How To Collaborate On A Project Plan 365 Plan On A Pcode On A Microsoft Project World On A Macbook Or Ipad Or Ipa Or Ipam Or Ipat Or Ipar Or Ipor Or Ipro Or Ipo Or Ip

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1 Project Plan 365 Collaboration with Microsoft Project Files (MPP) in SharePoint cloud White Paper Housatonic Software - Project Plan 365 App 2014

2 Contents 1. Introduction Prerequisites What Is Project Plan 365? Collaboration Scenario Team Collaboration Big Picture Create New/Edit MPP Project Plan with Project Plan Publish & Save Plan to SharePoint Cloud Storage Assign Users and File Rights in SharePoint Share Project Plan with Team Members Open Project Plan with Project Viewer Edit Recalculations made when changing % complete field of a task Project Viewer for PC Going Mobile Conclusion Introduction 2

3 1. Introduction The purpose of this document is to present how sharing functionality works across a range of products such as Housatonic Project Plan 365 and Housatonic Project Viewers (Housatonic Project Viewer for Web and Housatonic Project Viewer for PC, as well as mobile clients for viewer product), in order to facilitate collaboration between the Project Manager (PM) and Team Members (TM). In this way the whole team will be on the same page when working together on shared Microsoft Project files stored on SharePoint cloud storage. The proposed collaboration scenario is based on the assumption that already a lot of people use a cloud storage service to manage projects and within a team there is already a shared folder on the cloud and they can add there several mpp files. The sharing feature will be described in the context of the current flow and existing user interface in Project Plan 365 and Housatonic Project Viewers (Housatonic Project Viewer for Web and Housatonic Project Viewer for PC products). From our application we will not set anything regarding sharing options in cloud, we will deal only with validations, regarding the rights a user has set on cloud and what rights a user was granted from our application. The sharing concept was inspired from how sharing is done in Microsoft PowerPoint 2013, but adapted to our existing user interface and meant to work with Microsoft Project mpp files, which may reside in various locations: cloud storage services, internal network folder and mpp files received as attachments. The current document will focus on how sharing is done in case of a free demo application, when no licenses and purchase fees will be involved. Therefore there will be no need of a login phase, where the PM/TMs enter their address or other login credentials to be validated by our system. Also there will be no PIN generated for the PM or TM when purchasing the license, as part of the authentication step and there will be no restriction regarding the maximum number of concurrent users that can use the application. This whitepaper is organized as follows: in Section 2 (Prerequisites) there will be presented what products and software applications will be necessary to be used by project managers and team members, whereas the Section 3 (What is Project Plan 365?) will give an overview of the features offered by Project Plan 365 product. Section 4 (Collaboration scenario) will be dedicated to present in detail the necessary steps to accomplish an end-to-end collaboration across a team. Section 5 (Project Viewer for PC) will present how team members can use for collaboration a product that can be installed locally on their machines. A similar aspect will be described in Section 6 (Going Mobile) in case team members use mobile devices (phones, tablets) for collaboration. In the last section (Conclusion) several conclusions will be offered regarding how collaboration can be achieved by using our products. Introduction 3

4 2. Prerequisites In order to use the collaboration functionality it is assumed that the whole team uses SharePoint as their chosen cloud storage provider and that both Project Managers and Team Members already have accounts created on SharePoint ( Project Managers will use the Project Plan 365 product, whereas Team Members will use Housatonic Project Viewers products (Housatonic Project Viewer for Web and Housatonic Project Viewer for PC, as well as mobile clients for viewer product). If you visit website, you can access the free demo versions of both Project Plan 365 product and Housatonic Project Viewer for Web products, which can be used without needing a purchased license. From this webpage if you click on Free Demo link you will see 2 links corresponding to the Project Plan 365 (Create or Edit a Project) and Housatonic Project Viewer (View a Project) product categories. Prerequisites 4

