Question for everyone:

We are using the model of porfolio/program/project within PPM6 and we had thought that the statuses would roll up, in that a program's overall status would be the aggregate of the projects contained within it.

We have been told that this functionality does not exist.  So, then my question is, what's the point of using that function then?  If we create a portfolio, there's no way to manage it without a pure manual process which is what we orginally wanted to get away from in the first place.  How are others addressing this?  Or, are you?

Also, I thought I could create a view such as this:

• Portfolio 1
• Program 1.A
• Project 1.A.1
• Project 1.A.2
• Program 1.B
• Project 1.B.1
• Project 1.B.2
• Portfolio 2
• Program 2.A
• Project 2.A.1
• Project 2.A.2
• Program 2.B
• Project 2.B.1
• Project 2.B.2

On a view I can group by Project Type but what I end up with is:

• Project Type: Portfolio
• Portfolio 1
• Portfolio 2
• Project Type: Program
• Program 1.A
• Program 1.B
• Program 2.A
• Program 2.B
• Project Type: Project
• Project 1.A.1
• Project 1.A.2
• Project 1.B.1
• Project 1.B.2

Which is not nearly as useful for managing a portfolio/program.  Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Erik

Erik,

There are ways to accomplish what you are trying to do.  You can create a custom field to identify the parent program and use it in your views to roll up information.  You can also use a view to roll up children projects to the parent program.

John - Can you elaborate further?  I think I asked a similar question somewhere else, but this one is very clear.

 

Rob

Rob (and anyone else reading this),

I want you to put on your PPM6 hat and forget previous paradigms.  You no longer have to arrange "workspaces" into a hierarchy to provide reports.  You can now use custom fields and views in PPM6 to do MUCH more than you were able to do in previous versions with complex reports...and you can do them with simple wizards and simple formulas. 

I have created a scoring hierarchy and many other complex views easily with PPM6.  If I want to roll up the costs of a division/region/department/executive, I just group by or filter and I have a view printable to PDF.  PPM6 is so powerful, many don't realize what is possible until they stumble onto a solution. 

John would you be able to provide a screen shot of what you are describing? It would be good to have some templates or something avalible as the base functionality for rolling up sub-projects does seem weak. I'm about 80% sure I understand what you are saying but having something visual would be nice. Thanks!

 

 

Erik, Glenn,

Your solution would lie in the "Executive" tab, one of the red tabs available at the top of the main application screen. When you click it, it should take you to your default "Scorecard" view, which is a tabular view of all your projects. From here, you can create as many "Custom Views" of projects as you want, and organize them (rollups, groupings, filters) in a way that you want to see your projects organized. For starters, open your "Online Help" window and click on "Executive" on the left side directory. Beneath the "Executive" node, read "Executive Tab Overview", and read "Customizing Application Views". As you read that, you will want to go to the related topic "Creating a Custom View".

The main idea is that project hierarchy has now become much less important for grouping and rolling up project data. You can create a custom view of projects that show rollup data by:

1. Selecting project types to include in your Custom Scorecard view
2. Picking the project fields to display as columns
3. Ordering the columns
4. Defining Grouping Levels (e.g. group projects first by "Region [custom field]", then by "Priority", then by "Status").
5. Define summary (rollup) calculations. For all project fields included as columns, those that support summary calculations can be defined and enabled. I may want all my budget's totalled up to every grouping level, my status to be rolled up to every grouping level, etc.
6. Filter out projects and only see projects that I want to see. I can filter out any projects based on the values of project fields. Maybe only show projects that have a Planned Start date later than October 1st, 2006.

After I save, I have a custom view of my Executive Scorecard with Projects showing project fields and rolling up data exactly the way I need it, regardless of where the projects fall within a hierarchy. You can simulate a hierarchy by creating a custom field (e.g. Region) and grouping by Region.

Another thing to note is that Custom views can be created and used by individual end-users, but they are most powerful when created by Enterprise Admin's and "published" to groups of users selected by name or enterprise role.

Hope that helps you get rolling.


-Josh Sin

tg4fsi:

I thought I could create a view such as this:

• Portfolio 1
• Program 1.A
• Project 1.A.1
• Project 1.A.2
• Program 1.B
• Project 1.B.1
• Project 1.B.2
• Portfolio 2
• Program 2.A
• Project 2.A.1
• Project 2.A.2
• Program 2.B
• Project 2.B.1
• Project 2.B.2

To start with, create a custom field and enable it for the Project Type only.  The custom field should be "Portfolio Name" and it should be a custom picklist of your existing Portfolios.  Next edit your VIEW and remove Portfolio and Program as selected Types (only Project should be checked).  When you get to the grouping section, group 1st by "Portfolio Name" which is your new custom field, and then group 2nd by "Parent Project" (which are your Programs).  This will cluster your projects into their respective groupings and give you the roll up info you probably need (assuming the data points are in there to begin with).  Use this view in either Project or Executive tabs.

What both John and Josh refer to is a different way in looking at how you structure your hierarchy.  What is the function of your "Program" layer?  Is it just an empty bucket to sort and organize projects under or are there actually documents, issues, team members and other things being tracked at the program level?  In most cases we've found that there really isn't much going on at the program level in terms of application content.  So we typically suggest (and this is easier to manage btw) that companies create a Portfolio structure and put their projects immediately under the Portfolio.  Within the project we use custom fields to define the Program it should fall under.  This can be an easier way to create projects and views from for users.  Plus you don't have to duplicate Portfolios as a field and as a Workspace...

In 5.0 we needed to create that Program to complete the hierarchy in some visual format but in PPM6 it is far less needed as views and custom fields accomplish the task more efficiently.

Here is a portfolio by health.  You can easily do the same in the Project or Executive view by parent project.

John,

So are you saying that custom fields can be used in placed of portfolio/program/project hierarchies like in 5.0?

How would I accomplish the following concept in PPM6:

I am a software implementation company comprised of two regions. Each region has its own pool of resources. Within each region, we have an assortment of customers. For each customer, we have a variety of projects.

In the 5.0 paradigm, I would have used portfolios for the region, programs for the customer, and projects for the projects. How would I accomplish this in PPM6? Would I just use set up my departments to align with my regions, and then add a custom field for Customer?

Thanks.

Will

Will, In a very similar fashion, but now I want to group on Region and Program, so I would put in a custom field for region and include it in all workspaces and use the Program as parent projects. When I report, I can group by Region or by Region and Parent Project. I could just use the Project and put in a custom field for Region and another for Program. If you work backward from your reporting, you will quickly see what custom fields are needed. The hierarchy doesn't work for grouping.