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Asta Powerproject Tutorial Asta Development plc Kingston House 5 Goodsons Mews Wellington Street Thame OX9 3BX T F W E +44 (0)1844 261700 +44 (0)1844 261314 www.astadev.com [email protected]

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Page 1: Asta PowerProject Tutorial

Asta PowerprojectTutorial

Asta Development plcKingston House5 Goodsons MewsWellington StreetThame OX9 3BX

T

F

W

E

+44 (0)1844 261700

+44 (0)1844 261314

www.astadev.com

[email protected]

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Asta Powerproject Tutorial

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Asta PowerprojectTutorialCopyrightCopyright © 2006 Asta Development plc. All rights reserved.

TrademarksAsta Powerproject and Asta Powerdraw are either registeredtrademarks or trademarks of Asta Development plc.

Microsoft, Visual Basic and Windows are with registeredtrademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States orin other countries. Oracle is a registered trademark of OracleCorporation.

All other trademarks are acknowledged.

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Table of contents1 Introduction.................................................................7

2 Installing Asta Powerproject .....................................9

2.1 Installing Asta Powerproject as a standaloneapplication..............................................................................9

2.2 Starting Asta Powerproject.........................................10

2.3 Licensing Asta Powerproject ......................................10

2.4 Getting Help................................................................10

3 Creating your first project .......................................11

3.1 Creating a new project ...............................................11

3.2 Creating your first task ...............................................13

3.3 Changing the scale of the bar chart ...........................14

3.4 Creating a task by drawing on the bar chart ..............15

3.5 Copying and pasting bars...........................................16

3.6 Editing the duration of tasks .......................................16

3.7 Understanding working and elapsed time ..................17

3.8 Moving tasks on the bar chart ....................................17

3.9 Drawing multiple tasks on a bar .................................18

3.10 Linking tasks...............................................................19

3.11 Rescheduling your project..........................................20

3.12 Undoing and redoing actions......................................20

3.13 Adding a bar in the middle of your project..................20

3.14 Formatting the bar chart .............................................21

3.15 Marking important events as milestones....................22

3.16 Annotating your project ..............................................23

3.17 Choosing when to display annotations.......................23

3.18 Saving your project.....................................................23

4 Creating a programme of projects..........................25

4.1 Ways of organising projects .......................................25

Asta Powerproject standalone....................................25

Multi-user environment...............................................25

4.2 Starting the tutorial at this chapter..............................25

4.3 Moving your project into a subchart ...........................26

4.4 Copying a subchart.....................................................27

4.5 Indicating that subcharts represent projects ..............27

4.6 Defining users and access rights ...............................28

5 Categorising your tasks ..........................................35

5.1 Ways of using code libraries ......................................35

5.2 Starting the tutorial at this chapter..............................35

5.3 Creating code libraries ...............................................36

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5.4 Assigning codes to tasks............................................37

5.5 Displaying different code libraries ..............................38

5.6 Filtering information using code libraries....................39

5.7 Using filters to automate annotations .........................42

5.8 More about views .......................................................44

6 Creating and assigning resources .........................45

6.1 Introduction to resource management........................45

6.2 Starting the tutorial at this chapter..............................46

6.3 Creating a resource library .........................................46

Creating consumable resources.................................46

Creating permanent resources...................................47

Assigning multiple skills to a permanent resource .....47

6.4 Assigning demand resources to tasks........................48

6.5 Viewing a histogram of resource allocations..............49

6.6 Satisfying demand allocations....................................51

6.7 Dealing with over-allocation .......................................52

6.8 Viewing the results of resource allocations in otherprojects.................................................................................56

7 Managing costs ........................................................59

7.1 Introduction to costs ...................................................59

7.2 Starting the tutorial at this chapter..............................60

7.3 Creating a cost centre library .....................................60

7.4 Setting up your cost centres.......................................60

7.5 Assigning direct costs to tasks ...................................63

Viewing the cost of an allocation ................................63

7.6 Assigning costs to permanent resources ...................65

Creating cost and income rates..................................65

Assigning cost and income rates to permanentresources....................................................................66

7.7 Assigning costs to consumable resources .................68

7.8 Viewing cost and income information.........................70

8 Progressing projects................................................71

8.1 Ways of progressing projects .....................................71

8.2 Starting the tutorial at this chapter..............................72

8.3 Creating progress periods ..........................................72

8.4 Baselining your projects .............................................74

8.5 Recording progress ....................................................75

Marking progress up to a specific date.......................76

Marking a precise amount of progress .......................78

Progressing a task from its allocations.......................80

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8.6 Comparing the progressed project with the originalbaseline................................................................................81

8.7 Completing your project .............................................82

8.8 Recording progress remotely .....................................83

8.9 Viewing progress remotely .........................................83

9 Printing project information ....................................85

9.1 What Asta Powerproject prints ...................................85

9.2 Understanding border files .........................................85

9.3 Starting the tutorial at this chapter..............................86

9.4 Preparing to print ........................................................86

9.5 Previewing and printing ..............................................86

9.6 Printing on multiple pages ..........................................87

9.7 Other output options...................................................88

10 Producing reports ....................................................89

10.1 Introduction to tabular reports ....................................89

10.2 Starting the tutorial at this chapter..............................90

10.3 Creating a tabular report category..............................90

10.4 Creating a tabular report ............................................90

10.5 Executing a tabular report ..........................................91

10.6 Conclusion..................................................................92

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Introduction

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1 IntroductionThis guide is intended to help you as you work with AstaPowerproject™ for the first time. It introduces you to the keyfeatures and enables you to get up and running with AstaPowerproject quickly. While completing these lessons, youwill learn how to use Asta Powerproject to mirror the complexarray of activities, resources and costs that are involved in aprogramme of projects

We recommend that you work through the chapters of thistutorial in order, which should take between 2-3 hours,depending on your level of experience in working with projectand programme management software, your familiarity withproject management, etc. However, you can also workthrough individual sections of the tutorial on their own. Toenable you to do this, a number of Asta Powerproject projectfiles are located in the \Tutorial Project Files\ folder on theAsta Powerproject CD. To start at a particular section of thetutorial, simply open the appropriate project file from thisfolder, then work through the section

This guide contains the following chapters:

Introduction – the chapter you are currently reading,introducing you to this guide.

Installing Asta Powerproject – explains how to set upAsta Powerproject as a standalone application.

Creating your first project – explains how to get startedquickly with Asta Powerproject by creating a project andpopulating it with basic information.

Creating a programme of projects – explains how tobuild up a programme of projects.

Categorising your tasks – explains how to colour-codethe information within your projects so that theirappearance represents something relevant to you.

Creating and assigning resources – explains how tocreate a pool of resources for use within yourprogramme of projects.

Managing costs – explains how to set up cost centresand work with direct costs and resource costs within yourprogramme of projects.

Progressing projects – explains how to record theprogress of your programme of projects in order to keepyour project information up to date.

Printing project information – explains how to printproject information from within Asta Powerproject.

Producing reports – explains how to produce reports onyour Asta Powerproject project data.

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Installing Asta Powerproject

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2 Installing Asta PowerprojectThis chapter explains how to install Asta Powerproject as astandalone application. Asta Powerproject can act as a fully-scalable real time multi-user application, enabling anynumber of users to work with multiple projects at the sametime, via a LAN, WAN or over the internet. However, in thisinstance, you will be using Asta Powerproject as astandalone application.

This chapter includes the following information:

Installing Asta Powerproject as a standalone application.

Starting Asta Powerproject.

Licensing Asta Powerproject.

Getting Help.

2.1 Installing Asta Powerproject as a standaloneapplicationTo install and run Asta Powerproject as a standaloneapplication, you will need a computer running MicrosoftWindows 95, 98, NT4 (service release 3 or above), 2000 orlater.

The minimum requirements are:

Processor: Pentium® 120 MHz (166 MHzrecommended).

RAM: 32 Mb (64 Mb recommended; Windows NT4 usersare recommended to have a further 16 Mb).

At least 50 Mb of free disk space.

VGA display adaptor and monitor capable of 640x480resolution (SVGA recommended).

CD-ROM drive.

Mouse or other pointing device.

To install Asta Powerproject:

1. Run Windows.

2. Insert the Asta Powerproject CD into your computer's CDdrive. After a few moments, the setup program willappear.

3. Choose to install Asta Powerproject then follow thescreen instructions to complete the installation.

At the end of the installation procedure, a new program foldercontaining shortcuts to Asta Powerproject and anyaccessories is added to the Windows Start menu.

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2.2 Starting Asta PowerprojectThere are several ways that you can run programs fromWindows; some of the most common techniques aredescribed below. Refer to your Windows documentation forfull details of all the techniques available.

To run Asta Powerproject, do either of the following:

Select Asta Powerproject from the Programs – AstaPowerproject folder in the Start menu.

Double-click on a .pp file to open it within AstaPowerproject.

After a few moments the Asta Powerproject program windowopens.

2.3 Licensing Asta PowerprojectEach copy of Asta Powerproject comes with an initial 30days' free trial. When you first start Asta Powerproject, youare given the opportunity to license the software.

If you have purchased Asta Powerproject, select the License– License software command from the Help menu to fullylicense the software. Full details of licensing AstaPowerproject are provided in the Asta Powerproject onlineHelp.

2.4 Getting HelpWhile you work with Asta Powerproject, Help is just a clickaway. You can access Asta Powerproject’s online Help in thefollowing ways:

To access Help on a dialog or about what is currentlydisplayed on the screen, press F1.

To access Help on a particular field, click or then click the field on which you want Help.

To access Help on an area of the screen, click thenclick on the area on which you want Help.

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3 Creating your first projectThis chapter explains how to get started quickly with AstaPowerproject by creating a project and populating it withbasic information. By following the steps outlined in thischapter, you will see how simple it is to build up projectsquickly and accurately.

Before you begin this chapter, make sure that you haveinstalled and started Asta Powerproject, as described in theprevious chapter.

This chapter includes the following information:

Creating a new project.

Creating your first task.

Changing the scale of the bar chart.

Creating a task by drawing on the bar chart.

Copying and pasting bars.

Editing the duration of tasks.

Understanding elapsed and working time.

Moving tasks on the bar chart.

Drawing multiple tasks on a bar.

Linking tasks.

Rescheduling your project.

Undoing and redoing actions.

Adding a bar in the middle of your project.

Formatting the bar chart.

Marking important events as milestones.

Annotating your project.

Saving your project.

3.1 Creating a new projectTo create a new project:

1. Select the New command from the File menu. You seethe New Project Wizard:

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You can use the New Project Wizard to base a newproject on an existing project that you have saved as atemplate. This saves you from having to enter the sameinformation more than once if you are creating aprogramme of projects that share a similar base ofinformation. In this case, you will base your new projecton the Construction Template, so select ConstructionTemplate.pp in the Select a template file field.

2. Enter Tutorial.pp in the File location field.

3. Enter Asta Powerproject Tutorial in the Namefield.

4. Click OK to create your project and close the NewProject Wizard.

A window opens displaying the spreadsheet and bar chart ofthe new project:

The spreadsheet displays information about the tasks andallocations in your projects. Like many aspects of AstaPowerproject, it is fully-customisable. You can choose theinformation that is displayed in the spreadsheet and displayas many columns as you like.

spreadsheet

bar chart

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The bar chart displays tasks and allocations graphically, in afamiliar gantt chart view. Like the spreadsheet, you cancustomise virtually any aspect of the bar chart to displayinformation in a way that suits you.

Notice also that Asta Powerproject’s menus and toolbars arebased on Microsoft Office menus and toolbars. This makes iteasier for users to get to grips with Asta Powerproject. Aswith Microsoft Office, Asta Powerproject’s menus andtoolbars are fully-customisable and dockable.

Another element of the Asta Powerproject window, which isnot displayed at the moment, is the project view. The projectview provides a way of navigating around your programme ofprojects and a common resource pool, from which you canapply resources to the tasks in your projects.

Display the project view now, by selecting the Project Viewcommand from the View menu. It appears to the left of thespreadsheet:

3.2 Creating your first taskYou can create tasks by typing in the spreadsheet or drawingon the bar chart to show the start, end and duration of anactivity. In this lesson you will create a task by typing in thespreadsheet.

You can configure Asta Powerproject so that when you typein the spreadsheet, a task is not created automatically in thebar chart. This enables you to apply names to bars that donot have any tasks and use them as subheadings. Beforeyou create your first task, you will check that AstaPowerproject is configured to create a task in the bar chartwhen you type in the spreadsheet:

1. Select the Options command from the Tools menu. TheOptions dialog appears.

2. Click the Edit tab.

3. Ensure that the Create task radio button against theWhen inserting by spreadsheet field in the Tasksgroup is selected; if it is not, click it to select it.

project view

spreadsheet

bar chart

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4. Click Close. The Options dialog disappears.

