Endpoints (OnePager Pro)

About Modify Endpoints

There are four endpoints definable in OnePager for each task. Although deadlines can be applied to both tasks and milestones, the four endpoints only apply to tasks.

Accordingly, and for all practical purposes, the four possible endpoints (Endpoint1, Endpoint2, Endpoint3, and Endpoint4) can be thought of as ADDITIONAL deadlines for tasks in OnePager. As you will see, the control and the behavior of all four endpoints are identical to that of the previously discussed deadlines. As an additional thought, you may consider the four endpoints as task-oriented milestones as they occupy the same row as their parent task.

By convention and as a default, the initial association of Endpoints 1 through 4 to Microsoft Project plan columns is as follows:

• Endpoint 1: Start Date.
• Endpoint 2: Finish Date.
• Endpoint 3: Baseline Start Date.
• Endpoint 4: Baseline Finish Date.

Controls are provided as described below whereby you may change the endpoint association with Microsoft Project plan columns.

Displaying Endpoints

For OnePager to properly display your endpoints, you must first define the endpoint field (column) in Microsoft Project and map them to OnePager through the OnePager Choices form. A sample, Microsoft Project plan is shown below with both deadline and endpoint definitions:

In the sample above, we see the typical task information with “Flag20” used to signal OnePager which rows to import, the Microsoft Project “Deadline” field and four “Date” fields (Date1, Date2, Date3, and Date4) which will be used to import information to OnePager representing Endpoints 1 through 4 respectively.

1) When the “OnePager” button is clicked on the Microsoft Project tool bar and you click the NEW button on the “OnePager Pro Start” form, OnePager will display the first page of the “OnePager Choices” form as shown below:

2) Clicking the “Next>” button with the “Show column mapping” check box checked brings you to the second page of the “OnePager Choices” form shown below:

3) Clicking the “Edit current template…” button takes you to the “Template Properties” form where you should navigate to the “Task Bars” tab and the “Endpoints” check box in the “Gantt Bar Decorations” group of the form which is shown below:

4) Now, clicking the “Endpoint Properties” button will show the “Set endpoint properties” form shown below:

5) The above form is almost identical to the “Set deadline properties” form discussed in the previous subsection. The difference is the “Show this endpoint” check box which refers to the drop down menu shown above whereby you may select which endpoint to control. In effect, this form is four (4) forms in one and allows you to turn on or off each individual endpoint and configure the properties for each separately.

6) The form above covers up two important controls that need to be addressed: The “Show this endpoint” check box and the “Column” drop down menu by which you tell OnePager which Microsoft Project plan column will be used for each particular endpoint. These controls are shown here:

7) Now that we have defined endpoints with distinct properties for all tasks in our example, we go back to the “Template Properties” form, click the “Save and use” button to get back to the second page of the “OnePager Choices” form, and clicked the “Create new project view” button. OnePager will produce the following project view:

Modifying Endpoint Properties

8) Configuring Other Endpoint Properties: The above discussion covered the set up and initial display of endpoints for illustrative purposes. Recall that endpoint controls are exactly identical to the controls for deadlines. The exception is only for the necessity to turn on the individual endpoints through their respective “Show this endpoint” check box and to enter the Microsoft Project plan column (field) that will be used for the respective endpoints in the “Column” drop down box of the “Set endpoint properties” form.

9) Setting Endpoint Properties for Individual Tasks: Endpoint properties may be set or changed for individual tasks. A prerequisite for modifying individual endpoint properties is the necessity for endpoint data to be imported by OnePager from the Microsoft Project plan. Some individual task endpoint properties may be changed by selecting the desired task or tasks with a left-click operation and then right-clicking one of the selected task to show the context menu below:

a) Select the “Format…” command which brings up the “Change Marker Properties” form. Then navigate to the “Endpoints” tab, which will display the endpoint control options shown below:

b) From the “Endpoints” tab of the form above, you are able to turn the selected endpoint off or on, show the endpoint connector to the task and display or turn off the endpoint date label.

c) For example, using the “Deadlines-Endpoints Example” previously illustrated above, suppose we want to make the following changes:

• Turn off the display of Endpoint 1 for Task B
• Show the Endpoint connector for Endpoint 1 to Task C
• Show the Date Label for Endpoint 4 for Task C under the task

d) For each task we select the task with a left-click, then right-click to get to the context menu, select the “Format…” command to get to the “Change Marker Properties” form and finally go to the “Endpoints” tab. We do these steps for each of the tasks involved starting with Task C where we’ll make one change to Endpoint 1 and then to Task C where we’ll make a change to Endpoints 1 and 4. After making these changes the project view will look like this:

(10.11)