clarizen training - creating and managing projects

Copyright © 2016 Clarizen. All rights reserved. Confidential Material 1

Basics of Managing WorkIntroduction to Creating and Setting Up Projects In Clarizen

Copyright © 2016 Clarizen. All rights reserved. Confidential Material 2Copyright © 2016 Clarizen. All rights reserved

Task and Project Basics


What Is a Project?

According to PMBOK, the fundamental nature of a project is that it is a “temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result”

proj ect noun/ ′präj, ekt/


Project Creation Options

In Clarizen Projects can be created in a variety of ways:

• Using the Standard New Project Entry Form:

1. Directly from the “New” menu in the Navigation Bar

2. From the ”Home” Page3. From the ”Add Project” button in the Ribbon

of the Projects Module

• Via Import from Microsoft Project• Via Actions Menu (if applicable)

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Project Creation: Enter Details About Your Project

Fill in the Add New Project Form:

• Standardize project entry data• Utilize Templates to easily recreate projects using a

common structure• Form is entirely configurable by your administrator

and can include as much or as little data as desired.


Project Creation: MS Project Import

Projects can also be created via Import from Microsoft Project:

1. From the ”New” menu on the Navigation Bar, select “Import from MS Project”

2. Click on the “Import XML File” button and select the file you would like to import as a project (Note: you must save your MS Project File as XML. If the file is greater than 10MB, please zip it prior to import)

3. Your selected file will display. 4. Click Next

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Project Creation: MS Project Import (Continued)

Projects can also be created via Import from Microsoft Project:

4. A validation Report will display summary information about the project prior to import. In the Options section, you will be able to fine tune the import behavior (tool tips are provided for each option –hover and additional details will appear)

5. You will receive a success message when the file has been successfully imported and a project in Clarizen has been created

6. Click on “Open in Project” to be taken to the imported project in Clarizen.

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Project Properties

Project data is captured and displayed by section in the “Properties Card” which can be configured by your admin to include any fields of data you require.

It is common to include Business Case information along with Project settings such as Time Tracking and Scheduling rules in the Properties Card.


Relations Panel: Review and Maintain Related Information

Work items may have related items that can be linked.

For example, when creating a project, you may want to link related risks in order to create a risk register.

You can do this by clicking the ribbon action or by clicking the 'Add Related... ' link located within the Relations Panel.

Available relations may include (depending on module availability and profile settings): File, Customers, Reviewers, Resources, Cases, groups, Predecessors, Successors, job Titles, Time entries, Expense Sheets, Notes, and Topics.


Project Roadmap

Use the Gear to select alternative roadmap perspectives

This is the Project Roadmap. The Roadmap includes an interactive color-coded timeline chart with start and finish dates reflecting real-time visibility to deliverables from a high level view of a project with its Tasks and Milestones in progress. The ribbon provides all relevant action options, and the zoom control zooms the view.

Click into a Milestone to see details


How do I Find My Projects?

To find your projects, navigate to the Projects module and choose the “My Projects” view.

The screen will refresh and you will see the projects to which you have an assigned role.

Alternatively, your projects will always be shown on the Home page.


How do I Find My Tasks?

To find your tasks, navigate to the Tasks module and choose the “My Tasks View” view.

The screen will refresh and you will see the tasks to which you have an assigned role.

Alternatively, your tasks will always be shown on the Home page.


Calendar View: A Great New Way to View Your Work

Clarizen has recently released an easy-to-use, color-coded and interactive calendar view.

With this view, it is easy to keep track of all your projects, cases and work items online. Project managers or individual contributors working on multiple projects, can see all their projects, cases or work items in a single calendar view, filtered by a desired field and time frame, and color coded to identify items that may require special attention.

You can also report progress to executives or external stakeholders by sharing the calendar view as a link (for internal users) or a widget (for external stakeholders).

Select the settings and color-by that works best for you


Task Details

Just like reviewing individual projects, when you click into a single task, all details and related information will appear.