5 3. What Is Project Plan 365? Project Plan 365 is an intuitive solution for creating, opening and sharing Microsoft Project compatible files (MPP) from any storage, platform or device. The Housatonic Project Plan 365 application supports a wide range of users and is designed to support the Microsoft Project viewing (MPP files) needs of the entire project team or organization: 1. Project Team Members can view project information right from their desktop using any standard browser. 2. Project Managers can easily publish or project information and make it available in a matter of seconds to the entire project team. 3. Executives can view project plans and get quick access to project reports, status reports and other critical information. Features it offers: Teams: Perfect for teams working in fast-paced collaborative environments which may include across disparate geographic locations Save & Share: Save as MPP or XML & share via live presentation, , OneDrive, Google Drive, Office 365, Dropbox, SharePoint, etc. View: Team Members can view, sort, filter, print, zoom, read notes, etc. Feedback: Team Members provide updates such as: work completed, notes, etc. Overview: Create a consolidated view across multiple projects with an "executive" dashboard Reports: Generate cost, allocation, schedule, "who does what, when" reports What Is Project Plan 365? 5

6 4. Collaboration Scenario 4.1 Team Collaboration Big Picture A typical collaboration scenario between the Project Manager and Team Members consists of 3 steps: Step 1: Project Manager creates or edits a Microsoft Project (MPP) file using Project Plan 365 (PP365) and shares it with the team using SharePoint cloud storage Step 2: Team Members access the Microsoft Project (MPP) file from various devices and browsers, look through it and each make some small edits using Housatonic Project Viewers (Housatonic Project Viewer for Web and Housatonic Project Viewer for PC, as well as mobile clients for viewer product) Step 3: Project Manager gets notifications when something was modified, compares what was changed meanwhile and possibly makes several changes As you can see from the above picture Step 1 (PM creates or edit an Microsoft Project plan with PP365, then publishes and shares the file via SharePoint) and Step 3 (PM receives notifications from TM when plan was changed, compares with original project file) corresponds to the Project Managers from the team that will use Project Plan 365 product, whilst Step 2 (TM access the Microsoft Project file and perform small Edits using viewer applications) belongs to the Team Members. Collaboration Scenario 6

7 4.2 Create New/Edit MPP Project Plan with Project Plan 365 For demonstration purposes let s take for example the case of a Project Manager that creates from scratch an mpp file with Project Plan 365 describing a building construction process. To create a new project plan he must select from the File menu, New option that will create an empty mpp file. At the end, the construction project plan will look like below: Collaboration Scenario 7

8 You can skip this step if you have already a Microsoft Project license and you decide to create an mpp file using Microsoft Project. 4.3 Publish & Save Plan to SharePoint Cloud Storage Next the Project Manager chooses to publish the currently opened project plan. To do this, he selects the Publish option under the File menu, where the user can find in the right side some explanations regarding this option. The same functionality can be accessed from the Team menu. After clicking on the Publish option a Publish window will be displayed, with options for doing the publish: Collaboration Scenario 8

9 As can be noticed there are two MPP file publishing options: Read Only: this option will lock the file and mark it as read-only, so no edits can be performed Collaboration (Task Name, Task Notes, % Complete): this option allows selected columns to be updated by all project Team Members. By using this option, the Project Manager will be able to choose what fields can be edited by the Team Member using the Edit feature from Housatonic Project Viewers products. If for instance the Project Manager selects Task Notes field beneath the second option, the project plan will be published only with notes field being editable, so that in Housatonic Project Viewers Team Members could only change the notes field for a task. After the publish is done, a dialog will be shown informing that file was published successfully and from where the user can choose the location for the file to be saved: Collaboration Scenario 9

10 When clicking on the save it text, the save dialog will be displayed, where he clicks on the SharePoint option: If this is the first time when the Project Manager accesses the SharePoint cloud within Project Plan 365 application, he will have to insert its login credentials ( address and password) for his SharePoint account: Collaboration Scenario 10

11 After this the Save dialog will appear, where the user chooses to save the project plan with the name ProjectWorld under his SharePoint folder called ProjectWorldFolder: After a waiting message, a confirmation dialog will be shown, informing the user that file was successfully saved in the designated folder from his SharePoint account: Collaboration Scenario 11

