Viewing New Projects

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The following options are available on the menu bar, as shown in Figure 1 (How Does This Module Help You?):

Dashboards - This is the default page of the module displaying the module data in a graphical or tabular format.
List - This option lists the projects.
Add - This option enables you to add new projects.
Search - This option enables you to search for a particular project.
Invitations - This option lists the project invitations you have received.

The Dashboards page is displayed by default when you click the Projects tab, as shown in Figure 1. This page displays the most recent activities of the projects, you belong. The default view displays activities of the last 48 hours, but you can select to view activities up to the last 30 days.

A blank list is displayed if there are no activities or projects. If items are displayed, you can view the recent activities for the following items:

Recent news articles
Recent messages from the discussion forum
Recent documents that have been submitted
Pending activities that are assigned to you
Tickets that are assigned to you, or are unassigned

Click a project to view its details and Show More to view more projects.

 

Projects_dashboard

Figure 1 The Dashboards Page

Adding News to a Project

News on the Dashboards page lists links displaying the subjects of the posted news articles (for example, Test) and the link in green indicates the project title, as shown in Figure 1. Clicking the project title link, displays the Project Center page. When you click News on this page, a list of news articles is displayed, as shown in Figure 2.

 

projects_newspage

Figure 2 The News Page

News articles are bits of news that you can add to your project for others to review. Others can also add news items if you provide access to them to do so.

Click Add News Article to add a news article, as shown in Figure 2. A form with a set of fields as specified below is displayed, as shown in Figure 3.

Status - This field indicates whether the article is displayed when users view news articles. You can select from the following options:
Draft - Select this option if you have not finished composing the article.

You can finish the article later, but it is displayed in the current news list. Other users cannot view this article unless they have access to Draft articles.

Unapproved - Select this option if you have completed the article, but would like the article to be approved before allowing others to view it.

You can view this article in your current news list, but others are not able to view unless they have access to Unapproved articles.

Published - Select this option if the article is completed, approved, and ready to be viewed by other users.
Position - This field indicates the order of listing of articles.

Articles are displayed in the list by the most recent date first. If you want certain articles to be displayed before the remaining articles, regardless of their date setting, you can group them by position such that lower numbered articles are displayed before higher numbered articles. By default, 10 is used for all articles, so the articles 1-9 are displayed before 10.

Start Date/Time - This field indicates the specific date and time at which the article is allowed to be viewed.

Prior to this time, only users who can view unreleased articles have access to this article. When the start date/time occurs, the article is displayed in the current news list and the rest of the users in your project, with access to news article list, can view the article.

 

Projects_add_newarticle

Figure 3 Add New Article

Archive Date/Time - This field indicates the specific date and time at which the article should be archived from the default view.

Users who have access to archived articles are able to review them.

Category - Enables you to specify the category to which the article belongs.
Link to List - Enables you to link the article to a list.
Subject - This field indicates the headline of the article.
Intro - This option displays an introduction to the article.

The user is also given an option to view any additional pages by clicking the Read more link that is displayed when an article has additional pages.

After completing the news article and entering all information, click Save to save the article. If you wish to add an additional page to the article, click Save and Add a Page.

Your article is displayed when you click the News tab in your project.

Adding Forums

While news articles provide access to information on projects, discussion groups allow informal exchange of information.

Click Discussion on the Project Center page to view forums for discussing projects.

 

Projects_discussion_page

Figure 4 The Discussion Page

Discussion groups contain forums, topics, and messages.

Forums provide categorization of the topics being discussed. For example, you can have forums for suggestions, status reports, or resources. Depending on the size of the project, there may be a number of forums. To view a discussion forum, click View Forum from the options. You can also modify or delete it, as shown in Figure 4.

Once a forum has been created, you need to create a topic for discussion. A topic consists of a subject and a message. Forums may have multiple topics. Click New Forum to start a new discussion forum and New Topic to add new topic under a particular forum. Once a topic has been posted, other team members can reply to it by clicking Post Reply, as shown in Figure 5.

 

Projects_disc_forumdetails

Figure 5 Discussion Forum Details

Managing Documents

The Projects module provides its users with a sophisticated document management tool. This feature enables you to store different versions of documents in a hierarchy of folders. Click Documents on the Projects Center page to view a list of folders and files that belong to a project, as shown in Figure 6.

