAN
refers to CLEANCAL, you need to close the project before you can perform
Save As on CLEANCAL.
Closing Files
The operation performed when you issue a Close command depends on what
method you use and the context in which you issue the command. There are four
methods for performing the Close command:
• Clicking Close on the File menu
• Clicking Close on a context menu
• Clicking the Close button located in the upper-right corner of a window
• Clicking Close on the Control Menu located in the upper-left corner of a
window
You cannot close a file if another file is dependent on it. For example,
assume you have the resource view displayed for an open project. If you
close the project without first closing the resource view, the project and its
auxiliary files will close except for the resource file. The resource file
remains open because the resource view is dependent on it.
Maximize view
• Clicking the Close button for a view closes that view but leaves the project
open.
• Clicking the Close button for the Open Plan Explorer closes the Explorer but
does not close any open projects.
If you accidentally close the Open Plan Explorer, you can redisplay it
by clicking Open Plan Explorer on the View menu.
• Clicking the Close button for Open Plan closes the program. You are prompted
for confirmation before the program closes.
• Clicking Close on the Control Menu for Open Plan closes the program.
Control Menu icon
for Open Plan
Professional Pressing Ctrl+F4 performs the same function as clicking Close on the
Control Menu for views and the Open Plan Explorer. Pressing Atl+F4
performs the same function as clicking Close on the Control Menu for
Open Plan.
Clicking the ellipsis button next to a field displays a list of available files from
which to choose. For example, clicking the calendar ellipsis displays a list of all
available calendar files:
You also have the option of creating a new file. Clicking New displays the New
File dialog box.
For more information on creating a new file, refer to the “Creating a New
Project or Auxiliary File” section in this chapter.
Dragging an auxiliary file from the appropriate folder of the Open Plan Library and
dropping it into a project folder automatically assigns the file to the project. Only
one calendar file and one resource definition file can be assigned to a project at a
time. If you drag a calendar or resource definition file from the Open Plan Library
to a project that already contains one of these files, Open Plan asks if you would
like to replace the existing file.
When using drag and drop, it is not necessary to first open the target
project. The project is automatically opened when the auxiliary file is
dropped into it.
For more information on views and the Choose a Project dialog box, refer
to Chapter 17, “Views and Reports.”
When using drag and drop, it is not necessary to first open the target
project.
The project to which you want to add the view must be open for this
method to work.
1. In the Views folder of the Open Plan Library, double-click the view file you want
to assign to the project.
2. From the Choose a Project dialog box, select the open project for which to
display the view.
3. Take one of the following actions:
• To display the view without creating a link, clear the Make a Permanent Link
to Project setting.
• To create a link to the project, select the Make a Permanent Link to Project
setting.
4. Click OK.
Creating a Shortcut
You can easily create a shortcut to a Windows application, file, or URL in any of
the following Open Plan folders:
• The first level of My Folder
• The Startup folder
• Any user-created folder
Placing a shortcut in the Startup folder automatically launches it when you start
Open Plan. For example, if you want Windows Notepad to automatically start
when Open Plan starts, you would place a shortcut to Windows Notepad in the
Startup folder. Open Plan also allows you to edit the properties of a shortcut using a
Properties dialog box.
You can suppress the automatic loading of items in the Startup folder by holding
down the Ctrl key after launching Open Plan.
For information on displaying and using the Properties dialog box for a
shortcut, refer to Chapter 24, “System Utilities.”
In order for this operation to work, you must be able to view both the
Open Plan Explorer and the Windows Explorer at the same time. You
can easily do this by starting both programs and then right-clicking the
Windows Taskbar and clicking Tile Windows Horizontally (or
Vertically).
2. Drag the application and drop it in the target Open Plan folder.
Open Plan creates the application shortcut in the designated folder.
You can copy Windows Desktop Shortcuts to Open Plan by selecting the
shortcut and either using the Cut/Paste or Drag/Drop method described
above. You can also drag the icon preceding the URL name in the Address
Bar of Internet Explore to the desired user created folder.
Deleting Files
There are two ways to delete a file:
• By selecting the file and pressing the Delete key
• By using the Select File to Delete dialog box
There is a third way to perform a deletion that pertains only to views — right-click
a view and click Delete on the context menu.
You cannot delete a file that is open, referenced by another file, or to which
you do not have the appropriate rights.
When you use the Delete key to delete a file, Open Plan interprets the deletion
depending on where the file is located in the hierarchical view.
Codes that are assigned to projects cannot be deleted from the projects using this
method. Codes are removed from projects using the Files tab of the Project
Properties dialog box.
For more information on removing codes from projects, refer to the “Using
Code Files” section of Chapter 11, “Project Codes.”
My Folder — If you delete a file from within this folder, Open Plan only deletes
the link you created to the file. In the case of a project, the project link as well as
the auxiliary files links are deleted. No actual data is deleted from the data source.
To quickly delete a project link from this folder, right-click the project, and
click Delete Link on the context menu.
Projects — If you delete a project from within this folder, the project data and all
the links to auxiliary files and views are deleted. Deleting just an auxiliary file or
view deletes the link to the file. No actual auxiliary file or view data is deleted from
the data source.
Open Plan Library — If you delete an auxiliary file or view from within this
folder, the actual data is deleted from the data source.
To delete a file
1. Select the file, and press the Delete key.
2. When Open Plan asks you to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
Pointing to Manage Files on the File menu and clicking Delete File displays the
Select File to Delete dialog box that you can use to delete a file from the data
source.
This dialog box displays a list of files based on the type of file you select in the File
Type field.
Also, depending on the file type, Open Plan performs one of the following actions
when you delete a file:
• If the file is a project, all the project data is deleted from the data source. The
links created in the Project folder to any auxiliary files are removed, but the
auxiliary file data itself is not deleted. Any links to the project in your My
Folder are also removed.
• If the file is a calendar, resource, or code file, the file’s data is deleted from the
data source and any links to in other folders.
To delete a data file using the Select File to Delete dialog box
1. On the File menu, point to Manage Files.
2. On the Manage Files submenu, click Delete File.
3. Select the file you want to delete, and click OK.
4. When Open Plan asks you to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
For folders that cannot be filtered, this option is disabled or not listed.
Selecting a folder and clicking Filter on the View menu or right-clicking the folder
and clicking Filter on the context menu invokes the Filter Settings dialog box:
Criteria — This setting allows you to enter a value for comparison to the Field
Name as defined by the Operator. This setting is text sensitive.
Clear — Removes all values that have been entered in the dialog box.
The filter you define is only applied to the selected folder. This means that
you can have a different filter for each folder if you so desire.
Using Find
The Find dialog box allows you to find an object in any subfolder of the folder that
is currently selected. You can search for an object based on its name or on any field
that is available in the Details format. Since this dialog box is modeless, you can
keep it open while you initiate any number of searches.
Clicking Find on the Edit menu displays the following dialog box:
Named — Use of this field is optional. If you enter the name of the object to find,
Open Plan will find all objects that match the name entered or that begin with the
name entered. For example, if you are searching for the project named CLEAN,
Open Plan will respond with all projects that begin with the name CLEAN.
If you do not know the entire name of the object for which you are
searching, you can enter the first few letters of the name. Be aware, though,
that you must provide the beginning letters of the name. Open Plan does not
search for text embedded within the name. For example, if you enter LEAN,
Open Plan will not find CLEAN.
Where — Use of these fields is optional. The three Where fields allow you to
apply a filter to your search criteria:
• The first field contains a list of data fields based on the type of object selected in
the Search For field.
• The second field contains a list of the following logical operators that you can
use to further define the filter:
■ Equal to
■ Greater than
■ Less than
■ Not equal to
• The third field allows you to enter a value to compare against.
The Where fields are not available when <All Objects> is selected in the
Search For field.
Look In — This field allows you to specify the folder in which Open Plan should
start the search. By default, the selected folder in the hierarchical pane is displayed
in this field. However, you can also select <All Folders>, My Folder, Projects,
and Open Plan Library from the list. Open Plan also facilitates your search by
displaying any subfolders that have been opened during the current session.
Since the Find dialog box is modeless, an alternative to using the Look In
field is to simply select the folder to search from the hierarchical pane while
the dialog box is displayed.
Include subfolders — Selecting this option instructs Open Plan to include all
subfolders of the currently selected folder in the search.
Once the search criteria is defined, clicking Find Now performs the search. Open
Plan displays the name, location, and file type for each object it finds matching the
search criteria.
If you would like to perform another search, click New Search to clear the Named
and Where fields.
Overview
Open Plan allows you to create new project, calendar, resource definition, and code
files with one of following methods:
• Using default settings
• Using the New File Wizard where you can define custom settings for the file
Regardless of the method you use to create the file, you can always change
the settings later using the Properties dialog box for the file.
This chapter begins with a description of how to create a new file with default
settings, continues with a discussion of how to create a file with custom settings,
and ends with a detailed description of the New File Wizard.
You can create a file using Open Plan default settings or you can create the file
using the settings from the last file you created. If you are creating a project or
resource file, the Use previous settings as defaults option allows you to use the
settings from the last project or resource file you created.
If you want to create a file with Open Plan default settings, you have only to select
a File Type (project, calendar, resource, or code), enter a Name for the file, and
click Finish. To use the settings from the last file created, be sure to select the Use
previous settings as defaults option before clicking Finish.
While most project managers will enter a Description for the file, this field
is not required.
• Access Control — This page of the wizard is displayed for all files you create.
You can use the Access Control page to define the access rights that groups or
individual users with a specified role will have to the file you are creating.
After you have created your new file, Open Plan saves the setting choices you
made on the pages in the New File Wizard. The next time you create a file, you
have the option of using these saved settings as the default settings for the new file.
The following chart summarizes the circumstances under which each page of the
New File Wizard is displayed:
Create 3 3 3 3 3
Summary 3 3
Status Information 3 3
Files 3 3 3
External Subproject 3
Preferences 3 3
Code Structure 3
Notes 3 3 3 3
Access Control 3 3 3 3 3
For detailed information about each page of the wizard, refer to the
corresponding sections later in this chapter.
If you are creating a new project, the Startup View field is displayed on the
Preferences page of the wizard.
9. Click Next.
10. Complete the remaining pages of the wizard, clicking Next to advance from page to
page.
11. On the last page of the wizard, click Finish.
Open Plan creates the file with the information you entered. If you have created a
project, Open Plan places it in the Projects folder and creates a link to the project in
your My Folder. If you have created a calendar, resource, or code file, Open Plan
places it within the appropriate folder in the Open Plan Library
When you have finished creating the file, you can display the relevant
Properties dialog box to review your settings and make any necessary
changes.
You can also click the Finish button at any time during the wizard process
to create the new file using the settings you have defined to that point. It is
not necessary to complete all pages of the wizard as you can always define
the remaining settings on the Properties dialog box for the file.
You can use the Create page to specify the following parameters for the new file:
Default Access Mode — This field is displayed only when you are creating an
auxiliary (resource, calendar, or code) file.
If you are creating a project, the Default Access Mode field is displayed on
the Preferences page of the wizard.
The setting you choose determines the default access mode when the file is opened.
The three access modes are:
• Exclusive — A file opened in Exclusive mode can only be opened in Read
Only mode by other users. When you have a file open in Exclusive mode, you
can save any changes you make. You can also close the file without saving
your changes.
• Shared — Only available in the Professional edition of Open Plan, this mode
allows two or more users to access a file and work with the data at the same
time. When you have a file open in Shared mode, any changes that you make
to the file are automatically saved as soon as they are made. This provides all
users who have the file open with the latest information
• Read Only — This mode allows you to view a file. You cannot, however, make
any changes to the file while you have it open in this mode.
For more information on the three access modes, refer to Chapter 24,
“System Utilities.”
Auxiliary Files — This field is displayed only when you are creating a resource
file. It controls the default access mode of the auxiliary files attached to the
resource file.
The following options control how Open Plan should create the new file:
Create a new file — Selecting this option instructs Open Plan to create a new
blank file.
A user with system administrator rights can disable this option by selecting
the Create New Projects Using Default Project on the Project tab of the
Options dialog box.
Create a new file as a copy of an existing file — If you select this option, the
wizard enables a list of files of the appropriate type that are currently stored in the
database. You must use this list to select the file to be used as a template.
Startup View — This field is displayed only when you are creating an auxiliary
(resource, calendar, or code) file. The setting you choose determines the view that
Open Plan automatically displays when the file is opened.
If you are creating a project, the Startup View field is displayed on the
Preferences page of the wizard.
This page allows you to enter the following summary information about the new
project:
Project Manager — The name of the project manager. While use of this field is
optional, the information it contains is used in many reports.
Project Manager Email Address — The project manager's email address. While
use of this field is optional, Open Plan can use the information it contains as the
"To" address in the Email Advisor.
Company — Your company name.
Client — The project's client.
Project Priority — Specifies the priority of the project. Open Plan uses this setting
when performing resource scheduling on a number of projects at one time. You can
give the project a high priority by entering a low numeric value.
Create Summary Usage Upon Saving Project — Selecting this option instructs
Open Plan to populate the Project Summary Usage (PSU) table when the project is
saved. Open Plan uses this data when performing resource scheduling on a number
of projects at one time.
Create Summary Usage Based On – This field is enabled when you select the
Create Summary Usage Upon Saving Project option. It allows you to specify the
type of dates (early, late, or scheduled) that Open Plan should use when creating
the summary usage data.
You can use this page to enter the following status information for the project:
Project Start — The date on which the project starts. You can specify the Project
Start either by entering the date directly or by clicking the ellipsis at the right edge
of the field and selecting a date from the calendar that is displayed.
Time Now — The original status date for the project. You can specify Time Now
either by entering the date directly or by clicking the ellipsis at the right edge of the
field and selecting a date from the calendar that is displayed.
Auto Time Analysis — If you select this option, Open Plan will perform time
analysis each time the data in the project changes.
Finish Type — You can use this field to specify the type of target Open Plan
should use when a Target Finish is set. You can select from the following Finish
Types:
• None
• Not Earlier Than
• Not Later Than
• On Target
Target Finish — This field is enabled only if you have selected one of the target
types in the Finish Type field. If enabled, you can impose a finish date on the
project either by entering the date directly or by clicking the ellipsis at the right
edge of the field and selecting a date from the calendar that is displayed.
The target finish date affects the dates that the program calculates when performing
time analysis or resource scheduling. Entering this date is optional. Ordinarily, you
will want to give Open Plan as much flexibility as possible in its calculations by
not setting a project target finish date.
Target Cost — The target cost for the project.
The fields that are displayed on this page depend on the type of file you are
creating.
Calendar File — This field is displayed when you are creating a project,
multiproject, or resource file. You can assign a single calendar file to the file you
are creating. The way in which this calendar is used depends on the type of file you
are creating:
• If you are creating a project or multiproject, the calendar you select is used as
the default calendar for project calculations.
• If you are creating a resource file, the calendar you select is used as the default
calendar when defining resource availabilities.
Resource Definition File — This field is displayed only when you are creating a
project or multiproject. You can use this field to assign a single resource definition
file to the project.
Code Files — This field is displayed when you are creating a project, multiproject,
or resource file. You can assign up to 90 code files to the file you are creating.
You can also create a new calendar or resource file by clicking New on the Select
dialog box. Doing so displays the New File dialog box with the type of file you are
creating automatically selected in the File Type field. You can then choose to
create the file using Open Plan default settings, or you can start a new instance of
the New File Wizard.
Once it is created, the new auxiliary file is automatically added to the Select dialog
box.
This dialog box allows you to assign code files for up to 90 code fields in the
Project Directory, or Activity or Resource tables. Select a code file from the left
pane and then select a field to assign it to in the right pane.
Each time you click OK to assign the selected code to the selected field, Open Plan
displays the Code File Prompt dialog box:
This dialog box allows you to change the prompt text for the code file before
assigning it to the code field.
If the code has default prompt text defined (on the Properties dialog box
for the code file), it is automatically entered when the Code File Prompt
dialog box is displayed. If no prompt text has been defined for the code, the
code file name is automatically entered on the dialog box. The code prompt
is used instead of the generic field name (C1…C90) in any field list that is
brought up in a specific context. For example, if “OBS” is the code prompt
for C1 in Project Clean, that is what you will see when you select fields in
an activity spreadsheet view opened under CLEAN. C1…C90 will appear
in dialogs that are not opened under a specific context (such as the
Calculated Fields Dialog).
Once you have entered the prompt text and clicked OK, Open Plan assigns it to the
code file. You can change the prompt text by selecting the code in the right pane of
the Assign Code dialog box and clicking Prompt to display the Code File Prompt
dialog box again.
Code files are stored as either a rotated column or as a permanent column in the
code’s associated table.
Rotated columns do not take up space in the database unless they are assigned
values; assigned values are stored as records. When the records are accessed, they
are “rotated” logically into the more familiar field structures. This method reduces
the amount of database storage used when a code column is used sparsely, but may
increase the amount of time needed to load and save data, especially if a column of
data is densely populated.
Non-rotated columns require database storage even when there is no value for a
particular record, but reduce loading and saving times.
If a code index (e.g., Code 1, Code 2, Code 3, etc. in the graphic above) does not
currently have a rotated column assigned to it, then a user has the option of either
creating a new column as a rotated or non-rotated column. The process of assigning
codes can be performed when creating or changing properties for an Open Plan
project.
Only users who have system administrator rights may make changes to the
structure of a database table. That means that anyone attempting to make structural
changes will be prompted to log in as the System Administrator. The user will be
prompted for this login even if he is currently logged in as the System
Administrator.
6. If you select No (the default button), the code field is created as a rotated column.
(Note: If you select Yes, you will be prompted to log in as a system
administrator.) If you select Yes, the code field is created as a non-rotated
column.
This page allows you to select the external subprojects to include in the
multiproject. The text box on this page displays a list of all the projects currently
stored in the database.
By default, the project(s) that were selected when you displayed the context menu
from the Open Plan Explorer are preselected in this list. You can, however, add or
remove selections in this list simply by clicking them. The selected projects
become external subprojects in the multiproject that is created when you click
Finish.
This page allows you to specify the following default project settings:
Default Date Format — You can use this field to specify the default format that
Open Plan should use for this project when displaying dates. For new projects, the
default format is 31Dec07. However, you can choose from many other formats as
well. If you later enter a date in a different format, Open Plan attempts to convert it
to the format you selected as the default.
For example, if your default date format is 31Dec07, Open Plan makes the
following conversions:
• 31dec is interpreted as 31Dec07 if 2007 is the current year.
• 13/12/07 is always interpreted as December 13, 2007, since 13 cannot be
interpreted as a month.
• If the date you enter is all numeric (for example, 10/01/07), Open Plan uses the
order of month and year from your Windows system.
Default Activity Type — You can use this field to select the activity type that
Open Plan assigns to new activities within the project. You can select from the
following activity types: ASAP, ALAP, Start Milestone, Finish Milestone,
Discontinuous, Hammock, and Effort Driven. In addition, you can also select
External Subproject.
Def. Activity Calendar — You can use this field to select the default calendar to
be used for all new activities within the project. Using a default activity calendar
makes it easier to share one calendar file over all projects.
Startup View — You can select the view that Open Plan should display by default
when opening the project.
Def. Relationship Calendar — You can use this field to select the default calendar
Open Plan should use for all new relationships within the project.
Conversions — You can use these fields to specify the way Open Plan should
convert durations into minutes from different time units:
• per Day – Controls the number of hours and minutes per day that are used in the
conversion. The default setting is 8 hours and 0 minutes.
• per Week – Controls the number of hours and minutes per week that are used in
the conversion. Typically, this would be the number of hours per day multiplied
by the number of work days in a week. The default setting is 40 hours and 0
minutes.
• per Month – Controls the number of hours and minutes per month that are used
in the conversion. Typically, this would be the number of hours per day
multiplied by the number of work days in a month. The default setting is 160
hours and 0 minutes.
Default Duration Units — By specifying a default duration unit, you can enter
durations in the project without specifying a unit. You can specify any of the
following units: Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, or Months.
Min. Calculated Duration — You can use this field to specify the minimum
duration unit that Open Plan should use in calculations for the project.
Default Access Mode — You can use these fields to select which of three access
modes Open Plan should use by default for the project and its auxiliary files. The
three access modes are:
• Exclusive — A file opened in Exclusive mode can only be opened in Read
Only mode by other users. When you have a file open in Exclusive mode, you
can save any changes you make. You can also close the file without saving
your changes.
• Shared — Only available in the Professional edition of Open Plan, this mode
allows two or more users to access a file and work with the data at the same
time. When you have a file open in Shared mode, any changes that you make
to the file are automatically saved as soon as they are made. This provides all
users who have the file open with the latest information
• Read Only — This mode allows you to view the project or auxiliary file. You
cannot, however, make any changes to the file while you have it open in this
mode.
For more information on the three access modes, refer to Chapter 24,
“System Utilities.”
You can use this page to define the structure of the new code file:
Code Type — Open Plan supports two types of code file structures:
• Punctuated Significant — With this type of code, Open Plan uses a period (.)
to separate the part of the code that corresponds to the different levels in the
structure.
• Fixed Format Significant — With this type of code, the length of the code
represents the structure level. Apart from the top-level code, each code is based
on the name of its parent.
Fixed Level Length — If you select the Fixed Format Significant code type,
Open Plan enables the following controls:
• Levels 1 through 10 — While Open Plan allows you to define up to 10 levels
for the fixed level length, most planners find that 3 or 4 levels are all they need.
At each level, you can define the number of characters that will be used. The
number you enter is cumulative.
The following example assumes that three levels have been defined in the code
file:
Level 1 2 DV
Level 2 5 DV215
Level 3 7 DV21535
Note that the code at Level 2 includes the code of its parent, and that although
the code length is defined as 5, only 3 new characters (215) are added to the
code.
Similarly, the code at Level 3 includes the code of its parent, and although the
code length is defined as 7, only 2 new characters (35) are added to the code.
• Pad Character — The character specified as the pad character is used as a
suffix to codes that do not use the defined length at a given level.
The following example assumes that three levels have been defined in the code
file and that the pad character is "0":
Level 1 2 DV DV
Level 2 5 9 DV900
Level 3 6 A DV900A
Note that only a single character is entered in the local portion of the code at
Level 2 but that the cumulative code length is defined as 5. Open Plan pads the
code out to the required length by adding two 0s as a suffix to the local portion
of the code.
You can use any character (including a space) as a pad character.
You can use the following fields to attach a note to the file:
Note — This text box can contain up to 29 KB of text. You can enter the text by
typing directly in this field or by using the Windows Cut (Ctrl+X), Copy
(Ctrl+C), and Paste (Ctrl+V) commands to insert text from another Windows
application such as a word processor or spreadsheet.
Category — This field controls the category of the note. You can select a category
from the list of global categories.
Clicking the abc button checks the spelling of the text you enter.
You can enter links to files, Web pages, and e-mail addresses by entering the
information in one of the following formats:
• File links must be entered in the format of: file://c:\document.doc
If the file link you enter contains spaces, you must enclose the link with
angle brackets ( < > ) in order for the link to work properly:
<file://C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\test.txt>
While you can use drag and drop functionality to create links in the Note
field, the Windows Cut (Ctrl+X), Copy (Ctrl+C), and Paste (Ctrl+V)
commands are not available for links.
You can use this page to specify access rights that groups and individual users with
a specified role have to the file.
Group — By selecting a field in this column and selecting a group from the list,
you can specify the groups that can have access to the file.
Role — When you select a group or user ID, its default role is automatically
entered in this field. You can then change default role to any role that has been
defined in the data source.
User ID — You can specify individual users who can access the file.
The Group and User ID settings are mutually exclusive. In other words,
you cannot specify a group and an individual user on the same row of the
grid. You can, however, give access rights to a group on one row and then
give access rights to an individual on a separate row.
Read Only — Setting this option to Yes limits the rights of the group or user to
viewing the file. No changes can be made to the file. Setting this option to No gives
the group or user all rights to the file that are permitted by the assigned role.
The security options for groups and roles are assigned using the
WelcomSecurity Administrator.
Overview
Each type of file in Open Plan has an associated tabbed Properties dialog box. For
resource files, code files, calendar files, and views, the dialog box is called the
Properties – <Filename> dialog box, where <Filename> is the name of the
selected file. For a project, it is called the Project Properties dialog box.
Many of the tabs on these dialog boxes are identical in function. Some are unique
to that file. This chapter begins with descriptions of the tabs located on the
Properties dialog boxes for auxiliary files and views. Since the Project Properties
dialog box contains many unique tabs and has only five tabs in common with
auxiliary files and views, it will be discussed separately at the end of this chapter.
General 3 3 3 3
Statistics 3
Files 3
Access Control 3 3 3 3
Open Status 3 3 3
References 3 3 3
Notes 3 3
User Fields 3 3
Structure 3
Preferences 3
Editing Considerations
When editing the properties for a file, the following guidelines should be taken into
consideration:
• Provided you have the proper access control rights to the file, you do not have
to first open a file to edit its properties.
• The Files tab for a resource file is only enabled when the file is opened in
Exclusive mode.
• A view does not have to be open to edit its properties.
• Opening a resource, code, or calendar file in Read Only mode disables all the
fields in the Properties dialog box.
The General tab of the Properties dialog box is available for resource, code,
calendar, and view files. It displays the following information about the file:
Default Access Mode — Controls the default access mode (Exclusive, Shared, or
Read Only) of the file
Auxiliary Files — Controls the default access mode (Exclusive, Shared, or Read
Only) of the auxiliary files attached to the resource file
Startup View — Controls the view that Open Plan should display by default for
the auxiliary file
Prompt Text — Controls the default prompt text that is automatically entered on
the Code File Prompt dialog box that displays when you attach a code file to a
project or resource file. Although this text is entered by default, you can change it
before clicking OK on the Code File Prompt dialog box.
Resources with the type Pool are not included in this total.
For more information on using the Select dialog box and the Assign Code
dialog box to assign calendar file and code files, refer to the “New File
Wizard — Files Page” section of Chapter 4, Creating a New File.”
If you are the owner of the project or a member of the System Administrator group,
you can use the following fields to define access rights to the file:
Owner — You can change the owner of the file by selecting a new owner from the
list.
Group — By selecting a field in this column and selecting a group from the list,
you can specify the group(s) that can have access to the file.
Role — When you select a group or user ID, its default role is automatically
entered in this field. You can then change default role to any role that has been
defined in the data source.
User ID — By selecting a field in this column and selecting a user ID from the list,
you can specify the users that can have access to the file.
Read Only — By selecting Yes for this field, you limit the group or user to
opening the file in Read Only mode. By selecting No for this field, other users
may open the file in any mode they choose. Read Only mode has the following
limitations:
• In order to make changes to the file, you must first save it under a different
name.
• You cannot see changes made by other users.
In order to see changes made by other users who may have the file open in
Exclusive or Shared mode, you have to close and reopen the file.
For more information on the three access modes, refer to Chapter 24,
“System Utilities.”
Opened On — Displays the date and time that the file was opened by a user
Every file that references the selected auxiliary file is listed on this dialog box.
You can use the following fields to attach a note to the file:
Note — This text box can contain up to 29 KB of text. You can enter the text by
typing directly in this field or by using the Windows Cut (Ctrl+X), Copy
(Ctrl+C), and Paste (Ctrl+V) commands to insert text from another Windows
application such as a word processor or spreadsheet.
Category — This field controls the category of the note. You can select a category
from the list of global categories.
Clicking the abc button checks the spelling of the text you enter.
You can enter links to files, Web pages, and e-mail addresses by entering the
information in one of the following formats:
If the file link you enter contains spaces, you must enclose the link with
angle brackets ( < > ) in order for the link to work properly:
<file://C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\test.txt>
While you can use drag and drop functionality to create links in the Note
field, the Windows Cut (Ctrl+X), Copy (Ctrl+C), and Paste (Ctrl+V)
commands are not available for links.
This dialog box displays the following information for the code file:
Code Type — Open Plan supports two types of code file structures:
• Punctuated Significant – Open Plan uses a punctuation character to separate the
part of the code that corresponds to the different levels in the structure.
• Fixed Format Significant – The length of the code represents the structure level.
Apart from the top-level code, each code is based on the name of its parent.
Fixed Level Length — These fields contain data only when the code type is Fixed
Format Significant. While Open Plan allows up to 10 levels for the fixed level
length, in most cases, only 3 or 4 levels are used.
For each level that is used, Open Plan displays the number of characters that are
specified. This number is cumulative.
Pad Character — The character specified as the pad character is used as a suffix to
codes that do not use the defined length at a given level. Any character (including a
space) can be used as a pad character.
You can use this tab to define the settings for the following fields.
Depending on the type of view selected, one or more of the fields may be
enabled. When a field is enabled, an ellipsis button is displayed at the right
edge of the field.
Filter — This field allows you to apply a filter to the view. Clicking the ellipsis at
the right edge of the field displays the Filters dialog box that you can use to select
a filter. You can also use that dialog box to create, edit, or modify filters.
Sort — This field allows you to sort the data in the view. Clicking the ellipsis at
the right edge of the field displays the Sorts dialog box that you can use to select a
sort. You can also use that dialog box to create, edit, or modify sorts.
Title Block — This field allows you to apply a title block to the view. Clicking the
ellipsis at the right edge of the field displays the Title Blocks dialog box that you
can use to select a title block. You can also use that dialog box to create, edit, or
modify title blocks.
Bar Set — This field allows you to select a bar set to be displayed on the view.
Clicking the ellipsis at the right edge of the field displays the Bar Sets dialog box
that you can use to select the bar set. You can also use that dialog box to create,
edit, or modify bar sets.
The project Files, Access Control, Open Status, Notes, and User Fields
tabs function similarly to those described earlier.
Provided that you have the project open in Exclusive or Shared mode, you
can use the Save As command to create a copy of the project by saving it
under a different name.
Along with the name and description of the project, the top of the tab displays the
following information:
Owner — This field displays the ID of the current owner of the project. In most
cases, this is the person who created the project.
Data Access Mode — This field identifies the mode in which the project is open:
• Exclusive — A file opened in Exclusive mode can only be opened in Read
Only mode by other users. When you have a file open in Exclusive mode, you
can save any changes you make. You can also close the file without saving
your changes.
• Shared — Only available in the Professional edition of Open Plan, this mode
allows two or more users to access a file and work with the data at the same
time. When you have a file open in Shared mode, any changes that you make
to the file are automatically saved as soon as they are made. This provides all
users who have the file open with the latest information.
• Read Only — This mode allows you to view a file. You cannot, however, make
any changes to the file while you have it open in this mode. You must first save
the project under a different name before you can make any changes.
Project Phase — This field indicates the phase at which the project currently
stands. There are three phase categories:
• Proposed — The project proposal has been submitted and is awaiting approval.
• Open — The project has been approved. Although the project phase is open, the
actual project may not necessarily have started as yet.
To check the current status of the project, display the Status tab of the
Project Properties dialog box.
Project Manager Email Address — Enter the project manager's email address in
this field. While use of this field is optional, Open Plan can use the information it
contains as the "To" address in the Email Advisor.
Company — Enter the name of company managing the project in this field. While
use of this field is optional, the information it contains is used in many reports.
Client — Enter the name of the project's client in this field. While use of this field
is optional, the information it contains is used in many reports.
The Project Statistics section of the tab displays the following statistical
information:
Total Activities —The total number of activities within the project.
Total Activities does not include the activities in any open external
subprojects.
Total In Progress — The total number of activities in the project with a status of
In Progress. This value is updated only when time analysis is performed.
Total Complete — The total number of activities within the project that are
complete. This value is updated only when time analysis is performed.
Total Relationships — The total number of relationships within the project.
Total Assignments — The total number of resource assignments within the
project.
If the project contains open external subprojects, the totals displayed include values
from activities within the external subprojects.
When the project contains unopened external subprojects, Open Plan includes in
the totals the external subproject activities acting as place holders but not the
activities that are within the unopened subprojects.
The lower-right section of the tab features the following baseline controls:
Baselines — Open Plan can display up to three project baselines in these fields.
You can change any of these baselines by clicking Select Baseline and selecting a
different baseline from the dialog box that is displayed.
Select Baseline — Clicking this button displays a dialog box that you can use to
select up to three baselines for the project. In addition, you can use this dialog box
to create, update, and delete project baselines.
Def. Activity Calendar — The default calendar to be used for all new activities
within the project. Using a default activity calendar makes it easier to share one
calendar file over all projects.
Startup View — Open Plan automatically displays the selected startup view
whenever you open the project.
Def. Relationship Calendar — The default calendar for all new relationships
within the project.
Conversions — Three settings control the way in which Open Plan converts
durations into minutes from different time units:
• Per Day — Controls the number of hours and minutes per day that are used in
the conversion. The default setting is 8 hours and 0 minutes.
• Per Week — Controls the number of hours and minutes per week that are used
in the conversion. Typically, this would be the number of hours per day
multiplied by the number of work days in a week. The default setting is 40
hours and 0 minutes.
• Per Month — Controls the number of hours and minutes per month that are
used in the conversion. Typically, this would be the number of hours per day
multiplied by the number of work days in a month. The default setting is 160
hours and 0 minutes.
Open Plan calculates the number of hours available for work in any given duration
by referring to the applicable project calendar.
For information about the use of calendars to define working times, refer to
Chapter 9, “Project Calendars.”
Default Access Mode — The Desktop edition of Open Plan supports two access
modes:
• Exclusive — If a file is open in Exclusive mode, you have the exclusive right to
make changes to it. While you have the file open in exclusive mode, other users
can open the file only in Read Only mode.
• Read Only — If the file is open in Read Only mode, you must use the Save As
command in order to save any changes you may make.
The Professional edition of Open Plan also features the Shared mode. If the file is
open in Shared mode, multiple users can have access to the file at the same time.
Open Plan saves the data whenever a user clicks OK on a dialog box that uses the
shared file.
For more information on the three access modes, refer to Chapter 24,
“System Utilities.”
In either edition of Open Plan, you can override the Default Access Mode settings
by opening the project using one of the following procedures.
• On the File menu, click Open, and select the appropriate access mode from the
File Open dialog box.
• From Open Plan Explorer, right-click the file, point to Open on the context
menu, and select the appropriate access mode.
Earned Value — You can specify the Earned Value Technique (EVT) that Open
Plan automatically assigns to a new activity. When the Base Physical Percent
Complete on EVT option is selected on the Progress Calculations dialog box, Open
Plan uses the selected EVT to update the earned value of the activities when
progress calculations are run.
You can override this default EVT for an activity by assigning a new EVT
to the activity using the Advanced tab of the Activity Details dialog box.
• 50-50
• 0-100
• 100-0
• User-Defined Percentage
• Planning Package
• Resource % Complete.
You can also use this tab to assign resource, calendar, and code files to the project.
You can use this tab to display the following information calculated by Open Plan:
Status — The project status: Planned, In-Progress, or Complete.
Min. Total Float — The total float for the critical path in the project.
Early Finish — The project early finish date as calculated by time analysis.
Late Finish — The project late finish date as calculated by time analysis.
Scheduled Finish — The project scheduled finish date as calculated by resource
scheduling.
You can also use this tab to enter the following information about the project.
Project Start — The planned project start date. This date is used for reporting
purposes such as the default start date for barcharts.
Time Now — The current project status date. Open Plan will not calculate any
activity dates in either time analysis or resource scheduling prior to Time Now. If
the project is not yet underway, enter the planned project start date for Time Now.
If the project has started and you have entered progress information for one or more
activities, Time Now should be the latest date for which all progress information is
correct.
Target Start — The target start date is an optional date used by Open Plan in cases
where a project appears as an external subproject within a master project.
Target Finish — The target finish date is an optional date used by the time
analysis and resource scheduling functions.
Finish Type — You can specify how Open Plan interprets this date with the
following types:
• None
• Not Earlier Than
• Not Later Than
• On Target
In general, you should not enter a target finish date for any project before you run
time analysis. However, many projects do have target finish dates imposed by
outside circumstances. If you must enter a target finish date for the project, the
following points describe how a target finish may affect calculations for the rest of
the project.
• If you assign a Not Later Than target finish date later than or equal to the latest
early finish date calculated by time analysis, the target date has no effect. If you
enter a project target finish date that is earlier than the early finish date
calculated by time analysis, the result is a number of activities with negative
total float. This indicates that the target date is not achievable for the project as
planned and that replanning may be needed. (Note that the late start date of the
first activity in a project indicates the latest date the project can start and remain
achievable.)
To determine the latest date a project can start and still finish by a fixed
deadline, set a not-later-than finish date for the project and perform time
analysis. The late start date for the first activity in the project represents
the latest date the project can start and still meet the desired finish date.
• If you assign a Not Earlier Than target finish date earlier than or equal to the
latest early finish date calculated by time analysis, the target date will have no
effect. If you enter a project target date that is later than the early finish date
that time analysis would have calculated, the result is additional float for the
project.
• If you assign an On Target finish date earlier than the calculated early finish
date, you create negative float in the project. If you enter a target finish date
later than the calculated early finish date, you add float. If you enter a target
finish date exactly equal to the calculated date, the target date has no effect.
While the Reporting Calendar feature may be used with any Open Plan
project, it is particularly useful to Cobra users as it improves the ability of
Cobra to accurately spread time-phased assignment data.
Use Version 2 Cost Calculation Method — This option controls the cost
calculations method that Open Plan should use when calculating Budget at
Complete (BAC) values at the activity level:
• When this option is cleared, Open Plan uses the Open Plan Version 3 method.
With this method, Open Plan calculates costs based on assignments in the
Performance Measurement Baseline (PMB) in the Baseline Usage (BSU) table.
If there is no baseline named PMB, Open Plan uses the first selected baseline.
This is the default setting for new projects.
• When this option is selected, Open Plan uses the Open Plan Version 2 method.
With this method, Open Plan calculates costs based on the current resource
assignments. This is the default setting for projects that were originally created
in Open Plan 2.x.
The lower half of this tab is a grid that displays budgeted costs, scheduled value,
earned value, actual costs, and remaining costs rolled up to the project level for the
following:
• BAC — Budget at Completion
• BCWS — Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled
• BCWP — Budgeted Cost of Work Performed. This is also referred to as earned
value.
• ACWP — Actual Cost of Work Performed
• EAC — Estimate at Complete
For more information of the costs displayed in the grid, refer to the online
Help system for the Project Properties Cost tab.
You can use the following fields to attach a note to the file:
Note — This text box can contain up to 29 KB of text. You can enter the text by
typing directly in this field or by using the Windows Cut (Ctrl+X), Copy
(Ctrl+C), and Paste (Ctrl+V) commands to insert text from another Windows
application such as a word processor or spreadsheet.
Category — This field controls the category of the note. You can select a category
from the list of global categories.
Clicking the abc button checks the spelling of the text you enter.
You can enter links to files, Web pages, and e-mail addresses by entering the
information in one of the following formats:
• File links must be entered in the format of: file://c:\document.doc
If the file link you enter contains spaces, you must enclose the link with
angle brackets ( < > ) in order for the link to work properly:
<file://C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\test.txt>
While you can use drag and drop functionality to create links in the Note
field, the Windows Cut (Ctrl+X), Copy (Ctrl+C), and Paste (Ctrl+V)
commands are not available for links.
The Scheduling tab allows you to specify both the project's priority and the type of
dates that should be used when calculating the resource usage summary.
When using the summary usage file from one project in a subsequent
project, it is presumed that the next project schedule has a lower priority
than the one before (indicated by having a higher project priority number).
If the priority of the second project is set higher than the original project,
the first project should be scheduled again or you will get unsatisfactory
results.
The summary resource usage file is not saved when you perform a Save As
or do a backup. Also, when you do perform a Save As or a backup, the
option to Create Summary Usage Upon Saving Project (as shown above)
is automatically cleared on the new project.
Create Summary Usage Based On — This option is enabled when you select the
Create Summary Usage Upon Saving Project option. This field contains a list of
dates that Open Plan should use when creating the summary usage record:
• Early Dates
• Late Dates
• Scheduled Dates
Delete Summary Usage For This Project — Summary resource usage data needs
to be deleted when it is no longer appropriate. The data is deleted automatically
when a project is associated with a new resource file but not when a project is
deleted altogether. When you click the Delete Now button, Open Plan deletes the
project summary usage data from the PSU table for not only the open project but
also for any open external subprojects. This has the effect of freeing the resources
so that they can be made available to other projects.
You can also use the Manage Summary File dialog box to delete summary usage
from a project:
You can use either the Delete Now button on the Scheduling tab of the
Project Properties dialog box or the Manage Summary Usage dialog box
to delete summary resource usage on a single project. The Manage
Summary Usage dialog box, however, can be used to delete summary
resource usage on multiple projects that share the same resource file.
If you are the owner of the project or a member of the System Administrator group
and you have the project open in Exclusive mode, you can use the following fields
to define access rights to the project:
Owner — You can change the owner of the project by selecting a new owner from
the list.
If you provide access rights to a group for a project, members of that group
automatically inherit read rights to all resource files, calendar files, code
files, and external subprojects assigned to that project. Note, however, that
it is possible that after you change the ownership of a project to another
user, you may not have rights to save the project. If this occurs, simply
close the project without saving.
Group — By selecting a field in this column and selecting a group from the list,
you can specify the group(s) that can have access to the project.
Role — When you select a group or user ID, its default role is automatically
entered in this field. You can then change default role to any role that has been
defined in the data source.
