attask administrator course book
TRANSCRIPT
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Copyright © 2011 AtTask, Inc.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means,
whether electronic, mechanical, photocopying, sound recording, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of AtTask, Inc.,
except as permitted by law.
Printed in the United States of America.
Third Edition, October 2011 (rev. 20111012)
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Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 ORGANIZING REQUIREMENTS ........................................................................................................................................... 9
Lesson 1.1 Gathering Requirements................................................................................................................................................................................................ 10 CHAPTER 2 SYSTEM PREFERENCES IMPACTING USER SETUP ........................................................................................................ 15
Lesson 2.1 Customer Preferences.................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16 Lesson 2.2 General Preferences......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 18 Lesson 2.3 Email Preferences............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 23
CHAPTER 3 ORGANIZATIONAL SETUP.................................................................................................................................................. 31 Lesson 3.1 User Companies................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 32 Lesson 3.2 User Groups ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 34 Lesson 3.3 Teams ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 37 Lesson 3.4 Roles.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 41 Lesson 3.5 Portal Profiles ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 48 Lesson 3.6 Access Levels ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 50 Lesson 3.7 Schedule Setup.................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 52
CHAPTER 4 USER SETUP................................................................................................................................................................................ 59 Lesson 4.1 Inviting Users and Adding User Accounts........................................................................................................................................................... 60 Lesson 4.2 Updating User Profiles: User Worksheet ............................................................................................................................................................ 66 Lesson 4.3 Updating User Profiles: Bulk Edit .............................................................................................................................................................................. 69 Lesson 4.4 Updating User Profiles: Individual Edit ................................................................................................................................................................... 71 Lesson 4.5 Company Assignments and Org Charts............................................................................................................................................................... 75 Lesson 4.6 Personal Notifications ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 78 Lesson 4.7 Resetting Passwords......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 84 Lesson 4.8 Deactivating Users ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 86
CHAPTER 5 SYSTEM PREFERENCES IMPACTING WORK SETUP .................................................................................................... 91 Lesson 5.1 Project Management Preferences ............................................................................................................................................................................ 92 Lesson 5.2 Portfolio Management Preferences.......................................................................................................................................................................101 Lesson 5.3 Business Rules ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................103
CHAPTER 6 WORKFLOW SETUP.............................................................................................................................................................107 Lesson 6.1 Custom Statuses...............................................................................................................................................................................................................108 Lesson 6.2 Approval Processes ........................................................................................................................................................................................................114
CHAPTER 7 ORGANIZING PROJECTS....................................................................................................................................................127 Lesson 7.1 Project Companies .........................................................................................................................................................................................................128 Lesson 7.2 Project Groups..................................................................................................................................................................................................................132 Lesson 7.3 Project Schedules.............................................................................................................................................................................................................134 Lesson 7.4 Portfolios and Programs...............................................................................................................................................................................................136
CHAPTER 8 CUSTOMIZATION.................................................................................................................................................................141 Lesson 8.1 Custom Data Setup .......................................................................................................................................................................................................142 Lesson 8.2 Dashboards and External Pages ..............................................................................................................................................................................158 Lesson 8.3 Global Reports and List Controls...........................................................................................................................................................................167 Lesson 8.4 Modifying Portal Profiles ..............................................................................................................................................................................................173 Lesson 8.5 Modifying Access Levels ..............................................................................................................................................................................................179
CHAPTER 9 TIMESHEET AND HOUR SETUP........................................................................................................................................187 Lesson 9.1 Recurring Timesheet Profiles ....................................................................................................................................................................................188 Lesson 9.2 Timesheet Preferences .................................................................................................................................................................................................192 Lesson 9.3 Hour Types .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................200 Lesson 9.4 Expense Types ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................206
CHAPTER 10 HELP DESK AND INTERNAL SUPPORT SYSTEMS ....................................................................................................211 Lesson 10.1 Issue Management Overview.................................................................................................................................................................................212 Lesson 10.2 Queue Properties .........................................................................................................................................................................................................215 Lesson 10.3 Routing Rules and Queue Topics........................................................................................................................................................................222
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WHAT’S NEXT?...............................................................................................................................................................................................229 Course Feedback ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................229 AtTask Global Services Options ......................................................................................................................................................................................................229 AtTask Standard Courses ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................229
APPENDIX A ATTASK REQUIREMENTS QUESTIONNAIRE ............................................................................................................231 APPENDIX B REMINDER NOTIFICATIONS AND EMAIL TEMPLATES .........................................................................................237
Lesson 1 Reminder Notifications ....................................................................................................................................................................................................238 Lesson 2 Email Templates ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................240 Lesson 3 Applying Reminder Notifications To Tasks ..........................................................................................................................................................243
APPENDIX C STEPS TO BUILDING ADDITIONAL APPROVAL PROCESSES..............................................................................247 APPENDIX D KICK-START DATA IMPORTER......................................................................................................................................253
Lesson 1 Creating a Kick-Start Template....................................................................................................................................................................................254 Lesson 2 Simple Group and User Imports ................................................................................................................................................................................258 Lesson 3 Simple Project and Task Imports................................................................................................................................................................................261 Lesson 4 Importing Projects with Custom Data ....................................................................................................................................................................264
APPENDIX E ATTASK INTEGRATIONS ..................................................................................................................................................267 Lesson 1 Who Can Integrate?...........................................................................................................................................................................................................268 Lesson 2 Packaged Integrations........................................................................................................................................................................................................269 Lesson 3 Shelving Old Systems ........................................................................................................................................................................................................270
APPENDIX F ONPREMISE CONFIGURATION ACTIVITIES ..............................................................................................................273 Lesson 1 AtTask Installation Overview........................................................................................................................................................................................273 Lesson 2 OnPremise Configuration Steps .................................................................................................................................................................................278
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Introduction We would like to welcome you to the AtTask Administrator education course. It is our honor to have you as a guest to our education center.
The intention of our education program is to provide you with a world-class education experience and assist you with obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the full potential of the AtTask solution.
The value of AtTask education courses is to provide the opportunity for you to increase your product knowledge depth and reduce your implementation time.
Whether you are a part of the Core Team implementing and maintaining the AtTask solution, or an end user, the skills you will learn during your education experience will be applicable to your daily responsibilities and add value to your organization. You will then be able to share your new knowledge with fellow team members to create a highly effective implementation team.
Thank you for your time and dedication to making AtTask a standard part of improving your organization’s value and efficiency. If you have any questions, feel free to contact anyone on the AtTask Global Services team.
In Service to you,
Jackie Golden VP, Global Services AtTask, Inc.
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How to Use This Course Book This course book contains common organizational elements and tools to facilitate course progress and improve the learning experience.
The primary organizational elements in this course are chapters and lessons. Chapters and lessons are presented in the order users see them through normal usage of the software.
Each chapter unifies related (but distinct) topics. Each topic is presented in a lesson. Generally, a lesson will contain the following elements:
1. Introduction/Objectives 2. Scenario 3. Demonstration of Scenario 4. Practice Exercises 5. Summary 6. Exercises
Introduction/Objectives
The purpose of the introduction is to provide context to the topic and to tie in previously discussed material.
Scenario
The scenario presents a possible “real life” use case that relates to the topic discussed.
Demonstration of Scenario
Every scenario contains step-by-step instructions to satisfy the need presented in the use case. When you attend an instructor-lead presentation of the course material, these steps will be demonstrated for you.
Practice Exercises
Some lessons may contain Practice Exercises that present slightly different use cases from the primary scenario of the lesson. The Practice Exercises are not usually demonstrated during the presentation of course material, but time should be provided for each participant to complete these exercises.
The primary purposes of the Practice Exercises are:
1) To present additional ways of thinking about solutions, and 2) To create “muscle memory” as you repeat the steps from the scenario.
The Practice Exercises are meant to stimulate questions you would not have otherwise. If you have questions about the steps you are prompted to follow, please bring them up to your instructor. You will find solutions for the Practice Exercises contained in the exercise steps provided.
NOTE
It is almost always necessary to complete each scenario as you progress through the course. Future lesson scenarios are often be dependent on earlier scenarios.
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Summary
Lessons present a summary of material covered to remind you of the objectives. If you feel you the course presentation have not met the objectives of the lesson, ask the instructor to review topics that were not addressed or that are unclear.
Exercises
Exercises appear at the conclusion of most lessons. When a lesson is primarily informational you will not have Lesson Exercises. Additionally, when several lessons are very closely related, the Lesson Exercises may be presented as Chapter Exercises.
The purpose of Lesson Exercises is to measure whether you have learned the material well enough to complete common activities on your own. For the most part, you will not receive step-by-step instructions for completing each exercise. Instead, you will be given general directions and be expected to complete the steps on your own. You may find it necessary to refer back to lesson materials. Likewise, if you find you are stumped on an exercise it is appropriate to ask the instructor for help.
On more advanced courses, Lesson Exercises may be followed by Exercise Solutions. Exercise Solutions do not appear in primer courses because, in general, each lesson should fully prepare you to complete the steps to satisfy each exercise. If you are not sure you completed an exercise correctly, please ask your instructor to review the exercise.
NOTE
Like Scenarios, it is always necessary to complete each exercise as you progress through the course. Future lesson exercises are often dependent on earlier exercises.
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Your Course Objectives In order to assist the course facilitator in understanding and meeting your needs as an organization, and as an administrator of AtTask, please identify your organizational goals for the AtTask system as well as your objectives for this training course. You will be asked to share these with the class, and the instructor will incorporate, as much as possible, your requirements throughout the training.
Organizational Objectives for AtTask
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Objectives for this Course
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Chapter 1 Organizing Requirements Successful implementations of AtTask require translating requirements into system configuration choices. Often there is more than one “right” way to configure AtTask to achieve the same goals. However, along the way you also need to consider a balance between the simplicity and accuracy of data generated and stored in the system, and how it is accessed.
The purpose of this chapter is not to train you on how to make all the decisions you will need to make during implementation – this is something your AtTask Consultant can assist with. Rather, this chapter identifies questions you should be asking during the Discovery phase of your AtTask implementation. It also provides a list of common requirements; this list of requirements will be used throughout the course as administration topics are presented.
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Lesson 1.1 Gathering Requirements
Determining Requirements
If you organization is working with an AtTask consutant, you will become very familiar with the AtTask Implementation Methodology. The implementation methodology is designed to take a single existing process and/or key project(s) into AtTask. By the end of your initial implementation you will have configured AtTask to meet the requirements and success criteria of your process or project(s).
Whether using an AtTask consultant or not, each of you will need to follow these steps in some shape or form to successfully implement AtTask.
This course is not designed to make you experts in each facet of the methodology. Instead it will focus primarily on some of the Design and Configuration activities you will do.
As an abbreviated summary of what you will hope to accomplish in your initial implementation, the following outlines what you will be doing during your implementation period in three steps.
1. Identify a single existing process or a few key projects you wish to map into AtTask. Create a flowchart to illustrate process. Provide definitions of each step, containing key players, skill sets, and a verbose description of the
step. Identify necessary reports to support this process.
2. Define success criteria for your AtTask implementation.
3. Configure AtTask to support this process, perform user acceptance tests to validate your success criteria are met, and roll out generally (to users involved in this process).
After your initial implementation, repeat these steps to bring additional processes and group into the software.
@task Implementation MethodologyDISCOVER DESIGN CONFIGURE PILOT TEST DEPLOY MAINTAIN
Sponsor / StakeholderProject ManagerBusiness UsersAtTask Design LeadAtTask Customer Success Rep
AtTask Design LeadProject ManagerBusiness UsersAtTask Solution ExpertAtTask Customer Success Rep
Project ManagerImplementation TeamAtTask Solution ExpertAtTask Design LeadAtTask Customer Success Rep
Project ManagerPilot TeamAtTask Solution ExpertAtTask Customer Success Rep
Project ManagerIT SupportCustomer SupportDeployment TeamAll @task usersAtTask Solution ExpertAtTask Customer Success Rep
Sponsor / StakeholderProject Managers@task AdministratorsAtTask Customer SupportAtTask Customer Success Rep
Business Model ReviewBusiness Process FlowsSystem Data FlowsDetermine Strategic Alignment
Design SessionDefine Repeatable ProcessesDefine Reporting Metrics and StandardsEducate Implementation TeamSolution Requirements Mapping
Knowledge TransferUnit TestPilot Test PreparationReview/Establish Best PracticesConfigure @task to design specs
Execute Test Plan StrategySuccess Criteria ValidationIssue ResolutionEvaluate Production Readiness
Execute Deployment Strategy
Team member TrainingSystem Readiness
Transition to Customer SupportIssue Resolution
Review Business ValueFuture Phase Plans
Define UsersDefine SetupDefine Security Plan
Environment and Software Setup / ValidationDefine Test ProceduresData Readiness
Configure and test security setupPerform unit test
Validate all users accessFull System TestTesting Validation
Operation SupportSetup Internal SupportMaintenance Best Practices
Review Outstanding IssuesReview Stability & Usability
PEOPLE
PROCESS
TECHNOLOGY
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Understanding AtTask Relationships
There are two primary AtTask components: People and Work.
Nearly everything in the system can be directly connected to one or both of these components. In AtTask-speak, you usually refer to these two objects as Users and Projects (and tasks, issues, hours, approvals, etc.).
* This is not meant to illustrate a comprehensive diagram of all the relationships to AtTask objects for the user profile.
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* This is not meant to illustrate a comprehensive diagram of all the relationships to AtTask objects for the project object.
As you begin implementing AtTask, you can usually categorize each security, process, or other requirement as a User or Work requirement.
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Asking the Right Questions
The following represents the types of questions you should ask your implementation team and other stakeholders. This list is not comprehensive, and it does not replace the questionnaire you may be asked to complete as part of your consulting services with an AtTask consultant.
Initiative Review What problems you are trying to solve that prompted this initiative? What are the strategic questions you hope to answer through purchasing AtTask? What metrics have been established to determine the success of implementing AtTask?
Business Processes
Project Management
How are Projects managed today? Include any documentation or illustrations for clarification. With regards to project management, what does the ideal future state entail? What constitutes a successful Project Management implementation? Identify the current projects you will be migrating into AtTask. What application or tool or they currently
stored in? Do you have a diagram or documented workflow for each project that includes the process, tasks,
resources, and workflows defined?
Resource Management
How are Resources managed today? Please include any documentation or illustrations for clarification. What constitutes a successful Resource Management implementation?
Issue Management
Will you be tracking issues against projects in the system? Please describe the desired process of how project issues should be handled in the system. Will you be using AtTask as a help desk or issue management system outside of projects? Please describe the requirements of how you would like this process handled in the system.
Business Users
Which departments/divisions will be involved in the initial rollout? Which additional departments will be involved in the final rollout?
How many unique processes will be involved in the initial rollout? Final rollout? When are you expecting to roll your first process to the implementation team? Each additional process? How many users will be needed to trained in the initial rollout? Final rollout? (Please segment users into
the following groups, Administrators, Project/Program Managers, End Users, and Executives) Can you provide an org chart that defines the user community with locations?
Reporting Describe in detail all the reports you plan to generate in AtTask by group/department. What dashboards are required for the Executive team to improve visibility and management capabilities?
Other Describe additional requirements determined by your desired workflow and/or corporate culture that
may impact your AtTask configuration.
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Once you become familiar with AtTask objects you are prepared to answer requirement questions through other means, such as the checklist shown below. See Appendix A for full versions of these questionnaires.
NOTE
Throughout this course, you will be presented with sample requirements and see a demonstration of the steps necessary to satisfy the requirments.
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Chapter 2 System Preferences Impacting User Setup The purpose of this chapter is to identify system preferences that almost universally need to be updated in each account of AtTask. The settings discussed in this chapter either simplify user creation or otherwise impact the user experience.
By the end of this chapter you will know how to:
Access the Customer Preferences page and update the default locale and timezone options, as well as set the system currency.
Access the General Preferences page and update password security preferences.
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Lesson 2.1 Customer Preferences
The Customer object represents your organization, an AtTask, Inc. customer. There are a number of global options that appear in this area of the application. System Administrators can access and make modifications to their Customer profile by going to Setup Organizational Setup Customer Info.
Once in the Customer Info area, click the Edit Customer link in the left-hand navigation.
The primary fields of importance are the Time Zone, Locale, and Currency fields.
Time Zone
Represents the default time zone for the implementation. It will be the selected time zone as new user resources are created.
Locale
The Locale field controls the date and number format used in outgoing email messages. The value selected here acts as a default for new user creation, but can be modified on a user-by-user basis so individuals in remote offices can view dates and numbers in conventional formats familiar to their country’s language.
The Locale also controls the language format of outgoing emails. The list of supported languages is provided below:
Supported Languages
English (US) French German
Spanish Japanese Chinese (Traditional and Simplified)
Currency
The Currency field controls the currency symbol that will be used in financial reporting.
SCENARIO
You have identified that the timezone for most people accessing AtTask in your organization is the Eastern (US) Timezone. You want this to be the default timezone for new users when they are created.
Additionally, you identified that when people receive emails from AtTask, you want the content of the emails to be formatted with United States standard date and number formats.
Finally, your requirements state that financial inputs and reports need to be based in US dollars.
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Lesson 2.1 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ Make note of the values for these settings you will use in your actual account of AtTask:
Time Zone
Locale
Currency
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 2.2 General Preferences
System preferences dealing with system security are located in the General Preferences area. Project Managers and other people in your organization will be impacted by the selections made on this screen. This lesson will highlight some of the more relevant options in this area. The General Preferences area is only accessible to users with System Administrator access. An administrator will access this page by going to Setup System Settings Preferences General Preferences.
Passwords
Password Complexity Requirement
As the system administrator, you have the ability to set the Password Complexity Requirements.
High Complexity Medium Complexity
Passwords must be at least eight (8) characters in length.
Passwords must be at least six (6) characters in length.
Passwords should include at least three of the four character types.
Passwords should include at least two of the four character types.
Users will be prompted to change their password every 90 days.
NOTE
When the ‘Low’ option is selected no requirements are imposed on the password.
NOTE
If using LDAP or SSO, password requirements will be dictated by your active directory configuration.
Character Types
Uppercase letters Lowercase letters Numbers Special characters (such as ?, &, %, etc.)
SCENARIO
To enhance the security of your AtTask account, you decide to modify the Password Security setting to High and lock people out of the system for one hour if they provide an incorrect password five (5) consecutive times.
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Password Timeout
Incorrect Password Timeout
This field indicates the amount of time that must lapse when an incorrect password is entered. The timeout is triggered if there are five consecutive login failures.
Time Out
Session Time Out
This field allows OnDemand customers to define the duration of browser sessions. For OnPremise customers, note that AtTask will use the smallest value from this field or the Session Time Out field on the system configuration pages.
SCENARIO
Your IT department informs you that all web-based applications must automatically log people out after 15 minutes of inactivity.
Use the Session Timeout field to set a preference to meet this security requirement.
NOTE
In the absence of a strict security policy, be sure to balance your security preference against what will make the application easier for users to interact with.
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The remainder of the material in this lesson is provided for reference only. It describes the other fields presented on the General Preferences form that are not necessary to meet the requirements outlined. You can also review further detailed material on these topics on the AtTask Help site – help.attask.com.
URL Configuration
Use External Path Setting for Flash Applications
The Use External Path Setting for Flash Applications field is only set to Yes under certain situations, such as using a security certificate in your AtTask connection, in which applying the certificate breaks Flash functionality (Gantt Chart, Resource Grid, Team Builder, and Capacity Planner). Do not set to Yes except as a troubleshooting step if the Flash applications never load.
Help URL
It is common in large implementations for the core team to create a custom help site, portal, or Wiki to distribute training material, videos, and customized documentation.
By inputting the URL to the custom webpage into the Help URL field, the Help link in the upper right corner of the interface will direct users to that page instead of the AtTask Community.
It is common to reference AtTask material on your organizations custom help page or provide a link back to the AtTask Community.
Report Configuration
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Prompt Security
Allows the ability to show drop-down, checkboxes, radio buttons, and multi-select fields on a prompt screen when running reports for non-static fields.
Aggregate report caching
Allows for faster load time on Aggregate Reports, which typically requires querying large datasets.
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Lesson 2.2 Exercises
Exercise 1 ☐ Identify the settings for the following General Preferences fields that you will use in your account of
AtTask:
Password Complexity
Incorrect Password Timeout
Session Timeout
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 2.3 Email Preferences The Email Preferences page controls:
The mail server used to send emails from. The From address of outbound emails. Whether or not replies to emails sent from AtTask will be recorded as notes in the system. The frequency AtTask runs scripts to send outbound and check for inbound messages.
The scenarios in this lesson all assume you know how to navigate to the Email Preferences page.
You access the Email Preferences page by going to Setup System Settings Preferences Email Preferences.
To change the From Address of outbound emails
1. Open the Email Preferences page.
2. Locate the System Email Address field in the Mail Setup section.
3. Change the value from [email protected] to [email protected].
4. Click Save.
System Email Address
This is the ‘From ‘address for most emails sent from AtTask. It is suggested that you change this to something your end users will recognize as coming from your account of AtTask.
Suggested Value: [email protected]
NOTE
The following scenarios discuss only the settings of fields common to both on-demand and on-premise customers. On-premise customers will want to review Appendix F for specific email configuration steps unique to installed instances of AtTask.
SCENARIO
It has been decided that all system-generated emails should come from the following email address: [email protected].
The expectation is this email address will communicate to individuals receiving emails that the message is from your account of AtTask and can be trusted.
Update the System Email Address field to use the above address.
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To change the frequency of outbound timed notifications
1. Open the Email Preferences page.
2. Locate the Reminder Notifications field in the Notes and Messaging Options section.
3. Change the value from Daily to Hourly.
4. Click Save.
Reminder Notifications
This field controls how frequently AtTask will send reminder notifications to your user base.
SCENARIO
Project managers plan on placing Reminder Notifications on high-priority tasks. These timed notifications, by default, are sent once a day. Project managers want them to be sent out on an hourly basis.
Update the Reminder Notifications field to reflect this requirement.
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To convert inbound emails to notes
1. Outside of AtTask, setup a POP email account on your internal mail server. This needs to be an email account use solely for routing AtTask notes. Otherwise, you will either get unwanted messages in your AtTask account; or people sending email to this account that are not licensed AtTask users will receive an email saying their email could not be received, and the message will be lost.
2. Open the Email Preferences page.
3. Locate the POP Configuration section.
4. In the POP Time dropdown, select the frequency you want AtTask to check for new mail.
5. Change the POP Enabled radio button to Yes.
6. Input the full address for the POP account you created previously in the POP Email Address field.
7. Input the username and password for the email account in the POP Username and POP Password fields respectively.
8. Input the server address where the POP account was setup into the POP Server field.
9. Depending on your mail server configuration, update the Enforce SSL/TLS and Port Number fields.
10. Click Save.
SCENARIO
Both project managers and team members want to be able to reply to emails sent from AtTask and have their responses captured as notes on the project, task, or issue related to the original email they received.
Enable inbound emails by populating the fields in the POP Configuration section of the Email Preferences page.
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POP Time
This represents the frequency that AtTask will check for new email in the POP email account designated for replies to system emails and notes.
POP Enabled
If the POP Enabled is set to Yes, AtTask will query the POP email account setup for new note creation and pull replied-to emails into the system as notes.
POP Email Address
This is the full email address for the designated POP email account. It will be inserted into the header for outgoing emails as the Reply-To address.
POP Username
This is the username for the POP email account.
POP Password
This is the password for the POP email account.
POP Server
This is the server where the POP email account exists.
Enforce SSL/TLS
If your POP server only accepts secure connections, change this value to ‘Yes’, then input a Port number in the following field.
Port Number
Identifies the secure port used by your SSL/TLS connection to the POP server.
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To hide the object code and ID in subjects of emails sent from AtTask
1. Outside of AtTask, configure your mail server to support Reply-To Plus Addressing.
2. Open the Email Preferences page.
3. Locate the Use Reply-To Addressing field in the POP Configuration section.
4. Update the field to Yes.
5. Click Save.
Use Reply-To Addressing
Mail servers that support reply-to plus addressing will store the data needed in an email to reply and post messages to AtTask in the reply-to header. Otherwise, this data will be stored in the email subject.
SCENARIO
By default, to route inbound messages to the correct work item or note thread, AtTask appends the subject line with the record’s object code and unique ID.
You want to hide the object code and ID because it causes confusion and messages are not getting routed when people remove that portion of the subject in their replies.
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The remainder of the material in this lesson is provided for reference only. It describes the other fields available when defining Email Preferences that are not necessary to meet the requirements outlined in the scenarios. You can also review further detailed material on these topics on the AtTask Help site – help.attask.com.
