Use the Menu Manager Window to access all MPM Task windows. A toolbar gives you quick access to common tasks. Tabs allow you to access groups of the Task windows. To access a Task window, double-click its icon or select the option on the File menu.
Use the tabs on the Menu Manager to access the Task windows. MPM has eight tabs:
Globals — Enter and maintain Global File sets; control security
Projects — Enter and maintain Project data
Utilities
Distributed Project Conversion Utility — Combine and convert Element of Cost (EOC) data residing in Distributed Project transfer files (.xfr) into resource detail data.
User Logout Utility — Clear any or all user login flags as needed.
File Conversion — Convert projects and globals to a new version of the software.
Reports — Select from a wide range of Reports.
Imports — Import data into MPM from accounting, spreadsheet, other systems.
Exports — Export data from MPM to a variety of external formats for use with other systems.
Interfaces — Import data directly from MS Project using the MSP Link interface.
You can change the task listings view using the Menu Manager buttons. There are five buttons available on the Menu Manager Toolbar. The first four buttons change the task listing to show:
Large-sized icons
Small icons
Small icons in a list
A detailed text listing — The text listing shows the version and modification dates of the Task windows, which can be helpful in troubleshooting.
The fifth button accesses the MPM options. See Setting MPM Options for details.
Some Open dialog boxes allow you to select the data to download. If you decide to use this feature, only the data that you select on the Open dialog box is downloaded. After the Task window is up, you can download additional data if needed. While loading data, MPM displays messages in the Status Bar. To cancel the download, press ESC.
Selecting, or filtering, the data when you open a Task window can save a considerable amount of time when you are working with a project that has a large amount of data. Unless you specify a filter choice, MPM loads all the data into the Task window, which may take several minutes (depending on the size of your project). Deltek recommends that you use the filtering options on the Open dialog box to limit the amount of information that is downloaded.
Some Open dialog boxes allow you to filter by WBS Leg, expand/collapse the legs to see the available WBS legs, and select or deselect the desired leg(s). The Expand/Collapse Box next to each WBS Leg shows whether its children are displayed.
A plus sign (+) indicates that the WBS is collapsed and there are lower level WBS children that are not currently displayed.
A minus sign (–) indicates that the WBS is expanded and all children are displayed. The lack of an Expand/ Collapse Box indicates that the WBS element has no children.
To select or deselect the WBS elements to download, click the check mark box.
To download the WBS element and all of its children, collapse the WBS element and click its check mark box.
To download the element plus several of its children, expand the WBS element and click the check mark boxes of the desired children.
If a collapsed WBS element is not checked, the element and its children are not downloaded. If no WBS elements are selected, MPM loads all WBS elements.
MPM saves the WBS selections for the current project, and displays the same selections the next time you open the project.
Some Open dialog boxes offer an additional filter by Managers. For example, if you select Manager JONES, only the WBS elements assigned to Manager JONES are downloaded. MPM saves Manager selections for the current project, and displays the same selections the next time you open the project.
To select a single manager, click the manager’s name in the list.
To select multiple managers, use the SHIFT and CTRL keys as you would in any Windows application.
To deselect all Manager filters, hold down the CTRL key and click the last manager’s name. The Manager field displays <Empty>, indicating that no manager has been selected.
Some Open dialog boxes offer an additional filter by Element Type. At least one Element Type option must be selected. To select elements that have not been assigned a type, click <Empty>. MPM downloads only the elements that match the Element Type(s) selected. For example, if you selected element type Work Package, only Work Package WBS elements are downloaded when the Task window opens.