User ID — By selecting a field in this column and selecting a user ID from the list,
you can specify the users that can have access to the project.
Read Only — By selecting Yes for this field, you limit the group or user to
opening the project in Read Only mode. By selecting No for this field, Other users
may open the file in any mode they choose. Read Only mode has the following
limitations:
• In order to make changes to the project, you must first save the project under a
different name.
• You cannot see changes made by other users.
In order to see changes made by other users who may have the project open
in Exclusive or Shared mode, you have to close and reopen the project
For more information on the three access modes, refer to Chapter 24,
“System Utilities.”
Opened On — This column displays the date and time that the project was opened
by a user.
Being able to assign codes to a project allows you to sort your projects. For
example, you might want to sort your projects according to a region or division
code.
The Codes tab contains the following fields:
Code — This column displays all the project-level code files that have been
defined.
Value — For each available code file, you can assign a specific code to the project.
Clicking the ellipsis at the right edge of the input field displays the Select Code
dialog box that you can use to select a code from a hierarchical code structure.
Overview
An activity is the smallest self-contained unit of work used to define the logic of a
project. Think of activities as the building blocks of a project. Their definition,
therefore, constitutes one of the most important aspects of project planning.
This chapter begins with a general discussion of some guidelines for planning
activities followed by a description of the types of information you can enter in
Open Plan for activities and relationships. Other topics include the procedures for
entering activity and relationship information, both within Open Plan as a whole
and within each of the views that allow data entry:
• Barchart views
• Network views
• Spreadsheet views
The chapter concludes with discussions of a number of utilities related to activity
information.
When entering activities for a project, you may want to give some thought to how
you want to number your activities. Although you can use other forms of activity
information (such as codes) to identify activities, activity IDs are the only identifier
that Open Plan validates as being unique for each activity. As a result, the activity
ID serves as the default sort order for most views and reports.
Although Open Plan supports almost any activity numbering system, most
organizations use activity IDs that have some significance built in. One of the most
common approaches is to use the activity ID to associate activities with specific
elements in a work breakdown structure (WBS). This type of approach, however, is
not required.
Activity IDs in Open Plan do not imply a sequence, and can be entered in any
order. Thus, the activity 0002 can be entered before its successor, activity 0001.
However, IDs do imply hierarchical relationships, so that activities 0001.1 and
0001.2 are interpreted as being the children of activity 0001. As a result, the use of
the period in an activity ID is restricted to indicating project hierarchies.
• By selecting the activity in an activity view and clicking Edit Activity on the
Edit menu
• By right-clicking the activity in an activity view and clicking Edit Activity on
the context menu
• By double-clicking the activity bar in a barchart view
• By double-clicking the activity box in a network view
Because you can update multiple activities without having to close the Activity
Details dialog box each time, Open Plan automatically saves any changes you
make to an activity before displaying the next record. Notice that the OK and
Cancel buttons found on many dialog boxes have been replaced here with the
following buttons:
• Close — Closes the dialog box and returns to the view. If you have not saved
the information currently displayed, Open Plan saves the changes before
returning to the view.
• Undo — Returns the dialog box to its previous state.
• Apply — Saves the changes you have made to the current record.
You must update information for an activity before the Undo and Apply
buttons become active.
You can also use the New command to create a new activity while the Activity
Details dialog box is open. This command functions identically to the Add
Activity command available on the Edit menu.
You can customize the action of the New command so that it copies the
information for the current activity rather than presenting the user with a blank
entry screen. You do this by selecting the Do Not Clear Contents of the Dialog
Box When Creating a New Activity option on the Edit tab of the Options dialog
box.
For more information on using the Options dialog box, refer to Chapter 25,
“System Defaults.”
For information about customizing the Open Plan standard data structure
and data dictionary, contact the Deltek technical support staff.
Duration — You can enter an activity duration in minutes, hours, days, weeks, or
months using the following abbreviations:
• T — minutes
• H — hours
• D — days
• W — weeks
• M — months
For example, to specify an activity duration of eight hours, enter 8H or 8h.
You can avoid having to specify a time unit when entering durations by assigning a
default duration unit for a project through the Preferences tab on the Project
Properties dialog box. Settings on this tab also affect how Open Plan determines
the number of hours in a duration defined in days, weeks, or months as well as the
minimum unit of duration considered by calculations such as time analysis and
resource scheduling.
You can use decimal values for durations (for example, 1.5d), but you cannot mix
date formats by entering durations such as 1w2d.
If you enter a duration that is not consistent with fixed target start and finish
dates for the activity, Open Plan will use the duration implied by the target
dates when performing time analysis and resource scheduling calculations.
Calendar — If you have assigned a calendar file to the project, you can assign a
calendar to the activity. If you do not assign a specific calendar to the activity,
Open Plan uses the default calendar to calculate dates for the activity. In projects
for which no calendar file has been assigned, all activity dates are calculated using
a 5-day, 40-hour work week with no holidays.
Type — The activity type defines how the activity is treated during time analysis.
The possible activity types are as follows:
• ASAP (As Soon As Possible) — Calculates the early dates of this activity to be
as soon as possible. This is the default activity type.
• ALAP (As Late As Possible) — Calculates the early dates of this activity to be
as late as possible without delaying the early dates of any succeeding activities.
• Start Milestone — Uses this activity to signify the start of a project phase. If the
activity duration is zero, Open Plan replaces the early and late finish dates with
the early and late start dates during time analysis.
• Finish Milestone — Uses this activity to signify the finish of a project phase. If
the activity duration is zero, Open Plan replaces the early and late start dates
with the early and late finish dates during time analysis.
• Effort Driven — Allows Open Plan to calculate the activity duration based on
resource assignments.
• External Subproject — Interprets this activity as representing an external
subproject and allows Open Plan to calculate its duration based on lower level
activities. Note that you cannot designate an activity as an external subproject
in the Desktop edition of Open Plan.
In the Professional edition of Open Plan, you can click the ellipsis
button at the right edge of the Subproject edit box and select a project
that will become the external subproject.
This tab allows you to specify the values that Open Plan should include for user-
defined fields on the activity, using the following fields:
Field — This column displays a list of all the user-defined fields that have been
defined.
Value — For each user-defined field that you want to use, you should enter an
appropriate value.
Predecessor
relationship
Successor
relationship
Hovering the cursor over the Predecessor and Successor ID in the grid
displays a popup text message indicating the description of the ID followed
in parentheses by the status of the ID.
You can use the Goto button to display the information for a selected predecessor
or successor. To use this feature, select the ID of a predecessor or successor activity
and then click Goto. Open Plan changes the focus to the specified activity.
This dialog box also shows the total float and free float for each predecessor and
successor relationship. To see these fields, use the horizontal scroll bar to display
the rightmost fields in the grid or reduce the width of displayed columns by
dragging the column boundaries.
• Start to Start — The successor activity cannot start until the predecessor activity
has started.
• Start to Finish — The successor activity cannot finish until the predecessor
activity has started. This type of relationship is rarely used.
• Finish to Finish — The successor activity cannot finish until the predecessor
activity is complete.
Successor — If you are defining a relationship with a successor activity, enter the
ID of the successor and leave the Predecessor field on the row blank.
Lag — Lag is the time delay associated with the relationship. Lags can be either
positive (to indicate a delay between two events) or negative (to indicate an overlap
or lead time between two events). For example, if an activity cannot start until two
days after the completion of its predecessor, define a finish-to-start relationship
between the two activities and enter a lag of 2 days.
For start-to-start relationships, it is also possible to define a lag as a percentage of
the predecessor activity’s duration. To enter a duration-driven lag, enter a value
followed by a percent sign (%). For example, to define a lag equal to one half of the
predecessor’s duration, enter 50%.
Calendar — By default, the calculation of lag times uses the calendar assigned to
the successor activity. You can, however, assign a different calendar to the lag.
Use this dialog box to define relationships between any two activities in the project.
Loop Detection
Whenever you enter a relationship between activities, Open Plan automatically
checks that a logical loop has not been defined. To do this, Open Plan considers the
relationships between the activities and sorts them in an order to be processed.
Open Plan ensures during this process that no activity is processed before any of its
logical predecessors.
In the course of the sort, Open Plan may find that entering the relationship would
create a logical loop in the project. In effect, this means that at least two activities
are mutually dependent. (Neither activity can start before the other.) If a loop is
detected, Open Plan immediately deletes the relationship that would otherwise
cause the loop and alerts you of this action. If you are entering relationships in a
network view, Open Plan also selects all of the activities that comprise the loop.
Because of the speed at which Open Plan performs this function, you may not be
aware that it is taking place unless a logical loop is actually detected.
Barchart
pane
To add an activity in the barchart pane, simply double-click an empty row in the
barchart or click Add Activity on the Edit menu. You can also display relationship
information for activities in the barchart pane.
For information about the other options for viewing relationships, refer to
Chapter 18, “Barchart Views.”
Double-click an
empty row to
create an activity.
It is possible to change the target start date of an activity by repositioning the bar
along the time line or to change the activity duration by stretching or shrinking the
bar. If you have automatic time analysis turned on, the length or position of the bar
changes immediately. If you do not have automatic time analysis turned on, the bar
does not reflect your changes until the next time you perform time analysis.
The granularity of the date scale can also affect the manipulation of bars. For
example, if the smallest units displayed on the date scale are months, you may not
be able to set the target start of an activity to a specific day.
For information about customizing the date scale in a barchart view, refer to
Chapter 18, “Barchart Views.”
For bars to be eligible for manipulation in the bar chart view, the bar type must
display early dates and must have the Drag option set to Yes.
For information about defining custom activity bar types, refer to Chapter 6,
“Customizing Barchart Views,” in the Deltek Open Plan Developer’s
Guide.
Barchart panes also allow you to display and enter relationships between activities.
Relationship To use a barchart pane for entering relationship information, click the Relationship
Mode button
Mode button on the toolbar:
Drag to create
relationships.
In the Relationship Mode, you can use the mouse to draw relationships between
activities by linking the start or finish of one bar to the start or finish of another bar.
All four types of relationships can be created using this technique:
• Finish to Start — The successor activity cannot start until the predecessor
activity is complete. This is the default relationship type.
• Start to Start — The successor activity cannot start until the predecessor activity
has started.
• Start to Finish — The successor activity cannot finish until the predecessor
activity has started. This type of relationship is rarely used.
• Finish to Finish — The successor activity cannot finish until the predecessor
activity is complete.
Spreadsheet
pane
You can enter, display, and edit any activity-related information in the spreadsheet
pane of a barchart view, including information stored in user-defined fields.
For fields with a limited number of valid entries (for example, an activity type),
Open Plan displays a list of valid choices in the edit box.
If you have selected a cell displaying data generated by Open Plan (for example, an
early start date), the following keyboard shortcuts are available:
Key Action
Down arrow Move down one cell
Up arrow Move up one cell
Left arrow Move left one cell
Right arrow Move right one cell
Ctrl+Up arrow Move to top row in view
Ctrl+Down arrow Move to bottom row in view
Ctrl+Left arrow Move to first cell in row
Ctrl+Right arrow Move to last displayed cell in row
Page Up Move up one screen
Page Down Move down one screen
Home Move to first cell in row
End Move to last cell in row
Ctrl+Home Move to top left cell
Ctrl+End Move to bottom right cell
Finally, if you have selected a cell with a fixed number of valid values (for
example, activity type), the following keyboard shortcuts are available:
Key Action
Down or Right arrow Choose next value
Up or Left arrow Choose previous value
Home Choose first value
End Choose last value
To add an activity
Take one of the following actions:
• On an empty row, select the Activity ID field, and enter an ID for the new activity.
• On the Edit menu, click Add Activity.
• Double-click an empty row.
In addition to entering activity information, you can modify the appearance and
position of individual activity boxes and relationship lines within a view. You can
also click a relationship and then have Open Plan go to and select the predecessor
or successor of the relationship automatically.
To add a relationship
Take one of the following actions:
• Drag the cursor from the start or finish of an activity to the start or finish of its
successor.
Add Relationship
cursor • On the Edit menu, click Add Relationship , and enter the predecessor and
successor activities.
To edit a relationship
Take one of the following actions:
• Double-click the relationship line.
• Right-click the relationship line, and click Edit Relationship on the context menu.
• Select the predecessor or successor activity, click Edit Activity on the Edit menu,
and display the Relationships tab.
• Right-click the predecessor or successor activity, and click the Relationships tab
on the Edit menu.
To delete a relationship
Take one of the following actions:
• Right-click the relationship line, and click Delete Relationship on the context
menu.
• Position the cursor over the arrow head of the relationship line. When the cursor
changes shape, drag the line back to the predecessor activity.
Click to select
activity or
double-click to
display the
Activity Details
dialog box.
You can enter, display, and edit any activity-related information in an activity
spreadsheet view, including information stored in user-defined fields.
Click to select
a relationship.
Click to expand
or collapse an
activity.
Utilities
Open Plan provides a number of utilities related to displaying activity information,
including:
• Finding activities
• Displaying activity information
• Displaying a particular project date
• Deleting an activity
• Setting column/row attributes for a view
The first two utilities are available in barchart, network, and activity spreadsheet
views. The third utility is available in either the barchart or the histogram view. The
fourth applies to any activity.
Finding an Activity
You can use the Find command to locate and display the information about an
activity in a view:
You can define the object of your search as either an activity ID or text contained
within an activity description. If you search on text appearing in the activity
description, you can limit the search operation with the following options:
• Match Case — Limit the search to description text that matches the use of
upper- and lower-case letters in the find text.
• Find Whole Word — Find only description text that includes an exact match of
the target text. For example, use this option if you do not want Open Plan to
find descriptions containing the word “information” based on a search for the
word “form.”
If you search on activity descriptions, you can repeat the operation with the Find
Next command.
If you are searching for an activity that is not currently displayed because it resides
at a different hierarchical level, Open Plan responds as follows:
• In a network view, Open Plan goes to the appropriate subproject level.
• In barchart and spreadsheet views, Open Plan expands the appropriate parent
activities.
If you are searching for an activity that is not currently displayed because of a view
filter, Open Plan displays a message explaining that it cannot display the activity at
this time.
You can also use the Find command to locate any type of data in a spreadsheet
column (for example, a date). If you use the Find command with a column
selected, the Find in ID and Find in Description options are unavailable.
To locate any type of data in a spreadsheet column, select the column and
click Find on the Edit menu or right-click the column heading and click
Find on the context menu.
To find an activity
1. Take one of the following actions:
• On the Edit menu, click Find.
• Press Ctrl+F.
• Right-click an empty area of the view and, click Find on the context menu.
2. Enter either the activity ID or the text appearing in the activity description, and
click Find.
This tab displays budgeted and actual costs calculated at the activity level for the
following:
• BAC — Budget at Completion
• BCWS — Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled
For more information of the costs displayed in the grid, refer to the online
Help system for the Activity Information Cost tab. For more information
about entering cost information, refer to Chapter 10, “Cost Information.”
You can display this dialog box in any barchart, network, or spreadsheet view.
Note that this dialog box, like the Activity Details dialog box, is modeless; you can
leave it open when performing other operations. You can also use the navigation
controls displayed in the lower left corner of the dialog box to scroll through the
activities in a network.
Finding a Date
To display a date in a time-scaled view such as a barchart or histogram, use the Go
To Date command to display the Go to Date dialog box:
With this dialog box, you can have Open Plan automatically display the portion of
the view that contains one of the following dates:
• The project start date
• The project finish date
• Time Now
• A specific date
To find a date
1. Take one of the following actions:
• On the View menu, click Go To Date.
• Right-click an empty area of the barchart, and click Go To Date on the context
menu.
2. Select the date you want to display in the view, and click OK.
Deleting an Activity
When you click Delete on the Edit menu with an activity view open, the Delete
Activity dialog box displays:
When you delete a single activity from a project, you can use this dialog box to
instruct Open Plan to take one of the following actions:
Delete the activity and its relationships — Removes the activity and relationships
when the activity is not required and the chain of activities or the logic flow is
changing.
Delete the activity and reconnect its predecessors to its successor using Finish
to Start relationships — Use this option when one step in a process is not needed
but the rest of the work continues in its planned sequence. For example, this could
be a work order with steps or a process with steps.
Click to select
either <Row>
or a column.
Example of possible
selections for
<Row>.
Example of possible
selections for a
column.
If < Row > is selected in the drop-down list and the Criterion field is blank, all
formatting selections will be applied to every row. If the Criterion field contains a
value, formatting selections will be applied only to rows for which the criterion
evaluates to True.
Overview
Resources are people, facilities, or anything else needed to perform the work of a
project. Although entering resources is not required in Open Plan, many project
managers have found that the successful planning, management, and control of
project resources are crucial to the overall success of a project.
In Open Plan, features related to resource management fall into three broad
categories:
• Defining resources
• Assigning resources to activities
• Performing resource scheduling
This chapter includes discussions on the first of these categories — defining
resources.
BCI
BCI.RSH BCI.CST
BCI.RSH.GCB BCI.RSH.PEB
BCI.RSH.GCB.PRG BCI.RSH.GCB.DE
BCI.RSH.GCB.PRG.DAVE BCI.RSH.GCB.PRG.JOHN
Resource Files
In Open Plan, information about a group of resources is stored in a resource file. (In
reality, this information is stored in three separate data tables. For the purposes of
this discussion, however, we will refer to these as comprising a single file.)
Resource files can be project-specific, or they can be shared among multiple
projects. However, you can assign only one resource file to a project at any given
time.
If you make changes to the information in a resource file, the changes will affect all
of the projects to which that file is assigned. To make changes in a resource file that
affect a single project only, make sure that the resource file is not assigned to other
projects.
In Open Plan, resource files are represented with a distinctive icon.
Resource file
icon
You can open a resource file from within the resource’s Views folder. Assigning a
resource file to a project can be as simple as dragging the resource file from the
Open Plan Library to the project folder.
• On the File menu, click Open, and use the File Open dialog box to locate the
resource.
Open button
• On the toolbar, click the Open button, and use the File Open dialog box to locate
the resource.
For information on using the File Open dialog box, refer to Chapter 3,
“Getting Started.”
You cannot perform Save As on a file if there is another file open which
refers to it. For example, if you open project CLEAN and then try to
perform a Save As on the resource file CLEANRES, the Save As command
is disabled.
Defining Resources
To define a resource in Open Plan, use the Resource Details dialog box. The
Resource Details dialog box displays basic information about each resource. Open
Plan automatically displays this tabbed dialog box each time you add or edit a
resource.
The Resource Details dialog box contains the following tabs for the various types
of information associated with the resource:
• General tab
• Code tab
• Availability tab
• Escalation tab
• Skills tab
• User Fields tab
• Notes tab
You can display the Resource Details dialog box for an existing resource in the
following ways:
• By double-clicking the resource
• Selecting the resource and clicking Edit Resource on the Edit menu
• Right-clicking the resource and clicking Edit on the context menu
The Resource Details dialog box is also displayed when you create a new resource
by taking one of the following actions:
• Double-clicking an empty area of the view
• Pressing Ctrl+A
• Clicking Add Resource on the Edit menu
• Right-clicking an empty area of the view and clicking Add Resource on the
context menu
Because you can update multiple resources without having to close the Resource
Details dialog box each time, Open Plan automatically saves any changes you
make to a resource before displaying the next record. Notice also that the OK and
Cancel buttons usually found on dialog boxes have been replaced with the
following buttons:
• Close — This button closes the dialog box and returns to the display of
resources. If you have not saved the information currently displayed, Open Plan
saves the changes before returning to the display.
• Undo — Provided that you have not clicked Apply, this button returns the
dialog box to its previous state.
• Apply — This button saves the changes you have made to the current record.
You must enter information for a resource before the Undo and Apply
buttons become active.
You can also use the New command to create a new resource while the Resource
Details dialog box is open. This command functions identically to the Add
Resource command available from the Edit menu.
For information about customizing the Open Plan standard data structure
and data dictionary, contact the Deltek technical support staff.
When you enter a resource ID on the Resource Details dialog box, enter only the
local portion of the resource ID. Open Plan automatically enters the parent portion
of the ID.
Open Plan does not distinguish between upper and lower case characters in an ID
and will flag resource R0001 as a duplicate of resource r0001.
Open Plan interprets a threshold value based on the default duration unit and the
conversion settings for a project. For example, assume that you enter a threshold of
2 for a labor resource used in a project in which the default duration unit is defined
as days and in which one day converts to 8 hours. Open Plan interprets the
threshold for that resource as 16 labor-hours. Note that one implication of this
approach is that the interpretation of a threshold value may vary since it depends on
the settings stored on the Preferences tab of the Project Properties dialog box for
the project.
For more information about the Preferences tab of the Project Properties
dialog box, refer to Chapter 5, “Project Properties.”
Project — This field contains a list of projects that are assigned to the resource file
of the selected resource. If you select a project from the list, Open Plan reserves
100 percent of the resource's availability to the project.
Lower level reservations can override higher level ones. This allows you to reserve
an entire resource pool for one project and then override this for resources at a
lower level in the resource hierarchy.
If the selected resource is an individual resource (as contrasted with a pool) you can
use the Availability tab to apportion the availability to multiple projects.
Email Address — You can use this field to store an email address for the resource.
This information can be used as an Address field in the Email Advisor.
Category — Open Plan supports the following resource category types:
• Labor
• Material
• Other Direct Costs
• Subcontract
Open Plan uses Other Direct Costs to monitor costs at an activity level.
Effort Factor — The effort factor setting is used for the calculation of durations
for effort-driven activities. The effort factor indicates to what extent the resource is
available for any one activity. For example, assume that a resource, while available
for 8 hours per day, cannot devote more than 4 hours of his or her time to any one
activity. Enter an effort factor of 4 to reflect this situation.
This setting does not indicate efficiency and has no effect on resource scheduling
calculations.
Employee ID — If the resource category is Labor, you can enter the employee ID
used by the Human Resources Department in this field.
Suppress in Lists — If you do not want to use the resource for assignment or
reporting purposes, you can have Open Plan suppress the display of the resource in
all lists.
Suppress for Scheduling — You can have Open Plan ignore a resource during
resource scheduling. This is useful in cases where you want to track requirements for
a particular resource but ignore any potential impact it may have on the project
schedule. During resource scheduling, Open Plan treats suppressed resources as
though they have unconstrained availabilities.
Roll up for Scheduling — Roll-up resource scheduling allows you to look at
resources and schedule the activities from a summary perspective by specifying the
hierarchical level for resource availabilities and assignments. When you indicate that
the resource is to be rolled up for scheduling purposes, you specify that all references
to that resource should be treated as a reference to the first parent of the resource in
the hierarchy that is not rolled up to a higher level. (Thus, every rolled-up resource
must have at least one hierarchical parent that is not rolled up.) The only restriction
to this technique is that you cannot roll up both consumable and non-consumable
resources to the same pool.
Using this feature, you can produce a more general resource schedule without a
detailed consideration of individual resources. This effectively reduces the number of
calculations required to produce a resource-based schedule, thereby improving
processing times for larger projects.
For example, assume that MARY and JANE are individual resources in the
following hierarchy:
The roll-up settings for these resources have been defined as follows:
Resource Availability Roll-up
EC Not defined No
EC.PROG Not defined No
EC.ENG Not defined No
EC.ENG.MARY 8 hours/day Yes
EC.ENG.JANE 8 hours/day Yes
EC.ENG is the first parent of MARY and JANE that is not rolled up to a higher
level. Therefore, Open Plan considers any request for either MARY or JANE as a
request for EC.ENG. Furthermore, Open Plan assumes that EC.ENG has an
availability of 16 hours per day since it combines the availabilities of both MARY
and JANE.
This roll-up feature is incompatible with the use of alternate resource assignments
involving pools and skills.
Actual Cost Based on Progressed Quantity — Use this option if you want Open
Plan to automatically calculate actual costs from the number of resource units used.
For example, if you define the unit cost for a resource as $10.00, and you indicate
that 5 units of the resource have been used, then Open Plan calculates the actual
cost for the resource as $50.00.
Consider in Cost Calculations — If this option is selected, Open Plan includes the
resource in cost calculations.
Resource Codes
Resource codes are designed to summarize or manage an entire group of resources.
Codes can be predefined, then assigned to resources within the resource file. The
ability to create custom reports based on user-defined coding structures provides
virtually unlimited reporting possibilities.
The Code tab of the Resource Details dialog box allows you to assign codes to
resources:
You can use the following settings to control the code assignments:
Code — The code field in the resource table to which a code file is assigned. For
example, many organizations use WBS and OBS code files.
Value — The specific code within the code file. Clicking the ellipsis at the right
edge of the input field displays the Select Code dialog box that you can use to
select a code from a hierarchical code structure.
Resource Availabilities
Availability information defines periods during which a resource is available and in
what quantity. To represent more complex resource availabilities, you can define
multiple availability levels for a single resource. This allows you, for example, to
model how seasonal changes in your staffing levels can affect the project schedule.
The Availability tab of the Resource Details dialog box displays information
about the availability of each resource:
For more information about how calendars affect resources, refer to Chapter
10, “Resource Scheduling Calculations,” in the Deltek Open Plan
Developer’s Guide.
Project — Selecting a field in this column displays a list of projects stored in the
same data source for which the resource can be reserved for the date range.
If you do not specify a project for a particular period, Open Plan reserves the
resource for that period to the project specified on the General tab of the Resource
Details dialog box.
For further information about the hard zeros processing option, refer to
Chapter 14, “Resource Scheduling.”
Cost Escalations
The cost escalations feature in Open Plan allows you to model the effects of
changes in the unit cost of a resource over time. With this feature, you use the
Escalation tab of the Resource Details dialog box to specify multiple unit costs
for a resource and when each new cost takes effect:
For example, assume that a resource costs $25.00 per unit as of 01Jan04, and the
cost escalates by $.50 every three months. Enter $25.00 as the current unit cost and
describe the cost escalation with the following information:
Date Cost
01Apr04 25.50
01Jul04 26.00
01Oct04 26.50
01Jan05 27.00
User-Defined Fields
The User Fields tab allows you to specify the values that Open Plan should include
for user-defined fields on the project table:
Resource Notes
The Notes tab allows you to attach text information to resources:
If the file link you enter contains spaces, you must enclose the link with
angle brackets ( < > ) in order for the link to work properly:
<file://C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\test.txt>
While you can use drag and drop functionality to create links in the Note
field, the Windows Cut (Ctrl+X), Copy (Ctrl+C), and Paste (Ctrl+V)
commands are not available for links.
Lower-level reservations override higher-level ones. For example, you can reserve
a whole department for a particular project by assigning a project on the General
tab for a resource pool. Then you can countermand this for individual members of
that department (or pool) by one of two ways:
• Assign a different project on the General tab for that particular resource
• Assign a different project in the Project column on the Availability tab
Entering Resources
When you create a new resource file, Open Plan displays a window containing an
empty workspace. To add a resource to the file, click the Add Resource command
on the Edit menu or simply double-click an empty area in the workspace.
Although you can define a resource file as a “flat” structure in which all resources
occupy the top hierarchical level, a more common practice is to develop a tree-like
resource breakdown structure that can be used to summarize groups of related
resources for reporting purposes:
Open Plan makes it easy to work with hierarchies of resources. For example, you
can assign an entire group of resources to a different resource pool simply by
dragging the resources to a different position in the resource hierarchy. You can
also expand and collapse individual resource pools in order to display the
appropriate level of detail.
To add a resource
1. Take one of the following actions:
• From the resource display, click Add Resource on the Edit menu.
• Double-click an empty area of the workspace.
• Right-click an empty area of the workspace, and click Add Resource on the
context menu.
2. Enter the information for the resource in the Resource Details dialog box.
3. When the information is complete, click Close.
You can rearrange the order in which Open Plan displays resources from
left to right on the same hierarchical level by simply dragging a resource to
the desired location.
To edit a resource
1. Take one of the following actions:
• Double-click the resource you want to update.
• Select the resource you want to update, and click Edit Resource on the Edit
menu.
• Right-click the resource, and click Edit on the context menu.
2. In the Resource Details dialog box, enter the information for the resource.
3. When the information is complete, click Close.
To find a resource
1. Take one of the following actions:
• On the Edit menu, click Find.
• Right-click an empty area of the workspace, and click Find on the context
menu.
2. In the Find Node dialog box, enter the ID of the resource you want to find, and
click OK.
To delete a resource
1. Select the resource you want to delete.
2. Take one of the following actions:
• Press the Delete key.
• On the Edit menu, click Delete Resource.
• Right-click the resource, and click Delete on the context menu.
If you are deleting a resource pool, Open Plan warns you that the child resources
will be deleted along with the pool.
If you delete a resource that has been assigned to an activity in a project,
the assignment is deleted as well.
• If there is no previous resource ID, the program uses a numeric ID. Therefore,
the first ID in the file is numbered "1."
Open Plan attempts to find a pattern in the ID numbering scheme for IDs that are
incremented numerically by looking at the last two IDs in the hierarchy. If a pattern
can be established, Open Plan uses the pattern when automatically creating a new
ID.
For example, assume that your resource file has the following hierarchy:
A11
A12
A13
A14
A15
A20
Open Plan looks at the last two IDs in the hierarchy and determines that there is an
difference of 5 between the two. Therefore, if you use automatically numbering to
create the next ID, Open Plan creates ID A25.
On the other hand, if there is only one resource ID in the hierarchy and you have
Open Plan create the other IDs , it uses the ID’s value as the incremental pattern.
For example, if you enter 12 for the first ID in the hierarchy and then have Open
Plan create the remaining IDs, it increments the IDs by 12 resulting in the
following hierarchy:
12
24
36
48
60
Resource Skills
A skill is an attribute of an individual resource, which can have any number of
skills. In general, the skills assigned to different individual resources will be
different but overlapping. Furthermore, skill sets can cross hierarchical boundaries
within an RBS. Thus, an individual resource may have a different set of skills than
other resources in its pool while sharing skills with resources belonging to another
pool.
Just as you can define resource assignments for an activity, Open Plan allows you
to define skill assignments as well. These assignments can be satisfied by any
individual resource that possesses the required skill.
For an activity requiring a knowledge of C++, Open Plan could suggest either
DEVEL.TECH.WAYNE or DEVEL.PROG.GAIL.
To use resource skills in Open Plan, perform the following steps:
• Step One — Define the skills in a resource file.
• Step Two — Assign skills to individual resources.
• Step Three — Define skill assignments for activities.
To define skills for a resource file, use the Manage Skills command from the Tools
menu. Open Plan displays any skills assigned to resources at the bottom level of the
resource breakdown structure.
Managing Skills
The Manage Skills command from the Tools menu allows you to set up the skills
for a resource file:
When you indicate that you want to create a new skill, Open Plan displays the
following dialog box:
By defining costs for skills, you can calculate resource budgets in cases
where you request a skill rather than an individual resource for an activity.
To update a skill
1. From the resource display, click Manage Skills on the Tools menu.
2. From the list of skills, select the skill you want to update, and click Edit.
3. Update the information about the skill.
4. When the information for the skill is complete, click OK to return to the Skills
dialog box.
5. To return to the resource display, click OK.
To delete a skill
1. From the resource display, click Manage Skills on the Tools menu.
2. From the list of skills, select the skill you want to delete, and click Delete.
3. When Open Plan asks you to confirm the deletion, click Yes to perform the
operation and return to the Skills dialog box.
4. To return to the resource display, click OK.
Assigning Skills
Once you have created the skills for a resource file, you can assign these skills to
resources. Information about the skills assigned to a resource appears on the Skills
tab of the Resource Details dialog box:
You can assign one or more skills to any individual resource in a resource file.
Use this dialog box to specify the following options for displaying resource
information.
Box Color — The color used to draw the resource boxes.
Box Style — The style used to display the resource boxes. Open Plan allows you to
select a box style from a list displayed when you enter the field.
Show Full ID — You can display the entire resource ID or just the local portion of
each ID.
Show Skills — You can control the display of skills. (Skills appear as children of
individual resources.)
Minimum Height — You can control the height of the resource boxes.
Minimum Width — You can control the width of the resource boxes
Spread/Ladder — You can display the lowest level of the resource hierarchy in a
“ladder” format to conserve horizontal space.
Compressed/Uncompressed — You can display the resource hierarchy in a
compressed mode in which individual resources belonging to one pool can be
displayed beneath another pool.
Sideways — You can display the resource hierarchy in a horizontal orientation.
Centered — You can display the resource hierarchy centered in the workspace, or
left-justified. (If you are displaying the hierarchy using the Sideways option,
turning off the Centered option results in the resources being aligned along the top
of the workspace.)
Change the
order of the
items
The preview area of the dialog box displays the current definition of the resource
boxes. (Note that this representation may differ slightly in size and aspect ratio
from the actual display of boxes in the view.)
Notice that Open Plan displays data items in the dialog box in order of line number.
When you add, delete, or change data items, you must exit and return to the dialog
box to display the items in the correct line sequence.
Open Plan displays items sharing the same line from left to right based on the order
in which the items appear in the list. To move an item to a different position in the
list, use the Change Order buttons.
You can customize the layout of the resource box with the following settings.
Field — You can select any resource field for display.
Line — For each field appearing in the resource box, you must assign a line
number. Resource boxes can contain up to 16 lines, and each line can display one
or more fields. If you assign multiple fields to a single line, the order in which the
fields are listed in the dialog box determines how Open Plan displays the fields in
the box. To display a blank line in the resource box, do not enter settings for those
lines. For example, to display resource boxes with a double-high blank line, use the
following settings:
Field Line Format
Res. ID 1 1 line
Res. Desc. 4 1 line
Format — This setting has the following options to control the display of the data
in the box:
• 1 Line
• Wrap over 2 lines
• Wrap over 4 lines
• Wrap over 4 lines
Suppress Box Lines — Selecting this option hides the display of lines within the
resource boxes.
If you select Zoom Out from the normal display mode, Open Plan applies a
reduced display mode to the window. In this display mode, the resource boxes are
reduced so that all the resources in the structure are visible:
If the entire resource structure can be displayed at once, the Zoom Out
command is not available.
In order to return to the normal display mode, Open Plan provides a Zoom In
command. When the display mode has been reduced, the Zoom In command
becomes enabled.
In each view, you can display the Resource Details dialog box by double-clicking
the appropriate row in the view:
Double-click
to display
resource
information.
Multi-table barchart views allow you to display a time-scaled bar representing the
assignments for a resource:
For more information, refer to the “Support for All Tables” section of
Chapter 20, “Spreadsheet Views.”
Overview
Resource assignments define which resources are required for the completion of
one or more activities in a project. Open Plan provides a rich set of features for
defining resource assignments. For example:
• You can describe assignments that apply for the entire duration of an activity or
for only a portion of the duration.
• You can define assignments using profile curves that vary the amount of the
resource required over the course of the assignment.
• You can define alternate resources that can be used in the absence of the
requested resource.
• You can assign a resource pool or skill for an activity and have Open Plan select
an available resource for you.
Resource assignments at the subproject level have no direct effect on the dates
calculated by resource scheduling. However, these types of assignments may
impact the availability of resources assigned to subsequent activities, thus resulting
in delays
This chapter begins with a description of the different methods you can use to enter
resource assignments. This is followed by a section on resource allocation — acting
upon the resource assignments suggested by Open Plan. The chapter concludes
with sections on effort-driven activities and defining assignment profiles manually.
Normal Mode
The default view is Normal:
In Normal mode, Open Plan controls resource assignments for the selected activity
identified in the following fields:
ID — The identifier of the selected activity. An activity ID can contain 1 to 59
characters, including the periods that are used to indicate hierarchical levels.
IDs containing the following four symbols " , | ; are used as delimiters in
Open Plan and should not be used in the ID field.
The activity ID serves as the default sort order for most views and reports.
Although Open Plan supports almost any activity numbering system, most
organizations use activity IDs that have some significance built in such as a
prefix that refers to the project. Another approach might be to use the
activity ID to associate activities with specific elements in a work
breakdown structure.
A description can contain up to 60 characters. You may use both upper- and
lowercase characters.
■ h — hours
■ t — minutes
While a duration may contain decimal values (for example, 4.5 D), you cannot
enter duration using mixed duration units. (For example, 4D4H is not allowed.)
Open plan interprets an activity with a blank duration field as having zero duration.
You can avoid having to specify a time unit when entering durations by
assigning a default duration unit for a project through the Preferences tab on
the Project Properties dialog box.
For more information on the Select Resource dialog box, refer to the
“Using the Select Resource Dialog Box” section later in this chapter.
• T – Linear
For a description of each profile curve, refer to Chapter 13, “Spread Curve
Profiles,” in the Deltek Open Plan Developer’s Guide. For information on
how to customize or create a spread curve, refer to Chapter 23, “System
Utilities,” in this user’s guide.
For requirements defined as totals, the time unit for the requirement is based on the
default duration unit specified for the project. For example, a total requirement for
10 people for a project scheduled in days is interpreted as a requirement for 10
labor-days.
For information on setting the default duration unit for a project, refer to
Chapter 5, “File Properties.”
Resource Level — The amount of the resource required. This numeric value is
interpreted by Open Plan as either a level-per-activity time unit or as a total
requirement, depending on the Resource Curve setting for the assignment.
Alternate Resource ID — You can enter an alternate for any required resource,
pool, or skill. If Open Plan determines that the original required resource is not
available during resource scheduling, it attempts to substitute the alternate resource.
Following resource scheduling, you can use the resource allocation feature to
confirm or change any substitutions Open Plan has suggested.
Resource Offset — The assignment offset is a duration relative to the start of the
activity when the resource is first required. For example, if you define the offset of
an assignment as 5 days, the assignment will begin on the sixth day of the activity
duration.
Resource Period — The assignment period defines the duration for which the
resource is required. If this parameter is left blank, the period duration defaults to
the activity duration minus the offset duration.
For standard (that is, non-cost) resources, Open Plan does not allow you to enter
values for an assignment offset and period that extend beyond the duration of the
activity.
For more information about the differences between standard resources and
cost resources, refer to Chapter 10, “Cost Information.”
Cost Class — Cobra users can enter a cost class for each resource assignment in
this column. This information is transferred to Cobra during cost/schedule
integration.
In Time Phase mode, Open Plan allows resource assignments to be displayed and
edited in a time-phased manner. This allows resource levels to be more precisely
allocated within the duration of the activity.
When this mode is selected, any assignments displayed in the Normal mode are
translated into time-phased periods starting at the activity early start date and
spread based on the assignment’s spread curve, offset, period, and cost class.
Multiple assignments of the same resource with differing cost classes are treated as
separate assignments when translated into time-phased periods.
The grid contains the following columns:
Skill ID — Once you have specified a skill in this column, when you add a
resource on the same row using the Select Resource dialog box, the Skill Filter is
preset to the intended skill, displaying only those resources that match the skill.
Resource ID — Open Plan uses the resources displayed in this column for the
activity.
If you hover your mouse cursor over this field, Open Plan displays the
description associated with the resource.
Cost Class — Cobra users can enter a cost class for each resource assignment in
this column. This information is transferred to Cobra during cost/schedule
integration.
Total Qty — The total amount of the resource requirement. If a resource
assignment exists in Normal mode, the total quantity is calculated in one of the
following ways:
• Level — The Total Quantity is the Level of the resource assignment multiplied
by the Duration. For example, if you assign a resource to work 8 hours per day
on a 10 day activity, the resource requirement equates to 80 hours. Now,
assume that the activity actually takes 12 days. Since the resource was assigned
as a level per time unit, the resource will work on the activity for a total of 96
hours.
• Total — The Total Quantity is the Level entered spread over the duration of the
activity according to the assigned spread Curve. For example, if you assign a
resource to work on the same 10 day activity for a total of 80 hours, you still
have a fixed 80 hours of the resource to spread over the duration of the activity
regardless of whether the activity duration is 10 or 12 days.
Cutoff Dates — The time-phased cutoff dates are based on the project’s fiscal
calendar (if one has been assigned to the project). If there is no fiscal calendar, the
cutoff dates are generated using weekly periods.
Total Labor Qty — This summary row displays the total quantity for Labor
resources for the Total Qty column and each time-phased cutoff date column.
The following buttons are also located on this dialog box:
Spread — Clicking this button displays the Spread Method dialog box that you
can use to re-spread the total quantity over the time phased periods.
Reconcile —If there is a discrepancy between the total quantity and the sum of the
time-phased periods, you can use the Reconcile button to quickly fix the problem.
When you click this button, the Reconcile command calculates the difference
between the total quantity and the sum of the periods. The difference is placed into
the selected period after you confirm the operation.
Show As Levels — Selecting this option allows time-phased resource assignments
values to be displayed and edited using a level-per-period value instead of a total-
per-period value. When in this mode, the Total Qty column is disabled and used
for reference only, and the Spread and Reconcile buttons are dimmed.
The activity Start and End dates are also displayed.
If you assign a resource to an activity that already has one assigned to it,
the new resource will be an addition to, not a replacement of, the
existing resource.
The fields on this dialog box are the same as those on the Resources tab of the
Activity Details dialog box (discussed in the previous section) with the following
additions:
From ID — This field identifies the first activity in the activity hierarchy to which
you are assigning resources.
To ID — This field identifies the last activity in the activity hierarchy to which you
are assigning resources.