 

Projects_docpage

Figure 6 The Documents Page

To create a folder, click New Folder and to store a file, click Submit File. While uploading a file, enter a subject for the file that gets displayed in the list. You can store documents at the top level, or navigate to any available folder and store a file there.

Files existing in the document library are displayed in the list.

 

proj_file_operations

Figure 7 File Operations

Clicking action_icon, displays a context menu with the following options, as shown in Figure 7:

View File History - This option displays the different versions that exist for a file and the number of times each version has been downloaded.
Download File - This option enables you to download files to your computer.
View File Contents - This option displays the files in a pop-up window.

Files of following types are displayed:

PDF
Excel
HTML
Text
Word
Rename File - This option enables you to rename a file.
Add Version - This option enables you to upload a new version of an existing document.

The existing file will not be altered, and can be downloaded or deleted separately. Version numbers are indicated as:

Major - This option indicates that a substantial amount of content has been added or modified.
Minor - This option indicates that some amount of content has been added or modified.
Changes - This option indicates that small amount of content has been added or modified.
Move File - This option allows you to move the file to another folder.
Delete File - This file enables you to delete the file and all versions of the file.

To delete only the version of the file, click View File History for additional options.

On this history page, you can perform:

Add a new folder
Submit a file to a folder
Rename a folder
Delete a folder

Viewing Lists

Lists allows you to place items in a list that can be marked incomplete or complete. You can note down related items to be referenced later.

Projects can contain any number of lists and each list can contain any number of items. An item on the list can also contain a memo area.

 

projdashboardlist

Figure 8 The Lists Page

Click Lists on the Project Center page to view the lists page, as shown in Figure 8. Click New List located at the top of the page to add a new list. A page to add lists is displayed, as shown in Figure 9.

 

projects_addlist

Figure 9 Adding a List

Enter the name for the list and click Save.

Adding Plans

The Plan feature help in creating a high-level view of project objectives as well as providing low-level details. Click Plan from the Project Center page. You must always start the plan with an outline.

Outlines is used to organize objectives for the project. Click New Outline to create an outline. A page with the following details is displayed, as shown in Figure 10:

Title - This field describes the project objective.
Details - A text describing the goals of the outline is displayed.

The outline may contain activities and assignments.

Requested by - This field indicates the person who might have initiated the plan.
Department or Company - This field indicates the name of the organization that might have initiated the plan.
Expected Dates - This field indicates the date on which the plan is expected to begin and the date on which it is expected to be completed.
Level of Effort - This field indicates an estimated time for completion of the objective, and the actual time taken for completion.
Status - This field indicates whether the outline is approved and/or closed (complete).

 

newoutline

Figure 10 Creating a New Outline

After entering all the fields, click Save to save the outline.

Once you have created the outline, an item in the list with a progress of zero (0) activities is displayed.

Clicking action_icon displays the context menu. You can view the outline details by clicking View Outline Details from this menu, or by clicking the name of the outline in the list, as shown in Figure 11.

 

Projects_planoutline

Figure 11 Plan Outline

The Plan Outline page is displayed, as shown in Figure 12. Clicking the name of the outline displays a context menu which provides you with the following options:

View Outline Details - to view the details of the outline.
Add Activity Folder - to add a folder to group the activities.
Add an Activity - to add activities. For more details, refer to Adding Activities.

An activity folder enables you to create sections in your outline, as shown in Figure 12. This is useful while building an outline without deciding how to group activities.

 

Projects_plan_outliner

Figure 12 Options for Outlines

Adding Activities

Clicking Add an Activity displays a pop-up window, as shown in Figure 13, wherein you can enter:

 

projectaddactivity

Figure 13 Add an Activity Window

 

Add an Activity
Description - A brief description that indicates a specific task that needs to be completed.
Indent Level - This field indicates the level of items.
As the outline is hierarchical, each item on the outline can be moved to the left or right.
Priority - The importance of this activity can be specified as:
Low
Normal, which is the default
High
Keywords - This option contains additional words to track activities.
Assignment

The Assignments section enables you to enter the following details:

