Contents of the Project View Form

Use the fields and options on the Project View form to review resource assignments and schedules for your projects, assign employees and generic resources to your projects, and enter planned hours for those assignments. You can also use the grid to reassign work from one resource to another and to reschedule planned hours.

Header Fields

Field Description
Find project At the top of the Project View form, enter either a partial or complete name or number in the Find project field to find and select an existing project to view or edit.

Your current record selection will be preserved if you switch to another application and then return to this form.

For information about creating and using searches, see the Search Vantagepoint help topics.

Search Navigation Controls

The Search Navigation Controls display to the right of the Find lookup field at the top of most Vantagepoint hub and application forms. Use these controls and their related components to quickly locate a saved search, create ad hoc or new searches, page through records, and find and select multiple hub records.

On the Saved Search control (), click to display the Saved Searches (left) pane and Record Selection (right) pane. Most search types include standard, personal (My Searches), shared, and complex, as well as an ad hoc search Selection. Available search types vary, depending on the active hub or application form.

For more information about Search Navigation Controls, see Search Quick Reference, Components of a Search, and Use Search Navigation Controls to Filter Records.

Saved Searches list To filter the list of projects, select one of the following search types:
  • Quick Find: Use this field to locate a specific search or group of searches in a long list of searches. Enter one or more characters in this field and then pause to allow time for the results set to refresh. The records returned for the search are listed in the Records Selection pane.
  • Selection: If available, this ad hoc search appears in the Saved Search control and also in the Saved Searches list. This type of search is based on an existing search in the Saved Searches list and, typically, comprises a portion of all the available hub or application records that were included in the saved search. Use this type of search to quickly view a specific subset of records for a standard search.

    Only one ad hoc Selection is available at any given time and will remain unchanged until you either update it or create a new ad hoc search.

    For more information, see Select Hub Records for an Ad Hoc Search and Edit an Ad Hoc Search Selection.

  • Active: Select from a list of all active projects to which you have access.
  • All: Select from a list of all projects to which you have access, regardless of project status.
  • My Active: Select from a list of all active projects with which you are associated as a team member on the Team tab of the Projects form. The list includes a project if you are associated with it at any level of the work breakdown structure (WBS).
  • Project Manager: Select from a list of all active projects for which you are the project manager at any level of the WBS.
  • My Organization Level 1: Select from a list of active projects that are assigned, at any WBS level, to the same organization level 1 (the same company, for example) to which you are assigned in the Employees hub. This option is only available if Vantagepoint is set up to use organizations.
  • My Organization: Select from a list of all active projects that are assigned at any WBS level to the full organization to which you are assigned in the Employees hub. This option is only available if Vantagepoint is set up to use organizations.
  • My Draft Invoices: This search is available if your security role has access to Invoice Approvals. Select from a list of all active projects for which a submitted draft invoice exists that you are responsible for approving or rejecting.
  • Legacy Searches: Select a search from this folder to display a list of projects based on a search from previous versions of the application or from legacy systems. Although you cannot modify a legacy search, you can build a new search based on a legacy search. Click the icon to display the Edit Search dialog box. Click Delete and Start Over to build a new search based on the legacy search.
  • My Searches: Select a search from this folder to display a list of projects based on your personal search. Click the icon to display the Edit Search dialog box. You can then update your personal search for future use.
  • Shared Searches: Select a search from this folder to display a list of projects shared with other team members and roles. Click the icon to display the Edit Search dialog box. You can then update the shared search for future use.
  • SQL Where Clause Search: Select a search from this folder to display a list of projects based on SQL Where Clause query statements and advanced search settings. These complex searches locate records across multiple hubs, applications, or databases. You must have the appropriate security role access to use this advanced search functionality. If you share a SQL Where Search with a user who does not have the required security role access to SQL Where Clause searches, then the user can view and run the SQL Where Clause search, but they cannot edit it.

    Legacy searches, which are based on saved searches from previous versions of the application or legacy systems, display as SQL Where Clause searches.

  • + New Search: Select this link to create a new search for projects. Use both basic and advanced search features on the New Search dialog box to refine search criteria. Use the Advanced Settings feature to search by all available Projects hub grids and fields (including, standard and user-defined grid fields), based upon your field level security.