Mail Server Hostname
This specifies the mail server through which email from AtTask will relay on its way to the recipient. OnDemand Value: mail OnPremise Value: your corporate mail server
Bounce Email Message
The value input into this field is the message that unauthorized senders will receive as they attempt to submit an issue via email.
If it is left empty the message indicates that a non-licensed resource does not have access to submit an issue to a queue.
Use Generic From Address
Emails sent as notes are not considered system-level emails. As a user enters a note and sends it to selected recipients as an email, the default from address for the email will be set to the email address associated with the sender’s user profile.
Sometimes, the receiving mail server will reject the emailed note because it appears to be spam. In cases where system emails are being received, but note emails are not, the first solution is to set the Use Generic From Address field to Yes.
Generic From Address
Normally the Generic From Address is set to match the System Email Address field above.
Alternatively, your email administrator can white list emails being sent from the AtTask server and/or turn off the anti-spoofing utility for emails sent from AtTask.
Default Message Email Setting
When set to Yes, the Email Recipients checkbox will automatically be marked on the New Notes interface and the Optional Comment box, and the selected recipients will receive the recorded note via email and through the messaging system.
Default Comment Box Visibility
The default setting is to have the Optional Comment box appear Automatically once a change is made on the project, task, or issue.
Alternatively, you may set the Optional Comment box to display immediately on the Edit or Update project, task or issue screens. This is done by setting the value for this field to Always Visible.
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Lesson 2.3 Exercises
Exercise 1
☐ When your project collaborators receive emails from AtTask, what email address should appear as the From address for the email? ________________________________
Exercise 2
☐ Will your team members be able to reply to AtTask emails to generate notes in the system? If so, gather the following information to issue a request to your IT department to provision the POP email account:
Prefered Reply-To Email Address
Prefered Email Account Username
Prefered Email Account Password
Be sure to include in your request that the email account must be a POP account. Also find out if: Your POP server supports Reply-To Plus addressing Your POP server requires a secure connection
Lesson Notes
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Chapter 3 Organizational Setup The Organizational Setup area of the application is where you begin creating elements that will eventually become associated with your user profiles. Some of these components will also be associated with projects, but these relationships will be discussed further as you focus on satisfying project-related requirements.
By the end of this chapter you will know how to: Create companies and how they are used on user profiles Map the groups object to departments in your organization Use teams as opposed to roles for assigning resources to work Choose which access levels to apply to different types of resources Choose which portal profiles to apply to different resources
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Lesson 3.1 User Companies An important user configuration step is to create managerial relationships between users. This produces an org chart that is primarily used in creating reports. For example, a manager may want to review a report that shows late tasks assigned to users reporting to “me”.
System administrators can create or modify Companies by going to the Create menu and selecting Company.
Company
On the New Company form, locate the Company field and input your company’s name.
Inputting company billing rates and assigning companies to users is addressed in future chapters.
SCENARIO
Create a Company to represent your organization so during user creation you can make manager-subordinate relationships.
NOTE
If additional fields are necessary, you can create a Custom Data form to expand the information stored at the company level.
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Lesson 3.1 Exercises Exercise 1
☐ Obtain an existing org chart of the people who will be accessing AtTask to simplify the process of building out user relationships.
Exercise 2
☐ If you plan on creating user accounts for people outside of your company (e.g., vendors, subcontractors, clients), make a list of those organizations you will need to add to your account. This will allow you to associate the external users with the appropriate companies.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 3.2 User Groups Groups represent an organizational unit distinct from companies. They are a convenient way to organize users and projects for searches and for assigning access rights and permissions. In general, groups coincide with departmental divisions. This allows departments to keep their information (such as users, templates, custom data, and projects) separate from other departments using the software.
When you create a user profile, you should add that person to the appropriate group. This gives the user abilities to access objects associated with the group. For example, if you associate a new project with a group, then users who are in the group can access that project. Users must belong to a home group but can belong to multiple groups as well.
It may be that in your organization several departments work together to manage projects and the resources working on these projects. If this is the case, it may not be necessary to divide your departments into separate groups. A few high-level groups may suffice. Having multiple groups becomes more important in larger implementations of AtTask. Generally, installations with 25 or fewer resources can get by with one or two groups. Implementation managers with greater than 25 people accessing AtTask will want to carefully organize their groups and group membership.
While a user may have several group associations, a project can only be assigned to a single group. That is not to say users from different groups cannot work on the same project, but there can only be one group name associated with the project. This can be thought of as the primary group responsible for completing the project.
System Administrators access the Groups are by going to Setup Organizational Setup Groups.
Once you are in the Groups area, you can create a new Group by clicking on the New Group link in the left-hand navigation menu.
SCENARIO
The following departments will be using AtTask to manage their unique projects:
Development Marketing Professional Services
Review the groups already created in your demo account of AtTask and add the missing groups.
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Group
Input the name of the group in the Group field. Add a description if desired.
NOTE
Group membership impacts what people can see. Most default access levels do not allow project collaborators to view work items on projects associated with other groups unless they are specifically assigned to the project team.
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Lesson 3.2 Exercises Exercise 1
☐ In your demo account, create a new group called Marketing: Design.
Exercise 2
☐ Identify the departments that will be utilizing AtTask.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 3.3 Teams Teams are a collection of individuals that work together. The individuals on a team may have different job roles or responsiblities. However, because they work closely together, their goals are intertwined.
The purpose of teams in AtTask is to allow project managers to quickly assign work. Through the Gantt Chart and other tools, project managers can assign task and issue work to the team. Members of the team see these work requests on the Team Requests page and can then volunteer to take on the work. This generally works well in cultures where individuals have a strong sense of ownership for their work and where the skill set required to do the work is universally shared among all team members.
Teams also allow other users (non-project mangers) to request work from other teams. This is especially useful when you are not completely sure of who to assign, but you know it will be someone from the team.
SCENARIO
Project mangers in the Development and Marketing groups are not required to review resource availability before making specific user assignments. To simplify and streamline the project manager’s planning activities, team assignments should be made in the Gantt Chart instead of role-based or user-based assignments.
According to the requirements you identified, you need the following teams:
Development Teams Marketing Teams
Product Management
Dave Parker Jona Matsu Paul Turner
Creative
Elizabeth Powell Ken Sato Marci Watson Matt Fazio
Quality Assurance
Marshall Thompson Ray Andrews
Events
Anita Jordan Carlos Rodriguez Jennifer Campbell
Scrum Team 1
Erin Davis Kim Louis Pam Reynolds
Lead Generation
Jack Oliver Marc Lewis
Scrum Team 2
Jenna Nunez Joe Stevens Mary Madsen Susan Smith
Corporate Marketing
Anita Jordan Carlos Rodriguez Elizabeth Powell Jack Oliver Jennifer Campbell Marc Lewis Marci Watson Matt Fazio
Create the Product Management and Creative teams now.
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To Create the Product Management Team
1. Expand the Create menu and select the Team option.
2. Enter a name descriptive enough for others to recognize what the Team represents.
3. Click the Add Team Member link to assign resources to the team. Repeat this step until you have entered all team members. Click save when you are finished.
It is strongly recommended you always discuss your organization’s team needs with all stakeholders before creating teams.
PRACTICE EXERCISE
Follow the same steps provided above to build out the Creative team.
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The remainder of the material in this lesson is provided for reference only. It describes the other options available when defining a team that are not necessary to meet the requirements outlined. You can also review further detailed material on these topics on the AtTask Help site – help.attask.com.
The Done Button
The Done button allows System Administrators to control which status options appear when a Team Member finishes a task. A System Administrator can customize these options to display only those that best fit within an organization’s structure. These selections are made individually for the task object and the different issue types.
To Alter the Done Button
1. From the Home page, navigate to Setup Organizational Setup Teams.
2. From the Team Home list, select the name of the team you want to alter.
3. Click the Done Button tab.
4. From the list below, select the status you want to appear when your team members finish a task. You may select more than one option if you want a variety of statuses to apply to a finished task or issue. Be sure to save your changes.
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Lesson 3.3 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ Refer to the scenario for Lesson 3.3 and create the remaining Development teams with the respective user
assignments. This exercise is necessary for future scenarios to work.
Exercise 2 ☐ Refer to the scenario for Lesson 3.3 and create the remaining Marketing teams with the respective user
assignments.
Exercise 3 ☐ Build out a list of teams you will be creating in your AtTask account:
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 3.4 Roles Job roles in AtTask are affiliated with both users and work (tasks and issues). Each user may be assigned a job role or a skill set. It is important to note that the job role that a user has in AtTask is more closely tied with the function they will perform in the tool and not necessarily the job title they may have in your organization. By assigning a user a specific job role, you qualify them to perform any task that requires the said job role. Users can, and often do, have multiple job roles within the tool. A user will have a default/primary role and also other roles they may perform.
Assigning a user a specific job role does not determine what group or company they belong to, nor does it define who their manager is. A job role defines what skill set the user will fill when it is time to assign them tasks.
An Administrator can create new jobs by going to the Resource Management Job Roles area.
To create the roles for this exercise
1. Go to Resource Management Job Roles. Notice the Consultant role already exists in this environment, so you will not need to create that role.
2. Click the Add Role icon.
3. Input Associate Consultant in the name field.
4. Input Associate Consultant in the Job Role field.
5. Provide a description, as needed.
6. Input the Cost Per Hour and Billing Per Hour for this role.
SCENARIO
Project managers in the Professional Services group need to make sure they are assigning the resources with the specific skill sets. Additionally, resource availability is a primary concern. Project managers will build templates with job role assignments and use the Team Builder to satisfy those requirements.
Professional Services Roles Cost Rate Billing Rate
Associate Consultant Consultant Solutions Architect Technical Consultant
$25 $50 $45 $60
$50 $100 $90
$125
Review the existing roles and create only those that are not already in the sytem.
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Cost Per Hour
When a task has a role-based cost rate and a role is assigned to the task, this is the value that will be used to estimate a planned cost and the actual cost of the task.
Billing Per Hour
When a task has a role-based revenue rate and a role is assigned to the task, this is the value that will be used to estimate a planned billing amount and the actual revenue of the task.
PRACTICE EXERCISE
Repeat steps 2 through 6 to create the Solutions Architect and Technical Consultant roles.
PRACTICE EXERCISE
Locate and click into the Consultant Role provided with your account. Try editing it and updating the Cost and Billing rates.
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Job Role Import When you have a long list of Job Roles, it usually best to import them instead of manually entering the roles.
To import a list of job roles
1. Download the import template, fill in at least the Name field, and save it as a comma-separate or tab-separated text file (*.csv or *.tsv).
2. Navigate to Resource Management Job Roles.
3. Click the Import Job Roles link in the left-hand navigation menu.
SCENARIO
Project managers in the Accounting group need significantly more roles added to the system. You decide it would be more beneficial to import them instead of manually entering the names on the New Job Role page.
Accounting Roles Cost Rate Billing Rate
Accountant $30 $60 Accounts Payable $25 $50
Accounts Receivable $35 $70
Auditor $55 $90
Business Analyst $40 $80
Controller $70 $110
GL Accountant $30 $60
Intern $13 $26
Revenue Accountant $30 $60
Download the role import template from the AtTask Help site – https://community.attask.com/sites/default/files/Job_Roles_Import_Sample.xls – and update it to include the above roles.
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4. Browse for and select the file you have already prepared for import.
5. Click the Next button.
6. Map the AtTask fields from the Field Name column to the data from the import file, which shows up in the series of drop down fields.
7. Click the Finish button.
NOTE
The file must be either a comma separated or tab delimited text file. Normally these are created in Excel (or equivalent) and then saved as a *.csv file.
NOTE
If your import file contains a header row, be sure to mark the ‘First Row Is Header’ checkbox.
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NOTE
The Job Role name must be unique. If you are attempting to import a role that already exists in the system you will receive a message indicating you should check for duplicates.
NOTE
If you are planning on completing several imports that will use the same file structure, you may want to go on to the Next step where you can save your mapping for future use.
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Editing Roles in the Role Worksheet
Modifying Job Roles can be done individually by clicking into each role and clicking the Edit Role link in the left-hand navigation menu. However, you can also edit several roles at the same time through the Role Worksheet.
To edit job roles
1. Select the checkboxes for the roles you wish to edit.
2. Click the Role Worksheet action link icon toolbar.
3. Make any changes you might need to make and click the Save button.
Associating roles with users will be discussed in the User Setup lesson.
SCENARIO
The following roles have incorrect cost rates.
Existing Roles New Cost Rate
Consultant $65 Project Manager $45
Sales Representative $28
You do not want to click into each role to make these modifications. Use the Roles Worksheet to make the necessary updates.
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Lesson 3.4 Exercises
Exercise 1
☐ In your demo environment, create a job role called Graphic Designer.
Exercise 2
☐ Identify the job roles you will need to add to your account of AtTask:
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 3.5 Portal Profiles The purpose of Portal Profiles is to put the right information in front of the right people. Providing a well-defined portal to users will decrease training time and improve workflow, efficiency, and overall user experience.
Portal profiles give System Administrators the ability to customize the first six-workspace tabs of the Home page. In addition, the administrator can configure the tab structure at the project, task, and issue levels. He or she can then assign the portal profile to users to distribute the tabs.
For example, you can create a portal profile so when a user assigned to the profile logs in they see a customized Home page containing the reports and data you want the user to see.
The System Administrator should work with the core implementation team, project managers, and other resources in the system to determine what Portal Profiles are needed, and what reports should be included on each profile.
A user with the System Administrator access level will navigate to the Portal Profile area by going to Setup Interface Setup Portal Profiles.
As opposed to creating a Portal Profile from scratch, it is generally recommended you make a copy of an existing profile that nearly meets your reporting needs. After making the copy, you can reorganize the tab structure to include reports needed to simplify the interface for your user base.
Built-in Portal Profiles AtTask provides seven built-in profiles that are optimized for the most common types of users.
Profile Description
Full User License Default portal profile for the full AtTask license.
Team User License Identical to the Full User License portal profile.
Executive Profile Provides portal components common to executives and upper management.
Portfolio Manager Provides portal components common to portfolio managers.
Project Manager Provides portal components common to project managers.
Individual Contributor Profile
Provides portal components common to individuals that routinely work on tasks and issues.
Help Desk Requestor Provides portal components common to individuals that submit requests/issues only.
Client Portal Profile Provides portal components common to clients who are interested in monitoring the progress of their projects.
NOTE
Administrators cannot modify built-in profiles, but they can copy these profiles and make adjustments to the copies. The process for customizing Portal Profiles will be discuss later.
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Lesson Notes
NOTE
For a complete breakdown of the reports each portal profile provides see the Help Article on this topic – https://help.attask.com/#url=/index.php/node/load/694.
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Lesson 3.6 Access Levels Access levels are rights or privileges that control what users are able to see and do in AtTask. Under the direction of executive managers, system administrators choose appropriate access levels for users based on what users need to do in an organization. Although you can create custom access levels, AtTask has a set of 10 access levels that have been predefined for you.
Default Access Levels
Name Rank Explanation
System Administrator 99 User can have administrative access to AtTask and can access all functions and information. Very few users should have this set of permissions.
Multi-Group Administrator
85 User can access all AtTask information and functions within any of the assigned groups.
Group Administrator 80 User can access all AtTask information and functions within this user's home group.
Portfolio Manager 65 User can access information and functionality that is generally limited to this person's own portfolio.
Executive 60 User can view everything, but can only edit his or her own tasks, documents and issues.
Project Manager 50 User can access and edit information and functions within this person's own projects.
Individual Contributor 25 User can access and edit information and objects that are directly assigned to this person.
Team Member 25 User can access and edit information and objects that are directly assigned to this person.
Timesheet User 10 User can view only limited project information. This access level requires only a Limited-Use license.
Help Desk Requestor 5 User can only submit help desk requests, and requires only a help desk requestor license.
NOTE
For a complete breakdown of what permissions each access level provides see the Help Articles that describe each access level – https://help.attask.com/#url=/index.php/node/load/171.
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Lesson Notes
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Lesson 3.7 Schedule Setup Schedules represent the normal work schedule for user resources. They are necessary in order to identify when project work will occur, or more importantly, when it won’t occur.
AtTask is shipped with a ‘Default Schedule’ for a typical workweek (Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm). Because each organization will have unique corporate holidays, schedule exceptions are not included in this schedule – you will have to add them.
Schedules are created (and updated) by going to Resource Management Schedules.
Edit An Existing Schedule
SCENARIO
The default schedule provided with all new AtTask accounts assumes a Monday through Friday 9 AM to 5 PM schedule (no time for lunch) for the Mountain Standard Timezone. Because each organization is different, it also does not include any corporate holidays.
Update the Default Schedule provided with your AtTask account to change the timezone to match the system setting from Lesson 2.1.
Update the Schedule Exceptions to match the established corporate holidays.
New Year’s Day Presidents Day Good Friday Memorial Day Independence Day
Labor Day Thanksgiving and Day After Christmas Eve Christmas Day Boxing Day
Rename the schedule to US East Coast.
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To edit the Default Schedule
1. Navigate to Resource Management Schedules.
2. Click the Schedule named Default Schedule.
3. Click the Edit Schedule link in the left-hand menu.
4. Rename the Schedule and make other changes, as needed.
5. Go to the Schedule Exceptions tab and select each day of the year that represents a corporate holiday.
6. Click the Edit icon to the right of the November 21, 2012 entry.
7. Deselect the Entire day off checkbox and set the start and end range to reflect the time that people will be working.
8. Repeat step 5 to 7 for the next three to five years.
9. Click Save to store the change to the date.
10. Click Save to submit all the changes to the schedule.
NOTE
Generally, you will want to update the Default Schedule to match your system requirements as early as possible. As you have need for additional schedules you can then copy the schedule and make fewer adjustments over all.
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Creating New Schedules
To Create the US West Coast Schedule
1. Navigate to the Schedules area.
2. Click on the New Schedule link on the left navigation menu.
3. Input a name for the schedule, identify the groups that should have access to modify it, and select the timezone the schedule supports. DO NOT mark it as the default schedule; this will automatically assign it to new users as they are created.
4. Navigate to the Schedule tab.
SCENARIO
Chris Manning is going to do his project work during normal business hours – 9 am to 6 pm Pacific timezone – with a 1-hour lunch break.
He and possibly others working on the west coast should also have the normal corporate holidays built into the schedule:
New Year’s Day Presidents Day Good Friday Memorial Day Independence Day
Labor Day Day Before Thanksgiving (Half Day) Thanksgiving and Day After Christmas Eve Christmas Day Boxing Day
Create a schedule called US West Coast.
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5. Click the Monday 9 AM cell and drag to the Monday 12:30 PM cell.
6. Click the Monday 2 PM cell and drag to the Monday 5:30 PM cell.
7. Repeat steps 7 and 8 for each weekday.
8. Navigate to the Scheduel Exceptions tab.
9. Click each day of the year where project work will not be done because of corporate holidays.
10. Repeat step 9 for the next three to five years.
11. Click Save to submit the schedule.
12. Click Save again to save the user profile.
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When To Create Multiple Schedules
Reason Tip
Users In Different Time Zones
Create a master schedule with your Schedule and Schedule Exception tabs defined, then copy that Schedule and change the time zone.
Offices With Different Holidays
Once again, create a master schedule, create a copy of it, and then modify the Scheduled Exceptions tab. You may also need to adjust the time zone for the schedule.
Part Time Employees As suggested above, copying a master schedule is probably the best option. You will then be able to modify only the Schedule tab, without having to set corporate holidays again.
Precedence of Schedules
Schedule Description
User
Whenever a user is assigned to a task, the schedule assigned to the user, combined with the user’s PTO schedule, will be used for the given task. Exception: When multiple users are assigned to the same task, and if any of the user schedules conflict, AtTask will either:
1) Use the schedule assigned to the project where the task resides 2) Use the schedule assigned to the default assignee of the task
The behavior described in this exception depends on the preference set on the Project Management Preferences page.
Project
The project schedule is utilized when any of the following conditions are met: A user has not been assigned to the task Several users with differing schedules are assigned to the same task
Default Schedule The system default schedule will be used if the schedule has not been set for the project and when the conditions for using the project schedule are met.
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Lesson 3.7 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ Identify the unique schedules you will need to have in your account of AtTask:
Name Timezone Workday (Start and Stop Times)
Holidays (Outside of Normal Corporate Holidays)
Exercise 2 ☐ Identify the standard corporate holidays your company observes that will apply to all Schedules.
Exercise 3 ☐ If you have an international implementation of AtTask, repeat Exercise 2 for each region you have people
accessing AtTask from.
Lesson Notes
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Chapter 4 User Setup In Chapter 3 you created the building blocks for a user profile; you can now move on to actually defining user accounts. A user serves two purposes:
1) Team members use their user accounts to access the system and review assignments 2) Project managers (and others) assign work items to users
While there are four different ways to create users, this course focuses on the easiest and fastest method. The other options for user creation are all fully discussed in the Help Articles entitled User Creation, Help Desk Registration, and Kick Start Data Importer. These Help Articles are found on help.attask.com.
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Lesson 4.1 Inviting Users and Adding User Accounts With the organizational setup discussed in Chapter 3 complete, creating user accounts is extremely easy.
To invite these user accounts
1. Navigate to Resource Management User Management Add & Invite Users Add Users & Manage Invitations.
2. Fill in the First Name, Last Name, Email Address, Access Level, and Home Group fields for Adam Michaelson.
SCENARIO
The Development group needs to add another scrum team with four individuals that do not have user accounts.
User Names Email/Username Access Level Group
Adam Michaelson [email protected]# Project Manager Development
Jason Waters [email protected]# Team Member Development
Jesse Dowdle [email protected]# Team Member Development
Sean Stephenson [email protected]# Team Member Development
Additional requirements for these user accounts will be provided in the subsequent lessons.
NOTE
Usernames must be unique; if you have a duplicate entry no users will be imported until the duplicate is removed. For this course only, because you are working in a shared environment, append each username entry with your assigned account number – your invitations will not be sent otherwise.
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3. Click the New User button for each additional user and input their information.
4. Click Save to send the invitations.
AtTask will create user profiles for each person you input into the form and send invitations to those individuals.
You can manage the invitations sent from AtTask by clicking back into Add Users & Manage Invitations, and then selecting the Invited Users tab.
From this tool, you have the ability to delete a user profile if you needed to revoke an invitation or to send the invitation again if the invitation has expired.
Preferences for user invitations are found at Resource Management User Management Add & Invite Users Preferences. The image on the following page shows what this preferences page looks like.
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Another Option for Creating User Accounts
As opposed to inputting the user information into the worksheet form, you also have the ability to import a list of users and send invitations that way.
To import user accounts
1. Download the import template from the AtTask Help site – https://community.attask.com/sites/default/files/Users_Import_Sample.xls –, fill in at least the Name field, and save it as a comma-separate or tabseparated text file (*.csv or *.tsv).
2. Navigate to Resource Management User Management Add & Invite Users Add Users & Manage Invitations.
3. Click the Import Users button in the actions toolbar.
4. Browse for and select the file that you have already prepared for import and then click the Next link in the import wizard.
NOTE
The file must be either a comma separated or tab delimited text file. Normally these are created in Excel (or equivalent) and then saved as a *.csv file.
NOTE
There are five required fields for every user profile: First Name Last Name Email Username
Password
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5. This file appears as a series of drop down fields. Map the AtTask fields from the Field Name column to the data from the import file.
6. Click Finish.
At the top of the import-mapping page, you will notice fields for the users’ Home Group, Company, Access Level, and Job Role. At the time of import, the values in these fields will be used if no mapping is provided in your worksheet.
When importing users with Home Group, Company, Access Level, and Job Role associations, AtTask does a name match for these user attributes – you do not need to reference the object IDs.
NOTE
If your import file contains a header row, be sure to mark the ‘First Row Is Header’ checkbox.
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Lesson 4.1 Exercises Exercise 1
☐ If you do not already have a list of named individuals that will be using AtTask, reserve some time on your calendar for compiling this list and formatting it into the Excel file template.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 4.2 Updating User Profiles: User Worksheet Modifying users can be done by clicking into each user profile and clicking the Edit User link in the left-hand navigation menu. However, you can also edit several users at the same time through the User Worksheet. Please note, not all user-related fields appear in the User Worksheet, so you may still need to edit users through another method.
The User Worksheet is ideal for making multiple, unique updates to several resources.
To edit users in the User Worksheet
1. Navigate to the User Management report by going to Resource Management User Management and then clicking the User Management tab. (Or do a search for users.)
2. Select the checkboxes to the left of the users you wish to view in the User Worksheet.
3. Click the User Worksheet action icon in the icon toolbar.
SCENARIO
The Development users you imported in the last lesson require the following Access Level and Company associations, which can be done through the User Worksheet.
