- •Table of Contents
- •Preface
- •Primavera Products
- •Using Documentation and Help
- •Where to Get Support
- •Understanding Project Management
- •Why Use Project Portfolio Management?
- •Your Role in the Organization
- •Project Management Process Overview
- •Planning, Controlling, and Managing Projects
- •Quick Tour
- •Getting Started
- •Selecting a Language
- •The Workspace
- •What Is a Layout?
- •Customizing Displays
- •Sample Layouts
- •Using Wizards
- •Defining Administrative Preferences and Categories
- •Defining Default Settings
- •Allowing Users to Define the Default Hours per Time Period
- •Defining Standard Categories and Values
- •Defining Currencies
- •Setting User Preferences
- •Formatting Time Units
- •Formatting Dates
- •Setting View Currency and Symbols
- •Setting Mail Preferences
- •Implementing Wizards
- •Creating a Log of Tasks and Setting Startup, Group and Sort, and Column Options
- •Changing Your Password
- •Setting Profile and Spreadsheet Data Options
- •Setting Calculation Options for Resource and Role Assignments
- •Selecting Startup Filters
- •Structuring Projects
- •Setting Up the Enterprise Project Structure
- •Enterprise Project Structure Overview
- •Summarizing Projects
- •Setting Up the Enterprise Project Structure
- •Adding a New Project to the Enterprise Project Structure
- •Using Project Architect
- •Working with the Enterprise Project Structure
- •Using Root Nodes to Denote Project Status
- •Defining Enterprise Project Structure Details
- •Leveling Priority
- •Anticipated Dates
- •Auto-Numbering Activity IDs
- •Setting Up the Organizational Breakdown Structure
- •Viewing an OBS
- •Setting Up an OBS
- •Editing OBS Elements
- •Defining Resources and Roles
- •Resources Overview
- •Viewing and Adding Resources
- •Default Units/Time
- •Using Limits for Delayed Resource Start
- •Defining Resource Shifts
- •Defining and Assigning Resource Codes and Values
- •Setting Up Roles
- •Assigning Roles to Resources
- •Defining Custom Resource Curves
- •Reviewing Work Breakdown Structures
- •Viewing a WBS
- •Grouping by WBS Path
- •Adding WBS Elements and Assigning Properties
- •Using WBS Milestones
- •How Weights Affect Percent Complete
- •Assigning WBS Category Values
- •Defining Earned Value Settings for Specific WBS Elements
- •Assigning Estimation Weights to WBS Elements
- •Defining Budgets
- •Top-Down Budgeting
- •Establishing Budgets
- •Establishing a Monthly Spending Plan
- •Tracking Budget Changes
- •Establishing Funding
- •Tracking and Analyzing Budgets
- •Establishing Project Codes
- •Defining and Assigning Project Codes
- •Grouping, Summarizing, and Filtering by Codes
- •Working With User-Defined Fields
- •Creating User-Defined Fields
- •Working with User-Defined Fields
- •Working with Indicators
- •Creating Calendars
- •Adding Calendars
- •Modifying Calendars
- •Implementing the Schedule
- •Establishing Activity Codes
- •Creating Activity Codes and Values
- •Grouping and Summarizing by Codes
- •Working with Activities
- •Activities Overview
- •Adding Activities
- •Defining General Activity Information
- •Defining Schedule Information
- •Establishing Relationships
- •Dissolving Activities
- •Displaying Activity Details for Assignments
- •Assigning Resources and Roles
- •Recalculating Costs/Units for Assignments
- •Choosing the Rate Source and Rate Type for an Assignment
- •Assigning Resource Curves to Resource or Role Assignments
- •Manually Planning Future Period Assignments
- •Assigning Activity Codes and Adding Expenses
- •Viewing Activity Feedback and Posting Resource Notes
- •Assigning Work Products and Documents
- •Adding Steps
- •Setting Options for Using Weighted Steps
- •Creating and Assigning Activity Step Templates
- •Viewing Activity Summaries
- •Viewing Contract Manager Documents
- •Using Global Change
- •Working with Cost Accounts and Project Expenses
- •Cost Account and Expense Overview
- •Setting Up a Cost Account Structure
- •Adding Expenses and Entering Cost Information
