ADDING a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Express for Version 5.3

ADDING a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Express for Version 5.3 (X53-7_15_2-12072015)

The purpose of these articles is to acquaint you with the new “Pull” Operation features of OnePager Express and Pro Versions 5.3. There are eight (8) articles in this series, four (4) providing examples of the “Pull” Operation for OnePager Express Desktop and four (4) for OnePager Pro Desktop. Please see the links at the end of this article to access other articles in the series.

This article shows you how to use the “Pull” Operation when you need to add a snapshot such as when you have updated the Microsoft Excel plan source file with the new information further into the project and want that new information reflected in a new snapshot.

What is a Pull Operation?

Before we get started with the example, this is a good point to describe the “Pull” Operation. A “Pull” Operation is performed when you start using OnePager from the Project View Editor. That is, you already have OnePager launched and running and the Project View Editor window is blank. Alternatively, a “Push” Operation begins when you launch OnePager from the desktop or from Microsoft Excel and perform the creation of a NEW project view, UPDATE a project view, or OPEN an existing project view from the “OnePager Express Start” form.

We added the “Pull” Operation because we found that our users were often creating a project view, finding something in the source file that they needed to change, going back to the source file, making the change and then re-launching OnePager to replace the project view.

The “Pull” Operation lets you launch OnePager once, create your project view, and, if you need to make a source file change, you may go back to the source file and do that. When you’ve updated the source file, you need only go back to OnePager and through the new “Data” tab quickly “pull” in the amended source file, update your project view, and continue.

In the “Pull’ Operation as described above, OnePager “pull” the data into the Project View Editor whereas in a “Push” Operation Microsoft Excel provides or “pushes” the data to OnePager Pro.

The example below will illustrate a “Pull” Operation when adding a snapshot.

Example

1) Let’s suppose you have a Microsoft Excel plan for which you have already created a snapshot for a particular date, say, 12/1/2015. Later on in the project, say on 12/15/2015 you receive updated status information and have updated your Microsoft Excel plan accordingly. You now want to add this latest status information to your project view as an additional snapshot for 12/15/2015 to reflect the new status information.

2) Further, let’s suppose that there are two different project views created form this one Microsoft Excel plan: (a) One for the PMO audience created with the “Show It1” column and (b) The second created for the Customer audience created with the “Show It2” column. In this example, we’ll first do a snapshot add for the PMO audience and next do the same snapshot add for the Customer audience demonstrating two ways to perform the “Pull” Operation in the example below.

X53-7_13_2-53-(1)-12022015.png

3) Since the Microsoft Excel plan was updated and now reflects the latest status information for 12/15/2015 we just need to use the “Pull” Operation to bring in the updated Microsoft Excel plan data and add the snapshot.

Launching OnePager Express from the Desktop Icon

4) We are going to illustrate the “Pull” Operation for adding a snapshot.

5) First, update the Microsoft Excel source file with the updated data you want to add in a new snapshot.

6) Launch OnePager Express from the desktop and when the “OnePager Express Start” form appears click the “OPEN” button which, in our example, will provide a drop down menu with the name of the project view you wish to update by replacement. In this case it’s “BlueGrass 2J-303-PMO” as shown below:

X53-7_14_2-53-(1)-12062015.png

7) The OnePager Express desktop application will bring the selected project view up in the Project View Editor window. This is the project view that has one snapshot currently for 12/1/2015 for which we want to add a second snapshot for 12/15/2015. At this point only the 12/1/2015 snapshot will appear in the Project View Editor’s window. To proceed with the snapshot add click the “Data” tab on the OnePager Express ribbon and prepare to click the “Add Snapshot” button. The Project View Editor will look like this:

X53-7_15_2-53-(1A)-12072015.png

Pulling In the Microsoft Excel Plan to Add the Snapshot

8) To perform the add snapshot function with the current snapshot showing in the Project View Editor window simply click the “Add Snapshot” button on the “Data” tab of the ribbon. A calendar drop down will appear. Select the date of the new snapshot in the calendar and click “OK” in the calendar drop down as shown below:

X53-7_12_2-53-(1B)-12072015.png

9) OnePager Express performs this action by invoking Microsoft Excel and loading the parent Microsoft Excel plan source file associated with the project view (which is updated with status information through 12/15/2015) and taking the results to update the snapshot as shown above.

