Plan User Guide Version 4.0 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Contact Information Plan is a project planning application for the Psion 3a written by Andy Clarkson. If you have any questions then I can be contacted as follows: Email: 100661.2440@compuserve.com Address: 3 Ashmead Drive, Hardwick, Cambridgeshire. CB3 7XT U.K. 1.2 Overview of Plan Plan is a project planning tool for the Psion 3a. It allows an initial project plan to be created and refined and subsequently, when the project is underway, provides facilities for tracking progress. A project consists of a set of resources, (individuals or groups) who are assigned to specific tasks within the project. The project is split into a number of separate tasks. Each task has a start and end date, an amount of work, and a number of assigned resources. Dependencies may be set between tasks, indicating that one task cannot start until another finishes. In this way if one task is updated within Plan, any tasks dependent upon the task will be recalculated automatically. Plan may be used as a stand-alone project planning tool or may be used in conjunction with PC based project planning tools such as Microsoft Project. When used with Microsoft Project, Plan provides an ideal means of transporting project plans out of the office. A project plan may be transferred from Microsoft Project on a PC to Plan on the Psion and readily updated "on the move". The project may subsequently be transferred back to the PC upon return to the office. 1.3 How to register Plan is shareware, which means that if you continue to use it you should register with the author. The software may be freely distributed provided all files in the package are included. A maximum of 10 tasks may be entered until the program is registered by entering a special code via the register menu option. To register send US$20 in cash to: Mr. A. Clarkson, 3 Ashmead Drive, Hardwick, Cambridgeshire. CB3 7XT. U.K. I can also accept the following methods of payment: - 15 pounds sterling (cash, cheque or eurocheque) - US$25 personal cheque - the equivalent of US$25 in any other currency For members of Compuserve, Plan may be registered electronically via the SWREG facility (Enter "GO SWREG" and select the file with ID 6310). The charge is US$25 which will be added to your normal Compuserve bill. When registering please state the version of the program, (which is 4.0), and that it was obtained from the "Psion shareware disk". In return for the registration you will receive a password code which may be entered into Plan. This will remove the 10 task limit which applies to the unregistered version, enabling up to 200 tasks to be entered. If you have an email address quote this in order to receive the registration code via email more quickly. 1.4 About this manual This manual describes how to use Plan for the Psion 3a. A version of this manual which includes screenshots is available from my homepage (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/andyc). The installation instructions within this section of the manual describe how to install Plan. The section "Project planning" describes key concepts which are used throughout this manual and should be read before the rest of the manual. Plan is easy to use, provided that the fundamental concepts are understood. This manual should be sufficient in order to use Plan, however if you are unfamiliar with project planning in general then you may wish to read one of the many books available on the subject. The "Fast start tutorial" section describes the main features of Plan and provides a quick method of getting up to speed with Plan. The rest of the manual contains detailed information on all of the features of Plan. On-line help is available from the help key within Plan provided that the on-line help file has been installed. 1.5 Installation Plan may be supplied either ready to run on a Psion Solid State Disk (SSD) or may need to be installed from the distribution media, (usually a 3.5" MSDOS floppy disk). Before installing Plan ensure that any previous version of Plan or Plan Deluxe has been backed up and removed from the Psion. 1.5.1 Installation of Plan from a ready to run SSD If Plan is supplied ready to run on an SSD then insert the SSD into one of the SSD drives on the Psion. From the Psion system screen select the "Install" menu option from the "Apps" menu. Change the displayed disk item to refer to the drive which contains the Plan SSD and select the file named "Plan.opa". Press enter to install the Plan icon onto the Psion system screen. 1.5.2 Manual installation of Plan If Plan is provided on a floppy disk or you want to install Plan onto another Psion drive, such as an SSD, then proceed as follows... A typical installation of Plan on the Psion 3a would consist of the following files: M:\APP\PLAN.OPA M:\APP\PLAN\PLAN.MSG M:\APP\PLAN\PLAN.HLP (optional) M:\APP\PLAN\PLAN.TTL (optional) M:\APP\PLAN\AGN.OPO (optional) M:\APP\PLAN\MPX.OPO (optional) M:\APP\PLAN\PS.OPO (optional) M:\OPD\PLAN.REG (optional) M:\PLN\EXAMPLE.PLN (optional) M:\PLN\EXAMPLE.RES (optional) The above example shows Plan installed on the internal drive (M). Plan may also be installed on a RAM or FLASH SSD in drive A or B. Plan requires between 90K and 150K of disk space for installation depending upon whether the optional files are installed. A minimum of 35K of run-time memory is required in order to start Plan, additional memory will be required depending upon the size of a plan. Start the installation by copying the Plan main application file PLAN.OPA into a directory called \APP on any drive and install from the system screen as described in section 1.3.1. If you are installing Plan from a PC using PsiWin and the message "Failed to convert file" is displayed when dragging files from the PC to the Psion, then you will need to turn off automatic conversion of files. This may be done by selecting the "Conversions" menu item from the "Setup" menu in PsiWin. Ensure that "Allow convert on Drag & Drop between Computers" is turned off. Create a directory called PLAN below the APP directory where the PLAN.OPA file has been installed. Copy the Plan message file into the \APP\PLAN directory: PLAN.MSG The remaining files which may be installed provide optional facilites. These files may be omitted from the installation if you are short of disk space. If on-line help is required then also copy the on-line help file into the \APP\PLAN directory: PLAN.HLP If a registration file, PLAN.REG, has been supplied copy this to the \OPD directory, otherwise you will need to enter a registration code using the "Registration" menu option on the "Special" menu when you start Plan. The PLAN.TTL file provides an optional title screen when Plan starts and may be copied into the \APP\PLAN directory. If any of the optional plan modules are required then they also should be copied into the \APP\PLAN directory. The currently available Plan modules are AGN.OPO, PS.OPO and MPX.OPO. See the "Modules" section of this manual for further details on what the various Plan modules are for. The plan and resource files used by Plan should be kept in a top level directory called \PLN on either the internal disk or an external RAM disk. An example project plan, EXAMPLE.PLN, along with a resource file, EXAMPLE.RES, are provided which may optionally be installed into the \PLN directory. This software is provided as is, without any warranty of any kind. The author and distributor shall not be liable for any loss of data or damage arising from the use of this software. 2. PROJECT PLANNING 2.1 Fundamental concepts Plan allows a project plan to be constructed from individual task components. Task and resource details are entered into the application along with dependencies between tasks. The application will then calculate the schedule for each task and the project as a whole. Each task within a project plan has the following key values: - start constraints (given by a specified start date and/or dependencies upon earlier tasks) - the amount of work required to complete the task - a number of assigned resources working at a given rate - end date and time Usually three of the above values are entered, with the other value being calculated by Plan. For example: - End. A start date and time may be specified (usually in relation to the end of an earlier task) along with an amount of work and details about assigned resources. Plan will then calculate the end date and time for the task. This is the most common calculation method. - Work. Given a start and end date and time, and assigned resources, Plan will calculate the work. This could be used where a task has been completed, the start and end are known, along with the average work rates for each assigned resource, but the total amount of work needs to be calculated. - Rate. Given a start and end date and time and the work required, Plan will calculate the average work rates for each assigned resource. This could be used in order to calculate the number of people required to complete a task on a given date. A number of resources may be assigned with given work rates to each task. The resource work hours, holiday information and work rates are then taken into consideration when calculating task values, such as end dates. 