The information in these fields do not imply that you are assigning resources to all
the activities in the range. For example, if you have selected activities such as the
following:
1.03.01
1.03.04
1.03.06
Open Plan would show 1.03.01 in the From ID field and 1.03.06 in the To ID
field.
4. On the Assign Multiple Resources to Multiple Activities dialog box, enter the
information for the resource(s), and click OK.
You can use the following controls on this dialog box when selecting a resource or
resources to assign to an activity:
Resources — This area displays a hierarchical representation of the resources in
the currently assigned resource file. Different resources are displayed here as you
apply or remove a skill filter.
Resources that have had skills assigned to them can display in this list followed by
two numbers in parentheses. For example, a resource appearing as “Bob Johnson
(10) (3)” indicates that Bob Johnson has an availability of 10 units (as defined on
the Preferences tab of the Project Properties dialog box). It further indicates that
this resource has a proficiency rating of “3”. Proficiencies are assigned to resources
on the Skills tab of the Resource Details dialog box.
In general, resource availabilities that are reserved for another project are not
displayed in this field. However, when an activity is part of an external subproject,
Open Plan includes resources that have been reserved for the following elements of
the hierarchical project:
• The subproject to which the activity belongs
• Any higher-level external subprojects
If you select multiple skills by holding down the Ctrl or Shift key while
making a selection, the hierarchy displays only those resources that possess
all the selected skills.
Resource Category Filter — This field contains a list of resource categories that
you can use to filter the hierarchy of resources that is displayed:
• All Resource Categories — If you select this value, Open Plan does not limit the
display of resources to those with a specific resource category. All resource
categories are displayed. This is the default selection.
• Labor — If you select this value, Open Plan displays only labor resources in the
hierarchy of resources.
• Material — If you select this value, Open Plan displays only material resources
in the hierarchy of resources.
• Other Direct Costs — If you select this value, Open Plan displays only other
direct cost resources in the hierarchy of resources.
• Subcontract — If you select this value, Open Plan displays only subcontract
resources in the hierarchy of resources.
• Skills — If you select this value, Open Plan displays only subcontract skills in
the hierarchy of resources.
Code — If one or more code files have been assigned to the resource file, you can
filter the display of available resources using a selected code. When you select a
code file in this field, the Code Filter field is populated with the codes that you can
use to filter the view.
Clicking the ellipsis button next to the Code selection list displays the Select Code
dialog box:
This dialog box allows you to filter the displayed codes in the Code Filter list.
(This is useful if you are dealing with a very large, hierarchical code file.)
Code Filter — When you select a code file from the Code field, the Code Filter
list displays the codes available in the code file. Selecting a code from the list and
clicking Apply filters the display of resources by that code.
Hide Unreferenced Resources — This option allows you to hide resources that
are not used in your project. This feature is useful if you always use the same group
of resources for the project.
Display Only Available Resources — When you select this option, Open Plan
provides the following information about available resources that meet the
selection filters:
• Resources that are 100% available for the specified date range are listed with no
additional information.
• Resources that are available but who have less than 100% availability are listed
with the minimum and maximum availability during the required period.
If no resources are available to meet the resource requirements of the activity, Open
Plan displays the earliest date on which each resource meeting the selection filters
is available.
Open Plan also displays the Early Start and Early Finish dates of the activity.
This information is useful in the event that no suitable resource is available during
the specified date range.
For example, assume that the early dates for the activity are as follows:
Early Start — 02Feb02
Early Finish —15Feb02
Assume, too, that a resource with the required skills is not available until February
23. Under these circumstances, you might want to change either the skills required
for the activity or the logic of the project so that the early start date for the activity
coincides with the dates when the resource is available.
Once you have chosen the filter(s) to use for the resource display, click Apply to
put them into effect. Clicking Clear removes all the filter choices you made.
The following buttons are located along the right-hand side of the dialog box:
• OK — Clicking this button assigns the selected resource to the activity.
• Cancel — Clicking this button closes the dialog box without assigning any
resources.
• Find — Clicking this button displays the Find dialog box that you can use to
find a resource with a specified ID, description, or skill.
• Find Next — Once you have located a resource using Find, clicking Find Next
locates the next resource that meets the same search criteria.
• Expand All — Clicking this button fully expands the hierarchy of resources.
• Select All — Clicking this button selects all the resources in the hierarchy of
resources regardless of whether the hierarchy is expanded.
• Clear All — Clicking this button clears the selections for all the resources in
the hierarchy of resources regardless of whether the hierarchy is expanded.
• Help — Clicking this button displays the Help topic for this dialog box.
In this type of view, you can add assignments in one of two ways. If the activity
already has at least one assignment, you can edit the Resources tab of the Activity
Details dialog box. You can also insert a new row in the spreadsheet and specify
both the activity and the assigned resource.
Activity/resource spreadsheets display multiple assignments for each activity using
an outlining format:
Click to expand
or collapse the
assignments for
an activity
In this type of view, you can display the Activity Details dialog box for an activity
and edit the Resources tab.
Click to expand
or collapse the
assignments for
a resource
This type of view is used mainly for reporting purposes, but you can edit the
Resources tab of the Activity Details dialog box for an activity.
In a resource/activity barchart, you can display all of the assignments for a specific
resource:
Both of these types of views are designed primarily for reporting purposes and have
limited data input features.
Resource Allocation
During resource scheduling, Open Plan suggests a resource for each resource
assignment. If you defined the assignment using an alternate resource, this
suggested resource may be the requested resource, or it may be the alternate
resource you specified. It is also possible that you assigned either a pool or a skill
to the activity. In that case, Open Plan suggests an individual resource that fulfills
the requirement.
After performing resource scheduling, you have the opportunity to review these
suggested resources and take an appropriate action. In Open Plan, this process is
referred to as “resource allocation,” and the results of this process appear in the
Activity Resource Allocation dialog box:
Resource Resource
requested by suggested by
planner Open Plan
This dialog box is modeless; in other words, you can leave the dialog box open
when performing other operations. Four navigation in the lower-right corner of the
dialog box allow you to scroll through the records in the file.
If Open Plan suggested the requested specific resource, you do not need to take any
action. However, if Open Plan suggests an alternate resource, a resource from a
pool, or a resource with a specified skill, you need to decide whether you want to
act on the suggestion at this time.
There are two different actions you can take during a resource allocation session:
• You can replace the requested resource with the one suggested by Open Plan.
• You can lock the requested resource, which has the effect of removing the
alternative resource from future consideration for the assignment.
These actions take effect the next time you perform resource scheduling on the
project.
Your role in resource allocation is to review the resources Open Plan suggests for
each activity. You can either accept the suggestion by replacing the requested
resource with the suggested resource or ignore the suggestion for the time being.
In general, you should use the following steps when calculating a schedule using
pools, skills, or alternate resources:
Step 1 — After making your initial resource assignments and conducting a time
analysis of the project, perform resource scheduling.
Step 2 — Use the Activity Resource Allocation dialog box to review the
suggested resources for each activity and make any necessary changes.
You cannot display this dialog box for activities without resource
assignments.
If you choose to accept the suggestion, Open Plan makes the alternate resource the
requested one:
Note, however, that this action may not have a permanent effect. Unless you lock
the resource requirement (discussed later in this chapter), Open Plan may suggest
either your requested resource or an alternate resource the next time you run
resource scheduling. Therefore, it is possible for you to replace the requested
resource with the suggested resource during one resource scheduling session and
have Open Plan suggest your originally requested resource during a subsequent
resource scheduling session.
Once you have replaced the originally requested resource, future resource
scheduling sessions may not allow you to undo the replacement. In the
above example, for instance, restrictions on the availability of
RES.LAB.ENG.MECH.IKE may result in Open Plan never suggesting that
resource as an alternative to RES.LAB.ENG.MECH.KELLEY. You can, of
course, always restore the original assignment by re-entering the
information for the assignment in the Activity Details dialog box.
However, to maintain flexibility in your resource assignments for as long as
possible, consider replacing requested resources only for activities planned
in the near future.
When you lock the resource for the activity, Open Plan deletes the alternate
resource specification and makes the requested resource the required resource. (On
the following screen, note that the Alternate field is now blank.)
Once you have locked a resource for an activity, the only way to re-assign an
alternate resource requirement is to return to the Activity Details dialog box. For
this reason, consider locking resources only for activities planned in the near future.
Effort-Driven Activities
With effort-driven activities, you can have Open Plan calculate the activity duration
based on resource assignments. Typically, you might enter resource assignments at
an early stage of the planning process and then use this feature to generate
durations for activities automatically.
To calculate an effort-driven duration, Open Plan determines the longest span
implied by any assignment for the activity by dividing the amount of the
assignment by the resource effort factor. (Notice that the availability or non-
availability of the resource does not affect the results of this calculation.) The result
of the calculation is expressed in the default duration units used by the project.
For example, assume that the activity has a single resource assignment based on the
following information:
• Resource assignment level for the activity — 10 units
• Resource effort factor — 0.5
• Default duration unit for project — days
Open Plan would calculate the effort-driven duration as 20 days (10/0.5).
To perform this calculation, Open Plan interprets any assignment level as a total
requirement and ignores any assignment offsets and periods.
Defining an activity as effort-driven also affects the behavior of the activity during
subsequent resource scheduling sessions as follows:
• The activity is assigned the reprofilable attribute. (You can override this setting
if you wish.)
• Resource assignments defined as levels are treated as totals using a linear spread
curve.
• Assignment offsets and periods are ignored.
75 units
50 units
Overview
By defining the days and hours during which work can be scheduled, calendars
allow you to create a realistic project plan. Typically, calendars are standardized
across an entire organization and define a standard working day (for example, 8:00
A.M. to 4:00 P.M.), a normal workweek (for example, Monday through Friday),
and a set of observed holidays. In some cases, you may want to define more
detailed calendars that contain information such as a specific activity work
schedule or an employee vacation schedule.
Open Plan has a flexible calendar function that allows you either to define calendar
files on a project-by-project basis or to create a single calendar file that can be used
with multiple projects. Calendars can also be defined for resource files. Within
each calendar file you can define a default calendar, which can then serve as the
model for subsequent calendars. You can also define a standard workweek for a
calendar and then define any holidays or extra days as exceptions.
These features can help you create and maintain project and resource calendars that
can be used for planning purposes throughout your organization.
Calendar Files
Open Plan stores information about working and non-working times in calendar
files. Each time you perform a scheduling operation that calculates dates (for
example, time analysis), Open Plan refers to the calendar file assigned to the
project. In this way, work is scheduled to take place only during valid working
times.
User-defined dates such as target dates or actual dates are not restricted to
valid working days.
Because activities and resources within the same project can have different work
schedules, calendar files can include multiple calendars, each defining a specific set
of working and non-working times. Think of a calendar file as a container storing
all the possible calendars that activities, resources, and relationships in a project
might use. For example, a single calendar file might contain calendars that define
different shift patterns, workweeks, or sets of holidays. This design allows the same
project to use different definitions of working hours, working days, and holidays.
There are no limits to the number of calendars you can define in a single calendar
file.
In the Open Plan Explorer, calendar files are stored in the Calendar folder of the
Open Plan Library.
You can open calendar files from within either the Open Plan Library or a
specific project or resource folder. You can assign a calendar file to projects and
resource files using either of the following methods:
• By using the Files tab of the appropriate Properties dialog box.
• By dragging the calendar file from the Open Plan Library to the project or
resource folder.
If you do not assign a calendar file to a project, Open Plan assumes that
work can be scheduled using a 40-hour workweek (8 hours per day, 5 days
per week, and no holidays).
You cannot perform Save As on a file if there is another file open which
refers to it. For example, if you open project CLEAN and then try to
perform a Save As on the calendar file CLEANCAL, the Save As
command is disabled.
Calendars
Open Plan calendar files consist of one or more calendars, each defining a specific
set of working and non-working times. Each day can have one of four possible
definitions:
• Working day — A work day as defined by the standard workweek
• Non-working day — A non-work day as defined by the standard workweek
• Holiday — A standard working day that has been designated as non-working
• Extra work day — Either a non-working day that has been designated as
working or a working day with non-standard hours
For each working or extra work day, it is possible to define up to 10 spans of valid
working times. For example, to describe your standard office hours as 8:00 A.M. to
4:30 P.M. with a 30-minute lunch break, you could define two working periods:
8:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M., and 12:30 P.M. to 4:30 P.M..
How you set up your calendars for a particular calendar file largely depends on
your scheduling requirements. In some cases, you may want to set up a simple
calendar file containing only a handful of calendars: one calendar for activities that
must be performed Monday through Friday and another calendar for activities that
can be scheduled over weekends. In other cases, you may need to set up individual
calendars for each resource. This approach allows resource scheduling calculations
to take into account such varied factors as part-time status, availability for
overtime, and personal vacation schedules.
If all of the activities and resources in a project use the same calendar, you
can, in effect, define a project calendar by customizing the default calendar
of the calendar file assigned to the project.
The Def. Activity Calendar field is used to specify that an existing calendar is to
be used as the default calendar for new activities.
The Def. Relationship Calendar field is used to specify that an existing calendar
is to be used as the default calendar for new relationships.
Resource Calendars
You can assign a calendar file to a resource file either by dragging it from the Open
Plan Library to the resource folder or by using the Files tab of the resource file’s
Properties dialog box:
Clicking the ellipsis button to the right of the Calendar field displays the Select
dialog box from which you can select the appropriate calendar file.
The calendar file you assign to the resource file helps to define the availability of
resources. Since the calendars you assign to resources are defined in the resource
calendar file, resource availabilities are consistent when viewed by different
projects.
Adding Calendars
If you want to define more patterns of work than can be described using the default
calendar, you can add additional calendars to a calendar file. Any new calendar you
add inherits all of the information stored for the default calendar.
When adding a new calendar as a child, the child calendar inherits its settings from
the parent. For example, a parent calendar can be defined to show company and
public holidays while child calendars can be defined to show additional personal
holidays for individual employees. Using this feature, the individual employee
calendars will also include both the company and public holidays that have been
defined in the parent calendar.
There is no limit to the number of calendars that you can define for a single
calendar file.
To add a calendar to a calendar file, use the Manage Calendars command to
display the following dialog box:
To add a calendar
1. Open the appropriate calendar file.
2. Take one of the following actions:
• On the Edit menu, click Manage Calendars.
• Right-click the calendar display, and click Manage Calendars on the context
menu.
3. On the Manage Calendars dialog box, click New.
4. Enter the name for the new calendar, and click OK.
Open Plan creates the new calendar based on the default calendar in that calendar
file.
5. To display the new calendar, select the calendar, and click Select.
Asterisks indicate
standard working
days.
• If you enter work times using a 24-hour format (where, for example, 22:00
represents 10:00 P.M.), you cannot define a work period that spans midnight
by entering a time such as 26:00.
6. When the definition of the workweek is complete, click OK.
You can also use the keyboard to move through the calendar dates as follows:
Key Action
Left arrow Go to previous day
Right arrow Go to next day
Ctrl+Left arrow Go to same day in previous month
Ctrl+Right arrow Go to same day in next month
Up arrow Go to same day in previous week
Down arrow Go to same day in next week
Page Up Go to previous year
Page Down Go to next year
Home Go to first day of year
End Go to last day of year
To change the work status of a day, you can simply select the day and press the
Spacebar. You can also double-click a date or press Ctrl+Spacebar to display the
working hours for a date:
Unless you specify otherwise, the working times for a day default to the definition
for that day in the standard workweek. If standard working times have not been
defined for the day, Open Plan defaults to an 8-hour workday — 8:00 A.M. to 4:00
P.M.
To go to a specific date
1. Take one of the following actions:
• On the View menu, click Go To Date.
• Right-click the calendar display, and click Go To Date on the context menu.
2. Enter the date you want to display, and click OK.
Open Plan displays the appropriate year with the date selected.
If you did not enter a year for the date, Open Plan assumes the current year.
You can define holidays that repeat each year. For example, you might define
January 1 as a repeating holiday.
4. Enter the date for the holiday, and indicate whether the holiday is to be repeated
each year.
5. When finished, click OK.
To copy a calendar
1. Open the appropriate calendar file.
2. Take one of the following actions:
• On the Edit menu, click Manage Calendars.
• Right-click the calendar display, and click Manage Calendars on the context
menu.
3. In the Manage Calendars dialog box, select the calendar you want to copy.
4. Click Copy.
5. Enter the name of the new calendar, and click OK to return to the Manage
Calendars dialog box.
To rename a calendar
1. Open the appropriate calendar file.
2. Take one of the following actions:
• On the Edit menu, click Manage Calendars.
• Right-click the calendar display, and click Manage Calendars on the context
menu.
3. In the Manage Calendars dialog box, select the calendar you want to rename.
4. Click Rename.
5. Enter the new name for the calendar, and click OK to return to the Manage
Calendars dialog box.
To delete a calendar
1. Open the appropriate calendar file.
2. Take one of the following actions:
• On the Edit menu, click Manage Calendars.
• Right-click the calendar display, and click Manage Calendars on the context
menu.
3. In the Manage Calendars dialog box, select the calendar you want to delete.
4. Click Delete.
5. When Open Plan asks you to confirm the deletion, click Yes to return to the
Manage Calendars dialog box.
Deleting a calendar from a calendar file removes any assignments for
that calendar in a project.
Start Day of Week — You can define which day is displayed as the first day of
each week.
Start Month of Year — You can define which month is used to start the year. This
allows you, for example, to display calendars that show fiscal rather than
chronological years.
Use the Color tab of the Calendar Preferences dialog box to define a color and a
fill pattern for the different types of days in a calendar.
You can also set the font for the calendar display with the Font command from the
Tools menu.
Cost Reporting
Chapter 10 — Cost Information
Overview
Managing the cost of a project may be at least as important as managing the
schedule for most project managers. Yet the cost management functions provided
by most project management packages seldom yield satisfactory results — in large
part because these types of cost systems cannot cope with the wide variety of
methods employed by different organizations to plan, track, and report on costs. In
Open Plan, cost-related features are designed to provide basic functionality while
allowing planners and managers the maximum amount of flexibility to set up cost
management systems tailored for their specific environments.
This chapter begins with a brief discussion of basic earned value management
concepts and then examines each of the following topics in turn:
• Planning costs
• Setting the Performance Measurement Baseline
• Capturing actual costs
• Reporting on costs
If you require extensive cost management and reporting features for your
projects, Deltek Cobra, Deltek’s cost management software, may be more
appropriate to your needs. Cobra is a powerful and sophisticated earned
value management package that can use project-related data generated by
Open Plan. For more information about Cobra, contact your Deltek
representative.
Taken together, these values (BCWS, BAC, BCWP, ACWP, and EAC) form the
core of an earned value cost control system.
Using this convention, a “favorable” cost variance (that is, a cost underrun) is
represented by a positive value while a negative value represents an “unfavorable”
cost variance (a cost overrun).
We can also use the same set of curves to calculate schedule variances by
subtracting BCWS from BCWP:
Planning Costs
For planners who want to fully utilize Open Plan as an earned value management
system, there are a number of features for working with cost information.
• You can report on high-level summaries of resource costs based on the resource
category or the hierarchy of a resource breakdown structure.
• You can choose which resources to consider in cost calculations.
• You can define escalated and unescalated rates for resources, resource pools,
and skills.
Setting Up Categories
If you wish to roll up resource costs into categories, you need to specify the
appropriate category for the resource. There are four resource categories:
• Labor
• Material
• Other Direct Costs
• Subcontract
You can select a resource’s category on the General tab of the Resource Details
dialog box:
Select resource
category.
Selecting the Progress Based on Activity Progress option instructs Open Plan to
calculate the actual and remaining resource requirements based on the activity
progress during progress calculations. Select the Consider in Cost Calculations
option if you want these resource costs to appear in the cost summaries.
For more information on using the General tab of the Resource Details
dialog box, refer to Chapter 7, “Resource Definitions.”
Assigning Resources
To define budgets using resources, you must first define the resources in a resource
file and then attach the resource file to the project. Then you add resource
assignments to the activities:
Resource
assignment
Material
assignment
You can define the assignment as a total to be spread based on a curve. This allows
you, for example, to enter budgets as totals that are front- or back-loaded over the
duration of the activity. By using a total, the budget does not change as the duration
changes. Resources can also be assigned as a rate per day by leaving the curve field
blank.
Calculating Costs
Open Plan calculates costs and stores them at the detail level, allowing you to store
time-phased quantity, cost, and escalated cost by resource and activity. All activity
costs represent a roll up of these detailed costs. Because open Plan stores both costs
and quantities, the resource rates that are in effect when the progress is calculated
are locked in.
For more information on how detail costs are calculated, refer to Chapter
12, “Cost Calculations,” in the Deltek Open Plan Developer’s Guide.
Once you have assigned resources to your activities, you can have Open Plan roll
up these costs to the activity level. To calculate budget costs for activities, click
Cost Calculations on the Tools menu to display the following dialog box:
Using this dialog box, you can indicate the following settings for the calculation of
costs:
• You can select the cost values to calculate:
■ Budget Cost
■ Remaining Cost
■ Actual Cost,
■ Earned Value
• You can base the Remaining Cost calculations on early, late, or scheduled
dates.
• You can indicate if Open Plan should use only base unit costs for the calculation
or consider cost escalations as well.
• You can include child activity values in subproject costs.
• You can run Time Analysis before calculating cost to make sure that dates are
current for the calculation of Remaining Cost.
Cost calculations for multiple projects can also be run by selecting a group
of projects and clicking the Cost Calculation button on the toolbar. See the
previous section for toolbar procedures.
Open Plan creates one cost calculation session log, listing the project results
in the order in which the projects were processed in the batch.
Budget Cost
By default, Open Plan normally calculates budget values by rolling up the
(escalated/unescalated) cost from a baseline. If a PMB exists, Cost Calculations
will use this baseline. If no PMB exists, Open Plan calculates budgets using the
currently selected baseline or the first selected baseline if multiple baselines are
selected.
If no baseline (PMB or otherwise) exists, Open Plan will calculate budgets from
resources directly assigned to activities as versions prior to 3.x did. You can set this
as the default project behavior by selecting the Use Version 2 Cost Calculation
Method option on the Cost tab of the Project Properties dialog box.
On the Activity tab, you can enter an actual start date and select one of the
statusing methods.
Activity
physical
percent
complete
Resource
physical
percent
complete
On the Resources tab, you can enter the PPC for each resource, or you can have
Open Plan calculate the PPC based on the activity progress. If you enter the PPC at
the resource level, Open Plan calculates the activity PPC for you based on the
rolled up earned value of each resource. If you enter the PPC at the activity level,
Open Plan calculates each resource’s PPC with regard to duration, curve, offsets,
and periods.
You can also have Open Plan calculate physical percent complete for you based on
activity progress using the Progress Calculations dialog box.
For more information on using the Progress Calculations dialog box, refer
to Chapter 16, “Status Information.” For a detailed discussion on how Open
Plan calculates PPC at both the resource level and activity level, refer to
Chapter 12, “Cost Calculations,” in the Deltek Open Plan Developer’s
Guide.
For more information about calculating earned value, refer to Chapter 12,
“Cost Calculations,” in the Deltek Open Plan Developer’s Guide.
Select or
clear option
here.
If you select this option, the actual costs for a resource will be calculated and
posted to the file when you run progress calculations. The actual costs posted will
be calculated from the actual units (reported or calculated) multiplied by the
resource rate.
To enter actual costs manually, you use the Resources tab of the Activity Progress
dialog box:
Since actual costs are spread over a date range, you must enter the start of the
period for which you are entering actual costs; the end date is not required. You can
enter both the actual quantity and actual cost for each resource.
To add a new resource that was unbudgeted, add it to the bottom of the list.
If you indicated that Open Plan should calculate actual costs for resources based on
resource progress, the Cost Calculations command also generates these costs at
this time.
When you select Actual Cost or Remaining Cost, the cost calculations roll up the
actual or remaining labor units to the activity and subproject level.
You can also perform cost calculations in Batch Mode. This allows you to run cost
calculations for multiple projects at one time. To run cost calculations in Batch
Mode, select more than one project from the Details pane of the Open Plan
Explorer, and click the Cost Calculations button. The Cost Calculations [Batch
Mode] dialog box displays. Set your options, and click OK.
If a project is closed, Open Plan will open it in Exclusive mode, perform the
process, save the changes, and then close the project. If a project cannot be opened
in Exclusive mode (because another user has it open in Exclusive or Shared mode),
it will be skipped.
If you have a project open when the batch process is run, cost calculations will be
performed on the project, but the changes will not be saved and the project will
remain open. You must manually save the changes yourself..
Open Plan creates one cost calculations session log, listing the project
results in the order in which the projects were processed in the batch
Forecasting
Forecast of remaining cost (ETC) and work is always based on the schedule and
can be calculated from early, late, or schedule dates using the remaining quantity of
the resource and either escalated or un-escalated rates. If the activity has not yet
started, the resource assignments on the activity are the forecast. For activities in
progress, the remaining quantity and cost represent the forecast. This plus the
actual costs comprise the estimate at complete. Changing the resource assignments
on activities changes the forecast without changing the budget.
This tab displays budgeted and actual costs calculated at the activity level for the
following by resource category:
• BAC — Budget at Completion
• BCWS — Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled
• BCWP — Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (also referred to as Earned
Value.)
• ACWP — Actual Cost of Work Performed
• EAC — Estimate at Complete
Labor Quantity values are also shown.
For more information of the costs displayed in the grid, refer to the
beginning of this chapter and also the Help system for the Activity
Information Cost tab. For more information on the Activity Information
dialog box, refer to Chapter 6, “Activity Information.”
Finally, it is possible to display budgeted costs rolled up to the project level. To see
these values, display the Cost tab of the Project Properties dialog box:
For more information of the costs displayed in the grid, refer to the online
Help system for the Project Properties Cost tab. For more information on
the Project Properties dialog box, refer to Chapter 5, “File Properties.”
Cost Reporting
To facilitate the reporting of cost information, Open Plan provides a number of
standard calculated fields related to costs at the activity level. These fields are
available for display in any view and are defined as follows.
For more information on these calculated fields, refer to Chapter 12, “Cost
Calculations,” in the Deltek Open Plan Developer’s Guide.
In addition to these values, Open Plan calculates the planned baseline progress for
each activity using the following approach:
• If no baseline dates have been set for the activity, Open Plan sets the value of
planned baseline progress to –1.
• If the baseline finish date is before Time Now, Open Plan sets the value of
planned baseline progress to 100%.
• If the baseline start date is after Time Now, Open Plan sets the value of planned
baseline progress to zero.
If none of these cases apply, Open Plan calculates the value by first subtracting the
baseline start from Time Now, dividing the result by the original duration, and then
multiplying by 100. For activities with an original duration of zero, Open Plan
divides the result by the difference between the baseline start and finish dates.
The calculation of the planned baseline progress takes into account the
effect of calendars in all date calculations.
Overview
By setting up a coding system and assigning codes to activities, projects, and
resources, you can facilitate the communication of project information in formats
ranging from high-level summaries to activity-level detail. With the appropriate
coding system in place, even the largest networks can provide clear, concise
pictures of vital project information. Open Plan allows you to assign up to 90 codes
to each activity.
This chapter includes discussions on the following topics related to code files in
Open Plan:
• Working with code files
• Entering codes
• Displaying code information
• Entering code assignments
1.1 1.2
1.1.1
1.1.2
1.1.3
Fixed-form significant codes rely on the length of the code to represent the
structure level. As a result, you must define both the number of levels in the coding
system and the number of characters representing each level. In the following
illustration, for example, the first character of the code represents the top level of
the structure, the first two characters represent the next level, and the first three
characters represent the lowest level:
11 12
111
112
113
In this example, higher-level codes use spaces as “pad characters” that fill
out each code in the system to the same length.
When you create a new code using the New File Wizard, the Code
Structure page of the wizard contains the same fields as the New Code
Structure dialog box.
Use this dialog box to enter the following information about a new code file:
Code Type — Indicates whether the code file uses punctuated significant or fixed
format significant codes.
Fixed Level Length — If you are creating a code file using fixed-form significant
codes, you must define the number of levels in the coding structure and the number
of characters representing each level. The number of characters you assign to each
level is cumulative — that is, it must be greater than the number of characters
assigned to the previous level. For example, to use a 7-character code that
represents three different hierarchical levels, you might enter the following
information:
• Level 1: 2
• Level 2: 4
• Level 3: 7
You can add levels later using the Structure tab of the Properties dialog
box for the code file, but you cannot change existing levels.
Pad Character — If you create a code file using fixed-form significant codes, you
can assign a pad character to be appended as a suffix to codes less than the
specified length. Common pad characters are blanks (the default) and zeros.
If you select Punctuated Significant for the Code Type, the Fixed Level
Length fields and Pad Character field are disabled.
There are two methods for creating a code file depending on whether you want to
use Open Plan default settings or define all the settings for the code file yourself.
In the Open Plan Explorer, code files are located in the Open Plan Library:
Code file
folder
You can open code files from within either the Open Plan Library or a specific
project or resource folder. When you assign a code file to a project or resource file,
Open Plan asks you to assign the file to a specific activity code field. If you replace
an existing assignment for a code field, Open Plan prompts you for confirmation.
Open button
• On the toolbar, click the Open button.
• Right-click the code file folder, point to Open, and click the desired mode in
which to open the file.
• Double-click the code view file.
• Right-click the code view file, and click Open on the context menu.
You cannot perform Save As on a file if there is another file open which
refers to it. For example, if you open project CLEAN and then try to
perform a Save As on the code file CLEANOBS, the Save As command is
disabled.
Deleting a code file from a project folder removes any activity code
assignments based on that code file.
You can only delete a code file from the database if the file is not open,
if it is not being used by another project or resource file, and if you have
the appropriate rights to the file.
You must update information for a code before the Undo and Apply
buttons become active.
You can also use the New command to create a new code element while the Code
Details dialog box is open. This command functions identically to the Add Code
command available from the Edit menu.
The Code Details dialog box contains three tabs: Code, User Fields, and Notes.
This tab allows you to specify the values that Open Plan should include for user-
defined fields on the code, using the following fields:
Field — This column displays a list of all the user-defined fields that have been
defined.
Value — For each user-defined field that you want to use, you should enter an
appropriate value.
User-defined fields are created outside of an open code and may be used by
any code file stored in the database. In order to use a user-defined field for
your code, you must specify a value for it on this tab.
If the file link you enter contains spaces, you must enclose the link with
angle brackets ( < > ) in order for the link to work properly:
<file://C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\test.txt>
While you can use drag and drop functionality to create links in the Note
field, the Windows Cut (Ctrl+X), Copy (Ctrl+C), and Paste (Ctrl+V)
commands are not available for links.
Entering Codes
When you create a new code file, Open Plan displays a window containing an
empty workspace. To add a code to the file, click Add Code on the Edit menu or
simply double-click an empty area in the workspace.
Although you can define a code file as a “flat” structure in which all codes occupy
the top hierarchical level, a more common practice is to develop a tree-like
breakdown structure that can be used to summarize groups of related codes for
reporting purposes:
Open Plan makes it easy to work with code hierarchies. For example, you can
assign an entire group of codes to a different parent simply by dragging the codes
to a different position in the code hierarchy. You also have the ability to expand
and collapse individual codes in order to display the appropriate level of detail.
To add a code
1. From the code display, take one of the following actions:
• On the Edit menu, click Add Code.
• Double-click an empty area of the workspace.
• Right-click an empty area of the workspace, and click Add Code on the
context menu.
2. Enter the information for the code in the Code dialog box.
You can rearrange the order in which Open Plan displays codes from
left to right on the same hierarchical level by dragging a code to the
desired location.
To add a child
1. Take one of the following actions:
• Right-click the code to which you want to add a child, and click Add Child on
the context menu.
• Double-click the code while holding down the Shift key.
If you add a child to a normal code, Open Plan automatically converts
the code to a parent.
2. Enter the information for the code.
3. When the information is complete, click Close.
To edit a code
1. Take one of the following actions:
• Double-click the code.
• Select the code you want to update, and click Edit Code on the Edit menu.
• Right-click the code, and click Edit on the context menu.
2. Enter the information for the code.
3. When the information is complete, click Close.
To find a code
1. Take one of the following actions:
• On the Edit menu, click Find.
• Right-click an empty area of the workspace, and click Find on the context
menu.
2. Enter the ID of the code you want to find, and click OK.
To delete a code
1. Select the code you want to delete.
2. Take one of the following actions:
• On the Edit menu, click Delete Code.
• Right-click the code and click Delete on the context menu.
• Press the Delete key.
If you are deleting a parent code, Open Plan warns you that the child codes will
be deleted along with the parent.
3. When Open Plan asks you to confirm the delete, click OK.
When you move a code (or group of codes) to a different position in the
code hierarchy, Open Plan automatically renumbers the code IDs of the
moved codes. If this renumbering potentially duplicates existing code
IDs, Open Plan allows you to renumber the codes yourself. In addition,
Open Plan also updates the assignments for renumbered codes in any
projects that are open at the time of the move. (Assignments in closed
projects are not affected.)
You can use this dialog box to specify the following options for displaying code
information:
Box Color — The color used to draw the code boxes.
Box Style — The style used to display the code boxes. Open Plan allows you to
choose a style from a list displayed when you enter the field.
Box Contents You can display the entire code ID or just the local portion of each
ID.
Minimum Height— You can set the minimum height for the boxes.
Minimum Width — You can set the minimum width for the boxes.
Spread/Ladder — You can display the lowest level of the coding hierarchy in a
“ladder” format to conserve horizontal space.
Change the
order of the
items.
The preview area of the dialog box displays the current definition of the code
boxes.
Note that this representation may differ slightly in size and aspect ratio from
the actual display of boxes in the view.
Notice that Open Plan displays data items in the dialog box in order of line number.
When you add, delete, or change data items, you must exit and return to the dialog
box to display the items in the correct line sequence.
Open Plan displays items sharing the same line from left to right based on the order
in which the items appear in the list. To move an item to a different position in the
list, use the Change Order buttons.
You can customize the layout of the code box with the following settings:
Field — You can select any code field for display.
Line — For each field appearing in the code box, you must assign a line number.
Code boxes can contain up to 16 lines, and each line can display one or more fields.
If you assign multiple fields to a single line, the order in which the fields are listed
in the dialog box determines how Open Plan displays the fields in the box. To
display a blank line in the code box, do not enter settings for those lines. For
example, to display code boxes with a double-high blank line, use the following
settings:
Field Line Format
Code 1 1 Line
Code Description 4 1 Line
Format — This setting has the following options to control the display of the data
in the box:
• 1 Line
• Wrap Over 2 lines
• Wrap Over 3 lines
• Wrap Over 4 lines
Suppress Box Lines — Selecting this option hides the display of lines within the
code boxes.
In this mode you can continue to work with the codes as though you were in the
normal display mode.
If the entire code structure can be displayed at once, the Zoom Out
command is not available.
In order to return to the normal display mode, Open Plan provides a Zoom In
command. When the display mode has been reduced, the Zoom In command
becomes enabled.
Clicking the ellipsis to the right of the edit field displays the Assign Code dialog
box that you can use to quickly select the appropriate code to assign.
To enter a code assignment using the Project Properties dialog
box
1. Display the Project Properties dialog box by taking one of the following
actions:
• Select the project folder, and click Properties on the Project menu.
• Right-click the project folder, and click Properties on the context menu.
2. Click the Codes tab.
3. Enter the information for the code assignment, and click OK.
Clicking the ellipsis to the right of the edit field displays the Select Code dialog
box that you can use to quickly select the appropriate code to assign.
Clicking the ellipsis to the right of the edit field displays the Select Code dialog
box that you can use to quickly select the appropriate code to assign.
You can use an activity spreadsheet view to add or update any information about
code assignments.
Overview
The multi-project capabilities of Open Plan allow planners to create hierarchies of
project information. With project hierarchies, you can break large projects down
into multiple subprojects, which can serve as high-level cost and schedule
summarizations for lower-level detail. Organizations can also use these features to
roll up smaller projects into a single master project in order to perform scheduling
and resource planning functions at a more comprehensive level.
This chapter contains a number of discussions related to project hierarchies in Open
Plan, including setting up a project hierarchy and working with hierarchical
projects in different views.
The chapter concludes with a discussion of reporting hammocks, a traditional
feature for rolling up project information.
• When you copy a subproject, you copy all child activities belonging to that
subproject as well.
• When you delete a subproject, you delete all child activities belonging to that
subproject as well.
Like standard activities, you can assign target start and finish dates to subproject
activities. It is also possible to define relationships between subprojects or between
a subproject and an activity within another subproject.
The assignment of target dates and relationships to subprojects can have important
implications when time-analyzing a network.
Duration field
disabled for
subproject.
Change Type
to Subproject
Notice that you cannot enter a duration for an activity that has been
converted to a subproject.
Change Type
to External
Subproject. Click to select the
project to be used
as the external
subproject.
After clicking Apply, you can then click the ellipsis to the right of the Sub-Project
field. Open Plan responds by displaying the following dialog box:
You can use this dialog box to select the name of the project to become the external
subproject.
The Professional edition of Open Plan automatically saves any external subprojects
as internal subprojects when you use the Save As command to save project
information. This automatic conversion also occurs the first time you save a new
project. As a result, to set up a project hierarchy that includes external subprojects,
you must first create and save the master project before converting any activities
into external subprojects.
Expanded
subproject
Once you expand a subproject, you can edit the displayed activities and
relationships. You can also create relationships between activities both within the
same subproject and in different subprojects. You cannot, however, add new
activities or relationships to the expanded subproject. Instead, you must drill down
to the appropriate level using the Go To Subproject command to add new
activities and relationships.
To expand a subproject
1. Select the subproject you want to expand.
2. Take one of the following actions:
• On the View menu, click Expand.
• Right-click the activity, and click Expand on the context menu.
Expand button • On the toolbar, click the Expand button.
To collapse a subproject
Right-click the subproject area, and click Collapse Subproject on the context menu.
For an external subproject, the Add Child command is available only if the
external subproject is open.
Click to expand
or collapse the
subproject.
In a spreadsheet view using outlining, subprojects are displayed with a plus (+)
sign or a minus (-) sign on the outlining button to the left of the row. If the
outlining button displays a plus sign, you can expand the subproject to see more
detailed information. If the outlining button displays a minus sign, the subproject is
already completely expanded — clicking the outlining button collapses the
subproject in this case.
Indent
The indent feature allows you to quickly renumber hierarchical IDs while in a
spreadsheet view. When you use this feature, Open Plan renumbers the relevant ID
according to the rules for automatic numbering.
By indenting an ID, Open Plan makes it into a child of the previous activity in the
hierarchy and changes that previous activity into a subproject if it is not already
one. For example, assume you have a project with the following hierarchy:
10
20
30
40
50
Indenting ID 20 instructs Open Plan to make it a child of ID 10 and to make ID 10
a subproject. Therefore, the following hierarchy results:
10
10.20
30
40
50
Indenting is not available when subsectioning is in effect or in multi-table views.
Indenting may cause loops in the network logic. You can detect these loops
by running time analysis and examining the log generated.
To indent a hierarchical ID
1. Display a spreadsheet containing the ID you want to indent. For example, you
might display one of the following views:
• Activity spreadsheet
• Resource assignment spreadsheet
• Code assignment spreadsheet
2. Select the ID that you want to indent.
3. Take one of the following actions:
• On the Edit menu, click Indent.
Indent button • On the toolbar, click the Indent button.
Outdent
The outdent feature allows you to promote an ID in a hierarchy to the level of its
parent. In assigning an ID to an outdented element, Open Plan follows the rules for
automatic numbering.
For example, assume you have a project with the following hierarchy:
10
10.1
30
40
50
If ID 10.1 were to be outdented, the system would assign it ID 11. Notice that
although the remaining IDs in the hierarchy are numbered in increments of 10,
Open Plan assigns the outdented activity the first available ID number.
All externals opened under a master project must be opened in the same mode
(exclusive, shared, read-only) as the master project. If the current user has opened
one of the externals independently of the master project, the list will show a red
“X” before the name of the external, indicating that it cannot be opened as part of
the master. If another user has opened one or more of the externals in a mode that
will prevent the current user from opening the external in the same mode as the
master, the list will show a warning sign before the name of the external, indicating
that it should be deselected unless the other user corrects the conflict before the
current user continues. The graphic below displays a project that has been opened
in exclusive mode. Placing your cursor over one of the “flagged” external
subprojects that is open displays the User ID, Machine ID, Open Mode, Opened
On, and User Name (Phone) of the person who opened the project.
In addition, each column in the Open External Subprojects dialog box (Name,
Owner ID, and Description) can be sorted in ascending or descending order by
clicking the appropriate column heading.
Even if you did not open an external subproject at the time you opened the master
project, the Professional edition of Open Plan allows you to open the appropriate
subproject later by using Expand or Expand All in the spreadsheet, barchart, or
network views or by using Go To Subproject in the network view.
When opening an external subproject, the Professional edition of Open Plan
attempts to use the same access mode as used to open the master project.
If an external subproject is open, you can display and update the information for the
activities in the external subproject just as if they belonged to the master project.
For example, if you perform time analysis on the master project, the Professional
edition of Open Plan updates the early and late dates of the external subproject
activities as well.
