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5.2 User Guide Addendum - 2KB

1. AMS REALTIME Server Resource Solo amp WebSolo users Microsoft Project Users This system also offers a workforce management tool This tool enables a central pool of resources to be assigned to tasks in Microsoft Project It also allows resources that reside in a Microsoft Project file to be assigned to the central pool and other tasks in other projects 8 e The Enterprise Solution AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Using AMS Enterprise Solution for Microsoft Project Enterprise Enterprise Menu This menu gives access to the functions that allow connection and operation with the AMS Enterprise server from within Microsoft Project This menu is available in the Microsoft Project menu bar Enterprise Window Help gf Logon 40 Disconnect Ea Commit EA status K Workforce Browser Commit The Commit menu item allows a Microsoft Project schedule to be posted to the AMS REALTIME Server It passes activity resource and resource assignment information to the server Once the server has this information it can be immediately viewed and acted upon by project teams and team leaders using AMS REALTIME Resources Projects Solo or WebSolo AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Using AMS Enterprise Solution for Microsoft Project e 9 How to Commit a Workplan Click on the Enterprise menu in Microsoft Project If you are not already logged in to the server the logon dialog will appear Logon as described in Logon
2. If the Pick type is selected a dialog will be provided so that you can enter all the possible choices for the field The pick list items can be separated by a comma or a space Items with embedded spaces must be enclosed in quotes This type provides a method for data validation Ctrl click will override the popup and allow direct editing but the entry still must match one of the pick list items AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Lookup If the Lookup type is selected you must specify the name of a lookup table As the lookup table contents change by date range the resulting data will change as well Calculate If the Calculate type is selected a popup will appear containing a list of all the defined fields Once a field has been selected a second popup will allow selection of an operator Once an operator has been selected the field list will reappear to allow a second field selection The last popup will contain the fields from the selected dataset Overriding Data Type Popups AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum To override the function popup and build a more complex calculated formula hold the Ctrl key and click in the type column to open the field definition for editing The formula must be preceded with C to indicate a calculated field type Make sure that any field you use in a calculated formula has been previously defined in the dataset The following operators can be selected Sampe Description x y add x to y x y subtract
3. 16 o About This Document Many new modules and functions have been added to the AMS REALTIME Enterprise Client AMS REALTIME Resources These modules and functions are in most cases advances in the operational aspects of existing objects such as time scales calendars and table objects These enhancements to the different class types are far reaching and require detailed explanation This is an AMS addendum publication only and is intended to document all the new functionality of the enterprise applications that appear in version 6 0 These sections focus in high detail on individual classes in the Enterprise Client software They are intended to be removed from this document and placed in their appropriate user guides for the 6 0 release In the interim this addendum will serve as a User Guide for new and existing customers who need to find out what s new in the release and how to use it to full effect Conventions Most objects in the system react to both mouse and keyboard input When a mouse and keyboard operation will affect the object the items are described separately using two symbols AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum q Instructions based on the use of a mouse Instructions based on the use of a keyboard Time Scale Functions The time scale object can be manipulated in a number of ways using either the mouse or the keyboard The time scale can be selected and then scrolled stretched compressed compressed to the left com
4. Markout Wb Working Days Note The display selector button shows the mode that will be selected if the button is clicked For example if the display is showing the Working Days on mode that is what will happen if the button is clicked Selecting one or more days on the calendar The calendar day boxes can be used to select one or more dates This feature is used for various functions depending on where the calendar is For example if the calendar is being used in the date field of a table selecting a date box will apply that date to the selected cell in the table If the calendar is being used with the Project Tab it can be used to alter the duration of an activity In these cases the ability to select more than one consecutive date is desirable To select multiple dates simply place the mouse pointer on the starting date and then click and drag the mouse across the calendar face Each box the mouse pointer passes will be selected AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Calendar Manipulation using the keyboard With the calendar object selected input from the keyboard can be used to change the selected days months and years for the calendar Arrow keys use the left right up and down arrow keys to move the selected day on the calendar object Left and Right arrow keys move the selected date one day back or forward respectively The up and down keys move vertically changing the selection by one week Sel
5. Updating Information e 71 72 e Updating Information Check Out and Check In In order to protect the data integrity of stored files the Check out and Check in features can be used to stop undesirable changes being made to the file Once a specific user checks out a file no other person can open or change the file This protects the file from accidental or intentional alteration Only the user who checks out a file can check it back in Once the file has been checked back in it is available for others with access to that table HOWTO Set up for check out in For check out and check in to work correctly two additional fields must be created in the same dataset as the blob definition These are the who and when fields and the blob definition to populate them The Who and When fields must be named in the following way BlobFieldNameWho amp BlobFieldNameWhen where BlobFieldName is the name of the field containing the blob Example a blob field has been created to store arp schedule files The field is named ARP Therefor the Who and When fields must be named ARPWho and ARPWhen Now a special statement needs to be added to the blob field type definition so that these two fields get populated B arp schlARPWhoQ ARPWhen The item in bold has been added to the blob field definition Below is a sample from a working check out in setup Tip To edit the type field hold down the Ctrl key and click in the field Holding
6. 28 29 80 31 1 2 13 14 5 6 18 9 10 11 12 A3 14 The height of a particular color within the bar represents the percentage of usage or overload up to 200 usage After 200 completely Red the system does not distinguish more overload graphically However it does record this number within the workplan table so higher overloads are represented in the LOE column Interpreting the Usage Histogram Here is an expanded example of the multi histogram showing 25 increments from fully available to 200 overload The histogram can be described as a rolling histogram in as much as the white rolls up to the top of the bar as the resource is assigned and as the resource becomes over assigned past 100 the red starts to roll up over the white For convenient illustration the diagram shows approximate 25 increments however the bars themselves are 10 pixels high and therefore represent to the nearest 1 10 increment As stated before these miniature graphs are designed to offer a guide to resource availability rather than act as a precise reporting instrument 100 25 50 75 100 25 50 75 100 None Working Available Usage Usage Usage Usage Overload Overload Overload Overload Period The Usage Histogram This third view represents the usage of a resource over time In this case the blue color represents usage and the red represents overload The histogram scales depending on the amount of usage and overload apply to the re
7. As the schedule is committed the commit dialog will populate a simple table of fields to show what happened Commit Project to Realtime Enterprise Server Bisi x r Summary information table n Deleted Added ee Projects Activities 3 Resources E S S E Assignments 4 OK 4 Actuals o et Status information pm Review Log File Options gt gt gt i Cancel Scanned this column shows what the commit function found to be present in the schedule In the above example it found 2 open projects with 3 activities 4 resources 4 resource assignments and no actuals Deleted Don t panic this column does not refer to deleting the contents of the schedule it refers to a clearing mechanism within the commit function that clean out any existing references to elements from a previously committed schedule before replacing them with an updated or appended element from the current schedule This process is marked by an OK message in the Deleted column Added this column shows the total number of objects added to the Enterprise Server s database Updated shows the total number of elements that where updated during the commit process Status This feature allows the status of a workplan to be pulled down into the original Microsoft Project schedule This will include progress calculations and actual hours worked on tasks by the individuals assigned to them To obtain the status of a Project s
8. Deletinig a Work Assigninent 2 spinaii toesea eeit ea anaia as sadia Das Rude EEN 90 Objects Tab 91 What is Rer EN KE 91 REALTIME Projects 5 2 93 DIEN sees ehre eeh tee SE ee AR E Da O a vente seat eee ethene reat tee 93 AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Contents iii iv e Contents Technical Progress Enbancement i cipia ae e ea E E aE EET aE 93 Description of Enhancement ienne inaia aR ni Ea 93 HOWTO Set up the Technical Progress Enbancement ii 94 HOWTO Use the Technical Progress Enhancement eeeccseeceseeeeseeeeeeneeeee 94 Field Calculator Enhanceiments 2 24 2es cesar ees iea EES EES 96 Activity Extension Field Formatting ir ereecereereraeeea acer anernanea 96 Decimal sets 2503s RS RN RR SR RARO EE EE 96 Syntax Checking and Comments 97 Constants and project fields esoe ee Ret oh Sa A ne has 98 Duration and Logical Functions e erceererenearereaceraneena 98 OperalorS suas roses n sao seis aro cess Seeacauadecntovs seeiebescdeh goes Sa Ee 99 A Complex Calculation Broken Down into Steps 0 ccceeseceeseeceseeeeeeeseereneeeeee 99 String ED EE 99 Automatic Activity ID Formatting occ eeeeeseecesneeesseecseecseeesseecesaeeesaeecsaeesseeeeseeeesaes 101 Resource Extension Field Enhancements csssscsssecsseecesceceseeeesseecsaeecseecsseeeeseeeesaes 101 9 A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE 101 Resource LOE AM Resists ie siete Mh ii hana ha enh aie eee 102 Resource Ex
9. depending on where it is located For example when the calendar appears on a date field selections from the calendar will enter a date in the field cell If the calendar is selected on the time scale it will alter the start or end date of the time scale The same calendar object is also located in the lower right hand side of the screen and affects the week displayed in a time scale RE prizcco DD ZURA ALA EE EE Aad ES 1 a NSNAN 8 Standard 9 56 07 AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum The calendar module s functionality is available throughout the system The capabilities described in this next section are universal and apply in most cases wherever this object appears Manipulating the Calendar Object Months and Years are navigated using the left and right pointers at the top of the calendar object The outer left and right pointers will increment the calendar by one year at a time in the forward or backward direction The inner pointers will alter the calendar by one Month in either direction To return to the current month right click once in the blue header at the top of the calendar dialog Month Selector List Year Selector List Current Day Standard 10 04 58 KS Display Selector Current Calendar Time of Day Clicking in the blue header bar at the top of the calendar w
10. hours will not be lost These hours are stored in the Actuals table and are protected However if the person resource attempts to book further hours to the activity after being re assigned the time card will not accept the new hours To book further hours the person would have to be given non project access to the task or have it temporarily reassigned in order to book further hours to the task Deleting a Work Assignment To remove or delete an existing work assignment follow the instructions below 1 Click on the Workplan tab to enter the Workplan view 2 Click on the Select Project button on the tool bar at the top of the Workplan tab and select the desired project from the list 3 Click on the Select Activity button and choose the desired activity from the list 4 Click the row header icon a to select the desired resource to remove 5 Click the Remove Assignment button to return the resource back to the pool Note If the resource being removed has already booked actual hours to the activity the data will not be lost Time card data is stored in the Actuals dataset and is protected 90 e Workplan Tab AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Objects Tab What is Objects Tab This tab gives a view of the Resources Server statistics This can be useful if the server is physically inaccessible from the client or is too remote for regular observation In the unlikely event of performance problems occurring with the system these statist
11. that none of the changes are saved See the section on Sharing Calendar Information Between Projects for information on how calendars can be made available to other projects Working Time Shifts As well as being able to define which days are working or non working it is also possible to specify which hours are to be worked within the working day These hours can be set up to reflect the shifts worked on the project In the Info Tab the basic shift information is entered and displayed in the Day Length Week Length and Month Length fields These times are used to determine how many working hours there are in a working day which is entered in the Day Length box In this example 8 hours Depending on the number of working days in the week the program will calculate the Week Length in this case 40 working hours AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum In a similar fashion the Month Length shows the number of working hours in a month Note Data entered in the Info Tab does not influence the information held or entered in the other tabs in the calendar dialog These can usually be ignored as the important settings are the once made in the cycle and range tabs See the section Cycle below for further information on establishing shift patterns Moving Around the Calendar November 1998 Ved Month Year To move around the calendar in order to display a different month or year use the left and right
12. 1 Choose the Commit option in the Enterprise menu 2 If the system has not yet been logged on to the server the login dialog will appear Enter a valid user name and password to enter the system Then click the Login button to complete the login 3 Next the commit dialog will appear In here choose the Options button Commit Project to Realtime Enterprise Server 4 In the Options dialog click on the Browse button to locate an appropriate map file A map file is a text file containing instructions telling the system how to apply the fields of Microsoft Project to the fields in the enterprise server Commit Status Options for Realtime Enterprise Server Vv Jo Gil Approved Actuals Eom a Ignore Gett ATTEN M Preserve Constraint Types Dates Note The system is supplied with a sample Commit map Status map and MSPSample dst dataset file These files are designed to operate with each other and can be used as a basis for customizing the Enterprise system Once the appropriate map file has been specified click the OK button This will return to the Commit dialog In the commit dialog click on the Commit button to submit the Microsoft Project schedule to the Enterprise system 10 e Using AMS Enterprise Solution for Microsoft Project AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum The project will be committed to the Enterprise Server and immediately be available to the project community Results
13. 5 2 Addendum maximum field length can be entered If Reference Virtual Calculate Pick or other types are selected follow the same procedures described in the section above on Defining the Activity Dataset Defining the Organization Dataset The basic organization fields which are required by the product are predefined in the Organization dataset While these names can be modified extreme care must be taken to change all other related field references across the datasets if changes are made at all The contents of the Attributes field by specific keyword is how the product differentiates between fields which are used for a special purpose and fields which contain information which is a user reference only The Attribute keywords for the Organization dataset are DeptPick The contents of this field will be displayed in a popup when selecting the Organization in Plan mode DeptOrg The contents of this field will be used for each employee s OrgCode which can be used to create an organizational hierarchy DeptID Department Indentifier DeptCal Department Calendar To add new fields to the Organization dataset click in the first empty line under the Name column Type the new field name Click on the same line under the Type column A popup will appear containing all the data types Click on the appropriate data type If the Alpha type is selected a prompt will appear so that the maximum field length can be entered If Re
14. Addendum In this above example DBConvert is the project level Analysis is the Activity level and the lowest level in this particular drilldown sequence is a resource Resource names not shown here to protect the innocent Selecting Items Items can be selected in the list by clicking on the text of the item The selection feature is hierarchy sensitive That is to say that clicking on a parent item selects both the parent and any child element below Drilldown Chart The content of this area depends on the chart selection made with the Drilldown control tools By default a Gantt chart is displayed in this area It can also display a Work Breakdown Structure by clicking the Select Chart Type tool Select Chart Type tool Graph Controls The lower half of the Portfolio screen contains a set of graph controls that can be used to alter the display in the report graph and report table area Using Portfolio View AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Performing a Drilldown When entering the Portfolio View the first operation to perform is a drilldown A drilldown allows the data to be viewed in any chosen sort order For example the data may need to be viewed first by project then by activity and finally by resource Project Activity Resource To select the order use the Set Drilldown Order tool a Set Drilldown Order tool Click on the Set Drilldown Order button and choose Projects from
15. DesCrIptON EE SAGE esis vas cos cas tcuystens aves cavssubetovs cuts cov Mancadas EE EEEE The Calendar Tab Defining Working Time in the Calendar AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum DAs hehehe 7 Bena AM ass 7 Contents e i ii e Contents The Calendar Mode Display 29 Wotkine Kee EE 30 Moving Around the Calendar 31 Selecting Dates iss oieee Ms po sin sea seek oasis EA E ADA HA sad EE EEEa 31 Changin Working DayStar a iA RE ae 32 Changing Shifts 3 2a ea divest ege dee EECH 32 Defining Overdays i0 f si fetes Ee Ae As on A A ae 34 Specifying the Range of Date 35 Creatinis a New Calendar egene Satie Rees oh Se A ee ea 36 Worked Examples 6 ise Sieh Sid ht Ze pass A Ee bows Deen iad eons estaba bo eb has Tui rata Seats 36 Sharing Calendar Info Between Projects eeeesecesseeceseeessneecsaceceeeceseecesaeessaeessaeesseeeees 38 Assigning E EEN 39 CaletidarsHierar chy sais g e Ss Se Boek Ras Serge Ee Ee 39 Database Tab 41 Formerly the Update and Define Tas 41 PUPO SE e arate bhi aaO ER Er beset EAK E tuys cued sovacyuadupa dave sous EES d e aiii 41 Database Tab FUNCHONS TTT 41 Selecting a Dataset ienr a reae eS E eege eg at EES EE 42 Defining a Key Piel dys ooh peuo eu obs SEE EKETE EEEE SEE EERE 43 The Basic AMS REALTIME Resources Datasets cesccesseccesseeesseecsseeesseeceseeeessteesaeers 44 Creating Dataset Field Definitions 0 0 0 0 ee eeeeeeseessneecsseecececeseeeesaeeesaeecsaeessneesesaeeesa
