click2try dotproj21 tutorial

8/14/2019 Click2try Dotproj21 Tutorial

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2008 Presage Technologies, LLC.

click2try Tutorial

dotProject


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2008 Presage Technologies, LLC.

Copyright 2008-2009 Presage Technologies, LLC.

You may freely distribute or publish this content provided you publish the content in itsentirety and include all existing copyright notices, attributions, links, and acknowledgementsto click2try, Presage Technologies, LLC. and to organizations mentioned explicitly orimplicitly herein.


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2009 Presage Technologies, LLC. 3

Contents

Introduction ............................................................................. 5Let's get started ....................................................................... 6Defining a Company ................................................................. 7Adding a User ........................................................................... 8Defining a Project ..................................................................... 9 Defining a Task ....................................................................... 10Adding a Task Dependency ..................................................... 11Defining an Event ................................................................... 13Add a Forum ........................................................................... 14Viewing Your Project .............................................................. 16Conclusion .............................................................................. 17Resources ............................................................................... 18


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Introduction

dotProject is one of the most popular Open Source project management toolsaround. While there are many expensive desktop project management tools,

most of them focus on the project planning and task management functions.Many online project management tools are heavily aimed at collaborationand are weaker in the areas of task and resource management andreporting. dotProject combines planning, management, and collaboration inone easy-to-use interface.

In this tutorial, we're going to walk through the process of creating a simpleproject. You can easily plan and manage even bigger, more complexprojectsit's simply a matter of adding more details, more resources, andmore tasks to the plan. To get you up-and-running, we're going to be:

Defining a Company Adding a User Defining a Project Defining a Task Adding a Task Dependency Defining an Event Adding a Forum Viewing Your Project


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Defining a Company

If you'll always be defining projects for the same company, then you mayonly need to perform this task once. If you're an independent projectmanager, you might want to define multiple companies, so you can keep

separate projects for each client.

You can also define different companies based on particular roles. Forexample, you might want to define consultants, suppliers, or customers whomay be helping you by subcontracting, providing raw materials, orperforming beta testing. After you've defined these companies in dotProject

you can assign them to any projects they're involved in.

To define a company:

1. Click the Companiesbutton in the upper left corner.2. Click the New Companybutton to bring up the Add Companypage,

as shown below.

3. Add the company details.4. Select the company type from the Typedrop-down menu. For your

own company, choose Internal.

5. Click the Submitbutton. You'll be able to view the company you justdefined.

That's all there is to it! You've now created a company in dotProject.


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Adding a User

Let's add a new user. A user is anybody who will be part of your project.

To add a user:

1. Click the User Adminbutton in the main menu.2. On the User Managementpage, click Add User.3. On the Add Userpage, enter the user's login, which must be at least

4 characters long.

4. Select the User Typeand User Rolefrom the drop-down menus.These are defined by your system administrator, but dotProjectcomespre-loaded with a set of standard types and roles. Use those for now.

5. Add a password and re-enter it to confirm.6. Add the user's name.7. Select the company from the Companydrop-down menu.8. Enter the user's email address.9. Click Submitto add the user. This displays the View Userpage.

Next, let's set the user's permissions on all dotProjectmodules. Thesepermissions allow the user to perform a variety of actions within thedotProjectapplication.

To set permissions:

1. Scroll down to the Add Permissionsbox.2. Select All Modulesfrom the Modulesdrop-down menu.


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3. Select the checkboxes for the permissions you want to grant to thisuser.

4. Click Add.Thats it. You've defined your first user. Now that you've added one user, you

can add all of the people who will be part of your team! Just follow thepreceding steps for each user.

Defining a Project

A project is like a big container, in which you define and manage dozens,hundreds, or even thousands of elements such as tasks, resources, andevents. We'll start within the company you created. That way everything youdefine will be attached to that company.

To define a project:

1. On the View Companypage for the company you created, click theNew Projectbutton.

2. On the New Projectpage, add a project name.3. Select a project owner from the Project Ownerdrop-down menu.

You'll see that the company is already selected.

4. Now pick your Startand Finish Dates. Click the little calendar iconwhich displays a nice calendar widget to let you set dates easily.

5. You can set a variety of other properties for your project, includingstatus and priority.

6. Add a description, if you like.7. Click the Submitbutton.


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You're all done! You've created a new project.

Defining a Task

Tasks are the building blocks of any project. Even the smallest project

consists of dozens, if not hundreds of tasks. Often, when we're workingalone, we roll many tasks into one. The power of a good project managementtool is that you can perform a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), carving theproject into small tasks that you can assign to yourself and others. With ateam working on many tasks at the same time, you can make fasterprogress.

To define tasks:

1. On the View Projectpage, click the New Taskbutton to display theAdd Taskpage.

2. On the Add Taskpage, enter a task name in the Task Namefield.3. Select a Task Priorityand then select the Milestonecheckbox.4. Select a task owner from the Task Ownerdrop-down menu, and then

add any other pertinent information, such as the task owner's emailaddress, or a task bud

5. Select a Task Type. You can choose from Unknown, Administrative,and Operative. Your system administrator can define other task typesfor you.

6. Add a Description.7. Before you save a task you must enter start and finish dates. Click the

Datestab.


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8. If you don't know the finish date, but you do know how long the taskmay take to complete, enter the number of hours in the ExpectedDurationfield.

9. Click the Finish Datebutton. dotProjectautomatically calculates thefinish date for you.

10.Click Saveto create the new task. The task appears at the bottom ofthe View Projectpage in the Taskstab.

