QUICK START GUIDE RESOURCE MANAGERS. Last Updated: 04/27/2012

Transcription

1 QUICK START GUIDE RESOURCE MANAGERS Last Updated: 04/27/2012

2 Table of Contents Introduction... 3 Getting started... 4 Logging into Eclipse... 4 Setting your user preferences... 5 Online help and the Eclipse PPM Community... 7 Logging out of Eclipse... 8 Managing operational activities in Eclipse PPM... 9 Creating & managing operational projects Create project and assign staff Create initial schedule Updating operational projects Reviewing planned & actual allocation Processing resource requests Appendices Appendix A Standard operational activities Appendix B Operational project templates Solution Q Inc Page 2 of 27

3 Introduction This guide provides details about the normal procedures that you are expected to perform using the Eclipse PPM solution (hereafter referred to as Eclipse ) as a Resource Manager (i.e. a manager that has direct reports). On an annual basis (before end of the year), you are expected to: Plan the allocation of your staff against normal operational (non-project) activities such as meetings, administration or support. On a weekly basis (before end of day Tuesday), you are expected to: Update planned allocation for your staff against occasional operational (non-project) activities such as vacation or training days Review the actual time entered by your staff for the previous week and ensure that they have entered at least 37.5 hours for the previous week. Review and fulfill demand requests for your staff Review and process future unfulfilled resource requests for your staff The guide provides detailed instructions with screenshots for each of these procedures and the Appendices at the end of this guide provide the details about specific pick list or selection choices you will be making on certain screens in Eclipse. Solution Q Inc Page 3 of 27

4 Getting started This section provides details on how to log in to Eclipse, how to set your preferences and how to log out of Eclipse. Logging into Eclipse To access Eclipse, launch a web browser from your computer, and enter the web site address provided by your Eclipse administrator (e.g. The first time you visit the Eclipse login page, you will be required to register. Click on the Register link that is in the lower-left corner of the login page, provide your address and click on the right arrow. In a short while you will receive an message from Solution Q containing a link to enable you to set your password. Your password will need to adhere to the following strength rules: The password must not contain the user's login name or parts of the user's full name that exceed two consecutive characters The password must be at least six characters in length The password must contain characters from three of the following four categories: o Uppercase characters (A through Z) o Lowercase characters (a through z) o Base 10 digits (0 through 9) o Non-alphabetic characters (e.g.!, $, #, %) Please note that these password strength requirements are enforced whenever passwords are set or modified. Click on this link or copy and paste it into your web browser and you ll be presented with the following screen. Solution Q Inc Page 4 of 27

5 Enter your password, confirm it and click the right arrow to save your new login credentials. Once this has been done, you will receive a message confirming that your account has been successfully configured and you can then click on the Login link in the lower left corner of this page which will bring you back to the initial login screen. Enter your login name and password, select the Remember Me checkbox, and click on the right arrow to login to Eclipse. Setting your user preferences Once you have logged in to Eclipse you will be presented with the default Start Page that lists some common actions that you can perform, recent items you have accessed, and also provides you with access to the Eclipse online help. To set your user preferences, click on the My Preferences icon that is highlighted in the following screenshot, or select the My Preferences item from the Desktop menu. Solution Q Inc Page 5 of 27

6 This will launch the My Preferences page in a new tab. You can set the following preferences: Which items should be automatically opened (in separate tabs) when you login to Eclipse. You may wish to start by selecting Resource Management and My Eclipse and after a few days of using Eclipse, you may wish to unselect the Start Page. How many recent items (up to 50) will show up in the Recent menu The sorting criteria for the items in the Favorite menu Which objects will be included when performing a Quick Search Which project tab (e.g. Profile, Financial, Schedule) will be opened when you access a project Changing your Eclipse password (Future) notification settings If you select multiple items to open when Eclipse starts up, you can select which will be the default page by hovering over the item s label and then moving your cursor to the right of the label. A link titled [Make this my default page] will become visible and once you select that, the label will change to a bold font to indicate that it is now your default startup page. You will notice in the notification section that there is a column named Additional Subscriptions. This gives you the ability to receive a copy of the Eclipse messages that are sent to your direct reports as long as you have appropriate access to the projects associated with the individual notifications. Click on the field corresponding to an event type you wish to receive and then choose the resources from whom you wish to receive these notifications. Once you have set your preferences, click on the Save Preferences icon as indicated in the screenshot below to save these changes, and then click the x in the tab to close the My Preferences tab. Solution Q Inc Page 6 of 27