- •Defining Expense Details
- •Analyzing Costs
- •Performing Top-down Estimation
- •Performing Top-down Estimation
- •Applying Saved Top-Down Estimates To a Project
- •Managing Baselines
- •Creating and Maintaining Baselines
- •Assigning Baselines to Projects
- •Comparing Current and Baseline Schedules
- •Updating Baselines
- •Ensuring Baseline Data Is Updated
- •Updating, Scheduling, and Leveling
- •The Update Process
- •Choosing a Method of Updating
- •Highlighting Activities for Updating
- •Updating Progress for Spotlighted Activities
- •Estimating Progress Automatically
- •Setting Auto Compute Actuals
- •Updating Using Timesheets
- •Updating Activities Manually
- •Removing Progress from Activities
- •Interrupting Activity Progress
- •Applying Actuals
- •Storing Period Performance (Past Period Actuals)
- •Scheduling Projects
- •Types of Activity Dates
- •Leveling Resources
- •Recalculating Resource and Role Assignment Costs
- •Managing Resource Assignments
- •Summarizing Projects
- •Setting Summarization Options
- •Summarizing Project Data
- •How Data Is Summarized
- •Managing Risks
- •Adding Risks
- •Calculating Exposure Values
- •Calculating a Risk’s Impact
- •Creating and Deleting Risk Types
- •Customizing Risk Layouts
- •Project Issues and Thresholds
- •Adding Issues
- •Assigning Tracking Layouts to Issues
- •Using the Issue Navigator
- •Adding Thresholds
- •Threshold Parameter Definitions
- •Monitoring Thresholds
- •Assigning Tracking Layouts to Thresholds
- •Maintaining a Project’s Document Library
- •Specifying Document Location References
- •Assigning Work Products and Documents
- •Tracking Projects
- •Creating Tracking Layouts
- •Working with Tracking Layouts
- •Customizing Tracking Layouts
- •Comparing Projects with Claim Digger
- •Claim Digger Overview
- •Comparing Projects/Baselines
- •Comparison Data
- •Creating and Using Reflections
- •Reflection Overview
- •Creating and Using Reflections
- •Reflection Guidelines
- •Checking Projects In and Out
- •Managing Remote Projects
- •Checking Out Projects
- •Checking In Projects
- •Customizing Projects
- •Working with Layouts
- •Layout Types
- •Creating, Opening, and Saving Layouts
- •Exporting and Importing Layouts
- •Copying and Pasting Resource Spreadsheet Data to Microsoft Excel
- •Grouping, Sorting, and Filtering Data
- •Grouping Data
- •Sorting Data
- •Reorganizing Data
- •Filtering Data
- •Combining Filters
- •Customizing Layouts
- •Modifying Columns
- •Adjusting the Timescale
- •Formatting Gantt Charts
- •Formatting Activity Network Layouts
- •Modifying Resource and Activity Usage Profile Settings
- •Customizing Reports
- •Reports Overview
- •Opening Reports
- •Creating and Modifying Reports
- •Using the Report Editor
- •Adding Data Sources and Rows to Reports
- •Adding Text Cells to Reports
- •Sorting Report Data Sources
- •Customizing a Report with the Report Editor: an Example
- •Using Report Groups
- •Setting Up Batch Reports
- •Printing Layouts and Reports
- •Defining Page Settings
- •Previewing Layouts and Reports
- •Printing Layouts and Reports
- •Selecting a Printer
- •Publishing Layouts and Reports in HTML Format
- •Publishing a Project on the World Wide Web
- •Project Web Site Overview
- •Publishing a Project Web Site
- •Customizing the Appearance of a Project Web Site
- •Publishing Activity and Tracking Layouts
- •Linking the Project Management and Contract Manager Modules
- •Linking the Project Management Module to Contract Manager
- •Linking a Project Management Project to a Contract Manager Project
- •Importing Contract Manager Data to a Project Management Module Project
- •Index
442 Part 5: Customizing Projects
Formatting Activity Network Layouts
The Activity Network layout displays a project as a diagram of activities and relationships, according to the work breakdown structure (WBS). You can control nearly every aspect of the Activity Network, including the appearance of activities, the contents of activity boxes, and the spacing between activities.
