Plan User Guide Version 4.1 Copyright Andy Clarkson 1995,1996 All rights reserved. The information within this manual and the associated software are subject to change without notice. Some of the names used within this manual and displayed by the software are registered trademarks. Such names are acknowledged as trademarks even though they have not been marked with the symbol. CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 About this manual 1.2 What is Plan? 1.3 Installation 1.3.1 Installation of Plan from a ready to run SSD 1.3.2 Manual installation of Plan 2. PROJECT PLANNING 2.1 Fundamental concepts 2.2 Example 2.3 Calculation of task start dates 3. FAST START TUTORIAL 3.1 Creating a new plan 3.2 Creating a new resource 3.3 Creating tasks 3.4 Setting dependencies 3.5 Summary tasks 3.6 Updating a task 3.7 Tracking work done 3.8 Reviewing a task when it is underway 3.9 Task end/work/rate calculation 3.10 Views 3.11 Example Plan 4. KEY FEATURES 5. PLAN AND RESOURCE FILES 6. VIEWS 6.1 Task view 6.2 Task list view 6.3 Gantt chart 6.4 PERT chart 6.4.1 Appearance of the PERT chart 6.4.2 Positioning tasks in the PERT chart 6.4.3 Moving around the PERT chart 6.5 Resource usage view 6.5.1 Resource work hours 6.5.2 Resource usage histogram 6.5.3 Over-allocated resources 6.6 Holiday view 7. TASKS 7.1 Standard Tasks 7.2 Summary Tasks 7.3 Deleting tasks 7.4 Masking tasks 8. DEPENDENCIES 9. COST AND USER DATA 10. TASK CALCULATION AND TRACKING 10.1 Calculation (end/work/rate) 10.2 Tracking work done 10.3 Reviewing a task when it is underway 11. MEMOS 12. RESOURCES 13. PREFERENCES 14. PRINTING 15. MODULES 15.1 Microsoft Project MPX module 15.2 Postscript module 15.3 Agenda module 16. COMMAND SUMMARY 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 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. 1.2 What is 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 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. 1.3.1 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. 1.3.2 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 installing Plan via a Mac and you get the message "Incompatible message file" when first starting Plan then this indicates that the PLAN.MSG file has been corrupted. The cause of this is often that the file has been treated as a text file rather than a binary file when extracting it from the supplied ZIP file. The solution is to ensure that a file with extension .MSG is extracted with a type of "BINA" (binary file) by setting the preferences appropriately. 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. 1.4 SHAREWARE REGISTRATION 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 a 15 UK pounds cheque to: Mr. A. Clarkson, 3 Ashmead Drive, Hardwick, Cambridgeshire. CB3 7XT. U.K. When registering please state the version of the program, (which is 4.1), and where you obtained the copy. This allows me to check that you are using the latest version. 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. 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. For users outside the UK the following methods of payment can also be accepted: Payment in UK pounds 15 UK pounds (cash, cheque, eurocheque or money order) Payment via cash in local equivalent of 17 UK pounds currency (non-UK pounds) (US$25) Payment via a cheque in equivalent of 19 UK pounds local currency (non-UK pounds) (US$30) The additional charges for non-UK currency is to cover exchange and bank charges. For any further information I can be contacted via email at 100661.2440@compuserve.com 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.