That's it! You've created your first task.

Adding a Task Dependency

Let's add a dependent task. Many tasks are dependent on other tasks. Youcan't start those tasks until you complete other tasks. For instance, if you'repainting a wall, you'll need to buy the paint first. Also, you typically assignmultiple tasks to team members. You can't expect them to finish all of theirtasks on the same day. They'll need to complete some tasks before movingon to others.

For this procedure, you'll define another task and make it dependent on yourfirst task. If you've already defined more than one task, you can set thedependency on one of your existing tasks.

To define task dependencies:

1. Start on the View Projectspage.2. Click the New Taskbutton to create a new task.3. On the Add Taskpage, enter a name for the task.4. Set the task priority.5. Select the task owner and task type.


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6. Set the start and finish dates. Remember, you can use the ExpectedDurationfield to let dotProjectcalculate the finish date for you.

7. Select the Dependenciestab.8. Select Onto turn on Dependency Tracking.9. Select the task in the All Taskslist box, then click the right arrow (>)

button to move the task to the Task Dependencieslist box.

10.Select the Set task start date based on dependencycheckbox.

11.Click Save.


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dotProject automatically sets the start date of your second task. That'sbecause you defined a dependency between the two tasks and instructeddotProject to start your second task after you complete your first task. Now,whenever a date is changed in the first task, the consequences of thatchange will cascade down to the start and finish dates for the dependent

task.Defining an Event

Every project has certain associated events: meetings, presentations,customer visits, celebrations, and more. It's important to capture these

events, especially those you know in advance, because events not onlyrequire planning, but they take time away from other tasks in your project.Also, you often need to notify people who are not explicit team membersabout these events.

To define an event:

1. On the View Projectpage for your project, click the New Eventbutton. This displays the Add Eventpage.

2. Enter the name of your event in the Event Titlefield.3. Choose the type of event from the Typedrop-down menu.4. Enter the event Start Date. You don't need to worry about setting the

finish date, because dotProjectwill calculate that date for you basedon the hours you set next.

5. Choose the hours during which your event will occur.6. Select the Resourcesthat you want to attend the event, and then

click the right arrow (>) button to move the names to the Invited toEventfield. Note that the Mail Attendeescheckbox is selected by

default.


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7. When you finish creating the event, those attendees will receive anemail invitation, notifying them of the event.

8. Add a description in the Descriptionfield.9. Click Submit.10.Click the Calendarlink on the View Projectspage. You can see that

dotProject has already added your tasks and events to the calendar.Events appear with a small alarm clock icon next to them.

11.Click the Eventname and dotProject displays the View Eventpagefor that event.

That's it. Time to party!

Add a Forum

Team members need to communicate about all kinds of things: dependenttasks, events, resource constraints, obstacles, and many more topics.dotProject provides a built-in forum system that you can configure in amatter of minutes. The forum is considered part of the project, so it should

be easy for you or anybody you assign to be a Moderator to keep themessage threads on-topic!

To add the forum:

1. On the View Projectspage, click the Forumslink in the main menu.This displays a list of forums.

2. On the Forumspage, click the New Forumbutton.3. On the Add Forumpage, enter the name of your forum in the Forum

Namefield.


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4. Choose a project from the Related Projectdrop-down menu.5. Select an owner and the moderator. These can be the same person.6. Enter a description in the Descriptionfield, if you want.7. Click Submitto save your new forum.8. Click the name of your forum on the Forumspage. The Forumspage

lists all of the forums for each project.

9. To start a topic, click the Start a New Topicbutton. This adds a newthread to your forum. You can have many threads on many topics inyour forum.

10.Enter the Subjectand the Message, and then click Submit. Yourtopic appears as a clickable link in your forum list. It's always a goodidea to add a Welcometopic that explains forum rules and regulations.

11.Click the message title, and then click Post Reply. You can reply toany message in the forum.

12.Don't forget to click Submitto add your reply.


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You can see how fast it is to set up a powerful collaboration tool indotProject. Rather than having to deploy a different software package toprovide collaboration tools to your team, dotProject gives you everything youneed. Talk on!

Viewing Your Project

Now that you've completed the basic definition of your project, you can viewyour project from the 30,000 foot view...or in our case, the 30,000 mileview. Though there are several ways to view your project and tasks, one of

the most powerful visual tools is the Gantt chart.

To view the Gantt chart:

1. Go to your View Projectpage.2. Click the Gantt Charttab for your project. Along the bottom of the

screen, you'll see the Gantt chart displaying your project schedule,showing each task as a blue bar that covers the number of elapseddays required for completion.


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Note the dependent tasks and how dotProject shows the dependent taskslinked together with a line and arrow.

Conclusion

You've now defined your first project and all of its major parts and, ifeverything went as planned, the whole process took you less than 30minutes. Of course, the dotProject software is a powerful set of projectplanning and management tools that can handle any project you want todefine, no matter how complex. So, if you need to plan a small, internal

company project or a large, complex product, dotProject can handle it, easilyand quickly!


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Resources

Check out these resources for more information about using dotProject. Youcan find many other resources on the click2try.com dotProject page, as well!

dotProject Homehttp://www.dotproject.net/ Main project page for thedotProject Open Source project. Lots of information and links.

dotProject Coursewarehttp://training.dotproject.net/Lots of detailedinstructions on installing, configuring, and using dotProject.

Project Management with dotProject Bookhttp://www.packtpub.com/dotProject/bookSite for published dotProjecthandbook.

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