To create a task by typing in the spreadsheet:

1. Move the cursor into the Name column on thespreadsheet.

2. Move the cursor over the first bar in the Name column,then click. A text insertion line appears, indicating wherethe task name will appear when you start typing.

3. Enter Task 1, then click the bar chart to finish editing.

Notice that a task is created on bar 1, starting on today'sdate, and that the task's duration is 1 week – ie 5 workingdays:

You can configure Asta Powerproject so that when you typein the spreadsheet, a task is not created automatically in thebar chart. This enables you to apply names to bars that donot have any tasks and use them as subheadings.

3.3 Changing the scale of the bar chartThe task may not appear as large as it does in the illustrationabove, depending on the current scale of your bar chart. Thedate zone appears at the top of the bar chart and gives scaleto your projects. You can change the scale of the bar chartinstantly by dragging the date zone.

To change the scale of the bar chart:

1. Place the cursor over a tick line (the small red verticallines) in the date zone so that the cursor changes to .

2. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the tick line tothe right. The date zone redraws as you drag, so thatyou can see the effect of your changes immediately.

3. Release the drag when the task appears approximatelythe same size as the picture above.

Notice how the appearance of the task has changed, but itsduration remains 1 week. This is because you have alteredthe scale of the bar chart, not the duration of the task.

You can display up to three scale zones on the bar chart,and display information using a different scale in each zone.For example, you could display zones representing the past,present and future, in which information relating to the pastand future is displayed using a small scale and informationrelating to the present is displayed using a large scale (indetail), as illustrated below:

1 week is the defaultduration of a task. Youcan change the defaultto any other length oftime.

You may have to usethe scroll bars to movealong the date zone inbetween your drags tokeep the task in view.

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The date zone is configurable: you can choose the lines thatappear in it and reorder their position. Your date zone maycontain different lines to the ones that appear in this guide.You will now configure the date zone so that it includes theline that shows the days of the week:

1. Right-click the bottom line of the date zone.

2. Select the Insert Line submenu, then select the Days(Monday, Tue…) command.

The new line appears in your date zone above thebottom line. If the new line only displays tick lines andyou cannot actually see the days of the week, this isbecause the scale of the date zone is too small to displaythe days. If this is the case, click and drag one of the ticklines to the right until abbreviations of the days of theweek appear.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 above to add the line that showsthe date (Date (1-31)) to the date zone.

You can specify the order in which the lines in the date zoneappear by dragging them up and down in the date zone. Trythis now, by dragging the line that shows the days of theweek to the bottom of the date zone:

1. Left-click in the line that shows the days of the week.

2. Holding down the left mouse button, drag the line to thebottom of the date zone, then release the mouse button.

The line is moved to the bottom of the date zone:

You can hide lines that are currently displayed in the datezone:

1. Locate the date zone line that displays elapsed units byhovering the cursor over each line until a tooltip isdisplayed, showing the line’s time unit.

2. Right-click the line that displays elapsed units and selectHide This Line. The elapsed unit line is hidden fromdisplay.

3.4 Creating a task by drawing on the bar chartYou created your first task by typing in the spreadsheet. Tocreate a task by drawing on the bar chart:

1. Position the cursor so that it is over bar 2 and slightlylater than the task on bar 1.

2. Press and hold down the left mouse button, then dragthe cursor to the right. As you drag, a popup box displaysthe start date, end date and duration of the task you aredrawing:

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3. Using the date zone and the popup as a guide, releasethe mouse button when the task is approximately twodays in length.

4. Click away from the task to deselect it.

Notice that Asta Powerproject places the duration andstart date of the task into the spreadsheet, but does notgive it a name.

5. Click in bar 2 in the Name column, type Task 2, thenclick the bar chart to finish editing.

3.5 Copying and pasting barsAnother way of creating tasks is to copy existing bars andpaste them into your project. You will do this now to createtwo more tasks.

To copy and paste your existing bars:

1. Move the cursor over bar 1 in the Line column, thenclick. Bar 1 is selected.

2. Hold down CTRL and click bar 2 in the Line column.Both bars are now selected.

3. Select the Copy command from the Edit menu.

4. Select the Paste command from the Edit menu.

The two existing bars are copied and pasted into bars 3and 4:

5. Click in the Name column and rename bars 3 and 4 Task3 and Task 4.

3.6 Editing the duration of tasksYou can edit the duration of a task in a number of ways,including editing the duration in the spreadsheet, using theObject Edit toolbar, or dragging the end of the task in the barchart.

To edit the duration of a task in the spreadsheet:

1. Click in bar 4 in the Duration column.

2. Change the duration to 3d (three days), then click the barchart to finish editing.

New tasks snap to atime unit by default,making it easier todraw tasks. You canchange the snappingtime unit, or turn off barchart snapping.

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To edit the duration of a task using the Object Edit toolbar:

1. Move the cursor over the task on bar 3 so that the cursorchanges to , then click. The task is selected.

2. Locate the Object Edit toolbar on your desktop:

You can use the Object Edit toolbar to control theproperties of tasks and other objects on the bar chart.For now, you will use it to change the duration of thetask.

3. Click in the Duration/Link Slope box that currentlydisplays 5d and change the duration to 1w 1d (1 weekand 1 day), then click the bar chart to finish editing.

To edit the duration of a task by dragging the end of the taskin the bar chart:

1. Position the cursor over the end of the task on bar 2 sothat the cursor changes to .

2. Press and hold down the left mouse button, then dragthe cursor to the right. As you drag, a popup box displaysthe start date, end date and duration of the task you areediting.

3. Release the mouse button when the task is three days inlength.

3.7 Understanding working and elapsed timeDurations can be given as 'elapsed' or 'working' time.Elapsed durations include both working and non-workingtime (non-working time may be holidays, weekends andevenings), whereas working durations include only workingtime. You can choose whether or not to display elapsed timeon the bar chart.

You define what constitutes working time in AstaPowerproject’s calendars. You can define as many calendarsas you want, having one for each resource or one for eachtask if required. You can define the length of a working dayfor each calendar and set up working patterns that caninclude any combination of shift patterns and flexible workingpatterns.

3.8 Moving tasks on the bar chartMoving tasks is as simple as editing their duration. You cansimply pick up a task and drag it to a new location.

To move a task on the bar chart:

1. Move the cursor over the task on bar 4 so that the cursorchanges to .

You can also use theObject Edit toolbar tomove tasks bychanging their startand end dates.

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2. Press and hold down the left mouse button, then dragthe cursor to the right. As you drag, a popup box displaysthe start date, end date and duration of the task you aremoving.

3. Release the mouse button when the task is positionedapproximately two days later.

4. Click away from the task to deselect it.

3.9 Drawing multiple tasks on a barYou can draw multiple tasks on the same bar to showrepetitive or intermittent working on an activity.

To draw multiple tasks on a bar:

1. Position the cursor so that it is over bar 1 and slightlylater than the existing task on bar 1.

2. Press and hold down the left mouse button, then dragthe cursor to the right to draw another task on the samebar:

3. Release the mouse button when the task is two days inlength.

4. Click away from the task to deselect it.

Where you have more than one task on a bar, you canchoose to display the bar in one-task-per-line mode.

To display a bar in one-task-per-line mode:

1. Click the + symbol to the left of the spreadsheet on bar 1:

Notice that each task is now displayed on its own lineand that a name does not appear for either task in theName column of the spreadsheet. Task 1 – the nameyou entered earlier – is the name of the bar, not thename of the tasks on the bar. Where you have more thanone task on a bar, you can name each task individuallywhen in one-task-per-line mode.

2. Click in the Name column and name the task on bar 1Task 1 and the task on bar 2 Task 2.

3. Click the – symbol to the left of the spreadsheet on bar 1to turn off one-task-per-line mode:

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Now that you have seen that the names you have enteredrelate to bars, not tasks, you will rename the bars in yourproject.

Rename the four bars as follows:

Site Planning.

Fabrication.

Construction.

Completion.

3.10 Linking tasksYou specify the order in which tasks take place by drawinglinks from one task to another. You can draw links startingand ending anywhere along the length of tasks.

A common link is a Finish-to-Start link, where one task (thepredecessor task) must finish before another task (thesuccessor task) can start.

To draw a Finish-to-Start link between two tasks:

1. Position the cursor to the bottom-right of the second taskon the Site Planning bar so that the cursor changes to

, indicating that the link will start from the end of thetask.

2. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursoraway. Notice that you now have a line from the end ofthe task to the cursor. The line is attached to the cursoruntil you release the mouse button.

3. Position the end of the link on the top-left hand corner ofthe Fabrication task so that the cursor changes to ,indicating that the link will end at the start of the task,and release the mouse button. A link is drawn betweenthe two tasks:

4. Click on a blank area of the bar chart to deselect the link.

You can draw links with lead/lag, indicating that there mustbe a delay between tasks.

To draw a link with lead/lag:

1. Position the cursor to the bottom-right of the Fabricationtask.

2. Hold down SHIFT and, using the date zone as a guide,click and drag the cursor two working days (ie, twoweekdays) to the right of the end of the task.

3. Keeping the mouse button depressed, release SHIFT,then position the end of the link on the top-left handcorner of the Construction task and release the mousebutton. A link is drawn between the two tasks withlead/lag:

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4. Click on a blank area of the bar chart to deselect the link.

5. Complete your linking by drawing a simple Finish-to-Startlink between the Construction and Completion tasks.

Your project should now look something like this:

3.11 Rescheduling your projectNow that you have created a simple project, you willreschedule it to ensure that the project is completed in theminimum possible time.

To reschedule your project, click .

When the reschedule is complete, your project should looksomething like this:

Notice the following points about the project:

All tasks are moved back to their earliest starting time, asdefined by the links you have created.

All tasks now have a thick red border, indicating that theyare critical: if any task overruns or is delayed, the enddate of the project will be affected.

3.12 Undoing and redoing actionsAt any point while working on a project, you can undo yourprevious actions. You can undo all the actions you haveperformed on a project since you last opened it if you needto, even past a save.

Click to undo your last action. In this case, yourreschedule is undone and the tasks revert to their originalpositions.

Click to redo the reschedule.

3.13 Adding a bar in the middle of your projectYou are now going to add a new bar in between theFabrication and Construction bars, containing a new task.

The straight part of thelink indicates thelead/lag time. You canedit the lead/lag timeprecisely by double-clicking the link andediting its properties.

Adjust the scale of thebar chart by draggingthe date zone if youcannot see all yourtasks.

To undo or redo morethan one action at atime, click the downarrow next to theappropriate button andselect the actions youwant to undo or redo.

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To add a new bar in the middle of your project:

1. Move the cursor over bar 3 in the Line column, thenclick. Bar 3 is selected.

2. Press INSERT. A blank bar is inserted into the project.

3. Draw a task in the bar with a duration of three days andname it Inspection.

4. Draw a Start-to-Start link between the Fabrication andInspection tasks, indicating that the two tasks shouldstart at the same time.

5. Draw a Finish-to-Start link between the Inspection andCompletion tasks, indicating that the Completion taskcannot start until the Inspection task is complete.

Your project should look something like this:

Now click to reschedule the project again. After thereschedule, the project should look something like this:

Notice the following points about the project:

The Inspection task is moved back to its earliest startingtime, which is the same as that of the Fabrication task.

The Inspection task does not have a thick red border, asit is not critical; instead it has float, which shows theamount by which the task can overrun or be delayed,without affecting the end date of the project.

3.14 Formatting the bar chartYou can format the bar chart to display and hide almost anyinformation. For example, you may want to hide links, thecritical path or float.

To format the bar chart:

1. Select the Bar Chart command from the Format menu.The Format Bar Chart dialog appears. This dialog isdivided into a number of tabs, which offer you a widerange of formatting options.

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2. Click the Tasks tab:

3. Clear the Free float, Total float and Critical path checkboxes, then click Apply.

Notice that the float and critical path are no longerdisplayed on the bar chart.

4. Reselect the Free float, Total float and Critical pathcheck boxes, then click Close to close the dialog andredisplay the float and critical path.

3.15 Marking important events as milestonesThere are times when you may want to show an event thathas no duration, such as a deadline or a payment date. Youdo this in Asta Powerproject by creating milestones, whichare displayed as diamond shapes on the bar chart.Milestones are just like normal tasks – they can have linksattached to them and be critical or have float – but they havea duration of zero.

You will turn the Completion task, which currently has aduration of three days, into a milestone, to signify the end ofthe project.

To create a milestone:

1. Right-click the Completion task.

2. Select Make Into, then select End Milestone.

The project should look something like this:

You may have to movethe dialog out of theway to see thechanges on the barchart.

You can also create amilestone by changingthe duration of a taskto zero.

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3.16 Annotating your projectYou can annotate the bar chart with text, graphics and OLEobjects. Annotations are useful in a range of situations, forexample:

Highlighting important dates.

Writing reminder notes to yourself or to other teammembers.