2.2 Example Consider a task which is estimated to take two man days to complete, (one man day being the time between the start and end of a normal working day, set to 8.0 hours in this particular example). A resource is assigned to the task where the resource has the following attributes: - Works a standard work day, starting at 9:00am, ending at 5:00pm - Works a standard week starting on Monday and ending on Friday. The task start day is set to a Monday at 9:00am and the work set to two days. Plan calculates the end of the task to be 5:00pm on Tuesday. Assume now that the resource is only available to work on the task at a rate of 50% rather than 100%. Plan would now indicate the end of the task to be Thursday at 5:00pm. Assume also that the resource takes one day holiday on Tuesday. Plan would calculate the end to be Friday at 5:00pm. Suppose that the task is completed and actually finished at 5:00pm on Wednesday rather than 5:00pm on Friday. Plan will allow the end time to be set to the actual end time and will then calculate the work given the start, end and resource details to be one man day rather than two. Plan works internally down to an accuracy of one second. There is an option in the preference settings for each project which controls whether values are entered and displayed in units of days or units of days, hours, minutes and seconds. 2.3 Calculation of task start dates The start of any task is controlled either by dependencies defined on earlier tasks, a specified start on/after date, or a combination of the two. Dependencies may be set between tasks so that the start of one task depends upon the end of another. If the first task is delayed the second will also be delayed. Dependencies may be set for a number of reasons, such as: - If one task cannot logically start until another task finishes. For example, in a software development project the development may be dependent upon the requirements phase. - Resource limitations may impose dependencies, for example if two tasks need to be carried out by one person, and the person works on the tasks sequentially, then a dependency should be set between the tasks. When creating a task a start on/after date may be set to indicate either that the task should start on the specified date or cannot start before the given date. If no dependencies have been defined then the given date will be used as the start date for the task. If the task has one or more dependencies upon earlier tasks then the latest date will be used as the task start date, taking into consideration all the dependencies and the specified start on/after date. For a set of dependent tasks there will be a number of the tasks that are critical to the end of the project. If any one of these tasks is late then the end of the project will be delayed. These tasks are described as being on the critical path. It is important to know the critical path for two reasons. Firstly, it is useful in identifying the tasks that may be worth adding extra resource to, in order to bring the project in sooner. Secondly, it is useful in highlighting those tasks that will need to be monitored carefully when the project is in progress in order for the project to be completed on time. Plan has an option which will calculate the critical path. 3. FAST START TUTORIAL This section describes, by way of an example, how to use the main features within Plan. It includes an example of creating a plan, adding resources and tasks, and updating tasks. Plan has many features and it is not possible to describe all of these features within a short section such as this. This section includes enough to get started, as you become more familiar you may want to explore the rest of the manual to find out what else you can do with Plan. 3.1 Creating a new plan If Plan has not been installed or is not visible as an icon on the Psion system screen then refer to the installation section before proceeding. When first starting Plan it will create a default resource file which has a single resource called "General". The work days for this resource will be set to the work days set within the Psion Time application. The following tutorial assumes that the work days are Monday to Friday with Saturday and Sunday as non-working days. Before proceeding ensure that the work days are set accordingly by going to the Time application and selecting the "Workdays" menu option from the "Settings" menu. On the Psion, go to the system screen and position the cursor below the Plan icon. From the "File" menu on the system screen select "New file". In the dialog which appears enter a file name such as "Test" and press Enter. Plan will start up and display a screen with a top line reading TASK DESCRIPTION WORK,... Under the top line there will be a highlighted line or cursor. This is one of the many different views available within Plan. 3.2 Creating a new resource Start by creating a new resource. To do this, select the "Make" menu option from the "Resource" menu. Enter the name for the resource as "Res1". A second dialog will appear. In this dialog set the maximum units value to 1 which indicates that this resource represents a single person. A resource may be used to represent a group by setting the maximum units to a value greater than 1. Set the cost per hour to 5. Plan will calculate the cost of the project using the resource charge rates as entered here. Two more dialogs will appear prompting for the work hours for the resource. The first dialog shows the start times for each day of the week and the second dialog shows the end times. Leave these at the default of 9am to 5pm throughout the whole week. Press enter and the resource will be created. From the diamond menu select the "Holiday view" option. This will display the holidays for the newly created resource. These will default to the same holidays as the General resource which in turn will initially have been set using the rest days set in the Psion Time application. The cursor keys may be used to move from one day to the next and the enter key will toggle a holiday on and off. Leave all the holidays unchanged for the time being. 3.3 Creating tasks Now enter a new task. From the diamond menu select the "Task List" menu option. In the task list view each task is shown on one line of the display. Each task has a number of associated fields. The left and right cursor keys will shift the right hand side of the task list view to display the various fields for each task. First ensure that Caps lock is turned off and then press the enter key. A dialog will appear prompting for the task details. Enter the values as shown: Id T1 Description Task 1 Start on/after 1 Apr 1996, 09:00am Work 3 days When the enter key is used a second dialog will appear prompting for the details of the resources to be assigned to the task. Update the dialog as follows and press enter: Resource Res1 Rate (%) 100 The new task will be created and the screen will update to show the entered and calculated values. Note that the end date for the task has been calculated by Plan using the start on/after date and the work. The end should be displayed as 5pm on 3 Apr 1996. The labour cost is also calculated and displayed as 120. From the diamond menu select the Gantt chart. Press the space bar which will refresh the display on the right hand side to display the current task. This shows the task on one line with a graphical representation of the task on the right hand side of the screen. Press the down arrow to move the highlighted line, or cursor, to below task T1. Note how the graphical bar extends from the start of the task to the end, with the holidays shaded. Now enter a second task by pressing enter with the cursor below task T1. Create a new task with the following values: Id T2 Description Task 2 Start on/after 1 Apr 1996, 09:00am Work 1 day Resource Res1 Rate (%) 100 The new task will be shown below task T1 and will be shown as starting on the 1 Apr 1996 and ending at the end of the same day. 3.4 Setting dependencies Now set the start of task T2 to depend upon the end of task T1. With task T2 current, i.e. highlighted, select the "Dependencies" menu option from the "Task" menu. Set the first task Id to T1 by pressing the tab key and selecting T1. When the second dialog appears leave the "Lag-T1" field set to "None" meaning that task T2 will follow straight after task T1. When the enter key is pressed task T2 will be recalculated to start after task T1. 