Difference between revisions of "Getting Started with OnePager Pro Version 6.1 Add-in"

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(Opening a Project View)
(Updating a Project View with Changes Made to the Microsoft Project Source Plan Data)
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===Updating a Project View with Changes Made to the Microsoft Project Source Plan Data===
 
===Updating a Project View with Changes Made to the Microsoft Project Source Plan Data===
  
16) Suppose after examining the project view you created before, you realize that it would be best to show more task bars.  This, you think, would greatly improve the schedule discussion you are about to attend.  Updating the project view at this point is a simple matter.  Recall that '''OPP''' is active and the '''PVE''' is displaying the current project view you want to update.  Additionally, the Microsoft Project '''source plan''' and the application are active.  The original project view looked like this:
+
16) Suppose after examining the project view you created before, you realize that it would be best to show more task bars.  This, you think, would greatly improve the schedule discussion you are about to conduct.  Updating the project view at this point is a simple matter.  Recall that '''OPP''' is active and the '''PVE''' is displaying the current project view you want to update.  Additionally, the Microsoft Project '''source plan''' and the application are active.  The original project view looked like this:
  
 
<center>[[File:P61-3_0_1_1-61-(18)-04302018.png]]</center>
 
<center>[[File:P61-3_0_1_1-61-(18)-04302018.png]]</center>
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<center>P61-3_0_1-61-(19B)-10232017.png</center>
 
<center>P61-3_0_1-61-(19B)-10232017.png</center>
  
:c) With the Microsoft Project '''source plan''' updated, go back to '''OPP''' and navigate to the '''Data''' tab on the ribbon where you’ll see several buttons.  To update your project view to show the additional rows from your Microsoft Project '''source plan'''. click the '''Replace Snapshot''' button as shown below:
+
:c) With the Microsoft Project '''source plan''' updated, go back to '''OPP''' and navigate to the '''Data''' tab on the ribbon where you see several buttons.  To update your project view to show the additional rows from your Microsoft Project '''source plan''', click the '''Replace Snapshot''' button as shown below:
  
 
<center>[[File:P61-3_0_1-61-(19C)-10232017.png]]</center>
 
<center>[[File:P61-3_0_1-61-(19C)-10232017.png]]</center>
 
<center>P61-3_0_1-61-(19C)-10232017.png</center>
 
<center>P61-3_0_1-61-(19C)-10232017.png</center>
  
:d) When you click the '''Replace Snapshot''' button, '''OPP''' will go back to the associated Microsoft Project '''source plan''' that you just changed, bring in all the rows that changed, and update your project view.
+
:d) When you click the '''Replace Snapshot''' button, '''OPP''' goes back to the Microsoft Project '''source plan''' that you just changed, brings in all the rows that changed, and updates your project view.
  
:e) At the conclusion of the operation, the updated project view will look like this:
+
:e) At the conclusion of the operation, the updated project view looks like this:
  
 
<center>[[File:P61-3_0_1_1-61-(19D)-04302018.png]]</center>
 
<center>[[File:P61-3_0_1_1-61-(19D)-04302018.png]]</center>
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17) The example above is just one of many uses of the '''Data''' tab’s '''Replace Snapshot''' button when you need to update a project view.  And, you can do this as many times as necessary until the project view is the way you need it.  In addition to adding and removing rows by changing the '''Flag20''' field, you may need to change '''Start Dates''', '''Finish Dates''', or '''Percent Complete''' and display these data changes in the project view.  Using the procedure above you can do this very efficiently.  
 
17) The example above is just one of many uses of the '''Data''' tab’s '''Replace Snapshot''' button when you need to update a project view.  And, you can do this as many times as necessary until the project view is the way you need it.  In addition to adding and removing rows by changing the '''Flag20''' field, you may need to change '''Start Dates''', '''Finish Dates''', or '''Percent Complete''' and display these data changes in the project view.  Using the procedure above you can do this very efficiently.  
  
18) You can now save the project view by giving it a '''source plan''' name.  When you save the project view in '''OPP''', OnePager will save the '''.TAM''' and within will save the Microsoft Project '''source plan''' name and path information.  This is useful when you want to further update the project view or when you want to add a snapshot later on.  In the examples below we will assume that the project view was saved as '''BlueGrass Project 2J-303-Revised'''.
+
18) You can now save the project view by giving it a '''source plan''' name.  When you save the project view in '''OPP''', OnePager saves the '''.TAM''' and saves the Microsoft Project '''source plan''' name and path information.  This is useful when you want to further update the project view or when you want to add a snapshot later on.  In the examples below we assume that the project view is saved as '''BlueGrass Project Report - Pro'''.
  
