These are the fields on the OBS Grid. Several fields are required entries, and display <Required> in the cell until you fill them. You can change the columns that are displayed by clicking Tools » Column Hide.
Level — This read-only field shows the hierarchical level of the OBS element and the relationship of the element to its parent. MPM automatically creates the top level of the OBS tree (just as it does in the WBS Tree). The top level, or Top Department, is Level 1, and always includes the total organization. Every new OBS element is created as a child of the Top Department or as a child of another department.
Department — This required field contains a Department identifier (ID) of up to 10 characters. MPM supports a maximum of 200 children for each parent department. The department name for new OBS elements must be unique within the project. The names are case sensitive, so MPM would recognize Design and DESIGN as different departments.
If you enter a new department with a name that already exists, MPM displays an error message, and will not allow you to leave the Department field until you have entered a unique name. Spaces and other special characters are not allowed.
If you enter an existing top level department name, MPM displays an error message. If a department that has children is modified, the parent fields of the children are automatically changed to reflect the new department. If the department exists in both trees, it is changed in both trees, and the Parent cells of the children in both trees are also changed.
Parent Dept — This required field identifies the Parent Department to this Department. All Departments in the project are shown on the drop-down list box. This field is auto-filled with the Department ID which was selected when you added the new OBS element, but you can override the default and choose another in the list. If a burden template has been assigned to the Parent Department, it is automatically displayed here in the child. You cannot identify a department as a child department in the Performing OBS and then enter that department in the Parent Department while working in the Responsible OBS (or vice versa) unless you have already also added the department to the Responsible OBS. Also, you cannot assign a Parent Department to one of its children or itself.
Description — This optional field provides a 20-character description of the Department. The Top Department description is automatically filled as 'Top Dept' but may be edited.
Manager — This optional field identifies the Manager of this Department. All WBS and OBS managers in the project are shown on the drop-down list box. You can select a manager's name from the list, enter a new manager, or leave the manager field blank.
Burden Template — This optional field assigns a Burden Template to this Department. All Burden Templates in the global set assigned to the project are shown on the drop-down list box. When a burden template is assigned at the parent level, the burden template of the parent is initially assigned to the children, but may be changed in the child department.
When you change an existing Burden Template for a parent department that is using the same template for any or all of its children, MPM prompts you to assign the same template to the children.
Burden Templates may be specified for a department in the OBS Tree and/or for an individual resource on the Resources and Burdens window on the Globals tab. The Burden Template designated at the resource level always takes precedence for estimating purposes. Therefore, in carrying out the estimating process, the Burden Template identified at the OBS level is used only if the resource code to be estimated has no Burden Template assigned.