Assigned to - This option enables you to assign an activity to any member of the project.
Level of Effort - This field indicates the estimated time taken for this activity to be completed and the actual time taken for completion of the activity.
Start Date - This field indicates the date on which this activity began.
Due Date - This field indicates the date by which this activity is to be completed.
Progress

The Progress section indicates the status of the activity and enables you to enter any additional notes. Status describes the state of this activity as:

Not Started - indicates that this activity has not yet started.
In Progress - indicates that this activity has started, but is still in progress.
Complete - indicates that the activity is complete.
Closed - indicates that the activity is not completed, but the activity may no longer be necessary.
On Hold - indicates that this activity is waiting on some other factor.
Waiting on Requirements - indicates that more information is needed in order to complete this activity.

When all information on the activity has been recorded, select Save or Save & New.

Save records the activity and refresh the outline. Save & New records the activity, refresh the outline, and provides another form to continue adding activities.

Once an activity is added to the list, you can select from the following options:

Add Activity Folder - This option enables you to add an activity folder.
Add Activity - This option enables you to add another activity below the existing one.
View/Update This Activity - This option enables you to modify the activity depending on your permissions, and whether the activity is assigned to you.

Otherwise you are allowed to view the activity without making any changes.

Delete Activity - This option enables you to delete an activity.

You also have the option of moving the activity item up and down the list, or indenting the activity to the left and right.

Adding Tickets

Once the project starts, there might be some unexpected issues that need to be recorded and resolved. The Tickets feature helps you capture these issues.

Tickets indicates issues that can be assigned to a team member. A list of tickets associated with a project is shown in Figure 14.

Click New Ticket on the Project Center page to add a new ticket.

 

Projects_ticketpage

Figure 14 The Tickets Page

A new page is displayed, as shown in Figure 15.

 

addtickets

Figure 15 The Add Ticket Page

The information to be entered on this page can be divided into the following three sections:

Classifications
Assignment
Resolution

Setting Classifications

The Classifications section indicates any issue that has come up. The issue can be a request for information or a problem that has occurred.

The severity of the issue, which describes the impact on the project, can be selected from the following options:

Normal
Important
Critical

Adding Assignments

The Assignments tab indicates the date by when the issue is to be resolved. You can select from the following options in the Priority field:

As Scheduled - This option enables the team member assigned to take care of the issue whenever convenient.
Next - This option enables the team member assigned to take care of this issue ahead of other lower priority items.
Urgent - This option enables the team member assigned to take care of this issue as soon as possible because the impact is severe.
Critical - This option enables the team member assigned to take care of this issue immediately because the impact is severe.

You may enter the following information:

Assign To - This field displays the team member who has been assigned this ticket.
User Comments - This field displays any additional comments that are not part of the issue.

A ticket can have any number of comments. Each comment is dated and attributed to the user who made a comment and is later displayed in the ticket history.

Estimated Resolution Date - This field displays the date by which this issue is expected to be resolved.

Adding Resolution

The Resolution tab displays the solution to the ticket. The solution is a description of how the ticket was resolved.

Closing a Ticket

You can select the Close Ticket option located at the bottom of the Add Ticket page, as shown in Figure 16. This indicates that the ticket is complete and needs no further action.

Once added, the details of the ticket can be reviewed. A ticket also contains a history in which you can view the progress or escalation that has occurred with the ticket.

Once a ticket has been closed, you can re-open the ticket later, if necessary.

Associating Accounts

You can associate an account to a project using the Accounts tab. Click Accounts. The Accounts page is displayed, as shown in Figure 16.

 

projects_accounts

Figure 16 Accessing the Accounts Page

Click Link an Account to associate an Account to this project. A pop-up window enabling you to select the Account is displayed, as shown in Figure 17. Click Select beside the account name to select the account, as shown in Figure 17 or click Cancel to cancel the operation.

 

projects_acc_popup

Figure 17 Selecting an Account

Organizing Teams

After configuring the project and adding news article, you need to add contacts to your projects.

Click the Team tab. The Team page is displayed, as shown in Figure 18. The first page displays a list of currently added team members and some information about them. Your name is added automatically when you create a new project.

To add team members, click the Modify Team link. The Modify Team page is displayed, as shown in Figure 19.

