Viewing and Managing Projects

 Server  Perhaps the most useful Web Access page for project managers is the Project Center. This is where you can view and analyze all the projects you manage, and create to-do lists for non-project tasks. You display the Project Center page by clicking the Projects tab in the Navigation bar.

As you can see in Figure 22.14, the Project Center consists of a table listing all your projects (what is called your project portfolio), along with a Gantt chart representation of each project’s progress. From the Project Center page you can opt to view all the tasks in a project, edit the custom fields in a project, open a project in Microsoft Project Professional for more detailed editing, analyze projects with the Portfolio Analyzer utility, model projects with the Portfolio Modeler utility, or manage your personal or shared to-do lists.

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Figure 22.14: Use the Project Center to examine and manage your projects.

Note 

Don’t confuse Project 2002’s Project Center with Project 2000’s Project Central—they may sound alike, but they’re two completely different functions!

Viewing Projects

The default view in Project Center is the portfolio table. The left side of the table contains the project fields, listing the Project Name, Duration, Start, Finish, % Complete, Work, and Owner fields. The right side of the table displays a single-bar Gantt chart for each listed project.

By default, the portfolio table includes both the projects you’re associated with and your to-do lists. You can configure the table to display projects only by clicking the View Options tab and then unchecking the Show To-Do Lists option.

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Filtering Your Projects

If you have a lot of projects listed, you may want to filter those projects for a more manageable view. You perform filtering operations using the Filter, Group, Search tab, located above the portfolio table.

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Filtering in the Project Center works similar to filtering in the View My Tasks page, discussed previously in this chapter. The Filter list enables you to show All Projects, or to apply a Custom Filter. You define the custom filter by clicking the Custom Filter button, which displays the More Filters dialog box. Here you can elect to display projects where a specific field matches your filtering criteria. Select a Field Name, apply a Test, and compare it to a Value—up to three different criteria. Click OK to create and apply the filter.

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You can also use Project’s Autofilter feature to filter on specific columns in the portfolio table. Click the Autofilter option to display the Autofilter buttons at the top of each column in the table; click the down arrow to select and apply a filter.

Grouping Your Projects

You can also opt to group your projects to make them more manageable. Again, grouping is accomplished on the Filter, Group, Search tab.

You can group by three different criteria. Pull down the Group By list to select the first criteria; use the two Then By lists to apply additional grouping criteria. Figure 22.15 shows a portfolio grouped by duration.

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Figure 22.15: Grouping your projects by duration

Searching for Projects

If you have a very large list of projects, it may be easier just to search for specific project(s). Open the Filter, Search, Group tab and then enter one or more keywords into the Search For box. Pull down the In list to determine where you want to search—in All Fields, in the Project Name, in the Duration column, and so on. Click the Find Next to locate the first project that matches your search criteria; click Find Next again to move to the next matching project.

Changing Views

By default, the portfolio table displays the Summary view, which displays duration, start, and finish information, along with a summary Gantt chart. You can pull down the Choose a View list to display other views, which include:

Tracking View

The Tracking view, shown in Figure 22.16, displays start, finish, actual start, and actual finish data, along with a tracking Gantt chart for each project.

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Figure 22.16: Tracking view

Cost View

The Cost view, shown in Figure 22.17, displays fixed cost, cost, baseline cost, and cost variance data, along with a traditional Gantt chart for each project.

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Figure 22.17: Cost view

Earned Value View

The Earned Value view, shown in Figure 22.18, displays earned value data (BCWS, BCWP, ACWP, SV, CV, cost, baseline cost, and VAC), along with a traditional Gantt chart for each project.

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Figure 22.18: Earned Value view

Work View

The Work view, shown in Figure 22.19, displays work, baseline work, work variance, and actual work data, along with a traditional Gantt chart for each project.

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Figure 22.19: Work view

Viewing Individual Projects

If you want to dig down into the detail on a specific project, you don’t have to switch from the Project Center page. All you have to do is click a specific Project Name link, and all the tasks for the project (in Gantt Chart view) will be displayed on the Project Center page, as shown in Figure 22.20.

