Project Management Central Cloud Part® User Manual

Project Management Central Cloud Part^®

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Table of Contents:

1. Understanding the PMC Data Hierarchy
2. Project Management Central Layout
3. Project Page Layout
4. Understanding Permissions: Owners and Viewers
5. Manage Project Creators
6. Adding a New Department
7. Adding a New Project
8. Adding a Task
9. Milestones
10. Project Templates

 

1. Understanding the PMC Data Hierarchy

 

PMC is made up of work item types that are tied to each other in “Parent-Child” relationships:

1. Project Portfolio – PMC consists of a Project Portfolio, which holds all other work items.
2. Department – Optional Departments can be created for the purpose of organizing and encapsulating Projects.
3. Project – Projects can be created under Departments, or under the main Project Portfolio under no Department at all.
4. Task - Tasks are held under Projects. A task can be designated as a Milestone.  Milestones "roll-up" to the Portfolio level accross different projects, where Portfolio viewers can see them.
5. Document - Projects can also hold Documents inside them.  These Documents are held in a SharePoint Document Library.

 

2. Project Management Central Layout

1. Navigation bar
   • The icon will always return you to the Project Portfolio home page
   • The icon gives you the ability to:
     • Add Departments
     • Add Projects
     • Manage Project Creators
     • Manage Project Templates
   • The icon will only appear if you in the Project Creators group, or are a site collection administrator.
     
     
2. Project Portfolio Home and My Tasks view - The Project Portfolio page is the default home page view, which shows Departments, Projects, Milestones, and the Calendar. (See items 3 - 6 below). The My Tasks view shows tasks assigned to the logged-in user only.
   
   
3. Departments - This section displays all Departments that have been created in the system. A Department holds one or more projects. Creating Departments to hold Projects is optional.
   
   Clicking on a Department title will filter the Projects section below it (see item 4 below) and only show Projects assigned to the clicked-on Department. The logged-in user will only see the Departments in which they have been assigned as Department Viewer or Department Owner. The exception to this rule being site collection administrators, who can see and edit everything.
   
   
4. Projects - This section displays of all of the Projects in PMC. Clicking on a Project Title will open it. The user will only see Projects in which they have been assigned as Project Viewer or Project Owner, or in which they have been assigned as Department Viewer or Department Owner of the Department the Project belongs to.  The exception being Site Owners, who can see and edit everything.
   
   
5. Milestones - A list of project Tasks that are marked as Milestones. These Milestones are "rolled up" to the Project Portfolio level and span across all Projects and Departments in PMC.
   
   
6. Calendar - Displays the Milestones in a calendar or Gantt view.

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3. Project Page Layout

1. Navigational Breadcrumb - Reveals the user's current location in PMC.Project Title
2. Project Metadata - This section contains the following project information
   
   1. Project Title
   2. Project Start Date & Due Date
   3. Project Description
   4. Project Status
3. Copy Link Button- This enables the user to copy the unique link of the current project to their clipboard.  The user can then share this link throughtout their organization.  This link will take the user directly to the project, without needing to navigate to it when first going to PMC.
4. Create Template Button - This button saves the current project as a reusable template. Project Creators can then create new Projects from this template.
5. Project Task List - Displays the Tasks that are associated with the current Project. Clicking on the Task list title will take the user to the SharePoint-native task List in another tab.  Depending on the logged in user's permissions, the user can create new Tasks or edit current Tasks.  The Task list is also sortable.
6. Task Calendar - Displays all Tasks in a Calendar.  The user can also see a Gantt view of the Tasks by clicking on the "Gantt View" button.
7. Document Library - Displays a list of documents associated with the Project. Clicking on the Link above will open the Document Library in a separate window. The user can upload any documents the project will need there.

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4. Understanding Permissions - Owners and Viewers

PMC provides a flexible and easy way to grant users as much or as little access as needed. In order to do this, it is recommended that Project Management Central is installed in its own Site Collection. Below is a listing of PMC's different roles. 

Site Collection Administrator / Site Owner - Anyone with these permission roles will have full control over all aspects and features of PMC. This includes the ability to create, edit and delete Departments, Projects, Tasks, and Documents.  as well as assign roles and tasks to other users.

Department Owners - A user assigned the role of Department Owner will have the ability to view, edit, and delete that department, as well as all projects and tasks that are in that department.

To assign a user a Department Owner, simply add this to the "Department Owner(s)" field on the Department's edit form.

Department Viewers - A user assigned the role of Department Viewer will have the ability to view that department, as well as all associated Projects and Tasks. They do not have the ability to edit anything, with the exception of Tasks that are assigned to them.

To assign a user a Department Viewer, simply add this to the "Department Viewer(s)" field on the Department's edit form.

Project Owner - A user assigned the role of Project Owner will have the ability to view, edit and delete that project, as well as any related tasks that are in the project.