Including your company logo on the bar chart.

Linking to objects or data stored in other programs usingOLE.

In this example, you will add a text annotation to theCompletion task in your project:

1. Click .

2. Position the cursor to the right of the Completion task inthe bar chart so that the cursor looks like , then clickand drag a small box in which to place the annotation.

3. Release the mouse button when the box is a fewcentimetres square. A text insertion bar appears in thetop left hand corner of the box.

4. Type Project complete in the annotation, then clickaway from the box to finish typing. The box resizes itselfto fit around the annotation:

3.17 Choosing when to display annotationsOnce you have added annotations to a project, you canchoose whether or not to display them. You can also assigncategories to annotations and display only annotations withina certain category – for example, you could place all cost-related annotations into a Cost category and display or hidethem all in a single step.

You can apply filters to annotations so that they only appearwhen the task or allocation to which they are attached meetsthe filter criteria. You can also set annotations to appearautomatically on any bar, task or allocation that meets thecriteria of a filter. You will do this later with the annotation youhave just created, so that it only appears when the project iscomplete.

3.18 Saving your projectDepending on the template you use to create a project, thebars you edit may be coloured blue. This colouring (whichyou can turn on or off) indicates that the work on the barshas not been saved, and disappears when you save theproject.

This cursor indicatesthat the annotation willbe attached to the righthand side of the task.

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To save your project, click .

It is good practice to get into the habit of saving your workregularly. For example, as you work through this guide, saveyour work at the end of each chapter.

Now that you have created a simple project, you will go on tocreate a programme of projects.

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4 Creating a programme of projectsThis chapter explains how to build up a programme ofprojects.

This chapter includes the following information:

Ways of organising projects.

Moving your project into a subchart.

Copying a subchart.

Indicating that subcharts represent projects.

Defining users and access rights.

4.1 Ways of organising projectsYou can organise projects in a variety of ways, depending onthe way in which you use Asta Powerproject.

Asta Powerproject standaloneIf you use Asta Powerproject as a standalone application,each project is saved into a separate file, but each projectcan contain further subprojects or subcharts. In this way, youcan build up a programme of projects within AstaPowerproject.

If several standalone users work on the same project, youcan set up users with the project and specify their accessrights. For example, a Project Manager may have full accessrights while a Junior Engineer may have read-only accessrights. You can also specify users' access rights to eachsubproject to prevent users from accessing parts of a projectfrom which you want to exclude them.

This tutorial uses this method of creating a programme ofprojects.

Multi-user environmentIf you use Asta Powerproject in a multi-user environment byconnecting to an Enterprise server, you can save a projectlocally, as with Asta Powerproject standalone, or to a server-mounted database. Each database holds one or more groupprojects, each of which can contain one or more projects.Each project can then be subdivided into subprojects.

Objects such as resources, calendars and codes are sharedacross group projects.

4.2 Starting the tutorial at this chapterIf you want to work through this chapter of the tutorial withoutfirst completing Chapter 3, open the Tutorial_2.pp file fromthe \Tutorial Project Files\ folder on the Asta PowerprojectCD. You will then be able to work through this chapter fromthe start.

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4.3 Moving your project into a subchartAt the moment, you have created a single project in AstaPowerproject, comprising five bars. Your project has nohierarchical structure as yet, as all tasks are located in theroot chart. You can move this project into a subchart in orderto build up a project hierarchy.

To move your project into a subchart:

1. Move the cursor over bar 1 in the Line column, thenclick. Bar 1 is selected.

2. Hold down SHIFT and click bar 5 in the Line column. Allthe bars in the project are now selected.

3. Select the Move Bars Into Chart command from theHierarchy menu.

4. You see the Move Bars Into Chart dialog:

5. Enter Site A in the Bar Title and Task Title fields, thenclick OK.

The five bars are moved into a subchart, which is displayedunderneath the root chart in the project view:

The spreadsheet and bar chart do not look any different, asyou are currently looking at the Site A subchart. To view theroot chart, click Root chart in the project view. You see thefollowing:

The large shadowed task summarises the tasks in thesubchart it leads to – its duration is the duration of the tasksin the subchart. This is known as an expanded task.

To move back into the subchart, either click Site A in theproject view, or double-click the expanded task in the barchart.

Click to move back into the root chart. This is anotherway of moving between charts.

An alternative methodof creating a projecthierarchy is bysummarising tasks.

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4.4 Copying a subchartIn many situations, you will want to maintain a programme ofprojects that have similarities. For example, if you follow thesame methodology for the production of a range of items,you may want to create a single project for each product. Asimple way of creating a programme of similar projects is tocopy an existing project and edit it.

To copy a subchart:

1. Move the cursor over bar 1 in the Line column, thenclick. Bar 1 is selected.

2. Select the Copy command from the Edit menu.

3. Select the Paste command from the Edit menu.

The expanded task is copied and pasted into bar 2:

At the moment, the expanded task on bar 2 has thesame name as the one on bar 1. You will now rename it.

4. Right-click the expanded task on bar 2 and selectProperties. The Bar and Task Properties dialogappears.

5. Enter Site B in the Name fields on the Bar and Tasktabs, then click Close.

Notice that both subcharts are now displayed underneath theroot chart in the project view:

Follow the steps above to create another subchart and call itSite C.

You now have three subcharts displayed underneath the rootchart in the project view. You will now learn how to indicatethat each of the subcharts represents a project in its ownright.

4.5 Indicating that subcharts represent projectsYou now have three subcharts underneath the root chart inthe project view. You can indicate that subcharts representindividual projects in their own right, and in so doing, build upa programme of projects. In this lesson, you will indicate thatall three of the subcharts you have created representprojects.

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1. Click the Site A expanded task to select it.

2. Hold down SHIFT and click the Site C expanded task. Allthree expanded tasks are now selected.

3. Right-click one of the selected tasks and select Is aProject from the menu that appears.

While the appearance of the expanded tasks themselvesdoes not change, note that the subchart icons in the projectview have changed from to . This new icon identifiesthat the subcharts represent projects in their own right:

Note also that the icon of the root chart has changed to .This indicates that the chart contains one or more projects.

You have now created a simple programme of projects.Having more than one project within the same file enablesyou to manage your projects as a portfolio. All the projectsshare common items such as the resource pool, codes andcalendars. You can also report on the projects individually, ortogether as a portfolio.

In addition, for each individual project, you can record thelikelihood, in percentage terms, of the project actually goingahead, and reflect this likelihood in histograms. This is usefulduring the early stages of project and resource planning.

4.6 Defining users and access rightsIn many situations, you will want to prevent certain usersfrom accessing certain projects and define different levels ofaccess to the projects within a programme. You can do thisby setting up a number of users and defining their accessrights. In this example, you will set up three users:

Admin – will have full read-write access to all threeprojects.

Project Manager – will have full read-write access to theSite A project only.

Admin Assistant – will have read-only access to all threeprojects.

You create new users in Asta Powerproject’s LibraryExplorer. You use Library Explorer, which is based on thestandard Windows Explorer, to maintain details of objectsthat are common to your programme, for example, users,resources and cost centres. You will use Library Explorer fora variety of reasons throughout this tutorial.

To create a new user:

1. Click . You see Library Explorer:

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Library Explorer displays the library objects in the treeview in the left-hand pane. Asta Powerproject may notdisplay all library objects by default. If User is not visiblein the left-hand pane, you must display it:

− Right-click the right-hand pane and select ShowLibraries. The Show Libraries dialog appears.

− Select User in the Available types field and clickAdd.

− Click OK to close the dialog. User is now visible inthe left-hand pane.

2. Select User from the tree view. You see the default userfolder, Admin, that is defined initially in the list view in theright-hand pane. This is the top-level user, with fullaccess rights to the entire programme. You will turn thisuser into a folder, so that it can contain subusers.

3. Right-click the Admin user in the list view and selectMake into Folder from the menu that appears.

You will now create the other two users within the Adminfolder:

1. Right-click the Admin folder in the list view and selectNew User Sub-entry. The folder opens and a new useris created within it, with the cursor flashing in the Namecolumn.

2. Enter Project Manager, then click a blank area of thelist view to finish editing.

3. Right-click a blank area of the list view and select NewUser. Another user is created, with the cursor flashing inthe Name column.

4. Enter Admin Assistant, then click a blank area of thelist view to finish editing.

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Now that you have created the users, you can define theiraccess rights. By default, users have full access rights to theentire programme, from the root chart downwards. As thislevel of access is appropriate for the Admin user, you do notneed to edit this user's access rights.

To define access rights:

1. Double-click the Project Manager user. The UserProperties dialog appears.

2. Click the Chart Access Rights tab:

You use this tab to specify the rights that the user has toeach subchart in your programme of projects. Theproject hierarchy is displayed in an expandable tree onthe left.

3. Double-click Root chart in the expandable tree. You seethe three subcharts that you have created. The ProjectManager requires full access to the Site A project, butdoes not require access to the other two projects.

4. With Root chart selected, click Select All, then clickNone. All access rights are removed from the root chartand from all its subcharts.

5. Click Site A in the expandable tree. Notice that theProject Manager now has no access to it.

6. Click Select All, then click Unrestricted. All accessrights are restored for the Site A project.

7. Click OK.

8. Double-click the Admin Assistant user. The UserProperties dialog appears.

9. Click the Chart Access Rights tab.

As the Admin Assistant requires read-only access to allprojects, you can define their access rights at the rootchart level, as the rights are then filtered down toprojects within the root chart.

10. With Root chart selected, click Select All, then clickNone. All access rights are removed from the root chartand from all its subcharts.

You can define accessrights to a fine level ofdetail. This is a simpleexample.

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11. Select the check boxes in the Read column to give theAdmin Assistant read-only access to the programme ofprojects.

12. Click OK.

13. Select the View submenu from the View menu, thenselect Close to close Library Explorer.

You must now define a password for each user:

1. Select the Passwords command from the Tools menu.The Passwords dialog appears.

2. Click the Project tab:

The Admin user is initially displayed, as this is the top-level user.

3. Delete the asterisks in the Current Password forAdmin field.

4. Enter Progman in the New password for user field. Thepassword does not appear on the screen as you type it,for security reasons.

5. Re-enter the password in the Confirm new passwordfor user field.

6. Click OK.

7. Select the Passwords command from the Tools menuto display the Passwords dialog again.

8. Click in the Change password for field, then click the +symbol next to the Admin user. You see the other twousers.

9. Select the Project Manager user.

10. Enter Progman in the Current password for Adminfield. You must enter this as it is the administrator'spassword and it is required to change another user'spassword.

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11. Enter Projman in the New password for user field. Thepassword does not appear on the screen as you type it,for security reasons.

12. Re-enter the password in the Confirm new passwordfor user field.

13. Click OK.

14. Repeat steps 7 to 13, this time selecting the AdminAssistant user in the Change password for field andsetting their password to Admin.

You can assign the usernames and passwords that youdefine to different people to give them different levels ofaccess. Now that you have created users within theprogramme, people will be asked to enter a username andpassword when they open the programme.

Try this now by closing the project and opening it as eachuser in turn:

1. Save your work, then select the Close project commandfrom the File menu.

2. Select the Open command from the File menu. TheSelect Project dialog appears:

3. Select Tutorial.pp and click Open as New User. TheLogon to Project dialog appears:

4. Enter Project Manager in the Username field andProjman in the Password field, then click OK. Theprogramme of projects opens in Asta Powerproject.However, as the Project Manager only has access rightsto the Site A project, the root chart and the Site B andSite C projects do not appear in the project view:

You must click Openas New User to openthe project using adifferent usernameand password.

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5. Close the project again and reopen it using the Open asNew User button as described above, this time enteringthe Admin Assistant's username and password (AdminAssistant and Admin). This time, the root chart and thethree projects are visible in the project view:

However, the Admin Assistant can only view theinformation: if you try to edit the programme (for exampleby drawing a task on the bar chart), you cannot.

6. Close the project again and reopen it using the Open asNew User button as described above, this time enteringthe Admin user’s username and password (Admin andProgman). You now have full access to the fullprogramme of projects again.

Now that you have created a simple programme of projects,you will learn how to categorise your tasks.

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5 Categorising your tasksThis chapter explains how to colour-code the informationwithin your projects so that their appearance representssomething relevant to you. You use code libraries to do this.

This chapter includes the following information:

Ways of using code libraries.

Creating code libraries.

Assigning codes to tasks.

Displaying different code libraries.

Filtering information using code libraries.

Using filters to automate annotations.

More about views.

5.1 Ways of using code librariesYou can use code libraries to represent virtually any type ofinformation. For example, you could use them to show:

The different departments or people responsible for atask.

The different locations at which a task takes place.

The risk factor of a task, for example high, medium orlow.

