Managing Document and Project Connections—Exercises

Basic Data Setup

Approving and Starting Projects

Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to show you how to approve your project.

Windows:
Project
Project/Finance
Project/PrePostings
Project/General
Projects
Code Part Values

1.  Ensure that the information on the project is such that it can be approved.
2.  Approve the project.

General exercise for Approving and Starting Projects.

Releasing Activities

Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to show you how to release an activity.

Windows:
Project Navigator/Activity
Activity/General

1. Release the activity.

General exercise for Releasing Activities  

Defining Project Cost/Revenue Elements

Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to show you how to define project cost elements.

Windows:
Project Cost/Revenue Elements

1. Define project cost revenue elements.

General exercise for Defining Project Cost/Revenue Elements.

Defining Default Cost Elements

Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to show you how to define default cost elements.

Windows:
Default Cost Elements

1. Define default cost elements.

General exercise for Defining Default Cost Elements.

Creating a Milestone Template

Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to show you how to create a milestone template.

Windows:
Milestone Template

1. Create milestone template.

General exercise for Creating a Milestone Template.

Main Exercise

Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to create a document and project connection, and to enter project related information.

Windows:
Design Object
Project Connections
Activity

Creating a Document for a Design Object

1. Open the Design Object window and search for a pump object of the PUMP CENTRIFUGAL class that is in the Under Design status.
2. Click Attachments and then click Documents.
3. Click New.
4. In the Doc Class field, click on the List of Values and select 500.
5. In the Title field, enter Pump Centrifugal Component Specification.
6. In the File Path field, click Browse to locate and attach a physical document file for the document being created. 
7. Click OK to create the document record and connect it to the object.
8. On the Business Object Explorer, navigate to the pump object to which you connected the document.
9. Expand the pump object's More Information node followed by the Document node to view the document record.

Adding a Project Connection to a Design Object

The User Default Project setting is used to automatically assign project connection data to new design objects. However, this should not be used in this exercise since we will manually create the project connection. To make sure this setting has not been set, do the following:

• Open the User Settings dialog box.
• Next, clear the values in the Default Project ID and the Default Activity Sequence fields, and click OK.

1. Open the Design Object window.
2. Click New, and define a new pump centrifugal object by registering the following values:

4. Click Save to create the pump object. The object's design status is set to Under Design. 
5. Click the Project tab.
6. In the Project ID field use the List of Values to select a valid project.
7. In the Sub Project field use the List of Values to select a valid sub project.
8. In the Activity ID field use the List of Values to select a valid activity.
9. Click Save to save these values on the design object, and to create a project connection. The values entered in the Description fields are project name, subproject description, and activity description. Note that the activity sequence number is also entered.

Note: Note the following:

• The List of Values for the sub project ID only displays the subproject values applicable to the entered project ID. 

• The List of Values for the activity ID and the activity sequence only displays the values applicable to the entered project ID and subproject ID.

• You can select the activity ID or activity sequence, without first having to enter values for the project ID and subproject ID. The List of Values, in this case, will display all the activities in the available projects. (The project ID and subproject ID will be automatically entered along with the values for the activity ID and activity sequence).

The values in the List of Values automatically display:

• Projects to which the user has project access.

• Projects with the Initialized, Approved, or Started status.

• Activities with the Planned or Released status.

Adding Planned Cost and Hours

1. Open the Project Connections window.
2. Search for the object used in the previous exercise, and enter the following values.

Field	Value
Planned Hours
*Planned Cost for Cost Element-1	500
*Planned Cost for Cost Element-2
*Planned Cost for Cost Element-3	100

Note: The names for the Planned Cost Elements fields displayed on this window, will be retrieved based on the mappings, for the company of the project to which object connected activity belongs.

3. Click Save to save the values.
4. Open the Design Object window and search for the object for which the planned costs were entered.
5. Click the Project tab, click New in the Planned Cost and Hours table.
6. Add an additional cost element using the List of Values and enter a planned cost against it.
7. Open the Activity window and search for the connected activity. Here you can view the values you entered on the design object. The values might be higher on the Activity window if other objects have added planned costs.
8. Navigate back to the Project Connections window for the pump object and observe that the Total Planned Cost is the sum of the planned costs on all the cost elements connected to the object.

Note: The planned costs are saved on the design object and reported on the project activity. You could repeat this exercise and enter planned costs and hours for several objects connected to the same activity. This will show you how the planned values are summarized and reported on the project activity. Progress on the design objects is covered in the next exercise.

Reporting Progress

Milestone templates and initial milestones can be configured on the design object class, and therefore can be automatically set when new design objects are created. However, the following exercise assumes that the milestone template and its milestones do not exist on the object's class. 

1. Open the Design Object window and search for the pump object created in the first exercise.
2. Click the Project tab.
3. In the Milestone Template field click the List of Values to select a milestone template.
4. In the Milestone Number field to click the List of Values to select a milestone number.
5. Click Save. The following events occur:

• Progress is reported on the activity according to the relevant cost elements for the cost and hours in the Progress field of the Cost and Hours tabs.

10. Open the Activity window and search for the connected activity.
11. Confirm that the progress is reported correctly on the project activity in the Calculated Cost Progress field and the Calculated Hours Progress fields.

Note: The progress is saved on the design object and reported on the project activity. You could repeat this exercise and change the progress for several objects connected to the same activity. This will show you how the progress is calculated and reported on the project activity.