Outline Plan MOD009BJV

Access path

Information

• The Work Breakdown Structure module operates in a way similar to that of the Schedule module with the only difference being that here, lanning is done on phase level and on the basis of person days (PD).

Create Outline Plan

By copying a standard schedule

• When opening the Outline Plan module, the following confirmation prompt is displayed: Is a schedule to be copied in?
• Confirm the message with Yes.
• The Copy Schedule module is opened at the bottom of the panel.
  • If the confirmation prompt is negated accidentally, the Copy Schedule module can be opened by right-clicking on the idea or project header and selecting the command of the same name.
• Select the required project from the listbox.
• Start the copy operation by clicking on the Copy Schedule button.
• The schedule that was copied into the idea or proposal is displayed and can be edited.

By creating separate tasks

• When opening the Outline Plan module, the following confirmation prompt is displayed: Is a schedule to be copied in?
• Answer the confirmation prompt with No.
• Insert an empty task line.
  • Enter a task name in the Task name field.
  • Save.
  • The Task ID is generated automatically.

Note

• You can also copy schedules additively via the context menu (by right-clicking and selecting the Copy Schedule command).

Create Work Breakdown Structure

Information

• The parent tasks of a structured project plan are called summary tasks in PLANTA project.
• The work breakdown structure code (WBS code) marks single project tasks in accordance with their hierarchical structure.

Procedure

• Structure tasks hierarchically as desired by pressing SHIFT + holding down the left mouse button and moving them to the required position.
  • If you have created your project by copying a schedule template, the tasks are already structured. Of course, this structure can be changed.
• Select the Generate WBS code command from the context menu by right-clicking on the project header.
  • The WBS code is generated automatically for every task in the WBS code field in accordance with the structure. Thus, the WBS code is both an identifier for single elements in the schedule and an indicator of the hierarchical structure.
• Start the scheduling by clicking on the calculation button in the toolbar.
  • As a result, all parent tasks are marked bold and are therefore visualized as summary tasks.

Notes

• The WBS code field is hidden in the module by default and can be displayed if necessary. Depending on the setting of the show_psp_instead_of_id global parameter, the WBS code is additionally displayed in the Task field.
• After putting on tasks to another structure level, the changes are to be saved before the WBS code is refreshed (generated anew).
• If there are less than 10 tasks, the numeration of the codes is done by the 1, 2,... 9 schema, if there are more than 10 tasks, the numeration is done by the 01, 02,... 09, 10, ... schema.

Tasks

Edit Task

Procedure

• Every task of the Outline Plan module can be edited by changing its individual parameters:
  • directly in the Outline Plan module
  • or in a data sheet in the Task module.
    • To do so, right-click on the required task and select the Edit Task command from the context menu.

Terminate Task

Procedure

Notes

• If no requested start has been entered for the task, the requested start of the project will be used for scheduling.
• As long as no resources are scheduled, dates are scheduled when you click on the calculation button.

Read Out Task Chain

Procedure

• Right-click on the required task.
• Select the Read out task chain context menu command.
• The What do you want to do? dialog message is displayed.
• The user has six options:
  • NEW If you click on the Direct predecessor button, the Task Chain module is opened and the direct predecessor(s) of the task are displayed.
  • If you click on the Predecessor button, the Task Chain module is opened and the predecessors of the task are displayed with their own predecessors.
  • NEW If you click on the Direct successor button, the Task Chain module is opened and the direct successor(s) of the task are displayed.
  • If you click on the Successor button, the Task Chain module is opened and the successors of the task are displayed with their own successors.
  • If you click on the Overall view button, the Task Chain module is opened and the predecessors as well as the successors of the selected task are displayed. As a result, the successors of the predecessors will be displayed as well, however, the predecessors of the successors will not be displayed.
  • If you click on the Cancel button, the action is aborted.

Resources

Assign Resources

Information

• Resources are responsible for the completion of tasks.
• They are assigned (allocated) to individual tasks.
• Resources must have been created before as part of the Master Data Entry.
• Which resources (individual employees, entire departments, or machines) can be assigned to the tasks depends on several factors, e.g. planning horizon, project type, etc.
• When assigning and planning resources in the schedule, PLANTA project distinguishes between resources, which comprise persons, departments, and skills and the effort of which is planned in time units, and revenue and cost resources, the effort of which is planned in monetary units.

Assign resources to tasks

• Right-click on the required task and select Insert Resource or Insert Revenue and Cost Resource from the context menu. A new resource record will be entered.
• Select the required resource from the resource listbox.
• Define the required resource parameters.
  • When the resource was assigned to the task, several parameters have already been filled with default settings from the Resource Data Sheet (e.g. Load profile, Cost type). These values can be changed manually here.
  • Attention: If you change the default values for one of the resources assigned to the task and then copy this resource assignment to one of the further tasks, previously changed settings will be included instead of the default settings of the resource.

Assign several resources to a task simultaneously

Plan resources

• Enter the planned effort for person, skill, and department resources (in the unit of "days") in the Remaining effort field.
• Enter the planned effort for person, skill, and department resources (in the unit of "euros") in the Remaining costs field.
• Check and possibly change the Load profile for a distribution of effort and costs in time.
• Enter requested dates if necessary (Requested start/Requested end). This enables you to specify that several resources are working on a task at different times, or that they start or finish their work at different times.

Display Utilization

Information

• In the Outline Plan module, the utilization of a particular resource in other projects can be checked.

Procedure

• Right-click on the required resource.
• Select the Display utilization context menu command. By doing so, you change to the Utilization With Cause module, where the utilization of the corresponding resource is displayed.

Links

Information

• Links are dependencies between tasks that (can) have an effect on the calculated dates.
• PLANTA project distinguishes between three link types: internal links, external links, and external tasks. Here, internal and external links have an immediate impact on the calculation of dates. external tasks are of informative nature and only show dependencies.

Create and edit links