3.5 Summary tasks Now enter a summary task for task T1 and T2. Ensure that task T1 is current and press shift-enter to insert a new task. The enter key edits the current task, or creates a new task if no task is current, and shift-enter inserts a new task immediately above the current task. Set the Id to S1 and the description to "Summary task". Leave all the other fields unchanged. A new task will be inserted at the top of the list. At the moment all the tasks are normal tasks and we need to make T1 and T2 sub-tasks of the new task. To do this, make T1 current and press control-right arrow. This will indent T1 and place a bullet next to the description. T1 is now a sub-task and S1 has been changed from a normal task into a summary task. Repeat this so that T2 is also a sub-task. 3.6 Updating a task To demonstrate how Plan automatically recalculates tasks, edit task T1 so that the start on/after date is 2 Apr 1996 at 09:00am. This is done by making task T1 current and pressing enter. When edited, task T1, T2 and the summary task will be recalculated automatically. 3.7 Tracking work done Imagine that task T1 is underway and that it is now the morning of the 4 Apr 1996. From the "Task" menu select "Set work done" and choose the option "Set by time...". This dialog allows the work done on a task so far to be set. Enter the work done as 2 days and set the "Done up to start of" value to 4 Apr 1996. The bar on the Gantt chart representing the task will be shaded to indicate the % of the work done so far. 3.8 Reviewing a task when it is underway Suppose that whilst task T1 is underway you receive information from resource "Res1" that there are still 2 more days work left to do rather than the 1 day which is currently planned. Plan can recalculate the end using the work done so far and information about the remaining work. From the "Task" menu select "Review calculation". Set the remaining work to 2 days and leave the remaining work rate set to 100%. The task will be recalculated to end on the 5 Apr 1996. To display all the tasks press psion-Z to zoom the view out. In the Gantt chart the psion-Z and psion-z keys zoom in and out and the left and right arrow keys move the display left and right. The space bar may be used to recenter the display to show the current task. 3.9 Task end/work/rate calculation Imagine now that task T1 has been completed and actually finished at 5pm on Monday 8 Apr 1996. So you know when the task started and ended, plus the fact that Res1 worked on the task 100%. Normally it is the end date for a task that needs to be calculated, but in this case it is more appropriate to calculate the work from the start, end and rate. To get Plan to do this for you, ensure T1 is current and select the "End/work/rate" menu option from the "Task" menu. Set the calculate value to "Work". Now edit the task by pressing enter. Note how previously the start date and work fields were shown. Now it is the start and end dates that need to be entered. Update the end to 5pm on 8 Apr 1996. The task will be adjusted accordingly and the work recalculated as 5 days. To mark the task T1 as complete set the work done to 100% using "Set by %..." from the "Set work done_" menu option on the "Task" menu. 3.10 Views To save the plan select "Save" from the "File" menu. Now look at the other views available in Plan using either the diamond key or the diamond menu. In all the task based views the up and down arrow keys change the current task. The task list view shows one task on each line of the display. Press the left and right arrow keys to shift the fields shown on the right hand side of the screen left and right. The Gantt screen has already been seen during the tutorial. The PERT screen will initially appear blank. To layout the PERT chart select the PERT view and choose the "Layout pert" menu option from the "View" menu. Leave the "X mag" and "Y shift" values set to 1. In the PERT chart each task is shown as a box with dependencies indicated by lines between tasks. The left and right arrow keys shift the PERT chart left and right and the Pg Up and Pg Dn keys shift the display up and down. The zoom menu options may be used to alter the scale. The resource usage view shows the working hours for a resource as well as the allocation of the resource to tasks. 3.11 Example Plan An example plan and resource file are supplied which may be used to further experiment with Plan. 4. KEY FEATURES Plan has the following key features: - A separate file for each project plan with either plan specific or a shared resource file. - Up to 200 tasks may be entered, each having the following details: - Id - description - work - up to four assigned resources per task - rate of work for each assigned resource - start on/after date and time - start date and time - end date and time - calculation method (end, work or rate) - work done - labour and fixed costs - saved work, start and end dates and times for future reference - user floating point value and text fields - Calculation of end date and time, work, or work rates for each task. - A start constraint may be specified, i.e. the task must start on/after the given date. - A task may be dependent upon up to eight other tasks, with specified lag times with each dependency. Plan will automatically calculate the start of each task from the dependency and start on/after date. - Task tracking. The actual work done may be input and incrementally changed as work progresses. - A task may be re-estimated taking into account the work already done and the work remaining. - Calculation of critical path. - Accuracy down to the second with an option which controls whether dates or dates and times are entered and displayed. - Tasks may be grouped under a summary task whose fields are calculated automatically from the sub-tasks. Tasks may be nested up to eight levels deep. - The labour costs are calculated automatically for a task along with the total cost for the project. - A memo may be attached to each task. Memos are edited using the Psion Word application which is started via Plan. - Any number of resources may be input, (subject to memory limits imposed by the Psion operating system). Each resource has the following properties: - name - maximum units available - labour charge per hour - a three year holiday calendar - times for the start and end of work for each week day - Plan can check and highlight any over-allocated resources. - Plan will count resource holidays in a given period. - A Gantt chart view. - A PERT chart view. - A resource allocation histogram view. - Auto layout of tasks in the PERT chart. - Sorting of tasks by a number of attributes. - Export data to the Psion Agenda application. - Print Gantt and PERT charts on a postscript printer. - Transfer projects between Plan and Microsoft Project. 5. PLAN AND RESOURCE FILES Plan uses two types of files: resource files, which contain resource information such as holidays and work hours; and plan files, which contain task details. Tasks in the plan file reference the resource information in the resource file. Plan files have a file extension of PLN, resource files a RES extension. Both of these files should be placed in a \PLN directory either on the internal drive or external RAM drives. Placing these files onto FLASH SSDs is not recommended unless no changes will be made to the data. The reason for not using FLASH SSDs is that when updating a plan or resource file Plan will delete and recreate each file when it is saved. Consequently saving a file often will rapidly use up space on the FLASH SSD. When opening a plan file Plan will look for a resource file with the same name in the same directory as the plan file but with a RES extension. If such a resource file exists this will be where Plan retrieves and stores resource information. If such a file does not exist then Plan will look for the resource file \PLN\PLAN.RES on the default Psion disk. If this file does not exist it will be created, indicated by a "Building calendar" message when starting Plan. When creating a new plan via the "New" menu option on the "File" menu from within Plan there is an option to specify whether the common resource file (\PLN\PLAN.RES) or a project specific resource file should be used. This scheme allows plan specific resources to be maintained, or shared resources to be stored in the one common file. Plan is a type three application, which means that any number of plans may be opened at any one time. To do this, use shift-enter to open additional plan files from the Psion system screen. Plan allows 200 tasks to be entered with the following limits per task: - 4 assigned resources per task, - 8 dependencies per task - 255 character description - 80 character user text field Run-time memory is used to store the above information which will be limited by two factors: - The memory available on the internal disk - There is a 64K memory limit imposed by the Psion operating system. If you receive an error from Plan indicating there is not enough memory then either increase the space available on the internal disk if it is insufficient or reduce the memory used by Plan by, for example, using shorter description and user text values or by reducing the number of tasks. 