Comparing Projects with Claim Digger 375

Comparing Projects with Claim Digger

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Claim Digger Overview

You can use Claim Digger to generate a comparison report between revised and original projects you have access to, or between revised projects you have access to and their associated baselines. You can select up to five project or project/baseline comparisons to include in a report. For each comparison report, you can specify the project and activity data fields you want to compare, choose the format of the report output file, and specify whether you want to group activity data by activity, rather than by data type.

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Comparing Projects/Baselines

Claim Digger is available from the Tools menu of the Project Management module. If Claim Digger is configured to use the same database instance as the Project Management module, log in is automatic. If Claim Digger is configured to use a different database instance, or configured to use multiple database instances, you will be prompted to log in.

Start Claim Digger Choose Tools, Claim Digger. If login is required, type your login name and password. If applicable, choose the database you want to connect to, then click OK.

If more than one database instance is configured, a drop-down list displays beneath the password field, so you can select the database you want to use.

After a successful login, the Claim Digger main window displays and you can select the projects/baselines and specific data fields you want to compare

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Select projects/baselines to compare To compare a project to its baseline or to another project, in the Claim Digger main window, select the revised project, then select the project or baseline you want to compare it to. Choose a format, name, and destination for the comparison report output file and specify Advanced options to select the data fields you want to compare.

Select output format and report location.

Select project and activity data fields to compare.

To remove a project or baseline from the list of items to compare, click inside the corresponding row, then press Delete.

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Select a revised project To select a revised project, click in a row, then click the Browse button that displays.

The Select Project dialog box displays all of the projects you have access to, grouped by EPS. A + symbol indicates that more nodes or projects are rolled up beneath the selected node. Click + or double-click the node to display additional levels in the hierarchy. Select the desired project, then click OK.

Click the Find button to search for a project by name. The found projects are displayed in a flat list, not according to the EPS. To return to the original EPS tree, click the Clear button.

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The Find function always searches through all of the projects and not only those currently displayed.

Select an original project or baseline To select an original project or baseline, click in a row, then click the Browse button that displays. Choose the option to display projects or baselines. The Projects option displays all of the projects you have access to, grouped by EPS. The Baselines option displays all baselines associated with the revised project you selected. After locating the desired project or baseline, select it and click OK.

Select whether to display projects or baselines.

When the Baselines option is selected, project baselines are displayed in a flat list, not according to the EPS.

Click the Find button to search for a project or baseline by name. See “Select a revised project” on page 379 for details.

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Set advanced options Click the Advanced... button to select the project and activity data fields you want to include in the report.

Project data

Activity data

All project and activity options are selected by default. To exclude an option, unmark the corresponding checkbox.To include an option in the comparison report, mark the checkbox next to the item name.

To group the comparison report activity data by activity, instead of by data field type, mark the Group report by activity checkbox. When this option is enabled, the items you select in the Activity data section are grouped by activity in the report. Project items display at the top of the report and not grouped by activity.

Click OK to save your selected options.

Set the output format In the Send Report To section, choose one of the available formats:

■HTML (default)

■CSV

■ASCII text

When the output format is ASCII text, select a field delimiter and text qualifier from the drop-down list.

■Available field delimiters

• comma (,)

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•pipe (|)

•dot (.)

■Available text qualifiers:

•none

•double quotes (")

•single quote (')

•dollar sign ($)

Set the output file location To set the filename and location to save the comparison report, use one of the following options:

■In the Output File field, type the full path and filename.

Ensure that you enter the proper file extension, based on the output format you selected. If the wrong file extension is specified, the report will not display properly when opened for viewing.

If you specify only a filename and do not specify a location, the report is saved to the module installation directory.

■Click the Browse button next to the Output File field. Browse to the desired output destination, type a filename (no file extension is needed), and click Save.

View reports automatically To view reports automatically after they are generated, mark the checkbox next to View the file when done. When this option is selected, reports are automatically opened in the default module that is associated with the report’s output format (e.g., HTML reports are opened by the system’s default browser).

Generate the comparison report When you have finished setting all of the report and output options, click Compare to generate the report.

If any of the revised projects listed for comparison do not have an associated original project/baseline selected, an error message is displayed. Ensure that an original project/baseline is selected for each revised project that is listed.

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If the output file already exists, a warning is displayed. To overwrite the existing file, click Yes. To cancel the comparison and select a different filename, click No.

While Claim Digger is working, a dialog is displayed that shows the progress of the comparison. To stop the comparison before it is completed, click Cancel.

When the comparison is complete, a confirmation dialog listing the location of the report is displayed. Click OK to continue.

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