16. Information 67 Data aiana Ke o e ee eet cis soci hs ESSE ISSO ORE Ss Bs Ss Bat 67 Changing the Table Layout 67 Deletins keete steier iened i ee eg edei AS eden daba dora evap det Ae 67 Savino the E ENEE 67 Hierarchical Organization Data Coding eeeeeeseeceseecsseeceseeeesaeeesaeecsacecseecesaeeesaeessaeers 68 LEE 68 JEEE OG LaTe n Toa ENE ege dee ege Seed tec EEN Ee TRONO 68 AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Entering Expenses sic tisioca irma aA AEE ARENS ee 68 Storing Files in the Database BL OR 70 Storia OC 71 Check Out and Check eege EE 72 HOWTO Set up for check uti iiia santos saucsthovasteausc alse ENEEEE AER nata 72 Check in out Errors File Error 229 Failed to Jock 72 Portfolio Tab 73 Whatis Portfolio tsnena ee e e ierre daear chet ich danada 73 Chemie 73 Drilldown Controle 129 74 Top Legend Aren ca iceccsisstigsiskecdieiset cdeedsanccsvicetedenichncdesdenacdescennedesecadedeuccdbesenedds 74 Drilldown Table st 2 catia e idan eae 74 Selecting tems ccs huss eet e AER basa caves ds pad SERA 75 Drilldown Chart EE 15 Graph Controls csissecssiesedsyceeccesteesesds ks cosa cimo cous cubs eousctad devs ESEESE EE ATE E E E 75 Using Portfolio View sing George EERSTEN EES 15 Performing Dolldewnt eseu sg ege EES seia EER ets dhas uia aa bE seua das nana 15 Portfolio Table ss eege asseio iso dos eE ERR ios avisies Pads auton distension ai sun ga 76 Structure Diagram Char ssn eon oe eeuen ege Eea
17. OrgLookup table defined and populated with data we can create fields in the Actuals dataset and the Employee dataset that use the Lookup table to determine their value Change back to Define mode and select the Actuals dataset Change the Organization data type to Lookup A popup will appear that contains all Numeric datasets choose the OrgLookup table from the popup AMS REALTIME Resources will determine that correct value for the Actuals Organization field by finding the latest date reference in the OrgLookup Organization field that contains the ResID the key field Lookup data values are populated in a Numeric table based on a matching field name Now select the Employee dataset Change the Type of the Org Code field to Lookup Choose the OrgLookup table from the popup of numeric datasets Now choose Organization from the field list This is a lookup reference from a text dataset This field value will AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum be changed automatically when the system date passes the as of Date in the OrgLookup table A Lookup Field in the Employee Dataset AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Database Tab e 59 Configuration Dataset Configuration Settings in the Database Configuration settings are stored in the Configuration dataset This is a special table designed to allow the system administrator to store certain switches in the Enterprise database This ensures that every client that logs in to the system gets the same
18. Res List field The LOE is calculated form the current resource plane only i e Planned Actual Baseline resource usage B 1 00 F 0 50 M 0 50 CT B 1 00 F 0 50 M 0 50 CT The LOE will be calculated and displayed for only those resources which are identified by a Resource Extension field that has a true value In the example at the right the Resource Extension field ListAmount is used to select the resources which will have a LOE calculated and displayed Resources which have a Y in the ListAmount field will have their average LOE displayed those with N in the ListAmount field will not display LOE B Bob Y E Fred M Mary Y P Pamela Y aie Computer time N AL Lab time N EI Contractor Tom N Resource Extension Field Attributes 102 e REALTIME Projects 5 2 The extension field used for this purpose is identified by Resource Extension type of Logical and a Resource Extension Attribute of ShowLOEFlag To control the number of decimals in the ResList LOE add the configuration switch RzLoeDecimals to the configuration file where is the number of decimal places Resource Summary Alpha Summary Skill Alpha Element ListAmount Logical ShowLOEFlag HoursUsed Number UsageTotal AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Progress Enhancements Automatic progress types have been added so that Remaining Duration is automatically updated to the
19. Time Now date use AutoDuration AutoTechnical or AutoBaseline Rollups of Technical progress type activities will give priority to Progress values rather than Remaining Duration if RuPrgTech Y in the configuration file This allows for a more accurate summary when Progress is maintained separately from Remaining Duration Other Configuration File Enhancements AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum The configuration switches MERGEVIEWS Y and MERGELINKVIEWS Y will load Views from each individual project schedule Merge linked views will be stored only in the merge link schedule and will not be written back to each individual component schedule If the merged view references an field that is not defined in the untitled arp template the matching criteria will not be set Ifa standard set of fields are defined and used which is recommended this will not be a problem System standards are critical for any enterprise solution that uses multiple project techniques to operate correctly REALTIME Projects 5 2 e 103 Python API An Introduction to Python in AMS REALTIME 104 e Python API Python is an easy to learn powerful programming language that is interpretive and interactive in an object oriented framework It is often compared to Tcl Perl Scheme or Java Python scripts can interact with many programs and operating systems It has efficient high level data structures and a simple but effective approach to object oriented programming Python s
20. allow bitmaps in the programs directory to be selected and used Therefore customers can create their own themes to use as backgrounds for the product giving it the appropriate company identity and making the programs appearance unique Standard themes use images that have been incorporated into the programs dynamic link libraries DLLs and are selected by right clicking on the table s background and choosing a theme from the resulting list Customized Wallpaper To override the standard themes and use company specific images or custom image designs activate the following switches in the configuration file by removing the preceding semi colon TCWALLPAPER TC16 BMP NOTEWALLPAPER NOTES 16 BMP EXPWALLPAPER EXP16 BMP TLWALLPAPER TSKLST16 BMP AVWALLPAPER PALLET11 BMP PRJWALLPAPER PALLET13 BMP PRJFOLIOWALLPAPER PORTF16 BMP DBWALLPAPER PALLET03 BMP WPWALLPAPER WORKP16 BMP Configuration Description If the desired bitmap file is stored in the program s executable directory only the name of the bitmap need be specified If the bitmap image is stored elsewhere on the computer a full path must be used For example if the bitmap files are stored in the windows system directory the configuration setting would appear as follows TCWALLPAPER C WINDOWS SYSTEM TC16 BMP Override Switches The following gives a description of each available configuration switch and where the image will appear in the program These switches will override existing
21. and then tab over to choose a data type Click in the Type field to get a menu popup that will prompt for the data type size and format or Ctrl click to get the cursor and edit or enter the type manually The types are shown in the definition using the following format TypeCode Size FormatControl Data Types and Format Controls The following table describes the data types and formats which are available 44 e Database Tab AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Up to 25 chars of text with all spaces removed Default of up to 20 chars of upper case text with spaces removed D DAY DayofWeek DAY Do Leem L ssag MonthiDa aan eae mm dd D mm dd Month Day Year2 Year2 Month Da Hours Minutes hh t T hh t Hours Tenths hh th T hh th Hours TenthsHundreds hh Percentage of Da T FTE Full Time Equivalent Unit of availabilit XX R Project Name Provide a popup of the field contents of the Name field from the Project dataset R25 Customer ID Provide a popup of the field contents 25 characters long of the ID field of Customer dataset Populate this field up to 20 chars with Last a comma and First V40 Project Name Populate this field up to 40 ID chars with the Project Name field plus ID V30 Last 1 5 ID Populate this field up to 30 chars with the first 5 chars of Last plus ID AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Database Tab e 45 Gomm Lookup L Org Code Lookup table field to establish data contents
22. as 01JAN97 e Click the Cycle tab and change Saturdays and Sundays into working days by adding a shift for cach day This is done by selecting the day of the week from the pop up next to the Shift For label Then enter From and To times the beginning and end of the shift in 24 hour time Then click on the Add Time button AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum e Click the Ranges tab In the Start field enter the date on which your vacation will start The Synch date is the date of the first actual working day in the new work cycle which may not necessarily be the same as the official start of the new calendar range Then click on the Add Range button Notice that the Range button changes from Always to a date with an open ended arrow which indicates the new calendar range e Go back to the Cycle tab and choose the new range Set the working hours for Monday through Friday as From 19 00 To 21 00 Click Add Time for each day to enter the times Set the working hours for Saturday and Sunday as From 12 00 To 16 00 Note that shift cycle times can not overlap If you are changing a range for a period that is already defined use the Delete Time button for that cycle before you enter the new shift period e When you have finished entering all the information click OK to Save Calendar Changes Example 2 In this example we are dealing with a project where the work is based outdoors so we want to be able to take adva
23. down the Ctrl key prevents the standard popup list from appearing when clicking in the field Check in out Errors File Error 229 Failed to lock O File Error 229 Failed to lock If you see this message when attempting a file check out or check in there is something wrong with the check in out setup Either the Who and When fields have been set up with the wrong names or the blob field definition needs to be verified Or one or all of these setup items has been missed AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Portfolio Tab What is Portfolio Overview Portfolio view is a live executive project overview that displays the status of all projects contained in the enterprise server It offers the ability to view at the highest level to see the overall status of a project and also allows the viewer to drill down into the detail of the project and examine progress WBS OBS and resource usage across the organization s entire project portfolio The following diagram shows the basic layout of the Portfolio tab and is followed by a description of each item and its capabilities The first point to note as with other views in this product is the horizontal split between the dynamic selection area and charts in the top half and the static display parts in the lower half of the screen The component in the top half allow the views and charts to be changed interactively on the fly using the mouse The lower half simply follows the selectio
24. elegant syntax and dynamic typing together with its interpretive nature make it an ideal language for scripting and rapid application development in many areas The Python interpreter and the extensive standard library are freely available in source or binary form for all major platforms from the Python web site http www python org and it can be freely distributed The same site also contains distributions of and pointers to many free or inexpensive third party Python modules programs and tools and additional documentation The Python interpreter is easily extended with new functions and data types implemented in C or C or other languages callable from C Python is also suitable as an extension language for customizable applications Python syntax is similar to C with modules classes exceptions very high level dynamic data types and dynamic typing For a description of standard objects and modules see the Python Library Reference document The Python Reference Manual gives a more formal definition of the language To write extensions in C or C read the Extending and Embedding and Python C API manuals There are also several books covering Python in depth For a basic start in Python try Learning Python written by Mark Lutz and David Ascher published by O Reilly and associates There are also tutorials that can be found on the web All AMS REALTIME products embed the Python language engine and they export modules that ar
25. for the name of the file to load Click OK The Load Calendar tool 38 e The Calendar Tab AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Load Calendar E File Name cal C program Teia pooo EST Directories SEA E program files realtime project E schedules Files H Drives a ES c presario586 Assigning Calendars Calendars are assigned to project tasks in a number of areas Itis typically done in one of the table views in the calendar column Selecting a cell in the calendar column causes a popup list of available calendars to appear These can be assigned to various items in the project database by clicking on the list To assign a calendar to an activity for example the activity table is opened Click on the calendar column in the row that corresponds to the task From the resulting popup select the desired calendar by clicking on its name in the list This action assigns the calendar to the task Calendar Hierarchy Calendars are regarded in a hierarchical order by the program That is to say the program checks certain items for a calendar against which to calculate the items final duration or work commitment When a new project is loaded the program first checks for a calendar against the activity If no calendar is defined against the activity the program next checks for a resource calendar If no resource calendar is located the program will use the default calendar defined for the s
26. images and themes in the program To return to the standard themes place a semicolon in front of each of these switches TCWALLPAPER name BMP Time card wallpaper NOTEWALLPAPER name BMP Time card notes tables wallpaper EXPWALLPAPER name BMP Time card expenses wallpaper TLWALLPAPER name BMP Task List wallpaper AVWALLPAPER name BMP Workplan tab resource availability list wallpaper AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum PRJWALLPAPER name BMP Project tab activity table wallpaper PRJFOLIOWALLPAPER name BMP Portfolio tab drilldown table wallpaper DBWALLPAPER name BMP Database tab data table wallpaper WPWALLPAPER name BMP Workplan tab allocation table wallpaper Table Auto Resize Description Auto Resize is a mode available in any selected table throughout the program Auto Resize monitors the length of text or numbers in each of the columns that are in the visible display area The column will automatically resize it s width to accommodate the longest text string or number visible As the table is scrolled up or down column widths are shortened or widened depending on content This gives the advantage of not having unnecessarily wide columns throughout the display when only a small number of cells contain very long text strings or numbers Usage Auto Resize can be switched off in two ways Firstly any manual alteration of a column width will switch off the mode leaving the table columns at a fixed width during any furth
27. settings and program behavior At release 5 2 0 1354 the only two fields that have been migrated to the configuration table are used to define the location of the map files needed to do a commit and status action from within Microsoft Project However the following gives a brief outline as to the tables future function Currently the AMS REALTIME Suite of software ship with a configuration file that is read whenever the program is opened Typically this configuration file rtp32 ini rtr32 ini or rtrs32 ini is installed in the programs executable directory It contains a number of setting that determine the program s operation With a client server application it makes sense to centralize the settings into a database table with the ability to specify global affects all who login settings and individual settings that only affect a specific person This may be necessary if users are logging in from different platforms Portfolio VVorkplan Database 60 e Configuration Dataset AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum User Attributes Adding Fields to the GUI User defined fields can be added to certain planes in the Resources user interface This capability allows the system administrator to present additional fields to the user community without the user needing to go into the database tab to enter data in customised field types This is achieved through the use of attributes that are selected in the Attributes field of the Activity and E
28. structure diagram by clicking on the Select Chart Type button The structure diagram chart is linked to the drilldown selection in the first column of the Portfolio Table Changing the level of drilldown in the structure table alters the layout of the structure diagram To view the lowest leaf of a structure s branch either click on the key next to the item in the list or click on the structure diagram node itself to open the next level The structure will toggle between a horizontal or vertical layout depending on the toggle status ProjectX X105 ProjectX X110 ProjectX X115 Projectx x120 ProjectX x125 Daughterboards Jillian Quill Luis Escobar Motherboards Robert Franklin g a a HEE Va 5 D Portfolio Tab e 77 Gantt Chart 78 e Portfolio Tab The Gantt chart mode of Portfolio is the default view The chart displays the activity bars for the selected drilldown December 1999 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 1 21 WEE Drilling down into specific projects will open the chart to display the required details in the Gantt chart Further details can be revealed buy opening up the timeframe to zoom in on a specific dates Projects activities and resource can be selected by clicking the mouse on objects available in the Gantt display area Multiple selections can be made by
29. that have passed between the client and the server Delta Objects Difference in quantity of objects since the last reset statistics operation Delta Bytes Difference in total number of bytes the objects have used since the last reset statistics AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum REALTIME Projects 5 2 Overview The following chapter looks in detail at changes made to AMS REALTIME Projects since the last major feature release and subsequent maintenance releases These enhancements include e Technical Progress Enhancements e HOWTO s for using Technical Progress e Field Calculator Enhancements e Automatic Activity ID Formatting e Resource Level Of Effort e Resource Extention Field Attributes e Python overview Technical Progress Enhancement AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Sometimes the requirements for modeling progress go beyond the standard percent complete estimate to complete actual complete date and so on AMS REALTIME Projects has additional capabilities that address some of the more complex and less standard methods of progressing a project Technical Progress is used in order to separate percent complete from the progress to now date as in reality these are often not the same thing For example a team member may be half way though the allocated time given to complete a task but has delivered nearly the entire set of deliverables for the task s completion Therefor a 50 complete progress make