 

Projects_teamspage

Figure 18 The Teams Page

 

Projects_team_modify

Figure 19 Modify Team

A page with list boxes, some of which are empty, is displayed. The list on the extreme right shows you the team members of your project. The list on the far left displays channels through which you can add team members.

Note: For more details, refer to Viewing Team Page.

All added team members are initially identified as Invited. This indicates that you want them to be on this project, but want them to inform you of this action. You want the team members to login to ConcourseSuite Projects to accept the invitation. If the team members do not have an account, they receive an email that allows them to register with ConcourseSuite Projects before accepting your invitation.

Team members can be added from the following projects:

Open Projects - This option enables you to add contacts from your existing projects.
Closed Projects - This option enables you to add contacts from your closed projects.
Department List- This option enables you to add the contacts from the various departments.
Accounts - This option enables you to add the contacts associated with accounts.

After selecting a contact, ensure the selected contact is displayed in the list before continuing. To remove team members from your project, select the contacts from the right column and they are removed when the team is updated.

After modifying the team, click Update Team to commit the changes. If you have added a contact by email address, and ConcourseSuite Projects is not familiar with that address, you will be asked if you are certain you would like to invite the contact to the project. If you select Yes, you must enter the first and last names of the contact.

When contacts are added to a project, whether they are users of ConcourseSuite or not, an email is sent to each contact inviting it to your project. When you view the users, you can modify their role in the project by selecting from the options next to their names. The system immediately updates the users role after modifying the same.

Viewing Details

The Details tab displays the details of a project, as shown in Figure 20.

 

Projects_detailspage

Figure 20 The Details Page

The following fields are displayed:

Status - indicates whether the project is pending for approval or cleared.
Title - displays the name of the project.
Short Description - displays a brief description of the project.
Start Date - displays the date on which the project began.
Estimated Close Date - displays the date by which the project is expected to close.
Requested by - displays the name of the person who requested the project.
Organization - displays the name of the organization to which the person who requested the project belongs.
Budget - indicates the monetary funds set aside for the project.
Entered and Modified - indicates the date and time the project was entered and last modified. It also displays the name of the person who modified the project.

When you click Modify Project, you are navigated to a form where you change the project data. After you have made modifications, click Update to save the changes or Cancel to return to the previous screen.

To delete a project, click Delete Project shown in Figure 20.

Managing the Setup

As the project lead, you have access to the Setup tab. By clicking Setup, you can configure some of the administrative tasks associated with the project. The following links are displayed under the Setup tab:

Customize Project
Configure Permissions

In Customize Project, if you are a leader of this project, you can decide which tabs are needed for the project and what the tabs should be called. Changing the names of the tabs does not change any of the existing functionality for that tab. Turning off the tabs can be helpful if you do not intend to have any information under that tab.

If you want to leave the tabs with their default settings, click Cancel.

Setting Up Project Permissions

Within the Setup tab, you also have the choice to configure permissions for a project. Permissions allow you to define what members of your project can be allowed to view, add, change, or delete. When you add users to your project, you need to decide which part of the project each user can access.

Projects has pre-configured a few types of users, called Roles. Each role has a different set of permissions. The roles are as shown in Figure 21. The roles and their definitions are specified below:

Project Lead - The owner or manager of the project who has control of the project data.

The project lead is allowed to configure the project and add, update, and delete project information. There may be multiple owners or managers for a project.

Contributor - The person responsible for adding or updating project information.
Observer - The person who is allowed to review the project.

The observer has read access and is allowed to add or update project-related information.

Guest - A user who has a read-only role.

A guest is a person who is not directly part of the project, but can view some of the project information.

 

Project_filesetup

Figure 21 File Setup

Note: Every user added to the project is assigned a role and is provided certain capabilities within the project.

Configuring Permissions

A list of all permissions that can be adjusted in a project is shown in Figure 22. Each tab has a variety of permissions that can be adjusted.

 

Projects_proj_permission

Figure 22 Project Permissions

For example, the first group Project Details contains the following permissions that can be adjusted:

View project details - defines which role can view the project details.
Modify project details - defines which role can modify the project details.
Delete project - defines which role can permanently delete a project.

Note: Avoid further configuration and make use of defaults until you have understood the permissions of each project tab well.