Using the Project Center Views

To use the Project Center, you must first log in to a Project Server using Project Web Access. When you are logged in to the Project Server, you find the Project Center by selecting the Projects main menu tab.

The Project Center provides access to project information, as defined by your administrator. For the purposes of this discussion, it is assumed that the Project Web Access administrator has granted you permissions to view project data for the entire organization.

You can access the Project Center from either Microsoft Project Web Access (by selecting Projects from the main menu) or from within Microsoft Project Professional (by selecting the menu sequence Collaborate, Project Center).

Six primary functions are associated with the Project Center:

• View projects in Project Center The project views provide a high-level summary perspective of each project stored in the Project Server, so you can see and compare project progress, cost, variance, or other user -defined information at a glance. From the project views you can select and open individual projects to examine details, change the way projects are filtered and grouped, and change the type of data displayed in the view.

• Analyzing projects in the Portfolio Analyzer The Portfolio Analyzer enables you to display and manipulate project and resource information from data stored in an OLAP cube. The OLAP cube contains a snapshot of all information associated with published projects (that is, projects of the version called Published), and is created and updated on a regular basis or an ad hoc basis by the administrator. The Portfolio Analyzer is useful for looking at and analyzing an organization's project and resource plan-of-record data.

• Model projects with Portfolio Modeler The Portfolio Modeler allows you to simulate proposed changes to projects or resource assignments and view the impact of the changes, without affecting the actual project schedules. The Portfolio Modeler is useful for performing what-if analysis on projects and project teams .

• Managing personal to-do lists You can manage personal to-do lists in the Project Center. To-do lists are useful for tracking personal tasks that don't require formal scheduling.

• Check in my projects If you are given permission by the Project Web Access administrator, you can now release database locks on projects that are left open due to network or other technology problems.

• Managing administrative projects Special projects can be created to track and manage activities not usually associated with projects that deliver goods or services. These administrative projects have special properties involving scheduling, resource usage, and actual work report through timesheets.

These topics are described in more detail in the following sections.

Viewing Project Summary Information

You can use the project summary views when you want to get an overview of all projects stored in the Project Server, as shown in Figure 26.1.

Figure 26.1. Select the Choose a View drop-down list to change summary views.

Using the Project Center's View Tab Options

You use the Project Center's View Options tab to refine the contents of the display. You can click on the View Options tab to see the list of View Options that are available, or you can click on the + and - icons on the left side of the tab to expand or collapse the View Options display.

There are three Project Center view options:

• Show Time with Dates If the Show Time with Dates option is checked, time stamps are added to displayed dates.

• Show To-Do Lists If the Show To-Do Lists check box is checked, to-do list items are included in the display.

• Show Outline Levels This drop-down list allows you to quickly show project schedule work breakdown structure outline levels. This function is most appropriate when reviewing project details.

Using the Project Center's Filter, Group , Search Tab

Select the Filter, Group, Search tab to display or hide the Project Center's filtering, grouping, and searching options. The following sections describe how Filter, Group, and Search work for Project Center views. Resource Center views behave in the same manner.

Using Project Center Filters

You can use Project Center's Filter option to filter the project list. There are three options for filtering the project list:

• Filter The Filter drop-down list box contains two options: All Projects and Custom Filter. If the Custom Filter option is selected (or the Custom Filter button is selected), the More Filters pull-down appears at the top of each column of schedule data.

• Custom Filter The Custom Filter button provides the opportunity to use up to three criteria statements to filter the list of projects, as shown in Figure 26.2.

  Figure 26.2. You can use custom filters to limit which projects are displayed.

  

• Autofilter You check the Autofilter check box to have the standard Autofilter arrows appear at the top of each column in the Project Center view, and then click the Autofilter arrows to define and apply the Autofilters.

Using Project Center Groups

You use the Group By function to sort the Projects in the Project Center into groups. The Group By function provides three drop-down list boxes, each of which defines a data field to group on. The Group By execution order is from left to right for each Group By field that is defined, with the results of each operation nested within the previous group's results for the listed projects.