30. the existing datasets to be selected for display or modification When the database tab is first entered there is no table selected Use this tool to select the required dataset Update command tool Dataset select tool Database Tab e 41 To set the table for update click on the update button shown above This will allow current database content to be modified New records can also be added when the database is in update mode Filter command tool Filters are used in the program to sort select and order data into a more manageable format for viewing and reporting When in Filter mode changes can be made and new filters can be added to the system to assist in the organization of large amounts of data Define command tool Define mode is used to specify the tables and dataset that will exist in the system The define tool is used to place the database tab in the mode to enter database column and field definitions el Rename dataset tool Use this tool to rename the currently selected dataset Caution should be employed using this tool as changing dataset names that are referenced by other tables will cause the program to fail in some circumstances Create dataset tool Use this tool to create and define a completely new dataset Delete dataset tool This tool allows the deletion of an existing dataset in the database This tool should be used with caution as deleting datasets referenced by other datasets can cause t
31. the list The list will change to a list of fields in the projects table The field selected here will be the field displayed in the Portfolio table Portfolio Tab e 75 Portfolio Table 76 e Portfolio Tab Repeat the operation for the Activity and finally the Resource selection Once all the necessary items have been selected click away from the list to close it and enter the selection in the portfolio view Return to Set Drilldown Order list at any time to change the order that is being viewed Once the desired view has been selected further modifications to the view can be made using the dataset filter buttons e Click on the desired button to change the displayed fields from each of the datasets For example to change the resource view from displaying ResID to Name click the resource button and choose Name from the fields list When a drilldown selection is complete the Portfolio table is activated The fist column of this table is permanently locked to the left of the screen This mean that as the table is scrolled using the mouse and the horizontal slider below the table the other field columns slide underneath the first locked column The table contains the following fields displaying different elements of the project data These fields are explained below Total actuals Total actuals to date for the selected item s Baseline Original Baseline hours for the selected item s ETC Estimate to Complete Estimate
32. time Expanding the time scale The time scale can be expanded in the following ways To manually expand the time scale place the mouse cursor over the vertical monthly separator bars the cursor will change into a left right arrow pointer Click the mouse button and drag to the left or right to expand the time scale from that point The cursor also places a vertical red bar at the point the mouse was clicked As the mouse is dragged left or right the center part of the bar separates from the top and bottom of the bar and becomes the cursor The top and bottom bar fragments remain in the original position helping the user see where the operation started from REALTIME Resource 5 2 e 19 20 e REALTIME Resource 5 2 2000 April May June pJuly Aug Sep Oct IN Rg RS Getting ready to expand the view 2000 May June July Aug Sep Oct N The above picture shows expanding the time scale to the left The cursor can be seen here as a red vertical bar The two shorter red bars indicate the cursors original starting point when a left drag started The view can also be expanded using the time scale auto expander hot spots located in the upper half of the time scale about 1 2 an inch from each end of the time scale Placing the mouse cursor over this hot spot changes the cursor to a dot and arrow cursor Then expand the time scale by simply holding down the mouse button
33. wish to edit appears to indent Example 1999 2000 August Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb March April May June July Unselected time scale appears raised 1999 2000 August Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb March April May June July AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Selected time scale appears indented Manipulating the time scale Scrolling panning To move the time scale to the left or right without altering the magnification of the view place the mouse cursor over the timescale The mouse cursor will change to a hand shape Click the mouse button and drag in the direction required The time scale will scroll with the hand until the mouse stops and the button is released Jia st S We N D y Feb March SC M Ji Ji fi ugust Sep Nov ee e arc pril ay une July Autoscroll To move the time scale to the left or right without dragging the mouse autoscroll can be used Place the mouse cursor to the far left or far right of the time scale until the cursor changes to a double arrow Click the mouse button to activate the autoscroll The time scale will travel in the direction of the arrows until the mouse button is released bh 2000 May June duly August Sep Oct No Autoscroll to the right go back through time 1935 ec Jan Feb March April Autoscroll to the left go forward through
34. y from x x y multiply x by y divide x by y find percent x is of y find percent that x is of x y To modify the format specifier hold down the Ctrl key and click on the current type A cursor will appear allowing the format specifier to be edited Add substring specifiers to virtual fields by adding the start column and stop column after the field name The columns must be enclosed in square brackets and separated by a colon e g name 3 6 Also edit in text constants by enclosing the text string in quotes and using the plus sign to append the string with the field components e g last first Group Operations If the Group Operation type is selected a function popup will appear Select the Min Max Sum or Count function from the popup Then select a numeric dataset from the popup list The last popup will contain the fields from the selected dataset Database Tab e 51 Drilldown Child and Parent Types The Drilldown Child and Parent types are used for defining hierarchy amoung tables where approved projects phases and other breakdown levels can be stored Users can then use a pre defined drilldown mechanism to select unplanned tasks by choosing each WBS level in series down to the work package This process is covered in detail in the section on Work Breakdown Structures Calendar The Calendar data type should be used for a calendar name that contains a Julian working calendar name Future D
35. AMS REALTIME 5 2 User Guide Addendum Advanced Management Solutions Inc This manual was written by Neil Smith Advanced Management Solutions Inc Copyright 2000 All rights reserved Contents Preface About this Manual The Enterprise Solution What is Enterprise Solution 0 ee eee eeesecsseeceseeeeesseesaeeesaeecsseessneeesseaes HOw does 1 work iere dd esoe wanna Meni Using AMS Enterprise Solution for Microsoft Project How to Commit a Workplan o oo cee eeeeeesseeseneeseseeeeneeeesaeessaeers JE UU GRIPE RE CRESCER CER ORE CER PRE CER RS RE RR RR E RD CORE CEC ET Map Files cis cssecdevcdiceavetiavtecctdiveas E NEES Eden e REALTIME Resource 5 2 Introduction edd EENEG About This Document CONVENTIONS vieceiecscdiaiessedeadesecdeadenecdeadesndevesancdevevarcdssesanccendsenedees Time Scale Functions c cccaicssecsedessetea ievecteadesecdssecsecdevesancdenesanccsessenedens Hot Spot Key Diagram erre Selecting the time scale for manipulation Manipulating the time scale 0 eesccceeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeesteeeeeeeeeeees Calendar Module we ccscccccccciascsvecsedesveccaienecceadsaecdsseesvidevesancdenesancdsnesenedees Manipulating the Calendar Obtect eee eeesceseseeceeeeeeneeeeneers Wallpaper EE Customized Wallpaper Configuration Descrpton Override Switches sou tos eeen er ae EES ESES Table Auto Resize na seus dis Penna gerais E die ger E die EER ES
36. EE EERE A E a aaa EE 77 Gantt Chart TEE 78 ISEA Ni ET Ee E T E EE EE et 78 VUE 78 Auto Range css scssases soro geesde ged cves EE EES AE 19 Reporter at ere scsi ait ee BN Aesth at Meet A ee estes REA 19 Workplan Tab 81 re e EE 81 What 18 Workplan Stee Din ee a eh ee 81 Workplan Dataset Attributes inince intere eneee areae susie cuvenwascebovel E Ee 82 N yisating Workplan View cissie anini oan Shae eh Hit eek ee Bi eh oes 83 The Workplan NIEWEN ee ei eee ug 83 Project Activity tool Dates eege et este ceperea veep asies eso eaa iae epaian penean datando 83 Activity Table Area EEN 84 Other Workplan Table Features 20 0 0 eesceescecssseceseecseecseeceseeeesaeeesaeessaeesseeeee 85 RESOURCE Tool Batz esteeedeeie deed eene E agia dede dA pa ba e fab pao beds 86 Usage Histograms so assi 0 dado utente Seet epean aeaea aea weed anpes a degk arado 87 Interpreting the Usage Hietogeram e erreereerereaceraacena 87 The Usage Hist eram renret S uee epean aeien ea urai anane a eia paks 87 Average LOB morde essey S ien Eege geiergert ed eene bad 88 AKONO D EEA A AEE CE EOE COE CEOE EE 88 E UE 88 Total Available dees siete dered ste sists eet Pope Tao Sapata Doha a foda poa Data pe bd satiety 88 Usins Workplan VacWa ss iii sda tA indi a Mishel dads Moai Mian 89 Making a new Work Assignment esccessccesseeeereeceeecseeeeeecesaeessaeessaeeseeeeees 89 Changing a Work Assignment ineei roeie aeania eris oa e enen 89
37. Lookup fields are used for information that changes over time For example an employee s organization may change if he transfers from one department to another If the employee s organization code is a text or reference field and the organization is simply changed the history of the previous organization s actuals will be lost However if a lookup table is created to specify an employee s organization based on an as of date actuals that were posted under the old organization will still belong to the previous organization and the actuals after the as of date will be assigned to the new organization Lookup tables can be used for rates that change over time organization codes or any other information that varies with time AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Creating a Lookup Dataset In the sample provided below we will create an Organization lookup table The first step is to create a numeric dataset It will have one Key Field which will reference the a unique employee identifier ResID Use the Create New Dataset button to add a new dataset We will call it OrgLookup Choose the Numeric dataset type At the Number of Slots prompt enter 8 This will provide the room to define up to 8 slots which are references to other records or independent fields in the Lookup database While we will only start by defining 3 fields this will provide room for the database definition to be expanded Note that if the fields are uni
38. Plan mode only those resources with a matching skill are displayed TaskPC The percent complete field used by the AMS REALTIME Projects interface to correspond to the schedule Progress field ActID The field used by the AMS REALTIME Projects interface to link to the schedule Activity ID if not found the field with TaskID is used TaskDrilldown This is the starting field that will be used for a defined drilldown order for unplanned work selection TaskCal The field used to hold the activity s working calendar TaskCloseon TaskMSPXID Microsoft Project Task Unique ID TaskProject The Project to which the task belongs TaskDescription For the field that contains the task s description Note To remove an attribute from a definition click on the attribute column and select the attribute again to remove it AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Database Tab e 53 A Sample Activity Dataset Definition The following is a sample of an Activity Dataset definition Field names are followed by field types and formats Key fields have an Attribute key specified Defining the Employee Dataset 54 e Database Tab The basic employee fields required by the product are predefined in the Employee dataset While these names can be modified extreme care must be taken to change all other related field references across the datasets if changes are made at all The contents of the Attributes field by specific keyword determines how AMS REALTIME Resou
39. Project e 13 Map Field Types D date Example Start D Start C character text F Float I Integer L Logical S Span duration Note Instructions are given at the bottom of the sample map files to assist in the modification and creation of new maps Status This feature allows the status of a workplan to be pulled down into the original Microsoft Project schedule This will include progress calculations and actual hours worked on tasks by the individuals assigned to them Workforce Browser The Workforce Browser option runs an applet that allows the assignment of resources to tasks It does this by giving a view of the resources available in both the Microsoft Project resource list and the central AMS Enterprise database One or more resources can be selected from either of these sources and added to tasks Also one or more tasks can be selected and resources assigned to them For example a resource from the Enterprise database can be selected it s availability can be examined and it can then be assigned to a task along with any other selected activities from the Enterprise database or the Microsoft Project file i Selected resources from different sources being assigned to a task amp S Selected task being assigned resources 14 e Using AMS Enterprise Solution for Microsoft Project AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Multiple selected tasks being assigned to multi
40. ab e 37 e Click on the Add Range button Notice that the current Range is now From O1APR98 gt If we click on the Range pop up we now have two entries the one previously mentioned and the first range which is now called gt To O1APR98 e Now we can define the Shift Cycle for the new range Click on the Cycle tab e Select the From 01APR98 gt Range using the Range button e Set the working hours for each day of the week except Sunday as From 08 00 To 18 00 Click Add Time for each day to enter the times After you have added the first day you can also use the Add Next Day button to make this process faster e When you have finished entering all the information click OK to Save Calendar Changes Sharing Calendar Info Between Projects Once a calendar has been created it can be exported to a file and then shared with other AMS programs Once all calendar modifications have been made click the Dump Calendar button The File Selector dialog for the operating system is displayed prompting for the name of the file in which the calendar will be stored By default the file will have an extension of cal Dump Calendar x File Name Directories OK C program files schedules e Cancel Eyes E program files realtime project q schedules Drives BI E c presario586 To load the calendar into any other system open that project change to Calendar mode and click Load Calendar The program prompts
41. and return 7 characters in length If a negative length is indicated it means to the end of the string so that a variable length can be used A substring can also be extracted from a string with the MID function which requires the field name the start point and the number of characters as passed parameters A negative length indicates all characters to the end of the string The function will return a blank if a result can not be calculated String Searches The FIND function will search and return the location of a specific character or string within a string This is a case sensitive compare If The function will return 0 if the character or string is not located In the follow examples assume that the Description field contains TheQuickBrownFox Function Result Description 4 10 QuickBrown Mid description 4 10 QuickBrown description 4 1 QuickBrownFox mid description 4 1 QuickBrownFox Find description B 6 Find description b 0 Find description B 10 0 AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Automatic Activity ID Formatting Formatted Activity IDs that are created when the AutoID configuration setting is Y can now be defined by a template string with the unique number inserted A starting number can be specified and this number is updated each time it is used When the Project Extensions are defined as in the example shown to the right the next Activity ID that w
42. ar view Fields with a white background can usually be edited The bottom row on the table contains totals for all the above rows that contain relevant numbers Date cells will activate a popup calendar when clicked on This makes date entry much more simple Navigate through the calendar using the left and right arrows at the top of the calendar to scroll through months and years While outer arrows change the year inner arrows change the months Click on the desired date in the calendar to enter the date into the selected cell Workplan Tab e 85 86 e Workplan Tab Sun Mon Tu 25 26 27 29 1 4 5 7 8 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 18 19 EE 22 24 25 28 29 a j1 2 3 4 5 Resource Tool Bar The resource tool bar gives quick access to resource allocation and display features of the Workplan view Ve E Resource Filter List Button This tool gives a list of the available defined filters for resources Resources often need to be viewed based on skills Filters can be set up in the Database view Employee define filter mode to create custom filters to show resources that meet certain criteria Show Task Click this button to display tasks in the Resource Chart Area for the currently selected resource name s i Show Usage This button enables the Resource Chart Area to display various resource availability charts and graphics Display Modes This button gives a list
43. arrows above the calendar The outer left and right arrow buttons will step through one year intervals The inner two arrow buttons step through the months of the selected year Selecting Dates Dates can be selected in a variety of ways e Select an individual day by clicking on its date box The date selected is highlighted by showing the date box as depressed e Select a range of dates by dragging across the date boxes All the dates selected are highlighted by showing the date boxes depressed e Select a day of the week for example all Saturdays or all Wednesdays by clicking on the day name at the top of the calendar This highlights the day name but does not show the specific dates selected The Calendar Tab e 31 32 e The Calendar Tab Changing Working Days To change specific holidays from working days to non working days or vice versa choose the Holidays tab Select the appropriate date on the calendar and click the Holidays tab on the right of the screen bio Holidays Ral From To 07 2UG 00 18 4UG 00 Add Holiday Delete Holiday The screen changes to show the Holidays dialog The date or date range selected is shown in the From and To boxes Click Add Holiday to make these days non working holidays Alternatively click Delete Holiday to change the selected days from holidays to working days Note Individual date changes only apply to th
44. art of the selection list Any changes made on any other tab apply to the new calendar Worked Examples 36 e The Calendar Tab The examples below show how to combine the calendars different facilities to define any type of working pattern The two examples below are used to show how each aspect of the calendar for two different working patterns is defined These might represent two different sites where project work is carried out each of which works a different shift pattern For the purposes of this guide the assumption has been made that it is the same organization and site carrying out all the project work The first example is based on a vacation to France project where we will be working at different times depending on the phase of the project i e Planning or Traveling The second example shows how the working patterns may vary depending on the time of year Example 1 While we are still planning we shall have to work on this project during the evenings and at weekends Once we are Traveling we shall be working on the project all day Pattern 1 During the planning phase we shall work from Monday through Friday from 77 00 PM to 9 00 PM and on Saturday and Sunday from 12 00 midday to 4 00 PM Pattern 2 Once we are traveling we expect to be at work on the project from 9 00 am to 5 00 PM To define these Patterns in AMS REALTIME Projects e Create a new calendar called Vacation e On the Info Tab set the Base Date
45. ata Types Access Progress and Filter types are not yet incorporated in the current version but will be implemented in the future The Access and Filter data types will be used to automatically produce a popup of the existing Access levels and Filter names respectively The Progress data type will be used to enforce percentage boundaries of 0 through 100 52 e Database Tab AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Attributes The Attribute keywords for the Activity dataset are TaskID This field contains the unique activity identifier TaskPick The contents of this field will be used for the task popup in Plan mode and Time entry mode TaskStart This field must contain a valid task start date and is used to determine the overall work span of the task TaskComp This field must contain a valid task complete date and is used to determine the overall work span of the task TaskLevel This field must contain a percentage level of effort and is used to determine the overall work span of the task TaskType This is used to specify project and non project tasks non project tasks have a type that begins with the letter N TaskColor The color and pattern numbers in this field are used to determine the color and pattern of the activity bar on task lists TaskFile This field can hold a filename which receives the actual hours used on the task when a Dump is executed TaskResFilter This skill filter specifies the skill required by the task so that in