    The Add a Field drop-down includes all standard and user-defined grid fields associated with the hub or application. You can type part of the field name to find it or use the drop-down to locate the desired field. Fields in grids are organized under the grid name in bold. For example, when you select Projects, a list of all grid fields associated with Projects hub is displayed.

For these searches, a project is considered active if the status of the project-level WBS element is Active.

The project search list sort order option that you select on the My Preferences dialog box determines the order in which the projects display in the list: by name or by number. To change that setting, click on the main Vantagepoint toolbar.

If warning conditions exist for any of the projects and Show Project Warning Indicators is selected on the Project Settings dialog box, a red or yellow warning indicator (, for example) displays next to them on the list. You can hover over or tap an indicator to display a description of the warning condition.

x of x Use these arrow icons to scroll through the records in the search results and display a different record on the form. The numbers indicate which record you are viewing out of the total number of records in the search results.

Actions Bar

Click Actions to select one of these options.

Field Description
Check In Plans

Select this option to display the Check In Plans dialog box and check in one or more of the plans that are currently checked out.

When you select a row in the grid, the project's entire plan is automatically checked out to you. While it is checked out, other users can view it but cannot make changes to it until it is checked back in. Vantagepoint automatically checks in plans when you select a different project, navigate to another part of Vantagepoint, log out of Vantagepoint, navigate to a different URL, use the browser's Refresh option, or close the browser. However, there may be situations in which you must use this option to manually check in plans.

Open in Projects

Select this option to display data for the currently selected project in the Projects form.

Print Report

Select this option to display the Reporting form so you can generate a Resource Planning report or other report.

Grid Options

Field Description
Scale

To change the scale for the calendar period columns, click and select one of the following options on the Change Scale dialog box:

  • Days & Months: This option displays plan data by day for one or two months, with the rest of the project plan displayed by month. If you select this option, you also specify the month or months for which you want to display plan data by day.
  • Weeks: This option displays all plan data by week.
  • Months: This option displays all plan data by month.

The calendar period column headings change to reflect your selection, and any existing hours in those columns are recalculated based on the new scale.

If the plan date range includes more than 50 calendar periods, based on your selection in Scale, you must use this date range selector to display some of those periods. Click or in the date range selector to load earlier or later sets of calendar periods. (You can also click the earliest or latest date in the date range selector to load a new set of periods.)

For example, if you click in the date range selector, Vantagepoint retains the most recent 25 of the currently loaded calendar periods and loads the next 25 later calendar periods so you can scroll them into view as well.

If 50 or fewer calendar periods exist in the plan date range, you can view all of them by scrolling the grid horizontally, so the date range selector does not display on the toolbar.

Click this icon above the upper-right corner of the grid to display the Grid Settings dialog box and then do any of the following:
  • Indicate how to sort resource rows in the grid.
  • Display WBS element numbers along with names in the grid.
  • Select the summary columns that display in the middle section of the grid.

Grid Columns: Left Section

This section of the grid displays the WBS elements at each level of the plan WBS for the selected project. For the lowest-level WBS elements, it also displays the resources assigned to that element.

To change the width of the left grid section, position the mouse pointer over the dividing line between the left grid section and the middle grid section, and drag the line.

Field Description

Click this icon to display brief descriptions of all of the summary columns that you can select for the middle section of the grid. Click More at the bottom of the list of column descriptions to display a related help topic.

Plan availability icons

The first time that you select a plan row, one of the following icons displays to the left of the project at the top of the plan structure:

  • : The plan is now checked out to you, and you can edit plan information.
  • : You cannot edit plan information for the row because the plan is checked out to someone else, the plan has unpublished changes, or you do not have the necessary access rights to make changes to the plan.

    Click the icon to display an explanation in an info bubble. If the plan is checked out, the info bubble provides the name and email address of the person who has it checked out. If your security role is an Administrator role, the info bubble also contains a link that you can click to check the plan back in and then check it out to you. If the plan has unpublished changes, the info bubble provides the name and email address of the project manager so you can communicate with them about the plan.

Level/Resource

This column displays the plan WBS elements and, for each lowest-level WBS element, the currently assigned resources. You can expand and collapse the plan levels.