7 Online help and the Eclipse PPM Community Eclipse help is available by clicking on the Help icon in the semi-circle menu at the top of the screen or by clicking on one of the links in the Welcome to Eclipse tab of the Start Page. Eclipse online help is hosted in the Eclipse PPM Community which is a great source for Eclipse PPM, Project Portfolio & Project Management information. The Eclipse PPM Community requires completion of a separate user account registration process and the first time you attempt to access the online help, you will be taken to the following page. Solution Q Inc Page 7 of 27

8 Click on the Register Here link and complete the Create New Account form making sure to select the Eclipse Client check box. Logging out of Eclipse Once you are finished working with Eclipse, you can log out of it by clicking on the Log Off link that is in the top-right hand corner of the Eclipse screen. Solution Q Inc Page 8 of 27

9 Managing operational activities in Eclipse PPM Within Eclipse PPM, operational activities are managed by using tasks within project schedules and it is up to you to decide how best you would like to structure and manage these. Please refer to Appendix A for the list of operational activities that are tracked in Eclipse. You can create one or more operational projects each year to manage the activities performed by your staff. The following naming convention should be used for these projects: <YYYY>-<Direct Manager Name>-<Description> (e.g Ralph ResourceManager- Operational Activities) Three common approaches are described below: 1. If you have a small number of direct reports, you could create a single operational project with top-level summary tasks in the schedule representing each of your staff. Underneath each of these top-level summary tasks would be tasks for the operational activities. Ongoing operational activities would be represented by individual tasks that span the full calendar year. Occasional operational activities would be represented by using summary tasks with child individual tasks that span the specific dates for those activities (e.g. vacation days). Finally, you would assign your staff to their tasks at the appropriate allocation percentages. The following sample task breakdown structure illustrates this approach. o 2012 Operational Activities for Ralph ResourceManager s Reports Erin Engineer Meetings & Administration 10% Operational Support 30% Non-project training o SQL Server training (March 21 24) 100% Polly ProjectManager Meetings & Administration 25% Non-project travel o Business trip to Arizona (March 28 29) 100% Vacation o Vacation 1 (March 30 31) 100% o Vacation 2 (April 18 19) 100% Solution Q Inc Page 9 of 27

10 2. If you have a large number of direct reports, you could create a single operational project with top-level tasks in the schedule representing each ongoing activity or top-level summary tasks representing a group of occasional activities. Underneath each of the top-level summary occasional tasks would be summary tasks representing each resource with individual tasks used to represent the resource allocation. The following sample task breakdown structure illustrates this approach. o 2012 Operational Activities for Ralph ResourceManager s Reports Meetings & Administration Erin Engineer[10%], Polly ProjectManager[25%] Operational Support Erin Engineer[30%] Non-project training Erin Engineer o SQL Server training (March 21 24) Non-project travel Polly ProjectManager o Business trip to Arizona (March 28 29) o Vacation 1 (March 30 31) o Vacation 2 (April 18 19) 3. If you have the need to plan your resources allocation against operational activities on a monthly or weekly basis as opposed to using a flat percentage over the year, you can utilize the Detailed Planned Time feature to adjust resource allocation over the desired periods (months, weeks or days). As with the prior option, you can begin with the resource allocated (100% to 0%) against the operational task and utilizing the Detailed Planned Time feature, adjust for the change in allocation over the desired period. The following sample task breakdown structure illustrates this approach. o 2012 Operational Activities for Ralph ResourceManager s Reports Meetings & Administration Meetings & Administration (scheduled from January 1- December 31, 2012) Erin Engineer[10%], Polly ProjectManager[15%] Meetings & Administration Budgeting & Planning (scheduled from July 1-27, 2012) Erin Engineer[20%], Polly ProjectManager[25%] o Note that annual allocation now averages (rounded) to Erin Engineer[11%], Polly ProjectManager[16%] Solution Q Inc Page 10 of 27