6. VIEWS A number of different views are available within Plan. Pressing the diamond or shift-diamond key changes the current display to one of the following: Task list Gantt chart PERT chart Resource usage Holidays The first set of views show tasks using different display formats. The resource usage view shows resource working hours and a histogram of % usage over a given time period. The holiday view shows resource holidays. A view may be selected either using the diamond key, from the diamond menu, or using psion key shortcuts. In the task views many of the same keys have the same function, for example the up and down cursor keys change the current task and the enter key edits the current task. In each of these views the current task will be highlighted. 6.1 Task based views In the task based views each task will be shown with some of the following fields: Start on/after The entered start date or a date before which the task cannot start. Start date The planned start date and optional time for the task. End date The planned end date and optional time for the task. Work The planned work for the task in man days, hours, minutes and seconds. % done Shows the amount of work done so far on the task as a percentage of the work planned. User value A user specified floating point number. User text A user specified 80 character text field. Calculate Displays which of the end date, work, or rate fields are calculated for the task. For summary tasks this will display "All" since all fields are calculated. Saved start A value copied from the start field using the "Set fields" menu option. Saved end A value copied from the end field using the "Set fields" menu option. Saved work A value copied from the work field using the "Set fields" menu option. Depends on A list of tasks this task depends upon. Lab. cost Labour/resource costs calculated for the task using the rates for the assigned resources multiplied by either the planned work or the actual work done, whichever is the greater. The labour costs may be ignored for a task, i.e. set to 0 if required (see "Cost and user data" section). Fixed cost A fixed cost assigned to the task. Assigned resourcesLists the resources assigned to the task. Pressing the up and down arrow keys changes the task which is displayed in the task based views. 6.2 Task list view In the task list view and Gantt chart each task is shown on a separate line of the display. One of the tasks on the screen will be highlighted and is referred to as the current task. Pressing the up and down arrow keys changes the current task. If there are more tasks than will fit onto the screen then when at the top or bottom of the screen pressing the cursor key will scroll the screen vertically to display the next task off the screen. Combining the up and down cursor keys with the psion key (Pg Up and Pg Dn) will scroll the display a page at a time. The psion and control modifier keys used in combination with the up/down keys will position the cursor at the top or bottom of the list of tasks. In the task list view the task Id and description are displayed on the left of the screen. If the task is on the critical path then the description will be followed by an asterisk (*). If a memo has been associated with the task a memo symbol will appear before the description (see "Memos" section). The description will be indented to indicate the level of a task in the hierarchy of summary and sub- tasks (see "Tasks, Summary tasks" section of this manual). Pressing the psion-z and psion-Z keys will alter the font size used throughout Plan to one of 4 scales. Note that psion-z and psion-Z change the font size in the task list and PERT chart views, in the Gantt and resource usage views these keys alter the scale on the chart. The right hand side of the task list view shows the fields associated with each task. The left and right arrow keys may be used to shift the right hand side of the display to view further fields associated with each task. An arrow will appear either at the end or middle of the top line to indicate whether the left or right arrow key should be used to shift the fields to the left or right. The ordering of the fields is user-definable using the "Field order" option on the "View" menu. 6.3 Gantt chart The Gantt chart shows the task Id and description on the left of the display along with the critical path flag. On the right of the display a Gantt chart is shown. This chart shows a time axis at the top of the screen with a bar for each task which indicates the duration of the task. The current date will be shown as a vertical line through the chart. The up and down cursor keys may be used, as in the task list view, to change the current task and to scroll the screen up or down. The psion and control key modifiers alter the amount by which the cursor moves. Pressing the psion-z key and the psion-Z keys will increase and decrease (zoom) the scale on the time axis. To alter the font scale which is used in the Gantt chart switch to the task list view, use the psion-z and psion-Z keys to alter the font size, and then switch back to the Gantt chart. Depending upon the zoom factor the time axis may show the month and date for the start of each week or date for each day. There is a maximum and minimum limit by which the display can be zoomed in or out in this way. Pressing the left and right cursor keys will shift the time axis on the Gantt chart on the right of the display by half a screen in the appropriate direction. Holding down the psion key whilst pressing the left and right cursor keys will shift the axis by a full screen in each direction. Holding the shift key whilst pressing the left and right cursor keys will shift the axis by a quarter of the screen at a time. Note that there are limits to the amount by which the screen may be shifted to the left or right according to the earliest and latest date in the project. If the space key is pressed the zoom factor and display will be altered to best display the current task. There are a number of preference settings which control the appearance of the Gantt chart. One option controls whether one or two bars are displayed for each task. If two bars are displayed then the lower bar indicates the start and end dates from the saved fields. The saved start, end and work fields should normally be set when the original project plan has been established and may be used to compare the original planned dates with the latest calculated dates. Depending upon the preference setting "Shading control" the holidays associated with each resource may or may not be shown on the Gantt chart at various scales. For fast shading ensure that the preference setting "Holiday shading" is set to "Use general" rather than "Resource specific". A task field (resource, start, end,...) may optionally be displayed at the end of each task bar in the Gantt chart. The field to be displayed is controlled from the "Task bar text" option in the preferences dialog. 6.4 PERT chart 6.4.1 Appearance of the PERT chart The PERT chart view is useful when viewing and altering dependencies between tasks. Within this view each task is represented as a box surrounding the task Id. Dependencies between tasks are indicated by lines between the tasks. Any lag time will appear half way along the dependency line. The critical path tasks are identified using thicker boxes (select the "Critical path" menu option from the "Plan" menu to calculate the critical path). If the grey plane option is set within preferences then summary tasks are shaded grey. Various task attributes may be shown above and below each task box. The values which appear in these locations depend upon the preference settings. Typically the start date for the task will be shown above the task box and the end date or assigned resources below the box. 6.4.2 Positioning tasks in the PERT chart When first entering tasks, perhaps using the task list view, each new task will not have an associated x and y co-ordinate position in the PERT chart. This position must be set before the task will appear in the PERT chart. There are various methods of accomplishing this: - The quickest option is to let Plan layout the PERT chart automatically. - You can dynamically position a task using the cursor keys whilst in a dynamic move mode. - You can manually set the x, y co-ordinates for a task using a dialog. To automatically layout the PERT chart use the "Layout PERT" menu option on the "View" menu when the PERT chart is displayed. This will display a dialog with two options. The "X mag" option controls how tasks are spread out horizontally. The "Y shift" enables the layout to be moved vertically up or down. When using "Layout PERT" for the first time it is simplest to leave the values set at 1 and to press the enter key to layout the PERT chart. This action will automatically set the x, y co-ordinates for each task in the PERT chart. Generally each tasks x co-ordinate will be set according to its start time. Due to space limits and dependency settings this may not be possible for all tasks. In this case Plan will try to fit the tasks in as best it can. Once the results of the layout option have been viewed the