You create the code libraries you want in Library Explorer,then assign them to the bars, tasks and allocations in yourprojects. Once you have assigned codes, you can filter forbars, tasks and allocations with specific codes. For example,you could filter out all the tasks that have been identified aslow risk, or all tasks that are carried out at a specific location.

As each item on the bar chart may have a code from morethan one code library assigned to it, you can choose whichcode library you want to display on the bar chart at any onetime. You can also choose whether to display the codes thatare assigned to whole bars, or the codes that are assigned toindividual tasks.

In this example, you will create a code library to representthe risk factor of a task and a code library to represent thelocation at which a task is carried out.

5.2 Starting the tutorial at this chapterIf you want to work through this chapter of the tutorial withoutfirst completing the previous chapters, open the Tutorial_3.ppfile from the \Tutorial Project Files\ folder on the AstaPowerproject CD. You will then be able to work through thischapter from the start. If you do this, you will be prompted toenter a username and password when you open the project.The username is Admin and the password is Progman.

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5.3 Creating code librariesCode libraries are stored in a hierarchical structure in LibraryExplorer. Each code library is represented by a folder. Youcan create as many different code libraries as you like, eachone containing as many codes as you need. Each codelibrary can also contain other code libraries. Each codeconsists of a code name, a pattern and one or more colours.

To create a code library:

1. Click to enter Library Explorer.

2. Select Code Library from the tree view. You see anumber of existing code libraries in the list view in theright-hand pane. You will create a new library and createcodes within it.

3. Right-click a blank area of the list view and select NewCode Library. Another code library is created, with thecursor flashing in the name column.

4. Enter Risk Factor, then click a blank area of the listview to finish editing.

5. Right-click the Risk Factor folder in the list view andselect New Code Library Entry. The folder opens and anew code is created within it, with the cursor flashing inthe Name column.

6. Enter High, then click a blank area of the list view tofinish editing.

7. Right-click a blank area of the list view and select NewCode Library Entry. Another code is created, with thecursor flashing in the Name column.

8. Enter Medium, then click a blank area of the list view tofinish editing.

9. Create a third code, called Low.

Notice that each code currently has the same colour andpattern. You will now change the foreground colours todifferentiate between the codes:

1. Click the Low code library in the Foreground Fill Colourcolumn. You see a display of the colours you can assignto the code:

2. Select green. The foreground colour of the Low codeturns to green.

You can also changethe background colour,fill pattern and outlinestyle if required.

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3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 to change the foreground colour ofthe Medium code to yellow.

You will now create another code library to represent thelocation at which a task is carried out:

1. Click to move up one level in the code libraryhierarchy.

2. Right-click a blank area of the list view and select NewCode Library. Another code library is created, with thecursor flashing in the Name column.

3. Enter Location, then click a blank area of the list viewto finish editing.

4. Right-click the Location folder in the list view and selectNew Code Library Entry. The folder opens and a newcode is created within it, with the cursor flashing in theName column.

5. Enter London, then click a blank area of the list view tofinish editing.

6. Create two further codes, as described above, calledPreston and Newcastle.

7. Apply the following foreground colours to the codes:

− London – magenta.

− Preston – white.

− Newcastle – very light grey.

8. Select the View submenu from the View menu, thenselect Close to close Library Explorer.

5.4 Assigning codes to tasksNow that you have created your codes, you can assign themto tasks in your programme of projects. In this example, youwill assign codes to tasks in the Site A project. There are anumber of ways in which you can do this. The easiest way isto drag the codes from the project view onto the tasks.

To assign codes to tasks:

1. Click the Site A project in the project view to open it.

2. Click the + symbol next to Code Libraries in the projectview to view the code libraries you have created.

3. Click the + symbol next to the Risk Factor code library toview the risk factor codes:

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4. CTRL-click the Site Planning, Fabrication, Constructionand Completion tasks to select them.

5. Click and drag the Medium risk factor code from theproject view and drop it onto one of the selected tasks.

You may see a dialog asking if you want to display theRisk Factor code library in the current view. If you do seethe dialog, select the Do not show this alert againcheck box and click No.

6. Click and drag the Low risk factor code from the projectview and drop it onto the Inspection task.

7. Click the + symbol next to the Location code library toview the location codes.

8. CTRL-click the Site Planning and Completion tasks, thendrag and drop the London location code onto one ofthem.

9. CTRL-click the Fabrication, Inspection and Constructiontasks, then drag and drop the Preston location code ontoone of them.

10. Click the bar chart to deselect all tasks.

Notice that the appearance of the tasks has not changed.This is because you are not viewing any of the code librarieson the bar chart.

5.5 Displaying different code librariesYou can choose which code library you want to display atany one time to indicate the codes that have been assignedto tasks. In this example, you can choose to display theLocation or Risk Factor code library.

To display a code library on the bar chart:

1. Right-click the Location code library in the project viewand select Display Library from the menu that appears.Notice that the tasks are now colour-coded according totheir location:

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Notice also that a red tick appears against the Locationcode library in the project view, indicating that this is thecode library that is currently displayed on the bar chart:

You can also choose which code library to display on thebar chart using the Format Bar Chart dialog.

2. Select the Bar Chart command from the Format menu.The Format Bar Chart dialog appears.

3. Click the Tasks tab:

4. Select Risk Factor in the Code library field, then clickApply. Notice that the tasks are now colour-codedaccording to their risk factor

5. Click Close to close the Format Bar Chart dialog.

5.6 Filtering information using code librariesOnce you have applied code libraries to objects in the barchart, you can filter for bars, tasks or allocations with specificcodes, to display only objects that have been assigned aspecific code on the bar chart. This enables you toconcentrate on specific information without being distractedby other surrounding details. In this example, you will filter forall the tasks that are carried out in Preston.

To filter for all tasks that are carried out in Preston:

1. Select the Filter submenu from the View menu, thenselect the New command. The Filter Properties dialogappears.

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2. Click the Details tab:

3. Enter Preston filter in the Name field. You can setup as many filters as you need and the name identifieseach one.

4. Select the Display on menu check box. This places thefilter onto the View menu, making it easier to apply.

5. Click the Filter Criteria tab:

6. Click Edit. The first screen of the Filter Wizard appears.You use the Filter Wizard to specify the objects that youwant to include in your filter and to specify the conditionsthat objects must meet to be included.

7. By default, tasks and milestones are included in the filter,so click Next without changing anything on the screen.The second screen of the Filter Wizard appears:

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8. You want to filter objects by code, so select Code libraryin the left hand pane and click . Code library appearsin the right hand pane.

9. Click Next. The third screen of the Filter Wizardappears:

10. This screen lists the available code libraries. You want tofilter by the Preston location code, so click the + symbolnext to the Location code library to view the locationcodes, then select the check box next to the Prestoncode:

11. Click Finish. You return to the Filter Properties dialog,which displays the filter criteria you have entered.

12. Click OK to close the Filter Properties dialog.

The filter is applied to your current view automatically:

You can filter objectsby more than oneparameter by selectingmultiple parametershere.

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Notice that the Site Planning and Completion tasks havedisappeared from the view, as they do not match the filtercriteria: they are not carried out in Preston.

Notice also that a ‘Site A' subheading has appeared abovethe first line in the view. Filter subheadings show the chartpath of the filtered objects. This makes it easier to identify thesummary group or subchart in which the filtered objects arelocated.

To turn the filter off and return to your normal view, select theFilter submenu from the View menu, then select the NoFilter command. The Site Planning and Completion tasksreappear.

Once you have created a filter, you can apply it at any timeby selecting it from the View - Filter menu.

In this example you set up a very simple filter. You can setup more complex filters using SQL to define your criteria inorder to filter information however you want.

5.7 Using filters to automate annotationsYou can use filters to automate annotations so that they onlyappear when the bar, task or allocation to which they areattached meets the filter criteria.

In this example, you will create a filter that filters forcompleted milestones, then apply the filter to the annotationthat you have added to the bar chart.

To create a completed milestones filter:

1. Select the Filter submenu from the View menu, thenselect the New command. The Filter Properties dialogappears.

2. Click the Details tab and enter CompletedMilestones filter in the Name field.

3. Select the Display on menu check box to place the filteronto the View menu.

4. Click the Filter Criteria tab and click Edit. The firstscreen of the Filter Wizard appears.

5. With the Specific task types radio button selected,deselect the Tasks check box so that only Milestones isselected, to indicate that you only want the filter to applyto milestones.

6. Click Next. The second screen of the Filter Wizardappears.

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7. You want to filter objects by progress, so select Progressin the left hand pane and click . Progress appears inthe right hand pane.

8. Click Next. The third screen of the Filter Wizardappears:

9. You want to filter for completed milestones, so selectCompleted in the Filter for what extent of progress?field.

10. Click Finish. You return to the Filter Properties dialog,which displays the filter criteria you have entered.

11. Click OK to close the Filter Properties dialog.

As with the last filter you defined, this filter is applied to yourcurrent view automatically, so all the information in thespreadsheet and bar chart disappears, as it does not matchthe filter criteria.

To turn the filter off and return to your normal view, select theFilter submenu from the View menu, then select the NoFilter command.

Now that you have set up a filter for completed milestones,you will apply it to the annotation that you attached to theCompletion task and indicate that the annotation should beattached to all new and existing objects that meet the filtercriteria.

To attach the filter to the annotation:

1. Click the annotation to select it, then right-click it andselect Properties. The Text Annotation Propertiesdialog appears.

2. Click the General tab:

Note that the thirdscreen is differentthis time. This isbecause you arefiltering usingdifferent criteria.

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3. Select the Completed Milestones filter in the Filter fieldto apply the filter to the annotation.

4. Select the Make Auto Annotation check box to indicatethat the annotation should be attached automatically toall new and existing objects that meet the filter criteria.

5. Click Close.

The annotation disappears, as the milestone to which it isattached is not yet complete, so does not match the filtercriteria.

Later on, you will progress your project. When you progressthe final task in the project (the Completion milestone), theannotation will appear automatically.

5.8 More about viewsIn applying a filter to your project, you changed the currentview of your data. A view is a window onto a project and youcan do much more with views than simply filter tasks: eachview can have the following associated with it:

A spreadsheet table.

A filter.

A sort order.

You can define as many views as you want within a project,to be accessed by all users. Each user can also define theirown custom views.

Now that you have colour-coded your tasks, you will create aresource pool for use throughout your programme ofprojects.

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6 Creating and assigning resourcesThis chapter explains how to create a pool of resources foruse within your programme of projects. As well as being aprogramme management application, Asta Powerproject is asophisticated resource management tool.

This chapter includes the following information:

Introduction to resource management.

Creating a resource library.

Assigning demand resources to tasks.

Viewing a histogram of resource allocations.

Satisfying demand allocations.

Dealing with over-allocation.

Viewing the results of resource allocations in otherprojects.

6.1 Introduction to resource managementResources are the people, equipment and materials neededto carry out tasks in a project. Asta Powerproject deals withpermanent resources such as employees, machinery andequipment, and consumable resources such as materials,components and utilities.

Resources are not confined to single projects; you can createa single resource pool and share this across all projects inyour programme. If a resource is used in one project, this isreflected in all other projects within the programme. Thismeans that you can maintain tight control over resourceavailability over the entire enterprise.

You create the resources you want in Library Explorer, thenassign them to the tasks in your projects.

You can organise your resource library as a hierarchy ofskills, equipment and materials. A hierarchical resourcelibrary is easier to manage and extend than a flat list ofresources.

Asta Powerproject also enables you to work with multi-skilledresources. For example, a multi-skilled resource may be acopywriter who also has translation skills, or a bricklayer whoalso has plastering skills. You can define such resources inAsta Powerproject under both skills.

Asta Powerproject also supports demand and scheduledresource management. At the start of a project, the ProjectManager can indicate that there is a demand for a particulartype of resource for a task, without assigning an actualresource to the task. A specific resource can be assigned tothe task at a later date, satisfying the demand.

Asta Powerproject has a rich list of resource managementand control features. You will explore some of these in thischapter.

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6.2 Starting the tutorial at this chapterIf you want to work through this chapter of the tutorial withoutfirst completing the previous chapters, open the Tutorial_4.ppfile from the \Tutorial Project Files\ folder on the AstaPowerproject CD. You will then be able to work through thischapter from the start. If you do this, you will be prompted toenter a username and password when you open the project.The username is Admin and the password is Progman.

6.3 Creating a resource libraryAs with code libraries, resources are stored in a hierarchicalstructure in Library Explorer. Each resource type isrepresented by a folder, which contains individual resources,or further hierarchies of resource types.

In this example you will create a number of consumable andpermanent resources.

Creating consumable resourcesTo create a consumable resource library:

1. Click to enter Library Explorer.

2. Select Consumable Resource from the tree view.

3. Right-click a blank area of the list view and select NewFolder. A new resource folder is created, with the cursorflashing in the Name column.

