Adding and Maintaining Projects

This article shows how to create projects and edit project data.

Overview

Project Data

The Project Data page shows all loaded projects along with their attributes in a spreadsheet-like grid. You can add, copy, and delete projects, and edit project data (attributes) on this page.

 

Grid Mode vs. Detail Mode

Grid mode shows a spreadsheet-like view, as pictured above.

Detail mode shows a list of visible projects in a left pane; the right pane displays any of the Detail pages available for projects. The screenshot below shows the project Forms page with the Project Info form selected in the upper right forms selection control.

For more on Using Detail Mode, see ResourceFirst User Interface in the Grid vs. Detail mode section.

The remainder of this article will focus on Grid mode.

Page controls

The next set of icons (when in Grid mode) represent the Page Controls are as follows:

From left to right, the icons represent:

Add project

Delete (selected projects)

Copy (selected project)

Baseline, Status, Scenario, and Templates

Reload page

Export data

Import data

How To

Add Project

Step 1: On the Project Data page, click the + icon.

If no other Project fields have been administratively configured as “Required”, the Add Project dialog has only two mandatory fields, Project Name and Project OBS.

With Unit Priority and Start Date set in Administration as “Required”, those fields must be filled in before the Add buttons can be processed.

Step 2: Enter the project name and select a Project Organization Breakdown Structure (OBS) node from the drop down list.

For information about the Project OBS, see the article Administering the OBS.

Step 3: Click the Add & Close button (or Add if you have more projects to add).

The new project is saved to the database and visible on the Project Data page.

Step 4: Click the Save icon at the upper right.

 

Edit Project Fields

Fields (columns or cells) on the Project Data page can be modified. Click on a cell you wish to edit.  If the field has a defined list of valid values, a drop-down arrow appears in the cell. Click on the arrow to enter a valid value. If the field is not otherwise restricted (e.g., by access rights), simply enter a value.

Note: As mentioned in the Overview section, you can alternatively switch to Detail Mode, and then update the project’s information in the form on the Project Info page. 

Once you’ve entered or modified a field value, each edited field will have a small red marker in the upper left corner of the cell to indicate that a change has been made.

IMPORTANT: After making all your changes click the Save icon in the upper right of the screen to save changes to the database.

Delete Project

We recommend marking items inactive (i.e., unchecking the Active field) instead of deleting them. Deleted records are still in the database but are inaccessible; the user does have the option of loading inactive records.

Records can/should be deleted if a mistake is made creating them or if test or training records are no longer needed. Before deleting any records, be sure to read the section on Delete in the article Common Page Controls.

 

Step 1: Select one or more rows and click the trash can icon at the upper left of the page.

Step 2: Respond Yes to the delete warning message.

Step 3: Click Save to save the deleted record state(s) to the database.

 

Lock Data for Projects

You can lock the entry or modification of forecasts or actuals on a project by setting the Lock Actual and/or Lock Forecast fields. For more on the types of data locks available in ResourceFirst, see Data Locking in ResourceFirst.

If the fields are not visible on the Project Data page, use the Edit Views dialog to add them to an existing view or to create a new custom view that includes them.