46. ation table Activity tool The activity tool appears when activities are selected using the pop down list Clicking on this tool presents a list of fields that are available in the activity table The display in the drilldown table area will show the field selected here Resource tool The resource tool appears when resource are selected using the pop down list Clicking on this tool presents a list of fields that are available in the employee table The display in the drilldown table area will show the field selected here Top Legend Area The display here depends on the chart type that is selected This area displays either a project Gantt chart or a hierarchical work breakdown structure If a Gantt chart is selected the legend displays a time scale If the work breakdown structure is selected a toolbar for the WBS chart appears Drilldown Table The Drilldown Table displays the fields that have been selected during a drilldown operation When first selected these items show a list of the top level items chosen in the pop down list Each of these items has a little plus sign next to it indicating that there are items below it that can be viewed by clicking on the plus sign This is how the drilldown is navigated The drilldown depth depends on the number of items chosen from the pop down menus The lowest level item has been reached when the is no plus sign next to the item and a diamond appears on the item line AMS REALTIME 5 2
47. be interpreted as total hours in a day For example entering 4 will convert to 50 if the working day is 8 hours 7 Click the save button on the main toolbar to save the new assignment Changing a Work Assignment To change or swap out a work assignment between one person and another on an activity follow the steps below 1 Click on the Workplan tab 2 Select the desired project using the Select Project button on the Activity tool bar at the top of the Workplan tab 3 Select the desired activity using the Select Activity button 4 In the Activity Table area below the Select Activity button click on the L resource icon row header to select the entire row 5 In the resource table area at the lower left hand corner of the screen select the resource you wish to replace the existing assignment with by clicking on that resources rows header Note If you need to swap out a resource with one who has the same skills use the Resource Filter button Yanot Set v appropriate skills for the task to select resources that only have the 6 Click on the Swap Resource button The software will replace the selected resource in the activity workplan table with the resource selected in the resource table area The previously assigned resource will be returned to the pool and become available for other projects and tasks Workplan Tab e 89 Note If the resource you are replacing has already booked hours to the activity the
48. by a date period Calculate C BCWS BCWP Calculate fields using standard or special operators Special operators are percentage and percent of total standard operators Pick P Task MS NP Provide a popup of Task MS and NP for data selection Group C Min Workplan Calculate the Min Max Sum or Operation Count record count of a numeric dataset field Actuals pes es arc Name WBS IT WBS source table Child IT A field that identifies a SE datasource table as having a WBS level beneath a child table Parent O WBS _IT A field that identifies a Program datasource table as having a WBS level above a parent table This can also be used to create a WBS subset branch ek eee calendar E Ee access ives Progress Future use enforce percentage boundaries of 0 100 Filter F Activity Future use popup of defined filter names Updated ei E U Employee name Name of person who updated b record Update E Z ddMONyy Date and time the record was Time updated Record Populate field with record Number number Binary B arp Store a binary file in the Large database Objects Note Date and time formats are for display purposes Dates can be entered using any valid date format containing the month year and day Virtual and Reference fields default to 20 characters unless specified otherwise If a Virtual or Reference type string is longer than the specified number the remaining string is ignore
49. chedule click on the Status option in the Enterprise menu in Microsoft Project In the resulting dialog box click the Options button to set the options for statusing the schedule Select the appropriate map file using the browser button Click OK to complete the selection and return to the Status Dialog In the Status dialog click on the Status button to start the status operation Using AMS Enterprise Solution for Microsoft Project e 11 Options The options dialog is used to select the map file used during a commit or status operation It also gives control over the types of data that are allowed to return to the Microsoft Project schedule during a status operation During a status operation the options dialog provides some additional check boxes These check boxes are used to control the data that returns to the schedule Commit Status Options for Realtime Enterprise Server Mapfile et ee ee Browse Edit Mapfile MV Replace Existing I Only Approved Actuals Cancel IT Ignore Actuals After 164UG00 13 18 MV Preserve Constraint Types Dates Replace Existing Checking this box indicates that tasks and assignments in the schedule will be updated by replacing them with more up to date versions of the same objects that reside on the server For example and activity called Act001 with no progress will be replaced by Act001 on the server with 50 progress Only Approved Actuals this sw
50. clicking and dragging the mouse pointer over a number of activity bars Unlike other Gantt charts throughout the AMS REALTIME suite of products the Portfolio chart will display multiple activity bars for a single activity if the drilldown selection requires For example if the drilldown selection is Project Activity and Resource then each resource assigned to the task will have a representative bar for it s own commitment at the lowest level Baseline If an activity displayed has moved from it s original baseline dates a representation of the original baseline dates can be seen behind the activity bar on the screen It appears as a shadow behind the activity bar In Portfolio view only the project activity bars will display the baseline marker Resource and organization bars will not show a baseline Clues To help the user keep track of their position on the Gantt chart a permanent tool tip box is displayed near the mouse pointer This gives a continually updated report on the date at which the mouse pointer rests AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Report Displays AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum January February March Apr 27 53 31 27 2 31 Placing the mouse pointer over an activity changes the tool tip flag to the start and complete dates for the activity This is useful if one or both ends of the activity bar are currently off the screen Auto Range Auto Range is a function that monitors and updat
51. d 46 e Database Tab AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Database Attributes AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum What are database attributes Database Attributes are used by the system to identify the role that certain fields in certain datasets play To express that in simple terms the system needs to know if a field exists as simply a general place to store data or whether the field has a special role within the system For example the activity dataset has a TaskStart attribute associated with one of the fields in the Activity dataset This attribute tells the system which of the fields in the dataset it should treat as the planned start date for a task After all there could be other date fields in that dataset Having attributes gives the system much more flexibility for the system administrator If the system administrator wishes to use a different field for TaskStart the attribute can simply be moved to that field Attributes are generally associated with the standard datasets that are provided with the system These are Projects Activities Employee Organization Workplan Actuals and Expenses These tables must exist in the database for it to function correctly Also the attributes must also be appropriately set within these tables Customization of the system to meet with a company s business practices can be achieved by either adding to these existing dataset or creating new datasets AMS do not recommend removing any of the exi
52. d remaining hours to completion of the task Staff Days Number of total staff days worked Start Start date Complete Complete Date First Charge Date of the first actual recorded for the item Last Charge Date of last actual recorded hours Status Task status open or closed completed Period Plan Planned hours for the selected period Period Actuals Actual hours for the selected period Complete Percentage of work completed on the activity Remaining Percentage of remaining work on the activity LOE etc Level of effort required to complete LOE to date Average level of effort so far Variance Total amount of original planned hours minus work so far ACWP plus the estimate to complete i e planned total etc Remaining How much work is left to complete in hours By default the table displays with a width of about 20 of the screen Therefore most of these table columns are hidden behind the Gantt chart to the right of the table To expand the table to view more of the columns place the mouse pointer on the edge of the Gantt table until the cursor changes to a left right arrow AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Click and drag the edge of the Gantt chart to the right to expose the table cells hidden underneath Structure Diagram Chart AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum By default the Portfolio View displays the standard Gantt chart in the portfolio chart area This can be toggled with an alternative
53. day 7 Jul there are two days of work left to do and the work started a day early What we want the system to tell us is the true estimated complete date based on these facts Here is the results of this example Note how the First activity shows the actual start occurred on Sunday 2 and a diamond shows the original planned start for the task on the 3 Now look at the Technical progress triangle pointer positioned at the end of Friday 7 This points out where we are in terms of the Progress To date At this point Bob has estimated two more days to complete the task The progress Bob has made puts the new estimated complete date at the end of Tuesday 11 with a percent complete of 80 The Fit Metal Gate task can begin a whole three days ahead of schedule based on the calculations made by Projects The slightly confusing issue with this example is that the percent complete bar at the bottom of the activity shows that 80 of the work has been completed based on a seven day span not a ten day span In summary the important point about this feature enhancement is that the complete date has been moved based on the following formular Prog To date Rem Dur New estimated complete date Formally technical progress would calculate either the Prog to value or the Rem Dur and would adjust the end date based entirely on percent complete Note AMS REATLIME Projects also now allows the booking of time on non working da
54. dendum The Calendar Tab Defining Working Time in the Calendar AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Working time is defined in AMS REALTIME Resource using the Calendar Tab To access the Calendar click on the Calendar tab Changing into this mode will always display the Default Calendar See the section on Creating New Calendars below The Calendar Mode Display 4 AMS REALTIME Resources admin OF x File Edit View Es Timecard Help SC SE 7 sae wale Calendars Access Objects ae iD SCH EE X Cancel E strsisDays v Cycle Jj Holidays f Overdays Ranges Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat a yj ko 59 3 26 VA WA WA H ES SC BHrsisDays 14301 1431 14321 14331 1434 Base Date 01 JAN 95 4 5 6 R Duration amp Work Units Day Len d J y Length 08 00 12 13 14 15 Week Length 40 00 Month Length 173 20 1441 71442 1443 19 1 22 Watch this space for helpful Calendar Mode shows a familiar looking desk calendar covering a six week period with non working days highlighted by displaying their dates in red In the Default Calendar illustrated above all Saturdays and Sundays are non working days and the other days are working days The Calendar Tab e 29 iges Dyertime 30 e The Calendar Tab Dates that have already been worked that is those dates that are before the Now date are shown crossed through with a diagonal markou
55. e follow these steps 1 Sr ee Zi Click on the Database tab and from the dataset dropdown choose the dataset to modify Click on the ES define button Create a new field by typing its name in the first blank cell in the Name column Click in the type field and select Binary Large Object from the popup list In the resulting dialog enter the file extension that the field will store For example if AMS REALTIME Projects files are to be stored enter arp then click the OK button This table is now ready to store Binary Large Objects To store a file in the new field follow these next steps 1 Click on the Database tab and from the database popdown choose the dataset that has been modified to stored Blobs If the newly created field is not visible click on any blank part of the background to invoke the selection list The newly created field should be at the bottom of that list Click on the field name in the list to open it into the table Click on the newly created field and from the popup menu choose Store In the resulting file open dialog navigate to the location of the desired file and click OK to select the file The file name will now appear in the field The Binary Large Object has now been stored in the database To open the stored file click on the file s name in the database field and from the resulting dialog box choose the Open option The program that owns the file will open and display the file
56. e current year so remember to set annual holidays for each year in the project duration Changing Shifts In addition to changing the days when work will be done the time during the day can be changed as well This is important for determining the activity duration and for many advanced calculations To change the shift click on the Cycle tab The display changes to a list box From and To fields and a Range selection button Days of the week can be entered into the From and To fields for shift time entry AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum WA OK X Cancel K sHrsSDays v Cycle Holidays For Range Always w Shift For e From To Do o Add Time Delete Time MONDAY 08 00 to 16 00 TUESDAY 08 00 to 16 00 WEDNESDAY 08 00 to 16 00 THURSDAY 08 00 to 16 00 FRIDAY 08 00 to 16 00 Select the day by clicking on the Shift For box and selecting a day from the drop down list Enter the times for the shift To define the entire day as a shift enter 00 00 for the From time and 24 00 for the To time Then click Add Time to set these times as the shift for that day A split shift cycle can be created by defining successive periods For example a lunch break can be specified on the calendar by defining a shift from 07 30 to 11 30 for Monday and then adding a second shift period from 12 30 to 4 30 for Monday Just specify the first period click on Add Time and rep
57. e usable from the embedded Python engine This allows end users with programming ability to customize their off the shelf software by programming Python scripts to help manage repetitive processes or automate event drive processes such as business rule validation and automatic email messaging Just like AMS REALTIME Python runs on Windows Macintosh and Unix platforms A key advantage to customizing AMS REALTIME with Python is that when the software is upgraded to a new version user defined scripts will not be overwritten and will still function with the new software AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum The Python API User Guide Users interested in using Python to enhance and customize the capabilities of the AMS REALTIME suite of application should obtain a copy of the Python API Programmers Guide This document focuses specifically on using Python with AMS products and also gives details about the TDB Text DataBase API and how Python interacts with it Python in AMS REALTIME All AMS Realtime products embed the Python language engine and they export modules that are usable from the embedded Python engine Python is a simple and powerful high level object oriented programming language created by Guido van Rossum Python can be freely distributed and available in source form on many platforms including Unix platforms Windows and Macintosh Visit the Python Language website at www python org The documentation that comes with Python includes a t
58. eat the process for the second period To change the shifts for a day select the day in the list at the bottom of the dialog and click Delete Time Then add the new times as discussed above Any cycle of shift that is defined is specific to a defined time period For example the cycle could be defined as being valid from June 1 to September 30 The date range is defined using the Range tab see the Ranges section below The Range for this Cycle is selected by using the Range button to select from a drop down list Combining Ranges and Cycles in this way permits you to set up very sophisticated and complex patterns of work A detailed example of how this could be achieved is provided in the section on Worked Examples below AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum The Calendar Tab e 33 Defining Overdays The program also allows the definition of working day exceptions which are specific working days that would normally be non working These extra hours or days are entered as overdays To define overdays working days that are normally non working but will be worked as an exception click the Overtime tab Either select a date on the calendar and enter the dates in the From and To boxes WA OK X Cancel K sHrsSDays e Holidays E Overdays f R From To 07 AUG 00 07 4UG 00 Add Overday Delete Overday Click on the Add Overdays button The exception working days will be displayed in the l
59. ecting a Range of Dates This is done using the plus and minus keys that are usually present on the number pad area of most standard keyboards Clicking on the plus key will increase the selection by adding a day after the selected day with each successive key press Clicking on the minus key will remove one day from the end of the selection heading back towards the originally selected day Hold down the Shift key and use the plus and minus keys to add days from the selected day going back in time Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri w zji 2 a D 5 D LLL Sat Use the Page up and Page down keys to skip an entire month moving to the previous month or next month respectively Use the Home key to return to the current day Hold down the Shift key and use the Page Up and Page Down keys to change to the previous or next year REALTIME Resource 5 2 e 25 Wallpaper 26 e REALTIME Resource 5 2 The blank areas that appear behind many of the tables in the product can be populated with bitmap images that repeat to create a wallpaper or texture effect There are a number of standard themes that can be selected based on the number of colors supported by the client computer s graphics driver and card Themes range from plain colors and 16 color designs to full 24 bit millions of colors images depending on the available graphics card Standard wallpaper themes can also be overridden by a set of configuration switches that