This task is a good example of one where Notes have been utilized to convey important information to the resources working on the task.


Types of Tasks

• Most common type of task/sub-task

• Project Manager or other Manager can create tasks on a project

Project Tasks To Do List Tasks

• “Stand Alone” tasks that are not connected to a project or any other Parent Item

• Anyone can create “To Do” Tasks

• Not part of a project hierarchy• Do not require Start or Due

Dates• Example: An activity or reminder

you assign to yourself, like conducting research on a specific topic

Recurring Tasks

• Regular tasks that are scheduled as ongoing and intermittent

• Example: submission of a weekly status report or attending a regularly scheduled meeting.

• Recurring Tasks are part of a project hierarchy


Developing a Work Breakdown Structure


What’s a Work Breakdown Structure and How Does it Help?

• The foundation of Project Management is the concept of the Work Breakdown Structure

• The WBS defines achievable and realistic components for Project Managers and Teams

Project

Milestone 2

Task

Milestone 1

Task

Sub-Task

Task

Sub-Task


Types of “Work Items” in a WBS

• Tasks are the building blocks of “Work” in Clarizen

• A task is a discrete scheduled component of work performed during the course of a project. A task normally has an estimated duration, start and due date as well as resources.

• A task can be dependent on other tasks

Task Project

• A project is assigned to a project manager and can also be assigned to other team members, such as managers, resources, reviewers, etc.

• A project may consist of milestones, tasks, or other sub-projects.

• Although sub-projects are created as part of a parent project, they are considered independent projects that include an independent team and represent a separate deliverable of the project.

Milestone

• A milestone is a significant event in the project, such as an event restraining future work or marking the completion of a major deliverable or phase

• A milestone is typically used as a container of tasks to be completed in order to achieve the milestone’s goals (in terms of content and dates). This methodology enables an instant understanding of every milestone’s status, especially since it is reflected in the project's work


Building a WBS: Add Milestones

• Enter Milestones for your high-level project events by choosing Add > Milestone from the Ribbon above a Project work plan

• If creating one Milestone, select “Save” • If creating multiple Milestones, select “Save and New” or use the keyboard shortcut Shift+Enter


Building a WBS: Add Tasks

• Each Milestone is broken down into Tasks that contain the activities to complete the deliverable

• Tasks are built into the plan in a natural order as sequential steps or concurrent activities

• Each task will be given a Duration and Start Date

• Tasks that must occur sequentially can be linked using Predecessor (Dependency) relationships which we will discuss later

• Resource(s) will be added to each task

Highlight a Milestone and choose Add > Task from the Ribbon

Insert Tasks above a selected task by choosing Insert > Task

You can also: Cut/Copy/Paste, Indent/Outdent, Expand/Collapse and Delete to Fine Tune the Plan


Parent Projects and PortfoliosPortfolios allow you to see a collection of projects in one view and roll up data in an appropriate hierarchy.

Use shortcuts to include a project under many different project or portfolio structures. Or use shortcuts to add an item from another project into your work plan for visibility or to set dependencies.


Including Shortcuts in the WBS

• Clarizen offers the ability to add shortcuts where users can see projects and milestones as well as tasks from other projects

• Shortcuts allow you to link a work item from any other project, and have them available as a “read-only” view on your project

• Shortcuts are a great way to reference external work items by allowing you to create inter-project dependencies or to allow for external impacting within your current project.

• With the shortcut function, a project can house sub-projects, milestones, tasks, shortcut milestones and shortcut tasks. Each of these items can then include its own set of tasks, subtasks and shortcuts.

• Shortcuts can be added from the “Ribbon” when viewing a work plan


Rollup vs Low Leaf Data

• Parent/Hammock items are automatically calculated for you

• Lowest leaf items are items that have no children nested beneath them in the WBS

• You only need to set the values for the lowest leaf items since the data will roll up and be calculated at the Parent/Hammock level

In the example above, Subtasks B1 and B2 are leaf items rolling up to Task B.Task A, Inserted Task and Task B are then rolled up to Milestone 1.