To assign a user a Project Owner, simply add this to the "Project Owner(s)" field on the Project's edit form.

Project Viewer - A user assigned the role of Project Viewer will have the ability to view that project, as well as any tasks in that project. They do not have the ability to edit anything, with the exception of Tasks that are assigned to them.

To assign a user a Project Viewer, simply add this to the "Project Viewer(s)" field on the Project's edit form.

Task Owner - A user assigned the role of a Task Owner can view and edit that task. They do not have the ability to view departments, projects, or other tasks.

To assign a user a Task Owner, simply add this to the "Assigned To" field on the Task's edit form.

Project Creators Group - A user that has been granted the Project Creator Role will be able to create Departments, Projects and Task. For more on this role, see the Manage Project Creators section.  By default, the person wh added the PMC Cloud Part® to the page is automatically added to this role.

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5. Manage Project Creators

In order to create new Departments, Projects, and Tasks, the user needs to be added to the Project Creators Group. In order to do this, have an Administrator go to the PMC home page, hover over the + sign and click on Manage Project Creators.

This will open the Manage Project Creators Dialog box.

Use the people picker to select the users you want to add.

Click save. The users have now been added to the Project Creators group, as well as the Site's Member group.

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6. Adding a New Department

To add a new department, hover over the plus sign and then click on New Department.

That will bring up the New Department dialog box.

Enter the name of the Department and Department Owner(s). The Department Viewer(s) field is optional.

Click Save.

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7. Adding a New Project

To add a new project, hover over the + sign on the left side of the page and click New Project.

This will open the New Project Dialog Box.

Fill out the following fields:

Name: title for the project (required field)

Description: a brief explanation of the project

Project Start Date: if applicable, specify the start date for the project

Project End Date: if applicable, specify the end date for the project

Project Owner(s): User that has permission to Edit the Project, and all related Project Tasks (required field)

Project Viewer(s): User that has permissions to view the Project, and all related Project Tasks

Project % Complete: user-chosen numerical value describing the proportion of completion.

Project Status: choice between Pending, Active, Cancelled, and Complete

Department: links the project to a department

Click Save. The project is created and added to the Project Management Central homepage.

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8. Adding a Task

In order to be able to add a task, you first need to be added to the Project Creators group. For more information on this, see the Manage Project Creators section.

To add a task, open the project where you want the task to reside. Click on .

This will bring up the Task Dialog Box.

Fill out the following fields:

Name: Title for the task (required field)

Description: A brief explanation of the task

Start Date: Specify the start date for the task (required field)

Due Date: Specify the due date for the task (required field)

Assigned To: Use the people picker to assign the task to a single user (required field)

Task Status: Choose between Not Started, In Progress, Completed, Deferred, and Waiting on someone else.

Priority: Choose between high, normal, and low priority

% Complete: User-chosen numerical value describing the proportion of completion.

Milestone: Checking this box will mark this Task as a Milestone. For more information on this, see the Milestones section.

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9. Milestones

Milestones are an easy way to mark important Tasks. Having all Milestones listed together and shown on one calendar can help users keep track of overall portfolio progress, and give perspective on an entire department or project.

 Milestones from all departments and projects are rolled up to PMC's main Project Portfolio page. They are first shown in list form, with columns that display their corresponding Project, Department (if applicable), Start and Due dates, and other important details. Below this list, they are displayed graphically on a calendar.

Marking a task as a Milestone is simple. When creating a new task, check the box next to milestone option. To mark an existing task as a milestone, click on the edit icon next to the task, then check the milestone box, and click save.

Note that Permissions apply here. Project Owners and Project Viewers will only see Milestones pertaining to the Project in which they have permissions to view. Likewise, Department Owners and Department Viewers will only be able to see Milestones from Projects in their Departments. If a user is only assigned tasks and is not a Department/Project Owner/Viewer, they will not be able to see any Milestones.

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10. Project Templates

Entering information over and over again can waste both time and effort. One easy way to fight this is by creating templates. In order to create a project template, and create new Projects from it.  Creating a Project from a template achieves the following:

• Project metadata such as Title, Description, Dates, Roles is automatically populated in the "Create New Project" form.
• Tasks from the template will be automatically duplicated in the new Project. (The user can toggle this functionality on/off)

Creating a template from an existing Project:

Click on the "Create Project Template" button on the top-right corner of any Project page.

Creating a new Project from a template:

1. Hover over the + sign on the left side of the page and click New Project.

   

2. In the Project form, use the "Create from Template" drop-down to choice the template you'd like to create this project from.   Note that the fields in the Project form automatically pre-populate with the template's data when choosing a template. 
3. If you do not want this new project to include the Tasks contained in the template, uncheck the "Clone Tasks" checkbox.
4. Click "Save."

The new Project should now appear in the Project Portfolio page.

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