You can use an Activity Network layout to
■Easily view relationships among activities and the flow of work through a project
■Examine and edit an activity and its predecessors and successors
■Focus on the driving relationship path
An Activity Network box visually represents a project activity. When customizing boxes, you can specify particular fonts and colors, set spacing and positioning, and copy styles from another layout.
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Activity ID |
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Total Float |
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Original Duration
Activity Name
Remaining Duration
Early Start |
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Early Finish |
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Choose an Activity Network box template With an Activity
Network layout displayed in the Activities window, click the Layout
Options bar, then choose Activity Network, Activity Network Options.
Click the Activity Box Template tab.
Click to display a list of predefined activity box templates.
Click to customize the selected activity box’s font and colors.
Click to customize the selected activity box template.
Customize an Activity Network box template You can use one of the predefined activity box templates, or customize your own. With an Activity Network layout displayed in the Activities window, click the Layout Options bar, then choose Activity Network, Activity Network Options. Click the Activity Box Template tab. From the drop-down list, select a template that is similar to the one you want to create, then click Box Template. You can add rows for inserting new fields and determine how high and wide the field cells should occupy within the activity box.
Primavera - Project Management
444 Part 5: Customizing Projects
Click to add a new row to the activity box.
Use the Width and Height fields to customize the size of the new data item’s cell.
Double-click in Field Name field and choose the data item to add to the box.
Customize the Activity Network layout With an Activity Network layout displayed in the Activities window, click the Layout Options bar, then choose Activity Network, Activity Network Options. Click the Activity Network Layout tab.
Aligns activity boxes towards the top of the Activity Network window, in relation to their predecessors/successors
Centers activity boxes in relation to their predecessors/successors
Choose to display the activity networks with the longest or shortest path of linked activities on top.
When an activity’s predecessor/successor is not immediately adjacent to its activity in the Activity Network, the relationship line may not be visible because of other activity boxes. To reposition activity boxes so that all relationship lines are visible, mark the Adjust to Show All Relationships checkbox.
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To have the module automatically determine the view that best shows all activity boxes in the layout after you have reorganized it, mark the Always Zoom to Best Fit After Reorganize checkbox.
To have the module indicate progress by drawing an X on a completed activity or a slash on an activity in progress, mark the Show Progress checkbox.
To change the amount of vertical space between activity boxes in the Activity Network, specify a spacing factor that is a percentage of the height of activity boxes in the Activity Network table.
To change the horizontal space between activity boxes in the Activity Network, specify a horizontal spacing factor that is a percentage of the width of activity boxes in the Activity Network table.
Copy from another Activity Network layout With an Activity Network layout displayed in the Activities window, click the Layout Options bar, then choose Activity Network, Activity Network Options. Click Copy From. Select the Activity Network layout whose attributes you want to copy. Click Open.
In the Activity Network, when you select a data item for grouping, the hierarchy on the left side of the window contains the WBS so you can filter activities according to the hierarchy.
Save an Activity Network layout You can save the Activity Network layout as an .ANP file to use later or email to another project user. To save an Activity Network layout, click the Layout Options bar, then choose Activity Network, Save Network Positions.
Open a saved Activity Network layout To open the saved layout, click the Layout Options bar, then choose Activity Network, Open Network Positions. Select the file and click Open.
Primavera - Project Management