Difference between revisions of "ADDING a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Pro for Version 7.0"

Latest revision as of 21:10, 11 January 2021

Overview

The purpose of these articles is to acquaint you with the Pull features of OnePager Pro (OPP) and Express (OPX). There are eight (8) articles in this series, four (4) providing examples of the pull feature for OPP and four (4) for OPX. Please see the links at the end of this article to access other articles in the series.

What is a Pull Operation?

A Pull operation starts in the Chart Editor. That is, you already have OnePager running and decide to update the open chart or (rarely) create a new chart. In contrast, a Push operation begins in the OnePager Pro Start from which you make a new chart or update an existing chart. We added the Pull operation because we found that OnePager users were often creating a chart and finding something in the source plan that they needed to change. After recognizing the need for a change, they are going back to the source plan, making the change, and then re-launching OnePager to update the chart. The Pull operation lets you open a chart and update it repeatedly as you edit its source plan. After each set of changes to the source plan(s), you can quickly see the effect in the Chart Editor by using the OnePager Data ribbon tool bar tab to Pull the source plan changes into the chart.

For more information on Creating a new chart with the Pull operation, please see the article at: Creating a NEW Chart via Pull Operation - OnePager Pro

For more information on Replacing a snapshot with the Pull operation, please see the article at: REPLACING a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Pro

The example below illustrates adding a snapshot.

Example

Let’s suppose you have a Microsoft Project source plan with an existing snapshot for a particular date, say, 8/14/2019. Later on in the project, say on 8/30/2019 you receive updated status information that updates your Microsoft Project source plan. You now want to add this latest status information to your chart as an additional snapshot for 8/30/2019 to reflect the new status information. Further, let’s suppose that there are two (2) different charts created from this one Microsoft Project source plan:

1) One for the PMO audience created with the Flag20 field and

2) The second created for the customer audience created with the Flag10 field.

In this example, we’ll do the addition for the PMO audience first and then do the same addition for the customer audience. Since the Microsoft Project source plan was updated and now reflects the latest status information for 8/30/2019 we need to use the Pull operation to bring in the updated Microsoft Project source plan data and add the snapshot.

Launching OnePager Pro from Microsoft Project

First, update the Microsoft Project source plan with the updated data you want to add in a new snapshot. Launch OPP from the Microsoft Project and when the OnePager Pro Start form appears click the OPEN button which, in our example, provides a dropdown menu with the name of the chart you wish to update by adding a new snapshot. In this case it’s BlueGrass Project Plan Report - Pro - PMO as shown below:

The OPP Add-in application accesses the selected chart and places it Chart Editor. This is the chart that has one snapshot currently for 8/14/2019 for which we want to add a second snapshot for 8/30/2019. To proceed with the snapshot add click the OnePager Data ribbon tool bar tab and prepare to click the Add Snapshot button. The Chart Editor looks like this:

Use the Microsoft Project Source Plan to Add a Snapshot

To add a snapshot, click the Add Snapshot button on the OnePager Data ribbon tool bar tab. A calendar dropdown appears. Select the date of the new snapshot in the calendar and click OK in the calendar drop down as shown below:

OPP adds the snapshot by loading the Microsoft Project source plan associated with the chart and uses it to add a new snapshot as shown above. The added snapshot for Chart BlueGrass Project Plan Report - Pro - PMO is shown below:

For a chart with multiple snapshots it is important to make sure that you have selected the correct snapshot to display in the Chart Editor before clicking the Replace Snapshot button. OnePager knows which snapshot is being displayed and replaces the visible snapshot with data from the parent Microsoft Project source plan. Navigating between snapshots in a multiple snapshot chart can be done prior to the above action by using the OnePager View ribbon tool bar tab as shown here:

Since we are using the OPP Add-in application for this example, it was not necessary to re-launch Microsoft Project. As long as you’ve properly prepared your Microsoft Project source plan just launching OPP from Microsoft Project is all that is necessary to utilize the new Pull operation for adding a snapshot. At this point it is recommended that you save this the chart for access later.

Preparing a Second Chart for Adding a Snapshot

There are two (2) ways of updating the second chart from the same Microsoft Project source plan:

1) After saving the first chart, close the OPP Add-in application and repeat the above process by opening the second chart and then using Flag10 to select the tasks.

2) Remain in the current OPP Add-in Chart Editor and update the second chart from there.

Here we demonstrates the second method as it is more efficient. With the above chart visible in the Chart Editor, click on the OnePager File ribbon tool bar tab and then click the Open… tab on the page that appears. Then click the chart for the customer audience as shown below:

When you click the desired chart name as shown above, OnePager displays that chart in a separate Chart Editor as shown here:

You can expand this Chart Editor window. Now, navigate to the OnePager Data ribbon tool bar tab as shown below:

Click the Add Snapshot button on the OnePager Data ribbon tool bar tab and select the new snapshot date from the dropdown calendar as shown previously. This tells OPP to go to the Microsoft Project source plan for this chart (previously updated with the 8/30/2019 status information), perform the snapshot add function under the control of the Flag10 field, and display the results in the current Chart Editor. The added snapshot is shown below:

In this example, we used the Pull operation twice to update two charts from the same Microsoft Project source plan but using different Flag fields. Now that the second chart is created, we recommend that it too be saved for future access.

Compare Results, Edit, Copy to PowerPoint

Once you are satisfied with your charts you can save them, copy them into Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, or share time in other ways. At the end of the ADD Snapshot process described in this article, your projects contains multiple snapshots. You can move from one to another in the Chart Editor by going to the OnePager View ribbon tool bar tab on the ribbon and either click the Forward/Back buttons to switch from snapshot to snapshot or use the List All button to display snapshot dates associated with the chart as shown below:

The Pull operation is an easy, fast, and convenient way to create multiple charts which makes you more efficient.

Related Links

Creating a NEW Chart via Pull Operation - OnePager Pro

Creating a NEW Chart via Pull Operation - OnePager Express

REPLACING a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Pro

REPLACING a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Express

ADDING a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Express

Custom Update (Replacing) of a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Pro

Custom Update (Replacing) of a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Express

Using the OnePager "Data" Tab's "Selected file(s)" Button

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