For closed external subprojects, however, Open Plan has access only to the
summarized information stored on the subproject record. If you perform time
analysis on a master project that includes a closed external subproject, for example,
the early and late dates of a subproject can influence the dates calculated for the
master project. On the other hand, the operation does not result in the dates for the
individual activities in the closed subproject being recalculated.
Foreign project
Foreign activity
You cannot update the information for a foreign activity or any of its parents. You
can delete foreign activities appearing in a subproject, but this does not delete the
relationship stored in the master project.
Reporting Hammocks
A hammock is an activity that does not influence the time analysis of a project but
provides a means for reporting on the start and finish of a group of related
activities. Open Plan calculates the duration of a hammock based on the early start
date of the earliest activity serving as the hammock start and the early finish date of
the latest activity serving as the hammock finish, as in this example:
To set up a hammock in Open Plan, you must first create an activity and define it as
a hammock. Once you have created the hammock activity, you must define at least
one relationship between the start of the hammock and the activity (or activities)
that represent the beginning of the hammock. You can then define relationships
between the finish of the hammock and the activity (or activities) that represent the
end of the hammock.
Like subprojects, the durations of hammock activities are calculated each time the
network is time-analyzed. In addition, resource requirements assigned to
hammocks have no effect on resource scheduling calculations other than restricting
resource availabilities for other activities.
Open Plan allows multiple starts and finishes to a hammock, and some or all of
these can themselves be hammock activities. You cannot, however, define a
hammock as a predecessor to a non-hammock. This restriction means that
hammocks can never have any impact on the schedules of non-hammock activities.
Although hammocks in Open Plan have many flexible features (you can, for
example, include hammocks within other hammocks), their use is limited by the
fact that it may be difficult to determine exactly which activities are included in a
given hammock. They are also limited by the fact that they do not summarize costs
or resources.
Overview
The ability to schedule a network that contains thousands (or tens of thousands) of
activities is the hallmark of all high-end project management systems. The time
analysis calculations performed by Open Plan are specifically designed to schedule
large networks with speed, accuracy, and efficiency. A number of processing
options allow you to modify the results of the standard calculations in order to
model specific situations.
This chapter begins with a brief introduction to time analysis features followed by a
description of how to perform time analysis in Open Plan.
Open Plan calculates the early start and early finish dates in what is known as the
forward pass through the project data. During the forward pass, Open Plan starts at
the Time Now date and moves forward through the project in the order determined
by the relationships between the activities. As it moves through the project, Open
Plan adds the durations of the individual activities as well as any lags on the
relationship between them.
Open Plan calculates the late start and late finish dates in what is known as the
backward pass. During the backward pass, Open Plan starts at the project finish
date and considers the relationships between activities to move through the project
in reverse order. As it moves through the project in reverse, Open Plan subtracts the
durations of the individual activities and considers any lags between them.
Float Calculations
In general, float is the number of time periods by which an activity can be delayed
without affecting other activities in a project. Open Plan calculates two principal
float values during time analysis: total float and free float.
Total float — Total float is the difference between the early and late start dates
measured in working periods of the activity calendar. Total float can be either
positive or negative. For example, assume a 7-day work week. If an activity has an
early start date of July 1 and a late start date of July 10, that activity would have a
total float of 9 days. On the other hand, if the activity has an early start date of July
10 and a late start date of July 1, the activity would have a total float of –9 days. If
the target date is not set, no floats will be negative. If all activities in a project use
the same calendar and if target dates have not been set, there is always at least one
path through the project with exactly zero total float. This is known as the critical
path.
Free float — Free float is the maximum amount by which an activity can be
delayed beyond its early dates without delaying any successor activity beyond its
early dates. If target finish dates have not been set, free float is always less than or
equal to total float. Free float can never be negative.
Time analysis also calculates two float values related to relationships (relationship
total float and relationship free float) and two float values that have special
relevance to discontinuous activities and subprojects (finish total float and finish
free float).
Subproject Information
Open Plan calculates the following information for each subproject (both internal
and external) during time analysis:
• The duration of the subproject
• Early and late dates
• The remaining duration for the subproject if it’s activities are in progress
Project Information
Each time you perform a time analysis, Open Plan calculates the following
information for the project:
• The computed status of the project as follows:
■ Planned
■ In-progress
■ Complete
• The latest early finish date in the project
• The latest late finish date in the project
• Percentage of the total project duration that is complete
• The minimum value for total float for any activity (or activities) in the project
• The number of in-progress activities
• The number of completed activities
Time Analysis
• The Time Analysis button on the toolbar
button
• Automatic time analysis
Each time you perform time analysis using either the Time Analysis dialog box or
the Time Analysis button, Open Plan creates a session log file that records any
system or error messages issued during the operation. Open Plan saves the file
(Opp_ta.log) and allows you to examine its contents at the conclusion of each
session.
Included in each session log is a list of all start and finish activities in a project.
Open Plan does not produce a session log file if you have enabled the
automatic time analysis mode.
Enter an optional
target type date
and target finish
for the project Enter Time Now
Select the
appropriate
options.
Analyze Each Time Data Changes — This option enables automatic time
analysis. If selected, Open Plan automatically calculates time analysis whenever
you make a date-related change to the project.
If this option is selected, the Time Analysis button on the toolbar is not
enabled.
Actual Date Option — You can enable an option to have Open Plan substitute
actual dates (where present) for the early and late dates generated by time analysis
calculations. This option does not otherwise affect the calculations of time analysis.
If you do not enable this option, the early dates calculated by time analysis relate
only to the remaining portion of the activity.
For more information about this option, refer to Chapter 4, “The Open Plan
Configuration Files,” in the Deltek Open Plan Developer’s Guide.
Show Summary Dates in Subprojects — This option controls whether Open Plan
should copy the dates calculated for the child activities into the record of the
activity representing the subproject.
• If selected, subproject activities display a summary of the dates calculated for
their child activities. This is the default setting.
• If not selected, subproject activities display the dates calculated for the
subproject activity itself.
The Advanced tab of the Time Analysis dialog box displays settings that are
seldom changed:
• Ignore Predecessor Relationship — Ignore all relationships and all lags leading
into out-of-sequence events (including the finish of a continuous activity
marked as in-progress). If you select this option, Open Plan does not report out-
of-sequence warnings in the session log and does not delay the successors of
out-of-sequence activities.
If you have a project open when the batch process is run, time analysis will be
performed on the project, but the changes will not be saved and the project will
remain open. You must manually save the changes yourself.
Time analysis for multiple projects can also be run by selecting a group of
projects and clicking the Time Analysis button on the toolbar. See the
previous section for toolbar procedures.
Open Plan creates one time analysis session log, listing the project results in
the order in which the projects were processed in the batch.
Select to enable
automatic time
analysis
If you are using the Desktop edition of Open Plan and have not defined
Time Now, Open Plan assumes Time Now to be the current system date
when performing an automatic time analysis. (Time Now is the project
status date. All project information is assumed to be correct up to Time
Now, and Open Plan will not schedule any activities prior to this date.) If
this is not appropriate for your project, you can set the value of Time Now
on either the Time Analysis dialog box or the Status tab of the Project
Properties dialog box.
Overview
Open Plan provides a sophisticated and comprehensive resource scheduling
algorithms designed to produce resource solutions across a wide range of
situations. Open Plan resource scheduling includes extensive modeling capabilities
that allow planners to juggle schedules based on various combinations of time and
resource constraints.
This chapter begins with a brief introduction to resource scheduling in Open Plan,
followed by a description of the different scheduling attributes available for
activities. The chapter continues with a description of how to perform resource
scheduling in Open Plan, including information about advanced resource
scheduling options. The chapter concludes with discussions on using resource
scheduling information and reporting the results of resource scheduling results.
• Open Plan uses the late dates to determine when an activity is being delayed
enough to delay the project completion. Therefore, if you change Time Now,
you should rerun time analysis before performing resource scheduling.
• Activity durations are never shortened but may be lengthened due to stretching,
splitting, or reprofiling. If lengthened in any of these ways, the new duration is
placed in the scheduled duration field, not in the original activity duration field.
• Resource scheduling does not violate project logic. This means that activities
are available to be scheduled only after all of their logical predecessors have
been scheduled. This means that no activity will be scheduled before its early
dates.
• Resource-limited resource scheduling does not consider an availability in excess
of the defined resource availability except for immediate activities (which are
scheduled on the earliest feasible date whether or not resources are available) or
when thresholds are in use.
• Time-limited resource scheduling schedules within the late finish date of the
activity if there is no negative float. If an activity has negative float, Open Plan
schedules on the early finish date of this activity.
Activity Splitting
Activity splitting allows an activity duration to be split into two or more pieces.
Use of this attribute may permit the activity to be scheduled earlier than would
otherwise be possible due to gaps in the availability of a required resource. For
example, suppose that 3 units of a resource are available on January 1 and January
2. On January 3, only 1 unit of the resource is available, and on January 4 and
January 5, 3 units of the resource are again available. This is illustrated in the
following profile:
Normally, a 4-day activity with a requirement of 3 units per day could not be
scheduled during this period since there are not 4 consecutive days in which the
necessary resources are available. As a result, either the activity must be delayed or
the resource availability exceeded. If the activity can be split, however, it is
possible to schedule the activity in two pieces with one 2-day piece starting on
January 1 and the second 2-day piece starting on January 4.
Two parameters control the splitting of an activity during resource scheduling: the
minimum duration of an activity piece and the maximum number of pieces.
Activity Stretching
A stretchable activity is an activity whose duration can be lengthened by Open Plan
during resource scheduling in order to reduce the peak requirement for a
constraining resource and thus obtain an earlier scheduled date. For example,
assume that a 2-day activity with a requirement of 6 resource units per day is
scheduled against a resource with an availability of only 4 units per day:
If the availability of the resource cannot be exceeded, Open Plan delays the
activity. However, by stretching the duration of an activity to 3 days (reducing the
requirement to 4 units per day), it is possible to reduce the peak requirement of the
activity enough to permit the scheduling of the activity:
To control the effects of stretching during resource scheduling, Open Plan allows
you to enter a maximum duration for the activity.
Activity Reprofiling
Reprofiling provides Open Plan with the most flexibility in scheduling an activity.
An activity with this attribute can be scheduled in any way consistent with
available resources so long as the following criteria are met:
• The duration of the reprofiled activity cannot be shorter than the specified
duration.
• The reprofiled requirements cannot exceed the original requirements profile (on
a cumulative basis).
Thus a 10-day activity with a resource requirement of 3 units per day cannot be
reprofiled so that it has a 1-day duration with a requirement of 30 units.
To see how reprofiling works, assume that a 3-day activity has a resource
requirement of 5 units per day for a total of 15 units. Depending on the availability
of the resources, the activity can be reprofiled in any number of ways, including the
following examples:
• 5 days at 3 units per day
• 4 days at 2 units per day, followed by 1 day at 7 units per day
• 5 days at 1 unit per day, followed by 1 day at zero units per day, followed by 1
day at 10 units per day
To control the effects of reprofiling during resource scheduling, Open Plan allows
you to enter a maximum duration for the activity.
Priority — This field controls the priority Open Plan gives the activity during
resource scheduling and acts as a tie-breaker. You can enter any 3-digit number.
Lower numbers indicate a higher priority than higher numbers. The default for this
field is zero (and, therefore, top priority). Negative numbers are allowed.
For this setting to take effect, you must also select Priority as one of the
priorities on the Advanced tab of the Resource Scheduling dialog box.
Separate Resources — You can define whether Open Plan should consider
multiple assignments to the same pool separately.
Suppress Requirements — You can define whether Open Plan should ignore
resource requirements for the activity during resource scheduling.
Earned Value — You can specify the performance measurement technique (EVT)
for the activity. When the Base Physical Percent Complete on EVT option is
selected on the Progress Calculations dialog box, Open Plan uses the selected
EVT to update the earned value of the activities when progress calculations are run.
The Earned Value section contains two data fields:
1. EVT — You can select from the list of EVT’s as described below.
2. Start % — This field is enabled when you select User-Defined Percentage
for the EVT. You can enter the starting percentage an activity earns in this
field. The remainder is earned when the activity is completed.
50-50, 0-100, 100-0, and User-Defined Percentage EVTs are normally used
on activities that span nor more than two periods.
Use this tab to enter the following settings about the resource scheduling operation:
Scheduling Method — You can choose either of the following methods:
• Time Limited — Time-limited resource scheduling places a priority on
maintaining the overall project completion date while attempting to minimize
the extent to which any resource is over-utilized. In time-limited resource
scheduling, constraints on resource availabilities are not allowed to delay the
overall completion date of the project. As a result, resources may be overloaded
if doing so prevents an activity from finishing after its late finish date.
Time-limited resource scheduling places all scheduled dates between the early
and late dates of activities. Thus, only activities not on the project critical path
can be delayed by resource constraints.
Time Analysis — If you wish, you can have Open Plan perform a time analysis of
the project before the resource scheduling operation. To invoke time analysis,
select Time Analyze Before Scheduling. (If you have not already performed time
analysis on the project, Open Plan selects this option automatically.) To set the time
analysis options, click Options.
For information about time analysis processing options, refer to Chapter 13,
“Time Analysis.”
Ignore Actual Dates — This option controls whether Open Plan should ignore
actual dates when performing resource scheduling:
• If this option is selected, Open Plan ignores actual dates when performing
resource scheduling.
• If this option is cleared, Open Plan does not ignore the actual dates when
performing resource scheduling. This is the default setting.
At the conclusion of each resource scheduling session, Open Plan creates and saves
a session log that records any system or error messages issued during the operation.
You can view the session log file (Opp_rs.log) once the processing is complete.
Open Plan creates one time analysis session log, listing the project results in
the order in which the projects were processed in the batch.
In-Progress Priority
The In-Progress Priority option allows you to specify that in-progress activities
have priority access to limited resources. This tends to prevent the splitting (and
thus the delay) of activities that have already started.
Hard Zeros
The Hard Zeros option exempts any resource availability of zero from being
incremented through the use of thresholds or during time-limited resource
scheduling. For example, assume that a resource availability has been defined as
the following:
Level From To
5 01Jan04 10Jan04
5 20Jan04 31Jan04
Since there is no entry for the dates between 11Jan04 and 19Jan04, there is an
implied availability of zero for this resource during that period. In normal time-
limited scheduling (or in resource-limited scheduling when resource thresholds are
involved), the availability of the resource between these dates could be increased
from its implied level of zero if it were necessary to prevent a delay in the project.
By contrast, if the Hard Zeros option were in effect, the availability of the
resource during that period would never be increased under any circumstances.
Resource Smoothing
During time-limited resource scheduling, the Smoothing option attempts to even
out or “smooth” the way in which resources are assigned to activities. Without this
option set, Open Plan assumes that if the availability of a resource has been
exceeded once, the amount of the overload should be used again in preference to
using float. With this option set, Open Plan assumes that even though an
availability has been exceeded, available float should be used in preference to
overloading the resource again.
For example, assume that four independent activities require a resource whose
availability is 1 unit per day. Three of the activities have 1-day durations and 3
days of total float each. They require 1 unit of the resource per day. The fourth
activity has a duration of 4 days and zero total float. This activity requires 3 units of
the resource but only on the fourth day of its duration. Because it has zero float, the
fourth activity assumes the default settings and is scheduled first. With normal
time-limited scheduling, Open Plan assumes that since it is necessary to exceed the
resource availability once by 2 units to schedule the fourth activity, it is permissible
to exceed that availability by 2 units at any time. As a result, it proceeds to
schedule the first three activities on their early dates:
If smoothing is turned off when you perform resource scheduling, the error log
includes a message only for the first time the resource requirement exceeds the
availability.
It is important to remember that in certain situations, the Smoothing option may
result in an increase in the total resource requirements for the project. Therefore, if
you wish to minimize the extent to which resources may be overloaded, do not use
smoothing.
In general, the following guidelines may help you decide whether to turn the
Smoothing option on or off:
• Turn smoothing on if only a few activities have a large resource overload but
the rest of the project does not.
• Turn smoothing off if the project as a whole has a large resource overload. This
has the effect of scheduling activities close to their early dates where possible,
minimizing the possibility of causing an unnecessary overload later.
To determine the best way to set the Smoothing option for your situation, compare
the results of resource scheduling with smoothing turned on and with smoothing
turned off.
Priority Fields
Open Plan provides three priority fields that are used as tiebreakers during resource
scheduling. You can use any activity-related field as a tiebreaker with the exception
of enumerated fields (for example, Activity Type) since there is no defined sort
order for such fields and note categories. Lower values or earlier dates indicate a
higher priority. Negative numeric values are allowed.
The default for the first priority tiebreaker is set to Total Float. Since lower values
have a higher priority than higher values, this field tends to schedule activities on
the project’s critical path first. In most cases you should leave this field selected as
the first priority field because it tends to produce the most efficient schedules. (If
critical activities are delayed, the project is automatically delayed by that same
amount of time.)
You may want to design your own priority system to control the scheduling of
activities. Typically, you might define a numbering system based from 1 to 10 or
perhaps 1 to 100. The numbering system and the range you use should be based on
the size of the project and the degree of detail necessary. A field labeled Priority
on the Advanced tab of the Activity Details dialog box is available for this
purpose, but it would also be possible to specify a calculated field as a priority
field.
Priority field
Open Plan also provides two special-purpose priority fields that you can use for
resource scheduling purposes: <Hierarchical Priority Field> and <Remaining
Float>.
Special-purpose
priority fields
Scheduling Interval
The Scheduling Interval setting defines the granularity with which Open Plan
matches up resource assignments and availabilities. Thus, if you define the
scheduling interval for resource scheduling as hours, Open Plan schedules an
activity only when the required resources are available for each hour of the activity
duration. By increasing the scheduling interval to days, you allow Open Plan to
schedule the activity on any day for which sufficient resource availability exists,
even if the hours of the assignment and the hours of the availability do not exactly
match.
By reducing the scheduling interval, you increase the precision of the resource
scheduling results. On the other hand, you also increase the processing time
required to yield these results. Increasing the scheduling interval should speed up
resource scheduling calculations at the cost of slightly less precise results.
To specify the largest scheduling interval that still maintains maximum accuracy,
select an interval that matches the lowest common denominator of all durations.
For example, if you know that all activity durations are defined as multiples of 2
hours, then select 2 hours as the scheduling interval.
As a general rule, never define a scheduling interval that is smaller than necessary.
For example, if you have defined all activity durations in days, changing the
scheduling interval to minutes or hours will not result in more accurate resource
calculations and will result in significantly increased processing times.
Resource Selection
By default, all resources in the resource definition file that are required by project
activities represent a potential constraint on when activities are scheduled. By
clearing some resources, you instruct Open Plan to schedule the project as though
an unlimited quantity of those resources were available.
The first time you run resource scheduling, you typically want to have all resources
selected. However, if you determine that the availability of a particular resource is
causing the schedule to be delayed, you may want to run resource scheduling again
with that resource cleared. You might also want to see how selecting or clearing
various resources would affect the schedule.
Step 2 — If necessary, replan the project. It is important that you have a finish date
that is acceptable before proceeding.
Step 3 — Perform resource scheduling. There are two basic approaches to resource
scheduling: time-limited and resource-limited.
• Time-limited resource scheduling asks the question, “When and where do I need
extra resources in order to meet the dates?”
• Resource-limited scheduling asks the question, “How much will the project be
delayed because I do not have enough resources?”
Although you will certainly want to try both methods so that you can compare the
results, your circumstances will dictate which method you should try first. (Time-
limited and resource-limited scheduling are discussed in greater detail elsewhere in
this chapter.)
Step 4 — To see the effect of resources on the project schedule, compare the
scheduled dates calculated by resource scheduling to the early and late dates
calculated by time analysis. In resource-limited scheduling, a large difference
between an activity’s early start date and its earliest feasible date indicates that
resource bottlenecks earlier in the project are producing delays in the schedule.
Step 5 — To identify cases of resource over utilization, display a resource
histogram view that compares resource requirements to availabilities.
Step 6 — If you are not satisfied with either the scheduled dates or the levels of
resource utilization, you can make adjustments to the resource usage in a number of
ways:
• You can identify over-utilized resources and substitute under-utilized resources
for them.
• You can permit Open Plan to split, stretch, or reprofile activities whose
durations do not have to be uninterrupted.
• You can select a different processing option and rerun resource scheduling.
Processing options include resource smoothing, giving in-progress activities
higher priority, and using different fields for establishing project priorities.
Step 7 — Recalculate the schedule using time analysis (if you have made any
changes to the project logic) and resource scheduling.
Step 8 — Repeat the entire procedure as needed to develop a workable schedule.
Delaying
resource
In this view, Open Plan displays bars for both early and scheduled dates. If the
scheduled start date is later than the earliest feasible start date for an activity (that
is, if a resource assigned to the activity is causing it to be delayed beyond its
earliest possible start), Open Plan changes the color of the bar, displays an arrow
indicating the earliest feasible start date, and displays the name of the resource
causing the delay.
By enlarging the histogram portion of the view, it is possible to compare
availability and assignment information for specific resources:
This type of view makes it easy to focus in on the resource problems that have a
direct impact on schedule performance.
Overview
Project management decisions are concerned with the future. While planners hope
to influence the outcome of events by the decisions they make, everything about
the future is, to a greater or lesser extent, uncertain. The techniques of risk analysis
were developed to provide a consistent methodology for quantifying this
uncertainty with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of decisions.
By definition, project management involves the planning and coordination of large
numbers of activities for which there are often no precise precedents. The durations
and costs of the individual activities making up the project cannot be known
exactly before the project begins. Clearly a project plan is, by its very nature, a
forecast and thus contains elements of uncertainty.
Using the tools of risk analysis, Open Plan allows you to quantify the uncertainties
associated with project durations. When using this feature, you enter three
durations (optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely) for activities. During the risk
analysis process, Open Plan estimates the duration for these activities using random
numbers and runs time analysis a large number of times. By precisely defining the
probable range of the durations of each activity, Open Plan provides you with the
means to model the impact of these uncertainties on such critical areas as:
• The project completion date
• The feasibility of achieving specific target dates
Briefly stated, Open Plan risk analysis works by:
• Allowing you to enter three durations (optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely)
and probability distributions for each activity.
• Allowing you to enter probability distributions for duration for some or all of
the activities in a project
• Performing a risk analysis using Monte Carlo simulation to establish estimates
of the effects on project dates
• Producing views and reports that can be used in analyzing the impact of
uncertainties on the performance of the project
This chapter provides introductions to these topics.
You can enter probability information for any type of activity that does not
use a calculated duration (for example, subprojects, external subprojects, or
hammocks).
To enter risk information at the activity level, use the Risk tab of the Activity
Details dialog box:
For each activity on which you want to model risk, you can enter an optimistic
(minimum estimated) duration and a pessimistic (maximum estimated) duration in
addition to an original duration. You can also enter a weight factor (0-100) for the
Probability of Occurrence that indicates the probability that the activity will exist
at all. For example, assume you have the following three activities:
Activities A and B will always happen, but we might judge that there is only a 20%
chance that following testing, we have to go back and fix the software. All regular
Open Plan features ignore this field (and always consider all tasks) except Risk
Analysis, which would only consider activity C 20% of the time. If Risk Analysis
chooses to ignore the task on any given iteration, then any successors of C are
deemed to follow immediately on from B (as if C had zero duration).
You must also enter one of the following distribution shapes to define how Open
Plan will sample the range of possible durations:
• Beta — Probable outcomes cluster around the mode value of the distribution.
Outcomes at the extreme values of the distribution are very unlikely.
• Normal — Probable outcomes cluster symmetrically around the center of the
distribution.
• Triangular — Probable outcomes cluster around the mode (most likely) value of
the distribution. Outcomes close to optimistic and pessimistic values of the
distribution still possess a significant probability.
• Uniform — Each outcome is equally likely.
Note that Open Plan requires a mode or “most likely” duration for the triangular
and beta distribution shapes. In these cases, the original duration of the activity is
assumed to be the mode duration. For symmetrical distribution shapes (uniform and
normal), a mode duration is not required for risk analysis processing. However,
since virtually all processing by Open Plan other than risk analysis uses the original
duration field, you should always enter this duration, no matter what type of
distribution shape is specified for the activity. In fact, Open Plan checks for the
validity of the duration field by verifying that its value falls between the optimistic
and pessimistic duration before allowing you to store the information for the
activity. An activity with a blank duration field is interpreted by Open Plan as
having zero duration.
The following examples show how to specify duration probabilities for activities.
Example 1 — You estimate that an activity can have a duration of 3, 4, or 5 days.
Each duration is equally likely.
• Optimistic = 3d
• Pessimistic = 5d
• Duration = 4d (not used during risk analysis)
• Shape = Uniform
Example 2 — You estimate that an activity could have a duration anywhere
between 10 and 30 days based on a normal probability distribution.
• Optimistic = 10d
• Pessimistic = 30d
• Duration = 20d (not used during risk analysis)
• Shape = Normal
Example 3 — You estimate that an activity could have a duration anywhere
between 10 and 30 days. You predict the most likely duration to be 12 days.
• Optimistic = 10d
• Pessimistic = 30d
• Duration = 12d
• Shape = Triangular
Example 4 — You know that an activity has a duration of 2 days.
• Optimistic = blank
• Pessimistic = blank
• Duration = 2d
• Shape = blank
Open Plan also allows you to designate one or more activities in a project as “key
activities.” For key activities, Open Plan stores the most detailed risk analysis
information possible. You can then use a risk histogram view to display detailed
histograms for the probability distributions for such information as the early dates
of selected milestone activities.
The designation of a large number of key activities can result in the creation
of an unmanageably large Risk table when risk analysis is performed.
Therefore, it is recommended that the number of activities flagged as key
activities never exceed a dozen or so per project.
Each time you perform risk analysis using either the Risk Analysis dialog box or
the Risk Analysis button, Open Plan creates a session log file that records any
system or error messages issued during the operation. Open Plan saves the file
(Opp_risk.log) and allows you to examine its contents at the conclusion of each
session.
Time Analyze before Risk Analysis — Select this option if you want Open Plan
to conduct a time analysis of the current project information before continuing with
risk analysis calculations. (Note that Open Plan does not require you to perform
time analysis before performing risk analysis.)
There are two additional risk analysis options available on the Advanced tab of the
Options dialog box:
For key activities, Open Plan provides a cumulative distribution for each
calculated date and float. This information is output to the Risk table. By
default, values are provided for 21 percentile points (0, 5, 10…100). The
following two options allow you to control this granularity, either by
specifying the number of intervals (which will be evenly spaced) or by
specifying the percentiles themselves.
For more information on using the Advanced tab of the Options dialog
box, refer to Chapter 25, “System Defaults.”
You can also use the Advanced tab of the Risk Analysis dialog box to set
additional options for the operation.
For information about these options, refer to Chapter 13, “Time Analysis.”
Risk analysis for multiple projects can also be run by selecting a group of
projects and clicking the Risk Analysis button on the toolbar. See the
previous section for toolbar procedures.
Open Plan creates one risk analysis session log, listing the project results in
the order in which the projects were processed in the batch.
The mean value of a distribution is one measure of central tendency and may be
roughly thought of as the weighted average of the possible values in a distribution.
It is important to remember that the value for standard deviation is not the
maximum amount of variation possible in either direction from the mean value.
Instead, you can use the standard deviation value as a measure of confidence as
follows:
• There is an approximately 68% probability of an outcome occurring that falls
within one standard deviation of the mean.
• There is an approximately 95% probability of an outcome occurring that falls
within two standard deviations of the mean.
• There is an approximately 99% probability of an outcome occurring that falls
within three standard deviations of the mean.
Thus, you could expect with 95% confidence that an activity with a mean early
start of May 1 and a standard deviation of six days would start within 12 days of
that date.
This technique only provides an approximation of confidence levels. For one thing,
the actual distribution is often skewed in one direction or the other, rendering
confidence estimates based on mean and standard deviation values less effective.
To get a complete picture, an activity should be designated as a key activity as
shown in a risk histogram (as described in the next section of this chapter).
It is also possible to show clearly the relationship between criticality index of an
activity and the mean and standard deviation of the total float. Activities whose
total floats have large standard deviations relative to their means are more likely to
be critical than activities with relatively small standard deviations.
Open Plan calculates values for free float and total float based on the
project calendar. Depending on the option you select on the Options tab of
the Risk Analysis dialog box, standard deviations for dates can be
calculated with or without regard to the activity calendar.
Risk Histograms
A risk histogram view presents the detailed picture of the probability distribution
for calculated dates for a key activity. Open a risk histogram view, select a key
activity from the project, then select any of the following dates for use in a risk
histogram view:
• Early start
• Early finish
• Late start
• Late finish
The following is an example of a risk histogram based on early start dates:
The histogram represents the percentage of trials which resulted in an early start
within each time interval. Against the left-hand axis, Open Plan prepares a scale
representing the percentage of risk analysis iterations that occurred in a given time
interval. In this example, the mode or “most likely” early start for the activity was
May 5 with 40% of the simulations falling in that interval.
The right-hand axis represents the cumulative distribution of the dates. In this
example, we can see that 50% of the simulations resulted in dates no later than May
5, making it the median early start date.
Notice also how Open Plan displays the following information to the left of the
histogram:
• The early and late start dates (calculated by time analysis)
• The mean early and late start dates
• The standard deviation for the mean early start
• The standard deviation for the mean late start
Overview
The progressing function in Open Plan allows you to enter status information about
both activities and resources in a project that is underway. For activities, you can
enter actual start and finish dates, estimates of remaining durations, and completion
status. For resources, you can enter actual dates, costs, and quantities as well as
estimates of future usage.
This chapter starts with discussions on creating and managing project baselines,
and then provides discussions of the following topics:
• Entering activity progress information
• Entering resource progress information
• How Open Plan uses progress information when calculating schedules
The chapter concludes with a discussion of the automatic progressing features in
Open Plan.
Project Baselines
Baselines provide a “snapshot” of project status by storing a complete set of project
data for a specific point in time. By comparing baseline schedules and costs with
current information, you can see the areas of the project that are deviating from the
original plan. In many cases, project baselines serve as the basis of contractual
agreements related to project performance.
Open Plan allows you to store multiple project baselines so that you can, for
example, create a baseline each time a major re-planning of the project occurs. For
some planners, a single baseline is sufficient for determining subsequent project
performance. Other planners prefer to create new baselines on a regular basis in
order to maintain a historical record of changes over the life of the project.
Open Plan also allows you to create a performance measurement baseline (PMB)
that is used for cost calculations.
Creating a Baseline
You can create a project baseline at any time. Typically, you might create a
baseline after the initial plans are complete, but before you begin entering progress
information. To create a baseline, use the Baselines command from the Project
menu to display the following dialog box:
You can also display the Baselines dialog box by clicking Select Baseline
on the Summary tab of the Project Properties dialog box.
When you indicate that you want to create a new baseline, Open Plan displays the
following dialog box:
Use this dialog box to enter the following information about the new baseline.
Name — The name of the baseline.
Description — A description for the baseline.
Based On —You must indicate whether you want to use Early, Late, or Scheduled
dates for storing information related to resources and costs. The choice you make
determines which set of dates Open Plan stores in the Baseline Start and Baseline
Finish fields for the baseline.
The Baseline Start and Baseline Finish fields serve as base dates for the
calculation of earned value costs – BCWS, ACWP, and BCWP.
Ignore Progress, Use Original Project Start Date — When selected, this option
creates baseline dates by performing a time analysis from the project start date.
Use Baseline of Same Name on External Subprojects. — This option is enabled
only when you are adding a new baseline.
If the master project and its external subprojects contain a baseline with the same
name, then selecting this option instructs Open Plan to use the external subprojects'
baseline when performing calculations.
If the this option is selected and the external subprojects do not contain a baseline
with the same name as the master project's baseline, then Open Plan will create
baselines for the external projects with that name.
The Filter section contains the following fields and options:
Filter — You can specify a filter to limit the baseline to a defined group of
activities. To limit the scope of the operation, you can either select an existing filter
or create a new filter by clicking the ellipsis displayed next to the Filter text box.
• If this option is not selected, Open Plan adds baseline information for only new
activities (that is, activities missing from the original baseline).
The following two options are enabled only on the Update Baseline dialog box:
Roll-up Data to All Baseline Parents — This option is enabled only when you are
updating an existing baseline. If selected, this option rolls up all dates, budget cost,
and labor quantity data in the baseline to its parent level.
Delete All Activities no Longer in Current Project — This option is enabled
only when you are updating an existing baseline. If selected, this option compares
the baseline project with its current counterpart and deletes any activities from the
baseline that no longer exist in the current project.
Open Plan uses the appropriate project calendar when calculating baseline
start dates based on progress information.
Once you create a baseline, you can update it with the current project information
at any time. When updating an existing baseline, you can have Open Plan update
information for activities already present in the baseline as well as for new
activities (that is, activities missing from the original baseline).
You can also create a copy of a baseline by clicking Copy on the Baselines dialog
box. When the Copy Baseline dialog box appears, the baseline is given the name
COPY_<baseline name>. You are able to change the name as well as the
description if you so desire. You cannot, however, change the dates that the
baseline is based on.
To create a baseline
1. Select the appropriate project, and take one of the following actions:
• On the Project menu, click Baselines.
• On the Summary tab of the Project Properties dialog box, click Select
Baseline.
2. On the Baselines dialog box, click New.
3. On the Add Baseline dialog box, enter the information for the baseline, and click
OK.
To copy a baseline
1. Select the appropriate project, and take one of the following actions:
• On the Project menu, click Baselines.
• On the Summary tab of the Project Properties dialog box, click Select
Baseline.
2. From the Baselines dialog box, select the baseline to copy, and click Copy.
3. On the Copy Baseline dialog box, enter a new name and description for the
baseline if you so desire, and click OK.
If you rename the baseline copy to the name of an existing baseline,
Open Plan displays the Overwrite Existing Baseline dialog box. Click
OK to overwrite the existing baseline.
To update a baseline
1. Select the appropriate project, and take one of the following actions:
• On the Project menu, click Baselines.
• On the Summary tab of the Project Properties dialog box, click Select
Baseline.
2. From the Baselines dialog box, select the baseline that you want to update, and
click Update.
3. On the Update Baseline dialog box, update the information for the baseline, and
click OK.
When you select a baseline on the Baselines dialog box and click Access Control,
the following dialog box is displayed:
You can use the following fields to define access rights to the baseline:
Group — This field allows you to grant access rights to an entire user group. User
groups are created within WelcomSecurity.
User ID — This field allows you to grant access rights to individual users. User
IDs are created within WelcomSecurity.
Copy — This field controls whether the group or user has the right to copy the
baseline.
Delete — This field controls whether the group or user has the right to delete the
baseline.
Update — This field controls whether the group or user has the right to update the
baseline.
View — This field controls whether the baseline is included on the Baselines
dialog box for the group or user.
1. Select the project that contains the baseline to which you want to define access
rights.
2. Take one of the following actions:
• On the Project menu, click Baselines.
• On the Summary tab of the Project Properties dialog box, click Select
Baseline.
3. From the Baselines dialog box, select the baseline, select the appropriate
baseline, and click Access Control.
4. On the Baseline Access Control dialog box, assign access rights to the baseline.
5. When finished, click OK.
Managing Baselines
Although your project can have more than three baselines, Open Plan allows up to
three baselines to be available for reporting purposes at a time. You also can
change the current baseline(s) at any time.
The Summary tab of the Project Properties dialog box displays the current
baseline(s) selected for the project:
Current
baseline(s)
When you select <Multiple Baselines> from the Baselines dialog box, Open Plan
displays the following:
You can use this dialog box to select up to three baselines for the project. If the
PMB does not exist, Open Plan uses the first selected baseline for cost calculations
when you have multiple baselines selected.
If you are not interested in having access to baseline information, you can also
specify that no baseline should be loaded with the project. This has the effect of
reducing the memory requirements of a project, and thus has the potential of
improving performance.
It is also possible to delete unneeded project baselines, which can help reduce the
overall size of the project data file.
To delete a baseline
1. Select the appropriate project, and take one of the following actions:
• On the Project menu, click Baselines.
• On the Summary tab of the Project Properties dialog box, click Select
Baseline.
2. Select the baseline that you want to delete, and click Delete.
3. When Open Plan asks you to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
When selecting fields, you can choose which of the current baselines you want to
display. In a multi-table view, you can link to all the current baselines and display
the data for each on different rows.
In resource histogram views, you can display baseline resource assignments. These
assignments are based on either early, late, or scheduled dates, depending on which
dates were used to create the baseline. If you are displaying the results of earned
value calculations, the calculations of BCWP and BCWS are based on the Baseline
Start and Baseline Finish fields stored with the baseline.
You can also use baseline fields in filters, sorts, and calculated field expressions.
Keep in mind, however, that the values of baseline fields depend on which baseline
is currently loaded for a project and cannot be edited from within the view.
Activity Progress
In general, entering status information about activity progress consists of specifying
the following information so that a revised time analysis of the project can be
performed:
• Has the activity started? If so, when?
• Has the activity ended? If so, when?
• If the activity has started but not yet ended, how long is the remaining duration?
It is important to make sure that all progress information up to Time Now has been
entered. The Time Now date (sometimes referred to as the status date) refers to the
date for which all the progress data in a project has been reported. Open Plan
assumes that no future work for the project (including activities which have not yet
started and activities which have been started but not completed) can be scheduled
prior to the Time Now date. For example, a Time Now of 01Jun06 means that all
progress data in the project up to and including 31May06 has been reported, and
that Open Plan does not schedule any work for the project prior to 01Jun06.
Time Now is a date for statusing purposes only and does not have any
relationship to the actual current calendar date.
It is recommended that you enter actual dates for progressed activities whenever
possible. If you omit an actual start or actual finish date when entering project
progress, Open Plan deduces the dates for the purposes of internal calculations
based on the status code entered and Time Now.
This dialog box displays the original duration of the activity along with the current
date of Time Now and the current status of the activity. You can also enter the
following additional progress information using this dialog box.
Actual Start — You can enter an actual start date for the activity. (Note that
entering an actual start date automatically changes the activity status from planned
to in-progress.)
Actual Finish — You can indicate that the activity is complete by changing the
activity status to complete or by entering an actual finish date. If you enter an
actual finish date without changing the activity status, Open Plan treats the activity
as complete during time analysis.
If you enter both an actual and an expected finish date for an activity, Open
Plan ignores the expected finish date except in cases where the actual finish
date is after Time Now.
As Planned — You can indicate that the activity is progressing according to plan.
(Notice, however, that Open Plan does not progress activities automatically unless
you enter an actual start date.)
Remaining Duration — You can enter the remaining portion of the activity
duration.
Elapsed Duration — You can enter an elapsed duration since the start of the
activity.
Percent Complete — You can enter a completion estimate as a percentage.
Complete — You can indicate that the activity is complete.
Like the Activity Details dialog box, the Activity Progress dialog box is
modeless, which allows you to keep it open while performing other operations in
Open Plan. The navigation buttons and the Close, Undo, and Apply commands
function identically to their counterparts in the Activity Details dialog box. You
can, in fact, keep both the Activity Details dialog box and the Activity Progress
dialog box open at the same time, updating the information in either dialog box as
appropriate.
By default, Open Plan synchronizes multiple activity dialog boxes so that using the
navigation buttons on one dialog box will result in Open Plan scrolling to the
appropriate activity on another dialog box.
For information about disabling this feature, refer to Chapter 25, “System
Defaults.”
When entering progress information using this view, note that the setting of the
Progress Type field determines how Open Plan interprets the Progress Value
field. For example, if you entered Percent Complete for the Progress Type field,
Open Plan interprets the Progress Value field as a percentage.
For information about defining activity bar types, refer to Chapter 18,
“Barchart Views.”
3. When the cursor changes shape to a progress arrow, drag to the right to indicate
the percentage completion of the activity.
You can also use this tab to enter information about the project such as Time Now
or project target dates and types.
Any progress information you enter will have no effect on this summary until you
recalculate the project schedule using time analysis.
You can view the Project Properties dialog box without having to first
open the project.
After progressing the activities, if you run resource scheduling without first
running time analysis, the scheduled start and finish dates calculated will be
inaccurate.
The following guidelines explain how Open Plan uses the progressing information
when it calculates the new schedule.
• If an activity has an actual start date but no other indication of activity status,
Open Plan deduces the elapsed duration of the activity by comparing the actual
start date to the Time Now date.
• If activity status and progress information imply that the activity is complete
(for example, if the elapsed duration of the activity exceeds its total duration),
Open Plan assumes that the activity is complete.
• If an activity has out-of-sequence progress (that is, progress has been reported
even though activities deemed as predecessors in project logic have not been
completed), Open Plan accepts the information but issues a warning in the time
analysis session log.
• Open Plan ignores actual dates later than Time Now (although a warning is
issued in the session log).
• Open Plan calculates progress on a subproject from progress entered at the
activity level. Open Plan ignores any progress entered at the subproject level.
• After evaluating the progress information, Open Plan calculates the early and
late dates for the remaining portion of the activity duration only. (Completed
activities have their late dates calculated as though the activity duration was
zero.) This convention allows Open Plan to retain the maximum information for
reporting purposes, including tracing out-of-sequence progress.
For a more complete discussion about how Open Plan interprets progress
information, refer to Chapter 9, “The Effect of Progress Information,” in the
Deltek Open Plan Developer’s Guide.