To add a resource assignment for a WBS element, hover over that plan row to display in the Level/Resource field, and click the to display the Assign Resources to Project dialog box. The plan must be checked out to you and the row must be eligible to have assignments.

The Status column in the middle grid shows the status for the currently selected WBS row (project, phase, or task): (Active), (Inactive), or (Dormant). You cannot add new assignments for a dormant element or any elements under it in the WBS, but you can edit, delete, reassign, or reschedule existing assignments.

In addition to resource assignments that you add yourself, the grid may also include assignments for employees with no planned hours but with JTD hours charged to a lowest-level plan element. Vantagepoint creates those assignments automatically. If the relevant branch of the plan WBS either includes the labor code from the time record (exact match or wildcard match) or does not include that labor code but includes other labor codes, that resource assignment is made under the labor code level, based on the time record labor code and the labor code options specified for the plan. If the relevant branch of the plan WBS includes no labor codes, Vantagepoint assumes that you do not want to plan at the labor code level and makes the resource assignment under the lowest-level project WBS element, rather than under a labor code.

If an assigned resource is an employee, click the employee name to display information about the employee in the Employee Card dialog box. If the assigned resource is a generic resource, click the resource name to display information about the resource in an info bubble.

In WBS rows, click the WBS element to display information about that element. Click the Open in Projects link in the info bubble to leave Project View and display the plan in the Plan form in the Projects hub.

By default, only names display for WBS elements, but you have the option to display numbers along with the names. Click next to the upper-right corner of the grid, and click the Show Project Numbers checkbox in the Grid Settings dialog box.

Show less and Show more

Use these links at the top of the Level/Resource column to hide or show the summary columns you have selected for display in the middle section of the grid. Hiding those columns provides space to display more detail columns.

If the summary columns are visible, click Show less to hide them. The link then changes to Show more. Click that link to display the summary columns again.

You can pin individual columns if you want them to display even when you click Show less. Click next to the upper-right corner of the grid. On the Grid Settings dialog box, click the to the right of each column that you want to "pin" to the grid.

To add a resource assignment for a WBS element, hover over that plan row and click in the Level/Resource field in the row to display the Add Resources to Project dialog box. (If does not display when you hover, the plan is not yet checked out to you. Click the row to check out the plan.)

Grid Columns: Middle Section - Default Columns

The columns described below can be displayed in the middle section of the grid. Click next to the upper-right corner of the grid to open the Grid Settings dialog box from which you can add or remove columns.

To change the width of the middle grid section, position the mouse pointer over the dividing line between the middle grid section and the right grid section, and drag the line.

Field Description
Status This column displays the status of the currently selected WBS or resource row: (Active), (Inactive), (Dormant), or (Terminated).
Plan Start

For a WBS row, this column displays the plan start date for the WBS element. Vantagepoint provides default plan dates when it creates the plan initially (see Default Plan Dates for New Projects for details). Review those default dates and change any that are not correct.

If you change this date and the row has no planned hours, a message displays asking if you want to move the plan end date also to preserve the same number of days between the two dates.

If you change this date and the row has planned hours, the Reschedule dialog box displays so that you can specify how you want the hours distributed when the plan is rescheduled.

If you select a date that is earlier than the plan start date for any higher-level WBS elements in the same branch, those plan start dates are adjusted accordingly. If you select a date that is later than either the plan start dates for any lower-level WBS elements or any assignment start dates in the same branch, those start dates are adjusted accordingly.

Plan End

For a WBS row, this column displays the plan end date for the WBS element. Vantagepoint provides default plan dates when it creates the plan initially (see Default Plan Dates for New Projects for details). Review those default dates and change any that are not correct.

If you change this date and the row has planned hours, the Reschedule dialog box displays so that you can specify how you want the hours distributed when the plan is rescheduled.

If you select a date that is later than the plan end date for any higher-level WBS elements in the same branch, those plan end dates are adjusted accordingly. If you select a date that is earlier than either the plan end dates for any lower-level WBS elements or any assignment end dates in the same branch, those end dates are adjusted accordingly.

Assignment Start

For a WBS row, this column displays the start date for the earliest resource assignment for that WBS element.