4. Enter Materials, then click a blank area of the list viewto finish editing.

5. Double-click the Materials folder in the list view. Thefolder opens.

6. Right-click a blank area of the list view and select NewConsumable Resource. A new consumable resource iscreated, with the cursor flashing in the Name column.

7. Enter Steel as the name of this resource.

8. Create two more consumable resources in the folder,called Wood and Glass.

You will now create another consumable resource folder:

1. Click to move up one level in the consumableresource hierarchy.

2. Follow the steps above to create a new folder calledFixings, containing consumable resources called Nailsand Screws.

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Creating permanent resourcesTo create a permanent resource library:

1. Select Permanent Resource from the tree view.

2. Right-click a blank area of the list view and select NewFolder. A new resource folder is created, with the cursorflashing in the Name column.

3. Enter Builder, then click a blank area of the list view tofinish editing.

4. Double-click the Builder folder in the list view. The folderopens.

5. Right-click a blank area of the list view and select NewPermanent Resource. A new permanent resource iscreated, with the cursor flashing in the Name column.

6. Enter Mark Smith as the name of this resource.

7. Create two more permanent resources in the folder,called John Peters and Martin Webb.

You will now create another permanent resource folder:

1. Click to move up one level in the permanent resourcehierarchy.

2. Follow the steps above to create a new folder calledApprover, containing a permanent resource called JaneBrown.

Assigning multiple skills to a permanent resourceIn the permanent resource library you have just created,each resource is associated with a single skill. It is simple toidentify a resource as multi-skilled. In this example, you willidentify Martin Webb, one of the permanent resources in theBuilder resource folder, as being an Approver as well:

1. Navigate through your permanent resources so that youcan see the permanent resources in the Builder folder inthe list view.

2. Click the icon next to the Martin Webb permanentresource.

3. Hold down CTRL and SHIFT, then click and drag theicon over the Approver permanent resource folder in thetree view:

Consumable resourcescannot be in more thanone folder.

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Notice that the Martin Webb permanent resource nowhas a shortcut icon. This identifies it as a multi-skilledresource. Martin Webb is now also available in theApprover permanent resource folder.

You can define a number of properties for eachpermanent resource. When a permanent resource hastwo or more skills, some properties are common to allskills, such as the calendar and availability, while otherproperties are specific to individual skills, such as thework rate, cost and skill appearance.

4. Select the View submenu from the View menu, thenclick Close to close Library Explorer.

6.4 Assigning demand resources to tasksYou will now assign a number of demand allocations totasks, to indicate that there is a demand for a particular typeof resource without specifying the specific resource that willsatisfy the demand. This mirrors the early stages of projectplanning, during which you may know the skill that is requiredto complete a task but do not yet know the precise resourceto assign to it.

Before you do this, you will ensure that allocations aredisplayed on the bar chart:

1. Select the Bar Chart command from the Format menu.The Format Bar Chart dialog appears.

2. Click the Allocations tab.

3. Select all three of the check boxes in the Show group,then click Close.

There are a number of ways in which you can assigndemand resources to tasks; the easiest way is to drag theresource folders from the project view onto the tasks.

1. Click the Site A project in the project view to open it if it isnot already open.

2. Click the + symbol next to Permanent Resources in theproject view to view the permanent resource folders youhave created.

3. Click and drag the Builder permanent resource folderfrom the project view and drop it onto the Constructiontask.

4. Click and drag the Approver permanent resource folderfrom the project view and drop it onto the Completiontask.

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Notice that two new rows are inserted into the spreadsheetand bar chart under the Construction and Completion tasks,indicating the permanent resources that are assigned tothem:

6.5 Viewing a histogram of resource allocationsYou can use histograms to view information about the usageof resources in your programme of projects. For example,you can graph a resource's allocation, over-allocation andavailability. Histograms are useful resource managementtools as they enable you to anticipate any fluctuations inresource usage and take corrective action, hence avoidingany periods of over or under-allocation.

There are a wide range of histogram graphs provided withAsta Powerproject, and you can create your own to displaythe precise information you want. In this example, you willgraph the allocation and over-allocation of the Builderpermanent resources.

To create a new histogram:

1. Select the New Histogram command from the Viewmenu. A new pane, the histogram pane, is added alongthe bottom of the bar chart.

2. Right-click the histogram pane and select FormatHistogram from the menu that appears. The Details tabof the Format Histogram dialog appears:

3. Select the Builder permanent resource folder in theResources field to indicate that you want to graph theusage of builders.

4. Having specified the resources that you want to graph,you must now specify what aspects of the resource youwant to graph. Click New to create a new histogramgraph. The Report tab of the Histogram ReportProperties dialog appears:

You can assignconsumable resourcesto tasks in the sameway.

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5. Enter Allocation of Builders in the Name field.

6. Select Days in the Period field and Bar Maximum in theType field to specify that you want to graph themaximum allocation of builders each day.

7. Click the Graphs tab:

You use this tab to define the graphs you want to includein the histogram. The Allocation graph appears bydefault. In this lesson you will change this to CappedAllocation and add the Over Allocation graph.

8. Click the Allocation graph in the Name column and selectCapped Allocation from the list that appears.

9. Click Add. A graph is added to the histogram.

10. Click the new graph in the Name column and select OverAllocation from the list that appears.

11. Click OK to close the Histogram Report Propertiesdialog and return to the Format Histogram dialog.

12. Click the Row tab.

13. Check that the Draw through non-working check box isselected (indicating that you want the histogram valuesto span across non-working periods such as weekends)and select Stack All in the Stacking field to indicate thatyou do not want the selected graphs to obscure eachother.

14. Click Close. The histogram appears in the new pane atthe bottom of the window:

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Notice that the area of the histogram, which is displayed ingreen to indicate allocation, matches the duration of theConstruction task: the task that has a demand allocation ofbuilders.

6.6 Satisfying demand allocationsNow that you have specified the skills that are required tocarry out a number of tasks, you will satisfy the demandallocations by allocating specific resources to the tasks. Thismirrors the later, more detailed stages of project planning. Inthis example, you will satisfy the demand allocation on theConstruction task in the Site A project by assigning a specificresource to it.

Right-click the demand allocation bar below the Constructiontask, select the Satisfy Demand - Builder submenu, thenselect Mark Smith.

Notice that a new row is inserted into the spreadsheet andbar chart under the Builder demand allocation, indicating thatMark Smith has been allocated to satisfy the demandallocation:

Notice also that the histogram has changed: as well asshowing the demand allocation, it shows a correspondingscheduled allocation too – the total allocation now adds up to2:

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6.7 Dealing with over-allocationAs Asta Powerproject’s histograms are updated in real timeas you work, you can use them to keep track of theavailability and allocation of your resources. This means thatyou can immediately see when your resources are over-allocated, in other words when your allocations exceed theavailable resources.

To see this in action:

1. Create a new task on the first spare row of the bar chartcalled Electrics. Give it a duration approximately half thatof the Construction task.

2. Create a Start-to-Start link from the Construction task tothe Electrics task and a Finish-to-Start link from theElectrics task to the Completion task.

3. Reschedule the project.

Your project should now look something like this:

4. Click and drag the Builder permanent resource folderfrom the project view and drop it onto the Electrics taskto assign a demand allocation to it. Notice how thehistogram changes to take account of this:

5. Now right-click the demand allocation bar below theElectrics task, select the Satisfy Demand - Buildersubmenu, then select Mark Smith. Notice that thehistogram now displays a red area, indicating overallocation:

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Although the source of the over allocation is obvious in thissimple example (Mark Smith is allocated to two tasks thatoccur at the same time), in larger programmes the sourcemay not be so obvious. You can use Asta Powerproject’shistograms to identify the source by drilling down anddisplaying individual graphs for the resources in the resourcefolder:

1. Right-click a blank area of the histogram pane, thenselect Drill down (All). New histograms are created foreach resource within the folder (you may have to use thescroll bars in the histogram pane and resize eachhistogram to see all of the histograms):

It is now immediately apparent that the source of theover allocation is Mark Smith's over allocation. As JohnPeters and Martin Webb have not been allocated, theirhistograms are blank.

2. To view the tasks to which Mark Smith is allocated, to theexclusion of all other tasks, right-click the red portion ofMark Smith's histogram and select Show Tasks. Histasks and allocations appear on their own in a new view,showing which tasks are causing the over allocation:

3. Select the View submenu from the View menu, thenselect Close to close the view and return to the bar chartview of the Site A project.

4. Right-click a blank area of Mark Smith’s histogram, thenselect Drill Up to return to the single histogramdisplaying the allocation of resources within the Builderfolder.

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You can deal with over allocation in a number of ways,including allocating tasks to another resource or delayingtasks that contribute to the over allocation. Alternatively, youcan level the resources in a project automatically using AstaPowerproject. Resource levelling flattens out any over-allocation, using one or more of the following techniques:

Delaying tasks.

Delaying resource allocations on tasks.

Splitting resource allocations.

Stretching tasks to increase their duration and decreasetheir resource allocation.

To level resources in the current project:

1. Select the Level Resources command from the Toolsmenu. The Resource Leveller dialog appears:

You use this dialog to specify the way in which theresource levelling is carried out. However, in thisexample you are going to perform a simple resourcelevel, so you do not need to edit most of the controls.

2. Select the check box to the left of the Builder permanentresource folder to indicate that you want to level theBuilder permanent resources.

3. Click Level Now.

Asta Powerproject now levels the resource allocations of theBuilders. After a few moments, the over allocation is solved.

Notice that Asta Powerproject has solved the over allocationby increasing the duration of the Electrics task, so that MarkSmith can carry out both tasks without a time conflict. Noticealso that this has delayed the end date of the project:

Resource levellingdoes not always delaythe end date; this isconfigurable.

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Click to undo the resource levelling operation you havejust performed and click to reschedule the view.

Another way to solve the over allocation is to allocateanother available resource to one of the tasks. Thehistogram showed you that John Peters and Martin Webbare both available to carry out the either task. You coulddelete the Mark Smith allocation from one of the tasks andsatisfy the demand with either of these Builder permanentresources.

Alternatively, you could change the allocation of Mark Smithto each task. At the moment he is allocated 100% to bothtasks; if he was allocated 50% to each task, he could performboth tasks concurrently.

To change the allocation of Mark Smith:

1. Right-click the Mark Smith allocation bar below theConstruction task and select Properties. ThePermanent Allocation Properties dialog appears.

2. Click the Details tab:

The Allocation field currently shows 1.00, indicating thatMark Smith is scheduled to spend all his available timeon the task.

3. Enter 0.5 in the Allocation field to indicate that MarkSmith should only spend half his time on this task.

4. Click Close. Notice that the duration of the Constructiontask has now doubled, as Mark Smith is going to taketwice as long to complete the task.

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5. Repeat steps 1 to 4 to reduce the allocation of MarkSmith to the Electrics task to 0.5.

Your project should now look something like this:

6. Reschedule the project.

Notice that the over allocation has been solved and that theend date of the project has been delayed.

6.8 Viewing the results of resource allocations inother projectsAs the resources are shared across your entire programmeof projects, the results of allocations in one project are visiblein others, even to people who do not have access to theproject in which an allocation is made. This means that if aresource is fully-allocated in one project, allocating them to atask in another project at the same time will result in overallocation:

1. Click the Site B project in the project view to open it.Notice that the histogram view still displays the sameinformation and that the same permanent resources areavailable in the project view. This is because theinformation is not specific to a single project; it applies tothe entire programme.

2. Click and drag the Mark Smith permanent resource fromthe project view and drop it onto the Construction task.Notice that the histogram view immediately shows anover allocation, as Mark Smith is already fully allocatedat this time:

This means that Project Managers who have access toindividual projects, but not to the whole programme ofprojects, are able to avoid over allocating resources,even if the resources are allocated in projects to whichthey do not have access.

3. Undo the resource allocation you have just made.

4. Click the Site A project in the project view to return to it.

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5. Select the Histogram View command from the Viewmenu to close the histogram pane.

Now that you have assigned resources to tasks, you willassign costs to the tasks in your programme.

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7 Managing costsThis chapter explains how to set up cost centres and workwith direct costs and resource costs within your programmeof projects.

This chapter includes the following information:

Introduction to costs.

Creating a cost centre library.

Setting up your cost centres.

Assigning direct costs to tasks.

Assigning costs to permanent resources.

Assigning costs to consumable resources.

Viewing cost information.

7.1 Introduction to costsAsta Powerproject deals with two kinds of costs:

Costs that are assigned directly from a cost centre to atask, for example payment for a new office alarm system,rent for warehouse space which varies depending on theamount of time for which the warehouse is rented, orinstallation charges which vary depending on the numberof units to be installed.

Costs that result from assigning a resource to a task, forexample the salary of a software engineer or the unitcost of stone slabs plus their delivery charge.

Costs can represent either income to, or expenditure from acost centre. Income could be a cash investment into a projector a receipt of payment for work done; expenditure could bepayment for materials or salaries. Tasks can generateincome or expenditure, or both.