 
===Adding a Snapshot to a Project View===
 
===Adding a Snapshot to a Project View===

Revision as of 22:07, 30 April 2018

Overview

As with the previous version of OnePager Pro, version 6.1 of OPP can be launched from a desktop icon as well as from within Microsoft Project (Add-in).

1) Please note that after selecting the Add-in launch option that you will not be able to launch the OnePager Desktop application.

2) Only one of these applications (Add-in or Desktop) may be active at a time.

3) If you attempt to launch both, a warning message will appear as shown below.

P53-3 0 1-53-(01)-11062015.png

4) Further note that as mentioned in What's New with OnePager Release 6.1? 0.4-61, this new version has enhanced features such as Task Link Upgrades and Time Axis Upgrades to name a few.

5) This article covers the Getting Started process when you launch OPP from Microsoft Project.

6) The article which provides Getting Started guidance when launching from the Desktop icon is at Getting Started with OnePager Pro Desktop 3.0.1.2-61.

Launching OnePager Pro for the First Time

1) The OPP Add-in automatically displays the OnePager icon on the Microsoft Project ribbon once OnePager is installed. That tool bar looks like this:

P53-3 0 1-53-(1)-11062015.png

2) Clicking the OnePager Pro button will take you to the Project View Editor (PVE). Clicking the Templates… button will let you edit the templates provided with the product. For now, it is simplest to use the default Template. You can learn how Templates let you customize and standardize graph features later in this document.

3) Before you launch OPP, it is a good idea to unhide the Microsoft Project flag field you intend to use. (Note that when you unhide a field in Microsoft Project, that field may now appear in some of Microsoft Project’s standard reports. Do not forget to hide the field again before generating such reports if you do not want the field to appear in those reports.) The selected flag field allows you to control which tasks get graphed and to store those choices in Microsoft Project for future use. For example, the flag field (e.g., Flag20) is shown below:

P61-3 0 1-61-(2)-10232017.png
P61-3_0_1-61-(2)-10232017.png

4) To control which tasks get graphed, specify the Microsoft Project flag field (e.g. Flag1, Flag2 … Flag20) that you wish to use. Number fields may also be used the same as the flag fields where a 1 in a Number field indicates Yesand a 0 in a Number field indicates No. Unhide that field in Microsoft Project by right-clicking in the field header area and selecting Insert Column:

P61-3 0 1-61-(3)-10232017.png
P61-3_0_1-61-(3)-10232017.png

5) Now put a Yes in this flag field for any task that you want to graph:

P61-3 0 1-61-(4)-10232017.png
P61-3_0_1-61-(4)-10232017.png
a) When making your first project view, we strongly recommend that you mark 50 or fewer tasks with Yes.
b) Please note that OPP is shipped with a number of fully populated Templates that are based on the Microsoft Project source plan used in the tutorial also shipped with the product – BlueGrass Project 2J-303.
c) Starting in Microsoft Project 2010, there is a Manual Scheduling mode that allows you to leave dates blank in your schedule. However, behind the scenes, these dates are still being automatically assigned to the project Start Date, or to Today's Date if the project Start Date is not defined. Even though the dates appear to be undefined, they are defined behind the scenes, and are being passed to OPP. Because Today's Date often equals your Snapshot date, it is not surprising to see all of these dateless tasks appearing near the time cursor.
d) There are two solutions to this issue: :
(1) Define the dates for your tasks and milestones in Microsoft Project. This will overwrite any default dates that Microsoft Project is assigning, and will make your project schedule more consistent with your OPP timeline. :
(2) Remove the dateless tasks from your OPP graph. You can leave them in project, but by removing them from the OPP graph, you won't have to explain why certain tasks/milestones are appearing in weird places when they really should not. As a rule of thumb, we recommend defining dates for all tasks and milestones, especially when it comes to graph generation.

6) To launch OPP and make a project view, click the OPP button on the Microsoft Project tool bar’s Add-ins tab, which brings up the OnePager Pro Start form:

P61-1 6-(2)-61-10232017.png
P61-1_6-(2)-61-10232017.png

7) The OnePager Pro Start form provides you with three options:

a) NEW Clicking the NEW button will bring up the OnePager Pro choices (OPC) form.
b) UPDATE Clicking the UPDATE button will allow you to BROWSE FILES for an existing project view or select a recently-opened project view.
c) OPEN Clicking the OPEN button will allow you to BROWSE FILES for an existing project view or select a recently-opened project view. Once selected and opened, the project view is available for editing.