11 Operational Support Operational Support (scheduled from January 2- December 29, 2012) Erin Engineer[25%] Operational Support (scheduled from March 1-31, 2012) Erin Engineer[50%] Operational Support (scheduled from August 6-31, 2012) Erin Engineer[35%] o Note the annual allocation now averages (rounded) to Erin Engineer [28%] Solution Q Inc Page 11 of 27

12 Creating & managing operational projects Creating operational projects in Eclipse is performed by creating the project and assigning your staff as project resources, followed by creating the schedule which includes creating tasks and assigning resources. Managing operational projects is performed by adding resources to existing tasks or adding tasks and resource assignments through the course of the year. Create project and assign staff Click on the Specific Template item in the New Project section of the Eclipse New menu to select the appropriate Project Template to be used while creating a new operational project. Appendix B provides more details about the operational project templates defined in your environment. This will enable you to pick the most appropriate Project Template for the new project, and if you wish, you can set this Project Template as your Preferred Template for future use by selecting the Make this my preferred template checkbox in the lower left of the dialog as in the screenshot below. Once you have done this, click the Create button. Solution Q Inc Page 12 of 27

13 Eclipse will open the Profile tab for the new project which enables you to specify the following information for the request: Project name use the format <YYYY>-<Your Name>-<Description> as in the example above. Mark as Operations only ensure that this checkbox is selected Project description provide a brief description of this operational project You should also add your direct reports to the project. To do this, click on the dropdown arrow icon that is next to the Add Resources label as in the screenshot below. This will enable you to search for your staff by entering the first few characters of their first or last names. Once you have located a resource that you wish to add, click on the green plus sign Solution Q Inc Page 13 of 27

14 icon to add them to the selected resources list. Once you have selected all of your staff, click on the plus sign icon in the Resources toolbar to add them to the project. These steps are highlighted in the screenshot below. After adding the resources, you can once again click on the down arrow icon in the Resources pick list to hide the resource selector. You will then need to click on the Role cell corresponding to each resource, and set their role to Project Resource. Once you have completed these steps, click the Save Profile icon in the Profile toolbar to create the new project. You will now see additional tabs displayed which will enable you to create the operational schedule. Create initial schedule Click on the Schedule tab for the project, and then click on the Checkout icon in the Schedule toolbar. Solution Q Inc Page 14 of 27

15 To set an expected start date for the project, click on the Info button, and enter the first working day of the current calendar year (e.g. 1/3/2012) in the Schedule Info dialog box and click the OK button to accept the change. Please refer to the screenshot below for an illustration of these steps. Creating a detailed schedule for your project involves these steps: 1. Updating the project calendar 2. Entering all identified tasks 3. Indenting tasks to create outline levels 4. Linking tasks and specifying lags or leads (if required) between linked tasks 5. Setting deadlines and constraints on specific tasks (if required) 6. Adding resources to the schedule 7. Assigning resources to tasks Updating the project calendar By default, your operational project s schedule will have inherited the global holidays that were defined in the Project Template that was used to create the project. However, if you need to set additional days as non-working days, you will need to modify your project calendar. Select the Manage Calendars item in the More menu from the Schedule toolbar. This will show you the current calendar for your schedule including a list of the global nonworking days. To add an additional non-working day for your schedule, click on the New button in the Manage Calendars dialog box. This will add a new record using today s date at the bottom of the list of non-working days. Once this has happened, change the month, date, year and Solution Q Inc Page 15 of 27

16 name as required, and click the OK button to apply the changes. To change a normal non-working day such as a specific Saturday, Sunday or global holiday to be a working day for your operational project, follow these same procedures, but select Working instead of Non-Working in the Type column for the new record as illustrated in the following screenshot. Entering ongoing operational tasks There are a number of ways to add new tasks to the schedule: 1. If you select the last task in the schedule and hit the Enter key on your keyboard, it will add a new task at the bottom of the schedule. This is usually the most efficient method for creating the initial set of tasks in a schedule. 2. Clicking the New Task icon in the Schedule toolbar will add a new task at the very bottom of the schedule 3. Selecting a task in the schedule and clicking the Insert Task Before or Insert Task After selected task. icons in the Schedule toolbar will add a new task before or after the To move a task, click on the task ID (the first column) for the task, and drag & drop the task to its new location in the schedule. When entering operational tasks, you will want to set the task name and the duration (as measured in working days). For summary tasks, leave the default duration of 1 Solution Q Inc Page 16 of 27