User Names Access Level Company
Adam Michaelson Project Manager Goal Sports
Jason Waters Team Member Zen Imports
Jesse Dowdle Individual Contributor Goal Sports
Sean Stephenson Team Member AtTask, Inc.
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4. Make the necessary changes and click the Save button.
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Lesson 4.2 Exercises Exercise 1
☐ Using the User Worksheet, update Matt Fazio and Anita Jordan’s profiles. Set their home groups to Marketing: Design and change their access level to Team Member.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 4.3 Updating User Profiles: Bulk Edit Certain objects allow you to do what is called a ‘bulk edit’; User objects are one of them. In the case of users, the bulk edit allows you to select several resources that need the same change and make the modification in mass.
To edit users in a Bulk Edit
1. Select the checkboxes to the left of the users you wish to view in the Edit Users interface.
2. Click the Edit action from the icon toolbar.
3. Click the checkbox to the left of the fields you want to edit, and select the appropriate option. Marking the checkbox to the left of a field activates the field. Only activiate fields can be modified and are included in the edit when you click Save.
4. Click the Save button to record the changes.
NOTE
If you need to modify the values of Custom Data fields you created previously, change them on the Custom Data tab.
SCENARIO
The Development users you imported were all imported with the incorrect Job Role. They should all be Engineers.
Additionally, all of these users should have their Home Team set as Product Development.
Finally, each of these resources should use the TeamHome page as their primary interface.
Do a bulk edit for these four resources to make the above adjustments.
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Lesson 4.3 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ Recall from Lesson 2.1, you set the default timezone for your account to Eastern Standard Time (US &
Canada). That system preference did not retroactively update existing user accounts; it only impacts new user creation. Use the quick search field in the top right of the interface to do a search for all users and perform a bulk edit to change timezone for all users to Eastern Standard Time (US & Canada).
Exercise 2 ☐ Do a bulk edit for all resources to use the Default Schedule.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 4.4 Updating User Profiles: Individual Edit It is usually not necessary to use the mutli-user edit options when you are modifying a single user profile. Additionally, certain user attributes are easier to modify in an individual edit. In this lesson, you will learn how to navigate to and modify a user profile.
To update Ray’s profile
1. Use the quick search field in the top right of the interface to search for Ray Andrews.
2. Click on Ray’s name in the search results.
3. In the left-hand navigation click Edit User.
4. Go to the Related Information tab.
5. Change Ray’s home team association.
6. Change Ray’s default job role.
7. Change Ray’s timezone to Pacific Standard Time.
8. Expand the Schedule field and select the US West Coast schedule.
9. Click Save.
SCENARIO
Ray Andrews is part of the IT group and works primarily on his group’s projects. Ray’s job role is also incorrect. Change his job role to Engineer and change his home team assignment to Infrastructure.
In Lesson 3.7 you learn Chris Manning works remotely in a different timezone. Ray also needs a west coast schedule and timezone assigned to his.
NOTE
When a person is given a default job role, the role is also assigned as one of the selected options in the Job Roles field, which shows all roles the individual can fulfill.
In Ray’s case he should have never been assigned as a Support Engineer, so he needs this option to be deselected in the Job Roles field.
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The following images provide brief explanations of each field on the New/Edit User forms. Full descriptions of fields are provided on the AtTask Help Site – help.attask.com.
Contact Information Tab
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Related Information Tab
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Lesson 4.4 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ Search for Pam Reynolds’ user profile. Edit it to change her time zone and schedule to use Pacific
Standard Time.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 4.5 Company Assignments and Org Charts The primary purpose of associating users with a company is to build out an Organization Chart. An Org Chart gives you the ability to create manger-subordinate relationships between users. These relationships facilitate reporting and some workflow management.
Recall, you already assigned users to their company through the User Worksheet. You can also associate a user with a Company while editing a single user account. You make these assignments on the Edit User page, Org Chart tab.
To update Chris’s manager assignment
1. Access Chris Manning’s profile either by searching for him or using the Recent menu.
2. Once you are viewing the user profile, click the Edit User link on the left navigation.
3. Navigate to the Org Chart tab.
4. Expand the Reports To dropdown, and select Jack Oliver.
5. Click Save.
Resources can only be associated with other individuals that share the same company assignment. It is recommended you do a bulk edit to make company associations prior to building the Org Chart. This will speed up the process of assigning managers and direct reports.
SCENARIO
There are a number of resources already associated with the Goal Sports company, but they do not necessarily have the correct Org Chart relationships.
Chris Manning should report directly to Jack Oliver (his functional manager), not Jennifer Campbell (the project manager he typically works with). Edit Chris’s profile to make this adjustment.
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NOTE
Typically, resources are associated with their actual managers, not project managers they work with. In many cases, team members work with several project managers at once. To leverage the AtTask org chart to its fullest, you will not want to relate resources to project managers.
TIP
The fastest way to build Org Chart relationships is from the top down. Starting with people filling management positions allows you to use the Direct Reports field, which results in fewer user profiles to edit.
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Lesson 4.5 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ Currently Ray Andrews is a peer with Erin Davis and Marshall Thompson. Assume Ray just received a
promotion and Erin and Marshall will now report to him. Consider your two options for making this adjustment and decide which process is easiest and do it.
1. Update Ray’s profile and set both Erin and Marshall as Direct Reports, or
2. Update Erin’s profile to change her Report To field, and then update Marshall’s profile to make the same change
Option 1 Steps
1. Navigate to Ray Andrew’s user profile.
2. Click Edit User.
3. Navigate to the Org Chart tab.
4. In the Direct Reports field, Ctrl-click Erin Davis and Marshall Thompson.
5. Click Save.
Option 2 Steps
1. Navigate to Erin Davis’ user profile.
2. Click Edit User.
3. Navigate to the Org Chart tab.
4. In the Reports To field, select Ray Andrews.
5. Click Save.
6. Navigate to Marshall Thompson’s user profile.
7. Click Edit User.
8. Navigate to the Org Chart tab.
9. In the Reports To field, select Ray Andrews.
10. Click Save.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 4.6 Personal Notifications Each user has the option to unsubscribe from AtTask-generated emails. This is done on the Notifications tab while editing a user profile.
To update your personal Notifications preferences
1. Click on your name in the upper right of the interface.
2. Click the Edit User link in the left navigation.
3. Navigate to the Notifications tab.
4. Deselect the identified notifications.
5. Click Save.
SCENARIO
Go into your user profile and deactivate the following notifications:
Help Desk Request Status Change to Issue Assigned To Help Desk Request Status Change to Issue Primary Contact Help Desk Request Document Add to Issue Primary Contact
Help Desk Request Document Add to Issue Assigned To
NOTE
Additional notifications are automatically added to the Email Me When… list and enabled as system administrators enable Event Handlers. See the section on Event Handlers for more information.
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Notification Description
Help Desk Request Add to Issue Primary Contact
Emails the individual identified as the Primary Contact for new issues submitted to a Help Desk queue. This is especially useful if it is common to submit issues on behalf of other people.
Help Desk Request Assignment to Issue Primary Contact
Emails the individual identified as the Primary Contact when a user resource is assigned to their request.
Help Desk Request Closed to Issue Primary Contact
Emails the individual identified as the Primary Contact when the status of the request is changed to Closed.
Help Desk Request Document Add to Issue Assigned To
Emails the individual assigned to an issue when a document is attached.
Help Desk Request Document Add to Issue Primary Contact
Emails the individual identified as the Primary Contact when a document is attached to their request.
Help Desk Request Note Add to Issue Primary Contact
Emails the individual identified as the Primary Contact when another user adds a note to their request. The email contains the content of the note.
Help Desk Request Status Change to Issue Assigned To
Emails the individual assigned to an issue when another user updates the status of an issue.
Help Desk Request Status Change to Issue Primary Contact
Emails the individual identified as the Primary Contact when the status of their issue changes.
Issue Commit Date Change to Project Owner
Emails the individual identified as the Primary Contact when the commit date of their issue is adjusted.
Task Commit Date Change to Project Owner
Emails the project owner when the commit date of a task on one of their projects is adjusted.
Task Completion Date Changed to Assigned To
Emails the individual assigned to a task when the planned completion date has been adjusted.
Work Item Comment to Thread Participants
Emails all individuals on a note thread when additional comments are made.
Work Item Comment to Work Item Assignee
Emails the individual assigned to a task or issue when others make comments on their work item.
Work Item Request to Team Emails members of a team (not the project team) when an issue is assigned to the team.
Work Item Request to Work Item Assignee
Emails the individual assigned to a work request.
Work Request Completion Date Changed to Assigned To
Emails the individual assigned to a work request when the planned date is adjusted.
Work Request Reply To Work Requester
Emails the person initiating a work request when the assigned individual replies to the request.
NOTE
Some notifications are redundant. For example, if Help Desk Request Status Change to Issue Primary Contact is enabled is not necessary to enable Help Desk Request Closed to Issue Primary Contact. However, do spend too much time making sure redundant emails are accounted for. When redundant notifications could be sent the application is smart enough to only send one.
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Event Handlers
Event Handlers allow administrators to turn on additional notifications. When Event Handlers are enabled AtTask adds the notification to the Personal Notifications list (in an enabled state). Each person has the ability to turn them off individually to match their preference for emails they receive from AtTask.
You will want to consult with Project Managers and Executives to identify which of the email notifications make the most sense for your organization.
The Event Handlers area is accessible to users with the System Administrator access by going to Setup Workflow Setup Event Handlers.
To activate the Event Handlers
1. Navigate to the Event Handlers page
2. Locate and select the checkboxes to the left of the Event Handler name(s) you wish to enable Issue Add to Project Owner Milestone task Completion to Project Owner Task Progress Change to Project Owner
3. Then click the On light bulb ( ) from the action icons – a red checkmark ( ) will appear next to the newly activated Event Handler(s).
To deactivate an Event Handler
1. Select the checkboxes to the left of the Event Handler name(s) you wish to disable.
2. Then click on the Off light bulb ( ) from the action icons – the red checkmark ( ) will disappear from next to the Event Handler(s).
A partial list of the available Event Handlers is shown below.
NOTE
You can select multiple Event Handlers using the Shift key to select a range, or use the Ctrl (PC) or Command (Mac) key to select multiple options outside of a range.
SCENARIO
As an implementation team (in discussion with your project managers) you decide project managers should receive an email when…
Issues are added Milestones task are completed Tasks’ progress status changes from On Time to Late
…to the projects they own.
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Commonly Used Event Handlers
Name Description
All Predecessor Task Completion to Task Dependents
When all predecessor tasks have been completed, the assigned resources for dependent tasks will be emailed.
Milestone Task Completion to Project Owner
When a task designated as a milestone is completed, the Project Manager would receive an email. Other options send the notification to the entire team or the Project Sponsor.
Task Progress Change to Project Owner When a task on a Current project regresses from an On Time to At Risk or Behind or Late progress status, the Project Manager will be notified. Another option would email the assigned resource.
Unassigned Issue Added to Project Team When an issue is added to a Current project and no user resource is assigned to it, the entire project team will be notified. Another option would email only the Project Manager.
Approval Decision to Object Assigned To When a project, task, or issue has an approval attached to it, AtTask emails the assigned resource whether the work item was approved or rejected.
Object Pending Approval to Approvers When a project, task, or issue has an approval attached to it, AtTask emails the designated approvers to inform them a work item is awaiting their approval.
NOTE
Some Event Handlers can be redundant. For example, if you enable the Issue Completion to Project Team email, you likely do not need to enable the other Issue Completion to… emails.
Review the full list of Event Handlers in your account of AtTask and discuss which ones should be enabled to best facilitate communication and not be a nuisance to recipients.
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Lesson 4.6 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ Navigate to the Event Handlers page to enable the following emails:
Current Project Status Change to Project Team All Predecessor Task Completion to Task Dependents Task Pending Approval to Approvers
Exercise 2 ☐ Go into your user profile and disable the Current Project Status Change to Project Team email. Afterall,
you are the one who will likely be changing the status of the projects you belong to.
Exercise 3 ☐ Identify the Event Handlers you plan on enabling in your account:
Then discuss this list with other stakeholders to get their opinions.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 4.7 Resetting Passwords Each user can reset their password through the interface or from the login screen. The purpose of this lesson is to demonstrate to system administrators how to either:
1) Provide instructions to end users for resetting their own password, or 2) As an administrator, reset a person’s password for them.
To reset your password
1. Go to My Profile Information.
2. In the contextual menu, click the Reset Password link.
3. A non-administrator will be prompted to input their current password, then to provide a new password and confirm it.
4. Click the Submit button to save the new password.
As an administrator, you can reset passwords for any user in the system by navigating to a user profile and then clicking the Reset Password link.
NOTE
A System Administrator does not need to input the current password in order to reset the password.
NOTE
Once the LDAP or SSO integration is enabled the ability to reset passwords through AtTask is deactivated.
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Lesson Notes
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Lesson 4.8 Deactivating Users
To deactivate a user account
1. Navigate to Ray’s user profile.
2. Click the Edit User link on the left navigation.
3. Navigate to the Related Information tab.
4. Expand the Access Level dropdown and select the N/A option.
5. Deselect the Is Active checkbox.
6. Click Save.
You will likely need to make other adjustments as well. You may want to: Change any Org Chart relationships. Do a search for incomplete tasks assigned to Ray to reassign to his replacement (using a bulk edit). Do a search for incomplete issues assigned to Ray to reassign to his replacement (using a bulk edit). Do a search for active projects where Ray was assigned as the project owner to reassign. Update templates, routing rules, and approval processes.
SCENARIO
Ray Andrews just accepted a position in another department that is not currently using AtTask. You need to free up the license seat he is occupying for his replacement to use.
You decide not to delete his user profile because you do not want to loose the historical information (task assignments, notes, hour entries, etc.) tied to his account.
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Deleting Users
It is generally not a good idea to delete a resource that has been an active user in AtTask. Deleting users results in a loss of information.
AtTask does provide the option to identify a replacement user when you do attempt to delete a resource; however, even this has its drawbacks.
When you identify a replacement user, AtTask reassociates all task assignments, notes, hour entries, etc. with the replacement user. The result is that historical and current utilization of the replacement user becomes inflated; their time entries are potentially doubled; and notes they did not write are ascribed to them.
It is recommended the only time the Delete User option is used is when you create a user profile and soon after realize that the profile is not needed.
SCENARIO
The user account you imported for Jason Waters is not necessary. Jason has never logged in and has not been assigned to any work yet. Instead of keeping the profile in your AtTask account creating clutter, you decide it is appropriate to delete the profile.
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To delete Jason’s user account
1. Search for Jason Water’s profile.
2. Once viewing the profile, click the Delete User link on the left navigation.
3. You will be presented with a confirmation screen to verify you actually want to delete the user account.
4. Click Delete.
NOTE
The Replacement User step only appears if the user account you are deleting has been assigned work of some format or to a team.
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Lesson 4.8 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ Locate Marci Watson’s profile and deactivate this account.
Lesson Notes
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Chapter 5 System Preferences Impacting Work Setup The purpose of this chapter is to introduce common system preferences that affect work. The settings discussed in this chapter deals primarily with projects, tasks, and issues. Some preferences include workflow and communication options.
By the end of this chapter you will know how to:
Access the Project Management Preferences to set defaults for new project and task creation. Access the Portfolio Preferences to set defaults for new portfolios and programs. Access the Business Rules page to establish other global preferences for projects. Access the Email Preferences to define outbound and inbound email settings.
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Lesson 5.1 Project Management Preferences The Project Management Preferences page impacts the properties of projects and their sub-units (tasks and issues). The primary activity on this page is to establish default values for new projects and tasks. When defined well, project managers can spend less time setting these values as they create new work items and can get right to planning.
You also have the ability to set global preferences for project work, which cannot be overridden when creating work items.
This lesson presents a number of scenarios and suggests alternate defaults from those shipped with your AtTask account. The instructions for completing each scenario assume you already know how to navigate to the Project Management Preferences page.
You access this preferences page by going to Project Management Project Management Preferences.
Project Creation Default Scenarios
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To set the default Status of new projects
1. Open the Project Management Preferences.
2. Locate and expand the Status field in the Project Creation Defaults section.
3. Select the Planning option.
Status
Indicates the default status displayed on the New Project form. This does not impact the New Project Request form.
To set the default Completion Mode of new projects
1. Open the Project Management Preferences.
2. Locate and expand the Completion Mode field in the Project Creation Defaults section.
3. Select the Automatic option.
Completion Mode
When set , AtTask changes the status of the project from Current to Complete as the last task or issue is completed.
When set to Manual, the project manager must manually change the status of the project upon noticing the completion of all work for the project to be Complete.
SCENARIO
Projects in the Current status are generally considered to be active or executable projects. This means they appear on reports, people receive notifications of new assignments, etc.
According to the project management requirements you have identified, all new projects should have an approved work breakdown structure (WBS) before the project becomes active. Project managers have requested that all new projects use Planning as the initial status.
SCENARIO
Project managers are required to have formal close out steps built into the work breakdown structure (WBS) of their project plans. Once the last task is completed on the project plan, project managers want the project to automatically complete itself.
Update the Completion Mode field to support this request from project managers.
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To enable Automatic Baseline Creation
1. Open the Project Management Preferences.
2. Locate and expand the Create Baselines Automatically field in the Project Creation Defaults section.
3. Select the Yes option.
Create Baseline Automatically
When projects are created from a template or when the status changes to Current, AtTask will automatically create a baseline snapshot of certain task and project details.
SCENARIO
As already identified, projects will be created in the Planning status. While in this phase the WBS will be planned. When the project status is changed to Current, you want the system to create a baseline automatically. The baseline will be used to measure current progress and scope creep against the originally approved plan.
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Task Creation Default Scenarios
To change the default Duration Type for all new task
1. Open the Project Management Preferences.
2. Locate and expand the Duration Type field in the Task Creation Defaults section.
3. Select the Calculated Work option.
SCENARIO
A task’s Duration Type controls the relationship between the number of resources (and their percent allocation), the duration, and the total effort for the task.
Your project managers have indicated that when they create tasks they want to quickly assign a resource and independently control the duration and effort required to complete the task.
Change the Duration Type preference to Calculated Assignment to facilitate this request.
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To set the default Revenue and Cost Types for new tasks
1. Open the Project Management Preferences.
2. Locate and expand the Revenue Type field in the Task Creation Defaults section.
3. Select the User Hourly option.
4. Notice the default Cost Type is already set to User Hourly.
Revenue Type
This is used to calculate planned and actual revenue estimates for a task. When the Revenue Type is set to Not Billable, the hours planned and the actual hours recorded will not generate a revenue estimate for the task, and the work on the task will not contribute to project-level revenue.
Cost Type
This is used to calculate planned and actual cost estimates for a task. When set to No Cost, the hours planned and the actual hours recorded will not generate a cost estimate for the task, and the work on the task will not contribute to project-level costs.
SCENARIO
Business analysts need to produce financial estimates based on the amount of effort planned for tasks and the number of hours actually recorded.
Specifically, business analysts want to derive revenue and cost estimates from the rates defined on the user profile.
Change the Revenue Type field to User Hourly.
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Recorded Changes Defaults Scenario
To enable automated system notes for Issues, Tasks, and Projects
1. Open the Project Management Preferences.
2. Locate the Record Change Defaults section.
3. Select the Status Change, Scope Change, and General Edit checkboxes for each work item type.
Default Object Type Recorded Changes When the Recorded Change Defaults are selected, it enables the built-in audit trail for the project, task, and issue levels.
Status Change: A note is recorded as a user changes the status of the object, but not when an automated update changes the status.
Attachment Action: A note is recorded as a user uploads a document or a new version of a document.
Scope Change: A note is recorded when the planned duration and/or effort is modified, including modification to planned constraint dates.
General Edit: A note is recorded when any of the fields (other than Status, Duration, Work Required, and Planned Dates) are modified, including changes to values on the Custom Data tab.
It is recommended that all the Recorded Changes checkboxes be checked to create an automated journal of changes through system notes at the project, task, and issue levels.
SCENARIO
The AtTask implementation team has decided it would be beneficial to enable automatic system-generated notes when:
The scope of work changes for a work item The status of a work item changes Other changes (e.g., changes to descriptions, custom data, etc.) are made to a work item
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Other Project Management Preferences Options
Descriptions of Other Project Creation Fields
Schedule Mode
This controls the default Schedule Mode on new project creation. When set to Schedule From Start Date, new tasks will default to the As Soon As Possible task constraint and project managers will be prompted to provide a Planned Start Date for the project.
When the Schedule Mode is set to Schedule From Completion Date, new tasks use the As Late As Possible task constraint and project managers are prompted to provide a Planned Completion Date for the project.
Update Type
This controls when AtTask will perform timeline recalculations for a project.
Automatic: Represents a nightly recalculation of the project to capture external factors impacting the project timeline. These external factors can include (1) changes to a schedule and (2) cross-project dependencies.
On Change: Only recalculates the edited project when a scope change is made to the project. For example, as you insert a task into the project plan, AtTask will recalculate the project timeline to account for changes to the duration of the project.
Condition Type
The Condition field on a project provides a way for project managers to communicate a non-schedule related condition for the project. The possible conditions are (1) On Target, (2) At Risk, and (3) In Trouble.
When the Condition Type field is set to Progress Status, the condition is automatically set based on the progress of the tasks in the project (i.e., if the last critical path task is late, then the project condition is In Trouble). However, when the Condition Type is set to Manual, the project manager can indicate a condition for the project based on non-schedule factors.
The Condition Type in the Project Management Preferences sets the default Condition Type for new projects.
Performance Index Method
This setting controls whether Estimate At Completion (EAC) values are displayed in hours or in currency values.
Use Work for Percent Complete
When set to No, AtTask calculates the Percent Complete roll ups to the project level using planned durations. When set to Yes, AtTask uses the Work Required (or planned effort) estimates to calculate Percent Complete roll ups.
Multiple Assignment Task Schedule
When two users assigned to the same task have unique schedules, AtTask defaults to the schedule associated with the project. Alternatively, you can use the schedule associated with the primary user’s assignment.
Differing schedules include differences in personal time off (PTO) during the duration of the task.
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Descriptions of Other Task Creation Defaults
Default Start Date
Controls the default task constraint for new tasks.
Project Planned Date: Defaults new tasks to the As Soon As Possible (ASAP) or As Late As Possible (ALAP) task constraints, depending on the project’s Schedule Mode.
Today: Defaults new tasks to the Start No Earlier Than (SNET) or Start No Later Than (SNLT) task constraints, depending on the project’s Schedule Mode.
Tracking Mode
Controls how and when task-level progress status indicators will be displayed.
Library Task Mode
Library Tasks are used in environments where team members are given the ability to add tasks to a project. However, if this is enabled, team members can only create tasks from a library. When enabled with either the Optional or Enforced options, the system administrator has to create a catalog of Library Tasks that can then be brought into a project plan. This feature is very rarely enabled.
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Descriptions of Update Status Tab Preferences and Time Entry
Show Document Upload
Displays a Browse Document field on the Task or Issue update tabs. This is enabled when the completion of tasks commonly results in the production of a document or file that needs to be attached to the completed task.
Show Custom Data
If a category is attached, this displays the Update Custom Data form on the Update Status tab. This is ideal if the completion of task work requires changes to the custom data values.
Hide hours section on Task and Issue Updates Status tabs
Organizations not interested in tracking actual time spent working on tasks or issues may hide the Hours field from the Update Status tabs. This does not prevent users from recording time through the Complete Status Worksheet, or the Timesheet.
This setting is meant to remove unnecessary fields from the Update Status tabs only.
Allow Time Entry Against Completed Projects
Organizations that wish to prevent time entry toward projects with the Complete status should change this value to No.
Allow Time Entry Against Dead Projects
Organizations that wish to prevent time entry toward projects with the Dead status should change this value to No.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 5.2 Portfolio Management Preferences Like Project Management Preferences, the Portfolio Management Preferences area establishes default settings for new Portfolios and Programs. It also determines which tabs are visible on the New Project Request (or Business Case) form.
You access this preferences page by going to Portfolio Management Portfolio Preferences.
To enable/disable tabs displayed on the New Project Request and Business Case forms
1. Open the Portfolio Management Preferences.
2. Locate the Default Business Case Sections field.
3. Deselect the Goals checkbox.
4. Select the Custom Data checkbox.
5. Click Save.
SCENARIO
Individuals initiating Project Requests want a simple interface that does not include unnecessary tabs. According to the project management best practices you have adopted, project initiators will not be using the Goals component of the Business Case, but they will be need to access the Custom Data form.
Update the Portfolio Management Preferences to reflect these requirements.