12 The Options button from the Save As to SharePoint dialog allows you to specify a way of saving the file. You can either save it in read-only mode (the plan will be viewable only) or in Collaboration mode (Task Name, Task Notes, % Complete can be made editable, in any combination). Saving in collaboration mode will enable the Edit feature in Housatonic Project Viewers, meaning that the team members will be able to update the selected fields. The chosen options are maintained throughout subsequent saves, so you don t need to set them every time, unless you want to change anything. If you click on the Options button, a similar dialog with the one for doing the Publish will be displayed: Collaboration Scenario 12

13 As a matter of fact, this Options dialog offers the same functionality as in case of Publish dialog, so there is no difference between of them. This allows the user to set publish options, also when doing a save for a file. 4.4 Assign Users and File Rights in SharePoint Add team members as project plan collaborators from your SharePoint account. In this way, ProjectWordFolder becomes shared with the team members and the entire team can collaborate on the files within it. Let s suppose that the team consists of 5 team members having the following addresses: projectwolrd.user1@myteam.com, projectwolrd.user2@myteam.com, projectwolrd.user3@myteam.com, projectwolrd.user4@myteam.com, projectwolrd.user5@myteam.com, that will be used by Project Manager to send them invitations for collaboration from SharePoint user interface. To assign rights for users in SharePoint you could for instance navigate to: for the Viewers group. Select Add Users option: And then assign users to the group: Collaboration Scenario 13

14 For demonstration only purposes, we will refer to 5 access permissions (Edit, View, No Rights, Read, Contribute) available as rights for groups in SharePoint. Team Member 1 will correspond to edit permission, Team Member 2 will correspond to View right, Team Member 3 will correspond to No Rights permission, Team Member 4 will correspond to Read permission and Team Member 5 will correspond to Contribute permission. For more details regarding differences between available permissions in SharePoint, visit the link: HA aspx. 4.5 Share Project Plan with Team Members Now that the folder is shared on SharePoint with the rest of team members, Project Manager can use Project Plan 365 to generate a share link for the file(s) he will collaborate from now on with his team. Under File Share menu there are 2 options for sharing the plan with Team Members: Share Link: a permanent link to the file will be generated, than can be easily inserted in an message or chat window Link: an with the share link will be send to the recipients indicated by Project Manager Collaboration Scenario 14

15 Share Link and Link options are also available under Team menu. Project Manager decides to use Link option to send to Team Member 1 and Team Member 3 the share link for ProjectWorld.mpp file from the shared ProjectWorldFolder. After clicking on Link option the following dialog will be displayed, where he inserts the addresses of the 2 recipients: Collaboration Scenario 15

16 As a result of pressing the Send button, an will be send to the 2 team members containing the share link for ProjectWorld.mpp file. Then by using the Share Link option, the Project Manager will send a share link to the same file to Team Member 2, Team Member 4 and Team Member 5. When selecting this option, a dialog like below will be shown: After this, Project Manager copies the first link, paste it in a chat window and send it to Team Member 2, Team Member 4 and Team Member 5. Collaboration Scenario 16

17 As can be noticed 2 type of links will be generated: one to be used for devices with regular size screen (PC, laptop, tablet) and the second one is meant to be used for viewing a project plan on devices with smaller screens (usually this is the case of phones). Both links points to the viewer application and can be used by a team member to view the shared mpp file using Housatonic Project Viewer. The 2 generated share links represents a combined URL, where the part after?mppfile argument will identify uniquely the file from the SharePoint cloud. //housatonic.sharepoint.com://projectworldfolder/projectworld.mpp This generated link will be permanent and not a temporary one, than can be easily inserted in an message or chat window and send it to anyone interested. According to the selected options when the publish was done (see Step 3 Publish & Save Plan to SharePoint Cloud Storage), the generated links to the project plan will be for edit, allowing a Edit to be performed or a view only one. Therefore there will be 2 levels of protection: one is given by the checked option from the publish window that marks the mpp file as editable or view-only and another one is given by the rights set up in the cloud for the user, since the Project Manager or the network administrator may interdict edit rights for a Team Member on the shared folder in cloud. 4.6 Open Project Plan with Project Viewer 365 The share link that Team Member receives in his or chat window can be accessed from any device (PC, laptop, tablet, phone, etc.) using Housatonic Project Viewer applications (web version, for PC and mobile devices). Collaboration Scenario 17

