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

REPLACING a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Pro for Version 5.3 (P53-7_14_1-12052015)

The purpose of these articles is to acquaint you with the new “Pull” Operation features of OnePager Pro and Express Versions 5.3. There are eight (8) articles in this series, four (4) providing examples of the “Pull” Operation for OnePager Pro Desktop and Add-in and four (4) for OnePager Express Desktop and Add-in. 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 replace a snapshot such as when you have an existing snapshot, have updated the Microsoft Project plan source file with the latest information and want that new information reflected in the 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 Project and perform the creation of a NEW project view, UPDATE a project view, or OPEN an existing project view from the “OnePager Pro 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 Project provides or “pushes” the data to OnePager Pro.

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

Example

1) Let’s suppose you have a Microsoft Project plan for which you have already created a snapshot for a particular date, say, 12/1/2015. However, on 12/3/2015 you receive updated information and have updated your Microsoft Project plan accordingly. You now want to update the project view’s snapshot for 12/1/2015 to reflect the new information.

2) Further, let’s suppose that there are two different project views created form this one Microsoft Project plan: (a) One for the PMO audience created with the “Flag20” column and (b) The second created for the Customer audience created with the “Flag10” column. In this example, we’ll first do a replacement of a snapshot for the PMO audience and next do the same snapshot replacement for the Customer audience demonstrating two ways to perform the “Pull” Operation in the example below.

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

Launching OnePager Pro from the Desktop Icon

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

5) First, update the Microsoft Project source file with the updated data you want to replace in the snapshot.

6) Launch OnePager Pro from the desktop and when the “OnePager Pro 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:

P53-7_14_1-53-(1)-12032015.png

7) The OnePager Pro desktop application will bring the selected project view up in the Project View Editor window. This is the project view and snapshot we want to replace. To proceed with the replacement click the “Data” tab on the OnePager Pro ribbon. The Project View Editor will look like this:

P53-7_14_1-53-(1A)-12032015.png

Pulling In the Microsoft Project Plan to Replace the Snapshot

8) To perform the replacement of the snapshot showing in the Project View Editor window simply click the “Replace Snapshot” button on the “Data” tab of the ribbon as shown below:

P53-7_14_1-53-(1B)-12032015.png

9) OnePager Pro performs this action by invoking Microsoft Project and loading the parent Microsoft Project plan source file associated with the project view 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 Project 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 Pro ribbon as shown here:

P53-7_14_1-53-(1C)-12032015.png

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

P53-7_13_1-53-(5)-12022015.png

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

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

Preparing a Second Project View for Snapshot Replacement

14) As mentioned in the introduction to this example, we have two project views associated with this Microsoft Project plan where one project view is for presentations to the PMO (using “Flag20”) and the second project view is for presentations to the customer (using “Flag10”). We now want to update the project view built with “Flag10.”

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:

P53-7_14_1-53-(3)-12032015.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:

P53-7_14_1-53-(3A)-12032015.png

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

P53-7_14_1-53-(3B)-12032015.png

18) Simply clicking the “Replace Snapshot” button on the OnePager “Data” tab tells OnePager Pro to go to the parent Microsoft Project plan source file for this project view, perform the snapshot replacement under the control of the “Flag10” column of the plan, and display the results in the current Project View Editor window.

19) The replaced snapshot is shown below:

P53-7_13_1-53-(9)-12022015.png

20) In this example we used the “Pull” Operation twice to create two project views from the same Microsoft Project 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) 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 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

ADDING a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Express for Version 5.3 7.15.2-53

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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