The Project Flow Component
This section illustrates the features of the Project Flow component. The component is a seperate BSCW extension package which may not be activated on your BSCW system.
- 1. Project Folder
- 1.1. Creating Project Folders
- 1.2. Defining a Process
- 1.3. Bar Chart Functionality
- 2. Bar Chart
- 2.1. Bar Representation
- 2.2. Managing Dates
- 2.2.1. Dependencies
- 2.2.2. Accepting Deadline Shifts
- 2.2.3. History
- 2.3. Preferences
- 3. Processes
- 3.1. Process Folder
- 3.2. Suggesting Time Changes
- 1.1. Creating Project Folders
1. Project Folder
The Project folder enables project managers to plan the time flow of a project and to visualize deadline shifts. A project is considered to consist out of several processes which need a particular amount of time to be executed. The processes may depend on each other, i.e. the start of process A may require that process B has terminated. To visualize start and end times of processes, each project folder contains a bar chart showing the individual process dates of a project.
1.1. Creating Project Folders
To create a new Project folder the project manager has to select - from the folder popup menu - the action
- [File --> New --> Project].
1.2. Defining a Process
In the next step the project manager is defining specific processes of the project. For this purpose select from the folder popup menu the action
- [File --> New --> Process].
1.3. Bar Chart Functionality
Every project folder contains a bar chart object. The bar chart shows all processes within the project in the form of a Gantt chart. The bar chart displays the time flow of the complete project and its individual processes. In particular agreed deadlines, suggested deadline shifts and delays of dependent sequential processes are shown.
2. Bar Chart
Essentially the bar chart is concerned with two major tasks. Firstly, it visualizes the time flow of the individual processes for all project workspace members. The second task of the bar chart is to provide the project manager with maintenance functionalities for individual processes.
2.1. Bar Representation
The time flow of an individual process of the project is represented by a single bar. Every bar chart line with a colored bar is assigned to a process. Bars of parallel processes are placed vertically among one another, while bars of sequential processes are arranged horizontally.
Jointly agreed deadlines are displayed as bold, dark bar and deadline shifts are displayed as thin, light bars running within the bold bars. Delays caused by depending processes are also displayed with thin, light bars. In addition, the project member responsible for a process which causes a delay is marked with a blue font.
2.2. Managing Dates
While the bar chart for project members responsible for individual processes only visualizes agreed deadlines resp. deadline shifts, it provides additional management functionalities for the project manager (i.e., owner of the project folder).
2.2.1. Dependencies
The project manager may define sequential dependencies between individual processes. For thus purpose, the project manager has to select - from the bar chart popup menu - the action
- [Barchart --> Dependencies].
2.2.2. Accepting Deadline Shifts
Process owners may change the start and end times of their processes which may cause deadline shift, possibly of the complete project because of process dependencies. The project manager has to decide on suggested deadline shifts of process owners (cp. 3.2. Suggesting Deadline Shifts). For this purpose select from the bar chart popup menu the action
- [Barchart --> Accept Dates].
The "Accept" form illustrates the dates of the complete project and the individual processes within a table. The table shows agreed deadlines versus suggested deadline shifts of the process owners. Deadline shifts of sequential depending processes are indicated in italics, while the originating process is marked with an asterisk ("*").
When deciding on suggested deadline shifts of process owners, the project manager has the following opportunities. S/he may change, accept or reject the suggested shifts by successively clicking the actions
2.2.3. History
Every "Accept" action issued by the project manager stores the previous state of the complete project and its processes in a history archive. To view the history of the project select from the bar chart popup menu the action
- [Barchart --> History].
2.3. Preferences
The project owner may change the project settings by choosing from the bar chart popup menu the following actions. The action
- [Barchart --> Settings --> Preview]
- allows to change the preview period for project members;
-
- [Barchart --> Settings --> Column Width] or
- allows to alter the bar chart display width of the text and the bar column;
-
- [Barchart --> Settings --> Notifications].
- allows to activate/deactivate the sending of notification emails to project members after [Accept], [Reject], [Change] actions.
3. Processes
As mentioned above, a project consists of several processes. The BSCW "Flow" package represents such a process by a specialized process folder type.
3.1. Process Folder
Every process of a project is assigned to an individual "process folder". This process folder is owned by the responsible project member and provides its owner with the functionality of a normal BSCW folder. In addition, however, a process folder has associated start and end times for the respective process
3.2. Suggesting Time Changes
In addition to the folder functionality the process owner may suggest dtime changes for her/his process to the project manager. To suggest a time change select - from the process folder popup menu - the action
- [File --> Change].
The "Change" form illustrates the dates of the process within a table. The table opposes agreed deadlines and suggested deadline shifts. Delays/shifts originated by suggested deadline shifts of sequential dependant processes are indicated by italic dates.
Enter the proposed date changes in the corresponding fields and press the [OK] button to submit your suggested changes.