You can also enter costs that are not associated with any resource. Entering costs
not associated with a resource allows you to define costs at the activity level. These
costs can be reported separately from the costs you have entered at the resource
level.
You can make as many entries for a specific resource as you wish. Each entry
consists of a date or a pair of dates defining the period for the cost and then the
actual usage or costs. It is also possible to enter a forecast of remaining usage for a
resource. Once you enter progress for a resource and save your changes, Open Plan
automatically rolls up the information for the resource, displays the results in the
Previous fields, and clears the entry fields.
To enter resource progress information in Open Plan, use the Resources tab of the
Activity Progress dialog box. You can display this dialog box by selecting an
activity and clicking Progress on the Edit menu in any activity view or by right-
clicking an activity and clicking Progress on the context menu.
If you scroll through the fields displayed in this dialog, you can see the current
actual costs and usage for each resource as well as the budgeted costs and units for
all assigned resources. Budgeted costs of resources reflect any cost escalations
defined for the resource based on the period of the original assignment.
This dialog contains the following elements:
Activity Physical % Complete — An estimate of the percent of the work of the
activity that is complete.
For example, assume that the activity consists of paving a 5-mile stretch of road.
When the first mile has been paved, you could enter 20 in this field to indicate that
the work of the activity is 20% complete. This information is completely
independent of the amount of the activity duration that has elapsed.
Open Plan uses the information from this field to calculate earned value
(budgeted cost of work performed or BCWP) and does not affect any
subsequent time analysis or resource scheduling calculations.
Start Date — The start of the period covered by the actuals entered. The date in
this field applies to all of the resource progress records entered during the current
session.
End Date — The end of the period covered by the actual quantity and actual cost
values entered. If a date is entered in this field, the actual values are spread between
the start and end dates. If this field is left blank, the actual values are applied on the
start date. The date in this field applies to all the resource progress records entered
during the current session.
Resource — Each resource assigned to the activity is identified on two lines in this
column.
• On the first line, Open Plan displays the ID of the resource.
• On the second line, Open Plan displays the description associated with the
resource ID.
In addition, you can enter valid resource IDs in blank rows at the bottom of the
table to indicate actual quantity and actual cost for unbudgeted resources. You can
also enter actuals on a row that does not contain a resource ID to have Open Plan
roll up the actuals to the activity directly.
If you indicated that Open Plan should use activity progress information to
automatically calculate resource progress, you cannot enter progress
information for a budgeted resource. For more information about the
automatic calculation of resource progress, refer to the “Calculating
Resource Progress Automatically” section in this chapter and also Chapter
7, “Resource Definitions.”
Phy. % — Open Plan displays the resource physical percent complete in this field.
This is the amount of the activity’s requirement for that resource that has been
used.
Adjusting this value triggers a recalculation of the Activity Physical % Complete.
When you tab out of this field, the numbers automatically update.
For detailed information on how Open Plan calculates the physical percent
complete at both the activity level and resource level, refer to Chapter 12,
“Cost Calculations,” in the Deltek Open Plan Developer’s Guide.
• Qty — The actual quantity of the resource used during the period defined by the
start and end dates. You can enter actual quantity information for some
resources and have Open Plan calculate the actual quantity based on activity
progress (by selecting that option on the Resource Details dialog box) for
others.
You cannot enter actual quantity information for a resource for which
resource progress is automatically calculated based on activity progress.
(This setting is defined on the General tab of the Resource Details dialog
box.)
• Cost — The actual cost of the quantity of the resource used. You can enter
actual costs directly for some resources and have Open Plan calculate the actual
cost based on progressed quantity (by selecting that option on the Resource
Details dialog box) for others.
You cannot enter actual cost information for a budgeted resource for which
actual cost is automatically calculated based on progressed quantity. For
more information about the automatic calculation of resource progress, refer
to Chapter 7, “Resource Definitions,” and the “Calculating Resource
Progress Automatically” section in this chapter.
• Cost — When you tab away from the Actual Cost field, Open Plan displays the
remaining resource cost. Open Plan calculates this value as follows:
Budget Cost — Previous Cost
This value is calculated only for display purposes and is not stored in the
database.
Since Open Plan ignores this value for unbudgeted resources or for
costs entered at the activity level without reference to a resource, it is
important to adjust the remaining quantities of budgeted but unused
resources in cases where you have substituted unbudgeted resources or
activity-level costs.
• Percent complete
• Expected finish
Typically, project managers might use the automatic progressing feature to
calculate status for large projects and then enter information for any exceptions
manually. Automatic progressing does not overwrite any existing actual dates, nor
does it change the status of an activity marked as complete. However, estimates of
progress for in-progress activities may be modified by the operation.
To have Open Plan calculate activity progress automatically, click Progress
Progress
Calculations button Calculations on the Project menu, or click the Progress Calculations button on
the toolbar to display the following dialog box:
Normally, you would perform progress calculations before time analysis for
the next progressing period. If this is the case, you use this dialog box to set
new Time Now values.
Use this dialog box to define the dates that Open Plan should use for calculating
progress as well as how in-progress activities should be handled.
You also have the opportunity to set the following options for the operation:
Time Now — By default, the current date populates this field. Click the ellipsis to
select a different date.
Matching Filter — To limit the scope of the operation, you may select either an
existing filter or create a new filter by clicking the ellipsis displayed next to the
Matching Filter text box.
Update Activity Status and Actual Dates — Selecting this option allow you to
specify the following additional options:
• Based On — You can specify which of the types of dates Open Plan should use
in performing the calculations:
■ Early Dates
■ Late Dates
■ Scheduled Dates
■ Baseline Dates
• Complete if Finished Before Time Now — If this option is selected, Open Plan
treats the type of dates selected in the Based on field as complete if they finish
before Time Now and enters the appropriate (early, late, scheduled, or baseline)
finish date into the actual finish date field.
The automatic progress function does not affect any actual finish dates
already recorded on complete activities.
• In Progress if Started Before Time Now — If this option is selected, Open Plan
treats activities that meet all of the following criteria as in progress:
■ Activity starts before Time Now
■ Activity has an early finish date after Time Now
■ Activity is not already marked as complete
The automatic progress function does not affect any actual start dates
recorded on activities already statused as in-progress.
For activities that it treats as in-progress, Open Plan allows you to specify which
of the following values it should calculate:
■ Remaining Duration
■ Elapsed Duration
■ Percent Complete
■ Expected Finish
For more information on the Log Viewer, refer to Chapter 24, “System
Utilities.”
Select to allow
automatic resource
progressing.
After you enter progress information for activities, you can have Open Plan
calculate the quantity of resource units that correspond to the recorded activity
progress for all eligible resources. For example, if you have indicated that an
activity is 50% complete, Open Plan calculates the number of resource units
corresponding to the first half of the activity duration, taking into account factors
such as spread curves, offsets, and periods, which may affect the distribution of the
resource assignment.
To have Open Plan calculate resource progress automatically, click Progress
Progress Calculations on the Project menu, or click the Progress Calculations button on
Calculations button the toolbar to display the following dialog box:
You can update the resource remaining quantity and the resource actual quantity
separately or at the same time. Open Plan performs the calculations based on
options selected on the General tab of the Resource Details dialog box for the
resources defined as supporting progress calculations in the Resource (OPP_RES)
table.
Each time you perform automatic resource progressing, Open Plan creates a session
log file that records any system or error messages issued during the operation.
Open Plan saves the file (Opp_prog.log) in your Open Plan working directory, and
allows you to examine its contents at the conclusion of each session.
To see the results of this calculation, display the Resources tab of the
Activity Progress dialog box.
For more information on the Log Viewer, refer to Chapter 24, “System
Utilities.
Open Plan creates one progress calculation session log, listing the project
results in the order in which the projects were processed in the batch.
When the Update Physical Percent Complete option is selected and the Base
Physical Percent Complete on EVT option is not selected, Open Plan updates the
physical percent complete for activities that match the selected filter based on
activity status using the following formula:
PPC = (Elapsed duration / Expected duration) x 100
Where:
Elapsed duration is calculated as (Time Now – Actual Start)
Expected duration is calculated as (Finish Date – Actual Start Date)
The Base Physical Percent Complete on EVT option allows you to use the EVT
assigned to the activities on the Advanced tab of the Activity Details dialog box
when updating the physical percent complete.
Progress Dates
The Start Date and End Date fields are enabled when you choose to update
resource progress or earned value.
Open Plan stores the BCWP time-phased. Therefore, you must enter a start
date in the Progress Dates section of the dialog box.
Open Plan uses the dates to spread actual costs and quantify for the purpose of cost
reporting:
• Start Date — The start of the period covered by the automatic resource
calculation. The date in this field is recorded as the From date on the resource
actual quantity/cost record in the cost file.
If the actual start date of the activity is later than the start date defined
in this field (but within the Start date – End date range), the activity
actual start date is used as the Start Date in the progress calculation.
• End Date — The end of the period covered by the automatic resource
calculation. If a date is entered in this field, the actuals are spread between the
start and end dates. If this field is left blank, the actuals are applied on the start
date. The date in this field is recorded as the To date on the resource actual
quantity/cost record in the cost file.
If the actual finish date of the activity is earlier than the end date
defined in this field (but within the Start date – End date range), the
activity actual finish date is used as the End Date in the progress
calculation.
Overview
Views are the means through which you can add, update, and display information
about a project in Open Plan. Although you are free to create as many custom
views as you wish, all Open Plan views fall into one of the four following types:
• Barchart view — A composite view displaying a barchart, a spreadsheet, and a
resource/cost histogram
• Code view — A logic diagram of the project codes
• Network view — A logic diagram of the project activities and relationships
• Resource view — A display of the resource breakdown structure
• Spreadsheet view — A display of project information in a tabular format.
Spreadsheet views can be based on a single table or on multi-tables.
• Histogram view — A display of resource/cost or risk analysis information in a
graphical format
This chapter contains discussions of a number of topics related to the reporting of
project data in Open Plan:
• Views
• Printing reports
• Reporting calendars
The chapter concludes with a discussion of the notes feature in Open Plan.
Views
In the Open Plan Library, views store all the information about how Open Plan
should display a particular view. You can customize an existing view and then
share the new view with multiple projects. However, since a view is not associated
with a specific project, it cannot display data. As a result, before you can open or
change its definition, you must first assign it to a project.
When you assign a view to a project, you create a link in the project folder to the
view in the Open Plan Library. If you modify the appearance of the view and save
the view, your changes may affect other instances of that view.
• Double-click a view in the Open Plan Library to display a list of the projects
that are currently open. Then select one of the projects from the list for the
assignment.
Provided that the project to which you want to assign the view is open, Open Plan
displays the Choose a Project dialog box when you double-click a view in the
Open Plan Library. If there are no projects open when you double-click the view,
Open Plan informs you that the view is not associated with a project and advises
you to drag the view from the library to the project folder to create a link.
A project does not need to be open if you use drag and drop to assign a
view.
Open Plan remembers your selection for the next time you display the
Choose a Project dialog box. In other words, if you select the Make a
Permanent Link to Project setting, the next time you display the
Choose a Project dialog box, this setting will automatically be selected.
If you make changes to a view, you can use the Save View command on the File
menu to display the Save Current View As dialog box:
You can use this dialog box to give the view a new name and description.
Open Plan also asks if you want to save your changes when you exit the view.
If you indicate that you want to save your changes, Open Plan displays a dialog box
and allows you to perform the following actions:
• To update the original view with your changes, save the view under its current
name.
• To create a new view and leave the original one unmodified, save the view with
a new name. Open Plan automatically adds this new view to the Open Plan
Library and creates a link to it in the project folder.
To open a view
1. Locate the view in the appropriate project folder.
2. Take one of the following actions:
• Double-click the view.
• Right-click the view, and click Open on the context menu.
• Click View Toolbar and select from the list. (This allows you to change views
while in a project without returning to Explorer.)
You can display a view without first having to open the project. When
you display the view, the project is automatically open in default mode.
To save a view
1. Open the view you want to save.
2. Make any required changes to the view.
3. On the File menu, click Save View.
4. On the Save Current View As dialog box, enter the name and description for the
view.
5. Click OK.
Browser Views
A browser view allows a Windows shortcut, Internet shortcut, or Open Plan Add-In
to be stored as a view in the Views folder of the Open Plan Library. The browser
view can then be accessed directly from this folder. It can also be assigned to a
project, resource, or code so that it is opened in a particular context.
Once created, a browser view can be used the same as any other view.
Clicking Browser Views on the Tools menu displays the Browser Views dialog
box populated with all previously defined browser views: You can create, copy,
edit, and delete browser views from this dialog box.
If you click the New button, the New Browser View dialog displays:
In the Name field, enter a name for the new browser view and click OK. Open
Plan displays the Browser View Definition dialog box that you can use you to
define the elements of the view:
While you cannot use this dialog box to change the name of an existing
browser view, you can change the name in the Open Plan Explorer. Right-
click the browser view in the Open Plan Explorer that you wish to change,
and click Rename on the context menu.
Owner — Displays the name of the user who created the browser view. This field
is required and cannot be edited in this dialog box.
If you are the owner of a browser view or you have system administrator
access, you can use the Access Control tab of the view’s Properties dialog
box to change the owner.
Description — Displays the description of the browser view. This field is optional
and can be edited at any time.
Command — Displays the command line to be executed when the browser view is
run. For example, the command line could be the path to an executable file or a
WebWindow. It can also be a URL to a specific Webpage.
You can enter a fully realized command line or you can make the command
relative to either the Open Plan System folder or User folder. To make the
command relative to the System folder, you would preface the command with
<SYSDIR>. To make the command relative to the User folder, you would preface
the command with <USERDIR>.
Example: Assume you want to make the Add-In command Trace Logic into a
browser view. You could enter the command in one of the following ways:
• C:\Program Files\Deltek\Open Plan
Professional\sampletools\vbapps\trace\trace.exe
• <SYSDIR>sampletools\vbapps\trace\trace.exe
Looking at the Trace Logic command in the addins.dat file, you will notice
that there are two arguments added to the end of the command line: %P and
%A. These command-line arguments are entered in the Arguments field.
If you wanted to create a browser view to your company Web site, you would enter
a fully realized URL address for the command. For example,
http://deltek.com/
To make the Web site open in an internal Open Plan window, add %i in the
Arguments field.
Parameter Description
Parameter Description
Note: If data specific parameters are used, Open Plan will reload
the page that was initially loaded in the internal window with an
updated query string each time the selected value (project,
activity ID, resource, etc.) changes.
%T When %I is used, tiles the internal browser window
%D Launches the file/link in a dockable internal browser
%X Maximizes an internal browser window
The custom WebWindows that are shipped with Open Plan as part of the
Add-Ins menu can easily be added as browser views. Refer to "The
Addins.dat File" section of Chapter 4, "The Open Plan Configuration Files,"
in the Deltek Open Plan Developer's Guide for command line and argument
parameter information for each WebWindow.
Access Control — Select this option to grant rights to other users in the data
source to use the definition.
Custom Symbols
You can include custom symbols in many Open Plan Views. For example, you can
use a custom symbol for the left and right end of a bar type in a barchart view, or
you can include a custom logo in the title block of a printed report.
The Manage Symbols dialog box allows you to add, edit, and delete Open Plan
custom symbols.
Printing Reports
You can output any Open Plan view or data file display to external devices such as
a printer or a plotter to produce a report. Open Plan functions related to the creation
of reports include:
• The Print command
• The Print Setup command
• General print options
• Print options for barcharts and histograms
• The definition of title blocks
• The Print Preview command
Each of these functions is described in the following sections.
You should have a default printer selected in Windows before using any of
the above options. For information about setting up a default printer in
Windows, refer to either the Windows documentation or the documentation
supplied with the printer.
Using this dialog box, you can enter the following settings about the print
operation.
Printer — You can select a default printer as well as a specific printer for a report.
To set advanced options for your output device, click Properties. The
options that can be set using this dialog box depend on the device type.
Print Range — You can print all the pages of the view or define a range of pages
to print.
Copies — You can specify how many copies of the report to be print.
Collate — Depending on the capabilities of your output device, you can indicate if
multiple copies of the report should be collated.
When you select the Print command from a calendar display, Open Plan displays
slightly different versions of the Print dialog box that allow you to define the range
of data to print by entering a time span.
To produce a report
1. Take one of the following actions:
• Press Ctrl+P.
• On the File menu, click Print.
• On the toolbar, click the Print button.
Print button
2. Enter the information for the report.
3. When the information is correct, click OK.
You can use this dialog box to enter the following information:
Printer — You can select a default printer as well as a specific printer for a report.
To set advanced options for your output device, click Properties. The
options that can be set using this dialog box depend on the device type.
Paper — You can specify a size and tray source for paper.
Orientation — You can specify either portrait (vertical) or landscape (horizontal)
orientation for a report. This setting is saved with each view.
If you change the Orientation option in the Print Setup dialog box, Open
Plan automatically changes the Orientation option in the Print Options
dialog box as well.
Network — Clicking this button allows you to connect to a shared network printer.
You can use the General tab of this dialog box to enter the following settings:
Margins in Inches — Open Plan allows you to enter the top, left, right, and bottom
margins in 1/100ths of an inch. These values are added to any margins defined for
the output device driver and are saved with the view.
Orientation — You can specify either portrait (vertical) or landscape (horizontal)
orientation for a report. This setting is saved with each view.
Changing the Orientation option in the Print Options dialog box has no
effect on the setting of the Orientation option in the Print Setup dialog
box.
Include Notes — You can specify the type (project, activities, resources, or codes)
and category for notes included in the report.
For more information about notes, refer to the “Notes” section in this
chapter.
Select Categories — Clicking this button displays the Select Note Categories
dialog box that contains a list of all defined note categories in the data source.
Simply select the note category you want, and click OK.
You can select multiple categories from the list in the Select Note
Categories dialog box.
For more information, refer to the “Using the Date Range Options Dialog
Box” section later in this chapter.
Horizontal — This option controls whether Open Plan should adjust the horizontal
scaling of the report to fit to a specified number of pages.
Spreadsheet — If you are printing a barchart report, you can indicate whether
Open Plan should include the spreadsheet portion of the view when producing the
report. You have the option of printing all columns or just those columns visible on
the screen. For multi-page barchart reports, you can also indicate whether the
spreadsheet columns should appear on all pages or on the first page of the report
only.
Resource Data — For barchart reports, you can indicate whether Open Plan should
include the histogram pane of the view when producing the report. For multi-page
barchart reports, you can also indicate whether the histogram should appear on all
pages or only on the last page of the report.
Legend — For barchart reports, you can include a legend for the different bars.
This legend can appear on each page of the report in one of the following locations:
• Upper left corner
• Upper right corner
• Lower left corner
• Lower right corner
You must have the appropriate title block enabled to display a legend in a
report. For information about title blocks, refer to the “Defining Title
Blocks” section in this chapter.
You can instruct Open Plan to base the date range on any of the following:
Range of Data — Bases the date range on the range of data in the barchart,
resource histogram, or risk histogram view. The data that is included in the printed
report can include a larger date range than that currently displayed in the view.
Current Display — Bases the date range on what is currently displayed in the
barchart, resource histogram, or risk histogram view. If you resize the window in
which the view is displayed, Open Plan recalculates the date range to print only the
data that is actually displayed.
Time Now —Bases the date range on your settings relative to Time Now.
Project Start — Bases the date range on your settings relative to the date the
project started.
Also, if you choose to base the date range on either Time Now or the project start
date, Open Plan enables the following additional options:
Start printing at offset — Using these fields, you can specify the starting date on
the printed report as a specified number of hours, days, weeks, months, quarters, or
years before or after the Time Now date. (Entering a negative number in this field
tells Open Plan to start the report before the Time Now date, while entering a
positive number tells Open Plan to start the report after that date.)
Finish (offset from start) — Using these fields, you can specify the last date on
the printed report as a specified number of hours, days, weeks, months, quarters, or
years after the start date of the printed report.
Finish at Project Finish — If you select this option, Open Plan uses the last date
in the project as the last date in the printed report.
To define a title block for a report, click Title Blocks on the Tools menu to display
the following dialog box:
From this dialog box, you can create, copy, edit, or delete a title block. Clicking
New, Copy, or Edit displays the following dialog box:
If you edit an existing title block, you cannot change its name.
The Title Block Definition dialog box allows you to define the contents for as
many as six different title blocks for the report:
• Top left
• Top center
• Top right
• Bottom left
• Bottom center
• Bottom right
You can specify the percentage of the header or footer that a title block can occupy
by defining the location of divider lines marking the left or right title blocks. For
example, by setting the divider lines for both left and right title blocks to 25%, you
can define a header in which the central title block occupies 50% of the available
space, or you can have Open Plan calculate the required width by using –1.
The contents of each defined title block can contain up to 5 lines of text defined
and formatted by the user. Open Plan automatically aligns text appearing in title
blocks as follows:
• Text appearing in a top left or bottom left title block is left-aligned in relation to
the left page margin.
For more in formation on using the Manage Symbols dialog box, refer to
the “Custom Symbols” section earlier in this chapter.
The Access Control option is used to grant rights to other users in the data source
to use the definition.
To insert a graphic to appear as a logo in a title block, select Include, display the
Manage Symbols dialog box, and select the appropriate graphic file.
4. When the information for the report is correct, click OK.
5. To return to the view, select the title block, and click OK.
To see a preview of the printed report, click Print Preview on the File menu, or
Print Preview
click the Print Preview button on the toolbar.
button
To insert a right-alignment tab in a left title block or a left-alignment tab in
a right title block, use /t.
Previewing a Report
The Print Preview command allows you to see exactly how a report will be
printed based on the current settings in the Print, Print Setup, Print Options, and
Title Blocks dialog boxes.
The print preview window includes a zoom cursor that allows you to zoom in on
Zoom cursor any portion of the report you want to examine in greater detail.
Other features available as buttons in the print preview window include:
To preview a report
1. Take one of the following actions:
• On the File menu, click Print Preview.
• On the toolbar, click the Print Preview button.
Open Plan displays a print preview window of the current view.
To zoom in on an area of the window, click the desired area with the zoom
cursor.
2. To return to the view, click Close.
Reporting Calendars
Reporting calendars allow you to view time-scaled data in a barchart or histogram
view using a non-linear date scale. Using reporting calendars you can, for example,
display a histogram that shows resource usage on a monthly basis for the next three
months, on a quarterly basis for the four quarters following that, and on a yearly
basis for the remaining years of the project.
Reporting calendars are a useful reporting tool since planners and project managers
tend to be more interested in detailed information for events happening relatively
soon. For events happening in the more distant future, on the other hand,
information summarized to a higher level is often perfectly adequate and may be
more understandable.
With the Professional edition of Open Plan, you can define multiple reporting
calendars that can be used with any project. This makes it easy to create views and
reports that show the same data summarized against different sets of reporting
periods. Using this feature you can, for example, set up one view that shows the
project cost estimates against your standard fiscal reporting periods and another
view that shows the same data using the client’s reporting periods.
To see the list of available reporting calendars, click Reporting Calendars on the
Tools menu to display the following dialog box:
To define a reporting calendar, you can enter a set of cut-off dates and labels using
the following dialog box:
Notice in this example how labels are used to indicate whether the dates
represent the end of a month, a quarter, or a year.
For data prior to the first date, Open Plan uses the first reporting periods to
extrapolate the period interval in order to report the data. For data after the last
date, Open Plan extrapolates the period interval using the last two reporting
periods. For example, assume you have defined the reporting calendar to report
data in weeks for 4 weeks and then in months for 11 months. For data prior to the
first date in the reporting calendar, Open Plan will use the first two reporting
periods to determine the period interval is weeks and report the data accordingly.
Data following the last date in the reporting calendar is displayed in months.
The Reporting Calendar field is used as a default reporting calendar for the date
scale if the reporting calendar option is chosen. When creating or updating a
baseline, Open Plan uses the data in this file to break any usage records that span
more than one calendar period into additional records.
While this feature may be used with any Open Plan project, it is particularly
useful to Cobra users as it improves the ability of Cobra to display Open
Plan baseline information accurately.
Notes
As an aid to reporting, Open Plan allows you to attach notes consisting of text
information to the following:
• Projects
• Resource files
• Code files
• Activities
• Individual resources
• Individual codes
These notes can be included in reports based on many of the standard project
views.
To attach a note to a project, resource file, or code file, display the appropriate
Properties dialog box, and click the Notes tab. To attach a note to an activity,
individual resource, or individual code, display the appropriate Details dialog box,
and click the Notes tab.
The Notes tab uses the same format regardless of the dialog box:
If The file link you enter contains spaces, you must enclose the link with
angle brackets ( < > ) in order for the link to work properly:
<file://C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\test.txt>
While you can use drag and drop functionality to create links in the Note
field, the Windows Cut (Ctrl+X), Copy (Ctrl+C), and Paste (Ctrl+V)
commands are not available for links.
Once you enter a note for an activity, resource, or code, Open Plan marks the object
so that you can see which items have notes attached. In a spreadsheet view, for
example, Open Plan adds a note icon to the selection button:
Indicates
activity has
note
attached.
When displaying a resource or code structure, on the other hand, objects with notes
are indicated by the lower right corner of the element box being shaded:
To delete a note attached to an object, simply delete all the text displayed in the
Note text box.
From this dialog box you can add a category, edit the name of an existing category,
or delete a category.
If you delete an existing category, Open Plan deletes all the notes assigned
to that category.
Once you have set up categories, they are stored in the database and are available to
all projects, resource files, and code files. You can assign a particular note to one of
the defined categories from the Category list displayed above the Note text box:
Click Select Categories to display the Select Note Categories dialog box:
To print all the notes attached to items in the report, select all the categories by
either Shift+clicking or Ctrl+clicking the categories.
When you include notes in a report, Open Plan displays them on one or more
separate pages following the main body of the report. Each note is labeled with the
category, the author (if known), and the creation date.
Overview
Since they provide an easy-to-understand graphical representation of important
project dates, barcharts are widely used by many organizations to communicate
information about the project schedule. The interactive barchart views supplied
with Open Plan are designed to facilitate the entry and display of scheduling
information appropriate for many conventional types of projects. However, Open
Plan also includes some powerful customizing features that allow you to prepare
barcharts that meet any special requirements your organization might have.
This chapter discusses customizing the bar display portion of a barchart view. You
can modify the appearance of the date scale used in the barchart, the barchart
legend, and the settings of options for a view.
You can use this dialog box to control the text and background color for the date
scale.
You can also manually adjust the spacing of any date scale by dragging within the
date scale area.
Select a date
Enter the number
scale line to
of lines in the date
define.
scale.
Use the # of Axes setting to specify how many lines you want to appear in the date
scale. If you are displaying relative dates in one or more lines in the date scale, you
can define a starting (reference) date for these labels.
You can define up to six different lines for a date scale. For each line, you can
control the following options.
Time Unit — To determine the frequency with which date labels and vertical tick
marks appear on the date scale, select a time unit from the list. Possible units
include: hours, days, weeks, months, quarters, and years.
Count — You can specify a multiple for the selected time unit. This allows you,
for example, to define an axis with labels for each two week period.
Format — You can specify the appearance of the dates in the date scale by
defining a date format. To define a format, click the ellipsis button next to the
Format field, and select a format from the Date Formats dialog box, or enter the
format manually using one or more of the following parameters:
You can combine parameters to define date formats. You can also include spaces
and literal characters in the format, as shown in the following examples:
Format Example
%H:%T %Z.M. 07:15 P.M.
%W %D %A %H:%T Mon 15 Sep 19:15
%M/%D/%C 09/15/2004
Q%Q Q1
To show hours and minutes using the 24-hour (military) convention, do not
use the %Z or the %OZ parameter in the definition of the format.
Parameter Definition
%R%H Relative hours
%R%D Relative days
%R%K Relative weeks
%R%M Relative months
%R%Q Relative quarters
%R%Y Relative years
The values displayed for dates using a relative format are based on the
Reference Date setting on the Manual tab of the Date Scale Preferences
dialog box. To have Open Plan convert the currently selected date format to
a relative date format, select the Relative to Reference Date option in the
Date Formats dialog box.
All of these different types of format parameters can be combined with literal
characters to produce the following types of labels:
Format Example
%R%H Hours 100 Hours
Day %R%D Day 3
Week %R%K Week 15
FY%R%Y FY1
Open Plan always draws these tick marks behind bars, relationships, and
bar text.
Line Width — You can specify the width of the lines in the date scale.
Font — You can define the text font, size, and style for the scale by clicking Font.
Axis Height — Enter the height for the date scale line in 1/100ths of an inch.
You can use the # of Axes setting to specify how many lines you want to appear in
the date scale. Then click the Autoscaling command to display the following
dialog box:
Use this dialog box to define the range of dates Open Plan should display on a
single screen for autoscaling.
With multiple reporting calendars, however, you must designate one of the axes as
the “controlling” axis that determines how Open Plan scales the other axes.
Typically, the controlling axis displays the smallest intervals to be displayed in the
date scale.
To use a reporting calendar to define the appearance of a date scale, you must have
already defined the calendar using the Reporting Calendars command from the
Tools menu. This command is available only in the Professional edition of Open
Plan.
Once you have created a reporting calendar, click the Report Calendar option on
the Options tab of the Date Scale Preferences dialog box. You can then display
the Report Calendar tab:
Select a
reporting
calendar.
Use this tab to indicate the number of axes you want to appear in the date scale. If
you are displaying relative dates in one or more lines in the date scale, you can
define a starting (reference) date for these labels. If you want to use multiple axes
in the date scale, you must specify which axis will control the scaling of the other
axes.
For each axis you can define the name of the reporting calendar. You can also
define how the labels from the reporting calendar appear with the following
settings.
Format — You can define the appearance of the dates using the formatting
conventions described in the “Defining a Date Scale Manually” section in this
chapter.
Position — This setting positions the label left-justified, right-justified, or centered
within the vertical tick marks.
Full Scale — To extend the vertical tick marks on the scale into the area containing
the bars, select Full Scale.
Open Plan always draws these tick marks behind bars, relationships, and
bar text.
Line Width — You can specify the width of the lines in the date scale.
Font — You can define the text font, size, and style for the scale by clicking Font.
Axis Height — Enter the height for the date scale line in 1/100ths of an inch.
With this feature, it is possible to make small adjustments to the date scale without
having to redefine one or more of the elements making up the scale.
This feature also works on the Manual tab and Reporting Calendar tab of
the Date Scale Preferences dialog box.
The date is displayed using the Default Date Format setting on the
Preferences tab of the Project Properties dialog box. Also, literal text
must always be entered within quotation marks (""). Statdate is the field
name for Time Now.
You can control the display of non-work periods by selecting Shade Non-work. If
you select this option, Open Plan enables the following fields:
Color — Allows you to select which color to use for shading
Using Calendar —Allows you to specify the calendar that Open Plan should use
when determining whether a particular time period should be shaded. If you do not
select a calendar in this field, Open Plan uses the project default activity calendar.
You may need to change your date scale to show the appropriate work
periods. For example, in order for a non-work week to be identified, the
smallest level on the date scale must be no greater than weeks. Similarly, in
order for non-work days, such as weekends, to be identified, the smallest
level on the date scale must be no greater than days.
Multi-Table Barcharts
Multi-table barcharts allow you to display both activity and resource bars and
multiple baselines. Open Plan includes two standard multi-table barchart views: an
activity/resource barchart, which groups resource assignments by activity, and a
resource/activity barchart, which groups activity bars by resource assignment. Both
types of views allow you to display time-phased cost data aggregated by the
barchart date scale:
Resource bars based on early and late dates take into account assignment
information such as offsets and periods. Bars based on scheduled dates
display a single segment for each record of usage.
If you are using the Professional edition of Open Plan, you can control the display
of resource and activity bars using the Bar Attributes tab of the Bar Set
Preferences dialog box. To control the display of time-phased cost data, use the
Crosstable tab of the Bar Set Preferences dialog box.
Overview
Favored by many experienced project planners, network views stress the clear
depiction of relationships between activities and are often used to display a logical
diagram of a project. Network views are particularly well suited for communicating
the critical path of a project, which may have important ramifications for the
execution of the overall project plan.
The network views in Open Plan are fully interactive and allow you to enter and
update any type of project information. You can also customize the appearance of a
network view in many areas:
• The size of activity boxes
• The appearance of view legends
• The display of text annotations
• The display of subprojects
• The placement of activities and relationships
• The zoning of activities based on one or more criteria
• The use of special display options
This chapter discusses the customization of a network view in each of these areas.
Drag corner of
box to resize.
Open Plan also allows you to customize one activity box and then set all the boxes
in the view to that size.
Once you have resized an activity box, you can use the following commands
related to box sizes:
• Reset Box Size — Return the box size to the default setting.
• Set All Box Sizes — Set all box sizes in the view to the size of the customized
box.
Network Legends
Network views can include a legend that describes the various types of activity
boxes appearing in the view as well as a definition of the activity data appearing in
each box.
Legends are not normally displayed on the screen but are produced when the view
is output to devices such as printers or plotters. You can, however, display the
legend by using either a special option to place the legend manually or by using the
Print Preview command from the File menu.
Open Plan provides a number of options for the placement and contents of a
network legend. To set these options, click the Legend tab on the Network View
Preferences dialog box:
If you choose to display the legend on every page, Open Plan allows you to specify
if the legend should appear on the top, bottom, left, or right side of the page. You
can also choose to output the legend to a separate legend page.
The Manual option provides the most flexibility for displaying the legend. If you
select this option, Open Plan displays the legend box in the view and allows you to
position it manually or resize it. If a legend is too large to appear on a single page,
you can place the legend across page breaks so that it appears on two or more
pages.
To customize a legend
1. Take one of the following actions:
• On the Tools menu, click Preferences.
• Right-click an empty area within the view, and click Preferences on the
context menu.
2. On the Network View Preferences dialog box, click the Legend tab.
3. Enter the information for the legend.
4. When your changes are complete, click OK to return to the view.
If no boxes appear in a legend, enlarge the area of the legend by resizing it.
Annotations
Another way you can customize a network view is to add an annotation. The
annotation feature allows you to store and display simple text objects on a project-
specific basis:
To define an annotation, use the Add Annotation command on the Edit menu to
display the following dialog box:
Activity ID for
attaching the
annotation
Annotations can contain multiple lines of text. To insert a line break in annotative
text, press Ctrl+Enter. It is also possible to cut or copy text from an annotation to
the Clipboard as well as to paste text from the Clipboard into an annotation.
In addition to the text for the annotation, you can specify the following settings.
Style — Four options are available for the border style of the annotation:
• No Border
• Square Box
• Round Box
• Ellipse
Color — You can define the background color of the annotation. If you select No
Border for the annotation, this setting controls the color of the annotation text.
Font — You can define the font used for the annotation text.
Adjusting the size of the annotation can change the font size.
Attach to Activity ID — You can assign the annotation to any activity currently
displayed in the view.
Once you have created an annotation, you can move it or resize it using the mouse.
You can also use commands to display the annotation behind other objects, to edit
its contents, or to delete it.
To create an annotation
1. Take one of the following actions:
• On the Edit menu, click Add Annotation.
• Right-click an empty area or an activity in the view, and click Add Annotation
on the context menu.
• Right-click an activity, and click Annotate Activity on the context menu.
2. In the Network View Annotation dialog box, enter the information for the
annotation.
To attach an annotation to an activity, enter the activity ID in the appropriate
field.
To move an annotation
1. Position the cursor over the annotation.
Move cursor
2. When the cursor shape changes to a hand, drag the annotation to the desired
location.
To resize an annotation
1. Click the annotation to select it.
2. When a rectangle appears around the annotation, drag the lower right corner of
the rectangle to resize the annotation.
To modify an annotation
1. Right-click the annotation.
2. Click one of the following commands on the context menu:
• To display the annotation behind other objects in the view, click Send to Back.
• To display the Network View Annotation dialog box, click Edit.
• To delete the annotation, click Delete.
Displaying Subprojects
By default, network views display only one hierarchical level at a time. However, it
is possible to show multiple levels of a hierarchical project simultaneously in Open
Plan:
Features related to the display of hierarchical projects work identically for projects
containing both internal and external subprojects.
You can use automatic placements to display activities from all levels in a
format slightly different from that illustrated above. For more information,
refer to the “Automatic Placements” section in this chapter.
By default, Open Plan positions an expanded subproject just below any activities
already displayed. (On large projects, you can use the Zoom commands to see the
rectangle containing the subproject.) Once you have expanded a subproject,
however, you can move it by dragging it to a new position within the view. If you
wish, you can turn off the display of the frame surrounding the subproject. You can
also collapse any subproject by right-clicking within the subproject area and
clicking the Collapse Subproject command.
When you display expanded subprojects in a view, you can draw relationships
between activities both within an expanded subproject and to activities outside of
the subproject area.
Relationship
between activities
in different
subprojects
To expand a subproject
1. Select the parent activity of the subproject you want to expand.
2. Take one of the following actions:
• On the View menu, click Expand.
• Right-click the activity, and click Expand on the context menu.
Expand button • On the toolbar, click the Expand button.
To collapse a subproject
Right-click the subproject area, and click Collapse Subproject on the context menu.
Activity ID Description
1 Project
1.1 Subproject 1
1.1.1 Detail activity 1
1.1.2 Detail activity 2
1.2 Subproject 2
When you first display this project in a network view, only the top level activity
appears:
By selecting this activity and clicking Expand, you can display the following:
To display the detail activities in the project, you must first drill down a level and
expand Subproject 1:
19-10.jpg
Once you have displayed the lowest level of detail in the project, click the Go To
Top Level command to display all of the expanded subprojects in the same view:
Automatic Placements
In network views, the term “placements” refers to the positioning of activities and
relationship lines. You can position activities in a view manually, or you can have
Open Plan calculate placements automatically using an algorithm designed to
minimize the need for relationship lines to cross each other. Placements calculated
in this fashion can result in network diagrams that are much easier to decipher,
particularly in the case of very large projects.
Initially, the position of an activity in a network view depends on how you create it.
• If you add an activity by double-clicking in the view or by drawing a
relationship from an existing activity, Open Plan places the activity in the
position you indicated.
• If you create an activity using the Add Activity command, Open Plan places it
in the middle of the current view.
• If you create an activity in a view other than a network view, Open Plan places
the new activity below the existing activities when you return to the network
view.
You cannot change the size of an activity box while placements are set to
automatic.
If you choose to have Open Plan calculate placements automatically, you can
control these calculations with options to avoid displaying activities across page
breaks, to show activities from all hierarchical levels of the project, to filter the
activities displayed, or to arrange activities either in zones based on the contents of
an activity field such as a code or along a time scale.
In addition to allowing for options such as filters, zoning, and time-scaling,
automatic placements differ from manual placements in how Open Plan preserves
the placement information for the view between sessions. For automatic
placements, Open Plan stores your settings for how the placements are calculated.
It does not, however, store the actual placements themselves. Placements are
recalculated each time the view is opened.
If you perform automatic placements and want to preserve them for future sessions,
you can save them as manual placements. You also have the ability to perform
automatic placement calculations and then make adjustments to the activity
positions manually. You can then save these modified automatic placements if you
want to preserve them between sessions.
Open Plan stores placement settings separately for each network view assigned to a
project. This means, for example, you can define one set of placement options for
FLOWVW in the project Clean, and another set for DEVFLOW (another network
view) in the same project. You can also define different placement settings for
these same views when they are opened within a different project.
Open Plan does save the state of the automatic placements option (enabled
or disabled) when you save the view using the Save View command. Thus,
if you save a network view with automatic placements on, Open Plan
automatically calculates placements for the view the next time you open it.
The Placements dialog box controls the operations of the placements feature.
Select Automatic
or Manual
placements.
These buttons
are available
after Automatic is
selected
Manual — This option turns off automatic placements and returns the view to the
last manual placements.
Save As Manual — If you have performed automatic placements and remain in the
automatic placements mode, you can save the current set of placements by clicking
this option. When you select this feature, Open Plan returns to the manual
placements mode.
Avoid Page Breaks — If you have enabled automatic placements, this option
controls how Open Plan positions activities that fall across page breaks of printed
output. By selecting this setting, you can have Open Plan shift activities that would
otherwise fall across page breaks.
Show All Levels — If you have enabled automatic placements, this option displays
all the activities from a project in the same view, regardless of their hierarchical
level. When you calculate placements with this option turned on, Open Plan may
not position all activities from the same subproject together.
Time Scale Project — If you have enabled automatic placements, this option
groups activities based on a user-specified date field.
Time Scale — Click this button to display the Scaling Specifications dialog box
that you can use to define the time scaling parameters Open Plan uses when you
select the Time Scale Project option.
For information about setting up time scaling, refer to the “Defining Time
Scaling” section in this chapter.
Zone Project — If you have enabled automatic placements, this option places
activities in zones based on user-defined criteria.
Zoning — Click this button to display the Zone Attributes dialog box that you can
use to define how Open Plan displays zones when you select the Zone Project
option.
Filter Project — If you have enabled automatic placements, this option allows you
to assign a filter to the view.
Filters — Click this button to display the Filters dialog box that you can use to
define the filter Open Plan uses when you select the Filter Project option.
For more information about view filters, refer to Chapter 24, “Project
Utilities.”
Open Plan responds by turning automatic placements off and restoring the view
to the last manual placements.
