Managing Projects
View past period actual data in spreadsheets
You can view past period actual data spread by financial period in the Resource Usage Spreadsheet and Activity Usage Spreadsheet.
1)Right-click in the spreadsheet, then choose Spreadsheet Fields, Customize.
2)In the Available Options section, expand either the Cumulative or Time Interval sections, then expand the Financial Period Value section.
3)Move the Financial Period Value fields you want to the Selected Options section.
4)Click Ok.
Tip:
If Financial Period Value is not an available section in the Columns dialog box, you have not specified a range of financial periods that are available for display. To specify an available range, choose Edit, User Preferences. Select the Application tab, then specify the range of financial periods you want to display as columns in the Columns section.
If your organization manually plans future period resource distribution, you can manually enter future period assignment values in Financial Period timescale intervals. Once you baseline the project plan, progress the current project schedule, and store period performance, you can compare the baseline plan's manual assignment values to the current project's past period actuals in spreadsheets and reports.
Note
You cannot edit past period actual data in spreadsheets. You can edit past period actuals in columns of the Activity Table, Resource Assignments window, and the Activity Details, Resources tab.
Creating and Using Reflections
What is a reflection
A reflection is a copy of a project that has the following characteristics:
1)Has the same name as the original source project with reflection appended to it.
2)Internally, contains a link to the source project that allows the application to merge changes to the reflection into the source project.
3)Has a what-if status.
After creating a reflection, you can make changes to it. You can then merge selected changes back into the source project keeping active data in the source project intact. Creating a reflection facilitates the following work flows and processes:
Creating a sandbox area to test different project scenarios.
Reviewing changes made in collaboration with other users of a reflection. Using the reflection as an intermediary project lets you review and accept changes before merging the reflection back into the source project.
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Reviewing changes to a project by exporting a reflection as an .XER file. You can send the .XER file to outside users who can import the file into their database. After making changes to the project, the outside users can export the file and send the resulting .XER file back to you. By importing the .XER file back into your reflection, you can decide which changes to keep when you merge the reflection back into the source project.
Creating and using reflections
Follow this procedure to create and use reflections.
1)Create a reflection.
2)Make changes to the reflection.
3)Preview the changes to the project.
4)Optionally, print a report of the changes to the project.
5)Merge selected changes into the source project.
Create a Reflection
Follow this procedure to create a reflection of a source project. The reflection you create will have the same name as the source project with an incremental number appended to it.
Notes:
The Create Reflection context menu will only be available when selecting a project under an EPS node in which you have the privilege to create projects. Generally this means that the Responsible Manager assigned to the EPS node in which the project resides must be assigned to your user name with a profile that includes the "Add Projects" project privilege when P6 Professional is connected to a P6 Professional database and to your user name with a profile that includes the appropriate project privilege as defined in P6 when connected to a P6 EPPM database.
When connected to a P6 EPPM database: Project Managers can use the Reflection project and Activity Owner features together to collect and review activity status information reported by users with Contributor module access assigned in P6.
When connected to a P6 EPPM database: P6 Professional uses a job service to create the reflection. This means that you can carry on working while the reflection is created in the background. To see the progress of the job, choose Tools, Job Status.
Create a reflection
1)In the Projects view, right click on the project for which you want to create a reflection.
2)In the context menu, click Create Reflection. If the project does not contain any baselines, the system responds by creating a reflection. Otherwise, the system responds by displaying the Copy Baselines dialog box. For any baselines you want to copy, mark checkbox(s) in the Copy column of the Copy Baselines dialog box and click OK. The system responds by creating a reflection.
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Make changes in the reflection
Once a reflection has been created, you can make changes to the reflection as needed to explore alternative project scenarios.
Merging a Reflection with the Source project
Creating a reflection allows you to make a copy of a project known as a reflection. Once a reflection has been created, you can make changes to the reflection as needed to explore alternative project scenarios. Then, you can merge these updates to the original project, allowing you to keep active project data intact. This topic assumes that you have already created a reflection, you have made changes to the reflection and are ready to either preview and/or merge selected changes into the source project.
Notes:
The Merge Reflection into Source Project context menu will only be available when selecting a reflection to which you have superuser access. You will also need superuser access to the source project associated with the reflection. Additionally, the source project cannot be opened in Exclusive mode by another user nor can it be checked out.
Changes you make to the following fields in a reflection project will result in new entries being added to the source project when you merge a reflection into the source project: Project ID, Activity ID, Resource ID, Role ID, Cost Account, and Price/Unit. For example, assume that the source project contains an activity with an Activity ID of A1000. After creating a reflection, you change the Activity ID from A1000 to A1005 in the reflection project. Then, when you merge the reflection project into the source project, the source project now contains two activities, A1000 and A1005, which are identical except for the Activity ID.
Preview changes to be merged
Begin by previewing the changes.
1)In the Projects view, right click on the reflection that you want to merge with the source project.
2)In the context menu, click Merge Reflection into Source Project. If there are any changes to merge, the system responds by displaying the Preview Changes to Project dialog box.
Choose changes to merge
Next, choose changes from the reflection to merge into the source project. There are two ways the changes can be viewed, or grouped, in the Preview Changes to Project dialog box: by subject area or by activity. The default is by activity. When you view the changes by activity, check boxes appear in the Merge column for activity rows. This allows you to select which activities to merge into the source project.
Notes:
By default, if there are any activities with changes, all activity check boxes will be marked.
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Marking or clearing an activity check box in the Activity grouping has a corresponding affect in the Subject Area grouping even though the check boxes are not
available. Ensure the Activity radio button is marked if you need to understand or change which activities are to be merged.
1.In the Group Changes By, choose how you would like group the changes.
2.If you choose Activity in step 1, select activities to be merged by marking the appropriate Merge checkbox in the Merge column.
Tip:
If the application has detected activities that have changed, two buttons will be enabled: Select All and Clear All. You can use these buttons to save time if you have a lot of activities to consider. For example, suppose you knew that there were only two activities that should be merged out of a large number of changed activities. In this
example, you could save time by clicking the Clear All and then marking only the two that should be merged.
Determine actions the application should take prior to merging
Under Prior to merging, mark the appropriate check box.
1)Mark the Create a copy of the source project as a baseline if you would like to create a baseline in the source project with the name of the project with - Bx appended to it, where x is an incremented number.
2)Mark the Create a backup file of source project if you would like export the project to an .xer file. You could use this file to rollback the source project after the merge.
Determine actions the application should take after merging
Under After merging, mark the appropriate check box.
1)Mark the Keep reflection check box if you would like the application to keep the reflection in the EPS after the reflection is successfully merged.
2)Mark the Delete reflection check box if you would like the application to delete the reflection from the EPS after the reflection is successfully merged.
3)Mark the Replace reflection checkbox if you would like to replace the reflection with an updated reflection based on the current data in the source project after the merge.
Note
If you choose the Replace reflection option, the new reflection will be created with the same baselines that were in the original reflection.
When connected to a P6 EPPM database: Mark the Keep reflection checkbox if you want to keep a record of Risk data. Otherwise, Risk data for the Reflection project will be lost since Risks data is not merged (the source project's Risk data remains unchanged).
Merge the changes
If for whatever reason, you decide not to merge the changes in the Reflection into the Source project, click Cancel and no changes will be made to the source project.
Otherwise, click Merge Changes to merge the changes into the source project.
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