layout option may be used again with the "X mag" and "Y shift" values set to more appropriate values to produce a better layout. If for example most of the tasks appear at the top of the display, setting the "Y shift" to a positive value will generally move all the tasks towards the bottom of the display. The "Y shift" may be set to a value between 1 and 10. The "X mag" value may be used to spread the tasks out more along the x axis. A value of 1 will force Plan to try to fit all tasks onto one screen at the smallest zoom scale, a value of 2 would force Plan to use 2 full screens and so on. The "Pert move" menu option on the "Task" menu switches Plan into a dynamic move mode where the cursor keys dynamically move the current task in the appropriate direction. Combining the cursor keys with the psion key will move the task more rapidly. Pressing any key other than the cursor keys will take Plan out the dynamic move mode. The current tasks x and y co-ordinates may also be manually set using the "Pert X/Y" menu option on the "Task" menu. 6.4.3 Moving around the PERT chart Pressing the left and right cursor keys whilst in the normal PERT chart mode will shift the display to the left or right by half a screen. The psion and shift key may be used in conjunction with the cursor keys to shift the display by a full screen or a quarter screen at a time. Allowing tasks to be placed off-screen enables PERT charts to be constructed for plans with a large number of tasks. Pressing psion-up arrow (Pg Up) and psion-down arrow (Pg Dn) will scroll the display in the vertical direction by a screen at a time. Combine these keys with the shift modifier key to shift the display by half a screen at a time. If the space key is pressed the display will be re-centred to display the current task. Pressing the psion-z and psion-Z keys will alter the font size used throughout Plan to one of 4 scales and has the affect of zooming the PERT chart in and out. 6.5 Resource usage view The resource usage view shows when the current resource starts and ends work for the seven days of the week along with a histogram indicating the allocation of the resource to tasks. 6.5.1 Resource work hours The resource settings may be edited using the "Settings" menu option on the "Resource" menu. This will display a dialog allowing the maximum units, charge rate and the start and end times for each day of the week to be edited. Note that for non-working days (usually Saturday and Sunday) it is best to set the start and end time to the start and end time of a normal working day. The resources holidays should be used to control non-working days rather than the start and end times. This then allows specific non-working days to be overridden in the resource holiday view if the resource works the occasional non-work day. If a resources work hours and/or holidays are changed then the Tab key or "Recalculate all" menu option should be used to force a recalculation of all tasks. Plan will not automatically recalculate tasks if any changes are made to resource holidays or work hours even if automatic calculation is enabled in the preference settings. 6.5.2 Resource usage histogram The histogram on the right of the resource usage view indicates the total percentage the resource is occupied over a given time period. The display is similar to the Gantt chart in that it shows a time axis at the top of the display. The left and right cursor keys and zoom keys affect the display in the same way as the Gantt chart. Pressing the up and down cursor keys whilst in the resource usage view will scale the y-axis in increments and can be used if the maximum percentage exceeds the top of the display. 6.5.3 Over-allocated resources If a resource is assigned to two tasks 100% of the time for each task over a given time period then this would be shown on the histogram as a total of 200% over the given period. If the resource represents a single person then this would imply that the resource was over-allocated. The "Over-allocated?" menu option on the "Resource" menu also helps to find any over-allocations. This scans all the tasks in the current plan for cases where the total resource rate exceeds the value given in the maximum units field for each resource. When the analysis is complete any tasks involved in the over-allocation will be displayed, with any other tasks masked out. The display in the Gantt and resource usage views will also be adjusted to display the range of dates during which the over-allocation occurs. Reset the mask to "None" using the "Mask tasks" menu option on the "View" menu to redisplay the other tasks. There are various ways of resolving the problem of an over-allocated resource, for example: - Reschedule one of the tasks, usually by making it dependent upon the other. - Assign another unused resource to one of the tasks. - Change the rates on one or both tasks. If for example you have a task which takes 10 days at a rate of 100% and another short task has to carried out for one day in the middle of the task then either divide the long task into two separate tasks separated by the short task or set the rate for the first task to 90% which would extend it by the one extra day taken up by the short task. The disadvantage in this latter case is that the resource usage histogram would still indicate that the resource was over- allocated at 190% for the one day. The advantage is however that the long task would not need to be broken up. 6.6 Holiday view The resource holiday view displays a full year view indicating the holidays for the current resource. The view is similar to the year view in the Psion Agenda application. Holidays are indicated by a black or grey filled square. The cursor keys may be used to move the cursor from one day to the next. Combining the left and right cursor keys with the psion key will move the cursor to the start and end of the month respectively. Combining the up and down cursor keys with the psion key (Pg Up and Pg Dn) will move to the previous or next year. Pressing the enter key will toggle the day on which the cursor is positioned from a holiday to a work day and vice versa. A three year calendar is available for each resource, within which holidays may be set. When calculating task end times or work, a resources holidays will be taken into consideration. If a task falls outside a resources three year calendar the resources holidays will be assumed to match the rest days set in the standard Psion Time application. The start year for the three year calendar period for all resources will be the same. It may be changed for all resources using the "Start year" menu option on the "Resource" menu. This will prompt for a new start year. All the resource calendars will be reconstructed to start on the specified year. Existing holidays will be copied if the new three year calendar range overlaps the old calendar range. For years outside the old calendar range default holidays will be set according to the settings in the Psion Time application. If a large number of resources have been created this operation may take a few minutes. The start year for the calendars should not be changed unless all tasks in all plans which reference the resource file within the period of the calendar which is to be removed have been marked as complete (see section on "Plan and resource files"). If this is not true then the given tasks may subsequently be incorrectly calculated if the resource had non-standard holidays in the given period. 7. TASKS 7.1 Standard Tasks To create a new task position the highlighted area at the bottom of the task list or Gantt chart view and press enter, or use shift- enter to insert a new task above the current position in any of the task based views. Pressing enter with the cursor positioned on an existing task allows the given tasks details to be altered. It is important to note that setting Caps lock on will have the affect of inserting a new task when the enter key is pressed rather than editing the current task. When entering or editing tasks a dialog box will appear which allows the following items to be set: Task Id Each task has a unique four letter identifier used to identify the task within the PERT chart and when setting task dependencies. The entered text should be something which is easily recognisable for each task. Description A description of the task, up to 255 characters long. Start on/after Either the date and time the task starts or a date and time after which the task should start. Note that a task has two start dates, the calculated start date for the task and the entered start on/after date. The start on/after date is used when calculating the task start date. If the task has no dependencies the calculated start of the task will be equal to the start on/after date and time. If the task has one or more dependencies the start on/after date will only be used if it is later than the dates calculated from the dependencies. This field is used either when you know exactly when the task will start or there is a dependency on an outside factor (e.g. machinery will not be delivered until a given date). For new tasks the default value for this field is the current date at 9am. Task end The end date and optional time for the task. This item may or may not appear according to the calculation method for the task. Three options are available for calculating the schedule for a task; either to calculate the end of the task, the work required or the rate. For new tasks a preference setting controls which of the end, work and rate items appear, for existing tasks the "End/work/rate" menu option on the "Task" menu is used. Work The work for the task is specified in days, hours, minutes and seconds, (the length of one work day is given in the preference settings). This item may or may not appear according to the calculation method for the task. When the enter key is pressed a second set of dialog boxes will appear providing control over the resources assigned to the task. These dialog screens will contain some of the following fields: Resource The name of the resource assigned to the task. This is chosen from a list of existing resources. Pressing the tab key will display the available resources. Rate The rate of work for the given resource. This item may or may not appear according to the calculation method for the task. The value is a percentage from 1% to 10000%. 