17 day as their duration will get automatically updated once you have indented child tasks underneath them. For determining the exact duration for a full year operational task, click on the calculator icon in the Days cell for the task. This will launch the task duration calculator which calculates the duration (as measured in working days) of a task from the planned start date to a desired end date. Pick or type in the desired end date, and click the checkmark button as illustrated in the screenshot below to accept the duration. Indenting tasks to create outline levels To indent a child task under a summary task, click on the child task and select the Indent Task(s) icon from the Schedule toolbar. To outdent a task, the Outdent Task(s) icon can be clicked. This can be done for multiple tasks at a time using Shift-Click on Ctrl-Click task selection actions. Setting task constraints By default, a task will start as soon as possible based on the project start date, and the planned end date of its predecessors. Constraints provide a means of overriding this default behavior to force a task to start on or finish on a specific date this is ideal when entering occasional operational tasks (e.g. vacation for a specific set of days). Constraints can be set in multiple ways: 1. Selecting or typing in a new Planned Start or Planned End date for the task this will set a Start On or Finish On (respectively) constraint on the task for the selected date. 2. Setting a constraint by launching the duration calculator icon from the Days column for the task. 1. Clicking on the Edit Item icon corresponding to the task, setting the constraint Solution Q Inc Page 17 of 27

18 type and date in the Scheduling tab and then clicking on the OK button to close the Task Detail dialog box. Once a constraint has been set on a task, a constraint indicator will become visible in the Info column for the task. Hovering over this indicator will provide the constraint details. There are two ways to remove a constraint from a task: 1. Launching the duration calculator icon from the Days column for the task and resetting the constraint type to As Soon As Possible. 2. Clicking on the Edit Item icon corresponding to the task, resetting the constraint type to As Soon As Possible and then clicking on the OK button to close the Task Detail dialog box. Adding resources to the schedule Adding resources to the schedule will make them available for operational task assignments this is done by using the Resource Sheet panel at the bottom of the schedule view. You can import all of the resources from the project profile view into your schedule by clicking on the Import Project Resources button in the Resource Sheet toolbar. You can also add resources individually to the schedule by using the Add Resources resource selector in the Resource Sheet toolbar. Adding resources to tasks You can now start to add your staff to the tasks in your schedule. There are multiple ways of doing this: 1. Type the resource initials and allocation percentage in the Resources cell for each task. For example, to assign Polly ProjectManager (resource initials Pproj) at 25% allocation to a task, I would type Pproj[25%] in the Resources cell for the task. Multiple resource assignments for the same task should be separated by commas (e.g. Pproj[25%],Eeng[25%]). 2. To assign one or more resources at 100% to multiple tasks, select the tasks using Ctrl-Click or Shift-Click actions, select the checkboxes for the resources you wish to assign to those tasks in the Resource Sheet table, and click the Assign to Task(s) icon in the Resource Sheet toolbar. 3. To assign one or more resources to a single task, click on the Task Sheet tab (below the Resource Sheet table). This will open the Task Sheet table. You can then select the task you wish to assign resources to, select the checkboxes for the resources you wish to assign to that task in the Task Sheet table, and click the Assign to Task(s) icon in the Task Sheet toolbar. This is illustrated in the screenshot below. Solution Q Inc Page 18 of 27

19 To modify the resource allocation from the default 100% allocation if you used methods 2 or 3 above, click on the Task Sheet tab (below the Resource Sheet table) and select the task that you wish to modify. You will now see the resource allocation information for that task in the Task Assignment List table which is to the right of the Task Sheet table. You can then modify either the resource allocation percentage in the Units cell. If your resource time allocation needs to be contoured to address peaks or valleys over the duration of the task, select the Detailed Time feature. The feature is available from 3 different perspectives on the project Schedule tab: Once selected, the Detailed Planned Time dialog will provide you with the ability to adjust the allocation for an individual resource on a Daily, Weekly or Monthly basis over the duration of the task. Solution Q Inc Page 19 of 27