18 Team Member 1 and Team Member 3 will receive in their inbox a message having the following body: As in case of Share Link option, this will contain 2 types of links: one to be used in case of regular screen sizes and the second one to be used on devices with smaller screens. The link behind the ProjectWorld and here texts will direct the user to the shared ProjectWorld.mpp file opened with Housatonic Project Viewer. By using the received share link, Team Members are able to open and view the Microsoft Project mpp file and even perform small changes by using the Edit functionality. All standard and custom Microsoft Project views, reports and functionalities like print, sort, filters, time scale, reports are available. 4.7 Edit If the file was published as editable (see Step 3 Publish & Save Plan to SharePoint Cloud Storage) and the project has editable fields, a notification window appears and the Team Member can update the fields via Edit option: In case the file is published as read-only, a corresponding notification will be displayed: Collaboration Scenario 18

19 To enter the Edit view and perform small changes, the team member must click on the correspondent menu option, available under 2 places: File Edit menu and Task menu: In case the file is not editable, Edit option will be disabled and Team Members cannot perform changes: Collaboration Scenario 19

20 If the file was published as editable, when clicking on Edit option, Team Member will be presented with Edit view. If authorized by the Project Manager, team members can update progress for tasks, add notes and adjust task names. Fields that cannot be edited are highlighted in blue, so in case Team Member 1 clicks in his received on the share link for ProjectWorld.mpp, Edit view will look like below, where the value of Task Name, % Complete and Notes fields can be changed: Every time a user is successful in entering Edit, he is presented with the latest version of the project (including changes that might have been committed between the moment of opening the project and the moment of Collaboration Scenario 20

21 entering Edit). This means that the Edit view ensures synchronization between the actual state of the project and the data displayed to the user, so that no progress committed by another team member is lost. Team Member 1 who has edit permission on the shared folder in SharePoint, decides to change the name of task 7 and add a note for task 10. Clicking on an editable selected cell, allows modifying its content: Changes made to a project file are not saved and not visible to others unless they are committed, so Team Member must press Update button to commit his changes: After clicking on Update button, a message is displayed to let the user know his changes were committed successfully: Collaboration Scenario 21

22 A Edit takes place only if something was changed, so nothing it s invoked if there are no changes performed by the Team Member. Pressing the Exit button will cause a switch to the Gantt Chart view. The file is saved in standard mpp format compatible with MS Project 2010 and higher. We need to make sure that if the Project Manager is giving Edit rights to somebody, that person has the proper edit rights setup in the cloud, otherwise the system should prevent the Team Member to perform a Edit, by disabling the Edit button in Housatonic Project Viewers. In this way, it will be avoided a situation in which a Team Member that accesses a mpp file with edit rights, finds out after performing a Edit that his action was in vain, since he hasn t edit rights in the cloud and his changes cannot be saved in the cloud. As an example, let s consider the case of Team Member 2 that have Viewer permission on the shared ProjectWorldFolder from SharePoint. He clicks on the share link from the send by Project Manager, logins to SharePoint with his credentials (this step will be passed automatically if the user is already logged), receives the notification message that file is editable, then selects the Edit option, when the following dialog will be displayed: Collaboration Scenario 22

23 Although the file is editable, Team Member 2 cannot perform a Edit since he hasn t enough rights set in SharePoint (he has Viewer permission only). Thus it is accomplished a synchronization with the rights a user has in the cloud and warn him if something goes wrong, before he proceeds and performs some forbidden operation. The same warning message will be displayed in case of Team Member 3 that corresponds to No Rights permission and Team Member 4 with Read permission, which cannot perform a Edit since they haven't edit rights. Unlike them, Team Member 5 that correspond to Contribute permission is allowed to perform a Edit in case of an editable file. On the Housatonic Viewers side, there are also available options for sharing such as Share Link and Link, having the same functionality as in Project Plan 365. These 2 options can be accessed either from File Share menu or from Team menu: Collaboration Scenario 23