100% would indicate, for example, one resource working on the task 100% of the time, 200% could indicate a resource consisting of two people each working 100% of the time on the task. Work The amount of work carried out by the given resource. This item may or may not appear according to the calculation method for the task. 7.2 Summary Tasks A summary task is a task which provides an overview of a number of sub-tasks. The majority of the data associated with the summary task is calculated by Plan from the data associated with each sub- task. The summary task Id, description, user value and user text fields should be entered manually. The start of the summary task will be equal to the earliest sub-task start date and the end will be equal to the latest sub-task end date. The work and cost fields will be the sum of the corresponding sub-task fields. The % done field will be the % of the work done so far on all the tasks. Summary tasks may be nested so that a summary task may also be a sub- task of a higher level summary task. There may be up to eight levels from the outer most summary task to the lowest sub-task. The level of a task is indicated using indentation and bullets within the task list and Gantt chart views. To alter a tasks level use the left and right arrow keys in conjunction with the control key, e.g. press control-right arrow to make the task a sub-task of the task immediately above it. It is a good idea to turn automatic calculation off in the preference settings before making major changes to task levels. It is also recommended that the basic structure of a project is established in terms of summary tasks and sub-tasks before assigning dependencies. In the example plan supplied, the tasks have been grouped into various phases using summary tasks. 7.3 Deleting tasks To delete the current task press the delete key. This will copy the deleted tasks details into an internal buffer. Pressing the psion-i key will re-insert the task immediately above the current task. Note that any tasks which were dependent upon the deleted task will no- longer be dependent upon the task. 7.4 Masking tasks The tasks which are displayed in the task based views may be controlled from the "Mask tasks" menu option on the "View" menu. Setting a mask will "mask" out those tasks not meeting a specified criterion. For example only those tasks which include a given resource may be displayed. A number of masks may be combined using the "Add field mask" option on the mask task dialog. Alternatively all masks may be turned off using the "None" option. The "New field mask" option will discard any existing mask before applying the new mask condition. If the current task is a summary task then two additional options will be available on the mask task dialog. The "Mask sub-tasks" option will mask out all sub-tasks of the current summary task. "Unmask sub-tasks" will make all sub-tasks visible. 8. DEPENDENCIES Making a task dependent upon another task implies the start of the task is associated with the end of the task which it depends upon. Using a lag time with the dependency allows the start of the task to be offset from the end of the task by a given duration. Select the "Dependencies" menu option from the "Task" menu to alter the current tasks dependency settings. This will display a dialog allowing up to eight task dependencies to be set. Each dependency implies that the current task should start after the end of the task which it depends upon. The latest of all the end dates will be used when calculating the start date for the task. Note that this latest date which is calculated from the dependencies is combined with the date specified in the start on/after field in order to calculate the task start date. With each task dependency there is an option to set the current task to start before or after the end of the task. A second dialog box will appear after the Id's have been set which allows a lag or lead to be set. If a lag or lead needs to be entered subsequent dialog boxes will appear prompting for the precise interval before or after the task, in days and optional hours and minutes. The holidays and work hours of the "General" resource are used when calculating the time between the end of the previous task and the start of the current task. For example, if a lag of one week is specified, and during this period holidays for the "General" resource indicate a one week holiday (e.g. at Christmas), then this will translate to a two week delay before the second task starts. 9. COST AND USER DATA The cost and user data fields for a task may be edited by selecting the "Cost & data" option from the "Task" menu. This will display a dialog allowing the following items to be set for the current task: Fixed cost Fixed cost assigned to the task. Include labour costs Either "Yes" or "No". If set to "Yes" then the task and plan total costs will include any labour costs associated with the task. If set to "No" then the labour cost will be shown as 0, regardless of the amount of work or resource charge rate. In this case the task and plan total costs will exclude any labour costs for the task. Use "No" when a task has no labour cost impact, e.g. for a fixed price task where only the fixed cost field is used. User value A user specified floating point number. User text A user specified 80 character text field. Note the currency symbol used throughout Plan is controlled from the "Number formats" menu option on the "Control" menu accessed from the Psion system screen. 10. TASK CALCULATION AND TRACKING 10.1 Calculation (end/work/rate) For each task one of three values may initially be calculated: end, work or rate. To control which is calculated for the current task use the "End/work/rate" menu option on the "Task" menu. The calculation setting controls whether the work, rate or the end date and time are calculated for a task. If the work is to be calculated then the end date and the rate for each assigned resource will need to be specified, and so on. Note that this setting only controls the initial calculation for the task, if the task depends upon other tasks which subsequently move then the task may shift along with the other tasks. So even if the end date is specified in order to calculate the rate initially, this does not mean the end date is permanently tied to this value, if the task is dependent upon other tasks which change the end date may change. When new tasks are created the initial calculation setting is governed by a preference setting. 