60. ed activity If the resources are fully utilized over the period the table will not display the cells Total Available This item shows a table of figures that indicate the total availability for a resource over the period of a selected activity Again if the resources are fully utilized over this period the chart will not display any cells Note The Yellow area that appears on all of the chart views indicates the start and complete dates for the selected activity With each selection of an activity the time scale of the chart view expands or contracts to fit the new start and complete dates AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Using Workplan View AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Making a new Work Assignment To make a new work assignment follow the steps below 1 Click on the Workplan tab 2 Select the desired project using the Select Project button on the Activity tool bar at the top of the Workplan tab 3 Select the desired activity using the Select Activity button 4 In the Resource Table area at the bottom left of the Workplan tab select the resource required to work on the activity 5 Click the Assign Resource button on the resource tool bar to assign the selected resource to the activity 6 The resource will appear in the resource table with a default assignment of 100 LOE to the activity If the level of effort is to be changed type in a new percentage LOE in the LOE field e g 75 Numbers entered without the symbol will
61. eeeeaeers 44 Data Types and Format Control 44 Database Attributes e lt 2 05 st eun e SEE sees soja avs rina tues cos ESEE SELE toys ca Eua EEN 47 What are database attributes 00 ee knees eke ee ee eE a aee aK A 47 HOWTO set a database attbute eee eeeeeeeeeeesneecseecseecsseecesaeessaeessaeesseeesee 47 Project Dataset Attributes egen eege EE eat E othe eee EE ates 48 Actuals Dataset Att Dutes ex s ccs osso e ee ee e ethane leds A eae eta eee 49 Defining the Activity Dataset Ae 49 Data LY Pes ebe ee hast avers ily ee ENEE Eed 49 Overriding Data Type Popp 51 Defining the Employee Dataset tesise anker tieners krenaria eta eenas eres 54 Defining the Organization Dataset seeeseeeseesreeereesessreserrrstrssressessteeetesereseresereseresereserese 55 Renaming Creating and Deleting Datasets seeseeereeseeerreeseeereesrtreresereseresererererereseresrrese 55 Timecard Notes and Annotations cscccescecssseessseecsscecsseeceseeeesaeecsaeecsacecseesesaeeesseeesaeers 56 Lookup Fields a age reste gado vol aks Seege UL ee a TD ones tel ate news ee 56 Configuration Dataset 60 Configuration Settings in the Database 0 ce eeseeescecsseecesceeeseeeesaeeesaeecsacecseeseseeessaeeesaeers 60 User Attributes 61 Adding Fields to the GUL s et Eege eet SE dee avoidance 61 Activity Dataset User Am butes rr cereerereerereareraaceena 61 Employee Dataset user At butes rr ereerereecererereceena 62 Updating
62. ent of which resources are available to carry out a certain task e Swap generic resource skill assignments with the actual resources required to do the work e Swap out resource assignments based on equivalent skills e Filter on activities to show only desired activities e Filter on resources to show only desired resources e Display six different types of resource charts to help analyze the availability of resources across the project portfolio Once an activity is selected all the resources scheduled to work on that activity appear at the bottom of the screen in the resource chart area Changes can be made using the mouse to adjust or swap out resource assignments Workplan Tab e 81 Workplan Dataset Attributes 82 e Workplan Tab The Workplan tab is associated with an underlying table called Workplan Changes made in the workplan tab are recorded in the Workplan dataset In order for the system to interpret the workplan dataset correctly a number of attributes are used to tell the system how to regard certain specific fields These attributes and their purpose are listed in the table below Attribute Description WorkPlanResource Identifies the field containing the resource assigned to a task WorkPlanWho Identifies the field containing the name of the person who last updated the workplan Audit trail WorkPlanTask Identifies the task field WorkPlanWhen Identif
63. er scrolling Secondly the function can be turned off and on using the Auto Resize menu item under the View menu 8 AMS REALTIME Resources File Edit View Options Timecard Help Keck Soran E Portfolio ceecee CAT to Select View Save View as 5 ave VIE Delete View Rename View Eltere Show All Columns Lock Perrin wv Column Grid v Row Grid Lock Layout v Zoom v Animate AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum REALTIME Resource 5 2 e 27 28 e REALTIME Resource 5 2 Animate The system offers two modes of operation for the way windows behave when being moved re scaled or resized using the mouse These modes are toggled on and off using the Animate tool 2 The Animate tool When Animate is on and an object is resized it moves with the mouse pointer When animate is switched off and an object is resized the mouse simply pulls a dotted line out to represent the object s new size and shape The object does not assume that shape until the mouse is let go This feature has been made optional as it may be advantageous to switch off the luxury of animation when manipulating tables that contain very large amounts of data Zoom The zoom tool is used to toggle the lower portion of the Resources window on and off The Zoom tool If more real estate is desired in the Resources window click this button to toggle the Report area off AMS REALTIME 5 2 Ad
64. es column and enter a N if the numeric field should not summarize to a title activity or Y if it should Priority Number N Documents Number 96 e REALTIME Projects 5 2 AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Syntax Checking and Comments If a syntax error is encountered AMS REALTIME will place an error position marker before the problem in the field definition Calc Amount 4 UnknownField Comments can be added to the end of a field definition When the pound sign is encountered everything else is ignored to the end of the line Calc BAC LABOR BAC TOTAL Labor Percentage of Whole Budgeted Cost AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum REALTIME Projects 5 2 e 97 Constants and project fields 98 e REALTIME Projects 5 2 Project fields can be accessed in calculations The dataset name precedes the field name e g project schedulekey Project now accesses the current Time Now date The table below shows the standard project fields that are accessible Calendar names are also available as constants for interpreting working durations If no calendar is specified with a constant duration the default calendar is assumed Duration values for an activity are based on the activity s assigned calendar For example defining a TimeNow activity extension field as C project now is a very useful standard field definition Beginning of fiscal year Display format for durations Week starts on day of week Cost bins size for this projec
65. es the time scale or level of zoom depending on the width of activity bars present in the Gantt chart As the view is altered the screen adjust the time scale in order to keep all of the activity bars inside the visible area As selections change the Auto Range updates the screen to show the entire activity bar lengths at all times This function is selectable manually using the Auto Range toggle button at the top of the Portfolio tab The function automatically disables as soon as any manual adjustment is made to the time scale Auto Range tool The Auto Range tool is a toggle button Each click alternate it s state from enabled appears depressed to disabled appears up The lower potion of the Portfolio screen offers an area for reports Again these reports are dependant on the contents of the current selection in the portfolio drilldown table The report updates automatically when changes are made to the list selection Basho mmm 100 200 op 400 op opp 700 oo SO 1 900 1 100 1 200 1 300 Actuots ETC mmm Deta conversion pecject for chert Rt A CONVERSION RULES Fred Smeh bn Parker Wisstiey Roberts DATA CRITERIA DIRECT ACCESS PORTS PRA NFRAME CONVERSION ONLUNE PLOT IR 159 E The report shows the current baseline hours actual hours and estimate to complete for the selected items In the picture above the top bar shows the original planned hours for the entire project The upper portion of that bar represents basel
66. ference Virtual Calculate Pick or other types are selected follow the same procedures described in the section above on Defining the Activity Dataset Renaming Creating and Deleting Datasets AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum You can create new datasets delete old user defined datasets or rename an existing dataset using the Rename Create and Delete buttons that are located underneath the dataset names along the left side of the screen Datasets must be empty before they can be deleted This is a safety precaution If a deleted user defined dataset will be replaced by a new dataset exit and restart the program before creating the new dataset There are two types of datasets Text and Numeric Text datasets are standard and should be selected for most types of data storage and retrieval The Activity Employee and Organization datasets are Database Tab e 55 Text Numeric datasets are time phased and have one or more reference links back to a key field in other datasets which make the record unique Numeric datasets are limited to reference date pick calculated and numeric data types The Actuals and Workplan datasets are Numeric Other examples of a Numeric dataset would be a Lookup table for time phased rates or organizations or a dataset that stores statistical information Note If a dataset or field name is redefined or renamed it is important to ensure that all other virtual fields and reference fields that access the new
67. field are also updated Timecard Notes and Annotations 56 e Database Tab You can create a dataset that can be used to store information about a particular timecard entry through a link First create a new text database The name will appear in a button in Time mode so it may be desirable to use a short descriptive field name such as Notes Then create a field in the new database to hold text information More than one field can be created to hold information that is annotated to the actual time entry The Actuals dataset has a Reserved field for the link information Change the Type of the Reserved field to Extension Then choose the new database you have just created from the popup The Reserved field should now be defined as X Notes 6 six being the slot used In the Time mode a button will appear next to the New Activity button that contains Notes or the name of the text annotations database When a time cell for a specific date is selected clicking on the Notes button will provide a dialog that allows an employee to add in information annotations to the selected date This data can also be viewed in the Actuals database where all linked fields will be displayed with the time entry record To see only those fields which have a Note annotation create a filter in the Actuals Filter table where the Reserved field 6 is not equal to a blank e g enter lt gt under the field defined as the Extension field Lookup Fields
68. g list ResiD ResOrg ResPick ResLogin ResLabel ResProxy ResPassword ResAccess ResType ResDrilldown ResCal ResSkill2 ResSkill3 ResRatel ResRate2 ResRate3 ResLocation ResUser1 ResUser2 ResUser3 ResUserd ResUser5 The names of these user fields ResSkilll 3 ResRate1 3 and ResUserl 5 are simply guides as to their usage In reality you can use these attributes to display anything you like except against fields that are already displayed on the table 62 e User Attributes AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum User Attributes e 63 AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum User Attributes e 65 Updating Information Data Entry Tables AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Data can be entered or edited by selecting the appropriate dataset and choosing Update mode All records are maintained in order based on the key identifier field in the dataset which must be unique Fields which are not displayed can be added by clicking the mouse in the background space to the right of the data table and selecting from the field name popup Only those fields not already displayed are included in the popup list Each selected field is added to the end of the table Changing the Table Layout If a View has been saved in the current dataset table fields can be moved or resized Use View Save As to name a View To move a table field column position the cursor at the top of the field heading When the cursor changes to an open palm c
69. he enterprise solution allows a Microsoft Project user to login to a central AMS Server submit project plans and retrieve status updates The AMS Server manages the distribution of this project data to a community of project teams who can provide feedback to the Microsoft Project schedules This feedback is typically timesheet information giving detailed actual hours and progress on tasks assignment of individuals to tasks and estimates of expected time to complete tasks Organizations with a large commitment to Microsoft Project can collect and organize the individual project schedules into an enterprise wide project and resource solution How does it work The AMS Enterprise Solution for Microsoft Project adds a special DLL to the Microsoft Project user s system directory It also provides an updated global mpt template file With these two components added the Microsoft Project user can login to the AMS REALTIME Server from within Microsoft Project and submit a project schedule This is instantly available to a community of project teams and team leaders through the AMS REALTIME Resources Solo WebSolo and Projects applications Team leaders can make resource assignments team members can record the hours they work and estimate time to the completion of activities via a simple timesheet and project managers can load these updates back into Microsoft Project to progress their schedules AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum The Enterprise Solution e 7
70. he program to fail in certain circumstances Selecting a Dataset To select a dataset for display or modification QA Activity v 1 Click on the 3 Dataset selection tool 2 From the resulting list select the desired dataset to display The desired dataset will open into the Database tab The data can now be manipulated in the table depending on the mode selection i e Update Filter or Define 42 e Database Tab AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Defining a Key Field 0 Key fields are fields that contain a unique set of records and can be used to cross reference other datasets of identical unique fields Name Type Attributes Employee R Employee ResiD VVorkplanResource P Regular Overtime VYorkplanType Tihhth VYorkplanETC Key fields can be identified by the key symbol in the row header of the table To define a key field right click in the row header for the table K a 3 Organization Si Type BEBERURCEE ake Key Field sert elete ove up ove Down elect SHEI IS IO From the resulting list select the Make Key Field option A key icon will appear in the row header indicating that this is now a key field To define a key field using the keyboard and mouse hold down the Alt key and click in the field name AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Database Tab e 43 The Basic AMS REALTIME Resources Datasets The four basic text datasets are information sets conta
71. ics can be used to help track down the source of the problem File Edit View Options Timecard Help DSI pm BB AaB yaw Portfolio Workplan E Timecard Report Database H Calendars Access Objects Class Objects Bytes Delta Objects Delta Bytes 0 Totals 6 899 498 967 6 899 498 967 f i i 2 Props 730 35 024 730 35 024 8 IDArray 422 The Five columns in the objects table represent different elements of the processes involved in serving the client The top most row in the table is a totals column that gives a cumulative sum of all the data packet activity between the client and server These columns are explained below AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Objects Tab e 91 92 e Objects Tab Class Every computer program is made up of blocks of compiled code These blocks are known as functions Functions can be gathered into objects known as Classes The Class column shows the name of the Class that has been used by the client either during login or during subsequent activities within the client Objects Objects is simply a general term for items usually pieces of data that pass between the server and the client So a single object could be a task record a timecard record or any other piece of data that is passing between the client and the server The objects column records the number of objects that have passed between the client and the server Bytes Number of data bytes
72. ies Buttons can also be added to Projects to connect to the AMS REALTIME database set exchange options commit project plans and update projects with status and actuals An Enterprise Server Python script checks the total of each user s actuals for the given period and compares it with the total number of actuals that the user should report If it is under the required amount an automatic email notification is sent All of the AMS standard 5 2 release Python scripts come with a standard header block that details what each script does everything that is required to make each script work including required fields configuration settings etc a basic psuedocode description and a history of changes that includes the programmer name date and change In addition all code has an extremely verbose English comment line along the right side of the script that makes it is easy to tell exactly what the script is doing and where potential custom changes should be made See Appendix A of this document for the standard Python scripts that will be released with version 5 2 AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Python API e 105 Python Files 106 e Python API By default the AMS Program s use the command path to locate the startup py and other python source files For example the startup py file is placed in the program executable directory and the program looks in there for the startup py in order to load any python scripts required However a configura
73. ies when a task is scheduled to start WorkPlanPlanned Identifies the field containing the planned start date for the work WorkPlanETC Identifies the field containing Estimate to Complete data WorkPlanLOE Identifies the field containing Level of Effort data WorkPlanStatus Identifies the field containing the tasks status i e Open or Closed WorkPlanType Identifies the field containing work types i e Regular Overtime or other custom work types WorkPlanCD Identifies the field containing the workplan current complete date WorkPlanSD Identifies the field containing the workplan current start date WorkPlanExtension Identifies the field containing the workplan extension data WorkPlanCalendar Identifies the field containing the named calendar for the task WorkPlanBS Identifies the field containing the base hours start date WorkPlanBC Identifies the field containing the base hours complete date WorkPlanBaseline Identifies the field containing the original base hours WorkPlanPool Identifies the field containing generic resource work plan info WorkPlanLast Identifies the field containing the last date time was booked WorkPlanCum Identifies the field containing number of hours AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum posted cumulative to date Custom Used to assign a memory portion in which to store data This is generally reserved for user defined additional fields above and beyond the standard fields and attributes already ava
74. ilable Navigating Workplan View AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum The Workplan View The figure below shows a simplified map of the workplan screen layout marking each of the major components Workplan Screen Map Workplan Project Activity Tool Bar _ Select Project Activity Filter v Activity Table Area OOOO Resource Tool Bar Resource Resource Calendar Table Area Chart Area Area Project Activity tool bar Remove Assignment This button will allow a selected assignment in the Activity s table area to be removed This places the resource back in the pool and makes it available for other assignments during that period The next three buttons on the toolbar operate together to narrow down the activity list First a project is selected next an activity filter can be chosen and finally the activity required can be selected from the last list button e EE Y Select Project Click on this pop down list button to select a project The select activity button s content will depend on this selection gS Activities v Activity Filter Use this button to select an activity filter The filters displayed in this button are defined in the database tab Workplan Tab e 83 84 e Workplan Tab Note To clear the activity filter button and return to no filter All Activities setting click on the button without selecting a new item from the list The button will display All Activities and no filter will be in o
