Administering Deltek Cobra 5 in the Real World

Duration: 1 day

Prerequisites: Ten Six Deltek Cobra Fundamentals training class or similar, or six months experience using Cobra in the field.

Continuing on from the Deltek Cobra Fundamentals training course, this advanced class focuses on the less common, but more complex tasks that Cobra administrators frequently need to tackle. The ‘Fundamentals’ training class teaches attendees to build a basic integrated earned value system and then run it. However, once a system is in place, having a good grasp of Cobra’s other capabilities will pay dividends. That is where this class comes in.

As the organization becomes more familiar with earned value and thus more sophisticated, so do the demands the organization puts on the system experts. Being able to respond to these demands in a timely and accurate fashion is critical to the organization, and is required of the individuals tasked with providing such sophisticated data. This advanced course will help attendees in many ways.

In addition, attendees will be able to do the following on completion of the course:

• Able to quickly provide answers to management as to whether a certain request is feasible

• Execute any feasible data request quickly and accurately • Modify or change the system data and configurations as the process is improved • Have greater confidence in their expertise and knowledge of what can, and what

cannot be done with Deltek’s Cobra • Deal decisively with errors and warnings that can occur during integrations, updates

and other processes

Course Contents

• Lesson  1:  Resource  Calculations  –  this  lesson  covers  all  the  administrative  tasks  required  to  setup  resource  rates,  calculations  and  burdens.  This  includes  calendars,  full  

Deltek Cobra Administrator Training

 

time  equivalent  rates,  generic  rates,  resource  breakdown  structures  and  special  burden  calculations  for  different  resource  types.    

• Lesson  2:  Multi-­‐Program  Operations  –  this  lesson  teaches  students  the  preparation  and  setup  techniques  required  to  run  a  successful  multi-­‐program  within  Deltek  Cobra.  This  also  covers  a  number  of  status  and  reporting  exercises  to  teach  the  benefits  of  operating  with  multi-­‐programs.    

• Lesson  3:  Import  Export  –  this  lesson  looks  at  all  the  ways  to  export  project  data  out  of  Deltek  Cobra  and  into  such  tools  as  Microsoft  Excel.  The  lesson  includes  exercises  to  help  reinforce  the  techniques  learned.    

• Lesson  4:  Schedule  Integration  –  this  lesson  offers  detailed  exercises  in  schedule  integration,  the  integration  wizard  settings  required  and  how  to  prepare  the  schedules  for  integration  with  Deltek  Cobra.  This  lesson  is  available  for  Primavera  P6  or  Microsoft  Project  depending  on  your  requirements.    

• Lesson  5:  Loading  Status  –  this  lesson  looks  at  the  steps  and  settings  required  to  update  the  Deltek  Cobra  projects  based  upon  the  performance  of  the  project  schedule.  This  lesson  is  available  for  Primavera  P6  or  Microsoft  Project  depending  on  your  requirements.    

• Lesson  6:  Performing  a  Replan  –  this  lesson  teaches  the  details  of  what  happens  to  your  data  in  Deltek  Cobra  when  you  perform  a  replan  (often  referred  to  as  a  single  point  adjustment  or  SPA).  Using  exercises  and  examples,  students  can  see  the  impact  of  the  different  options  and  settings  when  they  replan  a  project.    

• Lesson  7:  Assignment  Import  Export  –  this  lesson  teaches  the  techniques  required  for  exporting  certain  data  from  a  project  in  spreadsheet  format.  This  can  then  be  changed  by  the  Project  Manager,  CAM  or  other  project  team  member  and  then  loaded  back  into  the  project.  This  negates  the  need  for  everyone  involved  in  EVM  to  have  access  to  Deltek  Cobra.    

• Lesson  8:  Apportionment  –  this  lesson  is  an  overview  with  exercises  that  teaches  students  how  to  setup  resources  and  projects  for  apportioning  the  effort  of  some  work  based  upon  the  effort  of  other  work.  This  can  be  helpful  when  setting  up  such  things  as  a  support  desk  or  anywhere  that  one  group’s  work  is  dependent  on  work  happening  elsewhere.    

• Lesson  9:  SQL  Command  Utility  –  in  this  lesson,  students  will  learn  how  to  enter  SQL  commands  directly  to  the  Deltek  Cobra  database.  They  will  also  see  how  the  SQL  Command  Utility  is  a  powerful  supplement  to  the  Deltek  Cobra  reporting  tools.    

• Lesson  10:  Administering  User  Access  –  students  will  learn  how  to  control  the  access  of  others  in  a  multi-­‐user  Cobra  installation.  This  lesson  takes  a  close  look  at  the  EPM  Security  Administrator  and  includes  exercises  to  setup  new  people,  groups  and  roles.    

 

• Lesson  11:  Customizing  Report  –  this  is  an  overview  of  all  the  basic  techniques  for  developing  your  own  report  templates  and  standard  reports  in  Deltek  Cobra.  Using  Microsoft  Excel  and  practical  exercises,  students  will  learn  who  they  can  modify  templates  and  then  use  the  Reporting  Wizard  to  assemble  their  own  custom  reports.    

• Lesson  12:  Batch  Reporting  –  in  this  lesson,  students  will  perform  simple  exercises  to  create  batch  reports.  These  batch  reports  will  then  be  used  to  run  groups  of  required  reports  each  month  with  a  simple  click  of  a  button.  

To learn more about this class, please contact Ten Six Consulting (703) 910-2600 or email us at training@tensix.com