24 In case if one Team Member receives a link to a file on cloud published with edit rights, it is fine for Team Member to propagate this link to other Team Members by sending it via Share Link or Link options, since the Project Manager can control the access on files in shared folders from cloud and to allow only certain people to perform edits via Edits. In this way, if a Team Member receives from other Team Member a link to an editable file, even if this wasn t the intention of the Project Manager, by having read-only access in the cloud, eventually the Team Member cannot make changes to the file. Despite the fact of Team Member 3 cannot perform a Edit on the updatable ProjectWorld.mpp file, he can use Share Link or Link options. Let s suppose that he uses Link option and enters the address of a person that is not added by Project Manager as collaborator on the shared ProjectWorldFolder. After clicking on the share link received in his from Team Member 3 and entering his credentials for SharePoint login (if he is not already logged in to SharePoint), he will be showed with the following message: Collaboration Scenario 24

25 Since the user is not allowed to view the contents of the shared file, he will neither be able generate a share link using Share Link or Link options. The below warning message will be displayed: In case of a project plan published by Project Manager with read-only rights, when Team Member is added as collaborator on the shared file and has enough rights to view the file, he can still can use share link and link options, despite the fact that he cannot perform a Edit. Aside from clicking on a share link received in an or chat window, a Team Member can copy and paste it in the text field corresponding to Open from URL method, available under File menu. Collaboration Scenario 25

26 The same behavior is expect to be obtained in case Team Member clicks on the received share link, which would be opened in the browser with Housatonic Project Viewer Recalculations made when changing % complete field of a task Hereinafter we will describe the computations that take place when changing % Complete field of a task as part of a Edit. When a Team Member updates some values for % complete field, some live computation are made in Housatonic Project Viewers, so that Project Manager stays in loop with the latest changes performed by the Team Members. As part of the Edit functionality the entire project is recalculated if the Team Member changes % complete field of a task and this section will document what changes occurs and based on what formulas. All of these computations are integrated across all Housatonic Project Viewers products (Housatonic Project Viewer for Web, Housatonic Project Viewer for PC and mobile client viewers viewer for iphone, Android and Windows Phone platforms, native viewer for Mac, etc.). In Housatonic Project Viewers when % complete field of a task is modified, actual and remaining duration for a task changes, actual and remaining work and actual and remaining cost are also updated correspondingly. Also the value for % work complete changes according to the % complete field, in most of the cases these 2 fields will have the same values. Their values can be different in some cases on summary tasks. This happens in our application because you cannot have resources assigned non uniform to a task as in MSP (i.e. in MSP you can set % complete different for an assignment, which in Housatonic Project Plan 365 is not possible). More specifically, when % complete field for a task is edited in Project Plan 365, the following changes occur: - % complete, actual and remaining duration, actual and remaining cost, actual and remaining work and % work complete for the above summary tasks - actual and remaining cost, actual and remaining duration, actual and remaining work and % work complete for that respective task with edited % complete field Collaboration Scenario 26

27 - actual and remaining cost, actual and remaining work and % work complete for all the resources assigned to that task - actual and remaining cost, actual and remaining work and % work complete for all resource assignments of that task - actual and remaining cost, actual and remaining work and % work complete for each task assignment of the resources assigned to the task with edited % complete field For the purpose of demonstration we will consider the case of Team Member 1, which wants to perform a Edit based on the received share link for the editable ProjectWorld.mpp file. Let s suppose that he sets for task with ID = 41 (Form elevator pit walls) % complete to be 50% (previously the value of % complete was 0%). Cost Table applied to Gantt Chart view reveals the new values for actual and remaining cost fields for the modified task and for the project summary task. To choose a different table, go to Project menu and select Table option: Then in the next dialog that appears select Cost in order to apply the Cost table to the Gantt Chart view: Collaboration Scenario 27

28 Initially the value for Actual Cost was $0, since no progress was reported. Now that progress of the task changed to 50%, the values for Actual Cost field will be $800, meaning half of the Total Cost of this task. Since Remaining Cost = Total Cost Actual Cost Remaining Cost = = $800 Also values for Actual and Remaining Cost in case of parent summary tasks and for the project summary task are updated accordingly. Collaboration Scenario 28