10.2 Tracking work done The "Set work done" menu option on the "Task" menu allows the progress on the current task to be recorded. This progress may be set in one of three ways: Set by %... Selecting this option and pressing enter will display a dialog which allows the work done to be set to a value indicating the actual work done as a percentage of work planned. Set by time... This option displays a dialog which allows the work done to be set to a specific value in terms of days, hours, minutes and seconds. Add time to existing... This displays a dialog which allows the work done to be set by adding a given time in days, hours, minutes and seconds to the existing work done value. This is useful when periodically updating the work done, for example with data from weekly time sheets. When setting work done a date is shown which indicates the date on which work done was last recorded. So if the work done value includes all work prior to the 2 Jan 96 then this date should be set to 2 Jan 96. If the work done is changed then before pressing enter set the date field appropriately. This date is important when using the "Review calculation" menu option (discussed later in this section). To assist with the setting of work done the dialogs will show the targeted work done. This indicates how much work should have been done up to the current date and time if the task is to be completed on schedule. A task is assumed to be complete if the work done is greater than or equal to the planned work. In the Gantt chart view tasks which are complete are shown using a solid black bar. Tasks currently underway are shown with a black bar indicating the percentage completed so far, whilst planned tasks are shown with a clear bar. 10.3 Reviewing a task when it is underway If a task is underway and the work done so far has been recorded then there is an option which will assist with the recalculation of the tasks schedule. The "Review calculation" menu option on the "Task" menu allows the end, work or rate, as indicated by the "End/work/rate" menu option to be re-estimated. It is similar to using the enter key to change the current task details which also recalculates the tasks schedule. The difference is that this option allows the work done so far to be taken into consideration. The dialog which appears when selecting this option will show the work planned and the work done for comparison, along with the date the work done was recorded up to. These values may not be changed here. It is important for the calculation that the work done and date are accurate, failing to do this will result in incorrectly recalculated values. The remaining options which may be updated on the review calculation dialog depend upon what value is being calculated: End The remaining work and resource work rates are displayed. The remaining work shows how much work is left to do to complete the task (equals work planned minus the work done). The remaining work rates are initially set to be equal to the current planned work rates. Updating either the remaining work and/or rates will set the work equal to the work done plus the remaining work, will recalculate the end of the task and will set the resource rates for the task to be the average work rates taking into account the start, and newly calculated end and total planned work values. Work The end date and remaining work rates are displayed. The remaining work rates are initially set to the current planned work rates. Updating either the end date and/or rates will set the work equal to the work done plus the calculated remaining work and will set the resource rates to be the average work rate taking into account the start, end and newly calculated planned work. The remaining work is calculated by looking at the duration between the date indicated as being when the work done was recorded up to and the end date, taking into account the remaining work rates. Rate The remaining work and end date are displayed. The remaining work shows how much work is left to do to complete the task (equals work planned minus the work done). Updating either the remaining work and/or end will set the work equal to the work done plus the remaining work and will set the resource rates appropriately. 11. MEMOS A memo, or Psion Word document may be associated with each task. To create a new memo select the "Edit memo" menu option from the "Task" menu. This will activate the Psion Word Application. Enter the memo and exit Word to return to Plan. Once a memo has been created a memo symbol will appear next to the description for the task in the task list view. To subsequently view or edit the memo use the "Edit memo" option. To remove a memo use the "Delete memo" menu option. Memos are stored in a sub-directory below the directory in which the plan file is stored. The sub-directory will have the same name as the plan file. Each memo will be stored as a separate Word file within the sub-directory. Memo filenames are constructed using the task Id and therefore task Id's should be restricted to valid filenames. If a plan file is deleted, moved or renamed, remember to update any sub-directory which contains memo files, otherwise Plan will not be able to find the memos. 12. RESOURCES Plan allows any number of resources to be created, subject to Psion memory limitations. The work hours for each day of the week are stored in the form of start and end times. There is also a three year calendar which indicates the resources holidays or non-work days. By default when first using Plan only one resource will be available called "General". This will be constructed using the following rules: - The current year is used as the start of the three year calendar period. - The work/non-work days for the three year calendar are set according to the work days which have been set in the Psion Time application. - The start and end time for each work day will default to 9:00am and 5:00pm respectively. When creating additional resources the work hours and holiday settings are copied from the "General" resource. Consequently it will save time by setting common work hours and public holidays in the "General" resource before creating any additional resources. The holidays set for the "General" resource should be common public or bank holidays. Changing the holidays for the "General" resource will update the equivalent days for all other existing resources, e.g. if 25 December is changed to a holiday then all other resources will be updated to ensure that the 25 December is also a holiday. Individual resource holidays may subsequently be overridden on a resource by resource basis. To create a new resource use the "Make" menu option from the "Resource" menu. This will prompt for a resource name which must be unique. To delete a resource select the "Kill" menu option. This will display a dialog prompting for the name of the resource to delete. Any existing tasks which use the resource will then be switched to use the "General" resource. There is a concept of a current resource in the same way that there is a current task. The current resource is the resource which is displayed in the resource usage and holiday views. To change the current resource use the "Switch to" menu option on the "Resource" menu, or press the tab or shift-tab key to cycle through the available resources in the resource based views. 13. PREFERENCES The following preferences may be set using the "Preferences" menu item on the "Special" menu: PERT chart Task top text None, Description, Start, End, Work, Rate, Resource, Done, Labour, Fixed, Total, Value, Text, Saved Start, Saved End, Saved Work, Dependencies Task bottom text None, Description, Start, End, Work, Rate, Resource, Done, Labour, Fixed, Total, Value, Text, Saved Start, Saved End, Saved Work, Dependencies Gantt chart Task bar text None, Description, Start, End, Work, Rate, Resource, Done, Labour, Fixed, Total, Value, Text, Saved Start, Saved End, Saved Work, Dependencies Holiday shading Use general, Resource specific Shading control None, Day zoom, Week zoom, Month zoom Saved start/end bar Yes, No Calculation New tasks End, Work, Rate Recalculation Automatic or Manual Display Dates/times Dates & times, Dates only Grey graphics Yes, No Resources Average work day Time in hours and minutes The PERT chart task top and bottom text options control which items appear above and below the task boxes in the PERT chart. The Gantt chart task bar text controls what is displayed at the end of each task bar in the Gantt chart. The Gantt holiday shading option controls the shading of holidays in the Gantt chart. If set to "Resource specific" any non-working days will be shaded grey for the particular resource the task is allocated to. The "General" resource will be used if multiple resources are assigned to one task. If set to "Use general" then all shading will use the holidays for the "General" resource. The later option will result in much faster redraws of the Gantt chart. Note that shading can be time consuming when zoomed out, hence the "Shading control" option allows it to be turned on at suitable scales. The Gantt chart saved start/end bar option controls whether one or two bars are used for each task in the Gantt chart. If one bar is used (the "No" option) then the bar indicates the start and end of the task. If two bars are used (the "Yes" option) then a lower bar is also displayed which indicates the equivalent dates from the saved start and end fields. This is useful for seeing how the current plan compares with the original estimates. The new task calculation item controls whether for new tasks the end, work or rate of work is calculated. For existing tasks this may be controlled individually using the "End/work/rate" menu option. If the recalculation option is set to automatic then if any task changes any tasks which are dependent upon the task will also be recalculated. This implies that it should never be necessary to force a recalculation unless resource details change. When set to manual only the task which is edited will be recalculated, in this case the tab key or "Recalculate all" menu option should be used to recalculate all tasks when required. Note that the critical path is not automatically