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Sections (Tabs) on the Business Case Form Before Change
Sections (Tabs) on the Business Case Form After Change
To enable automated system notes for Portfolios and Programs
1. Open the Portfolio Management Preferences.
2. Locate and Record Change Defaults section.
3. Select the General Edit and Attachment Action checkboxes for both portfolios and programs.
4. Click Save.
Lesson Notes
SCENARIO
Management decided it would be useful to have the system record notes when general changes and documents are attached to portfolios and programs.
Update the Portfolio Preferences to reflect this requirement.
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Lesson 5.3 Business Rules The options on the Business Rules page primarily affect general behavior of the application. Some of these options impact where users are directed when clicking links. Others determine what individuals can or cannot do in certain project states.
The following scenarios assume you know how to navigate to the Business Rules page.
You access the Business Rules page by going to Setup System Settings Preferences Business Rules.
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To allow approvals by individuals not on the project team
1. Open the Business Rules page.
2. Locate the Approvers field in the Approval Process section.
3. Select the checkbox for the Approvers field.
4. Click Save.
To allow people to update task details on completed projects
1. Open the Business Rules page.
2. Locate the What users can do when the Project is Complete or Dead field in the Project section.
3. Select the Add/Edit Tasks option.
4. Click Save.
SCENARIO
Generally, people approving work on a project are part of the project team. For example, a task may need to be approved by the project manger or sponsor. However, sometimes work items need to be reviewed and approved by individuals in different departments. When this is the case, the approving individuals should not have access to the project except to approve something; this can cause a security problem.
After some discovery, you find out that people in the Marketing department will be approving work done on projects run by other groups. The Marketing staff needs to approve some tasks, but does not need to have access to all the tasks on non-departmental projects.
Update the Approvers field on the Business Rules page to reflect this requirement.
SCENARIO
By default, AtTask does not allow individuals to change task or issue details once the project has been completed.
In your organization, some of the tasks on certain projects may need to have custom data fields updated even after the project has been closed.
Update the What users can do when the Project is Complete or Dead field to allow individuals to update tasks regardless of the project status.
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The remainder of the material in this lesson is provided for reference only. It describes the other fields available when defining Business Rules that are not necessary to meet the requirements outlined in the scenarios. You can also review further detailed material on these topics on the AtTask Help site – help.attask.com.
When an email notification is sent after adding a note, link to
This field is usually only used by customers accustomed to legacy versions of AtTask in which notes were viewed on the Recent Notes Tab.
When a task or issue goes from 'New' to 'In Progress', set the actual start date to
The default is always to set the actual start date of a work item to the time a person changes the status to In Progress. However, if the majority of your work items are completed without the assigned resources changing the status to In Progress, you may want to select the Planned Start Date option here because it may represent a more accurate commencement date.
Neither option inhibits the person updating the work from manually changing the actual start date if the automated value is not accurate.
When a task or issue is completed, set the actual completion date to
The default is to set the actual completion date to the time a person marks a work item as complete. However, if the majority of your work items are marked Complete a significant period of time after they are actually completed, the planned completion date may represent a more accurate actual completion date.
For example, if users tend to wait to the end of the week to update their completed work, the Planned Completion Date may be a more realistic representation of when the work was actually completed.
Neither option inhibits the person updating the work from manually changing the actual completion date if the automated value is not accurate. In fact, team members should be encouraged to set an accurate Actual Completion Date regardless of how this preference is set.
What users can do when the Project is Complete
This field controls whether or not people can remove work items from projects in the Complete status. When the options for this field are deselected, you cannot delete or move work items from Complete projects.
Lesson Notes
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Chapter 5 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ In your actual account of AtTask, go to the Project Mangement Preferences page to enable the Recorded
Changes on the Project, Task, and Issue levels.
Exercise 2 ☐ If your organization plans on using AtTask to do portfolio management, log in to your actual account of
AtTask, go to the Portfolio Preferences page to enable the Recorded Changes on the Portfolio and Program levels.
Exercise 3 ☐ Schedule a meeting with the rest of your implementation team to discuss how to set the values on the
Project Management Preferences, Portfolio Preferences, and Business Rules pages. Be sure to include a sample of project managers in this discussion, as they are key stakeholders for these preferences.
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Chapter 6 Workflow Setup The primary purposes of the Workflow Setup features are to:
1. Configure AtTask to match existing workflow terminology through custom status labels 2. Create workflow accountability through approval processes for projects, tasks, and issues
This chapter addresses the setup and configuration options to receive the intended value out of the feature identified above.
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Lesson 6.1 Custom Statuses AtTask allows administrators to customize the status options presented on Projects, Tasks, and Issues. This provides flexibility to an implementation team to define statuses to meet your organization’s unique needs and vocabulary. By inputting your terminology into the Custom Statuses area, you will reduce confusion and time spent training the other users accessing AtTask. It is strongly recommended that you setup custom statuses prior to a general rollout of the software.
System administrator can set these preferences by going to Setup Workflow Setup Custom Statuses.
SCENARIO
Your organization has decided to re-label some of the task status options and add two additional task options. The hope is to translate this part of AtTask into terminology your team members are already familiar with and to support your unique process for identifying tasks that won’t be completed.
Modify the task statuses to reflect the requirements shown below.
Previous Statuses New Names New Statuses Equates With
New Not Started - New
In Progress Started - In Progress
Complete Complete - Complete
- On Hold In Progress
- Cancelled Complete
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To rename and add new task statuses
1. Navigate to the Custom Statuses page and click on the Task Statuses button.
2. Click into the cell that reads New, and input Not Started.
3. Click into the cell that reads In Progress, and input Started.
4. Click into the cell that read Add a new status, and input On Hold.
5. Select a color that will appear in chart reports that display statuses.
6. In the Key column, input ONH and change the Equates With value to In Progress.
7. Click into the cell that read Add a new status, and input Cancelled.
8. Select a color that will appear in chart reports that display statuses.
9. In the Key column, input CAN and change the Equates With value to Complete.
10. Click Save.
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Requirements for Custom Statuses
The Status Name field must be populated for each status option. A three-letter Key value must be input for each new status option. Each new status option must equate with the functionality of a predefined status option.
NOTE
The color selected from the color palette for each status option will be used in all predefined and custom chart reports.
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Primary Status
In cases where there are multiple statuses associated with an Equates With option, in the Primary Status section you should select the primary option that will be used for the functionality.
For example, at the task level when you set the Percent Complete field to 100%, AtTask will automatically change the status value to Complete. In the scenario above, you will now have two options that equate with the ‘Complete’ functionality. You must select which of all the ‘Complete’ status options will be used when statuses automatically change based on your percent complete inputs.
Setting up project and issue statuses are done the same way for tasks; however, on the issue statuses you have the option to identify which Issue Type each status should apply to.
If you click on any issue type tab, you will be presented with a tool that allows you to sort the options.
NOTE
All predefined functionality must be represented in at least one status option. Notice in the image above certain options cannot be deleted or hidden.
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Additionally, on the issue types tabs, you have the ability to re-label the Issue Type Names to reflect terminology your organization is familiar with.
Lists of Existing Status Options for Each Work Type
Project
Approved Complete Current Dead Idea On Hold Planning Rejected Requested
Task
Complete In Progress New
Issue
Awaiting Feedback Cannot Duplicate Closed In Progress New On Hold Reopened Resolved Verified Complete Won’t Resolve
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Lesson 6.1 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ Rename or add several status options, priorities, and severities for the Issue object. Go to an existing issue
and edit it to observe the changes.
Suggested Values
Status Options Priorities Severities
Change Won’t Resolve to As Designed
Add Escalated
Change None to Code White
Change Low to Code Blue Change Normal to Code
Yellow Change High to Code
Orange Change Urgent to Code Red Add Code Black
Change the colors of the priorities to match.
Change all values to reflect customer impact. For example:
No Customers One Customer Several Customers Majority of Customers All Customers
Exercise 2 ☐ If not done previously, create new Task-level status options for On Hold and Cancelled.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 6.2 Approval Processes While each task is integral for project completion, you may find certain tasks become more important than others and may hinder progress on the project until the task is completed properly. AtTask provides the ability to attach Approval Processes to these and other critical tasks that require approval from a manager or colleague.
Approval Processes are made up of a number of individual Approval Paths, each corresponding to a status option in your account. Approval Paths are made up of Approval Steps, and the sequence of Approval Steps determines the order each step’s designated approver(s) will be prompted for their input.
Approval Processes can also be created for, and attached to, projects and issues. This lesson addresses: Creating New Approval Processes Attaching Approval Processes Reviewing Items Awaiting Your Feedback
Throughout this lesson you will be provided with several examples of Approval Processes used to meet common business objectives.
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Creating New Approval Processes Administrators (users with System Administrator, Multi-Group Administrator, or Group Administrator access levels) have the ability to create global Approval Processes that may be utilized by portfolio owners as projects are defined and by project managers as new tasks or issues are created. Team members may also apply Approval Processes as issues are created.
To create a new Approval Process administrators must go to Setup Workflow Setup Approval Setup and then select the appropriate object type: (1) Project, (2) Task, or (3) Issue.
As with other configuration options, you should decide what Approval Processes you need in your account before doing any configuration steps.
The following table provides sample requirements for an organization that is planning on utilizing the Approval Processes feature to enhance workflow and to simplify the hand-off of responsibility to approve work by a peer or manager.
Table of Approval Requirements
Object Type # Process Description Purpose
Project 1 Project Approval by the Portfolio Manager on Completion of the Business Case, and By the Portfolio Manager and Project Sponsor when the Status is Changed to Current, and
By the Project Owner when the Status is Changed to Complete and then by the Project Sponsor.
Utilizes multiple Approval Paths and Approval Steps to create staged approvals as a project progresses through the project lifecycle.
Issue 2 Issue Approval by the QA Engineer on Issue Closed/Resolved.
Ideal when AtTask is used in a software development environment and the QA department relies on the AtTask Help Desk to track issues and requests. This process can easily be adapted to any other industry where the Help Desk is utilized.
Issue 3 Issue Approval by the Issue Primary Contact on Issue Closed, Resolved, Won’t Resolve, and Cannot Duplicate.
Can be used along with the AtTask Help Desk so the originator of an issue can verify the issue is completed to their satisfaction.
Task 4 Approval of Document Creation Tasks on Task Completion by the Project Manager.
Provides a solution to allow document approval. When a document is attached to a task, project or issue with an Approval Process, then you might assume the approval or rejection is based on the contents of the document.
Task 5 Task Approval by the Assigned Resource’s Manager on Task Start, and
By the Project Manager on Task Completion.
Allows a resource’s functional (org chart) manager to approve the work his/her resources complete, and then through a separate Approval Path, allows the project owner to verify satisfactory completion.
The two issue Approval Processes could be combined as unique steps on a single Approval Path so the QA representative reviews a completed issue and then the originator provides a final check.
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To Define Process 1: Multi-Part, Multi-Step Project Approval Processes
1. Go to Setup Workflow Setup Approval Setup Project Approvals Setup.
2. Click on the New Approval Process link in the contextual menu.
3. Name and describe the Approval Process.
4. Click the New Approval Path button.
5. Select the Requested option from the Target Status dropdown.
6. Select the User option from the Approval Type dropdown.
7. From the Approvers dropdown, select the Portfolio Owner option.
8. Click the New Approval Path button.
9. Select the Current option from Target Status dropdown.
10. Select the User option from the Approval Type dropdown.
11. From the Approvers dropdown, select the Portfolio Owner option.
12. Click the Add Approver button or link.
SCENARIO
Create a new Project Approval Process that satisfies the requirements of Process 1 in the Table of Approval Requirements. The Approval Process will allow the assigned resource’s manager an opportunity to approve the work when the status of the project changes.
NOTE
Be as descriptive as possible in naming the process so other resources can properly apply the Approval Process from the issue interface.
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13. From the second Approvers drop down, select the Project Sponsor option.
14. Set the radio button on the right to the All approvers option.
15. Click the New Approval Path button.
16. Select the Complete option from the Target Status dropdown.
17. Select the User option from the Approval Type dropdown.
18. From the Approvers dropdown, select the Project Owner option.
19. Click on the Add Approval Step button.
20. Select the User option from the Approval Type dropdown.
21. From the Approvers dropdown, select the Project Sponsor option.
22. Click Save.
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NOTE
In any of the cases above, you may select a specific user resource instead of the ‘wildcard’ options. However, you only do this if it is always going to be the same person performing the approval on all projects using this Approval Process.
NOTE
If a Project Owner, Project Sponsor, Portfolio Owner, etc. has not been assigned, or if a Portfolio and/or Program has not been assigned to the project, then the ‘wildcards’ will indicate no user is available to approve the task, project, or issue. If this is the case, you will have unnecessary delays on your project, so either make the appropriate Project Owner, Project Sponsor, or Portfolio Owner assignment, or change the approval to utilize a specific, named resource.
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Attaching Approval Processes
Because attaching a pre-defined Approval Process is identical at the project, task, and issue levels, this section will only outline how this is done on a project.
Approval Processes are typically defined globally or attached to templates so tasks on projects will follow the same approval workflow regardless of the project. This definition also ensures the correct people approve projects moving through the project lifecycle. Issue approvals are treated in the same manner.
To attach an Approval Process to a project
1. Navigate to the Cruzer Web Site.
2. Click the Edit Project link in the left-hand menu.
3. Navigate to the Approvals tab.
4. Click on the Use An Existing Approval Process button.
5. Select the ‘Standard Project Approval’ process (or whatever you named your approval process).
6. Click the Save button. The Approval Process has now been attached to the project and will become active once the task status is changed to complete. Users who have access to assign Approval Processes also have the ability to create ad hoc Approval Processes to manage the one-off approval needs. This is done by navigating to the Approvals tab and clicking the Create a Single-Use Approval Process button. The remaining steps in this activity are identical to those used to create a global Approval Process.
SCENARIO
The Cruzer Web Site project (and others) needs approvals as different statuses are achieved. Attach the approval process you created in the previous section to the Cruzer Web Site project.
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If you select an existing approval process first and click Submit to save the preference, you can then select the Create a Single-Use Approval Process button to make deviations to the predefined process. If you with to change the process, you must make the modifications before any of the approval steps become active.
Viewing Approval Details
When updating a task with an Approval Process, you will notice a change in the status options. Each status option will appear with the ‘ – Pending Approval’ appendage to indicate the status cannot progress to the selected state until an approval is provided.
You can tell when an approval process has been attached to an object because the approval indicator becomes illuminated.
NOTE
Single-use processes will not appear in the global list of approval processes. The single-use process cannot be reused unless it is part of a template or template task definition.
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Additionally, users can review the entire Approval Process attached to a task by going to the Approvals tab through the More Tabs menu.
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Additional Considerations for Approvals
Not all tasks need to be approval tasks, and you will create distinct Approval Processes for each unique task approval requirement. However, at the project and issue levels, approvals may be necessary on initiation of the project request or at issue creation.
For Projects, it is strongly recommended you define a standard Approval Process to support your organization’s established project management methodology. This standard Approval Process should be associated with each template in your account. As projects are created from templates, the Approval Process will be set, allowing the process to take effect from the Idea status on.
For Issues, the Queue Properties tab for each project provides a Default Approval field. When set, this will automatically attach a predefined Approval Process to each issue recorded on this project or queue. The Default Approval field is also available on Queue Topics. Therefore, each type of issue recorded on the project or queue can have a different Approval Process.
NOTE
For another level of consistency, you may want to define the Default Approval at the template level so that each project’s Queue Properties and Topics are identical throughout the system. Defining the Queue Properties and Queue Topics are discussed in greater detail in Chapter 9 of this course.
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Reviewing Items Awaiting Your Approval After defining an approval task, the approval process launches upon completion of the task. The status of the task is set to Complete - Pending Approval by the assigned resource, and the task will not be marked as Complete until the designated approver(s) have reviewed and approved the task.
Users set as approvers will want to regularly review the Items I Need to Approve report in the My Approvals area or have this report placed on a Dashboard or Portal Profile tab. This report displays all projects, tasks, and issues with an active Approval Step where you are an approver.
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Items I Need to Approve As mentioned previously, the Items I Need to Approve report provides a comprehensive list of all projects, tasks, and issues awaiting your feedback.
To approve an item
1. From the My navigation menu, select the Approvals option.
2. Click on the project/task/issue name you wish to approve or reject.
3. You will be taken to the Update Project/Task/Issue Status tab; make your approval decision from the Approval drop down.
4. Click Save.
Items I Submitted for Approval The Items I Submitted for Approval report displays all the projects, tasks, and issues with an active Approval Step where you are the individual who initiated the step.
Notice the action icon at the top of the report. After selecting the item(s) you submitted for approval, you can click the Recall icon to return an item back to its previous status.
NOTE
If you reject an approval task, AtTask will create an issue on the task, revert it back to the previous status, or revert to another status identified in the Approval Path. If an issue is created, the issue will be assigned to the default resource assigned to the task. The task status will change to Complete Pending Issues. Once the issue is resolved, the task will appear in the approver’s My Approvals report again.
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Lesson 6.2 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ Navigate to any project and attach an Existing Approval process. You can use the project approval
process you created during this lesson.
Exercise 2 ☐ Search for the New Product Development template and apply the approval process to the template.
Exercise 3 ☐ Identify the approvals you know you are going to need at this point.
Project
Status Approvers
Requested
Planning
Current
Complete
On Hold
Dead
Task
Status Approvers
In Progress
Complete
Issue
Status Approvers
In Progress
Reopened
On Hold
Closed
Resolved
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Lesson Notes
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Chapter 7 Organizing Projects Many of the same organizational elements you apply to user profiles can also be applied to projects. Recall from Chapter 3, you created a Company to identify users that belong to your organization. You also created groups to represent departments within your organization.
Chapter 7 reintroduces these topics, but with a focus on how they apply to projects and other work items. Additionally, this chapter introduces other organization units that only apply to projects: Portfolios and Programs.
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Lesson 7.1 Project Companies On projects, companies are used solely for reporting purposes – not access. Companies are associated with both projects and user profiles, though for distinct purposes.
A company associated with a project will identify the customer benefiting from the completion of the project. This may be an external organization (such as a client or vendor), or it may be an internal department or business unit for whom work will be done. This affiliation is useful from a reporting standpoint.
You already learned how to create companies, so this should be easy for you.
To create the Acme Co. company profile
1. Go to the Create menu and select the Company option.
2. Input the name of the company (Acme Co.).
3. Click Save.
You can apply this company to projects.
SCENARIO
You have several customers your organization completes project for and you want to associate an external customer with each project. Create Companies for each of the following customers:
Acme Co. Widgets of New York
XYZ, Inc.
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To create the Widgets of New York company profile
1. Go to the Create menu and select the Company option.
2. Input the name of the company (Widgets of New York).
3. Navigate to the Company Billing Rates tab.
SCENARIO
Two of your customers have special contract rates. When you add the following companies to the system, use the Company Billing Rates tab to override the default role rates.
Company Role Rates
Widgets of New York Associate Consultant $40 Consultant $80 Solutions Architect $72 Technical Consultant $100
XYZ, Inc. Associate Consultant $45 Consultant $90 Solutions Architect $81 Technical Consultant $113
Add a company profile for Widgets of New York with the unique billing rates.
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4. Expand the Job Role drop down.
Only recently accessed roles will appear in this field. Use the search icon if you do not see the roles you are looking for.
5. Select the Associate Consultant role.
6. Input the contracted rate in the Override field for this role.
7. Repeat steps 4 to 6 for each role that requires a contracted rate.
8. Click Save.
When you apply this company to projects, these rates will apply to all tasks set to calculate revenue using role-based revenue.
NOTE
Company-level override rates only apply at the project level. They do not override the rates for users associated with a company.
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Lesson 7.1 Exercises
Exercise 1 ☐ Create a Company to represent XYZ, Inc. Use the role-based contract rates identified during the lesson.
Exercise 2 ☐ List the customers you will be completing projects for. Identify whether they have contract rates you will
need to apply.
Customer Contract Rates Apply
Customer Contract
Rates Apply
☐ ☐
☐ ☐
☐ ☐
☐ ☐
☐ ☐
☐ ☐
Where contract rates need to be applied, create an action item to your calendar to compile those rates.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 7.2 Project Groups You already know pretty much everything you need to know about Groups, right?
Well… Yes and No.
In Chapter 3, you learned that groups provide a way to organize user accounts by department. They are also used to organize projects by department.
In addition to being a useful label for reporting purposes, AtTask uses groups for security purposes. For example, the default access level for a project manager allows you to access projects only if the project is in your Home Group or if you are assigned to the project team.
When dealing with projects, groups are designed to create silos of information.
Remember, a user may have several group associations. This is not the case for project-group relationships. A project can have only a single group associated with it.
That is not to say that users from different groups cannot work on the same project, but there can only be one group name associated with the project. This can be thought of as the group responsible for completing the project.
To satisfy the requirement in this scenario, no action is needed. Default access levels only allow visibility across department (group) lines when people are specifically added to the project team.
The purpose of this lesson is not to show you how to reconfigure access levels to support varying security requirements. Rather, the point is for you to understand the security implications of group associations. As different departments have conflicting security requirements your job will be to balance each requirement and provide a solution.
Consider the following options: Change access levels to allow visibility into all groups you belong to and add the Marketing group as one
of the Other Groups for each user. Keep group security tight and create a report to increase visibility into Marketing’s projects.
SCENARIO
People outside of the IT department should not have access to IT projects unless they are specifically assigned to the project team.
SCENARIO
The Marketing department is not as concerned with the privacy of their projects. In fact, they prefer people knowing what is happening and when things will go live.
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Lesson Notes
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Lesson 7.3 Project Schedules Recall from Chapter 3, when Schedules are applied to user profiles, that determines when a user will perform project work. Schedules are also applied to projects to identify the primary timezone, workdays, and holidays for the project.
Applying a schedule to a project is important because it plans tasks around holidays when no user assignment has been made yet.
The Precedence of Schedules table below describes which schedule (user, project, or default) will be used under different conditions.
Precedence of Schedules
Schedule Description
User
Whenever a user is assigned to a task, the schedule assigned to the user, combined with the user’s PTO schedule, will be used for the given task. Exception: When multiple users are assigned to the same task, and if any of the user schedules conflict, AtTask will refer to the Project Schedule for this task. *
Project
The project schedule is utilized when any of the following conditions are met: A user has not been assigned to the task Several users with differing schedules are assigned to the same task *
Default Schedule The system default schedule will be used if the schedule has not been set for the project and when the conditions for using the project schedule are met.
* There is a preference on the Project Management Preferences page to change this behavior. When this preference is changed, AtTask will use the schedules associated with the task’s default assignee instead of the project schedule when multiple users (with differing schedules) are assigned to the same task.
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Lesson Notes
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Lesson 7.4 Portfolios and Programs Another way to organize projects is by Portfolio and Program.
An important part of Portfolio (and Program) setup is to understand the difference between a Portfolio and Program.
This lesson provides some general guidance on how to break down your list of projects into Portfolios and Programs. It will also provide instructions on how to create a new Portfolio (again, a step normally delegated to the AtTask administrator).
What is a Portfolio?
A portfolio is a collection of projects competing for the same resources, budget, and schedule slot. The projects in a portfolio are similar enough that they would use the same Resource Pool and be measured against the same scorecard. This often means there is a one-to-one relationship between Portfolios and Resource Pools.
General Examples:
By product line, by division, by department, by company, or other business units often group into Portfolios.
What is a Program?
A program is essentially a subdivision of projects in a Portfolio. Programs allow Portfolio Managers to delegate certain responsibilities (i.e., Business Case completion, or Business Case approvals) to Program Managers.
General Examples:
Programs are based on projects grouped by a common goal, such as increasing customer base, product improvement, client retention, decreasing costs, etc.
NOTE
Projects in Programs are not prioritized solely against each other; instead, the projects are optimized against all projects in the Portfolio. It is sometimes necessary to create the Resource Pool relationship with Programs instead of doing it at the Portfolio level.
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SCENARIO
Your company plans on creating Portfolios along business unit lines. Within each Portfolio, Programs will be created to identify strategic goals that apply across Portfolio divisions. This will allow individuals filling a Program Manager role to keep a pulse on the projects that deal with the strategies they focus on.
Create the Marketing portfolio and programs according to the diagram below.
NOTE
Across the top of the diagram the dark blue boxes (IT, Finance, Sales and Marketing) represent Portfolios. Beneath the portfolios are the light blue boxes representing various programs. Some of these programs are managed across multiple portfolios, depending on the goals and purposes of the projects within those portfolios and programs.
Notice Client Retention is a program applicable to the Finance, Sales and Marketing portfolios, while Systems Stability is solely associated with the IT portfolio. This is just one example of how programs and portfolios can be utilized.