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Figure 22.20: View all the tasks for a specific proj- ect on the Project Center page.

Switching to Project Professional

 Pro  Project Center is great for viewing your projects, but it isn’t great for editing your projects. When you open an individual project, as just discussed, all you can do is look; you can’t make any changes. For that, you need to revert to the full-featured Project Professional program.

To open the current project for editing within Project Professional, all you have to do is select the project in the portfolio table, and click the Open in Microsoft Project link (just above the table).

Project Professional will now be launched, with the selected project open for editing.

Editing Custom Fields

While you should return to Project Professional to do major editing on your projects, there is one bit of editing you can do from Project Center. You can edit the values for the custom fields you’ve created for any particular project. When you click the Edit Project Details link above the portfolio table, you’re taken to the Project Details page for the selected project.

As you can see in Figure 22.21, this page lists all the custom fields for the current project. You can select a value for each field in the Value column; then click Save and Close to return to Project Center.

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Figure 22.21: Enter values for a project’s custom fields.

Warning 

You can’t add or delete custom fields from within Web Access. For that, you have to open the project in Project Professional.

Working with To-Do Lists

In Web Access, a to-do list is a list of tasks you want to track that are not directly associated with a project. To-do lists aren’t even recognized by the Microsoft Project software; they’re tracked and managed entirely by Project Server and Web Access.

To-do lists look like normal Microsoft Project projects, but they’re unlike projects in that they don’t have a lot of the normal features you associate with a project—there are no dependencies, outlining, calendars, and the like. What you do have are start dates and due dates, and the ability to assign resources to the to-do list tasks. The time that resources spend on to-do list tasks, however, isn’t tracked by Microsoft Project, and therefore isn’t accounted for in normal projects or other to-do lists.

Best suited for small, informally structured projects, to-do lists help you manage informal team projects or track personal tasks or goals. You can create personal to-do lists (for yourself), or assign to-do list tasks to other resources. And, if a to-do list is especially important, you can upgrade it to formal project status.

To-do lists are listed (by default) along with your projects in the Project Center. You use links on the Project Center’s Activities pane to create and manage your to-do lists.

Creating a Personal or Shared To-Do List

When you create a to-do list, you can indicate whether it’s a personal list (to be seen only by you), or a shared list. You can share to-do lists with anyone connected to Project Server, or just with team members.

To create a new to-do list, follow these steps:

  1. From Project Center, click Create a New Personal or Shared To-Do List in the Activities panel.

  2. When the next page appears, enter a name for this list in the To-Do List Name field; then select who should be allowed to view the list: Anyone, All Resources Who Are Assigned Tasks from This To-Do List, or Me (only). Select this last option if you’re creating a personal to-do list; select the second option if you’re sharing a list with pertinent team members. Click Next to proceed.

  3. You’re now taken to the Create a New Task page, shown in Figure 22.22. This is where you add tasks to your to-do list. Enter the following information into the designated fields: Task Name, Assigned To, Priority, Start (date), Finish (date), % Work Complete, and Notes. You can include up to 10 separate tasks in your to-do list.

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    Figure 22.22: Add tasks to your new to-do list.

  4. Click Save New Tasks when finished.

    Project Server now creates your to-do list, and lists it on the Manage My To-Do Lists page, discussed next.

Managing Your To-Do Lists

When you click Manage My To-Do Lists in the Project Center Activities pane, you’re taken to the Manage My To-Do lists page, shown in Figure 22.23. Here you can view all your current to-do lists, as well as update the tasks within each list. The table is grouped by to-do list, with all the tasks for each to-do list listed under the task name. The table on the left details the information you entered on the Create a New Task page, and the Gantt chart on the right visually displays each task’s progress.

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Figure 22.23: Managing your to-do lists

To update any field within a specific task, click within that cell and then either enter new information, or make a selection from the pull-down list. Your changes are automatically entered—no other buttons to push.