You create the cost centres you want in Library Explorer.You can organise your cost centre library as a hierarchy. Forexample, if a company is split over two sites, you could setup a cost centre for the whole company, then within that acost centre for each site, then subordinate cost centres foreach department.

Asta Powerproject handles costs in as many currencies asyou need. You set up the currencies you need in LibraryExplorer, each with an exchange rate in relation to your basecurrency. You can assign costs to a single task in more thanone currency if required. Asta Powerproject calculates thetotal cost by summing the costs in each separate currency,then converting them to the base currency.

You can show all costsas direct costs if youdo not use resources ina project.

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7.2 Starting the tutorial at this chapterIf you want to work through this chapter of the tutorial withoutfirst completing the previous chapters, open the Tutorial_5.ppfile from the \Tutorial Project Files\ folder on the AstaPowerproject CD. You will then be able to work through thischapter from the start. If you do this, you will be prompted toenter a username and password when you open the project.The username is Admin and the password is Progman.

7.3 Creating a cost centre libraryIn this example you will create a cost centre hierarchy for twoof the locations you set up earlier: London and Preston.

To create a cost centre library:

1. Click to enter Library Explorer.

2. Select Cost Centre from the tree view.

3. Right-click a blank area of the list view and select NewFolder. A new cost centre folder is created, with thecursor flashing in the Name column.

4. Enter London, then click a blank area of the list view tofinish editing.

5. Double-click the London folder in the list view. The folderopens.

6. Right-click a blank area of the list view and select NewCost Centre. A new cost centre is created, with thecursor flashing in the Name column.

7. Enter Planning costs as the name of this cost centre.

8. Create another cost centre in the folder, calledCompletion costs.

You will now create another cost centre folder:

1. Click to move up one level in the cost centrehierarchy.

2. Follow the steps above to create a new folder calledPreston, containing cost centres called Inspection costsand Construction costs.

7.4 Setting up your cost centresNow that you have created the cost centres you will use, youwill specify the default settings for costs assigned from eachcost centre. These default settings determine the behaviourof the cost bar that is created when you assign a direct costto a task.

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Asta Powerproject can calculate costs in the following ways:

Fixed costs – these are for costs that you know will notchange, regardless of the time taken or the amount ofwork undertaken.

Time based – these are for costs that change dependingon the duration of the cost bar. For example, if a five daytask costs £1,000 per day and starts on day one, thetotal cost is £5,000. However, if the start of the task isdelayed until day three, the cost may still be chargedfrom day one (depending on the way in which the costcentre is set up), so the cost bar duration would beseven days, leading to a total cost of £7,000.

Task work based – these are for costs that changedepending on the amount of work in a task. For example,if a task consists of writing three reports and each onecosts £500 to write, the total cost is £1,500.

You can specify the way in which the start or end of a cost islinked to a task:

Relative to task start – the start or end date of the costbar changes with the start date of the task.

Fixed date – the start or end date of the cost bar is set toa specific date, which does not change even if the taskdate changes.

Relative to task end – the start or end date of the costbar changes with the end date of the task.

You can also specify a delay (for costs that do not applyimmediately), or identify a cost as a point spend (for coststhat are payable in one amount, rather than payable over aperiod of time).

To set up the Inspection costs cost centre:

1. Double-click the icon next to the Inspection costs costcentre. The Cost Centre Properties dialog appears.Click the Default Assignment tab:

2. Select Task Work Based in the Calculation type field toindicate that the inspection costs amount is dependenton the amount of work done.

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3. Select Relative to Task End in the Start type field, enter10d in the Start delay field and select the Point spendcheck box to indicate that payment will be due in a singleamount ten days after the end of the task.

4. Enter £2.00 in the Cost field to indicate that theinspection will cost £2.00 per item.

5. Click Close.

Now set up the other cost centres you have created, enteringthe following information into the Default Assignment tab foreach cost centre:

Construction costs

Field Enter/Select

Calculation type Time Based

Start type Relative To Task Start

Start delay 1d

End type Relative To Task End

End delay 1d

Cost £200.00 per Day

Completion costs

Field Enter/Select

Calculation type Fixed

Start type Relative To Task Start

Start delay 1w

Point spend Selected

Cost £500.00

Planning costs

Field Enter/Select

Calculation type Time Based

Start type Relative To Task Start

Start delay 0h

End type Relative To Task End

End delay 0h

Cost £500.00 per Elapsed Month

When you have set up the cost centres, select the Viewsubmenu from the View menu, then select Close to closeLibrary Explorer.

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7.5 Assigning direct costs to tasksDirect costs are assigned directly from a cost centre to atask, without reference to a permanent or consumableresource. In this example, you will assign a direct cost to theSite Planning tasks in the Site A project, representing therental of the planning facility.

To assign direct costs to tasks:

1. Click the Site A project in the project view to open it if it isnot already open.

2. Click the + symbol next to Cost Centres in the projectview to view the cost centre folders you have created.

3. Click the + symbol next to the London cost centres folderto view the cost centres within.

4. Click and drag the Planning costs cost centre from theproject view and drop it onto the second task on the SitePlanning bar.

Notice that a new row is inserted into the spreadsheet andbar chart under the Site Planning bar, indicating the costcentre that is assigned to the second task:

This cost is time-based, with its start and end directly relatedto the start and end of the second Site Planning task.Therefore the duration of the task mirrors that of the taskprecisely. If you were to move the second Site Planning taskto a later date, or increase its duration, the associated costchanges accordingly. Try this now to see the effect on thecost, then click to return the second Site Planning task toits original dates and duration.

Viewing the cost of an allocationYou can view the cost of an allocation in a number of ways,including using the Resource Modelling toolbar, viewing theproperties of the allocation and inserting a cost column intothe spreadsheet. In this example, you will edit thespreadsheet to include cost information.

To add a column displaying the cost of an allocation to thespreadsheet:

1. Right-click the heading row of the spreadsheet andselect Table Definition. The Table DefinitionProperties dialog appears:

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This dialog lists the columns that are currently displayedin the spreadsheet.

2. Click Add. A new column entry appears in the list.

3. Click the new entry in the Token field. A hierarchical listof attributes that you can display in the column appears:

4. Click the + symbol next to Cost or Income to display theattributes relating to cost and income, then select theCost attribute. Cost is displayed in the new entry.

5. If the new entry is not displayed directly under theDuration entry, click Up or Down to reposition it.

6. Click Close. The new column appears in thespreadsheet, displaying the cost of the Site Planningallocation. All the other rows in the Cost column areblank, as you have not yet assigned costs to the othertasks and allocations. You may have to drag the barchart to the right to view the new column:

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You can edit the spreadsheet to display a wide range ofinformation relating to tasks and allocations.

7.6 Assigning costs to permanent resourcesPermanent resource costs are determined by rates. Forexample, a consultant might have a normal rate and anovertime rate. You assign the different rates to a resource sothat when you assign the resource to a task, its cost iscalculated automatically. When a resource has more thanone skill, you can assign a different rate to each skill. Forexample, if an employee is both an approver and a builder,as Martin Webb is in this project, he might have one ratewhen working as an approver and another rate when workingas a builder.

If a permanent resource has a cost that is incurred each timethe resource is assigned to a task, you can show this as a'fixed cost' rate. For example, a subcontractor might have astanding charge that is incurred whenever you employ them,or an engineer might have a call-out charge.

Each cost or income rate includes the following details:

Cost per time unit, for example £50.00 per hour.

Type of time, for example whether the rate applies tonormal working time, overtime or public holidays.

A cost centre from which the rate is charged.

A cost or income rate can also have a markup percentage,which is useful if you want to charge out an employee'sservices at a different rate to what they cost you.

After assigning a resource, you can edit the allocation if youneed to specify costs that differ from the default specified inthe cost and income rate.

Creating cost and income ratesYou create cost and income rates in Library Explorer. In thisexample you will create two cost rates that you can apply toMartin Webb, the multi-skilled resource in this example.

To create cost rates:

1. Click to enter Library Explorer.

A cost rate without atime unit specified is afixed cost rate and isonly charged once perallocation.

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2. Select Cost And Income Rate from the tree view.Default cost, income and overtime rates appear in the listview.

3. Right-click a blank area of the list view and select NewCost And Income Rate. A new cost and income rate iscreated, with the cursor flashing in the Name column.

4. Enter Approver Rate, then click a blank area of the listview to finish editing.

5. Double-click the icon next to the Approver Rate costand income rate. The Cost And Income RateProperties dialog appears:

6. Enter £50.00 and select First use in the Amount fieldsto indicate that this is a fixed cost rate of £50.00.

7. Select Completion costs in the Cost centre field toindicate the cost centre to which the costs should becharged.

8. Click Close.

9. Follow the steps above to create a new cost rate calledBuilder Rate, with a rate of £30.00 per hour andassociated with the Construction costs cost centre.

Assigning cost and income rates to permanentresourcesNow that you have set up a number of cost rates, you canassign them to permanent resources. In this example, youwill assign the cost rates to Martin Webb, one for each of hisskills:

1. Select Permanent Resource from the tree view withinLibrary Explorer.

2. Navigate through your permanent resources so that youcan see the permanent resources in the Approver folderin the list view.

3. Right-click Martin Webb and select Properties. ThePermanent Resource Properties dialog appears.

You could make thecost rate apply to aparticular type ofworking, for exampleovertime, by selectingone in the Calendarexception categoryfield.

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4. Select the Cost/Income tab:

5. Click Assign Rate and select the Approver Rate fromthe drop-down that becomes available to assign the rateto Martin Webb in his role as an approver.

6. Notice that the field at the bottom of the dialog displaysApprover – it is showing Martin Webb's currently-selected skill. Select Builder in the field. You can nowassign Martin Webb a cost and income rate for use in hisrole as a builder.

7. Follow the instructions above to assign the Builder Rateto Martin Webb in his role as a builder.

8. Click Close.

9. Select the View submenu from the View menu, thenselect Close to close Library Explorer.

Now that you have assigned cost rates to Martin Webb, youwill assign him to a number of tasks:

1. Click the Site A project in the project view to open it if it isnot already open.

2. Navigate through the permanent resources in the projectview so that you can see the Approver and Builderpermanent resources.

3. Click and drag the Martin Webb permanent resource inthe Builder folder and drop it onto the Construction task.

4. Click and drag the Martin Webb permanent resource inthe Approver folder and drop it onto the Completion task.

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Notice that the cost of each allocation is displayed in theCost column of the spreadsheet:

The cost of the Construction allocation is £30.00multiplied by the number of hours taken by the task.

The cost of the Completion allocation is £50.00, as this isa fixed cost.

7.7 Assigning costs to consumable resourcesConsumable resource costs are made up of two parts:

A cost per use that is incurred whenever you assign aresource to a task. For example, there might be adelivery charge that does not change, regardless of thenumber of units delivered.

A cost per unit.

The cost of a consumable resource is therefore the cost perunit multiplied by the number of units, plus any cost per use.

Whenever you assign a consumable resource to a task, thecost of the resource is calculated from its defaults. Afterassigning a resource, you can still edit the allocation if youneed to specify costs that differ from the default.

In this example, you will set default costs for the Materialsconsumable resources you defined earlier.

To set default costs for consumable resources:

1. Click to enter Library Explorer.

2. Select Consumable Resource from the tree view.

3. Navigate through your consumable resources so thatyou can see the consumable resources in the Materialsfolder in the list view.

4. Right-click Glass and select Properties. TheConsumable Resource Properties dialog appears.

5. Select the Cost/Income tab:

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6. Enter £20.00 in the Cost per use field to indicate thatthere is a £20.00 delivery charge each time glass isassigned to a task.

7. Enter £0.50 in the Cost per unit field to indicate thateach item of glass used costs 50 pence.

8. Select Construction costs in the Expenditure costcentre field to indicate the cost centre to which the costsshould be charged.

9. Click Close.

Follow the steps above to specify default costs for the Steeland Wood consumable resources as follows:

Steel

Field Enter/Select

Cost per use £10.00

Cost per unit £0.50

Expenditure cost centre Construction costs

Wood

Field Enter/Select

Cost per use £15.00

Cost per unit £1.00

Expenditure cost centre Construction costs

When you have set up the default costs, select the Viewsubmenu from the View menu, then select Close to closeLibrary Explorer. You will now assign the three consumableresources to the Fabrication task in the Site A project:

1. Navigate through the consumable resources in theproject view so that you can see the three Materialsconsumable resources.

2. Click and drag each resource in turn and drop them ontothe Fabrication task.

Notice that the cost of each allocation is displayed in theCost column of the spreadsheet:

The cost of the Glass allocation is £20.00, plus 50 pencemultiplied by the number of items allocated.

The cost of the Steel allocation is £10.00, plus 50 pencemultiplied by the number of items allocated.