75. ill be created is RTP 217 After the activity has been created the NextAutoID field will be updated to 218 The Format AutoID string can be any text format string where the d is replaced with the current value of NextAutoID Prj Exts Prj Ext Values ScheduleKey ProjectManager ProjectName CD Player cdplayer exe Calculator Info word C ams dev project Netscape C Program Files Netsc Editor notepad Calculator calc NextAutolD 217 FormatAutolD RTP d Resource Extension Field Enhancements A resource extension field can also be defined to calculate the total usage for a resource in the project The Res List field a calculated field in the activity table that lists the resources assigned to the activity can be configured to show the average LOE Level of Effort for each resource in the list Resource attributes have been added to allow resource extension fields to have non specific names and locations Attributes are Summary Element ShowLOEFlag and UsageTotal A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE All projects that use Elements of Cost need to be updated to set the Element attribute to the field used to relate a resource to an element of cost This field no longer has to be named Element but needs to have the Element attribute set AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum REALTIME Projects 5 2 e 101 Resource LOE in Res List This displays a resource s average level of effort in parenthesis next to the Resource ID in the calculated
76. ill display a list Clicking to the left will give a list of Months to select Clicking to the right will give a list of years to select This allow the calendar to jump directly to a selected year rather than stepping through them one by one Color Codes Days indicated in black are working days for the current displayed month Light red numbers represent non working days in the current month Light gray numbers indicate dates in the previous or next month Dark red numbers indicate non working days in the previous or next month Symbols The diagonal markout lines across a date indicated that it has passed REALTIME Resource 5 2 e 23 24 e REALTIME Resource 5 2 Display Selector The display selector button steps through four possible mode of display for the calendar Each successive click of the button takes the display to the next mode The modes are as follows Markout on default display when the program opens Shows the day of the week plus a markout for any days that are behind current date Working Days on shows the number of working days in the lower right hand portion of the day buttons The working days number starts at O on the Base Date of the calendar Markout with Working Days shows the working days and gives a markout though days passed Day of Month Only gives only the day number in each day box with no markouts or working days showing Markout on Default SI Day of Month Only E Working Days on
77. ine the lower left portion represents actual hours booked by the resources and the right hand portion of the bar light blue indicates the estimated hours to complete the task The mouse cursor can be placed on the end of a bar and its tool tip flag gives a precise number of hours Portfolio Tab e 79 Workplan Tab Introduction AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum What is Workplan The Workplan tab allows the creation and modification of work assignments across an entire project portfolio Therefore resources that are shared among activities or projects can have their assignments created or modified The Workplan tab or View accessed by selecting the workplan tab displays the activity data in hierarchical order based on selections made from pick list buttons at the top of the view First the project is selected next an activity filter can be used to show only activities that meet certain criteria finally the activities themselves can be selected The resource window in the center of the lower portion of the screen shows resource names and the availability of the resource over time This allows the viewer to see critical project requirements resource assignments and availability on one screen Summary of Workplan View capabilities e Drilldown from projects through to their activities e Show resource assignments across the entire project portfolio e Show resource work assignments across single or multiple projects e Allows the assessm
78. ining Project Activity Employee and Organization information The fields named Actuals and Workplan are the standard numeric type Oe containing time phased data datasets These contain the source data that appears in Workplan mode and the Timecard screen As with the standard text datasets the basic fields data types and attributes should not be redefined There is some capacity to add additional fields to these numeric datasets but only within the existing slot reference structure New datasets can also be created to hold information to support project and resource management systems such as customer information billing and expense data or document control information The product can support up to 41 datasets in total the 5 standard datasets plus up to 36 user defined datasets There is no implied order to dataset fields Fields may be inserted or deleted but if a field is deleted all corresponding data is lost Each field has a list of possible data types Reference field types allow selection of fields from other datasets Virtual field types automatically create the data from defined component fields or subfields Creating Dataset Field Definitions The first field in the dataset should be a unique record identifier To define the fields in a dataset select the dataset name and choose Define note that only users with Full access to the dataset table definition will be able make database definitions Enter the field name
79. ist at the bottom of the dialog To remove or change existing overday definitions select the appropriate date at the bottom of the dialog and click Delete Overdays 34 e The Calendar Tab AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Specifying the Range of Dates A project may use standard shift patterns throughout its whole duration On the other hand it could be that shift patterns overdays and holidays will change from time to time throughout the project For example one set of shift patterns could be required during the summer and a different working shift pattern be required for the winter The product allows the specification of a range of dates for which the other information is applied Click the Ranges tab to access the Range control fields WW OK X Cancel ES sHrsiSDays v Holidays Ranges Range Always e gen O Day Synch mae 0 Time Synch om Cycle Length HE Add Range Delete Range Update Range Use the Range button to select an existing range or click Add Range to create a new range The Always Range is the default range which means that any cycle holiday or overday information is applied to all dates The date on which the Range is to start operating is entered in the Start box The Synch date is the first date in the beginning of a cycle for the new calendar range For example the summer calendar might start on June 21 but if that i
80. itch indicates that only approved actuals that is actuals reported on a timecard that have been marked as approved by a manager will be used to update the progress of a schedule Ignore Actuals After date this option allows actuals that have been posted after the specified date to be ignored by the status process This is useful if some of the resources have posted time showing what they are going to do not what they have actually done Preserve Constraint Types Date this setting ensures that the integrity of the links within the project and the dates are left in tact after the status Map Files During a status or a commit a map file is used to tell the system how to map Microsoft Project fields with the Enterprise Server s database fields Because the Enterprise Server is customizable map files are used to allow the map to be changed to reflect the actual structure of the Enterprise database The path to the appropriate map file is usually stored in the Configuration table in the Enterprise Server The Commit and Status functions examine this table and display the path in the map file field at the top of the dialog However if the map files have not been defined in the configuration table the Browser button can be used to locate the required map file The options dialog provides two buttons concerned with finding and editing a map file Use the Browse button to locate an appropriate map file 12 e Using AMS Enterprise Sol
81. ity status is either Open or Closed Closed activities can no longer have any hours booked to them Start The start date of the activity Complete The complete date of the activity Planned Original Planned hours for the task ETC The Estimate To Complete field indicates the estimated number of hours still to be worked to complete the task LOE Level of Effort figure displayed in percentage 100 one person working full time on the activity 400 Four people working on task full time 50 one person working for half their available time on the activity When the resource is of type Generic the display shows the quantity of people still required to be allocated to the activity in place of the generic resource The number is not a percentage figure as with regular resources Cum Cumulative hours booked for this activity by the resource Remaining Remaining hours left to work on the activity Actual Start Actual start date when work was first booked to the activity Plan From Last date hours were book up to Calendar The name of the calendar being used by the resource Worktype type of work performed on the activity by the resource regular or overtime Other types can be added using the Actuals Table in the Database tab definitions view Type field Other Workplan Table Features Cells in the table with a colored background are usually non editable fields That is to say they cannot be edited in that particul
82. ld called Extension and click on the Type field next to it 4 From the resulting popup list click on the Extension option 5 In the next resulting popup list choose the Expense Notes dataset option 6 Click on the Save button on the toolbar to save the changes The Expenses table is now linked to the Expense Notes dataset The fields created in the Expense Notes table will now be available to the user in the Expense table below the timecard Storing Files in the Database BLOB 70 e Updating Information Files produced by programs such as AMS REALTIME Projects Microsoft Word Excel and Projects can be stored within fields in the AMS Enterprise server In fact any type of binary ASCII or text file can be stored This is referred to as Binary Large Object BLOB storage AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Description FileStore Denne and set up a projec 30000act arp Internal programming proje For example a field can be added to the Projects table to store schedule files generated by AMS REALTIME Projects or Microsoft Project These project files contain the schedule for the project in the description This is a convenient way to securely store program files in a logical place where they can be easily associated with the data in the database Another example might be to store Word documents for a project brief Storing a File To associate and store files in the Resource s enterprise databas
83. lick and drag the column to its new position and let go of the mouse To size the columns position the cursor at the right edge of the field heading When the cursor changes to a pointing finger click and drag until the column is the desired size If the column is sized all the way down to its opposite edge zero width the column will disappear Selecting AutoResize from the View menu will automatically size each column to the size allowed by the field definition Deleting Records Records may be deleted by selecting the row or rows click or Shift click on the row line number and selecting Delete from the Edit menu The Del key on the keyboard can also be used Saving the Data When the entering or editing of information is completed in the selected dataset and it is a local database select Save from the File menu If the server version is being used the server will automatically save the record Updating Information e 67 Hierarchical Organization Data Coding Expenses If the OrgCode field in the Employee dataset has a hierarchical structure the positional values of the field will be used to establish organizational ownership of employees The contents of this field are viewed in a hierarchical way to determine which employee data a user can view and which employees are available for Login or Plan access The coding works like a fixed length OBS Organizational Breakdown Structure code which has no separating decimals a
84. mployee datasets Activity Dataset User Attributes The user fields in this dataset can be applied when the dataset is opened in define mode Click on the attribute field on the row of the field that is to be defined as a User field The following list can be seen TaskID TaskPick TaskStart TaskComp TaskLevel TaskType TaskColor TaskFile TaskResFilter TaskPC ActID TaskDrilldown TaskCal TaskCloseOn TaskMSPxID TaskProject ee TaskUser2 TaskUser3 TaskUser4 TaskUsers TaskUserb TaskUser TaskUserd TaskUser9 TaskUser10 AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum User Attributes e 61 TaskUser1 TaskUser10 will add the field to the tasl list pane in the lower half of the screen Employee Dataset user Attributes Resource fields can be added to the availability listing using the ResSkill ResRate and ResUser attributes These can be set in the Employee dataset in define mode This feature is useful in providing additional information about a resource to a team leader or resource manager For example it may be useful to have a complete listing of the resources specialized skills when making resource assignments Therefor a skill field can be created in the Employee table and the ResSkill1 attribute added to that field Whenever the availability table is being viewed the content of the skill field can be seen along side the standard information Click on the Attribute column in the Employee dataset to view the followin
85. nd is padded to the right with zeros when a higher organizational level applies The zeros are treated as wildcard digits so that an employee that had zeros in the last two digits of his OrgCode number could access other employee records provided that the remaining OrgCode digits matched For example an employee with an OrgCode of 373000 could plan work for employees with the OrgCode of 373450 373457 and 373680 but not have access to employee with OrgCodes of 380000 or 374123 Introduction Expenses incurred during the execution of a project task can be recorded along with the timesheet These expenses can be virtually anything that represents an additional cost to the project or task They can also be used to record personal expenses that require reimbursement to an individual In either case the expenses feature allows a table detailing expenses to be populated in an area just below the time card As is the case with most AMS REALTIME features expenses can be customized and maintained during the like of the project to reflect business requirements and functional capability Entering Expenses 68 e Updating Information Once actual hours have been booked to an activity expenses can be recorded against the entry Expense entries are linked to individual timecard cells e To enter an expense against a time entry select the timecard cell against which the expenses are to be recorded and then click on the Expenses button located in the
86. ns and controls of the upper half and displays whatever is selected without the capability to change the selected data Portfolio Dynamic Drilldown JL IL Staph Controls Report Table Report Graph Calendar Static Report AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Portfolio Tab e 73 Drilldown Table Drilldown Chart 74 e Portfolio Tab Drilldown Controls This area allows the project portfolio data to be selected This is done by drilling down through the different layers of data via a pop down list When the view is first opened the Set Drilldown Order tool is present in the Drilldown Controls area of the screen 8 Set Drilldown Order tool The hierarchy that can be navigated through is largely dependant on how the database has been configured Typically there would be a hierarchy that starts with the project down to activities then down to resources This can be displayed and organized in any order desired based on selections from the pop down list Project tool The project tool appears when a project is selected from the pop down list Clicking on this tool presents a list of fields that are available in the Project table The display in the drilldown table area will show the field selected here D Organization tool The Organization tool allow the Portfolio view to be filtered by organizational codes These code are present in the organization table Clicking on this button displays a menu of the fields available in the organiz
87. ntage of the better weather in the summer Pattern 1 In the colder darker months of the year we will be limited in how long we can work in daylight The working pattern is as follows The winter pattern is worked from October to March In the winter we work Monday through Saturday from 9 00 AM to 4 00 PM Pattern 2 In the summer months from April to September we can work much longer hours each day but give workers more time off at the weekend to compensate The normal hours will be Monday through Friday from 8 00 AM to 6 00 PM To define these Patterns in AMS REALTIME Projects e Create a new calendar called Outside e On the Info Tab set the Base Date as 01OCT97 e Click the Cycle tab and change Saturday into a working day This is done by choosing Saturday from the pop up next to the Shift For label Then enter the shift time From 09 00 To 16 00 and click on the Add Time button e Delete all of the current Shift Times for Monday through Friday Select Monday and enter a Shift Time From 09 00 To 16 00 Click on Add Time button e Now add the new Shift Time for Tuesday through Friday e Click the Ranges tab Enter a Start of 01APR98 which is the date on which our new range starts e Since the cycle for this range starts on a Monday enter 06Apr98 as the Synch entry e The summer working day schedule of 5 working days will still be applied to a weekly schedule so enter 7 for the Cycle Length The Calendar T
88. of the possible types of display for the resources chart Click on the list to select the display mode required These modes are Conflict Blue White or Red bars indicate whether a resource is Available fully utilized or over utilized respectively Graduations between these states are shown as colored shades between the different states For example if a resource is being over utilized in one particular time period the bar will show as Red If it s solid red the resource is at 200 overload If the bar is white with red dots it is less than 200 overloaded These are only intended to give a guide to availability and conflict Here is a chart to help understand the different shades of color BE co 50 75 100 125 150 EEE 175 E 200 Note Any figure above 200 will not change the bar color any further AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Usage Histogram This view uses each bar as a miniature histogram of usage for each resource Instead of using a shaded color to represent usage the bar scrolls from Blue through white to red The height of each of these is dependent on the amount of usage or over usage In this view each row of the graph behaves like a miniature histogram The height of the bar represents 100 of either availability Blue Usage White or Overload Red The gray area represents a non working period The Yellow area is the time period for the currently selected activity
89. olumn This will open the field for editing without producing the data type popup menu Add an exclamation point after the reference field definition and then enter a reference link to a default value R Organization Code Employee Org Code Virtual If the Virtual type is selected a popup will appear that contains all the fields in the current dataset Click on each field until all the desired items have been chosen The contents of the new field will be automatically created from all of the fields selected To override the popup and add text to the virtual field definition hold down the Ctrl key and click in the field definition A cursor will appear allowing the field to be modified Virtual Reference A virtual reference field is a field that is automatically populated by a reference link to another dataset For example each employee has an Org Code If the Org Code is defined as a reference field to a Code field in the Organization dataset the Employee s Org Code will establish a link to a particular Organization record Other fields in that record can be linked as a Virtual Reference field such as a Manager To define a Virtual reference field enter a new field name Chose Virtual as the data type and then select the field that contains the reference link to another dataset A popup will then appear that contains all the fields from the linked dataset Choose a field from the list to populate the virtual reference field Pick