20 The main attributes of the Detailed Planned Time dialog are: 1. Schedule Information - Name, Start Date, End Date and Duration. Note that the Start Date represents the Schedule Start Date. The Duration displayed is calculated from this date and not the front any tasks which may be prior to the Schedule Start Date. 2. Options dropdown menu (common from all three perspectives) o o o o Time Scale of Daily, Weekly or Monthly Chart Display -Display Total Effort to chart planned effort for selected resource (option will appear once selected) Chart Format for Bar or Line option Allocation Grid - Show Work Column to display total effort in hours for the period selected. 3. Date Range selection on the schedule duration timeline. 4. Date Range selector o o o o Time Scale = Daily - select date range up to 5 weeks Time Scale = Weekly - select date range up to 12 weeks Time Scale = Monthly - select date range up to 12 months Date range duration can be dragged to new start period Solution Q Inc Page 20 of 27

21 5. Units display toggle for Percent or Hours 6. Task Planned Time grid - Task's planned duration is editable (not greyed out). If the task is not editable for the desired days, weeks or months, you must exit the dialog and then adjust the task duration accordingly. 7. Green Marker indicates the total task time for that period, when the time is less than the full period availability indicated in the column header. By moving the Date Range selector along the timeline of the project, the tasks which fall into that date range, and the task s assigned Resources, will be displayed in the Task Planned Time grid below. The white cells can be modified to reflect the desire allocation whereas shaded cells represent time periods outside of the task duration and cannot be modified unless the task duration is adjusted. Once the individual time periods within the task duration have been adjusted and saved, the overall resource allocation % on the task will reflect the modification. Things to remember: Once the detailed time is adjusted for a given period, the blended average will be displayed as the Resource s allocated percentage on the task. Changing the Resource s allocated percentage from anywhere other than the Detail Time dialog will result in the flat lined allocation to that new level, overwriting the previously contoured values. Extending the duration to the end of a contoured task will extend the period at the allocation of the last week or day. Extending the duration to the beginning of a contoured task will extend the period at the allocation of the first week or day. If you wish to view the resource load for a specific resource within your operational project, click on the resource icon next to their name in the Resource Sheet table and then click on the Load Chart link as shown in the image below. By default, the load chart will show planned and actual utilization against tasks in the current schedule but using the options in the View Options menu and the External Projects selector you can visualize the full work load for the selected resource. Solution Q Inc Page 21 of 27

22 To remove a resource from a task, either highlight and delete their initials and allocation in the Resources cell for the task, or select the task then click the checkbox corresponding to the resource you wish to remove in the Task Assignment List table, and click the Remove Resources icon in that table. Always remember to click the Save Schedule icon in the Schedule toolbar, and if you have finished making all desired changes, click the Checkin icon to release the lock on the schedule. Updating operational projects The previous sections explained how to setup your operational project at the beginning of the year reflecting the initial resource allocations to their ongoing operational tasks. As your resources book vacation or other occasional non-project activities, you will need to update the schedule to reflect this. This can be done by adding new tasks to the schedule with Start On or Finish On constraints and by assigning resources to these new tasks. Please provide an easy to recognize name for these tasks to make it easier for your staff to identify these tasks in their timesheets. Once these occasional activities have been completed and time has been booked against them, you should set the percentage complete on these tasks to 100% by manually entering a percentage value for these tasks in the % column of the Schedule view or by selecting the tasks and clicking the Complete Task(s) icon in the Schedule toolbar. If you get a new direct report, you ll need to add them to the project profile and the schedule using the procedures in the previous section, and then you ll be able to add them to their respective operational tasks. Solution Q Inc Page 22 of 27