Dependency Relationships


Dependency Types

There are four types of Dependency relationships with respect to sequencing work

According to standard methodology, a dependency is a logical schedule link between two project work items, and defines the sequence of work between them, for example, launch can be performed only after product is developed.

Clarizen dependencies refer to which work items are predecessors− or ‘dependent’− upon others.

Adding a dependency between work items automatically changes the start or finish date of the successor work item.

Note: Dates that are manually set are not overridden when creating dependencies.

Finish to Start (FtS)The successor work item begins upon completion of the predecessor work item (Most common)

Finish to Finish (FtF)Predecessor work item does not finish until the successor is finished

Start to Finish (StF)The successor work item does not finish until the predecessor starts

Start to Start (StS)The successor work item does not start before the predecessor starts


Adding Dependencies

1. Select Dependent Items from the work plan

2. From the Ribbon Choose “Link” (alternatively From the “Add Related” Menu, select “Predecessors” or “Successors” to add cross-project Dependencies)

3. Define Dependency Relationship including Type and amount of Lag (Positive lag acts as a cushion between sequential tasks and Negative lag defines how much ”Lead” time or overlap there can be)

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Adding Dependencies (additional approaches)

1. From the Work Plan, the column* identified by the “Link” icon can be used to add predecessors by selecting the + sign when you hover on a work item*You may need to add the “# of Predecessors” field as a column if it does not appear in your view

2. An easy way to create a finish to start (FTS) relationship is to drag and drop one work item on top of another


Viewing Dependencies

• Where Dependencies exist, the “link” icon will appear. By clicking the icon, you can review existing dependencies.

• Alternatively, dependency information can always be viewed in the Relations Panel on the right side of the work plan

• Finally, adding the “Predecessor” and/or “Successor” columns to the work plan view, will details of all dependencies


Manually Set Fields and Restoring Calculations

A blue triangle in the top right corner indicates a manually set

data point

If you would like to restore the default or calculated data, click

into the cell and select “Restore”


Developing a Project Schedule


Scheduling Projects: Best Practices

• Start at a High Level and get granular as you better define your needs and break down the work. Tasks roll up into Milestones, which roll up into Projects

• Set DURATIONS not DATES whenever possible and Clarizen will calculate the appropriate dates based on the plan

• Use dependencies to calculate dates - allows system to move dates when project is rescheduled and maintain relationships between tasks


Schedule Logic – ASAP/ALAP

Choose one approach based on your needs

ASAP - Start as soon as possible • Set start date only • Works forward based on duration and calculates the due date

ALAP - Start as late as possible • Set due date only • Works backwards based on duration in order to meet due date• Include lags


Hammock and Leaf Definitions

Hammock Work Items

• Clarizen refers to any Work Item with Sub-Items as a Hammock

• Hammock work items are calculated in the same way as Leaf items with the following exception. If a Hammock’s sub-work item is on a critical path and has a scheduling status differing from the one calculated, the hammock inherits the schedule status of that sub-work item

Leaf Tasks

• Clarizen refers to any Work Item without sub-tasks as a Leaf

• The Schedule status of Leaf tasks is calculated as follows:

If the Actual Percent Completed is 10% or more below the Expected Percent Completed

The due date of the task has passed and the Actual Percent Completed is less than 100%

On Track

At Risk

Off Track

If the Actual Percent Completed is under 10% less than the Expected Percent Completed or Actual Percent Completed is greater than the Expected Percent Completed


Schedule Components and Considerations

Work – Hands on time required to complete the task (example: 8 hours)

Duration – Span of time that resources have to complete the work (example: 40 days)

Units – Human Resources including % of availability

Work Policy – Defines the relationship and behaviors between the three task-and-resource-related characteristics

Default work policy – fixed duration (Set at organization-level in settings, and adjustable by work item)


Advanced Schedule Concept: Work Policy

FIXED DURATIONDriven by dates

Maintains the variance between start date and due

date as fixed

FIXED WORKDriven by effort

Maintains the planned effort for an item as fixed

FIXED UNITDriven by resource availability

Maintains the resource’s utilization as fixed

Fix one, change the second, Clarizen calculates the third.You can set work policy per item, by default they inherit the parent’s policy.