90. on 2 Ifthe Acomp field has a non zero true value the activity is complete and it doesn t have late status This returns a O days late value 3 If the Acomp field has a zero value it isn t finished yet so the number of days late is calculated as Time Now minus x where x is determined by If there is a ProgTo date x ProgTo Or if there is a Start date x Start Or if there is a Complete date e g a Complete milestone x Complete Or if none of those fields are populated e g Title x Time Now The activity is complete and it is no longer late String functions Contatenation When used with alpha fields the plus sign is a concatenation operator which can append the contents of fields and or literal strings Literal string s should be enclosed in single quotes Again you need to use Ctrl click in the Act Ext Type column to get a cursor and enter the field definition Calc ActID Description If a syntax error is encountered such as you typed a field name wrong AMS REALTIME will place an error position marker before the problem in the field definition Calc ActID 4 Description REALTIME Projects 5 2 e 99 100 e REALTIME Projects 5 2 Substrings Functions have been added to manipulate strings To calculate a substring from a field place the start and length in square brackets after the field name separated by a comma For example Description 5 7 will start at character 5
91. peration A ns Select Activity This list button displays a pick list of activities that are present in the project selected using the select project button It will also exclude any activities that do not pass the Activity Filter criteria set in the activity filter button Project Activity tool bar Pool Linking The concept of linking is to associate a resource assignment to a generic resource A generic resource is simply a skill requirement To assign that skill requirement to an activity a generic resource is created that specifies the skill required to complete the activity At a later time the generic requirement can be swapped out with an actual person that has the necessary skill to complete the task This allows persons not responsible for resource allocation to create activities with skill requirements Later a resource manager can allocate a person based on availability and skill to the activity A generic resource can therefore be thought of as a request for a skilled person without specifying who should do the task Pool Linking is used to swap out a generic resource with an actual person and automatically reduce the quantity of generic requirements on that activity For example if an activity requires four accountants to work on it simultaneously for two weeks a generic resource called Accountants is created This is applied to the accounting task at 400 Level of Effort LOE If Generic Linking is enabled each accountan
92. ple selected resources The Workforce Browser makes centrally held resources in the Enterprise server available to every Microsoft Project user This means that when a new project is being created resources which need to work on the various tasks in that project can be downloaded into the Microsoft Project resource list See the Workforce Browser section for details about how to use this product Logon To share information between Microsoft Project and the AMS Enterprise Server Microsoft Project must be logged on to the Server Once a logon has been completed information can be shared between the two systems To Log Microsoft Project on to the AMS Enterprise Server 1 Click on the Enterprise menu and choose Logon 2 Enter User Name Password and from the pick list choose a repository name 3 Click on the Logon button to connect to the Server Logon to AMS REALTIME Resource Server 24x User Name ADMIN Password kokk Repository amsserver ad Logon Cancel Example showing a typical completed Logon dialog in Microsoft Project Note A repository name is a name given to the AMS Enterprise Server for convenient identification Disconnect Disconnects the Microsoft Project client from the enterprise server To disconnect click on the Enterprise menu and choose the Disconnect option AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Using AMS Enterprise Solution for Microsoft Project e 15 REALTIME Resource 5 2 Introduction
93. pressed to the right and drilled in or out for zooming 1999 2000 June July August Sep October Nov Dec January Feb March April The following text describes in detail how each of these operations can be achieved using either the mouse or the keyboard AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum REALTIME Resource 5 2 e 17 18 e REALTIME Resource 5 2 Hot Spot Key Diagram Hot spots are areas of a program object that respond to mouse input The time scale has a number of hot spots that allow the view to be completely changed without the need for filling in dates into dialog box fields The diagram below illustrates the location of hot spots on the time scale S es l Oct Nov Dec Feb Mar April May June duly Aug kb E Calendar Popup Cursor Autoscroll Cursor Autocompress Cursor Autoexpand Cursor Compressor Cursor manual Expander Cursor manual SL FEEF Pan Cursor Note Hot spots are mirrored at each end of the time scale Selecting the time scale for manipulation To select the time scale object using the mouse click once anywhere on the time scale object The timescale will appear to indent indicating that it is currently selected Use the Tab key to change the selected object on the screen Each press of the Tab key moves the selection to the next object in the tab sequence Press the Tab key until the time scale object you
94. que references the slot numbers do not have to be specifically entered The first field uses slot 0 the next field uses slot 1 and so on However if another field is defined where the slot reference will be shared that slot must be specifically entered Hold down the Ctrl key and click in the Type field to override the popup and append the slot number to the field e g the fields R Employee ResID 0 and R Employee Rate 0 share a reference to an employee record AMS REALTIME Resources Number of Slots 2 4 E Cancel Specifying the Number of Field Slots The next step is to define the OrgLookup fields Enter ResID on the first line under Name Choose Reference as the data type Select the Employee dataset and the ResID field This first field is the Key Field which will be used to identify the Lookup record Add Date as the second field name Date is a fixed field name that the software uses and can not be altered Set it to the Date data type use any preferred format with month day and year and then Start of Shift The Date field is defined to hold the date the change should take effect AMS REALTIME Resources will compare the system date with the change as of date Add Organization as the third field name This name should match with the name of the Organization reference in the Actuals table Set it to a Reference type selecting the Organization dataset and the Code field AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Databa
95. quired For example if a view of a specific week is required and the view is currently set to years first double click on the year to zoom to just that year Then double click on the desired month in that year and then finally on a specific day of the week To zoom back out again double click on the month then the year REALTIME Resource 5 2 e 21 Note The cursor does not change when it passes over the text descriptor for a calendar object Ignore whatever cursor is displayed and double click to drill down when over a date descriptor Scrolling panning To scroll the time scale to the left or right using the keyboard first select the time scale object using the Tab key To scroll to the left and right use the left and right arrow keys on the keyboard Expanding the time scale To expand the time scale hold down the Ctrl key and use the left and right arrow keys to activate the expansion Compressing the time scale To compress the time scale hold down the Shift key and use the left and right arrow keys to activate the compression Calendar Module 22 e REALTIME Resource 5 2 The calendar module can be manipulated using either the mouse or the keyboard It s functionality and interactivity with the system makes this module very useful not Just for changing the week view in a timesheet but for altering dates on activities and time scale objects The calendar object affects the program in different ways
96. r on the task whilst being accurate in terms of how long the work has been going on for does not reflect the true actual progress of the work itself Some feature enhancements for technical progress have been added to address a further issue with progress Description of Enhancement As of version 5 2 some new flexibility has been added to the technical progress feature This enhancement allows project managers to enter actual start actual REALTIME Projects 5 2 e 93 complete and Prog To dates on non work days weekends holidays etc as well as working days If using the Technical mode to calculate progress a new equation is used to determine the complete date for an activity REM DUR PROG TO COMPLETE Date This does two things allows users to determine COMPLETE Date based on selected Calendar while giving the ability to express non workdays as Actual Start and Actual Complete dates HOWTO Set up the Technical Progress Enhancement Before attempting to use this feature there are two settings in the rtp32 ini rtp cfg on Unix and Macintosh platforms configuration file ABSOLUTEACTUALS and TECHPROGSAVE These two switches must be present in the configuration file and set to Y for the feature to work To check and change these settings open the configuration file using any simple text editor such as notepad on windows or emacs vi or xedit on Unix platforms On Macintosh machines use SimpleText Alternatively use
97. rces differentiates between special purpose fields and fields which contain other information The Attribute keywords for the Employee dataset are ResID The contents of this field will be displayed in a popup when selecting the Organization in Plan mode ResOrg The contents of this field will specify the organization to which each employee belongs ResPick The contents of this field will populate the resource popup a list of employees ResLogin This field contains the Login ID for each employee ResLabel This field is used to label each employee s task list the schedule bars ResProxy This field is used to identify an alternate employee login that can access a AMS REALTIME Resources account without knowing the password This identifies the Login password field This identifies the Access Level field ResType This field is used to identify specific vs generic resources ResDrilldown This identifies a field which holds the name of a Resource drilldown filter ResCal This identifies a field that contains the name of the Resource Calendar ResMSPXID Microsoft Project Resource Unique identifier To add new fields to the Employee dataset click in the first empty line under the Name column Type the new field name Click on the same line under the Type column A popup will appear containing all the data types Click on the appropriate data type If the Alpha type is selected a prompt will appear so that the AMS REALTIME
98. rver the system is now being referred to as The Enterprise Server and is mentioned as such throughout more recent documentation and publications Added to this the capability to update a timecard or perform other tasks from anywhere in the world via the web the scope of project and resource management is now geared round a truly global solution This manual represents only some of the ground breaking work that is being done by AMS to enhance the Enterprise Solution This release is an interim release not maintenance and will be followed by a more formal point release in the near future At this time the contents of this manual will be absorbed into the main documentation of the product set However for now it stands as an update to the current documentation and should be used in conjunction with it Contents e v The Enterprise Solution What is Enterprise Solution The Advanced Management Solutions Microsoft Project Enterprise solution is an easy way to allow project and resource managers to collaborate in the creation and status of multiple projects across an organization The main application controlling this activity is called Workforce Browser This tool is activated from within Microsoft Project and allows the viewing and allocation of resources to and from tasks located either in the Microsoft Project file or out on the Enterprise Server See the Workforce Browser User Guide for details about this product In simple terms t
99. s a Wednesday and the cycle starts on a Monday the sync date can be set for June 26 which is the next Monday Synch dates become clearer when they are applied to calendars with odd cycles instead of a weekly shift pattern If a 10 day shift cycle is defined the system needs a way to determine which day is which since there will be more than one Monday in the pattern For example a range has been defined that uses a 10 day Cycle Length Enter a Start date of 01JUN97 and a Synch date of 11JUN97 When the Cycle for this range is examined Day 1 of 10 Day 2 of 10 Day 3 of 10 will be seen in the Shift For pop up where previously the days of the week where visible Specify the length of the cycle in the Cycle Length box The default is 7 which means that the shift times can be set using the calendar week specifically for this Range The section below on Worked Examples shows how to combine Range and Cycle information to create complex working patterns for a project The Calendar Tab e 35 Creating a New Calendar As well as making changes to existing Calendars new calendar can be created in the calendar tab Enter the calendar tab where the display will show the Default calendar Click the New Calendar icon at the left hand side of the screen The Info tab changes to display the Calendar Name as NewCalendar Edit this field to enter the name required From now on the Select Calendar icon will include this new calendar as p
100. s extension click on the Define tab First a dataset must be created to store the notes made against an expense entry The Expenses table will then link to this dataset allowing it s fields to be available as columns in the expenses table 1 Click on the Create New Dataset button 2 In the resulting dialog box enter a name for the dataset For example Expense Notes 3 Inthe New Dataset Type dialog click on the Text button to create a text type dataset The new dataset name will appear in the dataset dropdown list to the left of the Define Tab 4 To open the new dataset click on the dataset dropdown and select it from the menu 5 Inthe Name column enter the name for the first notes field for example Comments 6 In the type column click on the first blank cell to see a list of valid data types Choose the Alpha option 7 Inthe Number of Characters dialog enter the maximum number of characters that can be typed into the field Maximum allowed 511 then click OK To enter further fields in the Expense Notes table repeat the above operation Once finished click the Save button on the toolbar to save the changes Once the Expense Notes fields have been entered the table can be linked to the Expenses table as an extension To do this follow these next steps 1 Click on the Define tab 2 Click on the Expenses table diamond on the far left of the define tab 3 In the Expense table look for the standard fie
101. se Tab e 57 58 e Database Tab Portfolio Database 3 Organization R Organization Code 2 OrgLookup Database Definition Important Notes on Lookup Tables Lookup table entries must be maintained in ascending date order The dates are as of dates meaning that each key field match will use the contents of the lookup fields with the latest date Each field that uses a lookup table to populate a field should have at least one entry in the lookup table Entering Lookup Reference Data If you do not already have employee and Organization data in those tables enter some test data to work with At a minimum you will need to populate the Employee dataset with a few entries that have ResID a unique identifier Name and Login defined The Organization dataset should have at least two unique Organization Code and Title entries Now change back to the OrgLookup dataset in Update mode Under the ResID select each ResID from the popup one per line Under the Date field enter the beginning of this year Under each code select an appropriate Organization Now choose one of the employees that already has an entry and add a second entry for that ResID Enter tomorrow s date under the Date field and then set the Organization field to a new organization This will allow actual entries from tomorrow forward to automatically use the employee s new organization Code Defining Fields that Use a Lookup Field Now that we have the
102. sequence for entering in the amount field These are correct for Windows only Alt 0163 Alt 0036 Alt 0128 Alt 0165 To enter a symbol that is not available on the keyboard hold down the Alt key and use the number pad of the keyboard to type in the ASCII code number Release the Alt key and the symbol will appear in the cell The currency amount can now be entered This will only work using the number key pad usually to the right of the QWERTY alpha numeric keyboard Numbers above the Alpha keys do not normally work for entering ASCII code because they have shared function such as Shift for 2 Shift for etc The first currency listed in the Units field pick list will always be the default that prefixes the amount number Mileage and Hours If the amount being entered represents units other than currency the description is typed after the amount The standard amount types apart from curreny symbols are mileage and hours For example if 200 miles need to be recorded the amount is typed in followed by the word Miles O PROJECT SPECIFICATION Ved Travel 200 00 Miles 109 43 Adding notes to the Expenses table Database Administrative information The following requires full system administrator access rights to the database Updating Information e 69 A notes extension table can be added to the expenses table allowing users to enter brief notes to the expense table in timecard To add a note
103. source If the resource is only half used over the period a blue bar will be occupy half the resource bar s height If the resource is fully committed the blue bar will occupy the full height of the resource bar If the resource becomes overloaded a red bar will appear above the blue bar and force the blue bar to occupy a smaller percentage of Workplan Tab e 87 88 e Workplan Tab the height of the resource bar even though the blue bar still represents 100 Here is an example 10 50 100 110 150 200 Usage Usage Usage Usage Usage Usage Average LOE This item changes the resource graph into a numeric table containing non editable cells displaying the figures for average level of effort for each resource working on the selected activity The display is dynamic and the results are based on the scope of the time scale If the scale is showing weeks the figures reflect the daily average If the scale is showing months the figures represent the weekly average May 1999 June 16 23 20 13 20 Total LOE This item shows a similar table to the average LOE table The cells display figures that show the total usage for a resource on the selected activity The scope of the time scale determines whether the figures are shown as days weeks months or years Average Available This item displays a table that shows the average amount of availability for a resource over the duration of the select
104. sting standard tables or any components therein without consultation with an AMS representative HOWTO set a database attribute To set a database attribute do the following 1 Click on the Database tab to open it Select the dataset you wish to modify 3 Click on the define tool to enter define mode 4 Locate the field who s attribute is to be changed 5 Click in the field under the attribute column 6 From the resulting list select the desired attribute The attribute will now appear next to the selected field Database Tab e 47 Project Dataset Attributes The project dataset is a high level table used to identify the projects that exist within the system Tasks in the database are grouped by the projects that own them The project dataset uses attributes to identify the role of certain fields 48 e Database Tab to the system The following diagram and table give a brief description of each of the available attributes Portfolio orkplan Database Acces ProjlD ProjDesc ProjFileN ame ProjOwner ProjsD ProjCD ProiMSPXFile ProiMSPCommitM ap ProjMSPStatusMap Attribute Description ProjID Field containing the project s unique ID ProjDesc Field containing the project s description ProjFileName Project original file name if imported from AMS REALTIME Projects ProjOwner Field containing the name of the project owner ProjSD Identifies