Creating a New Project View

8) Clicking the NEW button brings up the OPC form as shown below:

P61-3 0 1 1-61-(6)-04302018.png
P61-3_0_1_1-61-(6)-04302018.png

Options on the New OnePager Choices form

9) We’ve enhanced the OPC form to give you more options for selecting source plans. The illustration above shows that OPP was initiated from Microsoft Project with the source plan shown in the Selected File(s) group shown above. The Add/Remove button gives you the capability to add more source plans to the source packet or, for multiple file packets, to remove files.

a) Clicking the Add/Remove button brings up the Data source selection form as shown below:
P61-3 0 1 1-61-(7)-04302018.png
P61-3_0_1_1-61-(7)-04302018.png
b) The Data source selection form displays the current source plan that was loaded with Microsoft Project when you clicked the OnePager Pro. This form lets you Add more Microsoft Project source plan to create a multi-project project view or Remove a source plan from a multi-file source packet. These options are detailed below.

Adding a New Source Plan

c) Add a new source plan to the source packet: When you click the Add button, OPP gives you the option to bring up a Windows Open form when you select the BROWSE FILES… option as shown here:
P61-3 0 1 1-61-(8)-04302018.png
P61-3_0_1_1-61-(8)-04302018.png
i) Clicking the BROWSE FILES… option displays a Window’s Open form from which you may select a Microsoft Project source plan to add to the source packet. A sample Open form is shown below:
File:P61-3 0 1-61-(9)-10232017.png
P61-3_0_1-61-(9)-10232017.png
ii) When you select a desired Microsoft Project source plan and click the Open button as shown above, OPP adds the source plan to the source packet and displays it in the Data source selection window as shown below:
P61-3 0 1 1-61-(10)-04302018.png
P61-3_0_1_1-61-(10)-04302018.png
iii) The selected source plan is added to the source packet as shown above. OPP shows the path name of the source plan in the window if you hover the mouse over the source plan name.
iv) If you select a recently used source plan from the dropdown menu displayed when the Add button is clicked (Data source selection form), OPP will add that source plan to the source packet.

Removing a Source Plan

d) Remove source from source packet: The Remove button allows you to remove a source plan from a source packet if that source plan is not needed to create the new project view. To remove a source plan, first select the source plan in the Data source selection form’s window so that it is highlighted in blue then click the Remove button as shown in the sequence below:
P61-3 0 1 1-61-(11)-04302018.png
P61-3_0_1_1-61-(11)-04302018.png


P61-3 0 1 1-61-(12)-04302018.png
P61-3_0_1_1-61-(12)-04302018.png

Other Choices to Make

10) Moving on to the other groups of the OPC form, you are asked to confirm a few things before you build the project view. OPP makes good guesses for each of these choices, but you can change any of them:

P61-3 0 1 1-61-(15)-04302018.png
P61-3_0_1_1-61-(15)-04302018.png
a) Starting Template: The current Template determines which fields get imported from Microsoft Project and how the initial project view looks. OPP ships with many sample Templates, but you can also customize your own Templates.
i) To choose which Template to use in building your project view, click the Change… button in the top group of the OPC form.
ii) For now, just stick with the default Template entitled Single Project Gantt View – Detailed, but you can always use a different Template to get a different type of project view.
b) Title of the New Project View: This is the Title of the graph and also the suggested save source plan name. You can change the source plan save name when you save it. We recommend that you enter a Title that helps you identify the project view later on.
i) For each project view you create, OnePager remembers colors, titles, legends, font sizes, and all other graph properties so that your work is saved.
ii) Later, you can update the project view with a snapshot of how the project looks on a different date. Then you can browse through the snapshots to see how the project is changing over time.
iii) OPP also saves the path name associated with the source plan (.TAM). Path names are not available in .TAMs produced with versions of OPP prior to version 6.0.
c) Task Selection: This is how you tell OPP which tasks from your Microsoft Project plan to import.
i) Either click the Select all tasks radio button to graph everything or choose a flag field. You can make several project views from a single Microsoft Project source plan, each using a different flag or number field. In OPP if no flags are set to Yes, OPP provides you with a warning message.
ii) Clicking the Select tasks by custom filter button activates the Edit filters... button. Clicking the Edit filters... button takes you to a form that controls the new Conditional Import Filters feature. Please see the article titled Conditional Import Filters (Portal) 7.18.1-61 for more detailed on the use of this feature.
d) Snapshot Date: This is the date of the report and lets you keep track of how schedules change over time. Each project view can have many snapshots.