The cost of the Wood allocation is £15.00, plus £1.00multiplied by the number of items allocated.

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7.8 Viewing cost and income informationIf you do not have costs and income displayed in thespreadsheet, you can view cost and income information in anumber of other ways, including:

View the cost of a resource allocation using theResource Allocation Properties dialog.

View the cost of a direct cost allocation using the CostAllocation Properties dialog.

View the cost of a bar or task using the Bar and TaskProperties dialog.

To view the total cost or income for a particular resource orcost centre, rather than for individual allocations, display theRoll-ups tab of the Properties dialog for that resource orcost centre within Library Explorer. A resource's costs areshown as follows:

For a permanent resource, costs and income are shownfor the resource in its selected role, in all its roles, and inall its roles plus that of any subordinate resources.

For a consumable resource, costs and income areshown for the resource, and for the resource plus that ofany subordinate resources.

Now that you have introduced costs to your programme, youwill record the progress of the programme.

If you select more thanone allocation, thedialog displays the totalcost or income for theselected allocations.

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8 Progressing projectsThis chapter explains how to record the progress of yourprogramme of projects in Asta Powerproject. Progressingprojects on a regular basis is essential in order to keep yourproject information up to date.

This chapter includes the following information:

Ways of progressing projects.

Creating progress periods.

Baselining your projects.

Recording progress.

Comparing the progressed project with the originalbaseline.

Completing your project.

Recording progress remotely.

Viewing projects remotely.

8.1 Ways of progressing projectsYou record the progress of a project by assigning progress totasks or allocations to show the amount of work that hasbeen completed and the amount of work that remains to bedone. Once a project is underway, you will probably want torecord its progress at regular intervals. Recording progressensures that your project is kept up to date and lets you seeif work is progressing as planned or if delays are creeping in.It also ensures that you know how much work remains to bedone to reach the project end date.

When you update a project, you record the amount ofprogress that has been made to tasks and allocations withina certain period, called a progress period. For example, youcould show that two days work were completed on a task inone week and three days in a second week. You can use asingle progress period if you prefer, but this does not allowyou to use a different appearance for progress that occurswithin different periods.

After you have marked progress on a project, you shouldreschedule it to see whether the progress has affected thecritical path and the project end date. If the end date haschanged, you may want to make some adjustments to theplan to get it back on track.

You can baseline your projects in order to record all or part ofa project at a particular point in time. Baselines are useful fortracking the progress of a project and experimenting with'what if' scenarios.

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8.2 Starting the tutorial at this chapterIf you want to work through this chapter of the tutorial withoutfirst completing the previous chapters, open the Tutorial_6.ppfile from the \Tutorial Project Files\ folder on the AstaPowerproject CD. You will then be able to work through thischapter from the start. If you do this, you will be prompted toenter a username and password when you open the project.The username is Admin and the password is Progman.

8.3 Creating progress periodsYou create progress periods in Library Explorer. Eachprogress period consists of a date up to which you arereporting progress (the report date), a line style for the reportdate and an appearance used for progress shading on thebar chart.

You can define a hierarchy of progress periods in LibraryExplorer. For example, each department might have its ownprogress period and each team within each departmentmight have its own subordinate progress period.Alternatively, you could set up progress periods for eachmonth of the year. Then when you assign progress forJanuary, the progress shading uses January's appearance,and so on. This makes the month in which tasks arecompleted immediately apparent.

You can record progress more than once within eachprogress period. For example, if you want to report progresson a weekly basis, you could use monthly progress periodsand report progress at the end of each week within theappropriate period. Alternatively, you could create ahierarchy of progress periods with each monthly progressperiod containing subordinate progress periods for the weekswithin the month.

In this example you will create a number of weekly progressperiods.

To create progress periods:

1. Click to enter Library Explorer.

2. Select Progress Period from the tree view. You see thedefault progress period displayed in the list view. Thereport date of this progress period is the date on whichyou started to create your programme of projects. Youwill edit this progress period and create some more.

3. Double-click the icon next to the default progressperiod. The Progress Period Properties dialogappears:

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4. Enter Week 1 in the Name field to indicate that this isyour first progress period. Do not edit the other fields.

5. Click Close.

You will now create six more progress periods:

1. Right-click a blank area of the list view and select NewProgress Period. A new progress period is created, withthe cursor flashing in the Name column.

2. Enter Week 2, then click a blank area of the list view tofinish editing. Notice that the new progress period isdated a week later than the first period and is assigned adifferent line style and colour.

3. Follow the steps above to create five new progressperiods called Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6 andWeek 7:

4. Select the View submenu from the View menu, thenclick Close to close Library Explorer.

You will now display progress information on the bar chart.You can display a line representing the report date of eachprogress period and choose whether to display recordedprogress in one colour, or in the colour of the appropriateprogress period:

1. Select the Bar Chart command from the Format menu.The Format Bar Chart dialog appears.

2. Click the Progress tab:

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3. Select the On check box in the Lines group, then selectthe check box next to each of the progress periods belowit to indicate that you want to display a line on the barchart on the report date of each period.

4. Click the Coloured radio button in the Shading group toindicate that you want to display progress on tasks in thecolour of the appropriate progress period.

5. Click Close.

Notice that coloured lines are displayed on the bar chart,indicating the report date of each progress period:

8.4 Baselining your projectsA baseline is a record of all or any part of a project at aparticular point in time. It contains a copy of everything in theproject, for example bars, tasks, links, resource allocations,libraries and histograms. You can create as many baselinesas you want for a project.

In this example, you will baseline your programme of projectsbefore you apply progress to it. This will give you a record ofthe planned schedule, which you will be able to compareagainst the actual progress of the programme.

To baseline your projects:

1. As you want to baseline your entire programme ofprojects, click Root chart in the project view to view theroot chart:

If you create a baseline while viewing a particular project,the baseline only contains that project.

You can baselineindividual objectswithin a project byselecting them beforeyou create thebaseline.

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2. Select the Baseline/What If Manager command fromthe File menu. The Baseline/What If Manager dialogappears:

3. Click New to create a new baseline. The Introductionscreen of the Baseline Wizard appears.

4. Read the instructions and click Next. The Referencesscreen appears.

5. Enter Initial Baseline in the Name field and clickNext. The Destination screen appears.

6. Asta Powerproject suggests a location and filename forthe baseline, giving it a .ppb extension. Click Next toaccept the suggested location and filename. The Scopescreen appears.

7. You can use this screen to limit the information that isincluded in the baseline. Click Finish to accept thedefault settings and create the baseline. The baselineappears in the Baseline/What If Manager dialog.

8. Click Close to close the dialog.

Now that you have created a baseline of the project, you cancompare the actual project with the baseline once you haveprogressed the project.

8.5 Recording progressThere are two methods of working when assigning progress:you can report progress using estimates of the completedduration or percentage complete of a task, or using estimatesof the amount of a resource or cost allocation that has beencompleted:

If you know that two days or ten percent of a taskduration has been completed, you can assign thatprogress to the task and the progress is reflected acrossany allocations on the task. This is known as 'top-down'progress.

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If you know that 200 units of a work-based resourceallocation or £2,000 of a cost allocation has beencompleted, you can assign progress to the allocationsand determine the task's progress from the progress ofits allocations. This is known as 'bottom-up' progress.Using 'bottom-up' progress, the progress is only shownon tasks when you choose to progress tasks from theirallocations.

In this example, you will record progress using both methods.Within the 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' methods, there are anumber of ways in which you can record the progress of atask or allocation. You will use a variety of these methods torecord progress on the tasks within the Site A project.

Before you begin, click the Site A project in the project viewto open it.

Marking progress up to a specific dateA quick way of marking progress on a task or allocation thatis on schedule is to mark it as complete up to a specific date.You do this by assigning a progress period to the task orallocation. The task or allocation is then marked asprogressed up to the report date of the progress period.

To mark progress on the first Site Planning task up to aspecific date, right-click the first task on the Site Planning barin the Site A project, select the Progress Up To submenu,then select the Week 2 progress period. Progress isdisplayed on the task in red, the colour of the Week 2progress period:

The progress is displayed along the entire length of the task,indicating that the task is complete. This is because the firsttask on the Site Planning bar is contained completely withinthe selected progress period.

Let us now assume that you have reached the end of theWeek 2 progress period. At the end of each progress period,it is good practice to reschedule your project, straighteningthe progress line of the progress period you have justcompleted. You will do this now:

1. Select the Reschedule command from the Tools menu.The Reschedule dialog appears.

2. Click the Options tab.

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3. Select Week 2 in the Straighten progress line toperiod field, to indicate that you want to straighten theprogress line of the Week 2 progress period, pushing alluncompleted tasks to the right of it.

4. Click OK.

The project is rescheduled. As the progress line of the Week2 progress period was already straight – ie progress wasexactly on track – there is no change to the project.

You can also assign a progress period to a task or allocationby dragging the progress period from Library Explorer ontothe task:

1. Click to enter Library Explorer.

2. If Library Explorer appears maximised within the AstaPowerproject window, click the Restore control to displayLibrary Explorer as a moveable window:

3. Select Progress Period from the tree view to displayyour progress periods in the list view.

4. Position the Asta Powerproject windows so that you cansee the progress periods in Library Explorer and thetasks in the Site A project at the same time:

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5. Click and drag the Week 3 progress period from LibraryExplorer and drop it onto the second task on the SitePlanning bar.

Progress is displayed on the second task in green, thecolour of the Week 3 progress period, and also on itsallocation:

6. Close Library Explorer.

Marking a precise amount of progressWhen you need to mark different amounts of progress ondifferent tasks or allocations, the most efficient and flexiblemethod is to use the Enter Progress dialog.

To mark a precise amount of progress on the Fabricationtask:

1. Right-click the Fabrication task and select EnterProgress. The Enter Progress dialog appears:

2. Select the Week 3 progress period in the Progressperiod field to indicate that you want to record progresson the task that has taken place during the third period.

The columns in the grid display previous, current,remaining and total progress.

3. Enter 50% in the first row of the Current column and clickoutside the field. The progress information is updated toshow the 50% of the task remains to be completed.

4. Click Close.

Notice that the task is now split into two. Progress isdisplayed on the first portion of the task in green, the colourof the Week 3 progress period and no progress is shown onthe second half of the task:

You can assign aprogress period tomore than one task ata time by selectingmultiple tasks.

You can use this dialogto apply progress totasks and allocations ina variety of ways.

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Let us now assume that you have reached the end of theWeek 3 progress period. Reschedule your project asdescribed above, but this time select Week 3 in theStraighten progress line to period field, to indicate that youwant to straighten the progress line of the Week 3 progressperiod, pushing all uncompleted tasks to the right of it.

After the project is rescheduled, note how all uncompletedtasks are pushed to the right of the Week 3 progress line,indicating that the tasks have yet to be completed and thatthe project is starting to run behind schedule:

You can also enter a precise amount of progress using theObject Edit toolbar:

1. Select the Inspection task.

2. Right-click the % progress control on the Object Edittoolbar:

3. A list of progress periods appears. Select the Week 4progress period to indicate that you want to recordprogress on the task that has taken place during thefourth period.

4. Left-click the % progress control and select 70% fromthe drop-down list. Progress is displayed on the firstportion of the task in blue, the colour of the Week 4progress period and no progress is shown on the secondhalf of the task.

Even if you do not enter progress using the Object Edittoolbar, you can use it to see the percentage progresscomplete of any selected task.

You can also enter a precise amount of progress using AstaPowerproject’s Progress Entry Mode:

1. Click on the Bar Chart toolbar to enter Progress EntryMode.

2. Position the cursor over the start of the uncompletedportion of the Fabrication task until the cursor displays as

.

3. Click and drag the Progress Entry Mode cursor over thetask from left to right. Notice that a popup windowdisplays the amount of progress you are entering as youdrag:

Alternatively, you canenter a precisepercentage into thecontrol.

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4. Release the left mouse button when you have enteredprogress for the entire task.

Progress is displayed on the second portion of the task inblue, the colour of the last progress period you used:

Let us now assume that you have reached the end of theWeek 4 progress period. Reschedule your project again, butthis time select Week 4 in the Straighten progress line toperiod field, to indicate that you want to straighten theprogress line of the Week 4 progress period.

After the project is rescheduled, note how all uncompletedtasks are pushed to the right of the Week 4 progress line:

Progressing a task from its allocationsWhen you assign progress to an allocation, the task'sprogress is not calculated automatically. Recording progresstherefore becomes a two-stage process:

Record the progress of allocations.

Progress the task from its allocations.

Progressing allocations rather than tasks can be useful insituations where a task is being worked on by more than oneresource, all working at different rates. Recording theresources' progress then gives you a more accuratereflection of progress than progressing the task directly. Youcan record progress on allocations using any of the methodsdescribed above.