23 Reviewing planned & actual allocation At minimum, on a weekly basis (by end of day Tuesday), you are expected to review the planned & actual allocation for your direct reports to: Ensure they have entered a minimum of 37.5 hours of actual time against the previous week Ensure that planned allocation does not reflect more than 150% allocation on a weekly basis. If you identify such over-allocations, you should work with the project managers using these resources to resolve this situation. These procedures are performed using the Resource Management view. There are multiple ways for you to access this view (refer to the screenshot below): 1. Select the Resource Management menu item from the Desktop menu in the Eclipse toolbar. 2. If you had selected to have the Resource Management view as one of the tabs that opens by default when you log in to Eclipse, you can click on it from the tab bar. 3. If you had added the Resource Management view to the Quick Launch task bar, you can click on its icon. The Resource Management view enables you to review planned and actual time for a group of resources over a defined time period. The view provides multiple options for configuring what information is presented and how it will be organized. The toolbar at the top and the View Options panel on the right enables you to set these options. The following screenshot is used to illustrate configuration choices. Solution Q Inc Page 23 of 27

24 1. The View pick list enables you to pick an existing view or create a new view. A view defines the project and resource fields visible in the Resource Management view as well as how they are grouped and sorted. As a starting point, you may wish to use the [Resource Detailed View]. To create a new view, select [New View] from the View pick list, select the fields (1a) and grouping options (1b) and then click the Save & Apply View icon to save and use this new view. 2. The Data pick lists enable you to use an existing project and resource search or to create new project or resource searches as the input data for this view. As a starting point, you may wish to use the [All Projects and Operations] project search and the [All My Reports] resource search as illustrated above. 3. The Show/Hide checkboxes enable you to choose whether to show or hide regular projects, operational projects and actual time. 4. The Demand section enables you to show or hide a view of unfulfilled resource demand based on allocation of generic resources to projects and is discussed in further detail in the next section of this document. 5. The Table Options section enables you to set the starting period as well as the number of periods used in the view. It also enables you to define the frequency (days, weeks or months) and the units (hours or percentage) used in the view. By selecting percentage, you ll notice that the totals at the bottom are expressed in terms of FTE s (Full-Time Equivalents). This is a very useful metric to show how many staff you have available in any given period. 6. You can use the Expand All and Collapse All icons at the very end of the toolbar to expand or collapse the rows up to the top-most outline level. This is very useful Solution Q Inc Page 24 of 27

25 when reviewing allocation data for a large number of resources (see screenshot below). You can then expand specific rows by clicking on the caret icon which appears to the left of each row. 7. The Refresh icon can be used to refresh the data in the view after you have made changes to the configuration options. You can also enable automatic refreshing of the view by clicking on the pick list to the right of the Refresh icon. By clicking on the View details icon which appears to the right of a project row, Eclipse will open the project in a new window. By clicking on the View details icon which appears to the right of a resource row, Eclipse will open the resource record in a new window. You ll notice in the screenshot above, that one resource is showing an over-allocation during one week this is identified by looking for red-colored values in the Planned column for a resource s Availability row. Solution Q Inc Page 25 of 27

26 Processing resource requests At minimum, on a weekly basis (by end of day Tuesday), you are expected to review and process future unfulfilled resource requests for your staff. Launch the Resource Management view, click on the Show Demand checkbox, pick the generic resources that correspond with the roles or skills that you are responsible for assigning and then click on the Refresh icon as illustrated below. This will populate a new demand section containing the current allocation of the selected generic resources to projects and to operational activities. By reviewing the information in this section and comparing it with the current allocation of your resources to committed activities, it simplifies the process of picking the right available resource for the right task. If you click on the Apply Filter icon corresponding to one of the generic resources, the resource view below the demand section will be filtered to show only those named resources that are associated with the selected generic resource (e.g. show me only my staff that can perform Business Analysis activities). By selecting the Detail View checkbox and clicking on Refresh, the same information will be presented at a task-level of detail. Once you have determined which of your resources you wish to allocate to a given project, you should communicate this information to the project manager so that they can edit their project schedule and substitute your resource in place of the generic resource. Solution Q Inc Page 26 of 27

27 Appendices Appendix A Standard operational activities Operational activity Operational Support Meetings & administration Personal time off Description Used to track any system or application support & maintenance activities including service desk work, backups and break fix activities Used to record time spent in non-project meetings, filling out expense reports, timesheets and other office administrative activities Used to log time spent on vacation days, holidays, sick leave, jury duty or other short-term non-working time Appendix B Operational project templates Operational activity [Default Operational Project] Description Used as the starting point for tracking operational or other non-project activities Solution Q Inc Page 27 of 27