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Portfolio Creation
To create the Marketing Portfolio
1. Go to the Create menu and click the Portfolio option.
2. Give the Portfolio a name and a description.
3. Select a Portfolio Manager from the Portfolio Manager drop-down field.
The names in this drop-down field will populate with the five most recent users viewed in AtTask. If you do not see a desired user, click the search icon to locate and add a user to the field.
4. The scorecard drop-down allows you to select which scorecard to use in this portfolio to evaluate your projects.
5. Make sure ‘Is Active’ is checked. If the portfolio is not active, it will not be available in the Portfolio field on the New Project form.
6. If you wish to turn on the audit trail for the portfolio, check the type of changes you want AtTask to record as system notes for the portfolio.
Fields on the New Portfolio page
Name
Give your portfolio a name.
Description
Optional but often useful.
Portfolio Manager
Select or search for the person who will manage your portfolios.
Scorecard
Assign a scorecard to the portfolio.
Is Active
When you do a search, this portfolio will appear in your search.
Recorded Changes
This allows you to track any changes made to the portfolio.
Groups
Selected Groups will be able to see this portfolio on the Project Request.
NOTE
Enabling these options will only record changes to the portfolio definition. It will not record changes to the project in the portfolio notes.
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Program Creation
To add Programs to the Marketing portfolio
1. Click the portfolio you want to add the program to (Marketing).
2. Click the New Program area button.
3. Give the program a name (Client Retention).
4. Select a program manager from the Program Manager drop-down menu.
5. Click Save.
6. Repeat steps 2 to 5 for each program.
NOTE
When creating a program that crosses portfolio lines, you must add the program to each portfolio.
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Lesson 7.4 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ Create the Finance portfolio and its programs.
Exercise 2 ☐ Identify the portfolios and programs you need to add to your account of AtTask.
Portfolios
Programs
Lesson Notes
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Chapter 8 Customization Everything up to this point is considered essential for any implementation of AtTask.
This chapter starts to introduce “optional” configuration topics. While the topics in this chapter are “optional”, every implementation team should consider how best to use these features the same way you have researched and considered how to implement essential AtTask features.
In this chapter you will learn how to: Create and Apply Custom Data Create Dashboards and External Pages Distribute Reports and Reporting Elements Customize Portal Profiles Customize Access Levels
There are a myriad of ways to configure and customize objects to support your unique needs. Implementing these features optimally can do a greate deal to reduce the training burden, simplify the interface and navigation, and provide a level of detail on work items AtTask cannot anticipate for all its customers at once.
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Lesson 8.1 Custom Data Setup Custom Data is used primarily for reporting purposes. It allows a user to include custom fields on a variety of objects in views, filters, and groupings. Custom data fields provide the ability for a project manager to set additional, reportable data to describe a project, task, issue, etc. beyond the core fields provided.
Custom Data allows a user to provide details not included in the core fields for the following objects: Companies Documents Expenses Issues Portfolios (Enterprise License Required) Projects Programs (Enterprise License Required) Tasks Users
This lesson includes: Custom Data Overview Defining Custom Parameters Creating Parameter Groups Configuring Categories Applying Custom Data on Projects
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Custom Data Overview
Before using custom data, it is important to understand the relationship between the three elements of custom data.
A Category in AtTask is simply a custom form or page of custom fields. A Parameter is a custom field that will be placed on a category. A Parameter Group provides a way to organize parameters on the category.
Because parameters and parameter groups will be added to a category or form, it is generally recommended you create these elements in the following order: 1) Parameters, 2) Parameter Groups, and 3) Categories.
The following image shows a custom form attached to a project.
NOTE
Parameters you create as an administrator are usually dictated to you by the reporting needs defined by Project Managers and Executives.
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Defining Custom Parameters
Recall that a parameter is simply another name for a custom form field used to extend project, task, issue, etc. information beyond what is shipped with AtTask. The parameters associated with each object will be dependant on the reporting needs of your organization.
To create a new parameter go to Setup Custom Data Parameters and select the New Parameter link from the left-hand navigation.
To create the Capital Budget field
1. Navigate to the Parameters area and click New Parameter on the left-hand menu.
2. Input the name into the Parameter field (Capital Budget).
3. Keep the Display Type value as Text Field.
4. Change the Data Type to Currency.
5. Click Save.
SCENARIO
Project managers need three custom fields on the project level to help them track and manage their projects.
Field Name Display Type Data Type Options
Capital Budget Text Field Currency
Non-Capital Budget Text Field Currency
Is Capital Expense? Radio Button Text No (default) Yes
Market Checkbox Text Asia Pacific EMEA North America (default) South America
PRACTICE EXERCISE
Follow the steps above generally to create the Non-Capital Budget field.
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To create the Is Capital Expense? radio buttons
1. Navigate to the Parameters area and click New Parameter on the left-hand menu.
2. Input the name into the Parameter field (Is Capital Expense?).
3. Change the Display Type to Radio Buttons.
4. Keep the Data Type value as Text.
5. Navigate to the Parameter Options tab. This is where you define the picklist options for the field.
When the Display Type is set to Radio Buttons, Checkboxes, Drop Down, or Multi-Select Drop Down, the Parameter Options tab becomes active.
6. Input No into the Label and Value fields.
7. Input Yes into the Label and Value fields.
8. Mark the Default checkbox for the No option.
9. Click Save.
PRACTICE EXERCISE
Follow the steps above generally to create the Market checkboxes.
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NOTE
If the Text Field, Text Area, or Calculated display type is set, you will receive the following message indicating that no further setup for the field is necessary.
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Creating Parameter Groups
Parameter Groups are divisions or sections within the category (or form) used to organize parameters into logical groups of fields.
To create a new parameter group
1. Navigate to Setup Custom Data Parameter Groups.
2. Click the New Parameter Group link on the left-hand navigation.
3. Name the Parameter Group.
4. Click Save.
Parameter Group
This value will be the name of the Parameter Group and will also be the value displayed as the header of a section of fields within a category.
Description
The description field provides additional information about the Parameter Group and is used to identify the parameter group at a later time.
Is Default
Each category must have at least one parameter group. If no parameter group is selected before a parameter is added to the category, the default parameter group will be used as the header for that section of the category.
SCENARIO
When you add these fields to the category, you want to separate the finance-related fields from the Market checkboxes.
Create two parameter groups called Project Financials and Project Information.
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Configuring Categories
A Category is the collection of parameters and parameter groups that need to be added to a specific object type. To create a category, go to Setup Custom Data Categories and click on the New Category option.
To create the project-level custom data form
1. Navigate to the Categories area and click New Category on the left-hand menu.
2. Input a name into the Category field.
3. Change the Category Type to Project.
4. Identify the Groups that should have access to use this form.
5. Click Continue.
6. On the Parameters tab, scroll through the Available Parameter Groups to locate and select the Project Financials parameter group.
7. Scroll through the Available Parameters list to locate and select:
Is Capital Expense? Capital Budget Non-Capital Budget
8. Locate and select the Project Information parameter group.
9. Locate and select the Market field.
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Category
This is the name of the category displayed on the Custom Data tab in the Category dropdown.
Description
This field provides additional information about the category.
Category Type
The Category Type identifies the object where the category or form may be attached.
Group
Some organizations require restricting access to categories through group membership.
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Category Parameters On the Parameters tab of the New or Edit Category form, you will note three major sections.
Available Parameter Groups
This lists all the available parameter groups already been defined in the system.
Available Parameters
Identifies the available parameters not already in use on the category.
Selected Parameter Groups and Parameters
Shows the selected parameters and groups for the current category.
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Applying Custom Data
With the category defined, project managers and other users given access to use and update custom data fields will be able to assign the category to a project, task, issue, etc. Once assigned, the values for each of the fields will be available for filters, views, and groupings.
Attaching Categories
To assign a category to a project
1. Go to a project where the additional fields are necessary.
2. Click the Edit Project link in the left-hand navigation.
3. Navigate to the Custom Data tab.
4. Select the custom form from the Category drop down.
5. Populate the values for the custom fields on the form and click the Submit button.
Editing Custom Data Values
You have a couple of options available to update the form fields once the category is set on an object. The obvious option is to click the Edit Project link, navigate to the Custom Data tab and make the changes to the parameter values.
Many organizations require project collaborators (end users who don’t have access to edit projects or tasks) to update custom data values when completing task work, or certain events may require changing project Meta data. Assuming an individual contributor has access to make changes to custom data on projects they belong to, or tasks and issues they are assigned to, a user may use the Update Custom Data section of the object.
NOTE
While it is possible to have several categories for an object type, an object can only have a single category attached at a single time. Toggling between categories at the project level will result in data loss; only parameters present on both categories will be retained.
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Custom Data can also be updated by selecting the ‘Edit Custom Data’ button found on the Updates Tab.
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When you edit Custom Data, you will be presented with screen options allowing you to update the information included on the Custom Data tab.
This option allows a user to update custom values without the ability to make changes to the scheduling portions of the project, task or issue.
In the Reporting and Interface Setup chapter you will learn how to customize project, task, and issue tabs. Keep this tab in mind as something you may want to distribute as a fixed tab to users who would benefit from this interface.
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Searching for Projects Using Custom Data
One of the fundamental purposes of custom data is to produce reports meaningful to the resource running the report. More detailed instructions on building custom views, filters, groupings, and reports that incorporate custom data will be addressed in a subsequent chapter. At this time, you will be introduced to searching for projects using custom data fields – the same principle extends to other objects where custom data can be applied.
To search for projects containing a specific custom data value
1. Go to the Find menu at the top of the interface.
2. Select the Projects option.
3. Navigate to the Custom Data tab.
4. Select the Category containing the field(s) you want to included in the search criteria.
5. Select options to limit the search results to only those projects you wish to view.
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Lesson 8.1 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ Project managers need the following fields to appear on the Company object:
Contract Start Date Contract Expiration Date Accounting ID
Exercise 2 ☐ Associate the category created in Exercise 1 with the Widgets of New York company.
Exercise 3 ☐ Review the native fields provided for each object and then identify the categories and parameters you
know you will need to add to your account of AtTask for each object type.
Project Category:
Task Category:
Issue Category:
Company Category:
User Category:
Expense Category:
Only a few of the objects that custom data can be applied to are listed here. You may want to make similar lists for each object and schedule a meeting with the implementation team and project stakeholders to gather a comprehensive list of custom data requirements.
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Lesson Notes
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Lesson 8.2 Dashboards and External Pages In the AtTask Fundamentals course, you already learned how to create dashboards and pin them to your AtTask Home page.
This lesson is split into two sections: Dashboards Review External Pages
The purpose of the Dashboards Review is to give you an opportunity to ask any questions that may have come up since you created dashboards in the Fundamentals course.
The External Pages section will show you how to leverage dashboards to create quick and easy integrations with external systems.
Dashboards Review
Dashboards provide a way for individuals to customize their workspace tabs. Dashboards are a collection of reports presented on a single tab at the Home, Project, Task, and Issue landing pages.
Dashboards are called Custom Tabs when used in the following areas: Project Task Issue Portfolio Program
SCENARIO
A project manager needs to supplement the default reports provided on the AtTask Home page with the following reports. The project manager wants to see the reports in a multi-column layout and has drawn the dashboard on a white-board to keep things straight while creating the dashboard.
My Dashboard
My Projects
Trouble Tasks
Projects By Progress Status
Tasks By Progress Status
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Creating Dashboards To create a new dashboard, do any of the following options
1. Go to My Profile My Dashboards and click on the New Dashboard link.
2. Go to the Create menu and select Dashboard.
3. Expand the More (Tabs) menu on the AtTask Home page and select the New Dashboard option.
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After defining the Dashboard, click Save. You will be taken back to the AtTask Home page to review the dashboard contents.
NOTE
Dashboards allow up to 12 reports per dashboard, and you can create as many tabs as you want.
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Adding Dashboards to the Home Page
Once the dashboard is created, it will appear in the Dashboard tab of the Home page. When there are several dashboards you review on a regular basis, the More (Tabs) menu provides an excellent way to toggle through reports to see information important to you.
However, if you want this tab to be the first thing you see when you login, it may be worthwhile to add it as a fixed tab on the Home page.
To do this from the Home page
1. Click the Dashboard Setup icon ( ).
2. Select the Add Dashboard icon ( ) to the left of the name of the dashboard(s) you would like to appear as a fixed tab when the Home page loads.
NOTE
This is an individual option. A system administrator cannot place dashboards on other resources’ AtTask Home pages.
NOTE
Only dashboards created by ‘me’ and those that are available to other users will appear in the list of available dashboards.
NOTE
You can add up to 6 dashboard tabs as fixed AtTask Home tabs. Other dashboards not displayed are accessible through the More (Tabs) menu and the My Dashboards page.
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On the AtTask Home page you will see your tab(s) appear without having to toggle through the More Dashboards tab ( ). Once the dashboard tab is added to the Home page, you can pin the tab using the ‘Make this tab the default’ icon ( ) in the upper right of the workspace.
Creating Custom Tabs
Creating Custom Tabs is essentially the same as creating dashboards. The only difference is it is done at the project, task, etc. level.
To create new Custom Tabs
Go to the project (or task, issue, portfolio, or program) level, click on the More (Tabs) menu ( ), and select the New Custom Tab option.
NOTE
Each user has the option to set a Custom Tab as a permanent fixture on their project, task, etc. landing page by clicking the Tab Setup icon ( ).
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Using External Pages
AtTask provides an option to embed into the interface an external webpage. The purpose of this functionality is to provide access to related information from other systems at the Home, Project, Task, and Issue levels.
Assume you have a web-based document repository, wiki, or other content management system that contains regularly accessed project information. By creating an External Page, you will be able to pull that information into the AtTask interface without navigating to the other system.
To create the external page displaying the AtTask Help site
1. Go to the Create menu and select the External Page option.
2. Input a name (AtTask Help) and description.
3. Select a location where the External Page will be accessible (Home).
4. Input https://help.attask.com into the URL field.
5. Click the Save button.
Now add this external page as a report to a new dashboard.
SCENARIO
During your AtTask implementation you have come to rely on the Help Articles and videos found on the help.attask.com site.
While it is convenient enough to click the Help link, you decided it would be more convenient to embed it on a dashboard on your AtTask Home page.
NOTE
No information is actually passed between the two systems unless the page you are embedding uses the AtTask API to make updates to your account.
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To create the external page displaying the external PTO Impact report
1. Go to the Create menu and select the External Page option.
2. Input a name (PTO Impact) and description.
3. Select a location where the External Page will be accessible (Home).
4. Input http://agssolutions.attask.com/education/sample/ptoimpact.php into the URL field.
5. Click the Calculator icon to access the advanced URL settings.
6. There are a couple of variables that AtTask has to pass through to the external page for this simple integration to work. These are: AtTaskSession – this allows the external page to log into AtTask and access data from your account. serverURL – this tells the external page where to login to for AtTask data.
1. Following the URL, type: ?AtTaskSession=
2. Expand the Other dropdown and select Other. This will present a number of variables that are useful when embedding integrated pages into AtTask.
3. Double-click the Session ID option. This will place {!$$SESSION} wherever your cursor is located in the URL field. If it does not get placed at the end of the URL, move it into the correct position.
4. Following the session information, type: &serverURL=https://testdrive.attask-ondemand.com
Be sure to substitute the # sign for the testdrive number you are currently using.
7. Click Submit to store the updated URL.
8. Click Save to create the external page.
9. Add the external page to a new dashboard.
SCENARIO
Your project managers have requested a report you cannot create through the AtTask reporting framework. They want to see a list of Personal Time Off and how it impacts their projects.
You have contracted a developer to use the API to create the report and want to display it within AtTask, so the project managers don’t have to go to two locations to view project-related reports.
Create an external page that pulls information from: http://agssolutions.attask.com/education/sample/ptoimpact.php
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Lesson 8.2 Exercises
Exercise 1 ☐ Make a list of External Pages you can employ in your account of AtTask.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 8.3 Global Reports and List Controls The purpose of this lesson is to identify methods for delivering the right information to the right people. As an administrator, you will do this by distributing reports and/or reporting elements.
Definitions
Report A report is the combination of a view and filter (and sometimes a grouping) that is saved for future use and can be distributed to other individuals.
Reporting Element Reporting elements are the building blocks of reports. They include: View, Filters, and Groupings.
View A view usually refers to the columns that appear across the top of a list of records. It can also refer to the chart displayed for a report.
Filter The filter controls the results included in a report.
Grouping Groupings are the horizontal dividers used to organize results based on common criteria. Groupings are also used to determine the axes of Matrix reports and the axes of aggregate chart reports.
Once you create a report or reporting element – report creation is discussed fully in the AtTask Reporting Essentials course – the next step is to distribute them to others that may benefit from them.
This lesson provides options for distributing these elements to other resources.
Global Reports While each person has the ability to search for and review the contents of any report – keep in mind, their access rights will control which results will appear on the report – it is the best practice to distribute high traffic reports to the general public. This is done by adding the report to the Global Reports area. After a report is added to the Global Reports list, the report will appear on the Global Reports tab when anybody reviews the Global Reports tab in the My Reports area of the tool.
Only system administrators can access the Global Reports tool by going to Setup Interface Setup Global Reports.
SCENARIO
Add the Project Milestones report created by the Admin User to the Global List so all resources have access to the report.
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To add a report to the global list
1. Navigate to the Manage Global Reports page.
2. Click the action icon.
3. Search for the report by name, creator name, or other attribute.
4. Select the checkboxes to the left of each report you want to add to the global list.
5. Click the action icon.
The report is now added to the Global List, which means anybody can access it through the Reports area of AtTask. It is also available in the list of reports that can be added to a Dashboard.
If you know that people in your organization will not use a report shipped with AtTask, you can remove it from the Global List. This will limit the number of reports people have to choose from as they create Dashboards and thereby reduce confusion by not displaying irrelevant reports in the My Reports area.
Adding and removing reports from the Global List is especially recommended when you, as a part of your configuation, create a number of custom reports that are similar to shipped reports.
NOTE
You do not have to remove all financial reports – or other reports that may contain sensitive information – from the global list. Each report may return different results for each user depending on their access privileges and group affiliations.
By default, access levels with lower ranks (Individual Contributors and lower) do not have access to financial data. When a financial report is run, the columns containing monetary figures are empty.
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Linked Users
Sometimes a report does not need to be added to the global list, but it should be shared with specific users. This is done by using the Linked Users option for each report. After linking a report to a user, the report will appear for that resource on the My Reports tab when they go to the My Reports area.
When viewing the report, any resource with edit access to the report can link other users to a report.
To link other resources
1. Click the Linked Users link on the left-hand navigation.
The individual who created the report will appear in the list of linked users, along with others that have already been subscribed to the report.
2. Click the action icon
3. Use the search fields to bring up a list of users that need access to the report, and click Search.
4. Select the checkboxes to the left of each resources’ name that you wish to add and click the Add Users action icon.
Alternatively, a user can link themselves to several reports at once simply by doing a search for reports and clicking the action icon from the icon toolbar.
This will add the selected report(s) to the My Reports list for the logged in user.
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List Controls
The List Controls determine which filters, views, and groupings are displayed in the corresponding dropdowns at the top of each report. The List Controls area gives you, as the System Administrator, the option to share reporting elements you may have created with all other resources in the system.
There are two levels of list controls. You use the Global List Controls to determine which reporting elements should be common to all users.
Then you use the Portal Profile List Controls to distribute specific report elements to subsets of users.
SCENARIO
After some discovery and interviews with stakeholders throughout the organization, you have found that people in different departments and roles have very different reporting requirements.
Team members think there are too many options in the view and filter dropdowns for task reports. Their managers want additional views and filters in their list menus.
The following table shows the results of your findings for the Task object and only two of your many implementation roles. For your convenience, the common reporting elements for the two roles are in bold text.
Team Members
Filters Views Groupings
Active Tasks
Incomplete Tasks
My Current Tasks
My Tasks Unassigned Tasks in My
Role Upcoming Tasks
Detail Information
Gantt Project Outline
Standard Task Summary *
Assigned To
Project
Start Date By Week
Status
Project Managers
Filters Views Groupings
Active Tasks
All Unassigned Tasks Approval Tasks Incomplete Tasks
Milestone Tasks My Current Tasks
My Tasks
Upcoming Tasks
All Dates Condition Cost Breakdown Detail Information
Project Outline
Revenue Standard
Status Task Summary *
Work Breakdown
Assigned To
Condition Job Role Progress Status Project
Start Date By Week
Status
Team
Modify the Global List Controls to distribute the common reporting elements. The unique elements will be distributed through the Portal Profile list controls.
* This is a custom view created by the Admin User that will not appear in the default list of distributed views.
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Only the Global List Controls will be discussed at this time. Portal Profile list controls will be discussed fully in the following lesson. A System Administrator can access and modify the Global List Controls by going to Setup Interface Setup List Controls.
To set the common task-level reporting elements
1. Go to the List Controls screen.
2. Select the Task option from the object type drop-down.
3. Click the Delete icon for each reporting element not common across all roles.
4. Click the option to search for the Task Summary view.
5. You will be presented with a Search Views screen. Input Task Summary to limit the number of views returned and then click Search.
6. Click the Add icon ( ).
7. Click Save.
8. Repeat steps 4 to 6 for other views, filters, and groupings you want to distribute.
9. Click the Save button on the List Controls screen – the filters, views, and groupings you selected will be distributed to all other users in the system.
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Lesson 8.3 Exercises
Exercise 1 ☐ Practice modifying the Global List Controls by adding the Portfolio Values Bubble view to the project
object. This view is not shipped with the software, but it is included in the demo environment, so you do not have to create this view before completing this exercise.
Exercise 2 ☐ Set aside time on your calendar to review the existing reports. Identify those reports you want to remove
from the global list. Also make note of the reports you want to modify. Add these notes to other reporting requirements you are gathering.
Exercise 3 ☐ Set aside time on your calendar to review the existing reporting elements to become familiar with each
view, filter, and grouping for the primary objects in AtTask – projects, tasks, and issues. Also, meet with representatives for each role to discuss whether or not the default reporting elements would provide value in completing their day-to-day work.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 8.4 Modifying Portal Profiles As you learned in Chapter 3, Portal Profiles provide administrators with the option to place reports directly in front of individuals. Administrators can customize the workspace tabs on the following landing pages:
AtTask Home Issue Portfolio Program Project Task
A well-defined Portal Profile can significantly reduce the learning curve for the application because it streamlines clickpaths and makes navigation to relevant data easier.
Portal Profile Limitations
Portal Profiles have the following limitations: 6 tabs per portal area 3 reports per tab
Built-in Portal Profiles AtTask provides seven built-in profiles that are optimized for the most common types of users.
Profile Description
Full User License Default portal profile for the full AtTask license.
Team User License Identical to the Full User License portal profile.
Executive Profile Provides portal components common to executives and upper management.
Portfolio Manager Provides portal components common to portfolio managers.
Project Manager Provides portal components common to project managers.
Individual Contributor Profile
Provides portal components common to individuals that routinely work on tasks and issues.
Help Desk Requestor Provides portal components common to individuals that submit requests/issues only.
Client Portal Profile Provides portal components common to clients who are interested in monitoring the progress of their projects.
NOTE
Administrators cannot modify built-in profiles, but they can copy these profiles and make adjustments to the copies.
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Copying Existing Profiles
To make a copy of the Full User License portal profile
1. Navigate to the Portal Profiles page.
2. Click into the Full User License profile.
3. Click the Copy Portal Profile link in the left-hand navigation.
4. Rename the profile and update the description.
5. Click Save.
SCENARIO
Your Project Managers have reviewed the existing Portal Profiles and like the Full User License profile for their team members. However, they have requested that team members have the My Late Tasks report added to the My Tasks tab and a My Issues tab should appear on the AtTask Home page.
Use the following table as a reference for the reports that should appear on each tab on the AtTask Home page.
My Projects My Tasks My Issues
My Projects My Upcoming Tasks
Project Milestones
My Approvals
My Issues
My Unassigned Issues
My Submitted Issues
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To edit a custom Portal Profile
1. Click the Edit Portal Profile link in the left-hand navigation.
2. Across the top of the workspace, you will note there is a tab for each area where the tab structure may be modified; click on the Home tab.
3. In the upper right of the workspace, notice a rectangle representing each of the tabs available on the Home page; click on the Add Tab icon ( ).
4. Scroll through the list of Reports and click the Add Report icon to the left of the report you want on this tab. Following the scenario, choose My Issues, My Unassigned Issues, and My Submitted Issues.
NOTE
Only reports that are global, linked to ‘me’, or entered by ‘me’ will appear in this list.
NOTE
If you do not name the tab before adding a report to it, AtTask will set the name of the tab to the name of the first report added.
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5. Navigate to the My Tasks tab, remove the My Issues report from this tab using the Remove Report icon ( ), and then add the My Late Tasks report or another tab to fill the third available slot.
