Graphical Project Planning

The Graphical Project Planning page uses color coding to show project planners start and end dates for planned project lines, as well as any dependencies between them.

The Graphical Project Planning page can be accessed in the following ways:

  • To show planning information for all projects, use Tell Me. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Graphical Project Planning, and then choose the related link.
  • To show project planning information per project, open the Project Card. On the Navigate menu, choose the Graphical Project Planning action.
  • To show project planning information for planning processes for the project, open the Planning Processes page. On the Related menu, choose Graphical Extension > Graphical Project Planning.

The following graphic shows processing lines with different colors for main project line (in teal), summary lines (in purple), process lines (in blue) as well as the work date highlight (in yellow).

Graphical Project Planning

Note

The Starting Date and Ending Date fields must be defined in the Project Card for the project to be included in the Graphical Project Planning page.

Additionally, if the Graphical Project Planning page is opened from the Project Card, and parameters (such as start/end date or project status) set in the Graphical Project Planning Setup page do not match the related project settings, then a message will inform the user that the project falls outside of these parameters and the data cache needs to be updated.

  • Choosing the Yes button will update the parameters in the Graphical Project Planning Setup page and, therefore, the project will be shown in the Graphical Project Planning page.
  • Choosing the No button will disregard the data cache update and the project will not be shown in the Graphical Project Planning page.

Chart Layout

The left pane shows the project and related process planning lines or project schedule entries. The right pane shows the corresponding project line processes as well as any dependencies between the project lines.

Note

If no resource planned hours or scheduled hours have been processed, then the Start and Finish dates in the Planning Process page are used in the right pane.

In the Zoom to ... drop-down, choose the Month or Week option to better see milestones at the top.

Summary Process Lines

You can distinguish between summary planning process lines and regular planning process lines by choosing different colors in the Summary Project Line Color and Project Line Process Color fields in the Graphical Project Planning Setup page.

Summary process lines are shown based on the Summary Start and Summary Finish fields in the Planning Processes page and cannot be changed.

Progress Completion Indicators

The % Complete from the planning processes is visualized in the process planning lines in two ways:

  • Show the Progress column (only visible when manually shown via the Displays menu to choose visible columns icon below the chart)
  • Color variation in the lines in which the darker color is the completed percentage (always visible)

The progress completion can be changed manually in the Progress column, which automatically updates the color variation in the lines.

Graphical Project Planning

Context Menus

On both sides of the chart, context menus can be opened to provide additional information about the project or process planning line. Tap and hold (or right-click) the project or process planning line to open the context menu.

For detailed information about these menu items, see Project Planning and Resource Planning.

  • For the projects:

    • The Project Card menu item opens the related Project Card.
    • The Project Team menu item opens the related Project Team page.
    • The Project Planning Setup menu item opens the Project Planning Setup page.
    • The Project Planning and Processing menu item opens the Project Planning and Processing page, which focuses on all operative processes for planning, purchasing, and project delivery.

  • For the project planning lines:

    • The Project Card menu item opens the Project Card of the project corresponding to the selected project planning line.
    • The Process Card menu item opens the Project Process Card which provides a card view of all the information in the Project Planning and Processing page for the selected project planning line.
    • The Process Planning Block View menu item opens the Planning Processes page which shows the block view of planning processes for the selected project planning line.

  • For the summary process lines:

    • The Project Card menu item opens the Project Card of the project corresponding to the selected summary process line.
    • The Process Card menu item opens the Project Process Card which provides a card view of all the information in the Project Planning and Processing page for the selected summary process line.
    • The Process Planning Block View menu item opens the Planning Processes page which shows the block view of planning processes for the selected summary process line.

  • For the dependencies:

    • In the right pane, lines connecting the planning lines indicate dependencies. In the context menu, choose the Delete Dependency menu item to delete dependencies as needed.

Tooltips

The right pane includes tooltips, which shows the related project number, status, project description, process number, start/end date/time and completion percent of the planning line, as well as duration (e.g., 2 Weeks). To view a tooltip, tap (or hover over) an entry.

Usage

The Graphical Project Planning page provides a wide-range of information about project planning. It can be used as a general overview but also allows you to move planning lines to different times as well as add or remove dependencies. When these changes are made, the project planning logic updates the planning lines in COSMO Project Manufacturing.

To move planning lines

Planning lines can only be moved horizontally within the entry. You cannot move a planning line to another area in planning.

  • To move an entire line to another date, tap and hold (or click) the line and move it forward or backward to a new date.
  • To move a start or finish date of a planning line, tap and hold (or click) the start or end of the line and extend or shorten the time frame.
    • Duration Quantity, Duration Format, Work Quantity, Work Format, and Planned Capacity % of the planning processes are updated in the Graphical Project Planning page based on the standard COSMO Project Manufacturing calculations, which considers the time frame and capacity changes.
    • If the start or finish date of a planning line is extended/shortened in the right pane, and the Process Type Fixed field is:
      • Work, then the Planned Capacity %, Duration Quantity, and Start and/or Finish dates are changed in the process line as well as in the left pane (if shown via the Displays menu to choose visible columns icon).
      • Duration, then the Work Quantity and Duration Quantity are changed in the process line as well as in the left pane (if shown via the Displays menu to choose visible columns icon).

To adjust planning lines using columns

The Work Quantity, Work Format, Duration Quantity, Duration Format, Process Type Fixed, and Planned Capacity columns can be shown in the Graphical Project Planning page (added via the Displays menu to choose visible columns icon at the bottom of the chart).

  • Changes made in the Work Quantity column will extend/shorten the time frame in the right pane as well as update the Duration Quantity and other relevant parameters in the process line if the Process Type Fixed field is Work. If the Process Type Fixed field is Duration, the Planned Capacity % is changed.
  • Changes made in the Duration Quantity column will extend/shorten the time frame in the right pane as well as update the Planned Capacity % and other relevant parameters in the process line if the Process Type Fixed field is Work. If the Process Type Fixed field is Duration, the Work Quantity is changed.
  • Changes made in the Planned Capacity column will extend/shorten the time frame in the right pane as well as update the Duration Quantity and other relevant parameters in the process line if the Process Type Fixed field is Work. If the Process Type Fixed field is Duration, the Work Quantity is changed.
  • Changes made to the format (hours, days, etc.) can be done directly in the Work Format and Duration Format columns to update the planning line.

To add or delete dependencies

Dependencies are the vertical lines connecting the planning lines.

  • To add a dependency, tap and hold (or click) the process line and then move to another process line. A new will show the connection between the lines.
  • To delete a dependency, tap and hold (or click) a dependency line and then choose Delete Dependency.

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