In this example, you will record progress on the permanentresources allocated to the Construction task:

1. Select the Mark Smith permanent resource allocated tothe Construction task.

2. Right-click the % progress control on the Object Edittoolbar.

3. Select the Week 5 progress period to indicate that youwant to record progress on the task that has taken placeduring the fifth period.

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4. Left-click the % progress control and select 30% fromthe drop-down list. Progress is displayed on theallocation in cyan, the colour of the Week 5 progressperiod.

Notice that the Construction task has no progressrecorded against it yet:

5. Let us now assume that you have reached the end of theWeek 5 progress period. Reschedule your project again,but this time straighten the progress line to Week 5. TheConstruction task is split, progress is recorded on thefirst portion of it, and the second portion of it is movedbeyond the Week 5 progress line:

6. Select the Martin Webb permanent resource allocated tothe Construction task and repeat the steps above torecord 50% progress in the Week 6 progress period.Progress is displayed on the allocation in yellow.

Notice that the second portion of the Construction taskstill has no progress recorded against it yet:

7. You will now progress the Construction task from itsallocations. Right-click the second portion of theConstruction task and select Progress FromAllocations. Asta Powerproject calculates the progressof the task from that of its allocations:

8.6 Comparing the progressed project with theoriginal baselineNow that you have progressed the project and rescheduledit, you can compare it with the baseline that you createdbefore you began to record progress. This enables you toidentify areas where the actual progress of the project differsfrom the progress that you expected originally.

To compare the project with a baseline:

1. Select the Bar Chart command from the Format menu.The Format Bar Chart dialog appears.

2. Click the Baselines tab:

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3. The baseline you created is displayed in both panes.Select the check box to the left of each instance of thebaseline to indicate that you want to display the tasksand allocations of the baseline in your progressedproject.

4. Click Apply. The tasks and allocations from the baselineappear in the bar chart underneath the correspondingtasks and allocations in the progressed project:

It is now obvious that the project has not progressed toplan as had been anticipated, resulting in a later projectend date.

5. Clear the two check boxes that you had selected in theFormat Bar Chart dialog and click Close to remove thebaseline from the bar chart.

As well as comparing projects with baselines, you can usebaselines to experiment with 'what if' scenarios: baseline aproject and try out your ideas by editing the baseline. If youare happy with the result, you can revert to your baseline,meaning that the baseline becomes the actual project.

8.7 Completing your projectEarlier in this guide, you created a Project Completeannotation and attached it to the Completion milestone in theSite A project, configuring it to display automatically once theproject was complete.

If you had createdmore than onebaseline, you couldchoose which ones todisplay on the barchart.

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You will now record that the final task in the project, theCompletion milestone, is complete. Once the milestone iscomplete, the Project Complete annotation will be displayed:

1. Right-click the Completion milestone, select theProgress Up To submenu, then select the 100%Complete command.

2. Select the Refresh view command from the View menuto redraw the current view on the screen.

The Project Complete annotation appears to the right of theCompletion milestone, indicating that the project is complete:

8.8 Recording progress remotelyAlthough in this example you have recorded progress directlyinto Asta Powerproject, in some situations you may wantyour permanent resources to update their progress as theywork. Depending on the project, permanent resources maynot have access to Asta Powerproject, for example if theyare working in a remote location. This is not a problem, asresources can now use Asta Timesheet to record progresson their allocations remotely. Asta Timesheet is a web-basedtool that resources can access via a standard web browserfrom any computer. They can access their projects and viewthe tasks to which they are assigned, then enter the amountof time they have worked on each task and estimate theamount of time remaining to complete the task.

When they submit their completed timesheets, a ResourceManager can approve them and apply the progress to theresource allocations in Asta Powerproject. Tasks are thenupdated with the progress from their allocations.

8.9 Viewing progress remotelyAs well as being able to record progress remotely using AstaTimesheet, you can view project information over the webusing Asta Web Viewer. This application, which runs on anycomputer with access to the internet or an intranet, providesyou with a view of their projects similar to that available inAsta Powerproject itself. You can navigate through theprojects to which you have access using the project tree andview bar chart and spreadsheet information.

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9 Printing project informationThis chapter explains how to print project information fromwithin Asta Powerproject and output it in other ways.

This chapter includes the following information:

What Asta Powerproject prints.

Understanding border files.

Preparing to print.

Previewing and printing.

Printing on multiple pages.

Other output options.

9.1 What Asta Powerproject printsAsta Powerproject prints whatever is in the active view,excluding the project view. This means that you can print anyinformation you want from within Asta Powerproject,including the bar chart, spreadsheet and histograms.

9.2 Understanding border filesEverything you print from within Asta Powerproject issurrounded by a border. Border files contain information thatdetermines the page layout used by your printout, includingpage size, orientation and margin information. A number ofdefault borders are supplied with Asta Powerproject, but youcan edit them and create your own, using the AstaPowerdraw application.

You can include a wide range of information from yourproject in a border file, for example the project title, startdate, end date and duration. You include this information in aborder by inserting project tokens into the border file, whichare replaced by project-specific information each time youprint using the border.

In addition to tokens, your borders can include almost anydesigns that you want. For example, you could feature:

Coloured and patterned background rectangles.

Coloured borders around the edge of the page.

Text notations.

Line and shape graphics.

Imported graphics, such as your company logo.

Within each border is a chart area, in which the view that youprint from Asta Powerproject is placed.

In this tutorial you will use one of the default borders that issupplied with Asta Powerproject.

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9.3 Starting the tutorial at this chapterIf you want to work through this chapter of the tutorial withoutfirst completing the previous chapters, open the Tutorial_7.ppfile from the \Tutorial Project Files\ folder on the AstaPowerproject CD. You will then be able to work through thischapter from the start. If you do this, you will be prompted toenter a username and password when you open the project.The username is Admin and the password is Progman.

9.4 Preparing to printBefore you print, you must ensure that the active viewdisplays the information that you want. For example, youcould print the spreadsheet without the bar chart by turningoff the bar chart, or turn off some display features to avoidincluding too much information in the printout.

In this example, prepare the Site A project for printing byselecting the Histogram View command from the Viewmenu to display the histogram that you defined earlier.

The view should look something like this:

9.5 Previewing and printingIt is good practice to preview the active view before you printit:

1. Select the Print Preview command from the File menu.The Print Preview window appears, displaying theactive view:

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2. When you move the cursor over the preview, the cursorshape changes to . Click and drag the cursor over asection of the previewed page to zoom in and view theselection in more detail. The cursor shape then changesto . Click to zoom out.

3. Click to print the previewed page using your currentprinter settings.

Asta Powerproject has a wide range of printing settings. Ifyou need to change any settings before you print, or youwant to print to a different printer, click to view the Printdialog, where you can specify your settings before you print.

9.6 Printing on multiple pagesIf the view you are printing is too large to fit onto a singlepage, or you want to print the information using a largerscale, you can print the view on more than one page. Youcan then attach the individual pages to each other to createone large printout.

Although the example project you have printed is smallenough to fit onto a single sheet of A4 paper, you will nowprint it over two pages to display the information in moredetail:

1. Within the Print Preview window, click . A pictogramappears, showing three pages by two.

2. Click and drag the pictogram to select a two pages byone layout, then release the mouse button:

The information is now displayed over two pages:

You can use the PrintPreview toolbar tochange the way inwhich the view isprinted.

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3. Click to print the previewed pages using your currentprinter settings.

4. Click Close to close the Print Preview window.

9.7 Other output optionsAs well as printing the view you have on the screen, you canalso output data from Asta Powerproject in the followingways:

Export the spreadsheet data to HTML (including the barchart as a graphic if you want), CSV or MPX files.

Output the spreadsheet and bar chart to the Clipboard,or to WMF or EMF files.

Use report writers to work directly with databases savedas Microsoft Access MDB files.

Use Asta Powerproject’s OLE automation to write datafrom an Asta Powerproject project into Microsoft Exceland create a standard report.

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10 Producing reportsThis chapter explains how to produce reports from withinAsta Powerproject.

This chapter includes the following information:

Introduction to tabular reports.

Creating a tabular report category.

Creating a tabular report.

Executing a tabular report.

Conclusion.

10.1 Introduction to tabular reportsYou can produce reports in Asta Powerproject to outputproject information in a tabular format similar to thespreadsheet – these are known as ‘tabular reports’. You canpresent tabular reports in a wide variety of formats, printingthem out or outputting the reports to file.

There are four types of tabular report:

Permanent resource reports – tabular reports in whichpermanent resources are the main focus. This type oftabular report lists permanent resources in turn,displaying information about the tasks to which they areassigned.

Consumable resource reports – tabular reports in whichconsumable resources are the main focus. This type oftabular report lists consumable resources in turn,displaying information about the tasks to which they areassigned.

Cost reports – tabular reports in which cost centres arethe main focus. This type of tabular report lists costcentres in turn, displaying information about the tasksand allocations to which they are assigned.

Task reports – tabular reports in which tasks are themain focus. This type of tabular report lists tasks in turn,displaying information about the tasks and theirallocations.

You can create tabular reports in two distinct styles:

Top down reports, in which data is displayed in verticalcolumns.

Horizontally sliced reports, in which data is time-slicedhorizontally by a specified time unit and interval. Forexample, with a horizontally-sliced report, you candisplay values for every 3 weeks, or for every 2 months.

You create tabular reports using the Tabular Report Wizard,which takes you through the report creation process step-by-step. You specify the columns of information that areincluded in a tabular report by assigning a table definition toit. You can also apply a filter to the tabular report, to limit thereport to specific filter criteria, and a sort order, to sort theinformation in the report in a particular way.

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You can save tabular reports as templates, and use them asa basis for the creation of further tabular reports. You canalso store your tabular reports within Library Explorer incategories, making it easy to locate the report you want.

In this tutorial, you will create a report showing a weeklybreakdown of which tasks the permanent resources in theBuilder folder are working on.

10.2 Starting the tutorial at this chapterIf you want to work through this chapter of the tutorial withoutfirst completing the previous chapters, open the Tutorial_8.ppfile from the \Tutorial Project Files\ folder on the AstaPowerproject CD. You will then be able to work through thischapter from the start. If you do this, you will be prompted toenter a username and password when you open the project.The username is Admin and the password is Progman.

10.3 Creating a tabular report categoryTabular reports are stored in Library Explorer within folders,known as tabular report categories. You can create as manytabular report categories as you want within Library Explorer.For example, you could create tabular report categoriescalled Cost Reports, Permanent Resource Reports,Management Reports, etc.

Here, you will create a tabular report category in which tostore permanent resource reports.

1. Click to open Library Explorer.

2. Select Tabular Report from the tree view.

3. Right-click a blank area of the list view in the right paneand select New Tabular Report Category. A newtabular report category appears in the list, with the cursorflashing in the Name column.

4. Enter Permanent Resource Reports, then click ablank area of the list view to finish editing.

You can now create a tabular report within the category youhave created.

10.4 Creating a tabular reportYou will now create a new tabular report within the tabularreport category you have created.

1. Double-click the tabular report category you have justcreated to open it.

2. Within the new category, right-click a blank area of thelist view and select New Tabular Report. The TabularReport Wizard appears.

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3. Follow the instructions in the wizard to create the tabularreport, clicking Next to move between the various pagesof the wizard and making the selections detailed belowwithin the various pages:

− Report name: Weekly Breakdown of Builders' Tasks.

− Report type: permanent resource report.

− Report style: horizontally sliced report.

− Resource or cost scope: all resource or cost scope.

− Select the data to display: create a new tabledefinition, displaying the following tokens: Taskname, Start and End.

− Report filter: none.

− Time slicing settings: slice interval of 1, slice timeunitof Elapsed Week.

− Report scope: all.

− Report allocation types: scheduled.

− Sort order: none.

− General report options: include scope selection.

− Report output format: printer.

4. When you have entered all the report settings, the wizarddisplays a screen that enables you to review the settingsyou have selected. click Finish to create the report onceyou have reviewed your selections.

The report appears within the tabular report category inLibrary Explorer:

10.5 Executing a tabular reportYou will now execute the tabular report that you havecreated.

You can execute a tabular report in a number of ways:

Right-click the tabular report in Library Explorer andselect Execute Tabular Report.

Select the tabular report from the appropriate category inthe Tools – Tabular Reports menu.

Select the tabular report from the Select... dialog.

In this instance, simply right-click the tabular report in LibraryExplorer and select Execute Tabular Report.

As you have selected to send the tabular report to the printer,it appears in the Print Preview window:

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You can use the Print Preview toolbar to configure the way inwhich the report will be printed, then click to print thereport.

10.6 ConclusionThis completes the Asta Powerproject tutorial. You now havethe knowledge you need to create and maintain programmesof projects within Asta Powerproject.

This tutorial has taught you the basics. For more detailedinformation on how to make the most of Asta Powerproject’spowerful features, refer to Asta Powerproject’scomprehensive online Help.