6. Using the drag option for the My Late Tasks row, move the report into the second position.
7. When the reports you need to distribute are in place, click the Save button.
Portal Profile List Controls
Recall that the System Administrator has the ability to distribute views, filters, and groupings to other users through the global List Controls area. Similarly, through the Portal Profile List Controls, an administrator can share a set of views, filters, and groupings to a group of users that share the same Portal Profile.
TIP
It is a good idea to test new Portal Profiles before distributing them to actual resources. To do this, assign the Portal Profile to your own user account and verify it meets the requirements for the profile.
SCENARIO
Team Members need the following unique reporting elements added to the Portal Profile List Controls for the profile that will be assigned to their user profiles.
Team Members
Filters Views Groupings
Unassigned Tasks in My Role Gantt (none)
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When viewing the Details tab of a custom portal profile, click the Portal Profile List Controls link on the left-hand navigation.
Once here, follow the same steps identified in the List Controls lesson.
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Lesson 8.4 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ Create a copy of the default Project Manager portal profile to add a new tab to the Task level that shows
the Expenses and Hours reports.
Exercise 2 ☐ Update the Portal Profile List Controls for this new profile to include the unique reporting elements
needed for project manager profiles.
Project Managers
Filters Views Groupings
All Unassigned Tasks Approval Tasks Milestone Tasks
All Dates Condition Cost Breakdown Revenue Status Work Breakdown
Condition Job Role Progress Status Team
Exercise 3 ☐ Schedule time to review the existing Portal Profiles with your implementation team and map out which
reports you want to distribute through Portal Profiles, Global Reports, and Linked Reports.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 8.5 Modifying Access Levels In Chapter 3 you learned that Access Levels are applied to user profiles to determine what a user is able to see and do inside the tool. As an administrator, you have the ability to create a copy of an existing Access Level and modify the copy to restrict or grant access that meet your organization’s security requirements.
Default Access Levels
Name Rank Explanation
System Administrator 99 User can have administrative access to AtTask and can access all functions and information. Very few users should have this set of permissions.
Multi-Group Administrator
85 User can access all AtTask information and functions within any of the assigned groups.
Group Administrator 80 User can access all AtTask information and functions within this user's home group.
Portfolio Manager 65 User can access information and functionality that is generally limited to this person's own portfolio.
Executive 60 User can view everything, but can only edit his or her own tasks, documents and issues.
Project Manager 50 User can access and edit information and functions within this person's own projects.
Individual Contributor 25 User can access and edit information and objects that are directly assigned to this person.
Team Member 25 User can access and edit information and objects that are directly assigned to this person.
Timesheet User 10 User can view only limited project information. This access level requires only a Limited-Use license.
Help Desk Requestor 5 User can only submit help desk requests, and requires only a help desk requestor license.
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System Administrators navigate to the Access Levels area by going to Setup Organizational Setup Access Levels.
Access Levels can be created from scratch by clicking on the New Access Level link, or by using the Create menu. However, it is always recommended you create a copy of an existing access level and make changes as necessary.
To make a copy of an access level, decide which of the existing access levels most closely meets the permissions for the resources that will be assigned to the access level.
SCENARIO
The implementation team has determined that the default Project Manager access level is too strong. It gives the project managers the ability to add tasks and modify task details on any project where they are member of the project team.
You need to create a Project Owner access level that only allows a project manager to add and edit tasks on projects where he/she is the project owner.
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To create a copy of the Project Manager access level
1. Navigate to the Access Levels area.
2. Click the Project Manager access level.
3. Make a copy of the Project Manager access level; rename it Project Owner.
4. Click Save.
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Understanding the Moving Parts of Access Levels
Click the Edit Access Level link to get a look at how these are really put together.
Access Levels are defined on two tabs. The Access Level Details tab contains general access permissions that can be granted or restricted. The Access Scopes tab identifies individual Add, Delete, Edit, and View rights for each object.
Definitions Access Area Access Areas allow administrators to review the permissions for an Access Level on an
object-by-object basis.
Help Article Link: https://help.attask.com/#url=/index.php/node/load/107
Access Action Combined with the Access Scope, Access Actions determines the activities a person can perform. The actions common to most Access Areas are:
Add Delete Edit View
Some Access Areas provide addition activities, such as: Change Status Custom Data Request Update
Help Article Link: https://help.attask.com/#url=/index.php/node/load/106
Access Scopes Combined with Access Actions, Access Scopes determine the criteria for permissions assigned.
Help Article Link: https://help.attask.com/#url=/index.php/node/load/119
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To edit the Project Owner access level
1. Edit the Project Owner access level.
2. Go to the Access Scopes tab.
3. Select the Task access area.
4. Change the Add, Edit, and Delete actions to the Owned By Me Project Tasks access scope.
5. Change the Change Status and Custom Data actions to Project, Assigned To Me, or Entered By Me Tasks.
6. Click Save.
SCENARIO (REMINDER)
The implementation team has determined that the default Project Manager access level is too strong. It gives the project managers the ability to add tasks to and modify task details on any project where they are member of the project team.
You need to create a Project Owner access level that only allows a project manager to add and edit tasks on projects where he/she is the project owner.
NOTE
According to the scenario, the View action can remain on the Home Group, Project, or Entered By Me Tasks scope. This access scope allows users to view any project in their Home Group, any project they are assigned to as a project team member, and any project they created.
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Steps
1. Through the Recent menu, select the Project Owner access level.
2. Click the Edit Access Level link on the left-hand menu.
3. Go to the Access Scopes tab and select the Project access area.
4. Make the necessary change and click Save.
PRACTICE EXERCISE
After creating the Project Owner access level, you decide you also want to restrict which projects the users with this access level are allowed to edit. Go to the Project access area and reduce the access to edit only those projects where they are set as the project owner.
NOTE
Group associations and project team membership impact what users can see and do more than any other user profile conditions.
Individuals using the same access level may see different results or totals on reports because of the groups and/or projects they belong to.
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Lesson 8.5 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ Schedule time with your implementation team to review the existing access levels and compare the
functionality allowed with the default permissions to your actual security requirements for each role.
Lesson Notes
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Chapter 9 Timesheet and Hour Setup Timesheets provide end-users with a consolidated interface for entering time and providing updates to work. Many organizations find the Timesheet tool contains all the functionality team members will ever need. They opt to only educate users to use this tool and omit instructions for updating work through any other method.
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Lesson 9.1 Recurring Timesheet Profiles Recurring timesheet profiles allow you to automate timesheet creation. The timesheet profile identifies the duration of the timesheet based on normal pay period types (Weekly, Bi-Weekly, Semi-Montly, and Monthly). When the profile becomes associated with a user AtTask generates new timesheets automatically, reducing the administrator’s need to create new timesheets each pay period.
To access this Recurring Timesheet area go to Resource Management Timesheet and Hour Management Recurring Timesheet Setup.
To create the Marketing Timesheet Profile
1. Navigate to the Recurring Timesheet Setup page.
2. Click the Add action icon from the toolbar.
3. Provide a name for the profile (Marketing Timesheet Profile).
4. Select the Weekly option from the Pay Period Type field.
5. Select the date you want the system to begin generating timesheets. (Select last Saturday’s date).
6. Search for and select Jennifer Campbell in the Approver field.
7. Click Save.
Adding the Recurring Timsheet Profile to user profiles can be done either through individual edits or through a bulk edit.
SCENARIO
Users in the Marketing department need a timesheet profile to generate timesheets on a weekly basis. These timesheets should be approved by Jennifer Campbell.
Users in the IT department need a timesheet profile to generate monthly timesheets. As a cost center, IT’s work does not need to have the same degree of oversight, so no approver is necessary.
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Name
Enter the name of the profile in the Name field. This is a required field.
Description
Enter a description to describe to other administrators the purpose of this recurring timesheet profile.
Pay Period Type
Choose a pay period type from the Pay Period Type menu. The default is Monthly. However, you can also choose Weekly, Bi-weekly, and Semi-monthly.
Pay Period Starts On
The ‘Period Starts On’ will change depending on the pay period type.
Weekly and Bi-weekly
Semi-monthly
Monthly
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Effective Start Date
Enter an Effective Start Date in the field, or click the calendar icon ( ) to choose a date.
Approver
Choose an approver from the Approver dropdown. An approver has the authority to approve or reject a timesheet after it is submitted. Click the search icon ( ) to find an approver that does not appear on the list.
Select General Hours
From the Select General Hours menu, you can select one or more general hour types you want to appear on the timesheet. Use the Control (Windows) or Command (Mac), and Shift keys to select multiple hour types.
When To Create Multiple Recurring Timesheet Profiles
Reasons
Unique Pay Periods
Unique Approvers
Unique General Hours
NOTE
Generally approvers are not project managers. They are typically a user’s function manager or an HR/Payroll representative.
NOTE
Selecting no hour types is the same as selecting all general hour types.
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Lesson 9.1 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ Create the timesheet profile for the IT department users to satisfy the requirements presented in the
scenario of this lesson.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 9.2 Timesheet Preferences An important part of preparing timesheets for end users is to set the Timesheet and Hour Preferences. Through these preferences you can determine, in part, the fields that will appear on each timesheet.
To set timesheet prefercenes go to Resource Management Timesheet and Hour Management Timesheet and Hour Preferences.
NOTE
These preferences are global in scope, meaning they apply to all resources, projects, and timesheets.
SCENARIO
People accessing timesheets need the ability to: Record time at the project level Change the status of task and issue work items Record expenses toward work items
Some of these options are set by default for AtTask accounts. Review the options in Hour Type Preferences and Timesheet Layout sections of the Timesheet and Hour Preferences page. Where it the option is not set according to the requirements listed above, update the setting.
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To update these Timesheet and Hour Preferences
1. Navigate to the Timesheet and Hour Preferences page.
2. In the Hour Type Preferences section, locate the Enable Project Entry field. Make an update if necessary.
3. In the Timesheet Layout section, locate the Display Completion Fields setting. Make an update if necessary.
4. Locate the Display Expense Links field. Make an update if necessary.
5. Click Save.
SCENARIO
When a person opens a timesheet, all the work items he/she has recorded hours towards automatically appear. In the Timesheet Auto-Population Prefernces section, you can control which other work items will also appear on the timesheet when it is opened.
Timesheets should be populated with task that meet the following criteria: Tasks that are actually active during the period of the timesheet (+/- 1 week) Tasks that are planned to be active during the period of the timesheet (+/- 1 week) Tasks that are projected to be active during the period of the timesheet (+/- 1 week)
Additionally, the total number of auto-populated items should be set to the highest value: 45.
NOTE
Auto-populated items are always limited to work items assigned directly to the individual the timesheet belongs to.
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To update these Timesheet and Hour Preferences
1. Navigate to the Timesheet and Hour Preferences page.
2. In the Timesheet Auto-Population Preferences section, locate the Maximum Additional Items field. Change this value to 45.
3. Locate the Extended Date Range field and make sure it is set to 1 Week.
4. Locate the Include Tasks with Actual Dates in Range field. Change the value if it is not already set to Yes.
5. Locate the Include Tasks with Planned Dates in Range field. Change the value if it is not already set to Yes.
6. Locate the Include Tasks with Projected Dates in Range field. Change the value if it is not already set to Yes.
7. Click Save.
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Hour Type Preferences
Enable Project Specific Hour Types
Changing this value to ‘Yes’ will allow a system administrator (and any others with appropriate access) to create new hour types to be used at the project, task, and issue levels.
Enable Project Hour Entry
Changing this value to ‘No’ will hide project-level time entry both in the timesheet and on each project. As long as this value is set to ‘Yes’, any resource with the ability to record time will be able to record project-level effort.
Enabled:
Disabled:
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Timesheet Layout This section provides a system administrator the ability to show or hide specific attributes of all timesheets.
General Hours Placement
Organizations that will be recording General Hours (General Overhead, Vacation, Sick, or others you might create) more frequently than time on tasks and projects, may elect to show the General Hours section of the timesheet at the top of the page.
Display Project Specific Hour Types
Organizations that require hour entries to be tied to a specific hour type (or label) may want to display these on the timesheet to streamline time entry for team members. However, implementations where these labels are not necessary will likely want to leave this off the timesheet to reduce confusion and provide a cleaner interface.
Display Completion Fields
Organizations that do not wish their project contributors to provide status updates through the timesheet may want to remove the completion fields to clean up the timesheet interface.
Display Expense Links
If your end users will be recording non-labor expenses on tasks they are assigned to, you may want to enable this field. Doing so will allow your resources to complete expense updates to tasks they are assigned to from within the timesheet.
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Timesheet Auto-Population Preferences This section provides the flexibility to determine which issues, tasks, and projects will appear on timesheets.
Maximum Additional Items
Resources accessing a timesheet have the option to add projects, tasks, and issues that may not appear on their timesheet (as defined by the parameters below). The value in this dropdown field represents the total number of added and pinned items allowed on the timesheet for each resource.
Extended Date Range
Normally, the timesheet will only display tasks and issues that are planned during the timeframe of the timesheet. However, through this drop down you can extend the time frame to include tasks and issues planned to be active up to four weeks in either direction from the timesheet date range.
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Include Tasks with Actual Dates in Range
When set to ‘Yes’ the timesheet will include tasks that have either an Actual Start Date or Completion Date that falls within the timeframe of the project, even if the planned date of the task falls outside of the timesheet date range.
Include Issues with Actual Dates in Range
When set to ‘Yes’ the timesheet will include issues that have either an Actual Start Date or Completion Date that falls within the timeframe of the project, even if the planned date of the issue falls outside of the timesheet date range.
Include Tasks with Planned Dates in Range
When set to ‘Yes’ the timesheet will include tasks that have either a Planned Start Date or Completion Date that falls within the timeframe of the project.
Include Issues with Planned Dates in Range
When set to ‘Yes’ the timesheet will include issues that have either a Planned Start Date or Completion Date that falls within the timeframe of the project.
Include Tasks with Projected Dates in Range
When set to ‘Yes’ the timesheet will include issues that have either a Projected Start Date or Completion Date that falls within the timeframe of the project, even if the planned date of the issue falls outside of the timesheet date range.
Include Completed Tasks
If multiple resources are typically assigned to a single task, it is recommended this value be set to ‘Yes’. This means when one resource records time against the task and marks it as complete, the other resources assigned to the task will still be able to view it through the timesheet when they decide to record hours.
Include Completed Issues
If it is common to reopen or record time toward completed issues, set this value to ‘Yes’.
Limited Timesheet User Preferences
This section gives the ability to hide Tasks and Issues from the timesheet interface for users with Limited Timesheet access. These users cannot record time to tasks nor issues, so the option to display these work items is usually set to ‘No’.
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Lesson 9.2 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ Set aside time with your implementation team to discuss what timesheet requirements you have for your
implementation.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 9.3 Hour Types An Hour Type is a label that allows you to categorize an hour entry. Depending on your reporting requirements for hours, this may be an essential step. Customizing hour types, or building a list of available hour labels, will provide consistency in your reporting. Alternatively, you can instruct your end users to be consistent in the comments they record with their hour entries.
Timesheets provide a list of General hour types, which let your users track hours not related to projects or tasks. You can also create a project-specific hour type. This hour type allows you to further categorize hours entered for the project time and its associated tasks and issues.
Before you can create project specific hour types, they have to be enabled first.
To enable project specific hour types
1. Navigate to the Timesheet and Hour Preferences page.
2. Locate the Enable Project Specific Hour Types field and change the value to Yes.
3. Locate the Display Project Specific Hour Types field. Change its value to Yes.
4. Click Save.
These two preferences will 1) make it so that cutom project specific hour types can be created, and 2) display the project specific hour type in the timesheet interface.
Regardless of the Display Project Specific Hour Types setting, a field to select project specific hour types will always appear on the Update Task Status and Completion Status Worksheet (if the feature has been enabled).
SCENARIO
Your team of business analysts want more information about the hour-based reports generated from AtTask. Specifically, they want to know how people are spending their time. They have requested the following project-level hour types be added to the system so they can look for trends of what people are doing to complete tasks:
Meeting Time Research Time Travel Time
They want to use the default Task Time hour type shipped with AtTask to collect work that cannot be tied to Meetings, Research, or Travel time.
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Custom hour types (both project-specific and general) are created and managed by going to Resource Management Timesheet and Hour Management Hour Types.
To create the Meeting Time hour type
1. Navigate to the Hour Types page.
2. Click the Add action icon from the toolbar.
3. Input the Hour Type name (Meeting Time).
4. Change the Scope value to Project Specific.
5. Change the Count As Revenue to No.
6. Click Save.
PRACTICE EXERCISE
Follow the steps above generally to create the Research Time and Travel Time hour types. Set Research Time to be count as revenue and Travel Time to not count as revenue.
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Explanation of Fields
Hour Type
Enter the name of the hour type in the Hour Type field (this is required). The value entered here is the value displayed as the hour type label on the hour entry screens and hour reports.
Description
Enter a description, as needed.
Scope
The Scope field controls whether the hour type you are creating will be used in the General Hours section of the timesheet, or if the hour type is project specific. This means label will be available at the project, task, and issue hour-entry screens.
Count As Revenue
The Count As Revenue radio button allows you to indicate if the revenue preferences defined on a task should be ignored when the hour type is coupled with the hour entry.
Is Active
Checking the Is Active checkbox will make the hour type active. This provides the same result as clicking the Enable light bulb icon from a list of hour types.
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Time Entry with Project Specific Hour Types
Assuming you have created at least one project-specific hour type and the Timesheet and Hour Preferences to display project specific hour types on the timesheet has been enabled, the following changes will be made to your Update Task Status tab and Timesheet interface.
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NOTE
The option to display the Hour Type column in the timesheet must be enabled in the Timesheet and Hour Preferences.
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Lesson 9.3 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ If applicable, list the general and project-specific hour types you need in your AtTask account.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 9.4 Expense Types Expenses represent non-labor costs on tasks or projects.
The image below displays a list of expenses that have been planned and recorded for the Cruzer Web Site project.
The following image displays the Manage Expenses tool on the same project.
One of the fields on the New Expense form is the Expense Type.
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The Expense Type is a label that is used in reporting. It will allow managers to look for patterns and consistently see how money is being spent from project to project, or across projects.
AtTask ships with six (6) expense types built in, which cannot be modified or deleted.
You also have the ability to create additional expenxe types to support your financial reporting needs. Custom expense types can be managed and created by going to Project Management Expense Type.
To create the Mileage expense type
1. Navigate to the Expense Types page.
2. Click the Add action icon from the toolbar.
3. Input the name for the expense type.
4. Select the Miles option from the Calculated Units field.
5. Input the rate per mile.
6. Click Save.
SCENARIO
You have a number of individuals that need to travel to complete project-related activities. In order to capture the full cost of the project, you have asked them to record expenses to capture costs of mileage reimbursement.
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Expense Type
Provide a name for the Expense Type. Normally, expense labels are defined by the implementation team or by your Finance department.
Calculated: Units and Rate
When set to the Miles, Kilometers, or Other the expense form will prompt you for a numeric unit that will be multiplied by the rate specified.
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Lesson 9.4 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ If applicable, list the additional expense types you need in your AtTask account.
Lesson Notes
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Chapter 10 Help Desk and Internal Support Systems A critical component to any software implementation is to determine how you will provide support for it internally – this is true of AtTask as well. Equally as important is to communicate to team members how they will get answers to their questions.
Your organization’s implementation plan for AtTask should include strategies for providing internal support to your user-base. These support options might include documentation, training seminars/workshops, video tutorials, and an AtTask help desk.
This chapter suggests one way that an internal support system can be implemented within the application. Additionally, the chapter provides instructions to system administrators on how the AtTask Help Desk feature can be implemented to meet other service queue requirements.
In this chapter, you will learn how to use the following reporting tools: Issue Management Overview Submitting Issues to Production Projects Submitting Issues to Service Queues Queue Properties Routing Rules and Queue Topics
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Lesson 10.1 Issue Management Overview Issues are used in two ways. To either represent obstacles to completing project-related work or to represent a request to a service queue. Managing issues along side the project tasks allows Project Managers to see a consolidated snap shot of the project work and priorities.
Issues on Production Projects
As mentioned above, issues may be recorded toward a production project (or its tasks) to identify problems as they occur. The Project Manager would triage new issues, assigning them out to the person most capable of resolving the impediment. In some cases it may be necessary to convert an issue to a task (so the effort enters the project plan) or to convert it into a project (if the scope is so large it launches a new initiative).
To record an issue to a project
1. Go to the project where the issue should be added (if the issue applies to a task, go to the particular task).
2. Click on New Issue in the left-hand navigation menu.
3. Enter a short description or issue name in the Issue field.
4. Provide the issue details in the Description field.
5. If you need to attach a document file (e.g. a screen shot for the related issue), you can go to the New Document tab to add a document file.
6. Click the Save button to upload the document and save the issue.
Issues Submitted to a Help Desk
Service queues can be very useful for your internal support systems. Examples of service queue may include a traditional IT Help Desk, a bugs queue in a development environment, or an internal support system.
Queues can be defined as public, where they are open to all AtTask users; or private, where just certain users are allowed to submit issues. The New Issue form can be customized to prompt users for the information you need to service their requests, then route the request to a single person or group of people. Groups of people can see requests assigned to them as a part of their normal workflow, and managers can easily monitor the work being done and identify any trouble spots.
A Help Desk is a central place where various issues and requests are collected and managed. For instance, many companies have a system or a help desk where employees can submit computer related problems and requests to IT personnel. Once an issue is submitted, an IT person can review the issue and make an appropriate decision.
In the scenario below, you will record a request to the Infrastructure Request queue to identify a problem with your telephone connection.
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To record an issue to a service queue
1. From the Home page, click into the Help Desk area.
2. Click on the name of the queue where the issue is to be added.
3. Name the issue and input the values you need.
4. Click the Save button to upload the document and submit the issue.
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Lesson Notes
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Lesson 10.2 Queue Properties As an administrator, you will likely be called on to create new Help Desk queues. The following lesson provides the foundation necessary to support your organization’s implementation of AtTask in this role.
In AtTask, a Help Desk is a project designated as an issue receptacle. In the AtTask Fundamentals course, you learned how issues could be submitted to a project. The difference is once a project is published as a Help Desk, users can submit issues or requests without actually accessing the project. When you set a project as a queue, you indicate that the project will be published to the Help Desk area and that is where issues get submitted.
You can set up any kind of queue you want. Many organizations have multiple queues to meet their particular needs. These queues are internal and specific to your organization. Do not confuse the Help Desk feature with AtTask Support.
To create the AtTask Help request queue
1. Go to the Create dropdown menu and select the Project option.
2. Provide a name for the project (AtTask Help) and brief description.
3. Navigate to the Queue Properties tab.
4. In the Is Public section, change the radio button to Public.
5. Navigate to the Queue Properties tab.
SCENARIO
Your users need a place to submit issues, requests, and questions about AtTask. Create a queue called AtTask Help where end users in your environment can submit support and change requests for AtTask.
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6. In the Queue Properties section, identify the types of issues you will allow on this project (Issue, Request, and Change Order).
7. Input the amount of time you expect requests to this queue will take to resolve in the Default Duration field.
8. In the New Issue Fields section, identify the fields you want displayed on the New Issue page.
9. Change the Show All Fields option to No Users.
10. Click Save.
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Publish as Help Desk
Publish as Help Desk
You have three choices for the project’s Help Desk setting: None, Public, or Private. None. This is a default option. When this option is selected, the project will not be published as a help
desk. Public. When this option is selected, the project is published as a Help Desk and any user in the system
can submit issues to the Help Desk. Private. When this option is selected, only users who have access to the project can use the help desk. Company. When this option is selected, the project is published as a Help Desk; however, only users
associated with the company the project is assigned to can see it on the Help Desk page. Group. When this option is selected, the project is published as a Help Desk; however, only users
associated with the group the project is assigned to can see it on the Help Desk page.
NOTE
The group of the project must match any of the groups the assigned to the user.
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Queue Properties
Types of Issues
You can choose one or more issue types. The Issue issue type is selected by default. Other options include: Bug Report, Request, or Change Order. When multiple types are selected, users can pick one of these issue types when they are submitting an issue. The labels for these issue types can be modified when creating custom issue statuses.
Closure Threshold
This identifies the amount of time users have to confirm the satisfactory completion of the issue before it is removed from their recently resolved issues. After the closure threshold has lapsed, the issue is considered closed.
Default Duration
Here you set the default duration for incoming issues.
Default Category
In this dropdown you select a custom data category to be attached to all issues submitted to the Help Desk. Use this option if you want your users to enter custom information when they are submitting an issue.
Default Route
This identifies the routing rule that will be used when new issues are added to the project.
Default Approval
This identifies the approval process that should be attached to new issues when they are added to this project.