updated even if the calculation option is set to automatic. The "Recalculate all" or the "Critical path" menu options should be used to update the critical path when required. The dates/times preference setting controls whether times are entered and displayed. If it is set to "Dates & times" then start and end dates will include a time component. If the setting is "Dates only" then start and end dates will have no time component. The grey graphics option controls whether a grey plane is used within Plan. This provides an enhanced display at the expense of an extra 10K of memory. The average work day option defines the duration of one normal work day. This unit of work is used when entering work and work done values. Typically this should be set to the length of an average working day, including any breaks. The preference settings are saved in the plan and resource file and so will be restored the next time the files are opened by Plan. 14. PRINTING The task list may be printed using the print options available on the "File" menu from the task list view. The output from the print option is sent to the device specified using the "Printer" menu option accessed from the "Control" menu on the Psion system screen. This may be set to use a printer attached to the serial or parallel port or a file. If the given destination is not ready, e.g. a serial cable is not connected then an error message will be displayed. The print output may also be sent through a PC to an attached printer via Psion's PsiWin software. Note that PsiWin is a Psion software product and is not supplied with Plan. The "Print Setup" menu option on the "File" menu controls the paper size, orientation, printer type, etc. This option also provides control over the range of fields or columns which are to be printed from the task list and the width of the description and user text fields. Where the specified printer cannot handle the printing of all the fields from the task list across the page it will be necessary to use the print option more than once with a different range of fields each time. The task Id and description fields are always printed on the left of the page, the range of fields printed on the right may be specified. The "Print preview" menu option may be used to take a look at the overall page layout prior to printing. There is an optional postscript printer module for printing the Gantt and PERT charts (see "Modules" section). 15. MODULES A number of plug in modules are available with Plan. These modules consist of files with an OPO file extension which are located in a sub-directory called PLAN below the directory where the main PLAN.OPA file is kept. When these modules are available the "Run module" menu option on the "Special" menu will display the additional facilities supplied by the optional modules. Each Plan module will appear as a separate item within the modules dialog. To access a module select the corresponding item in the run module dialog. The currently available modules are: MPX.OPO Allows data to be transferred between the Psion Plan application and Microsoft Project 3.0 and 4.0. PS.OPO Provides a postscript print facility for the Gantt and PERT charts. AGN.OPO Allows tasks to be exported to a Psion Agenda file. 15.1 Microsoft Project MPX module The MPX module allows task and resource data to be exchanged with Microsoft Project 3.0 and 4.0. To transfer data into Microsoft Project: - Ensure that the MPX.OPO module is installed in a directory called \APP\PLAN on any drive. - Ensure the plan to be transferred is open. - Select the "MPX transfer" option from the "Run module" menu item. - Select "Export". - Enter the name of the MPX export file which is to be created. - The file will be generated. - Transfer the MPX file to the relevant host machine. - Start up Microsoft Project and select the open file option. Choose the MPX 1.0, 3.0 or 4.0 file type rather than the Project file type (it does not matter which version of MPX file is used). - If asked whether the file should be merged into the current project choose "No". It is not possible to merge a plan into an existing Microsoft Project plan. To transfer a project from Microsoft Project into Psion Plan: - Save the file as an MPX file (any version) and transfer it to the Psion. - Create a new Psion plan and resource file. The data may be merged into an existing plan and resource file provided the incoming task Id and resource initials are equivalent to any old ones. - Select the "MPX transfer" option in Plan. - Choose "Import". - Select the MPX import file which is to be read. - The file will now be read. Look for any warning or error messages in the output. Press any key when complete to continue in Plan. Note the following points before attempting to import data into Plan: - Plan expects numbers to be in a given format, as specified by the "Number formats" menu option on the "Control" menu of the Psion system screen. For example, if you have a German version of Microsoft Project then in general numbers will include a comma for a decimal point rather than a dot. The number format settings on the Psion should match the international settings on the PC before exporting/importing MPX files. - Avoid modifying the standard Export tables in Microsoft Project. - Plan expects a date format of the form "31/12/95", "31/12/95 12:33am" or "31/12/95 12:33". The date order is not important, e.g. 92/12/31 may also be used. Ensure the date format is set correctly in Microsoft Project preferences before creating the MPX file. In MS Project 4.0 the date format may be set as above from the "Options" menu item on the "Tools" menu and in the "View" section. - Plan uses the resource initials field for the resource name, these should be set in Microsoft Project. - Plan ignores dependencies of the type Finish-Finish and Start- Finish. - Plan assumes a holiday lasts all day so avoid holidays which are less than a full day in Microsoft Project. 15.2 Postscript module The postscript module may be used to print the Gantt or PERT chart on a postscript printer. Selecting the print postscript menu option from the "Run module" dialog will display a dialog which controls which chart to print along with the page size and orientation. The output from the postscript module will be sent to the device specified using the "Printer" menu option on the "Control" menu on the Psion system screen. If the given destination is not ready, e.g. a serial cable is not connected then an error message will be displayed. The custom width and height apply only if the page size is set to "Custom". These give the smallest and largest measurements respectively of the paper in centimetres. The margin item controls the width of the margin around the edge of the paper. When printing the Gantt chart a second dialog will appear which allows the date range to be specified. This may be set to either the entire project, derived from the current Gantt view, the remaining part of the project, or a specified date range. The custom start and end dates are used only when the range item is set to "custom dates". The Gantt chart will be paginated if necessary, the PERT chart will always be printed on one page. When printing the PERT chart a second dialog will appear which allows a section of the PERT chart to be printed. If set to "All" then all the PERT chart will be printed on one sheet of paper. If set to "Pert view" then the top left corner of the printout will match the top left corner of the current view in the PERT chart. In this case the "Pert view screens" option controls the amount to be printed, a value of 1 implies that the printout will correspond to the PERT chart. Note that printouts may be sent to a printer connected to a PC via the RPRINT utility and a 3Link cable. RPRINT is included in the freely available RCOM package developed by Psion which is also supplied with PsiWin. Users without access to a postscript compatible printer may like to investigate the facilities available with the software called Ghostscript. This allows postscript output to be viewed and printed on most printers connected to a PC. Aladdin Ghostscript and a front- end called Ghostview may be obtained via the Internet from ftp.cs.wisc.edu in the directory /pub/ghost. 15.3 Agenda module The Agenda module provides a mechanism for transferring task details to the Psion Agenda application. Plan will create a new agenda file which contains a dated to-do entry for each task in the current open plan. The due date of each to-do item will be the end date for the corresponding task. The start date of the task will be used as the date from which the to-do will be displayed in the day/week view of Agenda. The interface also provides a facility to set an alarm for each to-do entry which will activate at the given time on the end date for the task. Once the agenda file has been created there are two possible techniques for using the file: - Maintain the file as a separate Agenda file and open it as a separate Agenda process. - Merge the file into an existing Agenda file.