Zoning header
You can define as many as 50 zoning criteria for the calculation of automatic
placements. To define how the view should be zoned, click Zoning on the
Placements dialog box to display the Zone Attributes dialog box:
Define
attributes of Field to appear
each zone in zone header
header
Heading Field — The heading field specifies the field displayed by Open Plan in
the zone header. For example, if you use a code field as a zoning criterion, you
might use the code description for the heading field.
Font — The font used for the zone header.
Color — The color used for the zone header.
Once you define zoning and perform automatic placements, you can treat
the zone headers as annotations to the view. In other words, you can edit,
reposition, and resize zone headers just as you can annotations. You can
also attach zone headers to activities so that a header moves with the
specified activity.
Time-scaled
header
To define how the view should be time-scaled, click the Time Scale button on the
Placements dialog box to display the Scaling Specification dialog box:
Reference Date — If you have specified a date format that includes relative dates,
use this setting to define the reference date.
Font — The font used for the time-scaled header.
As in the case of zoning, once you define time scaling and perform
automatic placements, you can treat the headers as annotations to the view.
In other words, you can edit, reposition, and resize time-scaled headers just
as you can annotations.
To define the font for the time-scaled headers, select the Font field, and click the
ellipsis button next to the edit box.
3. When your changes are complete, click OK to return to the Placements dialog
box.
In this intermediate display mode, you can continue to work with the activities and
relationships just as though you were in the normal display mode. To enlarge an
area of the window, select an activity, and apply the Zoom In command.
If you apply the Zoom Out command from the intermediate display mode, Open
Plan reduces the activity boxes to whatever size is necessary to display the entire
project.
You can use this reduced display mode for navigating through very large projects.
A rectangular frame appearing in this mode indicates the area of the view that will
be displayed if you apply the Zoom In command to return to the intermediate
display mode. To move this frame, simply drag it to the area of the project you
want to examine at a higher magnification level.
If the entire project can be displayed at once, the Zoom commands are not
available.
Zoom Out button • In the reduced display mode, click Zoom In on the View menu.
You can also invoke these commands by right-clicking an empty area of the view
and clicking the appropriate command on the context menu, or you can invoke the
Zoom In button appropriate command by clicking its corresponding button on the toolbar.
Splitter control
Hovering the cursor over the splitter control displays the split view cursor.
This feature is handy when you have to add a relationship between two activities
that are not located next to each other in a large network. To do so, display the
predecessor in one pane and the successor in the other. Then Alt+drag the cursor
from the predecessor to the successor.
Once the link is created, both panes will show the new relationship line.
Overview
Spreadsheet views display the information for multiple records in a tabular format.
This makes these views well-suited for reports designed to show detail information
at a relatively low level. Since they are fully interactive, spreadsheet views are also
useful for data entry purposes, particularly in cases where large numbers of records
are involved.
Open Plan uses a single-table spreadsheet to display information about activities.
The spreadsheet can be based on any table. For example, to view resource
assignments, you would base the spreadsheet on the resource table. You can also
set up subsections or use outlining to display the appropriate level of information.
Open Plan also provides standard versions of multi-table spreadsheet views that can
display information stored in different data tables.
You can customize all types of spreadsheets by defining the layout of data columns
and setting a number of preferences that control the display of data in these views.
This chapter discusses each of the ways you can customize a spreadsheet view and
applies to both stand-alone spreadsheets as well as the spreadsheet portion of
barchart views.
When you add or insert a new column or update an existing column, Open Plan
displays the following dialog box:
The only difference between the Add Column, Insert Column, and Edit
Column dialog boxes is the name of the dialog box.
You can use the following settings to define the column to add:
Table Name — This field is enabled for multi-table spreadsheet views and
specifies the table on which the field to be displayed is located. This field is also
enabled for single-table spreadsheets based on the Activity table.
For single-table spreadsheets based on the Activity table, the list contains
filters that you can use to quickly locate a specific field within the Activity
table.
Field Name — Specifies the field to be displayed. This field can be either one of
the standard Open Plan fields or a calculated field that has been added to a file.
In addition, you can simply type a calculated field that you create "on-the-fly in this
field.
Title — Displays the text used to identify the field. While you can enter any text
you wish in this field, the default provided by Open Plan is the field name that is
stored in the data dictionary.
Wrap Text — You can specify if Open Plan should wrap the data in the column
cells and/or in the column headings. If you do not choose these options, Open Plan
truncates the display of any data that does not fit within the column width.
Width — If you click the Best Fit option, Open Plan automatically adjusts the
column width so that either the column heading or the widest data item in the
column can be displayed. You can also enter a Specific width in characters for the
column.
Text — You can format the text of the spreadsheet using the following options:
• Indent — Selecting this option indents the data in the column to indicate the
hierarchical level of the item.
• Overwrite Default Font Settings — Selecting this option enables the following
options that you can use to override the default settings
■ Italics
■ Bold
• Alignment — This option allows you to specify how data in the column should
be aligned:
■ <Default> — This setting is based on the data type: alphanumeric fields are
left-aligned and numeric fields are right-aligned
■ Left
■ Center
■ Right
• Color — This option allows you to override the default color for the text with a
specific color that has been predefined for the application.
Formatting — If the column contains numeric, duration, or date information, you
can specify a display format for the data. For example, you can have Open Plan
display durations using any of the following formats:
• Minutes
• Hours
• Days
• Weeks
• Months
You can continue to enter duration information using any format regardless
of the display format you have selected.
In the case of numeric values, you can specify the number of decimal places to
display as well as the format.
The display of currency values can also be affected by the settings of the Control
Panel in your copy of Windows.
For more information about how Open Plan handles the display of currency
values, refer to the discussion of the Formatting setting in the online help
system.
To add a column
1. Select a cell or column immediately to the left of the position for the new
column.
You can select the column by clicking the column heading or by selecting a cell
in the column.
2. Take one of the following actions:
• On the View menu, point to Spreadsheet, and click Add Column on the
submenu.
• Right-click the column heading, and click Add Column on the context menu.
3. In the Add Column dialog box, enter the information for the new column.
4. When the information for the new column is complete, click OK.
Open Plan adds the column to right of the currently selected cell or column.
To insert a column
1. Select a cell or column immediately to the right of the position for the new
column.
You can select the column by clicking the column heading or by selecting a cell
in the column.
2. Take one of the following actions:
• On the View menu, point to Spreadsheet, and click Insert Column on the
submenu.
• Right-click the column heading, and click Insert Column on the context menu.
3. In the Insert Column dialog box, enter the information for the new column.
4. When the information for the new column is complete, click OK.
Open Plan adds the column to left of the currently selected cell or column.
To delete a column
1. Select the column you want to delete.
You can select the column by clicking the column heading or by selecting a cell
in the column.
2. Take one of the following actions:
• On the View menu, point to Spreadsheet, and click Remove Column on the
submenu.
• Right-click the column heading, and click Remove Column on the context
menu.
To edit a column
1. Select the column you want to edit.
You can select the column by clicking the column heading or by selecting a cell
in the column.
2. Take one of the following actions:
• On the View menu, point to Spreadsheet, and click Edit Column on the
submenu.
• Double-click the column heading.
• Right-click the column heading, and click Edit Column on the context menu.
3. Enter the new information for the column, and click OK.
To reposition a column
Drag the column heading to the desired location.
Move cursor
Splitter bar
You can still horizontally scroll the left-hand pane if you wish to change the
information that is displayed.
At the left edge of the horizontal scrollbar is the splitter control that you can use to
drag the splitter bar to the desired position. The splitter bar marks the boundary
between the two panes.
Splitter control
This tab controls how a spreadsheet is displayed by using the following settings:
Table Name — Allows you to change the table upon which the spreadsheet is
based.
For information on changing the spreadsheet table, refer to the “Support for
All Tables” section later in this chapter.
Grid Lines — Controls the display of grid lines on the spreadsheet. You can select
on of the following settings from the list:
• Full — Displays both horizontal and vertical grid lines
• Horizontal — Displays horizontal grid lines only
• Vertical — Displays vertical grid lines only
• None — Suppresses the display of grid lines
Grid Color — Controls the color of the grid lines that Open Plan displays on the
spreadsheet. Clicking the Grid Color drop-down arrow displays a Color dialog
box that you can use to select a color for the grid. The Color dialog box offers a
choice of 48 standard colors and up to 16 additional custom colors.
You can define custom colors using an enhanced version of the Color dialog box
accessed from the General tab of the Options dialog box.
Enable Outlining — With outlining, you can use the hierarchical information
implicit in the activity ID to expand or collapse the display of detail information.
Disable Subsections and Outlining — Turns off both subsections and outlining.
Show Skills as Resources — Displays skills as resources on a resource
spreadsheet.
Heading — Allows you to define the text color, background color, and font of the
heading section of a spreadsheet.
Table — Allows you to define the text color, background color, and font of the
table section of a spreadsheet.
Select a data
table to display.
This field contains a list from which you can select a data table that the spreadsheet
should use. If you select a different table (for example, change from the Activity
table to the Resource table), Open Plan replaces the selection of fields displayed in
the spreadsheet with the default set of the new table.
When you change the data table, double-clicking the selection box for an activity
on the spreadsheet displays the relevant Details dialog box.
Because all code tables have the same structure, changing between code
tables does not affect the columns that are displayed in the spreadsheet.
Subsections
Subsection
header
You can display summaries for subsections at either the top or the bottom of the
group. The type of summarization Open Plan performs for a column depends on the
data displayed in the column. For example, if the column displays a numeric value,
then the summary represents the total of all the values for that subsection. On the
other hand, a column displaying finish dates will summarize as the latest date in
that group. Some columns (for example, activity IDs or descriptions) do not
summarize at all.
You can control how calculated fields are summarized by Open Plan in
subsections.
You can also display a row showing grand totals for the entire project at the bottom
of the view.
Open Plan allows you to specify the font, text color, and background color for
subsection headings and summary lines. In addition, you can indicate a field to
display for each heading. This allows you, for example, to base your subsections on
a particular activity code and then display the description field for that code in the
subsection heading. You also have the option of forcing a page break each time a
new subsection appears in the view.
You can define subsections for the spreadsheet portion of a barchart view as well as
for stand-alone spreadsheet views:
If you use subsections for a view that has a sort order in effect, Open Plan
sorts the rows within the defined subsections.
To enable subsections, use the Options tab of the Spreadsheet Preferences dialog
box:
Click to enable
subsections.
You can enable subsections using either the Professional or the Desktop edition of
Open Plan. To define subsections, however, you must use Open Plan Professional.
To enable subsections
1. Open the appropriate spreadsheet or barchart view.
2. Take one of the following actions:
• On the Tools menu, click Preferences. (In a barchart view, click Spreadsheet
Preferences.)
• Right-click the spreadsheet, and click Preferences on the context menu.
3. On the Options tab of the Spreadsheet Preferences dialog box, click Enable
Subsections.
Defining Subsections
If you are using the Professional edition of Open Plan, you can control the
subsections for a spreadsheet view. To set up subsections, you must first enable
subsections on the Options tab of the Spreadsheet Preferences dialog box. You
can then define the settings for the subsections by displaying the Subsections tab:
Scroll to see
additional
settings.
Select to enable
grand totals.
You may subsection on data items from different tables with multi-table
spreadsheet views. In this case, when you select the subsection data item, it
appears in the form [TABLE]FIELD. In this case, FIELD refers to the
actual field name that Open Plan uses internally (e.g., "ACT_ID" instead of
"Activity ID").
• Break Level — The hierarchical level that triggers a subsection. This setting
applies only if you selected a hierarchical field for the Break On setting. For
example, a code field representing a work breakdown structure is a hierarchical
field.
• Page Break — Set to Yes if you want Open Plan to begin a new printed page
each time there is a different value at this row's subsection level.
• Font — The font used to display the subsection heading.
• Text — The text color used to display the subsection heading.
• Background — The background color used to display the subsection heading.
• Heading — This field controls the display of a heading line at the beginning of
a subsection. If you select Yes, Open Plan enables the Heading Field column.
You must display headings for each subsection level if you want to be able
to expand and collapse subsections in a view.
• Summary — This field controls the display of a summary line. The options for
this field are:
■ Bottom – Displays the summary at the bottom of the subsection.
■ Heading – Displays the summary on the same row as the heading.
■ Top – Displays the summary at the top of the subsection.
■ <None> – Inhibits the display of a summary line.
If you are customizing the spreadsheet pane of a barchart view, you must
display a subsection summary line to display a summarized bar in the barchart
pane or you may enable the "Show Summary Bars when there are no Subsection
Summary Rows" checkbox.
Summary information appears only for the following field types:
■ Numeric – Display the total in a given section.
■ Date – Displays the earliest date in the subsection.
If any of the start dates in a subsection are blank, the summary date will be
blank as well.
■ Finish Date – Displays the latest date in the subsection.
• Heading Field — Specify the field to appear in the subsection header for
descriptive purposes. Open Plan offers a default heading field, usually the same
field on which subsections break. For hierarchical fields, however, the default
heading is a combination of the ID and description fields appropriate to the
level on which the subsectioning is based.
The bottom half of the Subsections tab contains the following settings:
• Grand Total Options — To generate a grand total summary row at the end of
the report, select Enable Grand Total. You can also define a text color,
background color, and font for the grand total.
The grand total of the view includes totals for all activities that are
displayed in the current view. Activities that do not appear in the view due
to a filter are not included in the grand total calculations.
To define subsections
1. Open the appropriate spreadsheet or barchart view.
2. Display the Subsections tab of the Spreadsheet Preferences dialog box.
3. Enter the information for the subsections, and click OK to return to the view.
Outlining
Outlining is a feature available in spreadsheet views, including the spreadsheet
portion of the barchart view. With outlining, you can use the hierarchical
information implicit in the activity ID to expand or collapse the display of detail
information:
Click to collapse or
expand this row
With the outlining feature, you can display higher-level elements using a different
font and background color to distinguish them from detail rows. You can also
indicate the default level for collapsing information.
If you use outlining for a view with a filter in effect, the display of child
items is determined by the status of the parent. If you use outlining for a
view that has a sort order in effect, Open Plan sorts the rows within the
defined outlining structure.
To enable outlining for a spreadsheet view, use the Options tab of the Spreadsheet
Preferences dialog box:
Click to enable
outlining.
You can enable outlining using either the Professional or the Desktop edition of
Open Plan. To define outlining, however, you must use Open Plan Professional.
To enable outlining
1. Open the appropriate spreadsheet or barchart view.
2. Take one of the following actions:
• On the Tools menu, click Preferences. (In a barchart view, click Spreadsheet
Preferences.)
• Right-click a row or a column heading in the spreadsheet, and click
Preferences on the context menu.
3. On the Options tab of the Spreadsheet Preferences dialog box, click Enable
Outlining.
Defining Outlining
If you are using the Professional edition of Open Plan, you can control the outlining
feature for a spreadsheet view. To define outlining, you must first enable the
feature by clicking Enable Outlining on the Options tab of the Spreadsheet
Preferences dialog box. You can then define the settings for outlining by
displaying the Outlining tab:
• If this option is cleared, Open Plan applies the filter bottom up. This means that
Open Plan applies the filter to a child activity before applying it to its parent.
This is the default setting. When the filter is applied bottom up, an activity is
displayed if it or any of its descendents match the filter. This may cause some
activities to be displayed even though they, themselves, do not match the filter.
For example, assume that Activity A does not match the filter, but that its child
Activity A.1 does. With this setting, both Activity A.1 and its parent, Activity
A will be displayed.
Background Color — Controls the background color Open Plan displays for the
outline rows. Clicking the down arrow for this field displays a Color dialog box
that you can use to select a color for that feature. The Color dialog box offers a
choice of 48 standard colors and up to 16 additional custom colors.
You can define custom colors using an enhanced version of the Color
dialog box accessed from the General tab of the Options dialog box.
Font — Click the Font button to display a dialog box where you can change all the
font attributes for the text Open Plan displays for the outline rows.
Open Plan always sorts within the outline and calculates summary
information for outlining from the entire project, regardless of any filters in
effect.
To define outlining
1. Open the appropriate spreadsheet or barchart view.
2. Display the Outlining tab of the Spreadsheet Preferences dialog box.
3. Enter the information for the outlining feature, and click OK to return to the
view.
Linking
Although it is possible to display individual fields from different data tables using
calculated fields, Open Plan offers a more general linking capability in multi-table
spreadsheet views. In multi-table spreadsheet views, you can display any field from
linked tables just as though the field resided on the primary data table for the view.
This allows you to produce sophisticated reports showing information from a
number of different data tables.
Open Plan provides a number of standard multi-table spreadsheet views, including
a resource/activity spreadsheet that displays information from the resource
description table (the primary data table for the view), the assignment table, and the
activity table:
In the example illustrated above, notice that there are many assignments for each
resource — in other words, there is a one-to-many relationship between each
resource (the primary record) and its assignments (the secondary records). Just as
you can expand and collapse records in a spreadsheet view using outlining, multi-
table spreadsheet views allow you to expand and collapse the display of
information based on one-to-many relationships. To expand or collapse the display
of secondary records in a multi-table spreadsheet view, use the outlining button
(displayed to the left of the row) or the Collapse, Expand, and Expand All
commands.
Defining Links
If you are using the Professional edition of Open Plan, you can define the links for
many multi-table spreadsheet views. By customizing the linking in a multi-table
spreadsheet view, you can display fields from any linked data table. To define links
in a multi-table spreadsheet view, display the Define Links tab in the Spreadsheet
Preferences dialog box:
Use this dialog box to define the tables and fields comprising the link. For example,
to link to the Assignment table from the Resource Description table, you might
use the Res. ID field, which appears on both tables. This type of one-to-many link
would allow you to display the activity IDs for each assignment stored for a
resource. To display more information about these activities (for example, their
descriptions), you could then link from the Assignment table to the Activity table
using the activity ID field.
For a complete listing of data tables and fields in Open Plan, refer to
Chapter 18, “Open Plan Table Migration” in the Deltek Open Plan
Developer’s Guide.
Notice that Open Plan does not allow recursive linking — that is, linking a file
back to itself. Thus, for example, you cannot create a view that shows both
predecessors and successors for activities by linking the Activity table to the
Relationship table and then linking the Relationship table back to the Activity
table. Instead, you must define two links between the Activity table and the
Relationship table as follows:
From Table From Field To Table To Field
Activity Activity ID Relationship Pred ID
Activity Activity ID Relationship Succ ID
Open Plan limits the list choices for linking tables and fields to only those that are
based on the From Table.
For example, if the resource description table is linked to both the assignment and
usage tables, data from the assignment and usage records will be displayed on the
same line. This is true even if no relationship exists between the data from these
two tables except through the single resource description record.
You can also use this Define Links tab to indicate if the primary record should
appear on a row by itself in cases of one-to-many links. If you do not select the Put
Primary Record on Its Own Row option, Open Plan displays the first linked
record on the same row as the primary record.
Clicking Baselines Colors displays a dialog box that allows you to assign a
different color for up to three baselines.
To define links
1. On the Tools menu, click Preferences.
If you are in a barchart view, click Spreadsheet Preferences on the Tools menu.
You can also invoke this command by right-clicking a column heading and
clicking Preferences on the context menu.
2. On the Define Links tab, enter the tables and fields that define the links, and
click OK to return to the view.
For example, assume you have a project with the following hierarchy:
10
10.1
30
40
50
If ID 10.1 were to be outdented, Open Plan would promote it to the same level
as ID 10 and assign it the first available ID according to the rules of automatic
numbering.
For example, if you enter 12 for the first ID in the hierarchy and then have Open
Plan create the remaining IDs, it increments the IDs by 12 resulting in the
following hierarchy:
12
24
36
48
60
Overview
Open Plan offers two types of histogram views: resource histograms and risk
histograms. Both types of views allow you to display time-scaled data using a
graphical format, a tabular format, or a combination of the two.
Resource histograms are familiar reporting tools in most project management
systems since they can display resource and cost data in an easy-to-understand
graphical form. Resource histogram views are especially useful for modeling
project resources since they allow you to compare resource assignments to
availabilities as well as allow you to view the overall usage of a resource (or a
group of resources) over the time span of the project.
Risk histograms, on the other hand, display the results of risk analysis for
designated key activity in a project. Risk histograms allow project planners to see
at a glance how Open Plan scheduled an activity over the course of many trial
simulations.
In Open Plan, you can display a resource histogram as a stand-alone view or as part
of a barchart view. In either case, the features of the resource histogram are
identical, and you can perform any operation in a similar manner in either view. By
contrast, risk histograms are available only as stand-alone views.
This chapter starts with a general discussion of resource histogram views in Open
Plan, followed by a description of the types of resource and earned value
information that can appear in a histogram view. Next is a description of how to
customize a resource histogram.
The chapter concludes with a discussion of risk histograms, followed by
information on how to select an activity to view in a risk histogram and how to
customize the view.
Each bar in the histogram represents a value corresponding to the smallest time unit
displayed on the date scale. For example, if you define a date scale with the most
detailed axis showing months, you can display bars that show how many units of
the selected resource are required on a monthly basis:
If you are displaying a resource histogram as part of a barchart view, the date scale
for the barchart pane controls the display of the histogram. If you are displaying the
resource histogram as a stand-alone view, the date scale typically starts at the
earliest instance of relevant project data. For example, if you are not displaying
actual cost information, the histogram starts at Time Now since this is the earliest
date that time analysis or resource scheduling can schedule an activity.
When you view a resource histogram that shows bars or S-curves, notice the legend
to the left of the date scale. This legend tells you the type of information
represented by the bars and S-curves.
If you prefer to see the precise values being represented in the view, you can
configure a resource histogram to display information in a tabular format below the
bars:
As in the case of histogram bars, the aggregation of tabular data corresponds to the
smallest unit displayed on the date scale.
In addition to displaying information aggregated on a period-by-period basis, you
can display cumulative S-curves in a resource histogram view:
Views that combine both histogram bars and S-curves, the vertical axis for
the histogram bars appears on the left, while the vertical axis for the S-curve
appears on the right.
Select to show
item in view.
For early dates, late dates, scheduled dates, baseline dates, and actuals, the
defined color indicates the color of the first selected resource when stacked.
Subsequent stacked resources are assigned a color automatically by Open
Plan.
Availability —You can select from the following options to choose the type of
availability data that Open Plan should show in both a histogram bar and an S-
curve:
• Total Availability — Displays the total availability of the resource. The
histogram does not identify quantities that are reserved for another project or
used by a project with a higher priority.
• Unreserved Availability — Displays the availability that is not reserved for
another project.
• Unused Availability — Displays the availability that is not used by a project
with a higher priority or reserved for another project.
• Total & Reserved — Displays both the total availability and the availability that
is reserved for another project.
• Total & Reserved or Used — Displays both the total availability and the
availability that is either reserved for another project or used by a project with a
higher priority.
• Total, Reserved and Used — Displays the total availability, the availability that
is reserved for another project, and the availability that is used by a project with
a higher priority.
• Unreserved and Used — Displays both the availability that is not reserved for
another project and the availability that is used by a project with a higher
priority.
If the option selected includes the total, this is shown with a solid line. Otherwise,
the solid line will represent the net availability of reserved availability, or the net
availability of reserved and used availability.
If the option selected includes more than one of the three possibilities, these will be
shown as progressively lighter filled areas below the solid line.
The following histogram has the option Total, Reserved and Used selected and
shows the gradation of the availability line:
The option to show escalated costs does not affect the display of actuals.
Values for — You can control which values appear in the view with one of the
following options:
• Average Histogram — Resource values appear as bars representing an average
value per the default duration unit used by the project. Open Plan calculates this
average over the smallest time unit displayed on the date scale and uses the
default project calendar to determine valid working periods. (If you have not
assigned a calendar to the project, Open Plan assumes a 5-day, 40-hour work
week with no holidays.) This option does not apply to S-curves.
• Totals — In Open Plan, histogram bars can display total values. When this
option is selected, each bar represents a total value for the period defined by the
date unit. S-curves represent cumulative total values.
Text boxes allow you to enter labels for both histogram bars and S-curves.
You can use a resource histogram view to display any of these items individually,
or you can display more than one at the same time.
The options that define how earned value information appears in a histogram view
are found on the Earned Value tab of the Histogram Preferences dialog box:
Click to show
item in view.
Use the following settings to control the appearance of earned value information.
Show — You can indicate one or more sets of earned value data to appear in the
view. You can also indicate the color of the bar or line for each item. If you are
displaying forecast costs, you can indicate which set of forecast dates to use as the
basis of the forecast.
The defined color indicates the color of the first selected resource.
Subsequent resources are assigned a color automatically by Open Plan.
Calculate — You can have Open Plan display earned value information in terms of
either resource units, base unit costs, or escalated costs. You can also specify the
label displayed on the vertical axis for the selected value.
The option to show escalated costs does not affect the actuals portion of
forecast costs or the display of ACWP.
Values for — You can also specify identification labels for both histograms and
S-curves.
Selecting Resources
Before you can display data in a resource histogram, you must select the
resource(s) to include in the view. When you click Select Resource on the View
menu, Open Plan displays the Resource Selection dialog box:
Select the
resources to
view.
Show only
resources that
have been
assigned to
activities.
The list field at the top of the dialog box allows you can to filter the display of
resources by category:
• All Resource Categories
• Labor
• Material
• Other Direct Costs
• Subcontract
The Expand All button will expand the entire hierarchy for viewing.
To display a resource from the list, simply select the check box next to the resource
name. To select all the resources, click the Select All button.
You can also choose to display resource pools in the histogram. Keep in mind,
however, that all availabilities, requirements, and usage displayed for a pool
include both the pool and a roll-up of the child resources belonging to the pool.
Clearing the Hide Unreferenced Resources setting displays the entire resource use
file hierarchy, which makes the resource pools available for selection.
When selecting resources to display, be sure that all selected resources use
the same time unit. For example, you should not mix resources measured in
person-hours and resources measured in person-days or person-weeks in the
same bar.
The Show options determine how Open Plan displays bars or curves representing
more than one resource. There are three choices:
• Total — This option displays the resource bars or curves for multiple resources
as a total quantity. You cannot discern the amount of resource requirement or
usage within a time frame for any specific resource.
• Stacked — This option displays the resources bars for multiple resources in a
stacked format. Each selected resource is displayed in a separate color. In the
case of cumulative values, Open Plan displays separate S-curves for each
resource.
• Category — This option displays the resource bars for each resource category.
In the case of cumulative values, Open Plan displays separate S-curves for each
resource category.
If you select both a pool and any other pool or individual resource, the
histogram displays each pool as a total histogram bar or S-curve.
To select resources
1. Take one of the following actions:
• On the View menu, click Select Resource.
• Right-click anywhere in the view, and click Select Resource on the context
menu.
2. Select one or more resources from the list displayed in the dialog box.
To select all the resources, click Select All.
3. Indicate if the bars and curves should be total, stacked, or category.
5. When the information is complete, click OK to return to the view.
If you have applied a filter to the view, a resource histogram represents only those
activities that satisfy the filter.
For information about filters, refer to Chapter 17, “Views and Reports.”
With this dialog box, you can indicate whether you want to display resource
information or earned value information and if you want to display a graph only, a
table only, or a combination of the two. If you display a table, you can indicate how
many decimal places should be displayed.
You also have the option of specifying the bar style (3-dimensional or flat). If
multiple bars are displayed, you can specify their display as either side-by-side or
front-to-back. If you choose to display flat bars front-to-back, Open Plan varies the
width of the bars to distinguish between the different types of information being
displayed, for example:
Late dates
Time Now — You can select from the following three options:
• None — If you select this option, Open Plan does not display the Time Now
line on the histogram.
• Line — If you select this option, Open Plan identifies Time Now using a
vertical line. There is no identifying text beside the Time Now line.
• Line with Text — If you select this option, Open Plan identifies Time Now
using a vertical line. In addition, the words "Time Now" are displayed next to
the Time Now line.
If the histogram is displayed as a pane in the barchart view, Open Plan also features
the following additional options:
• Conditional Line — If you select this option, Open Plan identifies Time Now
using a vertical line only if the barchart identifies Time Now with a vertical
line.
If the barchart does not identify Time Now in this way, the histogram does not
identify Time Now.
• Conditional Text — If you select this option, Open Plan identifies Time Now
using both a vertical line and the text specified as the label in the Barchart
Preferences dialog box only if the barchart identifies Time Now with a vertical
line and a label.
If the barchart does not identify Time Now in this way, the histogram displays
Time Now with only a vertical line.
Resource Description — You can select from the following options:
• Show Full ID — If you select this option, Open Plan identifies each resource by
the full resource ID. For example, the resource may be identified as:
TEAM.LAB.JOAN
• Show Local ID — If you select this option, Open Plan identifies each resource
by the local portion of the resource ID. For example, the resource may be
identified as:
JOAN
Where:
JOAN is the local portion of the TEAM.LAB.JOAN resource ID.
• Show Description — If you select this option, Open Plan identifies each
resource only by its description. For example, the resource may be identified as:
JOAN SHERWOOD
Where:
JOAN SHERWOOD is the resource description.
• Show Full ID and Description — If you select this option, Open Plan identifies
each resource by both the full resource ID and the description. For example, the
resource may be identified as:
TEAM.LAB.JOAN JOAN SHERWOOD
Where:
For information about customizing the date scale, refer to Chapter 18,
“Barchart Views.”
When you view a risk histogram, notice the legend to the left of the date scale. The
legend includes information related to risk calculations — the mean values and
standard deviations for the dates being displayed as well the equivalent date
calculated by time analysis or resource scheduling. The legend also tells you the
type of information appearing in the histogram, and how that information is
displayed.
If you prefer to see the precise values being represented in the view, you can
configure a risk histogram to display information in a tabular format below the
bars:
This feature is especially useful for estimating how much confidence is associated
with a particular start or finish date.
With this dialog box, you can indicate which dates (Early Start, Early Finish,
Late Start, or Late Finish) to display in the view and whether you want to display
histogram bars or cumulative S-curves. You can also indicate whether you want to
display a graph only, a table only, or a combination of the two. If you display a
table, you can indicate how many decimal places should be displayed.
If you are displaying histogram bars, you have the option of specifying the bar style
(3-dimensional or flat). If multiple bars are displayed, you can specify their display
as either side-by-side or front-to-back. If you choose to display flat bars front-to-
back, Open Plan varies the width of the bars to distinguish between the different
types of information being displayed.
Overview
Open Plan includes three facilities for importing and exporting project data:
• An import/export facility for Microsoft Project .mpd and .mpp files
• A basic import facility for projects created with Primavera Project Planner®.
• A customizable import/export facility based on user-defined scripts that can be
used to transfer project data to and from a wide range of external applications
Microsoft Project
Open Plan features a seamless integration with the data formats used by Microsoft
Project, allowing Open Plan to share project data files with it. This interface works
directly with data from .mpd database files and accepts data in Microsoft Project’s
.mpp format.
System Requirements
In order to import and export Microsoft Project data, you must install Microsoft
Data Access Components (MDAC) version 2.6.
The installation file MDAC is located in the MDAC folder of your Open Plan CD.
You can use this dialog box to locate and select the Microsoft Project file you want
to import:
• Selecting a .mpp (Microsoft Project) file instructs Open Plan to display the
Load Options dialog box.
• Selecting a .mpd (Project database) file instructs Open Plan first to display the
Select MSP Project dialog box, which you then use to select a project
contained in the .mpd file:
After selecting the project, click OK to display the Load Options dialog box.
The default values that appear in the Microsoft Project WBS field are
actually the outline numbers and are not transferred as codes.
This dialog box allows you to choose the desired MSP format in which to export
the file. The Save as type field offers you the following two options:
• MSProject files — This option limits the files displayed to those in the .mpp
format and provides a default extension of .mpp to the file specified in the File
name field.
For this option, you must have Microsoft Project installed on your
computer.
• MSProject databases — This option limits the files displayed to those in the
.mpd format and provides a default extension of .mpd to the file specified in the
File name field. If you do not select an existing project name for the database,
Open Plan creates a new MSProject database with the name you specify.
Before you can export a project to Microsoft Project, it must first be saved
as an Open Plan project.
When you click Save, Open Plan displays the Save Options dialog box described
in the following section.
This option also controls how the Export utility interprets the outline levels
of all activities. For example, an activity ID of 0.1 is interpreted as level 1 if
the option is selected; if the option is not selected, it is interpreted as level
2.
6. Select the options you want to set for the export process, and click OK.
The Save Options dialog box is not displayed if an option has previously
been set that inhibits its display.
7. From the Select MSP Version dialog box, select the version of Microsoft Project
to export to, and click OK.
When Open Plan has completed transferring the project, the Microsoft Project
Planning Wizard is displayed.
8. From the Microsoft Project Planning Wizard, choose whether the exported
project should be saved with or without a baseline, and click OK.
9. When the Export utility displays a message indicating that the transfer has been
completed successfully, click OK.
To export P3 data
1. Open the project you wish to export.
2. On the Add-Ins menu, click P3Export.
3. On the Save As dialog box, enter a name and location for the batch file.
4. Click Save.
5. If errors are encountered during the export process, you are prompted to view the
log. Click Yes to view the log; otherwise click No.
6. When finished viewing the log, close the window.
Import General
To import project information, issue the Import General command to display the
following dialog box:
You can use this dialog box to select an import specification. When you click OK,
Open Plan allows you to open a source data file and create an untitled project
containing the imported information. If the project includes references to auxiliary
data files such as resource or code files, Open Plan creates untitled versions of
these files as well.
If you have a project open when you issue the Import General command, Open
Plan allows you to indicate if the imported data should be used to update the
current project. Note, however, that whether or not the imported data overwrites
existing records is determined by a parameter set in the import specification.
Open Plan allows you to open the source data file and then displays an untitled
project for the imported project.
5. To save the project as an Open Plan project, click Save or Save As.
If the project includes references to auxiliary data files, you must save the
auxiliary data files as well.
Export General
To export project information, issue the Export General command to display the
following dialog box:
Crosstable Export
To export crosstable data, open the File menu and click Export, then Export
Crosstable Data to open the Crosstable Exports dialog box.
The export specifications listed on this dialog box include those that you have
created as well as those that other users have created and chosen to share. When
you select an export specification and click Run, you are given the opportunity to
save the export file in either .xml or .csv format. You may also click on View to see
those export files that have been utilized in the past.
Elements that have a value of zero are exported as a blank value instead of a
zero (0).
The buttons along the bottom of the dialog box allow you to create, copy, edit, and
delete export specifications. When you create, copy, or edit an export specification,
a tabbed dialog box allows you to select the elements to include in the export file.
The default view is the General tab.
General Tab
The General tab of the Crosstable Export Definition dialog box features the
following choices that determine the type of data to export and enables or disables
the appropriate tabs.
For Data Type, you can choose between the following:
Resource — Select this option to export resource data and to enable the Resources
tab. Resource data is demand based on the following:
■ Early, late, or scheduled dates
■ Availability
■ Actuals
■ Baseline
Earned Value — Select this option to export earned value data and to enable the
Earned Value tab. Earned value data includes the following:
■ Budget
■ Actual
■ Forecast
■ Earned Value
Once you have decided what type of data to export, you can choose to export the
data rolled up by:
Resource — Select this option to export the data rolled up by resource and to
enable the Resource Data tab.
Resource Assignments — Select this option to export the data rolled up by
resource assignment and to enable the Activity Data tab.
Roll up similar Assignments — When the Resource Assignments option is
chosen, this option becomes available. Selecting this option instructs Open Plan to
roll up similar assignments.
Resources Tab
The Resources tab is enabled when you select Resource as the Data Type on the
General tab.
You can export the resource Availability as well as any of the following types of
resource data:
Early — Selecting this option exports the resource values (quantity, cost, and/or
escalated cost) by early dates.
Early dates are calculated in time analysis as the earliest dates on which
activities can start and finish.
Late — Selecting this option exports the resource values (quantity, cost, and/or
escalated cost) by late dates.
Late dates are calculated in time analysis as the latest dates on which
activities can start and finish without delaying the project.
Schedule — Selecting this option exports the resource values (quantity, cost,
and/or escalated cost) by schedule dates, also know as resource usage.
Schedule dates are the activity start and finish dates calculated by resource
scheduling.
Actual — Selecting this option exports the resource values (actual quantity, actual
cost, and/or actual escalated cost) by actual dates.
Baseline — Selecting this option allows you to choose up to 3 baselines attached to
the project. Open Plan exports the baseline resource values (quantity, cost, and/or
escalated cost) for each selected baseline.
For the resource data you select, you can export any of the following values:
Quantity — For each of the Usage options you select, the Quantity option
instructs Open Plan to export the resource quantity values when calculating usage.
Cost — For each of the Usage options you select, the Cost option instructs Open
Plan to export the unescalated resource cost values.
Escalated Cost — For each of the Usage options you select, the Escalated Cost
option instructs Open Plan to export the escalated resource cost values.
You can also select one of the following methods for calculating the values to
export:
Period — Selecting this option instructs Open Plan to calculate the resource usage
by period.
The periods used are determined by the selection you make on the Date
Scale tab.
Cumulative — Selecting this option instructs Open Plan to calculate the resource
usage as cumulative to date for each period exported.
Average — Selecting this option instructs Open Plan to calculate the average
resource usage. The average value is expressed in terms of the default duration
defined for the project. For example, if the default duration is weeks, an average of
4 would mean 4 resource units per week. When calculating the average value, Open
Plan uses the calendar assigned to the first availability record for each selected
resource.
The periods used are determined by the selection you make on the Date
Scale tab.
Cumulative — Selecting this option instructs Open Plan to calculate earned value
cumulative to date.
You can select one of the following options to specify the time periods:
Reporting Calendar — Selecting this option allows you to use the time periods in
an existing reporting calendar when calculating and exporting the data. Reporting
calendars allow you to view the exported time-based data against a non-linear date
scale with varying degrees of granularity.
The fiscal calendar is a reporting calendar assigned to the project on the Cost tab of
the Project Properties dialog box. This is useful if your company uses a fiscal
calendar that contains periods that do not end on the last day of the month.
By exporting data using different reporting calendars, you can create reports
that provide different views of the same data.
Linear — Selecting this option allows you to set the Granularity and Frequency
of the time periods Open Plan uses when calculating and exporting the data.
Granularity — This field controls the time period to use to calculate and export
the data. You can select from years, quarters, months, weeks, days, and hours.
Frequency — This field allows you to set the frequency of the time periods Open
Plan uses. For example, if you set a Granularity of months with a Frequency of 3,
the data would be calculated and exported using time periods similar to the
following:
■ 01/01/2003
■ 04/01/2003
■ 07/01/2003
■ 10/01/2003
■ 01/01/2004
The options in the Date Range portion of the dialog box allow you to
control the time span for the data that Open Plan exports.
The Date Range section allows you set the dates in the From and To fields that
Open Plan uses when calculating and exporting the data. You can select from the
following options:
Custom — Selecting this option allows you to set the From and To dates
manually.
Entire Project — Selecting this option instructs Open Plan to use the project’s
Start Date and Schedule Finish Date.
Time Now — Selecting this option instructs Open Plan to use Time Now for the
From date but allows you to enter the To date manually.
Project Start — Selecting this option instructs Open Plan to use the project’s Start
Date for the From date but allows you to enter the To date manually.
You can enter a date directly into the From and To fields or click the
ellipsis button next to a field to display a pop-op calendar which you can
use to select a date.
Activity Data
The Activity Data tab is enabled when you select the option to export the data
rolled up by Resource Assignment (on the General tab).
You can move multiple fields from one list to the other at one time by
Ctrl+clicking or Shift+clicking the desired fields and clicking the
appropriate arrow button.
Resource Data
The Resource Data tab is enabled when you select the option to export the data
rolled up by Resource (on the General tab).
The Available Fields list contains all of the resource-related fields included in the
resource file. To include a field in the export specification, select it and click the
right arrow button. It is moved to the Selected Fields list where you can use the up
and down arrows to arrange the fields in the order in which you want to export
them. To remove a field from the export specification, select it in the right-hand
list, and click the left arrow button.
You can move multiple fields from one list to the other at one time by
Ctrl+clicking or Shift+clicking the desired fields and clicking the
appropriate arrow button.
Overview
Open Plan includes a number of project-level utilities that facilitate the
manipulation of project data. These include:
• Filters
• Sorts
• Calculated fields
• Global edits
• User-defined fields
• Spread curves
This chapter discusses each of these features in turn.
Filters
Filters limit the display of items in a view based on a specific criterion. For
example, you may wish to display a view that shows only activities requiring a
particular resource. Open Plan provides a number of predefined filters common to
many project management reports. In addition to these predefined filters, you can
define custom filters of your own.
When applying a filter to a view, keep the following points in mind:
• When selecting filtered activities, the status of the parent item determines the
status of the child. For example, assume that you apply a filter to a view and
then select a parent activity or resource pool. This selects all children of the
item, even if they do not meet the original filter criteria.
• If you apply a filter to a spreadsheet or barchart view with outlining turned on,
the status of child items is determined by the status of the parent when you
select the Filter from the Top Down option. For example, if a parent activity
fails to meet the criteria of a filter, none of that parent’s children will appear in
the view, even in cases where the individual child activities satisfy the filter.
• If you apply a filter to a linked spreadsheet view, the filter applies only to
information from the primary data table for the view.
Using Filters
To display a list of available filters, click the Filters command on the Tools menu.
Open Plan responds by displaying the following dialog box:
Create a new
filter.