To add a new task to an existing to-do list, select the list in the table and then click New Tasks. This takes you to the Create a New Task page, which you used to create your to-do list (Figure 22.22). Enter the information for each new task and then click the Save New Tasks button. The newly added tasks will be displayed on the Manage My To-Do Lists page.

To delete an existing task, simply select the task and then click the Delete link above the table.

Renaming, Transferring, and Promoting To-Do Lists

After you’ve created a to-do list, you can make various changes to the list. In particular, you can rename the list, transfer ownership of the list to another team member, turn the list into a full-fledged Microsoft Project project (called promoting the list), delete the list, or modify who can view the list. All of these changes are made on the To-Do List Options page, which you access when you click To-Do List Options from the Project Center’s Activities pane.

Figure 22.24 shows the To-Do List Options page. Pull down the first list to select which to-do list to configure; then follow the instructions in Table 22.2, which shows the options available to you, and how to implement those options. Remember to click the Save button after making any changes on this page.

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Figure 22.24: Configuring options for a specific to-do list

Table 22.2: Configuring To-Do List Options

Option

Do This

Rename the to-do list

Enter a new name in the New To-Do List Name field.

Transfer ownership of the list toanother user

Pull down the Transfer Ownership of This To-Do List list and then select a team member.

Upgrade the list to full project status.

Click the Promote to Project link and then follow the instructions on the Promote a To-Do List into a Project page.

Delete the to-do list

Click the Delete link.

Change viewing permissions

Select a new option in the Change Viewing Permissions for This To-Do Listsection.

Working with Portfolio Models

Within Microsoft Project, a portfolio is a group of projects that share some common factor— a common manager, a common scope, a common budget, common resources, and so on. The typical example of a project portfolio is the one that contains all the projects you’re currently managing.

Project Server makes it possible to “model” your portfolios—to compare different scenarios based on different combinations of and changes to your individual projects. You can interactively model changes to projects or resource staffing, and view the impact of the changes on a project portfolio. You can then save and compare the different models, and use this analysis to guide your project management decisions.

This modeling functionality is part of Project Server’s new Portfolio Modeler utility. You access the Portfolio Modeler by clicking the Model Projects with Portfolio Modeler link on the Project Center’s Activities pane.

Creating a New Portfolio Model

The main Portfolio Modeler page, shown in Figure 22.25, lists all portfolio models you’ve created up to this point in time. Each model consists of a group of projects and resources.

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Figure 22.25: All existing port- folio models are displayed on the main Portfolio Modeler page.

To create a new model, follow these steps:

  1. Click New from the main Portfolio Modeler page.

  2. The next page, shown in Figure 22.26, is where you specify the projects and resources for your new model. Enter a Name and Description for the model and then Add individual projects to the model. Choose what resources to include in the model (the default is to include those resources in the selected projects); then click Next.

  3. The next page asks which (if any) related projects you want to include in the model. Click Next to proceed.

  4. The next page is where you specify scheduling options for the model. Click the down arrow above a column to select options for that column; if you don’t select an option, all items will be included in the model. If you select the Custom option for a particular column, the Custom AutoFilter dialog box appears, which enables you to create a custom filter for that column of data. Click Next to create the model.

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    Figure 22.26: Add projects and resources to your portfolio model.

You’re now returned to the main Portfolio Modeler page, where you can choose to view or analyze the new model.

Viewing a Portfolio Model

To view a particular model, select the model on the main Portfolio Modeler page and then click Open. The model page is now displayed, as shown in Figure 22.27. At the top of this page is the name and description of the model. In the middle is a Project Scheduling grid, with the portfolio’s projects (and scheduling information) listed on the left, and a summary Gantt chart for each project shown on the right.

At the bottom of the page is a Resource Assignments chart for resources in the selected project. Select a resource name in the rightmost list to display that resource’s assignments in the chart. You can change the timescale displayed by making a new selection from the Timescale list; you can also opt to show only overallocated resources, by selecting the Overallocated Resources Only option. When you make a change in resources, click the Refresh button to display the new data.