For a resource row, this column displays the start date for that resource's assignment for its parent WBS element. You can enter or select the date.

If you change this date and the resource row has no planned hours, a message displays asking if you want to move the assignment end date also to preserve the same number of days between the two dates.

If you change this date and the resource row has planned hours, the Reschedule dialog box displays so you can specify how you want the hours distributed when the assignment is rescheduled.

If you change this date in a way that places any part of the assignment date range outside of the plan date range for the parent WBS element, a message displays asking if you also want to change the plan date range. Click Change Dates to have Vantagepoint adjust the plan dates to include the complete assignment date range. It is possible that plan dates at higher levels of the WBS may also be changed so that they include all plan dates below them in the structure.

Assignment End

For a WBS row, this column displays the end date for the latest resource assignment for that WBS element.

For a resource row, this column displays the end date for that resource's assignment for its parent WBS element. You can enter or select the date.

If you change this date and the resource row has planned hours, the Reschedule dialog box displays so you can specify how you want the hours distributed when the assignment is rescheduled.

If you change this date in a way that places any part of the assignment date range outside of the plan date range for the parent WBS element, a message displays asking if you also want to change the plan date range for that row. Click Change Dates to have Vantagepoint adjust the plan dates to include the complete assignment date range. It is possible that plan dates at higher levels of the WBS may also be changed so that they include all plan dates below them in the structure.

Planned Hours

For a WBS row, this column displays the sum of all planned hours (past and ETC hours) for the resources assigned to that WBS element.

For a resource row, this column displays the sum of the past and ETC hours for that resource's assignment for its parent WBS element.

JTD <date> Hours

For a WBS row, this column displays the sum of the job-to-date (JTD) actual hours charged to the WBS element by assigned resources, through the JTD date. The JTD date displays as part of the column heading.

For a resource row, this column displays the JTD actual hours charged for that resource to the WBS element, through the JTD date.

ETC Hours

For a WBS row, this column displays the sum of all ETC hours for the resources assigned to that WBS element. The ETC hours are planned hours for dates in each assignment range beginning the day after the JTD date.

For a resource row, this column displays that resource's total ETC hours for its parent WBS element.

You can enter hours in this field for any WBS element at any level of the WBS, if that element has resources assigned. When you do, Vantagepoint allocates the hours to resources and to future calendar periods for that assignment row. If you enter total ETC hours for a parent WBS element and then expand the WBS in the Project View grid to display assignment rows at lower levels, Vantagepoint further allocates the hours to each calendar period for each lower-level row, including the resource rows. Likewise, if you change the scale of the calendar period columns (from Weeks to Months, for example), Vantagepoint reallocates the hours for the new scale.

If you enter hours in this field for a resource, Vantagepoint allocates the hours to the future calendar periods for that resource assignment.

How the hours are allocated to resources and to calendar period grid columns depends on whether or not ETC hours have already been entered in calendar period columns for the affected assignments:
  • If none of the affected resource assignments currently has any ETC hours, the hours are allocated to each resource and calendar period in proportion to the number of work days remaining for them. (Effectively, the hours are spread equally among all work days for all resources.)
  • If one or more of the affected resource assignments currently has ETC hours, the hours you enter are allocated to each resource and calendar period in proportion to its current number of ETC hours. Resources and calendar periods that currently have no ETC hours receive no allocation.

If the assignment date range for the row includes no more work days that are later than the JTD date, you cannot enter hours in this field.

EAC Hours This column displays the estimate-at-completion hours for the WBS elements and resources: JTD hours + ETC hours.
Calculated % Complete This column displays the percent complete for the WBS elements and resources: (JTD hours / EAC hours) x 100.
Booking

This column displays the booking status of each row. If your security role is configured to allow you to hard book assignments, you can select a different booking status for plan rows. Changing booking status for an assignment does not change any calculated values, nor does it affect your ability to make changes to the assignment dates or hours or to reassign it.