11) The Show field mappings checkbox near the bottom of the form can be checked. When this box is checked you have a chance to review and change the Microsoft Project field mappings to OPP before you make your first project view. To do this, check the box and click the Next> button. You now see the following form:

P61-3 0 1 1-61-(16)-04302018.png
P61-3_0_1_1-61-(16)-04302018.png

12) Notice in the form above that OPP has relied on the current Template to make some guesses on which Microsoft Project fields should be used in making the graph. You can easily change any of these field mappings by making selections from the dropdown menus. For example, we show below how to change the Finish Date :

P61-3 0 1 1-61-(17)-04302018.png
P61-3_0_1_1-61-(17)-04302018.png

Making the Graph

13) Once you are satisfied with the field mappings, click the Create new project view button to import your selected data and create a project view. After a second or two you see a screen that looks like this:

P61-3 0 1 1-61-(18)-04302018.png
P61-3_0_1_1-61-(18)-04302018.png

14) Note that each task or milestone was color coded based on the value in the Resource Names field.

a) The Legend contains an optional diagram near the bottom explaining that the bars inside the Gantt bars represent percent complete extracted from Microsoft Project.
b) Percent complete comes from a Microsoft Project field that you specified in the field mappings form.
c) Note that the current Template, when you press the Create new project view button, is the Template for how things look in the new project view. The Template form's Task Bars tab shows where the color control is located is shown below:
P61-3 0 1 1-61-(19)-04302018.png
P61-3_0_1_1-61-(19)-04302018.png

Opening a Project View

15) The right-most button on the OPC form is the OPEN button. Clicking the OPEN button displays a dropdown menu which happens to be the same for the UPDATE button. The options in the dropdown are discussed below:

P61-3 0 1 1-61-(19A)-04302018.png
P61-3_0_1_1-61-(19A)-04302018.png
a) Clicking the BROWSE FILES... option brings up a Windows Open form from which you can select a .TAM that you want to open. Selecting the desired .TAM causes OPP to display the selected project view. From this position, you may edit the project view, save it, or share it with others.
b) Clicking any of the RECENT project views items in the dropdown menu above causes OPP to load the associated .TAM into the Project View Editor (PVE) where you may also edit the project view, save it, or share it with others.

Updating a Project View with Changes Made to the Microsoft Project Source Plan Data

16) Suppose after examining the project view you created before, you realize that it would be best to show more task bars. This, you think, would greatly improve the schedule discussion you are about to conduct. Updating the project view at this point is a simple matter. Recall that OPP is active and the PVE is displaying the current project view you want to update. Additionally, the Microsoft Project source plan and the application are active. The original project view looked like this:

P61-3 0 1 1-61-(18)-04302018.png
P61-3_0_1_1-61-(18)-04302018.png
a) Since Microsoft Project is still an active program and the Microsoft Project source plan you are using is still being displayed, go back to the Microsoft Project application and change the Flag20 field setting for the rows you want to now display from No to Yes. A section of the Microsoft Project source plan where this is done is shown below:
P61-3 0 1-61-(19A)-10232017.png
P61-3_0_1-61-(19A)-10232017.png
b) Once you’ve made the Flag20 changes lines 8 through 15 in the Microsoft Project the source plan will look like this:
P61-3 0 1-61-(19B)-10232017.png
P61-3_0_1-61-(19B)-10232017.png
c) With the Microsoft Project source plan updated, go back to OPP and navigate to the Data tab on the ribbon where you see several buttons. To update your project view to show the additional rows from your Microsoft Project source plan, click the Replace Snapshot button as shown below:
P61-3 0 1-61-(19C)-10232017.png
P61-3_0_1-61-(19C)-10232017.png
d) When you click the Replace Snapshot button, OPP goes back to the Microsoft Project source plan that you just changed, brings in all the rows that changed, and updates your project view.
e) At the conclusion of the operation, the updated project view looks like this:
P61-3 0 1 1-61-(19D)-04302018.png
P61-3_0_1_1-61-(19D)-04302018.png

17) The example above is just one of many uses of the Data tab’s Replace Snapshot button when you need to update a project view. And, you can do this as many times as necessary until the project view is the way you need it. In addition to adding and removing rows by changing the Flag20 field, you may need to change Start Dates, Finish Dates, or Percent Complete and display these data changes in the project view. Using the procedure above you can do this very efficiently.

18) You can now save the project view by giving it a source plan name. When you save the project view in OPP, OnePager saves the .TAM and saves the Microsoft Project source plan name and path information. This is useful when you want to further update the project view or when you want to add a snapshot later on. In the examples below we assume that the project view is saved as BlueGrass Project Report - Pro.