Analyzing a Portfolio Model

The Portfolio Modeler enables you to further analyze the model you’ve just created. When you open the model and click Analyze, you see the page shown in Figure 22.28. At the top of the page is the model name and description (same as in the normal model view), following by a Summary Statistics section. This section shows the Start Date, Finish Date, Resource Utilization, Total Work, and Resource Overhead for both the shortest and the currently modeled schedule.

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Figure 22.27: Viewing a portfolio model

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Figure 22.28: Analyzing a project model

Below the Summary Statistics is the Demand/Capacity/Utilization Chart. This chart displays the resource utilization data for your model; you can opt to display only selected skill profiles, or to change the chart’s timescale.

Finally, at the bottom of the page, is a section of Model Scheduling Options. This is where the Project Modeler utility provides recommendations for staffing the projects within the model.

Modifying Portfolio Models

The key to portfolio modeling is the ability to interactively change a model’s settings and view the results. There are two ways to modify a portfolio model—the short way, and the long way. The long way requires you to click the Modify command and walk back through the multiple model setup pages. The short way uses the Toolbox command.

To use the Toolbox to modify aspects of your model, start by opening the model and then follow these steps:

  1. From the Project Scheduling grid, select a project within your model.

  2. Click Toolbox to open the Portfolio Model Property Toolbox for the selected project.

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  3. Select which properties of the selected project you want to change: priority, start date, resource usage, or scheduling options.

  4. Click Apply.

    Your model is now updated to reflect your changes.

Comparing Different Models

As you work with and modify models, you are likely to want to compare the results of one model against another. For example, you may want to compare the results of a model allowing overtime against a model that does not allow overtime. When you want to compare two or more models, you use the Project Modeler’s Compare Models feature.

From the Portfolio Modeler page, select Compare. When the next page appears, select which models you want to compare and then click OK. The resulting model analysis page, shown in Figure 22.29, adds an additional column (Model Name) to the table, groups the projects by project, and includes all the projects from the specified models. By default, the Portfolio Modeler includes the selected model and a Resource Substitution recommended model.

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Figure 22.29: Compare different portfolio models.

Creating Portfolio Analyses for Managers

The Portfolio Modelers is a great “what if” tool for hands-on project managers, but it’s much too complex to be of practical use for senior managers and stakeholders. These managers want a higher-level view of your project portfolio, complete with informative tables and charts.

Project Server’s new Portfolio Analyzer is the perfect tool for managers not involved with
day-to-day project detail. When properly configured, it allows managers to use PivotTables and PivotCharts to look at the performance of one or more projects in the portfolio.

Configuring the Portfolio Analyzer

The hardest part of using the Portfolio Analyzer is getting it set up and configured properly. This is probably the most difficult component of Project Server to get up and running, and requires the most up-front configuration. After everything is set up and configured, however, it’s relatively easy for endusers to use.

The setup and configuration of Portfolio Analyzer is a difficult multi-step procedure, one best undertaken by a combination of network administrators and qualified project administrators and managers. The entire installation process is much too detailed for this book; here, we walk you through the general steps.

Step 1: Install and Configure the Necessary Software and Services

Portfolio Analyzer is the most computer resource-heavy of all Project Server applications. For Portfolio Analyzer to run, you must have the following software and services properly installed and configured on your Project Server system:

  • COM+

  • Microsoft Office XP

  • Microsoft Office Web Controls

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2000

  • Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services

  • Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services Decision Support Objects (DSO)

Step 2: Create an OLAP Cube

After all the necessary software and services have been installed and configured, your Project administrator needs to create what is called an OLAP cube database. OLAP stands for online analytical processing, and an OLAP cube is a way of looking at data from three different dimensions. (The three dimensions define the cube.) To create a new OLAP cube, your Project administrator must do the following:

  1. Log on to Web Access under an administrator account.

  2. Open the Administration Overview page, and click Manage Enterprise Features.

  3. Select Update Resources and OLAP Cube from the Activities pane.

  4. When the next page appears, select to Build the OLAP Cube, give the cube a name and description, and enter date ranges for the cube data; then select Update Only When Specified, and click the Update Now button.