Each view for a project can have a different filter in effect. The name of the filter
currently in effect appears in the status bar at the bottom of the Open Plan window:
Current
filter
To reapply the filter (or the sort) without exiting the view, click the Refresh button
Refresh button on the toolbar.
Once a filter is in effect for a view, you can continue to add items to the view.
Open Plan displays the items as you add them, even if the new items do not satisfy
the current filter condition. However, if you refresh the view or close the view and
return to it later, the items you added may not be displayed if the filter expression
excludes them.
To apply a filter in a network view, you must use the Placements command.
To apply a filter
1. Take one of the following actions:
• On the Tools menu, click Filters.
• Right-click within the view, and click Filters on the context menu.
2. From the Filters dialog box, select the filter you want to apply.
3. Click OK.
To refresh a filter
On the toolbar, click the Refresh button.
Refresh button
To cancel a filter
1. Take one of the following actions:
• On the Tools menu, click Filters.
• Right-click within the view, and click Filters on the context menu.
2. From the Filters dialog box, select <Cancel filter>, and click OK.
Select a data
table for the
filter.
Once you have entered a name and a data table for the filter, Open Plan allows you
to enter the expression for the filter criterion using the following dialog box:
Click to insert
a parenthesis
in the filter
expression.
With this dialog box, you can build a filter using the following components.
Logic — You can build complex filter expressions using the following logical
operators:
• AND
• AND NOT
• OR
Field Name — Filter expressions can include any field from the selected data
table, including calculated fields and any filters already defined for that table.
Previously defined filters specified as fields can have one of two values: true or
false.
Value 1 — The values available for a filter expression depend on the type of field
used in the expression. For example:
• If you select a text, numeric, or date field, Open Plan allows you to select
another field from the table (including calculated fields and previously defined
filters), or you can enter a text, numeric, or date constant.
If you are defining a filter that includes an activity or resource ID, make
sure that you enter the value using upper-case characters.
• If you select an enumerated field for the expression, Open Plan displays a list of
valid choices from which you must select. For example, the Activity Type field
is an enumerated field with valid values such as ASAP, ALAP, or Start
Milestone.
• If you select a logical field for the expression, Open Plan allows you to select
either true or false as a value.
Value 2 — If the expression uses either the Between or Not Between operators,
you can enter a second value for the filter.
Insert Parentheses — You can insert a left and right parenthesis in any
expression. Left parentheses can be inserted at the beginning of the Field column;
right parentheses can be inserted at the end of a row in the Value 2 setting.
Parentheses allow you to develop complex expressions such as the following
examples:
• C1 Equals “1.1” AND (C2 Equals “QA” OR C2 Equals “Pubs”)
• (C1 Equals “1.1” AND C2 Equals “QA”) OR C2 Equals “Pubs”
When you click More, the Filter Expression dialog box extends to display
additional controls:
Expression — This field reflects the actual expression that is displayed in the grid.
If you prefer, you can enter the filter expression directly in the text box.
Fields — Clicking this button displays the Fields dialog box. You can use this
dialog box to select fields to include in the filter expression.
Functions — Clicking this button displays the Functions dialog box. You can use
this dialog box to select functions to use in the filter expression.
Validate — When you have created a filter expression, you can click this button to
have Open Plan validate the expression. If the filter expression is valid, Open Plan
populates the grid with the appropriate values.
Access Control — Select this option to grant rights to other users in the data
source to use the filter expression.
Less — Clicking this button hides the dialog box extension.
4. When the information for the filter expression is complete, click OK to return to
the Filters dialog box.
Temporary Filters
In addition to creating permanent filters, you can also create temporary filters.
Temporary filters are available only in the view in which they are defined and valid
until superceded by another filter. You cannot make these temporary filters
available to other projects, nor can you make them available to other users with the
Share this Item with Others option.
Temporary filters can be created in two ways:
• By selecting <Temporary Filter> on the Filters dialog box
Creating a temporary filter in this manner uses the same Filter Expression
dialog box used for creating a new filter but with two exceptions: the name of
the filter is <temporary> and the Share this Item with Others option is
disabled.
• By typing the temporary filter expression directly in the field where it will be
used.
For example, you can type the temporary filter expression directly into the
Criterion field on the Bar Attributes tab of:
■ The Bar Set Preferences dialog box
■ The Network View Preferences dialog box
The manner in which the Filter Expression dialog box for a temporary filter is
displayed depends on the view from which it is accessed:
• In network views, you can display the Filter Expression dialog box for a
temporary filter by clicking Filters on the Placements dialog box and then
selecting <Temporary Filter> from the Filters dialog box.
• In spreadsheet and barchart views, you can display the Filter Expression dialog
box for a temporary filter by clicking Filters on the Tools menu and then
selecting <Temporary Filter> from the Filters dialog box.
The Define Link tab applies to the Professional edition of Open Plan only.
The filter for data from all subsidiary tables is controlled independently, so a new
filter on a subsidiary table is in addition to a filter on a higher level.
If you inadvertently enter the filter expression on the wrong row, Open Plan attempts
to automatically move the filter expression to the correct row. This will be visible the
next time that you display the Define Link tab.
These temporary filters are not displayed in the Filters dialog box. They are
not saved as part of the project. If you save a view while a temporary filter
is in effect, Open Plan saves the view with the filter applied.
In addition to using temporary filters in Open Plan views, you can create and use
temporary filters in the following circumstances:
• Export scripts
• OLE automation
Sorts
By default, Open Plan displays activities and resources in barchart and spreadsheet
views in order of ID. However, you can assign a different sorting sequence to a
view so that, for example, activities appear in order of early start dates.
Open Plan provides a number of predefined sorts that are commonly used in project
management reports. In addition to these predefined sorts, you can define custom
sorts of your own.
Using Sorts
Issuing the Sorts command displays a list of available sorts in the Sorts dialog box:
Click to create
a new sort.
You can use this dialog box to apply an existing sort to the view as well as to
cancel the sort currently in effect.
Each view for a project can have a different sort in effect. The name of the sort
currently in effect appears in the status bar at the bottom of the Open Plan window:
Current sort
order
To reapply the sort (or the filter) without exiting the view, click the Refresh button
Refresh button on the toolbar.
To apply a sort
1. Take one of the following actions:
• On the Tools menu, click Sorts.
• Right-click within the view, and click Sorts on the context menu.
2. From the Sorts dialog box, select the sort you want to apply, and click Close.
To refresh a sort
On the toolbar, click the Refresh button.
Refresh button
To cancel a sort
1. Take one of the following actions:
• On the Tools menu, click Sorts.
• Right-click within the view, and click Sorts on the context menu.
2. From the Sorts dialog box, select <Cancel sort>, and click Close.
Select a data
table for the
sort.
Once you have entered a name and selected a data table, Open Plan allows you to
define the sort expression using the following dialog box.
With this dialog box, you can build a sort expression by indicating each sorting
field and whether Open Plan should use an ascending or a descending order when
sorting activities using that field. You can also choose to share this item with
others.
You can define sort expressions based on substrings of a text field (for example, the
activity description) by creating a calculated field containing the substring and then
including the calculated field in the sort expression.
You may use the Access Control option to grant rights to other users in the data
source to use the expression.
To add a sort
1. On the Tools menu, click Sorts.
2. On the Sorts dialog box, click New.
3. In the New Sort dialog box, enter a name, and select a source data table for the
new sort expression.
4. Click OK.
5. In the Sort Expression dialog box, define the sort expression.
6. When the information for the expression is complete, click OK to return to the
Sorts dialog box.
To edit a sort
1. On the Tools menu, click Sorts.
2. From the Sorts dialog box, select the sort you want to change, and click Edit.
3. In the Sort Expression dialog box, update the sort expression.
4. When the information for the expression is complete, click OK to return to the
Sorts dialog box.
To copy a sort
1. On the Tools menu, click Sorts.
2. From the Sorts dialog box , select the sort you want to copy, and click Copy.
3. In the Sort Expression dialog box, enter a new name for the sort.
4. When the information for the new expression is complete, click OK to return to
the Sorts dialog box.
To delete a sort
1. On the Tools menu, click Sorts.
2. From the Sorts dialog box , select the sort you want to delete, and click Delete.
3. When Open Plan asks you to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
Temporary Sorts
In addition to creating permanent sorts, you can also create temporary sorts.
Temporary sorts are available only in the view in which they are defined and valid
until they are superceded by another sort. You cannot make these temporary filters
available to other projects or users.
You can create temporary sorts in the following ways:
• By clicking the column headings in a spreadsheet view if the Click to Sort
option is enabled. Using this method you can sort the data in the spreadsheet
based on either a single column or on multiple columns.
For more information on the Click to Sort option, refer to the “Click to
Sort” section later in this chapter.
• By selecting <Temporary Sort> from the Sorts dialog box to display the
Temporary Sort Expression dialog box.
The temporary sort created in the two manners described above can be applied to a
primary table. In a multi-table spreadsheet view, you have the option of applying a
sort to a secondary table using the Define Link tab of the Spreadsheet
Preferences dialog box or by clicking the column headings as described above.
In a multi-table view, the primary table is the main table upon which the
view is based. The secondary table is the linked table.
While you can simply type the sort expression in the text box of the Temporary
Sort Expression dialog box, you can also use the Fields and Functions buttons to
display dialog boxes that you can use as an aid in building the sort expression.
Open Plan temporary sorts are formed using the following syntax:
The syntax for a sort expression is:
<sort_field1>,<sort order>|<sort_field2>,<sort order>|…
where:
• Each of the <sort_fieldx> values is either the name of an existing field on the
appropriate table or the definition of a calculated field for that table.
• The <sort order> indicates an ascending (0) or a descending (1) sort.
• The piping symbol (|) separates the sorts you create.
Example
The following example:
ORIG_DUR,0|ACT_ID,1
Would first sort ascending the original duration field and then within that would
sort descending the activity ID field.
In addition to using temporary sorts in Open Plan views, you can also use
temporary sorts in the following circumstances:
• Export scripts
• OLE automation
The Define Link tab applies to the Professional edition of Open Plan only.
The sort order for data from all subsidiary tables is controlled independently, so a
new sort on a subsidiary table is in addition to a sort on a higher level.
You can also create a temporary sort for a secondary table by applying the
Click to Sort feature to column headings of the secondary table. The Click
to Sort feature is discussed later in this chapter.
If you inadvertently enter the sort expression on the wrong row, Open Plan
attempts to automatically move the sort expression to the correct row. This will be
visible the next time that you display the Define Link tab.
When you sort columns based on a secondary table, using the Click to Sort
option records the temporary sort in the Sort column of the Define Link tab
of the Spreadsheet Preferences dialog box.
1. Open the multi-table spreadsheet view to which you want to apply a temporary
sort.
2. Take one of the following actions:
• On the Tools menu, click Preferences.
• Right-click an empty area of the view, and click Preferences on the context
menu.
3. On the Spreadsheet Preferences dialog box, click the Define Link tab.
4. In the Sorts field, enter the temporary sort you want to apply, and click OK.
Open Plan applies the sort to the secondary table identified in the To Table
column.
These temporary sorts are not displayed in the Sorts dialog box. They
are not saved as part of the project. If you save the view while a
temporary sort is in effect, Open Plan saves the view with the sort
applied.
Click to Sort
In addition to the temporary sort, the spreadsheet and barchart views allow column
sorting by clicking the column headings.
With the Click to Sort option enabled, you can click the column heading on which
you want to base the sort. Clicking the same column heading again will toggle the
sort operation between ascending and descending order.
To sort the data based on multiple columns, click the first column heading on
which you want to sort. For non-adjacent columns, Ctrl-click additional columns
until you have defined the entire sort expression. For adjacent columns, Shift-click
additional columns until you have defined the entire sort expression.
When you sort columns based on a primary table in multi-table views, using
the Click to Sort option records the temporary sort on the Temporary Sort
Expression dialog box. If you sort the spreadsheet based on a secondary
table, the sort expression is reflected in the Sort column on the Define Link
tab of the Spreadsheet Preferences dialog box.
Calculated Fields
In Open Plan, the data fields displayed in a view are typically one of three types:
• Normal data entry fields — for example, an activity ID or description that can
be updated by the user at any time
• Fields generated by Open Plan processes — for example, the early start and
finish dates calculated by time analysis.
• Calculated fields defined by the user.
User-defined calculated fields allow you to calculate and display data not stored in
the standard versions of the project database tables. With calculated fields, you can
extend the flexibility of any view by displaying data that is the result of a custom
calculation. Once defined, a calculated field can be treated as any other type of
field. For example, you can display that field as a column in a spreadsheet view or
in an activity box, just as you can any standard field. You can also include
calculated fields in custom filter and sort expressions.
Calculated fields are available for display in both Professional and Desktop editions
of Open Plan. To define a calculated field, however, you must use the Professional
edition of Open Plan.
Open Plan does not store the results of calculated fields in the project
database. Only the definition of the calculation is saved — the results are
recalculated each time the field is required for display. Third-party
applications that query the database cannot, therefore, access the results of
calculated fields. You can, however, use the global edit feature (described
later in this chapter) to place the contents of a calculated field into a user-
defined field.
You can define a new calculated field to produce one of the following types of
results:
• Character — Returns a character string to the calculated field
• Date — Returns a date to the calculated field
• Decimal — Returns a decimal number (for example, 7.89) to the calculated field
• Duration — Returns a duration to the calculated field
• Finish Date — Returns an activity finish date to the calculated field
• Integer — Returns a whole number to the calculated field
• Logical — Returns True or False to the calculated field
Once you provide a name, data table association, and result type for the calculated
field, Open Plan allows you to enter the expression for the field.
Use the Fields and Functions commands to display lists of items that you can
insert into the expression you are editing.
You can define calculated fields for both project and resource files. By default,
Open Plan stores the calculated field with the project or resource file that is open
when you define the field. (Open Plan may also store the field with the current
view if the field is used by the view.)
Select the Access Control option to grant rights to other users in the data source to
use the expression.
If you do not see the appropriate calculated field listed in the dialog box, use the
Display For list to select another data table.
3. In the Calculated Field Expression dialog box, update the expression for the
field.
4. When the information for the expression is complete, click OK to return to the
Calculated Fields dialog box.
• Right-click an empty area of the view, and click Preferences on the context
menu.
3. On the Preferences dialog box, click the Box Attribute or the Box Layout tab.
4. Enter the temporary calculated field in the Criterion or Field column., and click
OK.
Open Plan displays the results of the calculated field in the network view.
Rollup
The Rollup utility provides the ability to perform a roll-up of date and numeric
fields selected by the user. Rollups may be defined for Activities, Resources, and
Codes.
Selecting Rollup from the Tools menu displays the following dialog box:
This dialog box allows you to perform a rollup of selected numeric and date fields
for Activities, Resources, and Codes. For numeric fields, the parent object is the
sum of its children. For date fields, the Start date of the parent object is the earliest
date of its children, and the Finish date is the latest date of its children.
If any of the children have a blank finish date, a blank finish date is rolled
up to the parent.
The Display for field allows you to select the table that contains the rollup
definition you want to use.
When a table is selected, the dialog box is populated with all of the rollup
definitions that have been created for that table. Selecting a rollup definition and
clicking Apply performs the rollup for the current file.
For numeric fields, the parent object is the sum of its children. For date fields, the
Start date of the parent object is the earliest date of its children, and the Finish date
is the latest date of its children.
If any of the children have a blank finish date, a blank finish date is rolled up to the
parent.
When you click New or select a rollup definition and click Copy or Edit, the
Rollup Definition dialog box is displayed:
To move the entire list, select the list by clicking the first name, then
depress the Shift key and click the last name in the list, then click the >
button. To select a random group from the list to move, press and hold the
CTRL key and click the mouse pointer on the items to be moved to
highlight, then click the > button.
Assigned Fields— This lists the fields the rollup definition will use. You can also
remove any or all of the items in the Assigned Fields list by either double-clicking
the item name, or clicking it to highlight and then clicking the < button. This will
move the selected item or items to the Available Fields list.
Access Control — Select this option to grant rights to other users in the data
source to use the definition.
After you have created or edited rollup definitions, the display returns to the
Rollups dialog box.
Global Edit
With the Global Edit utility, you can modify multiple activity, resource
description, or resource assignment records with a single operation. Using the
global edit utility you can, for example, increase all the durations in a project by
25% or change all the assignments for a specific resource. Global edit operations
can modify all the records in a file or selected records based on a filter expression.
When you click Global Edit on the Tools menu, Open Plan responds with the
following dialog box:
This dialog box displays a list of currently available global edits. Since they change
all instances of the data, global edits may be applied regardless of whether or not
any specific view is open.
The Display For field contains a list that segregates the global edits by type of
data. For example, if you select Project from the list, the global edits that are
displayed are project related.
You can display or apply a global edit using either the Professional or the Desktop
edition of Open Plan. Defining or updating a global edit, however, requires the use
of Professional edition of Open Plan.
You can use the following controls to define the global edit:
Name — If you have a project or resource file open, the default value in this field
is <temporary>. By leaving this default value, you can create global edits without
saving them.
In order to save a global edit, you must change the default <temporary>
value to a different name. When you then save the global edit, the name you
entered is displayed on the Global Edits dialog box.
If you have accessed this dialog box without first opening a project or resource file,
the Name field is blank since there is no target for a temporary sort.
Applies to Table — Controls the data table to which the new global edit applies.
The choices from which you can select depend on whether you are creating a
global edit for a project or for a resource file:
Project Resource
Replace Values in — Controls the field of the data table to which the global edit
applies.
Of Type —Displays which of the following types of data is stored in the selected
field of the data table:
• Date
• Decimal
• Duration
• Finish Date
• Integer
• Character
• Logical
• Enumerated values
For more information on enumerated field values, refer to the Help for this
topic.
With Expression — Controls the expression that will replace the data in the
selected data table field. The expression must create data of the same type as the
data it will replace. For example, if the global edit replaces a date, the global
expression must also create a date.
An expression defining a global edit can include the following elements:
• Character operators
• Constants
• Duration operators
• Field names
• Functions
• Logical operators
• Mathematical operators
• Calculated fields
• Relational operators
For more information on the above elements, refer to the online Help for
this topic.
Matching Filter — The ellipsis button at the right edge of this field displays the
Filters dialog box that you can use to apply a filter to the global edit. In this way,
you can limit the records that will be affected by the global edit.
Access Control — Select this option to grant rights to other users in the data
source to use the definition.
Fields — Displays a dialog box where you can select a field to include in the
expression.
Functions — Displays a list of available functions.
Values — Displays the Select a Value dialog box that you can use to select a value
to include in the global edit.
The expression for a global edit can use the same set of functions, operators, and
field names that you use when creating calculated fields.
The following table shows some simple examples of operations you can perform on
the original durations of activities in a project:
Expression Result
ORIG_DUR-|1d| Subtract one day from each duration
ORIG_DUR*1.25 Increase durations by 25%
SCHED_DUR Set original durations to scheduled durations
You can also specify a filter to limit the effect of the operation to a selected group
of records.
The Batch Global Edit dialog box displays a list of currently available definitions.
The Display For field contains a list that segregates the batches by type of data.
For example, if you select Activity from the list, the batches that are displayed are
activity related.
You can use this dialog box to select the global edits that the batch will use as well
as the order in which the global edits are executed.
The Batch Global Edit Definition dialog box displays the following controls:
Name—If you are creating a new definition, this field will display blank, allowing
you to add a name. If you are copying an existing definition, this field will be
populated with the name, preceded by copy_ name of edit. You can either accept
the new name or replace it with a different name. If you are editing a definition, the
name will display dimmed, and cannot be changed.
Applies to Table—This field is populated with the table name that was previously
selected, and cannot be changed on this dialog box.
Available Global Edits—This field initially lists all global edits created for the
selected table. To apply a global edit to the batch global edit you are defining,
double-click the edit name or click the > button to move the listed edit to the
Assigned Global Edits field.
To move the entire list, select the list by clicking the first name, then
depress the Shift key and click the last name in the list, then click the >
button. To select a random group from the list to move, press and hold the
CTRL key and click the mouse pointer on the items to be moved to
highlight, then click the > button.
Assigned Global Edits— This field lists the global edits the batch definition will
be used, and the order in which the global edits will be executed. To change the
order of the list, select the item to be moved and click the up or down arrows
adjacent to the list.
You can also remove any or all of the items in the Assigned Global Edits list by
either double-clicking the item name, or clicking it to highlight and then clicking
the < button. This will move the selected item or items to the Available Global
Edits list.
Global Edits — Clicking this button opens the Global Edits dialog box. You
would use this option if the global edit you want to include in the batch definition
does not exist or if you need to modify an existing global edit before including it in
the batch.
Access Control — Select this option to grant rights to other users in the data
source to use the definition.
7. In the Assigned Global Edits list, use the up and down arrow buttons to
determine the order in which the global edits are to be executed.
8. If you wish to share the batch definition with other users, select the Share this
Item with Others option.
9. When you are finished defining the batch, click OK.
For more information about the Open Plan data structures, refer to Chapter
17, “Standard File Structures,” in the Deltek Open Plan Developer’s Guide.
Clicking User Defined Fields on the Tools menu displays the following dialog
box:
This dialog box displays a list of user defined fields that are available for the
selected data table.
The Table field at the top of the dialog box allows you to select the data table to
which the user defined field applies.
Data is not saved by Open Plan when the data is entered on interproject
links for user defined fields created on the Relationship table.
In addition to specifying the type of data that you will be able to enter in the new
user defined field, the data type also specifies the length of the field. For example,
if you select Character, Open Plan creates the user defined field with a length of
60.
Description — You can use this field to assign a longer, more meaningful
description to the user defined field.
Also Create Field for Baseline — This option is enabled only if you are creating a
user defined field for the Activity table. If you select this option, Open Plan adds
the new user defined field to the Baseline table.
Link Field to Lookup Table — Selecting this option will link the field to a
Lookup Table by selecting from the following list of options:
• Lookup Table Type — Select the type of Lookup Table from the list.
• Lookup Field Name — Once the type is selected, you can select the specific
field.
Lookup Table Name — This option is available if you previously selected a
Resource or Code Table type.
Using this dialog, you can change the Name, Data Type, and Description for the
copy of the user defined field. You can also select or clear the Also Create Field
for Baseline option.
Spread Curves
Spread curves allow you to define the manner in which a resource assignment is
distributed over the duration of an activity. When assigning a resource to an
activity, you can use the Curve field on the Resources tab of the Activity Details
dialog box to select a predefined spread curve.
When you click Spread Curve on the Tools menu, Open Plan displays the
following dialog box:
This dialog box lists the spread curves defined for Open Plan. Using this dialog
box, you can create a new spread curve, edit a spread curve, or delete a spread
curve.
Clicking New on the Spread Curve dialog box displays the New Spread Curve
dialog box:
You cannot leave this field blank. You must enter a description for the
spread curve
Cumulative — As you enter values in the grid, Open Plan recalculates the values
and displays the current total in column 10 of the Cumulative row.
Incremental — The values in the Incremental row allow you to define the
percentage to be applied to each specific period.
Reconcile — If you click this button, Open Plan ensures that the value in column
10 of the Cumulative row equals 100%. If necessary, Open Plan redistributes the
values in the remaining cells in such a manner as to honor your inputs to the extent
that it is possible.
When you select an existing spread curve from the Spread Curve dialog box and
click Edit, Open Plan displays the Edit Spread Curve dialog box:
This dialog box is similar to the New Spread Curve dialog box except that the
Name field is disabled. You can edit only the description and percentage values in
the Cumulative and Incremental rows. Select the Access Control option to grant
rights to other users in the data source to use the curve.
Overview
Open Plan includes a number of special system-level utilities to provide features
related to file management and security. Other utilities allow you to communicate
project information using the Internet or email.
This chapter discusses each of the system utilities provided by Open Plan and
concludes with a brief discussion of working with project data in a multi-user
environment.
Custom Tools
By modifying the Addins.dat file, you can customize your installation of Open Plan
to display up to 30 custom tools on the Add-Ins menu.
An Addins.dat file may be located in two folders:
• The same folder as the Open Plan executable file. Modifying this copy of the
Addins.dat file creates menu items that are accessible to all users of the same
installation of Open Plan. This copy of the Addins.dat file is installed by
default.
Open Plan ships with several custom tools predefined in this copy of the
Addins.dat.
• The User folder of you Open Plan installation. Modifying this copy of the
Addins.dat file creates menu items that are accessible only to you. While this
copy of the file is not installed by default, you can create it by copying the
Addins.dat file located in the Open Plan executable folder and pasting it into
your User folder.
You can add up to 30 custom tools to the Add-Ins menu in your installation of
Open Plan by modifying either or both of these Addins.dat files.
For example, you can add an item to the Add-Ins menu that starts the WordPad
program supplied by Windows. By making the required modification to the copy of
the Addins.dat located in the executable folder, all users of the same installation of
Open Plan will have access to this menu item.
You can also add an item to the Add-Ins menu that will start Outlook. Since your
copy of Outlook may contain private information that you would not want
everyone to see, you would make the required modifications to the Addins.dat
located in your Open Plan User folder.
For more information on adding custom tools to the Add-Ins menu, refer to
Chapter 4, “The Open Plan Configuration Files,” in the Deltek Open Plan
Developer’s Guide.
Email Advisor
The Email Advisor sends automatically generated email messages from within
Open Plan. While the Email Advisor can contain any information and can be sent
to any person within your organization as well as to anyone with a valid email
address, it is typically used to facilitate communication between planners and
others involved in the project.
When a project is open, you can access the Email Advisor by clicking Email
Advisor on the Tools menu. Doing so displays the following Advisory Definitions
dialog box:
The Advisory Definitions dialog box displays a list of previously defined advisory
definitions that you can test and send.
If you are using the Professional or Enterprise edition of Open Plan, you can also
use this dialog box to perform the following two functions:
• Delete a previously created advisory definition.
• Display the Edit Advisor Emails dialog box that you can use to create or edit
an advisory definition.
While all Open Plan users can send a previously created email advisory,
only users of the Professional edition can create, modify, or delete one.
You can display the Edit Advisor Emails dialog box from the Advisory
Definitions dialog box in any of the following ways:
• By clicking New. This displays a blank Edit Advisor Emails dialog box that
you can use to create a new advisory definition.
• By selecting an advisory definition and clicking Copy. This displays the
selected advisory definition in the Edit Advisor Emails dialog box. The name
of the selected advisory definition is preceded by the word “Copy_” in the
Name field. You can then either accept this default name for the definition or
change it before you save it.
• By selecting an advisory definition and clicking Edit. This displays the selected
advisory definition in the Edit Advisor Emails dialog box and allows you to
make changes to the advisory definition.
You can use this dialog box to create or edit an advisory definition using the
following fields:
Name — Enter any descriptive name for your advisory definition. When saved, the
name is listed in the Advisory Definitions dialog box.
Subject — Enter the subject of the message. In addition to being able to enter text,
you can include any field or calculated field from the activity table. You can also
enter a title block variable in this field.
For example you might enter <Project Short Name> to display the short name of
the project in the subject of the email.
Fields, calculated fields, and title block variables must all be enclosed
within angle brackets (<>).
Header — Enter a header for the message. You may enter constants, standard field
names, symbolic field names, or leave the header empty. The header is displayed
only once in an email.
Message — You can select any field from the list. When the email advisory is
generated, Open Plan will address the advisory to any valid entries in the field that
you select.
For example, assume that you have assigned CLEANOBS in the C1 field for your
project and that you have entered the following email addresses in a user character
field (e.g., C1.USER_CHR01) for the E&D code in CLEANOBS:
[email protected];[email protected]
Open Plan would generate an email advisory to both johndoe and marydoe for all
the activities that have a code of E&D (and that have not been excluded by a filter).
Create a code file to hold addresses and assign this file to a project. Note:
Code fields are not selectable from the address field.
Use addresses embedded in the field when combining address and non-
address text in the same field.
• Listed in the field — If you use this option, the addresses referenced in the
Address field must be separated by semicolons (;) such as
;[email protected];[email protected]
When using lists, do not include any non-address text in the field.
Send one email per address combining all activities — Select this option to send
a single email that includes all of the activities referenced in the email to each
addressee. A separator divides each message included in this email.
For activities matching filter — Select a filter from the drop-down list to specify
the activities that can generate an email advisory. An ellipsis has been added to the
right of the Filter drop-down list. As in other dialogs, it allows the user to invoke
the Filter Expression Dialog.
Clicking the buttons located along the right-hand side of the Edit Advisor Emails
dialog box has the following actions:
• Save — Saves the advisory definition, lists its name on the Advisory
Definitions dialog box, and closes the dialog box
• Cancel — Cancels any changes you may have made to the advisory definition
and closes the dialog box
• Send — Generates the email advisory and sends it to the addresses specified in
the definition using your default email application
• Test — Displays the Test Advisory Definition dialog box for verification of
the subject, message, and results before you send the emails
• Fields — Displays the Fields dialog box that you can use to select data fields
that you can embed in both the subject and the text of the Advisor Email.
Using the Fields dialog box, you can, for example, embed the product
manager’s name and email address in the text of the advisory email.
• abc — Runs the spell-checking feature and checks the subject and message
fields of the advisory definition.
• Access Control — Select this option to grant rights to other users in the data
source to use the advisory definition.
• Help — Displays additional information about this dialog box.
For a list of fields you can use to contain addresses, display the list in the
Address field of the Edit Advisor Emails dialog box.
3. Open the element that will contain the address list, and assign addresses to the
field of your choice using any of the following methods:
• Embedded addresses enclosed in brackets: [mailto:[email protected]]
• Multiple addresses entered as a list and separated by semicolons:
[email protected];[email protected]
• Email addresses and nicknames referenced from your email address book
The following display shows email addresses added to the description field of a
code file:
7. If you run the test, click OK to return to the Edit Advisor Emails dialog box.
8. Click Save.
Open Plan saves the advisory definition and returns you to the Advisory
Definitions dialog box.
9. Select the advisory definition, and click Send.
File Management
To help you handle project-related data files, Open Plan provides five functions
related to file management:
• Deleting data files
• Backing up projects and associated data files
• Restoring projects and associated data files
• Checking files in and out (Briefcasing)
• Changing a file’s access mode
All of these functions are available from the Manage Files submenu of the File
menu.
Deleting a File
With the Delete File command, you can delete any project or project-related data
file from the data source. On the File menu, point to Manage Files, and click
Delete File on the submenu to display the following dialog box:
This dialog box displays a list of files based on the type of file you select in the File
Type field. Also, depending on the file type, Open Plan performs one of the
following actions when you delete a file:
• If the file is a project, all the project data is deleted from the data source. The
links created in the Project folder to any auxiliary files are removed, but the
auxiliary file data itself is not deleted. Any links to the project in your My
Folder are also removed.
• If the file is a calendar file, resource file, code file, or view template, the actual
data is deleted from the data source.
Backing Up a File
The Backup File command allows you to create a backup copy of a project and
any of the following associated with that project:
• Auxiliary files
• Views
• Calculated fields
• Sorts
• Filters
• Global edits
• Email advisory definitions
If the project includes references to external subprojects that are open, these
subprojects are included with the master project as well.
By default, all the information about a project and its auxiliary data files is stored
by Open Plan in a single file with the extension .bk3. You can also use the Backup
File command to back up resource, calendar, and code files outside of the context
of a project.
On the File menu, point to Manage Files, and click Backup File to display the
following dialog box:
Select the
file(s) to
backup.
The Backup dialog box displays a hierarchical list of all the files in the data source.
You can use this dialog box to select the file(s) to back up. After selecting the
file(s) for backup and clicking OK, Open Plan displays a Save As dialog box
where you can enter a name and location for the backup file set.
The buttons along the right hand side of the dialog box have the following
functions:
OK — Creates the backup.
Cancel — Closes the dialog box without creating the backup.
Select All — Selects all the files in the list.
Clear All — Clears the check mark from all selected files.
Expand All — Expands all the levels of the hierarchical list for view.
Help — Displays the help system.
To back up a file
1. On the File menu, point to Manage Files.
2. On the Manage Files submenu, click Backup File.
3. Select the file(s) you want to back up, and click OK.
4. In the Save As dialog box, enter a name and location for the backup to be stored.
5. Click Save.
Restoring a File
You can use the Restore File command to restore the information stored in a
backup file set When you restore a file, Open Plan allows you to provide a new
name for the file. This feature is handy in cases where you do not want to overwrite
existing versions of the files.
After selecting the backup file set to restore, Open Plan displays the first page of
the Restore wizard:
The top list box displays the names of the files in the backup file set. While you can
select the items that you want to restore individually, the settings in the Include
section of this dialog box can be used to simplify this task.
The following options control the categories of items in the hierarchy that Open
Plan should select for the restore operation:
• Views —This option instructs Open Plan to select all the views associated with
any item that will be restored.
• Auxiliary data —This option instructs Open Plan to select the Calendar,
Resource, and Code items associated with the items to be restored.
• External Subprojects — This option instructs Open Plan to select all external
subprojects associated with the project that will be restored.
• System Library Data — This option instructs Open Plan to select the system
library data (such as global edits, filters, sorts, calculated fields, and email
advisory definitions) associated with the project to be restored. By default, this
option is not selected. Open Plan handles the restoring of system library data as
follows:
■ If the system library data does not exist in the target data source (for
example, it has been deleted), the data will automatically be restored.
■ If the data already exists in the target data source, it will be listed on the
Details page of the Restore Wizard. This gives you the option to overwrite
the existing data on a one-to-one basis. For example, if you have modified
filters in the target data source, you may not want to overwrite them during
the restore process.
You can clear any specific items that you do not want to restore.
If you are trying to restore a file to which you do not have access control
rights, that file will appear in the Files that cannot be restored due to
your Access Rights section of the dialog box.
If you click Next, Open Plan displays the Details page of the wizard:
This page of the wizard provides more detailed information about the individual
items that can be restored. (Files that cannot be restored due to your access rights
do not appear on this page.) You can select or clear as many items as you want
from this list.
If you know that you have not made any changes to some of these items,
you can save time by not restoring them.
When you click Finish on this page or the previous one, Open Plan checks for any
differences between the backup set and the files that will be modified by the restore
operation:
• If no differences are found, Open Plan restores the data.
• If any differences are found, Open Plan displays additional dialog boxes where
you can instruct Open Plan how to proceed.
Open Plan displays the Restore Target Exists dialog box when differences are
found between the backup set and the files in the data source:
Differences between the backup set and files in the data source are expected
to occur. This dialog then gives you overwrite options you can use to rectify
the problem.
You can use this dialog box to instruct Open Plan to do the following:
Skip restore of item — Clicking this option and then clicking Yes instructs Open
Plan to not restore the identified item. Open Plan redisplays the Restore Target
Exists dialog box for the next item that will be modified by the restore operation.
If this is a dependent file, Open Plan will retain the link to the existing file of the
same name.
Clicking Yes to All instructs Open Plan to not restore any of the remaining files in
the backup set and closes the Restore Target Exists dialog box.
Overwrite existing item — Clicking this option and then clicking Yes instructs
Open Plan to overwrite the existing item with information from the backup file.
Clicking Yes to All instructs Open Plan to overwrite all remaining affected files
with information from the backup file.
Rename and restore — When you click this option and click Yes, Open Plan
enables a text box that you can use to provide a new name for the restored file.
Also, if you choose not to include Auxiliary Data and External Subprojects
when you restore a project and then click Finish, Open Plan checks to see if these
files already exist in the target data source. If the files do exist, then the restore
process proceeds normally. But, if the auxiliary files and external subprojects do
not exist, Open Plan displays the following dialog box:
In order for the restore process to proceed, the files in the list on the Restore
Required dialog box must be restored. Clicking Restore instructs Open Plan to
automatically restore the files in the list and then proceed with the rest of the
restoration process.
If the backup file being restored contains data fields that do not exist in the target
data source, Open Plan displays the following dialog box that allows you to create
the missing fields in the target data source:
To restore a file
1. On the File menu, point to Manage Files.
2. On the Manage Files submenu, click Restore File.
3. From the Open dialog box, select the backup file to restore, and click Open.
4. Select the files from the backup set to restore using the Restore wizard, and click
Finish.
Briefcasing a File
The Briefcasing feature of Open Plan allows you to check out a project, work on it,
and then check it back in. Checking out a project is similar to opening a project in
Exclusive mode in that while you have the project checked out, you are the only
person who can save changes to it. There is, however, a difference:
• A project that is open in Exclusive mode is automatically closed when you exit
Open Plan. At that time, other users with the appropriate rights can open the
project in Exclusive or Shared mode, make changes, and save their changes.
• A project you check out cannot be modified by other users until you check it
back in. Therefore, checking out a project is especially useful when you need to
maintain exclusive rights to the project over a longer period of time.
In order to check out a project, you must be able to open it in Exclusive mode. This
means that in addition to having the appropriate rights to the project, no other user
can have it open in either Exclusive or Shared mode at the time you want to check
it out.
When you check out a project to the Briefcase data source, the copy of the project
that remains in the Main data source is locked so that it cannot be modified by
other users. When you later check in the project, Open Plan copies the project back
to the Main data source and removes the lock. Open Plan also deletes the copy in
the Briefcase data source.
When auxiliary files and views are copied to the Briefcase data source with the
project, they are not locked in the Main data source since other users may need
access to them. Therefore, the auxiliary files and views can be opened only in Read
Only mode in the Briefcase data source.
If the project was previously checked out to your Briefcase data source, checking it
out again overwrites the data in the Briefcase data source. (You can prevent this
from occurring by clicking No or No to All to the alert that asks whether you want
to overwrite the data. This cancels the check out procedure for the duplicated data.)
If the project you want to check out has been opened in Exclusive or
Shared mode by another user, you will not be able to check out the
project.
1. On the File menu, point to Manage Files, and click Check Out on the submenu.
2. On the Check Out dialog box, select the project you want to check out from the
list.
3. Click one of the following options:
• Check Out in Main Data Source
• Check Out to Briefcase Data Source
5. If you are checking out to your Briefcase Data Source and want to include the project
views, select Check Out Views with Project.
6. Click Check Out.
Checking In a File
On the File menu, when you point to Manage Files and click Check In, Open Plan
displays the following dialog box:
To check in a project
1. On File menu, point to Manage Files, and click Check In on the submenu.
2. From the list on the Check In dialog box, select the project to check in.
If the project was checked out to the Briefcase Data Source, select Include
Projects in Briefcase Data Source to display the project in the list.
3. Click Check In.
The list box at the top of the dialog box allows you to select the type of file to be
displayed in the text box:
• Project
• Calendar
• Resource
• Code
When you select a file from the list, Open Plan displays the following information
in a grid located at the bottom of the dialog box:
• User ID — This column displays the ID of all the users who currently have the
file open.
• Machine ID — This column displays the ID of all the computers on which the
file is currently open.
• Open Mode — This column displays the access mode in which each file is
open.
• Opened On — This column displays the date on which each file was opened.
The Access Mode list displays the modes to which you can change the file. If the
file is currently open by another user, the mode in which that user has the file open
may impact the changes that you can make. For example, if using the Professional
edition of Open Plan, both you and another user have a file open in shared mode,
you can only change the mode to Read-Only. The Exclusive mode is disabled.
Once you have selected a new access mode for the file, you must click Change in
order to put the new access mode into effect.
Using the appropriate option, you can filter the display of objects in the dialog box
by owner and object type. You can also sort the displayed objects by column in
either ascending or descending alphabetical order by clicking the column heading.
Change Owner
Clicking the Change Owner button on the Change Ownership and Access
Rights screen displays the Change Owner dialog box:
1. On the File menu, point to Manage Files, and click Change Owner and Access
Rights.
Open Plan displays the Change Owner and Access Rights dialog box,
2. Select the object or objects for which you want to change the owner.
To select more than one object, use Ctrl+click or Shift+click. To select
all the objects displayed, click Select All. Reverse the process to clear
selected items, or click Clear All.
3. Click Change Owner.
4. From the New Owner list on the Change Owner dialog box, select a new
owner.
5. Click OK to save the change.
6. Click Close twice.
When changing access control information, individual access control entries can be
added and deleted or all existing access control entries can be replaced with a new
set of access control entries.
Group Delete
The Group Delete command allows you to delete a group of data records in an
open project that share a common characteristic.
Clicking Group Delete on the Tools menu displays the Group Deletion dialog
box.
This dialog box contains the following fields that allow you to apply a filter to a
table in the open project and then delete the data records that are identified by the
filter criteria.
The dialog box contains the following two fields:
• Applies to Table — Contains a list of all the tables in the open project.
• Matching Filter — Contains a list of all the filters defined for the open project.
Clicking the ellipsis button to the right of the Matching Filter field displays the
Filters dialog box that you can use to create a new filter.
While you can navigate to the User folder and open any of the log files
using a text editor such as Windows Notepad, the Log Viewer provides a
more convenient way to review this information.
To open the Open Plan Log Viewer from within Open Plan, click Log Viewer on
the View menu:
Click these
buttons to see
the remaining
Name of the log tabs
file
Vertical &
horizontal
navigation
arrows
Open Plan creates a log file each time you run a procedure such as Time Analysis
or Resource Scheduling. These log files provide information about the functions
that have been performed.
If more logs are created than can be displayed at once in the Open Plan Log
Viewer, Open Plan provides two navigation arrows you can use to scroll
horizontally through the tabs.