105. t To the right of the screen are a series of tabs that can be used to define specific information about each calendar Above the calendar and the tabs are some calendar specific icon tools that are covered in detail below When the calendar tab is first entered the Info tab is displayed This shows the basic information for the current calendar In the example above the Calendar Name shows the current selected calendar is the Default Calendar The Select Calendar icon the rightmost button at the top of the screen also shows the name of the current calendar Clicking the icon will give a list of other calendars that can be selected fon X Cancel E Detaut Z 8Hrs 5D ays Info 4Day Calendar Def Bob s Calendar Name Default Base Date 01 JAN 95 Duration amp Work Units Day Length 08 00 Week Length 40 00 Month Length 17320 0 For information on creating a new calendar see the section on Creating a New Calendar below Base Date The Base Date is the point at which the calendar starts The working days in the calendar are numbered sequentially and the number displayed at the bottom right of each date box is the working day This generic day numbering starts from the day after the Base Date since the Base Date is zero Any changes made can be saved by clicking the Save Calendar Changes button The Discard Calendar Changes button next to it labeled Cancel can be used to ensure
106. t GenMPU Minutes per unit for generic timescale Is this a merge link Master user defined fields Any user defined project extensions all fields are Alpha type Duration and Logical Functions useCalendar calendarname override activity calendar check 0 disable type error checking to avoid calculation errors on blank fields asComplete 1 result if date as complete date dhm days hours minutes span from numbers mpdQ number minutes per day current cal mpw number minutes per week mpm number minutes per month days span number days from span hours span number hours from span minutes span number minutes from span number date or span number from date or span date number date from number span number span from number AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Operators Comment rest of line is ignored test truevalue falsevalue If test has a true non zero result true value occurs else falsevalue Or list Vertical bar use the first populated value in the list A Complex Calculation Broken Down into Steps The user defined activity field LateBy is calculated from this definition Calc check 0 acomp 0 0 project now progtolstarticompletelproject now 1 The check function turns off the error checking in case the AComp field is a blank This prevents type errors in the calculati
107. t that is allocated to that task at 100 LOE will automatically reduce the generic requirement by 100 LOE This continues until all four accountants have been allocated The generic resource now shows 0 LOE and can be removed from the activity el Link to Generic With this button selected resources that are swapped with the generic resource will reduce the generic resource s LOE by the amount of LOE allocated to the actual skilled resource Ei Unlink From Generic With this button selected resources will not swap out their requirement with the generic resource They will simply be added to the activity as a resource Prompt For Generic Link With this button selected the system will prompt to either link the assignment to the pool or perform an unlinked assignment that does not reduce the pool Activity Table Area This area allows the viewing and selection of the resources associated with the activity selected in the Select Activity button menu This table contains details about the resources required or assigned to the selected activity Table Column Description Row Header Column Contains an icon indicating either a resource generic resource or a linked resource as shown below AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Generic Resource Type 5 Resource Linked to Generic 7 Resource Assigned to Activity Employee contains the name of the employee resource that is assigned to the task Status Activ
108. tension Field Attributes ceceesccesssecesseecsneecsseeceseeeesaeeesaeecsseesseeceneeeesaes 102 Progress Enhancements sas teses savdevetsavdorer deed Eege 103 Other Configuration File Enhancements ccsssccsssecsseecssceceseeeesaeeesaeecsaeessseeesseeeesaes 103 Python API 104 An Introduction to Python in AMS REALTIME 1 0 eee eesccceseeceseeeesseeesaeessseesseeeenaeeesaes 104 The Python API User Guide is ieceri te o e a iaia 105 Python in AMS REAL TIME 105 Python Piles EA Ee Ee E A ET 106 Glossary 107 AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Preface About this Manual AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum This manual covers new functionality or feature enhancements that have occurred to the AMS REALTIME family of products Version 5 2 introduces some major new enhancements to AMS REALTIME Resources Resources Server and the interface with Microsoft Project TM Some inevitable conceptual changes to the Client Server system for Resources has prompted a change in reference to Enterprise These tools now allow companies with a large investment in Microsoft Project to centralize project and resource data into a server managed database From here data can be summarized for reporting distributed to the project community for Timecard tracking of actuals adjustment of resource assignments and numerous other management tasks all from a central database and all in real time Because of this broadening of scope with regards to AMS REALTIME Se
109. the Options editor built into the program HOWTO Use the Technical Progress Enhancement The best way to show this feature is to use an example In this example a simple construction schedule is used A task Build Wall has been planned to take ten working days to complete The task is planned to start on Monday Jul 3 and complete Friday Jul 14 x 2000 Description Progress Mode ju Jaq 412512 q S 5 g 0 5 19 UL SE a E However Bob the person assigned to the task started the work ahead of time on Sunday 2 Jul a non working day To make matters even more interesting it is now Friday 7 half way through the original planned work but Bob knows he only needs two more days of work to complete The project manager enters the following into AMS REALTIME Projects to get a true estimate of the complete date for the task Double click on the activity to see this dialog box 94 e REALTIME Projects 5 2 AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Activity Information Activity ID OK mao Lx Description Build Wall Dates Target Start foavuLoo Complete fi 1JULOO o fO7JULOO First the actual start is entered Sunday 02JULOO The work started on a non working day Next the To date is entered in this case Friday 07JULOO Then Bob s estimate to complete of two days in entered in the remaining duration field So what we ve told the system here is that as of Fri
110. the field containing the Project Start Date ProjCD Identifies the field containing the Project Complete Date ProjMSPXFile Microsoft Project mpp file if imported from that system ProjMSPCommitMap Identifies the field containing the name of the map file used when committing a plan from Microsoft Project to the Enterprise Server ProjMSPStatusMap Identifies the field containing the name of the map file used when obtaining the status of a Microsoft Project schedule based on updates extracted from the enterprise server AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Actuals Dataset Attributes The basic Actual fields required by the system are already defined in the activity dataset Here is a brief listing and description of the currently available attributes Attribute Description ActualsResource Name of ID of person performing the work Actuals AuditWho Name of person that changed any actuals after submission ActualsTask Task name ActualsOrg Organizational owner of task ActualsCorrection Identifies a corrected actual ActualsType Identifies the type of actual ActualsDate Identifies the original date the actual was recorded ActualsAuditWhen Identifies the date the actual was changed ActualsAmount Identifies the number of hours submitted to the record ActualsStatus Actual s status e g Recorded Submitted Approved or Rejected C
111. tion switch has been added to the AMS REALTIME programs that allows the user to define where their python files are actually installed This has been done to allow python files to be stored away from the program directory in a directory of the user s own choosing This reduces the risk of customized files being stomped on during a future upgrade of the system The configuration switch PYROOT has been added to the rtp32 ini configuration file Example If the user has created some python scripts and placed them in a directory called mypyfiles the PYROOT setting would look like this PYROOT CAPROGRA NAMS REALTIME PROJECTS MYPYFILES The startup py that is to be used by the system should reside in the python root directory Note Always use an absolute path with this setting Relative paths can not be guaranteed to work AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Glossary AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Glossary e 107
112. top right hand corner of the timecard tab window The expenses table will appear below the timecard table 1 Click on the timecard to select the cell to which an expense is to be applied 2 In the Expenses table click on the first blank cell in the Category column A list of expense categories will appear 3 Click on the desired category to activate the row The name of the activity cell selected in the timecard will appear along with the day in the date column 4 Enter the expense amount in the Amount column AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum To add further expenses to the activity click in the next blank Category column an choose another category Then enter a new amount for the category as described above To save the entries for both time and expense click the Save button on the program s toolbar Once a timecard cell has an expence associated with it a small green box appears in the lower right hand corner of the cell Tu19 We20 Th21 Fr 22 8 00 a 6 00 Expense Amounts The expenses amount column can be configured to display any currency symbol or unit type For example the figure entered can represent a currency amount or a quantity for mileage or hours Different currency symbols can be entered using the ASCII code values This is useful if the keyboard being used does not have a key for the symbol required The examples below give some common currency symbols and their ASCII code
113. until the desired amount of zoom has been reached wd 1999 Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Fe The above picture shows the time scale auto expander cursor Clicking the mouse button here will expand the view to the left whilst retaining the date on the right of the time scale The equivalent hot spot on the right of the time scale does the reverse of the left expanding in the other direction Compressing the timescale To compress the time scale and display a longer time period there are a couple of different ways to achieve this Firstly the mouse cursor can be placed at the far end of the time scale until the cursor changes into a left or right bar arrow Click and drag the cursor towards the center of the screen to drag additional time in from that side The starting date of the time scale opposite to the scale compressor will remain fixed 2000 May June July Aug Sep oi The above picture shows the right hand bar arrow indicating that a click and drag operation in that direction will compress the time scale An alternative to this manual click and drag method is the Auto compressor feature This is similar to the auto expander and simply works in the opposite direction AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum si ug Sep Oct Nov Dec J Place the mouse cursor mid height about 1 4 inch from the end of the time scale The auto compress cursor will appear Click the mouse b
114. ustom Assign a specific memory portion for the field to use This is mostly reserved for user defined additional fields Defining the Activity Dataset The basic activity fields that are required by the product are already defined in the Activity dataset While these names can be modified extreme care must be taken to change all other related field references across all datasets if changes are made The contents of the Attribute field are used to differentiate special purpose fields To add new fields to the Activity dataset click in the first empty line under the Name column Type in the new field name Data Types Click on the same line under the Type column A popup will appear containing all of the data types available Click on the appropriate data type Database Tab e 49 50 e Database Tab Alpha If the Alpha type is selected a prompt will appear so that the maximum field length can be entered Reference If the Reference type is selected a popup will appear that allows the selection of the desired dataset to reference Click on a dataset name Once a dataset has been selected a popup will appear containing the fields in that dataset Click on the field name to reference When a user selects a Reference type field a popup will appear allowing data selection from the contents of the referenced field in the other dataset Reference Defaults To set a default for a reference field control click in the type c
115. ution for Microsoft Project AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum Use the Edit Mapfile button to edit an existing map file Two sample map files are provided along with a database file These can be used as a starting point for a system They are installed into the Enterprise menu by default this appears under the Program Files AMS REALTIME directory They are called COMMIT MAP STATUS MAP and MSPSample DST Care must be taken when editing the map file not to change the order of events For example all the Workplan data must be processed before the Actuals are posted otherwise the system will protest Here is a sample of the commit map file The following shows what the various part of the map file mean and how they are used Zi Commit map Notepad Bisi xi File Edit Search Help RTR Project Projects ProjectID Name File FullName Type C Project Start D Start Complete D Finish PrimaryKey lt ProjectID H H RTR_Activity Tasks ProjectID Project ActID UniqueID Line ID Description Name Start D Start Complete D Finish HSType C Type ConstraintType Calendar C HDefault gt Add a comment to the file comment Open marker to start the definition of a dataset End marker to close the definitions of a dataset To map an Enterprise Dataset to a Microsoft Project dataset RTR_Project Projects To map a field within the dataset ProjectID Name Using AMS Enterprise Solution for Microsoft
116. utorial There is a Python newsgroup comp lang python an associated mailing list several Python Special Interest Groups and much more Python allows end users with programming ability to customize their off the shelf software and program in business rules and event driven processes For example when a Save occurs in a project a Python script can check a calculated field that contains slip and if slip is more than a specified amount an email notification can be automatically sent Python can also be used to automate repetitive processes such as copying the contents of one activity field into another after data import One advantage to user defined Python scripts is that when the software is updated the user defined scripts will not be overwritten and will still work with the new software Python can add buttons and menus to any of the AMS REALTIME software products Some standard Python scripts will be included with version 5 2 They will not be automatically turned on because they are dependent on certain fields and definitions However we will provide the specific requirements a sample database and project and instructions for incorporating these Python scripts The standard 5 2 scripts include automatic email notification on project save if activities are complete or have slipped more than 5 days data validation options view that automatically update with Time Now and a button that provides a popup selection list of template activit
117. utton and hold it down to see the time scale stepping in the direction if the arrow The time scale will continue to compress until the mouse button is released Specifying the time scale The time scale s start and complete date can be specified by absolute date These specific dates can be entered by clicking on the calendar hot spot at the far ends of the time scale A calendar cursor appears when the mouse is over the appropriate hot spot Click the mouse button to invoke the little calendar object The calendar object can then be navigated to find and enter the desired date Clicking on the date button in the calendar sets the time scale position to that selected date 1999 ep Oct Nov Dec Jan Fe e ZC Calendar cursor to invoke the calendar object March 2000 July AL Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri 27 28 29 14 2 3 7 8 9 110 14 15 16 17 21 22 23 24 28 29 RI 4 5 6 7 Calendar object can be used to set a specific start or complete date for the time scale In this case the start date is being modified Drilling in and out Each of the text items on the time scale are also hot spots for mouse manipulation These hot spots allow zooming operations to be performed to bring precise time scales immediately to the screen Double click the mouse button to drill into a specific year quarter month day or hour depending on the level of zoom re
118. ys whether using baseline duration or technical progress REALTIME Projects 5 2 e 95 Field Calculator Enhancements Calculated fields in the Projects module have been greatly enhanced to include functions for duration logical functions element of cost specifications project variables such as TimeNow and the Project Start and Complete dates error checking and test operators and comments Text functions such as mid find and substring references can now be used Element of Cost Formula Specifications Calculated fields that refer to cost fields can now reference separate elements of cost in the same calculation For example Calc BAC LABOR BAC TOTAL Calculated fields can also be entered using just the equal sign and expression BAC LABOR BAC TOTAL Activity Extension Field Formatting Decimals The number of decimals displayed in a calculated field can be controlled by preceding the equation with the decimals function The function below specifies a format of two decimal places Use Ctrl click to get an edit cursor and enter the decimal function Calc decimals 2 BAC LA BOR BAC TOTAL Numeric Summarization Numeric type Activity extensions can be formatted to control whether they roll up to a title summary or not For example the number of documents produced on an activity should summarize into the title but a numeric priority code should not Use the Control key to get and edit cursor in the Act Ext Typ
119. ystem If one or more of the items has a calendar the priority is as follows Resource calendars a resource calendar will override an activity calendar Activity calendars an activity calendar will override the default calendar Default calendar the default calendar will be used only if no other calendars have been assigned to a resource or activity item AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum The Calendar Tab e 39 Database Tab Formerly the Update and Define Tabs Purpose In AMS REALTIME Resources 5 1 5 and earlier the functionality of the database tab was divided between the Update and Define tabs In version 5 2 and later these two tabs have been merged into the Database tab The following section illustrates how the new Database tab is used The database tab is an important administrative tool used in the setup of a database s tables and fields Three main items can be addressed using the database tab 1 Display and update data in the table 2 Create or modify filters for existing tables 3 Create and define datasets and table fields These break down into three modes within the database tab These are Update Filter and Define Careful planning is recommended before attempting to set up a database schema for the enterprise system The following text gives details of how to create and modify tables using the Database tab Database Tab Functions AMS REALTIME 5 2 Addendum 4 QA Activity The dataset select tool allows

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