Managing Projects

Level resources automatically

1)Choose Tools, Level Resources.

2)Mark the Automatically Level Resources When Scheduling checkbox to automatically level resources each time you schedule a project.

Analyzing the resource-driven critical path

1)Select an activity to analyze.

2)Click Backward Resource Driven Critical Path.

Click Increase Maximum Multiple Critical Path Count or Decrease Maximum Multiple Critical Path Count to view more or fewer resource-driven critical paths to the selected activity.

Click Select Maximum Multiple Critical Path Count to specify the number of critical paths to show.

Note: You can also view the activity-driven critical paths, with or without resource leveling. Click Forward Activity Critical Path, Backward Activity Critical Path, or Activity Critical Path to view the activity driven critical paths.

Tip

The critical paths shown only take into account resource assignments in open projects.

When you view resource driven critical paths, P6 Professional changes the grouping of the

view to group by critical path number. To return to your original grouping and sorting, click

Enable Group and Sort.

Adding and Assigning Issues

Issues

Issues are known problems within a project plan that require attention or corrective action. You can manually create issues and you can generate issues automatically by defining project thresholds. You can associate these issues with work breakdown structure (WBS) elements, activities, or resources.

When you add an issue, you can assign a priority level, tracking layout, and responsible manager to the issue. An issue's tracking layout assignment is helpful when you want to quickly open the tracking layout that best displays the problem area. An issue's responsible manager assignment identifies the person responsible for addressing the issue. You can record historical details for the issue and email issue details, along with your notes and the issue’s history, to any member of the project's staff.

In addition to these features, an Issue Navigator feature enables you to select a current issue and navigate to specific areas of the module to view different issue details quickly.

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Add an issue

1)Choose Project, Issues.

2)Click on the Edit Toolbar or choose Edit, Add.

3)Display Issue Details, then click the General tab.

4)Type the issue's name.

5)In the Responsible Manager field, click , select the person to assign, then click the Select button.

6)In the Tracking Layout field, click , select the layout to associate with the issue, then click the Select button.

7)In the Date Identified field, click to select a date (if different than the current system date).

8)Select the issue's status.

9)Select the issue's priority level.

10)Click the Details tab.

If applicable to the issue you are adding, type values in the Lower Threshold, Upper Threshold, and Actual Value fields. For issues that you add manually, these fields are informational only and are not used for calculations. For threshold-generated issues, these fields display the threshold values assigned to a threshold parameter and the actual value calculated for the threshold.

11)To associate the issue with a work breakdown structure (WBS) element other than the root WBS element, in the Applies to WBS field, click , select the WBS element, then click the Select button.

12)To associate the issue with a resource and/or a specific activity, click in the appropriate field, select the resource or activity, then click the Select button. If resource security is enabled, you can only view current project resources and resources you have access to.

13)To record a description of the issue, click the Notes tab, then click Modify to type a description of the issue in an HTML editor.

In the editor, you can format text, insert pictures and tables, copy and paste information from other document files (while retaining formatting), and add hyperlinks.

Assign responsibility for an issue

1)Choose Project, Issues, then select the issue.

2)Display Issue Details, then click the General tab.

3)In the Responsible Manager field, click .

4)Select the name of the responsible OBS member, then click the Select button.

Assign a tracking layout to an issue

When you assign a default tracking layout to an issue, you can quickly view issue details through the Issue Navigator.

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Managing Projects

1)Choose Project, Issues, then select the issue.

2)Display Issue Details, then click the General tab.

3)In the Tracking Layout field, click , select the tracking layout you want to assign, then click the Select button.

Send Email about an issue

You can send Email about an issue from the Project Issues window or the Issue Navigator dialog box.

1)From the Project Issues window, select the issue about which you want to send Email, then click on the Edit toolbar, or right-click on the issue and choose Notify.

From the Issue Navigator dialog box, select the issue about which you want to send Email, then click Notify.

2)In the Subject and Contents area, type any corrections or additions about the issue.

3)To add a recipient, click Add.

To select a recipient from a list of OBS members, resources, or users, choose Select Recipient from a Dialog, then click OK. Select a recipient from the displayed dialog box, then click the Assign button.

To enter a recipient's Email address, choose Manually Add a New Recipient, then click OK. Type the recipient's information in the Notify Issue dialog box.

4)To remove a recipient from the recipient list, select the recipient, then click Remove.

5)To send the notification to all listed recipients, click Send All.

Tip

The recipients you choose to notify about an issue are not saved in the Recipients list in the Notify Issue dialog box. To keep a record of who you Emailed about an issue, you can add the information to the issue history.

View or add to an issue's history

1)Choose Project, Issues.

2)Select the issue whose history you want to view.

3)Click on the Edit toolbar, or right-click on the issue and choose Issue History.

4)To add information, type in the Add to Notes area, then click Add.

Use the issue navigator

1)Choose Tools, Issue Navigator.

2)Select the issue you want to review.

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