Adding a Snapshot to a Project View

19) The power of OPP is illustrated when, after a period of progress on the project, it is time to produce another project view. OnePager produces your next snapshot with the same look and feel as the original. Assuming that the Microsoft Project source plan was updated with actual start and finish, percent complete, and other relevant data during the reporting interval, OPP can easily generate a new snapshot. Launch OPP either from Microsoft Project or from the desktop icon and click the UPDATE button on the OnePager Pro Start form. Doing so will bring up the following OnePager choices (OPC) form:

File:P61-3 0 1-61-(24)-10232017.png
P61-3_0_1-61-(24)-10232017.png
a) In the OPC form select the NEW snapshot at date: as shown above. You will want to select a current date for the snapshot so that this snapshot will represent the project at the status date point in time. To see which snapshot dates already exist, just position your mouse over the NEW snapshot at date: window to see a list of the existing dates. Use the built in calendar dropdown or type in the new snapshot’s month, day, and year in the window provided as shown below:
File:P61-3 0 1-61-(25)-10232017.png
P61-3_0_1-61-(25)-10232017.png
b) Uncheck the Show field mappings checkbox if you want to use the same field mappings as you used before. The bottom of the screen now looks like this:
P60-3 0 1-60-(26)-01252017.png
c) Pressing the large New button creates a new snapshot for the project view. The project view opens at the new snapshot. The color, fonts, title, and swimlane assignments are consistent between the two snapshots:
File:P61-3 0 1-61-(27)-10232017.png
P61-3_0_1-61-(27)-10232017.png
d) You can go back and forth between the two snapshots by using the snapshot forward/backward buttons on the View tab as shown below:
File:P61-3 0 1-61-(28)-10232017.png
P61-3_0_1-61-(28)-10232017.png

Editing the Project View

20) Sooner or later, most of you will edit the font sizes and text position to optimize readability. To do this, hold down the left mouse button and drag a selection box that encloses many tasks/milestones at once:

File:P61-3 0 1-61-(29)-10232017.png
P61-3_0_1-61-(29)-10232017.png
a) When you release the mouse, the enclosed tasks/milestones will all be selected:
File:P61-3 0 1-61-(30)-10232017.png
P61-3_0_1-61-(30)-10232017.png
b) Click the Increase Font Size button on the tool bar shown below:
P53-3 0 1-53-(31)-11062015.png
c) The project view will now look something like this:
File:P61-3 0 1-61-(32)-10232017.png
P61-3_0_1-61-(32)-10232017.png
d) Repeating this operation for the remaining tasks/milestones (we could have done Select All and done it all at once!), we obtain a project view with larger fonts on all the tasks/milestones:
File:P61-3 0 1-61-(33)-10232017.png
P61-3_0_1-61-(33)-10232017.png

21) Another common editing action is to move the task names from their current positions to a positions elsewhere around or on the task bar.

a) To do this, select a set of tasks/milestones as before, but this time click one of the text-positioning buttons on the tool bar:
File:P61-3 0 1-61-(34)-10231017.png
P61-3_0_1-61-(34)-10231017.png
b) In case you change your mind about the last editing action you took, you can undo the last editing action by clicking the UNDO button above the OnePager tool bar. Successive clicking the UNDO button will undo editing actions in the reverse order that they were applied.
File:P61-3 0 1-61-(36)-10232017.png
P61-3_0_1-61-(36)-10232017.png

22) Save the edited project view by pressing the Save button above the tool bar next to the UNDO button. All of the font size changes, text-position edits, and the new legend position are now saved in case you need to update this project view with new data at a later time.

Copying the Project View to PowerPoint

23) Finally, copy the current project view snapshot to the clipboard by pressing the Copy button on the Home tab of the ribbon. Then paste the graph into a PowerPoint slide, as shown below:

File:P61-3 0 1-61-(37)-10232017.png
P61-3_0_1-61-(37)-10232017.png

24) That’s it! You’ve now created a professional 1-page schedule summary from a complex Microsoft Project schedule and have copied it into a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation. You can also print the graph by selecting the Print button on the File tab. OnePager has other features that let you move tasks vertically to different rows and swimlanes, change the number of swimlanes, add swimlane titles, show dependencies among tasks, change task colors, hide tasks, add floating comment boxes, and standardize on graph styles across organizations. To learn more about these features, read about the specific workflows in this Wiki at Basic Workflows (Portal) 7.0.1-61 and Manual Editing 9.0.1-61.

Related Links

What's New with OnePager Release 6.1? 0.4-61

Getting Started with OnePager Pro Desktop 3.0.1.2-61

Conditional Import Filters (Portal) 7.18.1-60

Basic Workflows (Portal) 7.0.1-61

Manual Editing 9.0.1-61

(3.0.1.1-61)