NOTE
If no issue categories exist then the Default Category field will not appear on the form.
NOTE
If no routing rules are present on the project then the Default Route field will not appear on the form.
NOTE
If no approval processes are present in the system, the Default Approval field will not appear on the form.
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New Issue Fields
New Issue Fields
You can choose any of the 12 fields to appear on the New Issue form. Description, Priority, and Document Upload are selected by default.
Show All Fields
You can choose which users can see all issue fields when they create a new issue. You have three choices: Members on the project (Full License) All Users (Full License) No Users
Selecting the No Users option does not allow any user to see non-selected fields.
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Email Settings
Enabling and populating the Email Settings fields provides end users with the option to submit issues via email. When configured, AtTask will query a POP email account you setup on your email server every 30 minutes (by default). If new, unread messages are found in the account, AtTask imports the subject of the email as the issue name and the body of the email as the description of the issue. Attachments on the email will even be included as part of the issue.
However, only emails sent from AtTask users will be imported from the email account. AtTask will verify the ‘From’ address of the sender matches the email address for a licensed AtTask user.
The following requirements must be met for AtTask to receive emailed issues
The email account on your server is POP enabled. AtTask can only interface with POP email accounts. A POP account is associated with a single project. The email account is not a user’s personal email account.
NOTE
The Queue Properties can be defined on templates, which reduces the time spent defining new issue preferences as part of project planning activities. Additionally, setting Queue Properties on a template provides consistency in how new issues are defined on each project.
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Lesson 10.2 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ List the service queues your anticipate deploying in your AtTask account.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 10.3 Routing Rules and Queue Topics Routing Rules and Queue Topics let you automatically assign new issues to a specific user, job role, or team based on the Topic selected on the New Issue form. Routing rules work together with queue topics, which are discussed latter in the lesson.
Routing rules control what AtTask does with the issue (assign the issue to a user resource or job role, and/or move the issue to a different project) when a Topic is selected on the new issue form. Topics are used to control which category (or custom data form) and which routing rule will be applied to the new issue.
Because you assign a routing rule to a queue topic it is customary to create a list of rules before creating the topics. Therefore, it is suggested you write down your topics and rules on paper before attempting to configure this part of a project. The following table is one example of how you might organize your routing rules and queue topics.
Topic Assignment Route Project Route
SCENARIO
Create the following Routing Rules and Queue Topics to support an internal AtTask Help queue.
Topic User Assignment Route Role Assignment Route
Access Level Change Admin User
General Support Project Manager
Process Change Project Manager
Report Request Jennifer Campbell
System Settings Chris Manning
NOTE
When multiple Topics are routed to the same person or role, you only need to create the Routing Rule once for the project.
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Routing Rules To create the Routing Rule for the Admin User
1. Go to a target help desk project.
2. In the contextual menu, click Issues Setup.
3. Click the New Routing Rule link.
4. Input ‘Route to Admin User’ in the Name field.
5. Select the Admin User from the Default Assignee drop down.
6. Click Save.
NOTE
It is recommended you provide a clear name so others who may look at the routing rule will know what it does. It is a good idea to identify it by the Assignee or the Topic it will eventually be added to.
PRACTICE EXERCISE
Follow the steps above generally to create the other Routing Rules for Jennifer Campbell and Chris Manning.
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Name
It is recommend you provide a clear name so others who use the routing rule will know what it does. It is a good idea to identify it by the Assignee or the Topic where it will eventually be added.
Description
Give the rule a description, if needed.
Default Assignee
From the Default Assignee, choose the name of the user you want to assign the incoming issues. If you don’t see the person you want to assign, use the search icon ( ) to find a user.
Default Job Role
If you select a Default Job Role, the assignee is cleared. You can select one or the other, not both. You would select a job role if you want to route new issues to a job role rather than a specific individual. When using the Default Job Role field it is strongly recommended add the My Unassigned Issues report to portal profiles.
Default Team
You can make team assignments for new issues by selecting a default team in the Default Team field.
Route to Project
Usually if an issue is submitted to a help desk, you want that issue to be routed to the Help Desk project. So, from the Route to Project drop-down, you select that project; however, it is possible to route the issue to some other project using this drop-down menu.
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Queue Topics As mentioned above, Queue Topics are used to designate which route and which category will be used on the new issue form. Additionally, topics can be used for reporting purposes.
For example, if you create a IT problem help desk, and you want users to indicate whether it’s a software related problem or hardware related problem, you can create queue topics called Software Problems and Hardware Problems. Then, when a user submits an issue, they select one of these topics. Based on the topic choosen, the New Issue form will display different custom data and issue types, and the new issue will be assigned different duration and routing rules.
The case described above has been built into your test environment.
To create the Access Level Change queue topic
1. Navigate to a target AtTask Help project.
2. In the left-hand menu, expand the Issues Setup sub menu.
3. Click the New Queue Topic link.
4. Input a Name for the topic (Access Level Change). This is the value displayed in the Topic drop down on the New Issue form.
5. No categories have been created to support this queue yet, so leave the Default Category value as ‘N/A’.
6. If you completed the Issue Approval exercises, select an approval process from the Default Approval field.
7. Input an appropriate duration for this type of request into the Default Duration field.
8. Select the appropriate Routing Rule for the Default Route drop-down.
9. Deselect the Issue and Request issue types.
10. Click the Save button.
PRACTICE EXERCISE
Follow the steps above generally to create the other Queue Topics for the scenario at the beginning of this lesson.
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Name and Description
Enter a name for the topic. This is a required field. Enter a description to explain to others whom access this area what the topic is meant to do.
Default Category
Next you can select a Default Category. This will add custom data fields to your queue topic. This category and its parameters must be set up before the topic is defined.
Parent Topic
Your queue topics can be hierarchical. If you already have topics in the system, and you want to make this queue topic a subtopic to one of those topics, you can do so with the Parent Topic menu.
Default Duration
The Default Duration sets an automatic duration period for each incoming issue.
Default Route
The Default Route comes from routing rules that have been set up earlier, as you did in the previous section.
Issue Types
Finally, you must choose one or more issue types for the topic. The Issues option is selected by default. You can also choose Bug Report, Request, or Change Order.
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Lesson 10.3 Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ List the Topics and Routing Rules you need for each queue you identified in the Lesson 10.2 Exercises.
Queue: ________________________
Topic Assignment Route Project Route
Queue: ________________________
Topic Assignment Route Project Route
Queue: ________________________
Topic Assignment Route Project Route
Queue: ________________________
Topic Assignment Route Project Route
Lesson Notes
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What’s Next? Course Feedback We need your help to improve this course.
You will be receiving an email shortly inviting you to complete a survey to help us measure the course value, material, and instructor. We rely on your input as we plan changes to curriculum and presentation materials.
Thank you.
AtTask Global Services Options Maximize your investment in AtTask by working with an AtTask Global Services Consultant. The following three keys to implementation and adoption success will help your company be more effective, innovative, and competitive.
People—AtTask’s people-focused consulting and training services are a critical component to successful adoption and implementation success.
Process—We’ll help you identify and implement those business processes and best practices that will enable your company to focus on the projects that best align with corporate strategic and financial goals.
Technology—Your Global Services Consultant will help you implement AtTask to best meet the needs of your organization. From setup, to evaluation, and validation—we’ll help you optimize AtTask’s state-of-the-art PPM technology.
AtTask Standard Courses AtTask Fundamentals—This course is perfect for project managers, business users, and power users who need to understand the fundamentals of using AtTask. This is a predecessor to all other Education courses (except the AtTask Team Member course). It presents basic project management and portfolio management activities.
AtTask Portfolio and Resource Management—This course is designed for portfolio managers and resource managers. The 1-day AtTask Portfolio and Resource Management course provides strategic managers the tools needed to complete project selection and resource planning activities.
AtTask Project Management—This course prepares project managers with instructions for using next-level, Enterprise features. AtTask power users the tools they need to expand their use of the system with detailed customization of the interface, reporting, and processes. Topics covered include: advanced project and task configuration, custom data use, financial management, milestones and baselines, and defining projects for use in the Capacity Planner.
AtTask Reporting—This course provides detailed training on customizing reports in AtTask. It includes reporting basics, such as creating Filters, Views, and Groupings. It also introduces more advanced reporting options, including Text Mode. Text Mode views allow you to display data not available through the Builder interface and to create calculated columns based on data returned in the report.
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Appendix A AtTask Requirements Questionnaire Once you become familiar with the AtTask infrastructure and object relationships, you may find it easiest to gather your requirements by identifying which objects you plan on using and how.
The following worksheets provide you with a location to gather this information.
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User Requirements System Default Information
Default Timezone
Default Locale
Currency
Pasword Security
High
Medium
Low
Our Company Name
People work in the following departments
People work in the following roles
Cost Rate Billing Rate
Cost Rate Billing Rate
Cost Rate Billing Rate
Cost Rate Billing Rate
Cost Rate Billing Rate
People work on the following teams
People work in the following timezones
Work should not be planned on the following corporate holidays
Users are required to submit timesheets on a _________ basis.
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Executives should be able to
View Add Edit Delete Notes
Projects
Tasks
Issues
Users
Other:
Portfolio Managers should be able to
View Add Edit Delete Notes
Projects
Tasks
Issues
Users
Other:
Project Managers should be able to
View Add Edit Delete Notes
Projects
Tasks
Issues
Users
Other:
Team Members should be able to
View Add Edit Delete Notes
Projects
Tasks
Issues
Users
Other:
(Other) __________ should be able to
View Add Edit Delete Notes
Projects
Tasks
Issues
Users
Other:
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Project Management Requirements
Preferences
The majority of projects get scheduled from a Start date or Completion date
What stage of the Project Management Lifecyle do you start your projects in?
Initiation (Idea)
Requested
Planning
Current
Project managers expected to close their projects manually Yes No
At the onset of your project baselines should be created automatically Yes No
Are you more interested in Cost or Time to measure the performance of your projects?
Revenue estimates are generated from
User-based Rates
Role-based Rates
Fixed Rates
None
Cost estimates are generated from
User-based Rates
Role-based Rates
Fixed Rates
None
Confugiration
Core and custom statuses needed for Projects, Tasks, and Issues
Project Task Issue
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Customers you do projects for
Requires Custom Role Rates Yes No
Requires Custom Role Rates Yes No
Requires Custom Role Rates Yes No
Requires Custom Role Rates Yes No
Requires Custom Role Rates Yes No
Requires Custom Role Rates Yes No
Requires Custom Role Rates Yes No
Portfolios
Progams
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Reporting Needs
Report Name Description/Purpose Audience
Example: My Portfolios
Portfolios where I’m the owner, located on a dashboard on the AtTask Home page so I don’t have to click into Portfolio Management
Portfolio Managers (Owners)
Example: My Resource Pools
A report displaying the Resource Pools I have to view on a regular basis with links directly into the Capacity Planner
Me
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Appendix B Reminder Notifications and Email Templates The Notification Settings option above provides a general approach to timed notifications. The Reminder Notifications area provides a more granular approach to defining how and when notifications will be sent.
Also, unlike Event Handlers and the other emails we have seen so far, a system administrator can define the email template that will be used for each notification.
Once again, before attempting to build Email Templates and Reminder Notifications, it is important to consult with your Project Managers and other users to decide which notifications will simplify project related activities and provide value to your organization.
Below you will see the steps to create a Reminder Notification to inform an assigned resource of an upcoming task with five days advanced warning.
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Lesson 1 Reminder Notifications A user with the System Administrator access level will access the Reminder Notifications area by going to Setup Workflow Setup Reminder Notifications.
Once on the Reminder Notifications page, to create new Reminder Notifications click on the New Reminder Notification link on the left-hand navigation.
Name
Be sure to name the notification clearly so that you, and others that will apply the notification to tasks, issues, and projects, will know what functionality they are adding to the object. Input the name of the notification into the Reminder Notification field: ‘Task Due to Start in 5 Days’.
Object Type
Select the Task option from the Object Type drop down field to identify what object the Reminder Notification will be applied to.
Duration
Represents the threshold that must be met for the notification to be sent. In the Duration field input ‘5 days’ as the value.
Timing
Along with the Duration field, will be used to determine when the notification should be sent. Select the Before option from the Timing drop down.
Date Field
Determines which date fields will be used on the threshold for the notification. Use the ‘Planned Start Date’ option from the Date Field drop down.
Criteria
Use the ‘Incomplete in Current Projects’ option from the Criteria drop down.
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Recipients
Indicate which recipient(s) you want to receive emails when the criteria above are met – in this case, select the ‘Assigned To’ option.
Email Template
If an Email Template exists for the object type selected, then the Email Template drop down will also appear on the form. Our next step is to create an Email Template and then apply it to this Reminder Notification.
Lesson Notes
NOTE
The ‘All in Current Projects’ is only needed when using the ‘Actual Completion Date’ option from the Date Field drop down.
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Lesson 2 Email Templates Before explaining how an Email Template is created, it is important to note that Email Template configuration requires familiarity with the Power Search syntax discussed in the Power Search sections of the AtTask Reporting courses and in the User’s Manual. Below you will be provided with a sample of an Email Template that may be useful to you; however, to create your own, you will likely need to reference the User’s Manual in the AtTask Community.
A user with the System Administrator access level will access the Email Templates area by going to Setup Workflow Setup Email Templates.
In the Email Templates area, to create a new Email Template click on the New Email Template link on the left-hand navigation.
Email Template
The name of the template normally matches the name of the Reminder Notification it will be associated with. Input the name of the template in the Template Name field: ‘Task Due to Start in 5 Days’.
Description
Provide a Description as needed.
Object Type
Select the Task option from the Object Type drop down.
Subject
Input the subject of your email into the Subject field.
Content
Input the body of your email into the Content field.
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The following tables provide some basic HTML instruction and samples of how to reference values from the AtTask databases.
Name Description
HTML Syntax Formatting the email can be done through basic HTML tags. Below are some basic formatting tips:
Bold Text <b>…</b>
Italic Text <i>…</i>
Underline Text <u>…</u> Line Break <br />
Paragraph <p>…</p>
Other HTML tags, such as tables and image references, are allowed.
Referencing Database Values
A database field reference must start and end with ‘$$’. If referencing data outside of the selected object type you must declare the object followed by a colon ( : ). See the example below.
The object is assumed, so when referencing the project name on a project notification the value is $$name$$. However, when referencing the project name on a task notification the value is $$project:name$$.
For a full list of database fields, refer to the Power Search Guide on the AtTask Community.
Content Sample
Content
<p>$$assignedTo:firstName$$,</p> <p>You are assigned to the following task; it is due to start within the next 5 days.</p>
<p><i><b>Name:</b> $$name$$</i><br /> <b>Task ID:</b> $$ID$$<br /> <b>Planned Start Date:</b> $$plannedStartDate$$<br /> <b>Planned Completion Date:</b> $$plannedCompletionDate$$<br /> <b>Planned Work Required:</b> $$workRequired$$<br/> <b>Project Name:</b> $$project:name$$</p>
<p>Thank you for your hard work.</p>
Chris, You are assigned to the following task; it is due to start within the next 5 days.
Name: Sample Task Task ID: 1234 Planned Start Date: 12/03/2010 Planned Completion Date: 12/14/2010 Planned Work Required: 10 hours Project Name: Sample Project
Thank you for your hard work.
Now that you have created an Email Template, you can apply the template to the Reminder Notification already created.
NOTE
The AtTask Community contains a number of useful examples of email templates. Review the library at the following URL: https://community.attask.com/email-templates.
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Lesson Notes
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Lesson 3 Applying Reminder Notifications To Tasks Unlike the timed notifications provided through the Notification Settings area, custom Reminder Notifications are not global. This means that they have to be added directly to projects, tasks, or issues. While it is generally not a system administrator’s responsibility to distribute Reminder Notifications, the following provides instructions on how to apply them to tasks (applying Reminder Notifications to projects and issues follow the same principles).
There are Three Options
Applying the Reminder Notification to a Single Task Applying the Reminder Notification to Several Tasks at Once Applying the Reminder Notification to a Template Task
Applying the Reminder Notification to a Single Task
When Viewing a Task List (either from a project’s task list, report or search results)
1. Click into the task where the Reminder Notification should be added.
2. In the Attachments submenu on the left, click the Reminder Notifications link.
3. From the icon toolbar at the top of the report, click on the action icon.
4. You will be presented with a search screen – identify the Reminder Notification by name or simply click the Submit button to pull up a list of all Reminder Notification.
5. Select the checkboxes to the left of the Reminder Notification(s) you wish to attach to the task.
6. Click the action icon to apply the selected notification(s) to the task.
NOTE
If according to the criteria of the notification the email should have already been sent, the delivery status of the notification will be listed as ‘Expired’.
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Applying the Reminder Notification to a Several Tasks at Once
When Viewing a Task List (either from a project’s task list, report or search results)
1. Select the tasks where the Reminder Notification should be applied by marking the checkboxes to the left of each task name.
2. Click the action icon from the icon toolbar.
3. This will present you with a bulk edit screen where you will activate the Reminder Notifications field by marking the check box to the field’s left.
4. Using the Ctrl (PC) or Command (Mac) select the notifications that apply to the selected tasks.
5. Click the Save button to commit the change.
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Applying the Reminder Notification to a Template Task
To reduce the amount of overhead maintenance applying Reminder Notifications to each project and task, notifications may be added to Templates and Template Tasks. Attaching the Reminder Notification at the template level will mean that Project Managers will not have to verify that key tasks that require these custom notifications have them attached.
Reminder Notification Summary
Reminder Notifications provide a more granular and flexible approach to timed notifications. With that flexibility, it requires additional overhead time in creating, applying and maintaining the list of available notifications for Project Managers and their teams.
Reminder Notifications are not global in scope; they only apply to the projects, tasks, or issues where they have been added.
Each Reminder Notification generates an email; they are not grouped together in a single email like notifications sent through the Notification Settings interface.
The Power Search documentation in the User’s Manual provides the available database references for building custom Email Templates.
Lesson Notes
NOTE
New tasks created after the template is applied will not have Reminder Notifications applied to them unless the Project Manager manually adds them after task creation. Likewise, Issues added to the project must have them added manually, either individually or in bulk.
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Appendix B Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ Create a task Email Template that based on the content from the Late Project Notification email templates
example on the Community – https://community.attask.com/email-templates.
Exercise 2 ☐ In the Reminder Notification area, create a new notification that will let assigned users know when they
are 3 days late on tasks.
Exercise 3 ☐ Assign your Reminder Notification to several tasks through a bulk edit.
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Appendix C Steps to Building Additional Approval Processes This appendix identifies the steps to build the Approval Processes from the Table of Approval Requirements in Lesson 6.2 that are not discussed in the scenario presented in that lesson.
Table of Approval Requirements
Object Type # Process Description Purpose
Project 1 Project Approval by the Portfolio Manager on Completion of the Business Case, and By the Portfolio Manager and Project Sponsor when the Status is Changed to Current, and By the Project Owner when the Status is
Changed to Complete and then by the Project Sponsor.
Utilizes multiple Approval Paths and Approval Steps to create staged approvals as a project progresses through the project lifecycle.
Issue 2 Issue Approval by the QA Engineer on Issue Closed/Resolved.
Ideal when AtTask is used in a software development environment and the QA department relies on the AtTask Help Desk to track issues and requests. This process can easily be adapted to any other industry where the Help Desk is utilized.
Issue 3 Issue Approval by the Issue Primary Contact on Issue Closed, Resolved, Won’t Resolve, and Cannot Duplicate.
Can be used along with the AtTask Help Desk so the originator of an issue can verify the issue is completed to their satisfaction.
Task 4 Approval of Document Creation Tasks on Task Completion by the Project Manager.
Provides a solution to allow document approval. When a document is attached to a task, project or issue with an Approval Process, then you might assume the approval or rejection is based on the contents of the document.
Task 5 Task Approval by the Assigned Resource’s Manager on Task Start, and By the Project Manager on Task Completion.
Allows a resource’s functional (org chart) manager to approve the work his/her resources complete, and then through a separate Approval Path, allows the project owner to verify satisfactory completion.
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Steps
1. Go to Setup Workflow Setup Approval Setup Issue Approvals Setup.
2. Click on the New Approval Process link in the contextual menu.
3. Name and describe the Approval Process.
4. Click the New Approval Path button.
5. Select the Closed option from Target Status drop down.
6. Change the value in the Approval Step Name (optional).
7. Select the Job Role option from the Approval Type drop down.
8. A list of recently accessed roles will appear in the Approvers drop down. If the QA Engineer is present, select it; otherwise, use the inline search option by clicking on the search icon to browse for the role.
9. Click on the New Approval Path button once again, and repeat steps 4 through 7 for the Resolved target status.
10. Click the Save button to submit the Approval Process.
SCENARIO
Your organization decides to utilize the Help Desk feature within AtTask to support your Quality Assurance processes. You need to create the second Approval Process identified in the Table of Approval Requirements.
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Steps
1. Go to the Issue Approvals Setup area.
2. Click the name of the Approval Process you want to edit.
3. Click the Edit Approval Process link from the left-hand navigation.
4. For the Approval Path with the Closed status, click the Add Approval Step button.
5. Name the Approval Step.
6. Select the User option from the Approval Type drop-down.
7. Select the Primary Contact wildcard from the Approvers drop-down.
8. Repeat steps 4 to 7 for a Resolved approval.
9. Click the Add Approval Path button and select User, Primary Contact approval for the Won’t Resolve status.
10. Click the Add Approval Path button and select User: Primary Contact approval for the Cannot Duplicate status.
11. Click the Save button to submit the Approval Process.
SCENARIO
Edit the Approval Process created in the above scenario and add process 3 from the Table of Approval Requirements as additional Approval Paths. The initiator of the issue should be able to verify the issue is completed satisfactorily upon completion or if the issue is set to a Won’t Resolve or Cannot Duplicate status. It will be necessary to add two new Approval Paths for the Won’t Resolve and Cannot Duplicate statuses, and you need to add two new Approval Steps to the existing Approval Paths.
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Steps
1. Go to the Task Approvals Setup area.
2. Click the New Approval Process Link in the left-hand menu.
3. Name and describe the Approval Process, then click the New Approval Path button.
4. Select the Complete option from the Target Status drop-down.
5. Select the User option from the Approval Type drop-down.
6. From the Approvers drop-down, select the Project Owner option.
7. In this case, change the If Path is rejected option to Create an Issue.
8. Click the Save button to submit the Approval Process.
SCENARIO
Create a new Task Approval Process to be associated with tasks that require the submission of a document upon completion of the task, as described in Process 4 in the Table of Approval Requirements. This Approval Process requires that when a task is completed the Project Owner will approve the task.
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Steps
1. Go to the Task Approvals Setup area.
2. Click the New Approval Process Link in the left-hand menu.
3. Name and describe the Approval Process, then click the New Approval Path button.
4. Select the In Progress option from the Target Status drop-down.
5. Select the User option from the Approval Type drop-down.
6. From the Approvers drop-down, select the Assigned To Manager option.
7. In this case, use the If Path is rejected option to Set Status to New or Previous Status.
8. Click the New Approval Path button.
9. Select the Complete option from the Target Status drop-down.
10. Select the User option from the Approval Type drop-down.
11. From the Approvers drop-down, select the Project Owner option.
12. In this case, change the If Path is rejected option to Create an Issue.
13. Click the Save button to submit the Approval Process.
Lesson Notes
SCENARIO
Create a new Task Approval Process that satisfies the requirements of process 5 in the Table of Approval Requirements. The Approval Process will allow the assigned resource’s manager an opportunity to approve the work when the status changes to In Progress, and it gives the Project Owner approval on task completion.
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Appendix D Kick-Start Data Importer The Kick-Start data importer allows you to import large amounts of data at one time. Kick-Starts are typically utilized early in an organization’s implementation to build out a working environment; Kick-Starts are not normally used to synch systems or provide updates on an ongoing basis.
Appendix D contains the following lessons: Creating a Kick-Start Template Simple Group and User Imports Simple Project and Task Imports Importing Projects with Custom Data
Only users with the System Administrators access level can access the Kick-Starts area. It is found by going to Setup System Settings Kick-Starts.
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Lesson 1 Creating a Kick-Start Template Once in the Kick-Starts area, you will be presented with two options
Browse and upload an Excel spreadsheet formatted for the Kick-Start import, and Download a new Kick-Start spreadsheet template.
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Inputting Data into a Kick-Start Template
In the Download Kick-Start Spreadsheet section of the Kick-Starts area, you will notice several checkboxes representing the different elements that can either be imported or cross-referenced during an import.
Each checkbox represents an AtTask object and database table. Marking a checkbox will include a corresponding sheet within the Excel file – one sheet per checkbox – with all the database columns stored within the table. It is recommended that only the necessary tables for your import be included in the template you create.