10) For project view with multiple snapshots it is important to make sure that you have selected the correct snapshot to display in the Project View Editor window before clicking the “Replace Snapshot” button. OnePager knows which snapshot is being displayed and will replace the visible snapshot with data from the parent Microsoft Excel plan source file. Navigating between snapshots in a multiple snapshot project view can be done prior to the above action by using the “View” tab on the OnePager Express ribbon as shown here:

X53-7_14_2-53-(1C)-12062015.png

11) The added snapshot for project view “BlueGrass 2J-303-PMO-X” is shown below:

X53-7_15_2-53-(5)-12072015.png

12) The above example shows how the “Pull” Operation is used to ADD a snapshot. Since we are using the desktop application of OnePager for this example it was not necessary to launch Microsoft Excel first. As long as you’ve properly prepared your Microsoft Excel plan source file just launching OnePager Express from the desktop icon is basically all that is necessary to utilize the new “Pull” Operation for adding a snapshot.

13) At this point it is recommended that you save this the project view for access later.

Preparing a Second Project View for Adding a Snapshot

14) As mentioned in the introduction to this example, we have two project views associated with this Microsoft Excel plan where one project view is for presentations to the PMO (using “Show It1”) and the second project view is for presentations to the customer (using “Show It2”). We now want to update the project view built with “Show It2.”

15) With the above project view visible in the Project View Editor window, click on the “File” tab on the OnePager ribbon and then click the “Open…” tab on the page that appears. Then click the project view for the Customer audience as shown below:

X53-7_14_2-53-(3)-12062015.png

16) When you click the desired project view name as shown above, OnePager will display that project view in a separate Project View Editor window as shown here:

X53-7_15_2-53-(3A)-12072015.png

17) You may want to expand this Project View Editor window. Now, navigate to the “Data” tab on the OnePager Express ribbon as shown below:

X53-7_15_2-53-(3B)-12072015.png

18) Simply click the “Add Snapshot” button on the OnePager “Data” tab and select the new snapshot date from the drop down calendar as shown previously. This tells OnePager Express to go to the parent Microsoft Excel plan source file for this project view (previously updated with the 12/15/2015 status information), perform the snapshot replacement under the control of the “Show It2” column of the plan, and display the results in the current Project View Editor window.

19) The added snapshot is shown below:

X53-7_15_2-53-(9)-12072015.png

20) In this example we used the “Pull” Operation twice to create two project views from the same Microsoft Excel plan source file but using different “flag” columns. Now that the second project view is created, we recommend that it too be saved for future access.

Compare Results, Edit, Copy to PowerPoint

21 Once you are satisfied with your project view you may save them, copy them into PowerPoint presentations, or share time in other ways.

22) At the end of the ADD Snapshot process described in this article, your projects will contain multiple snapshots. You may move from one to another in the Project View Editor window by going to the “View” tab on the OnePager ribbon and either click the left and right buttons to switch from snapshot to snapshot or use the “List All” button to display snapshot dates associated with the project view as shown below:

X53-7_15_2-53-(10)-12072015.png

23) The “Pull” Operation is an easy, fast, and convenient way to create multiple project views which will make you more efficient.

Related Links:

Creating a NEW Project View via Pull Operation - OnePager Pro for Version 5.3 7.13.1-53

Creating a NEW Project View via Pull Operation - OnePager Express for Version 5.3 7.13.2-53

REPLACING a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Pro for Version 5.3 7.14.1-53

REPLACING a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Express for Version 5.3 7.14.2-53

ADDING a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Pro for Version 5.3 7.15.1-53

Custom REPLACING a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Pro for Version 5.3 7.16.1-53

Custom REPLACING a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Express for Version 5.3 7.16.2-53

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