29 Tracking Table applied to Gantt Chart view reveals the updated values for actual and remaining duration, actual cost and actual work fields for the task with ID 41 and for the project summary task. Since the duration of the task is 4 days and RemainingDuration = Duration ActualDuration Actual Duration = Remaining Duration = 2 days Collaboration Scenario 29

30 Work Table applied to Gantt Chart view reveals the new values for actual and remaining work and % work complete fields for the modified task and for the project summary task. Percent Work Complete = 50% Actual Work = Work * Percent Work Complete / 100; Actual Work = 32 * 50% / 100 = 16 hrs Remaining Work = Work Actual Work; Remaining Work = = 16 hrs Cost Table applied to Resource Sheet view shows the new values for actual and remaining cost fields for the resource assigned to task with ID 41 (G.C. Rough Carpenter Crew). Resource Actual Cost = $800 Resource Remaining Cost = Resource Cost Resource Actual Cost Resource Remaining Cost = = $4000 Work Table applied to Resource Sheet view shows the updated values for actual and remaining work and % work complete fields for the resource assigned to task with ID 41 (G.C. Rough Carpenter Crew). Resource Actual Work = 16 hrs Collaboration Scenario 30

31 Resource Remaining Work = Resource Work Resource Actual Work Resource Remaining Work = = 80 hrs Resource Percent Work Complete = 100 * Resource Actual Work / Resource Work Resource Percent Work Complete = 17% Cost Table applied to Task Usage view reveals that new values for actual and remaining cost fields for the resource assignment (denoted by the resource G.C. Rough Carpenter Crew) for task with ID Collaboration Scenario 31

32 Work Table applied to Task Usage view reveals the values for actual and remaining work and % work complete fields for the resource assignment (denoted by the resource G.C. Rough Carpenter Crew) for task with ID Collaboration Scenario 32

33 5. Project Viewer for PC Team Members can perform Edits and enter their progress on their assigned tasks using another Housatonic Project Viewer product, meant to be installed and used locally on their machines. This is suitable in case the SharePoint that team uses for collaboration is installed on a server in a network folder and team members can access files from their machines. In case of Microsoft Project files they can be opened directly with Housatonic Project Viewer product if choosing this application from the right Open With contextual menu. As a result, the file will be opened with Project Viewer: If the project has editable fields, a notification window appears and the Team Member can update the fields via Edit option: Edit option is located under 2 places, File and Task menu: Project Viewer for PC 33

34 As in the case of Housatonic Project Viewer for Web, when clicking on Edit option, Team Member is entered in Edit view, where he can enter his progress on his assigned tasks. Changes made to a project file are not saved and not visible to others unless they are committed. To commit his changes he must press on the Update button: Only one team member at a time is allowed to edit the shared project (via Edit feature) - all other team members attempting to make changes will receive a warning message: Project Viewer for PC 34

35 Click on Exit button to avoid keeping the shared file locked for editing by team member on Edit view. Project Viewer for PC 35

36 6. Going Mobile The second link generated for sharing a file within a team is meant to be used on devices with smaller screens, such as mobile phones: When Team Member clicks on this link, the shared project plan will be opened in a lightweight version of Housatonic Project Viewer: From the Update bottom placed in the right bottom corner, he can perform a Edit if the file is editable and he has enough edit permissions in the SharePoint cloud: Going Mobile 36

37 To save his changes he must press the Save button: A confirmation will appear is file was successfully saved on SharePoint cloud: Going Mobile 37

38 Going Mobile 38

39 7. Conclusion Project Plan 365 facilitates collaboration between Project Managers and Team Members, where Team Members can view read only or perform small Edits like % Complete, Notes or Task Name. Team Members can perform Edits from any operating system (Windows, Android, ios) and any device (PC, iphone/ipad, tablets, etc.). Project Plan 365 products are compatible with all platforms and mobile devices so that Team Members are able to provide their current status from mobile phones or tablets by using the Edit Feature. The Team Collaboration feature ensures synchronization between the actual state of the project and the data displayed to the user, so that no progress committed by another Team Member is lost. Therefore any Team Member can stay up-to-date with the current progress of the project in a convenient way by simply accessing the Housatonic Project Viewers on his phone. For more information please visit our web site: Conclusion 39