For example, in a user resource import you will likely want to identify the role, access level, company, and group associated with each user, therefore, you would mark the Access Level, Company, Group, Job Role, and User checkboxes. You may not be creating new access levels, companies, etc. during the import, but you will want to reference data from these tables to fully build out a user profile.
Clicking the Download link will prompt you to Open or Save the attask.xls file that will be generated by AtTask.
As mentioned above, each checked item will be represented in the Excel file as sheets at the bottom of the spreadsheet, and each tab will contain the importable fields from the database.
NOTE
The project, task, issue, templates, and template tasks sheets are not populated with production data because the primary purpose of the Kick-Start importer is to create new projects, tasks, etc. – it cannot be used to provide updates to existing projects, tasks, etc.
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There are several common fields to most sheets. They are identified below:
isNew
There are two acceptable values for this column – TRUE or FALSE.
When set to TRUE, AtTask will read and attempt to import the data stored in the row.
When set to FALSE, AtTask will not attempt to import the data stored in the row, but the values can be referenced when building data in other sheets.
ID
The ID must be a unique value within the column. It is recommended that values exported in the template are not changed or reused to ensure accuracy during import.
setName
As when creating all objects through the interface, a name is a required value in order to successfully import data.
You will notice the column header is bold. This indicates that a value must be present in this column for the row to import.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 2 Simple Group and User Imports It is possible to do several imports into AtTask through the Kick-Starts utility. A common preliminary import is to identify groups and users before addressing projects, tasks, and other work-related data. The following scenario will provide a simple example of how this can be done.
SCENARIO
Create the following groups: Product Development Finance Professional Services Operations Create the following users accounts referencing data from the appropriate sheets:
Name Group Access Level Email Role
Marc Lewis Finance Executive [email protected] N/A
Jennifer Campbell
Product Development
Program Manager
[email protected] Project Manager
Chris Manning
Product Development
Individual Contributor
[email protected] Consultant
Donna Hyde Default Group Individual Contributor
[email protected] Designer
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To do this
1. You will create a Kick-Start template with the following sheets: Access Level, Group, Job Role, and User
2. On the group sheet: Input TRUE into the first four empty rows in the isNew column. Provide unique IDs in the ID column for each new row. It does not matter what values you input as long
as they are not used on the sheet you are viewing – on import AtTask will assign new IDs. Input the name in the setName column.
3. On the User sheet: Input TRUE into the first four empty rows in the isNew column. Provide unique IDs in the ID column for each new row. Input the corresponding access level IDs into the setAccessLevelID column, referencing values from the
Access Level sheet. Input the email addresses in the setEmailAddr column for each user. Input the corresponding group IDs into the setHomeGroupID column, referencing values from the
Group sheet. When referencing groups that have not been created yet, simply input the ID you assigned. Input a password into the setPassword column for each user. Input a unique value in the setUsername column. Keep in mind that usernames must be unique across
the entire database. Input the user’s first name in the setFirstName column and the user’s last name in the setLastName
column. Input the corresponding role IDs into the setRoleID column, referencing values from the Job Role sheet.
4. Save the Excel file.
5. Go into the Kick-Starts area to perform a test import of your Excel spreadsheet.
6. Resolve any conflicts and perform an actual import of your Excel spreadsheet.
NOTE
The same fields that are required when create a user through the interface are required through the Kick-Start importer.
NOTE
You can hide or remove non-required columns any sheet to make it easier to use. However, do not remove the empty row at the top of each sheet.
NOTE
Conflicts are described in a message at the top of the AtTask interface. The message indicates the sheet, column, and row where the first instance of the conflict occurs.
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Lesson Notes
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Lesson 3 Simple Project and Task Imports The following example will identify some considerations for a project and task data import.
Using the principles learned in the previous scenario and the assistance provided below, complete the import through the following steps:
1. Create a Kick-Start template with the following information: Groups, Projects, Tasks, Users
2. On the Project sheet: Input TRUE in the first two empty rows in
the isNew column. Provide IDs for the two new projects. Input the corresponding group IDs into the
setGroupID column, referencing values from the Group sheet.
Input the name for each project in the setName column.
Input a planned start date for the project in the setPlannedStartDate column.
Input the corresponding user IDs into the setOwnerID column, referencing values from the User sheet.
SCENARIO
Import two projects with the following high-level information:
Name Group Owner Planned Start Date
Imported Project 1 Marketing Marc Lewis July 27, 2009
Imported Project 2 Product Development
Jennifer Campbell
Dec 12, 2009
On each of the above projects, include the following task information:
Name Assigned To Duration Work Required Duration Type Predecessor
Task 1 Chris Manning 4 days 10 hours Calculated Assignment
N/A
Task 2 Donna Hyde 2 days 10 hours Calculated Assignment
Task 1
Task 3 Donna Hyde 5 days 40 hours Calculated Work
Task 2
Task 4 Jennifer Campbell
20 days 20 hours Calculated Assignment
Task 3
NOTE
AtTask can read any Excel date format. However, be aware if the date in the spreadsheet cell does not contain a time value, then AtTask will import the date with a time of 12:00 am for the date provided. It is suggested you select a column format that shows both date and time (i.e., 7/6/2010 5:00 pm or 7/6/2010 17:00)
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3. On the Task sheet: Input TRUE into the first eight empty rows in the isNew column. Input eight unique IDs in the ID column. Input the names for your tasks in the setName column – keep in mind you are creating the same tasks
into each project, so you will have to input each task twice. Input the corresponding project IDs into the setProjectID column, referencing values from the Project
sheet. Input the duration integer into the setDuration column and the duration unit into the setDurationUnit
column. Available duration units are in the User Manual and below: o M = Minutes o H = Hours o D = Days o W = Weeks o T = Months
Input the work required integer for each task into the setWork column and the work required unit into the setWorkUnit column.
Input the duration type into the setDurationType field. Possible values are listed in the User Manual and below:
o A = Calculated Assignment o W = Calculated Work o D = Effort Driven
Input the corresponding user IDs into the setAssignedToID column, referencing values from the User sheet.
Input the ID for the predecessor task into the setPredecessorString column
4. Save the Excel file. 5. Go into the Kick-Starts area to perform a test import of your Excel spreadsheet. 6. Resolve any conflicts and perform an actual import of your Excel spreadsheet.
NOTE
Other fields you may want to use on the Task sheet may include: • setTaskConstraint and setConstraintDate – if no value is input AtTask will assume an
As Soon As Possible (ASAP) constraint.
• setTaskNumber – this will identify the order the tasks should appear in on the project; if no value AtTask may rearrange the sort of your tasks during import.
• setParentID – this will create parent/child relationships in the task work breakdown structure. Be sure to verify that you are not creating dependency loops if you are creating predecessor relationships during the import.
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Lesson Notes
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Lesson 4 Importing Projects with Custom Data The following scenario will demonstrate how to add project-level custom data when importing a project. The scenario does not require importing tasks on the project plan. The principles addressed in this scenario can be applied to task, issue, user, and company imports as well.
To do this
Create a Kick-Start template with the following information: Groups, Projects, Categories, Parameters, and Parameter Options
On the Project sheet:
1. Input TRUE in the first empty row in the isNew column.
2. Provide a unique ID for the new project.
3. Input a group ID into the setGroupID column, referencing values from the Group sheet.
4. Input the name for the project in the setName column.
5. Input a planned start date for the project in the setPlannedStartDate column.
6. Input the category ID into the setCategoryID column, referencing the value from the Category sheet.
7. In row 2 for the first empty column input DE:Business Unit
8. In the next empty column input DE:Objectives
9. Because the Business Unit field is a drop down, you must input a value defined in for the field on the Parameter Options sheet. Go to the Parameters sheet first to find the parameter ID, and then go to the Parameter Options sheet to view the allowed values. Input one of these values in row 3 for this column.
10. Input a value into the col dumn with the DE:Objectives header as well. This is a text area field and does not require a specific value from the Parameter Options sheet.
11. Save the Excel file.
12. Go into the Kick-Starts area to perform a test import of your Excel spreadsheet.
13. Resolve any conflicts and perform an actual import of your Excel spreadsheet.
SCENARIO
Import a single project with Portfolio and Project Metrics category, populating the Business Unit dropdown field and Objectives text box.
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Lesson Notes
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Appendix D Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ Search for the Cruzer Web Site Project and through the Import/Export menu on the left-hand navigation,
export the data to MS Project.
Exercise 2 ☐ Select the Project option from the Create menu and then select Import MS Project from the left-hand
navigation. Browse for the project plan that was just exported and import it as a new project.
Exercise 3 ☐ In the Kick-Starts area, export the following data:
Categories Parameters Parameter Groups Parameter Options
Exercise 4 ☐ Add a new text field parameter called ‘New Parameter’ to the Excel file.
Exercise 5 ☐ Add a new task category called ‘New Category’ to the Excel file that contains the New Parameter.
Exercise 6 ☐ In the Kick-Starts area, import the Excel file (not in test mode).
Exercise 7 ☐ Edit any task and on the Custom Data tab, select New Category from the dropdown to verify the category
was created with the parameter in place.
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Appendix E AtTask Integrations A common discussion that comes up has to do with integrating AtTask with other systems to provide a seamless dataflow and a unified process as you complete project-related work.
This chapter will cover the following integration and customization topics: Who Can Integrate? Packaged Integrations LDAP and SSO
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Lesson 1 Who Can Integrate? …everyone who needs to.
AtTask is a robust and powerful project management tool. It has the ability to capture project timelines, financial information, and resource management values, and then report on them within the tool. However, AtTask will never be able to store and organize all financial, customer information, and other business data as well as systems designed for these purposes. This is why AtTask is commited to making it easy to integrate with your existing business process and tools. Some example integrations you may need to create to streamline data and work could include: Intuit QuickBooks™, CA Help Desk™, SalesForce.com™, and MS Outlook™.
AtTask provides an API based on REST technology to allow you to create your own integrations.
REST technology allows developers to use any REST-enabled programming language to write and perform normal Create, Read, Update, and Delete functions for most objects within AtTask. The AtTask API Documentation currently includes example code for .NET, C#, Flex, JAVA, PHP, Python, and Ruby. https://community.attask.com/restful-api-examples
To give you an idea of what can be done using the API’s, AtTask’s development team used the AtTask API to write many of the packaged integrations highlighted in the next lesson. For more information on REST API’s please see our documentation on the AtTask Community. https://community.attask.com/attask-restful-api
Finally, if you do not have internal development resources to write an integration between AtTask and your systems, speak to your Customer Success Representative (CSR) about engage one of AtTask’s Technical Consultants.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 2 Packaged Integrations AtTask allows for several integrations that can be setup out of the box. These include MS Outlook, MS Project, Salesforce.com, LDAP/Active Directory, and single sign-on. These tools can be setup with little to no configuration on your part. Additionally, because the AtTask development staff built them they are maintained and updated regularly.
Most of these integrations require the use of the REST API. This makes it necessary to have enterprise class licenses. MS Project integrations is the only package integration that does not require enterprise licensing.
They are also designed to work with full user access only. While many of these integrations would work with limited licenses you would not receive full functionality. This configuration is not supported and not recommended. The exception to this is the LDAP/AD integrations, which are designed to work with all license types (full, limited, and requestor).
All packaged integrations are available for both clients who are hosted on the OnDemand service as well as clients hosted on their own servers.
MS Project
AtTask provides the ability to export a project as an MS Project file. It can be updated offline by the project manager and then re-imported into AtTask. The project manager would have the option to synch or discard changes made outside of AtTask.
MS Outlook
This integration takes AtTask work (tasks and issues) and allows them to show up in your Outlook task pad or calendar.
The full details and product download for the MS Outlook plug-in can be found at the following URL: https://community.attask.com/download-center
The full details on MS Outlook Plug-in are provide in the AtTask Outlook Plug-in User’s Guide, located at: https://help.attask.com/#url=/index.php/node/load/90
Salesforce.com
The Salesforce integration allows you to complete your sales process by easily initiating the fulfillment project. Instructions for installing the Salesforce integration from the Appexchange can be located at the following URL: https://community.attask.com/salesforce-plugin
More details on the Salesforce.com-AtTask integration are provide in the AtTask Fulfillment Manager User’s Guide, located in the User Manuals section of the AtTask Community.
The integration provided has its limitations; however, the integration package is open source, allowing you to customize it to fit your specific needs.
Single Sign-On Solutions: LDAP, Active Directory, and SAML 1.1
The Single Sign-On area provides a place to plug AtTask into the external authentication service of your choice. Detailed instructions for configuring AtTask to use LDAP, Active Directory, or SAML 1.1 are provided at the following URL: https://help.attask.com/#url=/index.php/node/load/722
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Lesson 3 Shelving Old Systems Introducing a new piece of software does not necessarily require overhauling your existing project management methodology. AtTask provides the flexibility to meet existing standards and operating procedures. However, it must be recognized that this change in software provides an excellent opportunity to reevaluate processes, reports, and data sources.
‘End of Life’ management is invariably a conversation that needs to include more than just the administrators for the systems where the data is stored. The implementation team for AtTask should decide what data is necessary as part of the project management methodology they have adopted, what data will provide value if included in the AtTask system, and what data no longer provides value to the organization. Only the data that provides value should be included as part of your AtTask implementation.
A common mistake in implementing AtTask is to carry over unnecessary information. It takes time to map and import data into AtTask, and it makes it difficult to evaluate information relevant to business decisions. This lesson identifies some discussion points you may want to bring up during steering committee meetings for your AtTask implementation.
The remainder of the chapter introduces different ways to migrate data from legacy systems into your AtTask account.
Discussion Points
Timing of Data Migration The successful rollout of AtTask to your end users is dependant on having production-quality data in your account at the time of rollout to allow them to do work immediately on logging in the first time.
Migrating data prematurely will result in stale data that needs to be updated before it is of use to project managers and collaborators.
Importing necessary data following rollout normally results in a loss of momentum for collaborators. When they first login, they do not have assignments, nor can they provide the updates and perform the AtTask-related work you will ask from them.
In short, it is important to gauge how long the data migration will take (given the quantity and quality of existing datasets). This needs to be timed appropriately so internal training for project management and team member activities allow you to move directly into the production rollout of the software.
Additionally, your implementation team should discuss whether or not there will be an overlap of existing systems of AtTask, or if once AtTask is launched it is the sole system for project information.
Reporting Requirements A key factor in determining what data will be transferred into AtTask is deciding whether or not it is necessary for reporting. Many organizations find the reports they have been using contain elements that no longer provide value to business decisions. It is usually not necessary to carry over data points that will not be used for reporting.
It is recommended that you identify what specific reports are needed to allow resources to do their jobs and executives to make critical decisions.
Many times the reports are already in use in weekly, monthly, or quarterly status meetings. If this is the case in your organization, then it is simply a matter of verifying the relevance of each data point by speaking to the stakeholders who review the reports on a regular basis.
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Data Warehousing One way to preserve historical data and simplify your migration requirements is to create a data warehouse external to AtTask to store legacy data and reports.
It is not uncommon that the data warehouse is a living database in which AtTask provides updates to the dataset from time to time. However, this approach usually requires a custom integration, which you will have to create and maintain.
Integration If AtTask was introduced into your organization to supplement an already existing system and not to replace a dataset, you may consider building integration between the different software. For example, if you wish to use AtTask data in your financial system, it may not make sense to store financial data in AtTask, nor would it be worthwhile to store project information in the financial software. It may make even less sense to ask resources to do double entry.
You will want to consider the feasibility of creating and maintaining this integration. Your first step would be to identify the business and technical requirements, integration points, reporting impact, the system of record, and availability of internal resources to perform the customization.
Lesson Notes
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Appendix E Exercises Exercise 1 ☐ Make a list of possible integrations your organization may need to create to share information between
AtTask and other systems.
Exercise 2 ☐ If your organization typically uses LDAP or another external authentication server, send the URL
provided in Lesson 8.2 to the normal IT resource that configures these integrations.
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Appendix F OnPremise Configuration Activities There are certain setup and configuration activities that only apply to OnPremise customers. This appendix describes the installation requirements and some considerations a system administrator of an OnPremise installation of AtTask will need to be aware of. In this chapter, you will be introduced to the:
AtTask Installation Overview System Architecture and Installation Requirements/Checklist Updating the AtTask Software Preventing Nested Implementations Preserving Custom Integrations Working with Multiple Environments OnPremise Configuration Steps
NOTE
This Appendix is provided in this course book because it is sometimes the AtTask administrator’s responsibility to perform upgrades – when AtTask is installed on your own servers. You will also want to refer to the official Installation Guide located on the AtTask Community.
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Lesson 1 AtTask Installation Overview
System Architecture and Installation Checklist From a high level, the only requirements for installing AtTask are a database server (MySQL, MS SQL, or Oracle) and an application/web server.
Depending on the size of your current implementation and growth potential, you may prefer one database or another. You may also want a more robust application server. Refer to the System Recommendations document on the AtTask website for more information.
This lesson breaks down what you need to have in place to ensure a successful installation of AtTask.
Your AtTask installation may be as simple as a single server with a database and the AtTask application installed on the same machine, or as complex as three machines, one for the database, another for the application server, and a third server providing the web service. Below are the supported options for database types, application platforms, and web services.
Database Servers Application Servers
Web Server
MySQL 5+ Windows JBoss (packaged with AtTask)
MS SQL 2005 Mac OS X Apache
Oracle 9i + Linux IIS
Unix
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Installation Steps The following events must take place
1. Create database on your database server (assuming the database instance is already configured).
2. Contact AtTask for your license.key file. This contains: o IP Address or Hostname of the database server. o Database name – usually, attask.
3. Download the AtTask installation file from http://www.attask.com/update/.
4. With your license.key and installer in hand, start the installation process by executing the install-attask.* file, and work through the installation wizard.
5. At the conclusion of the installation, you will launch the service by accessing the Run AtTask 4 script in the AtTask directory that was added to your application server.
6. You can then access the AtTask application through your web browser by typing in the hostname of your application server into the address bar of the browser.
The AtTask installation adds two directories to your application server: The AtTask directory, and The AtTaskDoc directory
The AtTask Directory
This directory contains all of the application files necessary to run AtTask. It is important to note that this entire directory will be replaced on upgrade to newer releases of AtTask.
The AtTaskDoc Directory
The AtTaskDoc directory stores several items not stored in the database such as: Document Attachments View, Filter, Grouping, and Report Definitions Certain Preferences
This directory is not replaced on upgrade.
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Updating the AtTask Software
As with any system, there are inherent risks when upgrading AtTask. To minimize these risks this lesson identifies some common mistakes that can easily be prevented.
Preventing Nested Installations
The normal location for installing AtTask is directly on the root directory of whatever platform you are installing on. For example, this would be the C:\ directory on a Windows machine.
During upgrade you will be prompted to select the location of the AtTask directory. If you select C:\AtTask you will have a nested installation. The correct location to select if you originally installed AtTask on the C:\ drive is C:\.
Likewise, you must select the correct location for the AtTaskDoc directory. If originally installed on the C:\ drive, you must select C:\ during upgrade. If you have a nested AtTaskDoc directory your views, filters, and groupings (among other preferences) will be broken when you restart the AtTask service.
A nested installation is repairable by deleting the nested directories and then repeating the upgrade.
It is also recommended that you make a database backup of your AtTask data. In addition you should make a copy of the AtTaskDoc directory just before performing an update.
Some organizations even rename the AtTask directory, so that roll back (in case it is necessary) is as easy as renaming the directory and starting the service again.
Preserving Custom Integrations
As mentioned in the previous lesson, the entire AtTask directory is replaced during software upgrades. Integrations where data is stored inside the AtTask directory will break on updating the software. It is recommended that each file added to any part of the file structure is stored outside of the application files so that they can be replaced after upgrade.
When an integration file is added, it should be documented as part of the development and testing of the integration.
For example, the installation of security certificates, as described in the AtTask Installation Guide, requires that the keystore file is placed in the //server/default/conf/ directory and the server.xml file in the //deploy/jbossweb-tomcat55.sar/ directory needs to be modified. As both of these files are stored inside the AtTask directory, these changes must be replaced as part of your upgrade steps.
If you have custom integrations it is strongly recommended that you speak with your AtTask Account Representative about acquiring an additional development license.key.
Working with Multiple Environments
Some of the same risks identified in the previous chapter are present when working with multiple AtTask environments. Some OnPremise customers engage their AtTask Account Representative about purchasing additional license.key files to stand up a development and/or test environment of AtTask in addition to the production environment.
Transferring Data from Production to Development
In most cases, the preferred practice is to use a copy of production data in your development and test environments. This facilitates testing because your projects, tasks, templates, queues, etc. are already defined the way they will be when rolling your development code into your production environment.
To migrate the data from production to development you will need to
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1. Make a database backup of your production environment (or use your most recent backup).
2. Restore the data dump to your development environment database.
3. Copy the following portions of the AtTaskDoc directory. o AtTaskDoc/01 o AtTaskDoc/global
o AtTaskDoc/opensso (if SSO or LDAP is installed) – though in most cases you will want to disable SSO in your development environment so that you can login as different resources to test your custom code.
Assuming you have migrated the data stored in the database, you must also move these folders in the AtTaskDoc directory; otherwise views, filters, etc. will be missing in the development environment.
Transferring Data from Development to Production
Normally, you do not want to move data from your development instance into the production environment by restoring a backup of the development data. The assumption is that several days, weeks, or months may have lapsed since your last data migration from production to development, which means that hundreds of man-hours of work have been recorded in production.
Instead, any integration file added to the development environment needs to be copied into the correct directory inside the production installation files. Likewise, any object modified or added through the development interface needs to be recreated in the production instance. These might include new custom data fields, external pages, templates, hour types, job roles, views, filters, reports or whatever it is that was necessary to add to ensure your customization works.
Any system preferences should be manually modified to ensure the systems are in synch prior to applying your custom code.
The files identified in the AtTaskDoc directory should NOT be moved back for the same reason the data stored in the development database will not be migrated back.
Other Recommendations
Regardless of the complexity of your installation of AtTask, if you have multiple environments, customizations, etc., it is strongly recommended that you create regular backups of your database and AtTaskDoc directory.
Lesson Notes
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Lesson 2 OnPremise Configuration Steps OnPremise customers will have some unique configuration tasks that OnDemand customers will not. If AtTask hosts your account of AtTask, these settings are already defined for you.
The following settings are only accessible by users with the System Administrator access level.
From the Navigation tab on the AtTask Home page, to access the System Configuration page go to Setup System Settings Configuration and then click the Edit Configuration link on the left-hand navigation.
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Database Setup and Security Sections
Most of the fields in the Database Setup section will never be modified. The only exceptions would be if you were to change your database user credentials or TCP/IP settings.
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The fields in the External Login and External Sign-on sections are provided for backwards compatibility and should not be used; instead it is suggested that you would use the LDAP and/or SSO options discussed in Help Article entitle Single Sign-On Overview on help.attask.com.
AtTask IT staff use the Enable Domain Authentication field to restrict access to AtTask OnDemand to specific URLs.
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Config Logging Parameters
If unexpected errors are being displayed in the interface, it is suggested that you make the following changes; otherwise, the default logging preferences are satisfactory for most organizations.
Logging Level: Debug Database Activity Logging: Yes
Making these changes and providing the log file may be necessary when working to resolve errors with AtTask support.
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Time Out
The Time Out section controls when login sessions will expire.
The default Session Time Out is set to 8 Hours – a normal business day – and can be set to as low as 15 minutes or to have No Timeout.
Depending on your organizations security protocols, you may need to force the session to close at a smaller duration of inactivity and on closing the web browser.
If you have to restart the AtTask service for one reason or another, the Preserve Session on Restart field, if set to Yes, will not require users to re-login when the service becomes active again.
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Email Generation
The first email configuration step for OnPremise customers is found in the Email Generation section. Without setting these values, email cannot be sent.
AtTask Local Hostname
This controls how AtTask communicates with itself to populate email templates. Value: localhost – unless serving AtTask through apache or IIS, in which case it needs to be the hostname
of the AtTask server.
AtTask HTTP Port
This designates the HTTP port used during installation of the software. Value: 80 or 8080 are the most common open HTTP ports; 443 is the normal secure HTTP port.
AtTask Servlet Context
Value: /attask
AtTask External Hostname
This field is used to build the links back into AtTask from the generated email. Value: the URL you have defined and distributed to your end users to access the login screen.
AtTask External HTTP Port
This designates the HTTP port used when accessing the AtTask login screen. Value: 80 or 8080 are the most common open HTTP ports; 443 is the normal secure HTTP port.
Use https for all generated emails
If you are connecting to AtTask through a secure port, you will want the links into AtTask from emails to contain ‘https’ instead of ‘http’ as well.
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Lesson Notes