Project Server now starts to create the necessary OLAP cube. (The creation process can sometimes be lengthy.)

Note 

If you plan to update the OLAP cube on a regular basis, select the Update Every option and then enter a frequency.

Step 3: Create a Portfolio Analyzer View

After the OLAP cube has been created, the Project administrator has to manually create a Portfolio Analyzer view. Only after a Portfolio Analyzer view has been created can Project users access the Portfolio Analyzer.

Warning 

If users attempt to use Portfolio Analyzer before a view has been created, they’ll receive an error message with instructions to have the Project administrator create a new view.

Here are the steps to create a Portfolio Analyzer:

  1. Log on to Web Access under an administrator account.

  2. Open the Administration Overview page, and click Manage Views.

  3. When the Specify Views page appears, click Add View.

  4. When the next page appears, select the Portfolio Analyzer option and then enter the following:

    • Name and Description of the new view

    • Whether you want to display the PivotTable with Chart, PivotTable only, or Chart only

    • How you want the PivotTable and Chart to appear; scroll past the previews and whether you want to show the Field list and Toolbar

    • Which categories this view belongs to

  5. Click OK to create the view.

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Viewing Projects with the Portfolio Analyzer

Managers and stakeholders access the Portfolio Analyzer by navigating to the Project Center and clicking Analyze Project in Portfolio Analyzer from the Activities pane. This opens the Portfolio Analyzer page, along with a separate window containing the Field List.

There are two related parts of the Portfolio Analyzer page. The top of the page, shown in Figure 22.30, contains a PivotChart, which is a graph that can be manipulated like a classic PivotTable. The bottom part of the page, shown in Figure 22.31, contains the same data as in the PivotChart, but in a PivotTable format.

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Figure 22.30: Analyze portfolio data in a PivotChart...

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Figure 22.31: ...or view the same data in a PivotTable.

Tip 

Display toolbars for both the PivotTable and PivotChart by selecting the View Options tab and then selecting the Show Toolbar option.

Both the PivotChart and the PivotTable can be modified in real time for more customized analysis. Some of the most useful configuration options include:

  • Switch between different Portfolio Analyzer views (as created by the Project administrator) by using the Choose a View list.

  • Insert additional data fields into the PivotChart and PivotTable by selecting fields from the Field List window. (Hide or display the PivotTable Field List window by clicking the Field List button on either the PivotChart or PivotTable toolbar.)

  • Display a legend for the PivotChart by clicking the Show/Hide Legend button in the PivotChart toolbar.

  • Change the PivotChart type by clicking either the Chart Type or Chart Wizard buttons (on the PivotChart toolbar) to open the Commands and Options dialog box. Select the Type tab and then choose a new chart type and style.

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  • Change the way data is analyzed by dragging data headers and then dropping them into the PivotChart or PivotTable’s row and column areas.

  • Filter the data displayed by clicking the down arrow in a data header and then selecting a filtering option.

  • Resort the data in the PivotTable by clicking the Sort Descending and Sort Ascending buttons on the PivotTable toolbar.

  • Save the current PivotTable or PivotChart view to a GIF file, for use in other applications (or on a web page), by clicking either Save PivotTable as GIF or Save Chart as GIF.

  • Export the PivotTable data to an Excel spreadsheet for further analysis by clicking the Export to Microsoft Excel data on the PivotTable toolbar.

  • Access other formatting options by clicking the Commands and Options button (in either toolbar) to open the Commands and Options dialog box.

    Tip 

    The Portfolio Analyzer is a powerful analytical tool for interested managers. To learn more about creating and configuring different types of PivotCharts, click the Help button on the PivotChart toolbar to launch the Microsoft Office Chart Component Help, or click the Help button on the PivotTable toolbar to launch the Microsoft Office PivotTable Component Help.



Mastering Microsoft Project 2002
Mastering Microsoft Project 2002
ISBN: 0782141471
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 241

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