Time Analysis — This tab is displayed when you run time analysis on a project. It
allows you to view the opp_ta.log that provides information that was generated
during the procedure. If you run time analysis on more than one project during your
Open Plan session, the Time Analysis tab displays information about the last
project on which you ran the procedure.
Resource Scheduling — This tab is displayed when you run resource scheduling
on a project. It allows you to view the opp_rs.log that provides information that
was generated during the procedure. If you run resource scheduling on more than
one project during your Open Plan session, the Resource Scheduling tab displays
information about the last project on which you ran the procedure.
Risk Analysis — This tab is displayed when you run risk analysis on a project. It
allows you to view the opp_risk.log that provides information that was generated
during the procedure. If you run risk analysis on more than one project during your
Open Plan session, the Risk Analysis tab displays information about the last
project on which you ran the procedure.
Cost Calculations — This tab is displayed when you run cost calculations on a
project. It allows you to view the opp_cost.log that provides information that was
generated during the procedure. If you run cost calculations on more than one
project during your Open Plan session, the Cost Calculations tab displays
information about the last project on which you ran the procedure.
Progress Calculations — This tab is displayed when you run progress calculations
on a project. It allows you to view the opp_prog.log that provides information that
was generated during the procedure. If you run progress calculations on more than
one project during your Open Plan session, the Progress Calculations tab displays
information about the last project on which you ran the procedure.
Backup/Restore — This tab is displayed when you backup or restore Open Plan
files. It allows you to view the opp_bkp.log that provides information that was
generated during the backup or restore procedure. If you perform more than one
backup or restore during your Open Plan session, the Backup/Restore tab displays
information about the last operation.
Import/Export — This tab is displayed when you transfer data between Open Plan
and another application. It allows you to view the opp_xfer.log that provides
information that was generated during the transfer operation. If you perform more
than one import or export procedure during your Open Plan session, the
Import/Export tab displays information about the last transfer operation.
With the exception of the System Log, each of these tabs is displayed only when
you perform the relevant operation. If more logs are created than the Log Viewer
can display at one time, Open Plan provides navigation arrows that you can use to
scroll through the tabs, or you can maximize the window to view all the tabs at
once.
If you have the Open Plan Log Viewer running when you run an Open Plan
procedure that creates a log, the log viewer, by default, will automatically refresh
its display at a user-defined time interval. You can manually refresh the display by
clicking Refresh on the View menu or by pressing F5.
If you run the Open Plan Log Viewer outside the context of Open Plan,
refreshing the display will have no effect.
When you open a previously saved log file, the tab created for the opened log file
displays the log file’s name.
While you cannot edit the information in any of the log files using the Open Plan
Log Viewer, you can copy text from a log and paste it into another Windows
application.
You can use this dialog box to find a specific text string in the log displayed in the
viewer. You can press F3 or click the Find Next button to find the next occurrence
of the specified text string in the log.
The Options dialog box allows you to set the following options for the Open Plan
Log Viewer:
Enable automatic refresh — While in Open Plan, if you have the Open Plan Log
Viewer running when you execute one of the Open Plan processes which creates a
log, the log viewer becomes out of sync with the new log information. For
example, assume you just performed Time Analysis and have viewed the log file.
Also assume that while the Open Plan Log Viewer is still running, you perform
Time Analysis again. The new time analysis log generated by the process does not
overwrite the currently displayed (old) time analysis log. To view the new log, you
have to refresh the Open Plan Log Viewer display.
The Enable automatic refresh option will refresh the display automatically
according to a user-defined time interval. This option is selected by default. If you
deselect this option, you can still manually refresh the display using one of the
following methods:
• From the View menu, click Refresh.
• Press F5.
• Close the Log Viewer, and reopen it.
If you are running the Open Plan Log Viewer outside the context of Open
Plan, refreshing the display will not have any effect.
Enable autoscroll — If you have a log file that is longer than the display screen,
this option will automatically scroll to the end of the log file when you first view it.
Refresh files every X seconds — If you are using the Enable automatic refresh
option, you can set the time interval in seconds that the Open Plan Log Viewer
uses when automatically refreshing the display. For example, if you wanted the
display to refresh every 2 minutes, you would enter 120 seconds. By default, this
option is set to 10 seconds.
Default log file path — The log file path you enter in this field is the starting
location the Open Plan Log Viewer uses when you execute the Open command.
While you can change the path in this field as many times as you want,
clearing this field does not automatically revert the path back to the default
path. The last path name entered is remembered regardless if you clear it
from this field.
You can either type the full path name directly in this field, or you can click the
ellipsis button to display a dialog box that you can use to select the desired
location.
Closing Open Plan removes all the tabs from the Open Plan Log Viewer.
You will have to complete the normal log-on sequence upon restarting
Open Plan to successfully complete the connection.
The Edit Data Source dialog box has the following controls:
Name — The name of the currently selected data source is displayed in this field.
You cannot edit this field.
Database Name (Schema) — Use of this field is optional. If you wish, you can
enter the schema name of the selected database in this field.
If you do not enter a schema name in this field, the Datasources.dat file
must identify an Initial Catalog for the database.
Security
You can perform the following security-related operations from within Open Plan:
• Define access rights for project data
• Change your user password
These operations are described in the following sections.
Both the current owner and any user in the SYSADMIN group can transfer
ownership of the file to another user.
Security access rights are granted the same way for all files except a baseline. The
following example shows the Access Control tab (in this case for a project) that
you can use to grant access rights to other users:
As the owner, you can use the following fields to grant access rights to other users:
Owner — If you are the owner or have SYSADMIN privileges, you can select a
new owner for the file from this list.
Group — This field allows you to grant access rights to an entire user group. User
groups are created within WelcomSecurity.
Role — You can use this field to assign a role to either a group or individual user.
By assigning a role, you can control how the group or user manipulates your file.
Roles are created within WelcomSecurity, and groups are assigned default roles.
With this setting, you can override the default role of a group.
User ID — This field allows you to grant access rights to individual users. User
IDs are created within WelcomSecurity.
Read Only — Selecting Yes for this field limits the group or individual to read-
only status for the file regardless of the role assigned.
If you provide access rights to a group for a project, members of that group
automatically inherit read rights to all resource files, calendar files, code files, and
external subprojects assigned to that project. Note, however, it is possible that after
you change the ownership of a project to another user, you may not have rights to
save the project. If this occurs, simply close the project without saving.
Provided that you are the owner or have SYSADMIN rights, you do not
have to open a project or file in order to grant access rights to it on this tab.
You must be the owner of the file or view template in order to define
access rights to it.
1. In the Open Plan Explorer, right-click the appropriate file or view template, and
click Properties on the context menu.
2. Click the Access Control tab.
3. Assign access rights to the file.
4. When finished, click OK.
WelcomSecurity
The Deltek family of products provides a comprehensive set of security-related
features that allow a system administrator to control access to both an application and
its data. These features are accessed through the WelcomSecurity Administrator, a
common security utility designed to work with Deltek’s software applications.
Security features that might affect an Open Plan user are described in this section.
Login Lockout
Using the WelcomSecurity Administrator, a user with system administrator
access can prevent users from logging into Open Plan. When users try to log into
Open Plan, they receive a message stating that the system administrator has
disabled logins to the data source. Clearing the message returns the users to the
Open Plan Login dialog box, where they can cancel the login attempt completely or
use Ctrl+Login to select another data source.
This function would be useful, for example, if maintenance needed to be performed
on the database. If even one user was logged in, the maintenance could not be
performed.
Login Message
Using the WelcomSecurity Administrator, a user with system administrator
access can specify a message that is displayed to all users when they log into Open
Plan. This function would be useful, for example, to warn users of scheduled
downtime for upcoming database maintenance.
Please note that any unsaved changes to Open Plan are lost when the program is
remotely terminated by the system administrator. Once the termination message is
displayed, users cannot perform any actions in Open Plan. Hopefully, the system
administrator sent a message to the users informing them to save their information
before issuing the session termination.
When the message is sent, a message box pops up on the recipient’s screen. The
message box displays your user name and date/time the message was sent along
with the message.
4. Click Send.
To email a project
1. Open the project, resource file, or code file that you want to attach to an email.
2. On the File menu, click Send.
This command is not available if you do not have a MAPI-compliant
email application designated as your default email system.
3. On the Backup Items To Send dialog box, verify the file you are sending, and
click OK.
You can change which files are sent by selecting or clearing the appropriate files.
Form information on backing up a file, refer the “Backing Up a File”
section earlier in this chapter.
4. On the Save As dialog box, enter a name and location for the backup, and click
Save.
Choosing the default name and location Open Plan uses will save the file
in the Windows\Temp folder.
Open Plan invokes your email application, creates a blank message, and attaches
the appropriate files.
Shortcut Properties
You can change the properties of a shortcut by displaying its Properties dialog
box. There are two different dialog boxes that are displayed depending on the type
of shortcut it is.
If the shortcut is to a Windows application or file, a dialog box similar to the
following is displayed:
You can use this dialog box to change the target URL for the shortcut.
Spell Checker
The full-featured spell checker allows you to specify the dictionaries that you want
to use. You can use up to 32 dictionaries. If you have defined special terms in a
dictionary, you can simply assign that dictionary to the Open Plan spell checker.
Open Plan also allows you to assign many different language dictionaries so that
you can check the spelling of words in other languages.
In addition to using the dictionary files shipped with Open Plan, you can create
your own custom project dictionary. This dictionary can be any of the following
types.
• .tlx – The default dictionary type for the Open Plan spell checking feature
• .dic – The default dictionary type of Microsoft Word and other word processing
programs
• .txt – The default dictionary of custom dictionaries and dictionaries containing
acronyms
You can add acronyms as shortcuts for other words. The spell checking
feature finds the acronym and offers you suggested replacement words. For
example, you can define ‘sw’ as a shortcut for software. If you have
existing acronym dictionaries, you can import these dictionaries and use
them in Open Plan.
The following spell check button has been added to the Email Advisor and all
Notes tabs:
When using the spell checking feature, the following dialog box is displayed
whenever a word is encountered that cannot be found in the current dictionaries.
In addition to highlighting unrecognized words, this dialog box also suggests words
that you might want to use as replacements.
Two buttons located at the bottom of the dialog box provide access to customizable
spell checker features: Options and Dictionaries
Clicking the Options button displays the following dialog box that you can use to
specify the options you want to use:
Clicking the Dictionaries button displays the following dialog box that you can use
to add new dictionaries and to add or delete words from the current dictionary:
For more information on enhancing the spell checking feature, click Help
on the Check Spelling dialog box.
Web Publisher
The Open Plan Web Publisher allows you to publish any Open Plan view or
report as a document that can be viewed by most common World Wide Web
browsers. By producing reports using the industry-standard Hyper Text Markup
Language (HTML) and Adobe Acrobat’s Portable Document Format (.pdf) , you
can provide electronic versions of the most up-to-date project information to any
project member.
Adobe Acrobat Writer is needed for the creation of HTML reports using the
Open Plan Web Publisher and is not included with your installation of Open
Plan.
Each icon in the HTML document serves as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
link to a .pdf file generated from a view. This HTML document can then be placed
on any Web server, making the views available to all users with access to that
server. To display a view listed in the HTML file, simply click the appropriate icon.
To produce reports for publication on the Web, you must have the Adobe Acrobat
PDFWriter (included in packages such as Adobe Acrobat Exchange) installed as an
output device for your Windows system.
To view a report produced in the .pdf format, you must have an installed copy of
Adobe Acrobat Reader. This software is available at no charge from Adobe
(http://www.adobe.com). The Windows version of Acrobat Reader is included with
your copy of Open Plan.
To view a report produced in the .pdf format on the Web, your Web browser must
support the use of Acrobat Reader as a helper application.
In addition to producing reports for the Web, the Open Plan Web Publisher can also
be used as a facility for defining and running report batches that can be produced to
any output device defined for your Windows system.
For information about customizing the operations of the Open Plan Web
Publisher, refer to Chapter 15, “Customizing the Open Plan Web
Publisher,” in the Deltek Open Plan Developer’s Guide.
Use this dialog box to display a list of the views currently included in a report
batch.
To see the file name for the views, scroll the list horizontally.
To create a new batch, click New, and provide a name for the batch. When you
return to the Open Plan Web Publisher dialog box, click Views to define the
views to include in the batch. The Open Plan Web Publisher responds by
displaying the following dialog box:
Use the controls in the dialog box to create a list of views to be published with this
batch as follows:
• To include all of the project views in the report batch, click All>> .
• To remove all the views from the report batch, click <<All.
• To include specific views in the report batch, select the items from the list of
available views, and click Include >>.
• To remove specific views from the report batch, select the items from the list of
views to publish, and click << Remove.
You can also include or remove views from a list by either double-clicking
the name of the view or selecting the view and pressing the space bar.
When you have finished defining the views for the batch, click OK to return to the
Open Plan Web Publisher dialog box.
In addition to creating new report batches, you can use the Open Plan Web
Publisher dialog box to update, delete, preview, and run existing batches.
To preview a report
1. Open the project containing the views you want to preview.
2. On the Tools menu, click Web Publisher.
3. From the Open Plan Web Publisher dialog box, select the report batch
containing the views you want to preview.
4. From the list of views, select the view to preview, and click Preview.
Open Plan responds by displaying the print preview window.
5. To return to the Open Plan Web Publisher dialog box, press Alt+Tab.
Current Device — The output device for the batch. If you specify an output device
other than the Acrobat PDFWriter, you cannot enter information for the
Destination Directory, Generate HTML File, and Web Site Address settings.
When producing a batch using an output device other than the Acrobat
PDFWriter, the definition for that device in Windows determines if user
intervention is required to produce each report in the batch.
Destination Directory — The location of the directory for storing the .pdf files
generated by the batch. Open Plan will also use this location for storing the HTML
file (if created) as well as the .gif files for the various icons included in an HTML
file. Clicking the ellipsis at the right edge of this field displays the Destination
Directory dialog box that you can use to quickly select the target directory.
Generate HTML File — Select this option if you want Open Plan to create an
HTML file (file extension .htm) containing an inventory and links to the .pdf files
created by the batch. If you choose to create this file, Open Plan stores it in the
destination directory.
Web Site Address — If you are generating an HTML file for the batch and want
the URL links to include the address of a specific Web site, you can specify the
address of the Web site with this setting. (If you do not specify the Web site
address with this setting, you can still manually update the URL addresses
contained in the HTML file produced by the batch.)
Opening Files
Each time you open a file in Open Plan using the Open File dialog box, you can
select the access mode for the operation.
When you select a file from the list, Open Plan indicates which modes are available
for that file by enabling/disabling the appropriate selections. For instance:
• If you select a program that another user has opened in Exclusive mode, the
Exclusive and Shared options are disabled (grayed out), and the Read Only
option is active.
• If you select a file that another user has opened in Shared mode, the Exclusive
mode is disabled, and the Shared and Read Only modes are active.
• If you select a file that another user has opened in Read Only mode, all three
modes are active.
In some cases, however, it may be impossible for Open Plan to fulfill your request.
This can happen if another user has opened the same file that you want between the
time it takes you to you display the File Open dialog box and make your selection.
Open Plan issues a warning when it cannot fulfill your request. For example,
assume you display the File Open dialog box and select a project to open in
Exclusive mode. Before you click OK, another user selects the same file to open in
Exclusive mode and hits OK. Since the other user beat you to the punch, the
project opens for him or her, and you receive a warning indicating that you cannot
open the file.
When you open a project (regardless of the access mode you select), the auxiliary
files associated with the project are opened in the default access mode established
on the Preferences tab of the Project Properties dialog box. If you open an
auxiliary file outside the context of a project, right-clicking the file and clicking
Default on the Open submenu opens the auxiliary file in the default access mode
established on the Properties dialog box for that file.
You cannot perform Save As on a file if there is another file open which
refers to it. For example, if you open project CLEAN and then try to
perform a Save As on the calendar file CLEANCAL, you are given the
following warning: "Cannot perform Save As on Calendar File
CLEANCAL because there are open objects referring to it." Since CLEAN
refers to CLEANCAL, you need to close the project before you can perform
Save As on CLEANCAL.
If the file has been opened by another user, the appropriate modes will be enabled
or disabled on this submenu. You can open the file in its default access mode by
clicking Default.
If you are using the Desktop version of Open Plan, the Shared mode is
automatically disabled.
You can use the Project Properties dialog box to set the default access mode for a
project and its auxiliary files when the project is opened in default mode. You can
also use an auxiliary files Properties dialog box to set its default access mode
when the file is opened outside the context of a project.
For a project, display the Preferences tab of the Project Properties dialog box:
You a can use the lists for the Project and Auxiliary Files fields to select the
Default Access Mode.
If you are using the Desktop version of Open Plan, Shared mode is not
available for selection from the Project or Auxiliary Files field list.
For a calendar, resource, and code file, display the General tab of the Properties
dialog box:
You can use the Default Access Mode list to select the new mode for the file.
If you are using the Desktop version of Open Plan, Shared mode is not
available for selection from the Default Access Mode field list.
Overview
Open Plan ships with standard system options defined. You can change these
default settings at any time by using the Options dialog box.
This chapter discusses the different tabs of the Options dialog box.
System Options
You can set system-wide options in Open Plan by clicking Options on the Tools
menu to display the Options dialog box. You can then navigate among the various
tabs to set the system options for Open Plan.
The following sections describe each tab of the Options dialog box.
General Tab
On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the General tab to display the
following dialog box:
Toolbar — You can control the display of the toolbar along the top of the screen.
Default Times — These fields control the standard work day that Open Plan uses
when you create a project using default settings. You can override this setting in the
New File Wizard.
For more information on using the New File Wizard, refer to Chapter 4,
“Creating a New File.”
Week Starts On — The selection you make from this list controls the day of the
week that Open Plan uses as the starting day of each work week.
Language — You can specify the language used by Open Plan for dialog boxes,
commands, and system messages.
Default Open Mode — The selection you make here controls the default access
mode Open Plan uses for a project when you create a project using default settings.
You can override this setting in the New File Wizard.
For more information on using the New File Wizard, refer to Chapter 4,
“Creating a New File.”
Open Last File on Startup — You can have Open Plan automatically start with
the last project or data file you opened in the previous session.
Symbols — Clicking this button displays the Manage Symbols dialog box.
For more information on using the Manage Symbols dialog box, refer to
Chapter 17, “Views and Reports.”
Edit Briefcase — Clicking this button displays the Edit Data Source dialog box
for the Briefcase data source. You can use this dialog box to make changes to your
Briefcase data source.
For more information on using the Edit Data Source dialog box, refer to
Chapter 24, “System Utilities.”
Edit Tab
On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Edit tab to display the
following dialog box:
Navigate All Views When Navigating in Dialog Box — Selecting this option
instructs Open Plan to navigate all open views when clicking the navigation buttons
in a dialog box. For example, assume that you have a barchart view and a
spreadsheet view open and you display the Activity Details dialog box for an
activity. Using the navigation buttons in the dialog box to display another activity
will automatically highlight the new activity in the two open views.
Project Tab
On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Project tab to display the
following dialog box:
Views Tab
On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Views tab to display the
following dialog box:
The top half of Views tab is a grid that lists the views that will automatically be
assigned when a new project is created. These views are selected using the Views
button
This tab also includes the following controls:
Default Startup View — This field contains a list of the currently defined standard
views that are displayed in the grid. You can select a view from this list to instruct
Open Plan to display that view by default whenever the project is opened.
Views — If you click this button, Open Plan displays the Select Standard Views
dialog box that you can use to specify which view(s) Open Plan should
automatically assign to a newly created project:
Codes Tab
On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Codes tab to display the
following dialog box:
The Codes tab of the Options dialog box allows you to specify project-level code
files that Open Plan should automatically assign to all projects.
Project-level code files might represent entities such as geographic region, client,
business objective, division or other project-level reporting values.
Once codes have been specified on this tab of the Options dialog box, you can use
the Codes tab on the Project Properties dialog box to assign values to the code
fields.
The Project Codes text box displays the following information about each
currently assigned code file:
• The code field to which the code file is assigned
• The prompt associated with the code file
• The code file name
The ellipsis button provides access to the Assign Code dialog box that you can use
to assign code files to code fields and to specify a prompt for each code file.
Color Tab
On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Color tab to display the
following dialog box:
You can use this dialog box to select a new color for the field.
Notice that the Define Custom Colors button is disabled. You can only add
to the custom colors by using the Set Custom Colors option.
Set Custom Colors — This button displays the same Color dialog box as above
but with the Add Custom Colors button is enabled:
You can add custom colors with this dialog box, which then become available for
selection when you click the ellipsis buttons next to the Theme Colors fields.
Reset Theme Colors — This button resets the colors of the fields to the Open Plan
default colors.
Advanced Tab
On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Advanced tab to display the
following dialog box:
This tab allows you to specify the predefined options that you want enabled. The
options that you enable are stored in the User Preferences table.
For example, selecting the BarchartToolTipsField from the Category list and
defining a single field as the Value allows you to define text to be displayed as a
Tool Tip for the barchart. This category requires that you enter a single field as the
Value. However, in addition to allowing you to enter a standard field, Open Plan
also allows you to specify a calculated field that contains exactly the information
that you want displayed.
A Defaults button displays the System Preferences Defaults dialog box that a
system administrator can use to define system-wide preferences from which a user
can select.
The entries that the system administrator makes in this dialog box are stored in the
System Preferences Default table.
In previous versions of Open Plan, the settings on this tab of the Options
dialog box were set by entries in the .ini file.
• _Allow_Edit_ReadOnly • CalCompFix
• _Copy_ACL_on_SaveAs • HistogramArrayLimit
• AllowActiveXInBrowserView • RiskPercentileArraySize
• AllowScriptInBrowserView • RiskPercentiles
• AllowZeroBaselineUsage • ShowSQLLog
• BarchartToolTipsField • SuppressCombineVerticals
• BarPrintMode
_Allow_Edit_ReadOnly
When you open read-only files within Open Plan, this option allows you to make
changes to these files and save them using a new name, preserving the original
read-only file.
This is a system option that affects all Open Plan users. Only users with
administrator rights can set this option. This option cannot be overridden by
individual Open Plan users.
_Copy_ACL_On_SaveAs
This option allows access control information to be copied when Save As is used to
save a file.
0 = Do not copy access control lists when performing a Save As.
1 = Copy access control lists when performing a Save As.
This is a system option that affects all Open Plan users. Only users with
administrator rights can set this option. This option cannot be overridden by
individual Open Plan users..
AllowActiveXInBrowserView
When you view a Web page locally from within Open Plan, this option allows the
local page to access OLE objects and ActiveX controls without issuing a warning.
0 = A warning is issued if the local page contains OLE objects and/or ActiveX
controls. You are also prompted as to whether or not you want to allow the
interaction for this Web page.
1 = OLE objects and ActiveX controls are allowed without issuing a warning.
If you link to a page outside the local zone, this setting no longer applies,
and your browser’s default security takes over.
AllowScriptInBrowserView
When you view a Web page locally from within Open Plan, this option allows the
local page to run scripts without issuing a warning.
0 = A warning is issued if the page contains scripts.
If you link to a page outside the local zone, this setting no longer applies,
and your browser’s default security takes over.
AllowZeroBaselineUsage
This option helps with Cobra integration by allowing Open Plan to save a zero to
the Baseline Usage table for a resource. To enable this option, select
AllowZeroBaselineUsage from System Preferences Defaults table and set the
default value to 1.
BarchartToolTipsField
This option allows you to define text to be displayed as a Tool Tip for the barchart.
It requires that you enter a single field as the Value. However, in addition to
allowing you to enter a standard field, Open Plan also allows you to specify a
calculated field that contains exactly the information that you want displayed.
The default value is Description.
BarPrintMode
This option is used to correct problems on certain devices when drawing barchart
views that contain bars that use hatch patterns.
0 = Use normal bar drawing method. This is the default setting.
1 = Use alternate bar drawing method.
CalCompFix
This option prevents Open Plan from printing segmented bars which are known to
cause problems with certain Calcomp plotter drivers due to a problem with the
driver support of the GDI Polygon function. This eventually results in a general
protection fault in Open Plan.
0 = Print segmented bars. This is the default setting.
1 = Do not print segmented bars.
HistogramArrayLimit
This option defines the maximum number of array elements in the histogram. Each
array element represents a time unit as defined by the date scale of the view.
Valid values are 1000 – 15000. The default value is 3000.
RiskPercentileArraySize
This option is used to specify the size of the array used to store percentile values
for key activities during risk analysis.
Valid values are 5 – 1000. The default value is 21.
RiskPercentiles
This option is used to specify the percentile values for the array defined by
RiskPercentileArraySize. The first value of the array must be zero. The values of
the array must be cumulative. The last value of the array must be 100.
The default values for the array are:
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
ShowSQLLog
This option allows you to view the SQL Log in the Open Plan Log Viewer. The log
is created when you start your Open Plan session and is automatically updated
whenever the database is accessed.
0 = The log is not displayed in the Open Plan Log Viewer. This is the default
setting.
1 = The log is displayed in the Open Plan Log Viewer on the SQL Log tab.
If you wish to view the SQL Log outside the context of Open Plan, you can
use any text editor (such as Windows Notepad) to open the sql.log file
located in the \User directory of your Open Plan installation.
SuppressCombineVerticals
By default, when performing automatic placements, Open Plan combines vertical
relationship lines when showing relationships using the Routed line style as in the
following example:
0 = Open Plan combines vertical relationship lines. This is the default setting.
1 = Open Plan suppresses the combining of vertical relationship lines.
Discontinuous Activity An activity in which the interval between the start and
finish dates is allowed to exceed its duration in order to
satisfy start-to-start and finish-to-finish relationships with
other activities.
Distribution See Probability Distribution.
Duration The number of working periods required to perform the
work represented by an activity. In risk analysis, this
corresponds to “most likely” duration.
Earliest Feasible Date The earliest date on which the activity could be scheduled to
start based on the scheduled dates of all its predecessors, but
in the absence of any resource constraints on the activity
itself. This date is calculated by resource scheduling.
Early Dates Calculated in the forward pass of time analysis, early dates
are the earliest dates on which an activity can start and
finish.
Early Finish The earliest date on which an activity can finish. This date
is calculated by time analysis.
Early Start The earliest date on which an activity can start. This date
is calculated by time analysis.
Earned Value Cost Control An approach to project cost control that quantifies the
overall progress of the project in monetary terms. Earned
value is calculated by multiplying the physical percent
complete by the planned cost. Another term for earned
value is budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP).
End Activity An activity with no logical successors. Also known as a
finish activity.
Escalation A feature that allows you to specify different resource unit
costs and the date on which each new cost takes effect.
External Subproject A complete project represented as a single activity in a
higher-level project.
Extra Work Day An exception to the standard non-working day. For
example, assume that a calendar defines Monday through
Friday as days on which work is normally performed. In
this case, a specific Saturday might be identified as an
extra work day if work is to be performed on that day.
Finish Activity An activity that has no successor. Also known as an end
activity.
Finish Float The number of work periods between the early finish date
and the late finish date.
Finish Milestone A milestone activity signifying the end of a project phase.
Finish-to-Finish Relationship The relationship between activities that specifies that the
finish of the successor activity depends on the completion
of the predecessor activity.
In most cases, this means that the successor activity
cannot be completed before the predecessor activity is
completed.
Finish-to-Start Relationship The relationship between activities that specifies that the
start of the successor activity depends on the completion
of the predecessor activity.
In most cases, this means that the successor activity
cannot start until the predecessor activity is completed.
This is the default relationship.
Fixed Format Significant Coding A coding structure that relies on the length of the code to
Structure represent the hierarchical level.
Float The number of time periods by which an activity can be
delayed without affecting other activities in a project.
Foreign Activity A placeholder activity used to represent relationships with
projects that are not currently open.
Forward Pass A procedure within time analysis to determine the early
start and early finish dates of activities.
Free Float The maximum amount by which an activity can be
delayed beyond its early dates without delaying any
successor activity beyond its early dates. In the absence of
finish targets, free float is always less than or equal to total
float.
Hammock An activity that plays no part in time analysis, but which
provides the means to report on the start and finish of a
group of activities.
Hard Zeros In resource scheduling, there is a distinction made
between resource availabilities specified as zero but which
can be exceeded under certain circumstances, and hard
zeros, which can never be exceeded.
Hierarchical Coding Structure A coding system that can be represented as a multi-level
tree structure in which every code except those at the top
of the tree has a parent code.
Hierarchical Project A project that allows you to break down project
information into multiple levels using the activity ID.
With hierarchical projects, you enter project data at the
lowest level of the project hierarchy, then summarize it to
appropriate levels for reporting purposes.
Hierarchical Resource Structure Resource definitions organized in a hierarchical structure
in which every resource except those at the top of the tree
has a parent.
Late Start The latest date on which an activity must start if the
project completion date and finish targets are to be met.
This date is calculated by time analysis.
Loop In networks, a consecutive set of activities that are
mutually dependent.
Mean The most common and useful measure of central tendency
for a probability distribution. The mean value is the same
as the “average” or “expected” value.
Median A measure of the central tendency of a probability
distribution such that there is a 50% chance of a value
sampled from the distribution is less than the median.
Milestone An activity with zero duration — must be designated as
either a start milestone or a finish milestone.
Military Time A means of representing time by use of a 24-hour clock.
Mode A measure of central tendency for a probability
distribution, being the most likely single value for a
variable sampled from that distribution. For a theoretical
distribution, the mode is represented by the peak of the
curve. The mode is the same as the “most likely” value.
Monte Carlo Simulation The technique used in Open Plan to estimate the likely
range of outcomes from a complex random process by
simulating the process a large number of times.
Most Likely Value See Mode.
Multiple Ends Processing Option The multiple ends processing option causes time analysis
to treat each end activity as if it was the end of an
independent project, so that the float would normally be
zero.
Negative Float The amount of time by which the early date of an activity
exceeds its late date.
Network View A project drawing in which the project logic is the sole
determinant of the placements of the activities in the
drawing. Frequently called a flowchart, PERT chart, logic
drawing, or logic diagram.
Non-Working Day The standard non-working day on the calendar. For
example, assume that a calendar defines Monday through
Friday as days on which work is normally performed. In
this case, a Saturday that has not been identified as an
extra work day would be a non-working day.
Start-to-Finish Relationship The relationship between activities that specifies that the
finish of the successor activity depends on the start of the
predecessor activity.
In most cases, this means that the successor activity
cannot be completed before the start of the predecessor
activity.
Start-to-Start Relationship The relationship between activities that specifies that the
start of the successor activity depends on the start of the
predecessor activity.
In most cases, this means that the successor activity
cannot be started before the start of the predecessor
activity.
Stochastic Random variation that cannot be predicted other than in
statistical terms.
Stretching In resource scheduling, it is possible to indicate that the
specified duration may be increased, while the specified
profile is reduced proportionately.
Subsection A block of data in a spreadsheet that typically begins with
a subheading, and ends with a subtotal.
Successor An activity that logically follows another activity.
Normally, this term refers to an immediate successor, that
is, one directly implied by the project data.
Symmetrical Distribution A probability distribution in which variations from the
central tendency by a given amount in either direction is
equally likely.
Target Date A date imposed on an activity or project by the user. There
are two types of target dates: target start dates and target
finish dates.
Target Finish A finish date imposed on an activity or project by the user.
Target Start A start date imposed on an activity or project by the user.
Target Type Open Plan allows you to specify four types of target dates
for activity start and finish dates:
• Not Earlier Than — The earliest date on which the
activity can start or finish. This constraint affects the
early dates calculated by time analysis.
• Not Later Than — The latest date on which the
activity can start or finish. This constraint affects the
late dates calculated by time analysis.
• On Target — Combines the effects of both Not Earlier
Than and Not Later Than target dates, and affects both
the early and late dates calculated by time analysis.
• Fixed Target — Requires that the activity take place
on the given date even if the logic of the project says
that it cannot happen.
Threshold The level to which Open Plan may exceed the availability
of a resource during resource-limited resource scheduling.
Time Analysis The process of calculating the early and late dates for each
activity on a project, based on the Time Now date, the
duration of the activities, and the logical relationships
between them.
Time Now The status date of a project. All progress information
entered for a project should be correct as of this status
date. No work will be scheduled by the time analysis or
resource scheduling functions prior to this date.
Total Float The maximum number of work periods by which an
activity can be delayed without delaying project
completion or violating a target finish date.
Triangular Distribution A family of probability distributions that is triangular in
shape when represented as a frequency distribution.
Uncertainty The lack of precision in estimating or predicting the
outcome of some process.
Uniform Distribution A family of probability distributions characterized by two
parameters, representing the minimum and maximum
possible values. Any allowable outcome between the two
extreme values is equally likely. For example, the
distribution of the outcome from the throwing of a single
die is uniform in the range 1 to 6.
Variance A discrepancy between the actual and planned
performance on a project, either in terms of schedule or
cost.
Whole Relationship A relationship in which both the predecessor and the
successor activities are visible in the displayed view.
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) The breakdown of a project from the client's point of view
in terms of deliverables.
Working Day The standard working day on the calendar. For example,
assume that a calendar defines Monday through Friday as
days on which work is normally performed. In this case, a
Monday that has not been identified as a holiday would be
a working day.
Zoning A feature of Open Plan that causes activities on a network
view to be grouped into horizontal bands based on one or
more criteria that you specify.
Copy command (Edit menu), 31, 250 displaying earned value, 422
Copy User Defined Field dialog box, 485 earned value cost control, 208, 552
Copying escalations, 155
activities between subprojects, 250 estimate at complete, 138, 221, 422
activities in spreadsheet views, 33 estimate to complete, 221
baselines, 306 forecasting, 422
calculated fields, 473 physical percent complete, 556
calendar files, 195 planned baseline progress, 221
calendars, 205 planning, 211
code files, 228 progress information, 315
effect of filters, 454 reporting, 221
filter expressions, 460 resource cost based on progress, 152
global edits, 480 schedule performance index, 221
reporting calendars, 350 schedule variances, 210, 221
resource files, 146 target total, 104
sort expressions, 466 variance at complete, 221
text, 31 CPF. See Cost performance factor
title blocks, 345 CPI. See Cost performance index
user defined fields, 486 Creating
Cost Calculations application shortcuts, 54
Use Version 2 Cost Calculation Method, auxiliary files, 47, 62
104 baselines, 302
Cost Calculations button, 19 calendar files, 195
Cost Calculations command (Tools menu), code files, 227
218
custom folders, 37
Cost performance index, 221
Email Advisor address list, 496
Cost variances, 221, 551
email advisory definitions, 493
Costs
hammocks, 257
activity-level, 316
new templates, 330
actual cost of work performed, 138, 209,
projects, 47, 62, 539
221, 422
report batches, 527
budget, 550
reporting calendars, 349
budget at completion, 137, 221
resource files, 145
budgeted cost of work performed, 138, 209,
221, 422 temporary filters, 460
budgeted cost of work scheduled, 137, 209, temporary sorts, 466
422 title blocks, 345
calculating actual costs, 216, 218 user defined fields, 485
calculating budget costs, 213 using the New File dialog box, 47, 62
cost performance index, 221 using the New File Wizard, 47, 65
cost variances, 210, 221 Critical activities, 137, 262, 551
displaying budget costs, 219 Critical path, 551
Default access mode, 66, 76, 90, 96, 100, 110, calendar files, 196
533 calendars, 205
Default calendars, 197 code files, 229
Default duration unit, 99, 175 codes, 55, 234
Default projects, 539 email advisory definitions, 493
Define Work Hours command (Edit menu), files, 55, 498
202
filter expressions, 460
Define Work Hours dialog box, 202
from My Folder, 37, 55
Define Work Week command (Edit menu),
from Open Plan Library, 38, 55
200
from Projects, 37, 55
Define Work Week dialog box, 200
from Startup, 40
Defining
global edits, 480
access rights to calendar files, 519
notes, 352
access rights to code files, 519
relationships in network views, 132
access rights to projects, 519
report batches, 529
access rights to resource files, 519
reporting calendars, 350
access rights to view templates, 519
resource files, 146
bars in histogram views, 426, 431
skills, 164
calculated fields, 471
sort expressions, 466
cost resources, 212
spreadsheet columns, 395
custom zoning in network views, 383
symbols, 335
date scales, 362, 363, 365
user defined fields, 486
filters, 456
views, 330, 331
global edits, 477
Dialog boxes
links in spreadsheet views, 409
check boxes, 25
outlining in spreadsheet views, 407
command buttons, 25
skills, 164
default commands, 26
sorts, 465
described, 25
subsections in spreadsheet views, 403
getting help, 11
temporary calculated fields, 473
list boxes, 25
temporary filters, 461
modeless, 26
temporary sorts, 468
navigation, 25
time scaling in network views, 384
navigation buttons, 26
Delaying resource, 551
radio buttons, 25
Delete Code command (Edit menu), 234
tabbed, 26
Delete File command (File→Manage Files
submenu), 499 text boxes, 25
Delete Relationship command, 132 Dictionaries dialog box, 525
Delete Resource command (Edit menu), 146, Discontinuous activities, 118, 552
160 Distribution shapes
Deleting asymmetrical, 549
calculated fields, 473 beta, 293
resource-limited, 271, 272, 278, 287, 558 calculating budget costs, 213
roll-up, 151 calendars, 194
scheduling interval, 285 categories, 150, 180, 424
session logs, 279 consider in cost calculations, 152
smoothing processing option, 282 consumable, 149, 551
summary resource usage file, 105 cost escalations, 155, 552
Time Now, 102, 272 custom box text, 167
time-limited, 270, 272, 278, 287 defined, 557
Resource Scheduling button, 19, 280 defining assignment profile curves, 191
Resource Scheduling command (Tools menu), delaying, 551
278 described, 144
Resource Scheduling dialog box displaying in histogram views, 419
Advanced tab, 281 displaying resource information, 165
Options tab, 278 effort factor, 150
Resource Selection dialog box, 424 expanding all pools, 161
Resource views, 328 expanding pools, 161
Resource/activity spreadsheet views, 184 hard zeros processing option, 155, 282, 553
Resource-limited resource scheduling, 271, hierarchies, 144, 553
272, 278, 287, 558
ID, 148
Resources
interpreting zero availabilities, 155
actual cost based on progress, 152
labor, 180, 554
actual quantity, 317
level assignments, 174
adding, 159
leveling, 271
all resource categories, 180
locking, 186, 189, 190
allocation, 185, 557
material, 180
alternate, 175, 186, 549
moving in hierarchy, 160
assigning resources in spreadsheet views,
normal, 149
182
notes, 351
assignment levels, 175, 558
other direct costs, 180
assignment offsets, 175, 558
perishable, 149, 556
assignment periods, 175, 558
pools, 144, 149, 186, 558
assignment profile curves, 174, 549
progressing, 315
assignment totals, 558
project, 150
assignments, 172, 558
Properties dialog box, 198
automatic progressing, 152, 323, 325
remaining quantity, 318
availabilities, 153, 558
requested, 186, 557
availability dates, 154
reserving a portion of a resource, 158
availability of consumable resources, 154
reserving a resource completely, 158
availability of perishable resources, 154
reserving for projects, 158, 271
breakdown structures, 144, 558
roll up for scheduling, 151
budgeted, 315
selecting, 31, 179, 286
calculating actual costs, 216, 218
project start dates, 102 multiple ends processing option, 265, 555
setting in barchart views, 126 operations, 263
types, 102, 119 options, 263
Target finish dates, 102, 264, 560 out-of-sequence options, 265
Target start dates, 560 session log, 263
Target types, 102, 119, 264, 560 target date types, 264
Tasks. See Activities target finish dates, 264
Temporary calculated fields, 473 Time Now, 102, 261, 264
Temporary fields, 473 total float, 261, 561
Temporary filters Time Analysis button, 19, 266
defining, 461 Time Analysis Button, 263
described, 460 Time Analysis command (Tools menu), 266
displaying in barchart views, 460 Time Analysis dialog box, 263
displaying in network views, 460 Time Now, 102, 264, 272, 310, 343, 367, 561
displaying in spreadsheet views, 460 Time-limited resource scheduling, 270, 272,
in email advisories, 496 278, 287
in export scripts, 463 Time-scaling, 384
in OLE automation, 463 Tip of the Day, 536
on secondary tables, 462 Title Block Definition dialog box, 345
Temporary Sort Expression dialog box, 467 Title blocks
Temporary sorts copying, 345
defining, 468 creating, 345
described, 466 editing, 345
on secondary tables, 468 in email advisories, 494
Text boxes, 25 Title Blocks command (Tools menu), 347
Thresholds, 149, 561 Title Blocks dialog box, 344
Tile command (Window menu), 24 Toolbar, 18
Time analysis Total float, 261, 561
actual date option, 264 Triangular distribution shape, 294
automatic time analysis, 267 Turnaround reports, 311
backward pass, 261, 550 U
calculation of dates, 260 Uniform distribution shape, 294
defined, 561 Uniform Resource Locator, 526
described, 260 Update Baseline dialog box, 306
early dates, 552 Update Relationship cursor, 132
effect of progress information, 314 URL. See Uniform Resource Locator
float calculations, 261 User defined fields
forward pass, 261, 553 copying, 486
free float, 261, 553 creating, 485
loops, 555 creating for baselines, 485
minimum calculated duration, 99 data types, 484