Grouping projects by an Enterprise Global Project outline code can provide useful information. Suppose, for example, that you want to see projects grouped by project version and location. If the Location enterprise outline code has been added to one of your project views, you can group the projects by version then location by performing the following steps:

1. In Project Web Access, navigate to Projects tab and select the view that has the Location code added (in this example, the Location Enterprise Global code has been added to the A.Datum Executive Summary view).

   NOTE

   To group by a field, that field must be visible in the current view. If you want to group (or filter) a view with fields that aren't currently defined for the view, you need to have the Project Web Access administrator modify the view or create a new view for you.

   For details on how to add Enterprise Global Project outline codes to views, see "Creating and Modifying a Project Center View," p. 987 .

   
   

2. Select Filter, Group, Search tab. Select Versions from the Group By pull-down list. Select Location from the Then By list. Your projects should be grouped as shown in Figure 26.3.

   Figure 26.3. You can group the project view information by Enterprise Project outline codes (for example, Version and Location).

   

TIP

Revert Click this button to restore the original Group and Filter conditions that were predefined for the active view by the Project Web Access administrator.

Using Project Center Searches

You use the Search For option to quickly locate projects by entering a text string to search for, and the fields in which you want to search for the text. After the search criteria are specified, you click Find Next to display each project that matches the search criteria.

As with the Group By function, the only fields available for searching are those that are defined as part of the current active view.

Editing Enterprise Project Information

If you examine Figure 26.3, you can see a button icon called Edit. If the Project Web Access administrator has given you permission, then you can click this button to see a screen that allows you to modify the Enterprise Global code values of the selected project.

For example, your organization may have defined an Enterprise Global project code called Project Status that has the values Red, Yellow, and Green. The Edit function allows a project or portfolio manager to change the Project Status attribute to reflect the current status of the project.

For more information, see the section "Working with Enterprise Project Codes," later in this chapter.

Viewing Project Detailed Information

If you select a project name link from the Project Center summary views, you can see the details within the selected project as shown in Figure 26.4.

Figure 26.4. You can review project details with various views.

TIP

Use the Save Link function to set special navigation links so you can quickly return to frequently needed detail views.

Expanding and Contracting Details

Click the small + and indicators to the left of project summary row text to expand or contract the selected section of the schedule. Then use the vertical and horizontal sliders at the right side and bottom edge of the detail window to see more schedule details.

Manipulating Columns and Rows

You can reposition displayed columns by using your mouse to drag and drop a column header to the left or right. Then you can resize the column width by using the mouse to drag and drop the right edge of a column boundary. If you double-click on the right edge of a column header boundary, the column width will expand or contract to fit the maximum width of data within that column.

You can also change the row height by using the mouse to drag and drop the lower boundary of a row. Every row within the schedule will expand or contract within this change.

Linking Risks, Issues, and Documents to Tasks

As you examine project details, you can also relate individual project tasks to risks, issues, and other artifact documents. Use the Link Risks, Link Issues, and Link Documents functions to relate a task to this type of collaboration information. If a task has a linked Document, Issue, or Risk, then a graphic icon will appear within the information column that is marked with an "i" in the column header.

Using the Gantt Chart

Use the Zoom-In, Zoom-Out, and Go-to-Task icons, positioned along the top of the view, to control the Gantt Chart display on the right half of the detail view. Then if you hover your mouse pointer over a particular Gantt Chart bar, an information pop-up will appear containing more data about the item.

You can reposition the vertical split boundary between the task details and the Gantt Chart parts of the display. Use your mouse to drag-and-drop the boundary, or double-click the vertical boundary to resize it to a column edge.

Using the Print Grid Option

You can find the Print Grid option at the lower-left corner of the data-display window. If you click on this link, you are presented with a dialog allowing you to control the data and formats for information to be printed. You can select which columns to be output and the formats for each column to be printed.

Using the Export Grid to Excel Option

Project Web Access 2003 also allows you to export the detailed data to a Microsoft Excel worksheet. You can find the Export Grid to Excel option at the lower-right corner of the data-display window. When you select this link, Microsoft Excel is started and the data details are automatically exported to Excel. The data is formatted into convenient outline groups, allowing you to interactively expand and contract the details as desired.