What is displayed in this column and whether or not you can change booking status depends on the type of row:
  • On a WBS row, this column displays Hard if all assignments for that WBS element are hard booked, Soft if all are soft booked, and Blend if the assignments are a mix of hard and soft booked assignments. To change the booking status for all assignments for that WBS element, click the current booking status and select either Hard or Soft.
  • On a resource row, this column displays Hard if the assignment is hard booked or Soft if it is soft booked. To change the booking status for that assignment, click the current booking status and select either Hard or Soft.
  • On a resource row that has only JTD hours, the Booking column is blank, and you cannot select a booking status.

If Vantagepoint is not configured to use soft and hard booking, this column is not available to be added to the grid.

Grid Columns: Right Section

This grid section displays planned hours by calendar period for the selected project.

Field Description
Calendar period columns Use the calendar period columns in the third grid section to view or enter planned hours by day, week, or month.

Your selection in Scale determines whether each calendar period column represents a day, week or month. The number of calendar period columns depends on the scale you select and on the plan start and end dates. You may need to scroll horizontally to view later periods.

You can enter hours in a calendar period column for any WBS element at any level of the WBS if that element has resources assigned and if the calendar period includes at least one work day for those resources that is later than the JTD date. When you do, Vantagepoint allocates the hours to the assigned resources and to their individual work days. How the hours are allocated to resources depends on whether or not ETC hours already exist for the calendar period for the affected assignments:
  • If none of the affected resource assignments currently has any ETC hours, the hours are allocated to each resource in proportion to the number of work days remaining for them in the calendar period. (Effectively, the hours are spread equally among all remaining work days in the calendar period for all resources.)
  • If one or more of the affected resource assignments currently has ETC hours, the hours are allocated to each resource and to each work day in proportion to its current number of ETC hours in the calendar period. Resources that currently have no ETC hours in the calendar period receive no allocation.
If you enter hours in a calendar period column for a resource row, Vantagepoint allocates the hours to the work days in the calendar period that are later than the JTD date:
  • If the resource currently has no ETC hours for the calendar period, the hours are spread equally among all of the work days in the calendar period.
  • If the resource currently has ETC hours for the calendar period, the hours are allocated to work days in proportion to each day's current ETC hours.

On resource rows only, you can enter hours for calendar periods that are outside of the resource's current assignment date range, In that case, Vantagepoint adjusts the assignment dates to include that calendar period. You can also enter hours for a calendar period that includes no working days. If that calendar period currently has hours for the resource assignment, the hours you enter are allocated to days in proportion to each day's current hours. If the calendar period has no hours for the resource assignment, the hours you enter are allocated equally to each day in the calendar period.

If a calendar period date range includes some dates that are on or before the JTD date and some dates that are after the JTD date, you can enter planned hours for that calendar period. To do that, click in that calendar period field to display a drop-down dialog box that shows both the hours for past days in the period and the current ETC hours. You can enter or change the ETC hours. The grid cell then displays the updated sum of the past hours and ETC hours.

If you set up multiple companies in Vantagepoint, you can display plans for projects from any of those companies in Project View. Each of those companies could have different starting days for their work weeks. Because of that, Project View always uses the starting day of the week that is specified for the user's currently active company.

Row Options

Field Description
and

If displays at the end of the row for a WBS element, notes exist for that plan element. Click the icon to view or change the notes or to enter additional notes.

If displays at the end of the row, no notes exist for the WBS element. To add a note, click .

The plan notes are also displayed in an info bubble, along with other information for a WBS element, when you click on the element name in any of the planning grids in the Projects hub or in Resource Management.

This icon displays at the end of the row when you click or hover over a grid row. Click the icon to select one of these actions for that row:

  • Assign Resources: Use the Assign Resources to Project dialog box to assign resources to the selected WBS element or to other WBS elements below the selected row in the WBS. This option is not available for resource rows.
  • Reschedule: Use the Reschedule dialog box to change one or both assignment dates for a resource row with planned hours, or to change one or both plan dates for a WBS row with planned hours. In either case, you also indicate how to distribute the planned hours within the new schedule.
  • Reassign: Use the Reassign dialog box to reassign the all or part of the planned hours for a resource row to another resource. This option is only available for resource rows with planned hours.
  • Delete: Delete a single resource assignment. If the assignment has JTD hours, or has been saved as part of the baseline plan, you cannot delete the assignment. In those cases, however, you can still use this option to delete all planned hours for the assignment.