Work ImpactedWork AdjustedWork (Fixed)Work

Baseline Duration Changed ManuallyWork Changed ManuallyUnit Changed Manually


Duration & Start/Due Dates

DURATION– due date minus start date

START DATE– date item is planned to start

DUE DATE – date item is scheduled to be completed or delivered


Advanced Scheduling Concept: Critical Path

The critical path shows the least amount of time in which a project can be completed.

• Items on the Critical Path have zero slack. If a work item on the critical path gets delayed, it will push back the due date on your entire project.

• Critical path is automatically calculated by the system by analyzing your project schedule.

• In order to remove a task or milestone from the critical path, you will have to adjust your project schedule (provide more slack in your dates for item completion).

There are 3 different places where you can view your projects' critical path:

1. When working in a project, go to the Scheduling View. Any work item on the critical path will contain a red arrow pointing to the right.

2. In the Gantt chart, there is a dropdown in the upper right that let's you see which items are on the critical path (work left to be done that is on the critical path will show up in bright red).

3. In reporting, you can bring in a field called Belongs to the Critical Path into any task, milestone, project, or work item report. This not only let's you see what's on the critical path, but allows you to sort and filter based on which items are on the critical path.


How to Review a Project’s Critical Path

There are 3 different places where you can view your projects' critical path:

1. When working in a project, add the “On Critical Path” field to your grid view. Any work item on the critical path will contain this icon

2. In the Gantt view, choose the gear under the “Legend” menu to access the Gantt Settings. There you can choose to view the display as Critical Path which will highlight all schedule elements in red.

3. In reporting, you can bring in a field called Belongs to the Critical Path into any task, milestone, project, or work item report. This not only let's you see what's on the critical path, but allows you to sort and filter based on which items are on the critical path.


Resource Assignment Fundamentals: Add Inline

How to Assign Resources

• To assign Resources, Users must first be entered in Clarizen.

• Resources can be added to a Task by selecting it in the Work Plan and then either choosing the Add Related button from the Ribbon or clicking into the “Resources” column and typing a name or choosing the “…” for the Add Resources window.


Resource Assignment Fundamentals: From ”Add Resources”

Create New or Select Individual or Multiple Resources

• Using the checkboxes, select the resource(s) you want to assign

• Use the “>>” button to add them to the task

• If a desired resource isn’t available, select the “New” tab and add a new User


Resource Assignment Fundamentals: Search/Filter to Find

Find the Right Resource

• In the Add Resources window, click on the filter icon to search for the appropriate resources based on any search criteria (group, team, job title, skill, etc.)

• If you know the name of the resource you are looking for, use the Search box to locate


Advanced Scheduling Concept: Conflicts

Conflicts indicates a contradiction between due dates of at least two project work items.

The following are several examples of a Conflict:

• A hammock (parent item) has a manually set Due date but one (or more) of its sub-items finishes after that date

• Task X has a manually set Due date and Duration. Task X depends on task Y that has a Due date that prevents X from being finished on time.

• Task X has a manually set Start date. Task X is dependent on task Y whose Start or Due date is earlier than the Start date of task X.

Note: In case of conflict situations, the system does not automatically move planned Start or Due dates accordingly, but rather raises an indication of a conflict in the form of an Alert.


Rescheduling Work

To reschedule work in bulk, use the “Reschedule Branch” button under the “Utilities” (or “Misc” depending on your settings) section of the Ribbon which will cause all impacted work items to be updated based on the change required

Note: The “Reschedule Branch” option is also a great way to override all manually set dates in a work plan by selecting the second radio button.

Remember the Best Practice: change durations rather than changing dates manually


Template CreationWhen creating a new project or Milestone, you can save time and standardize your processes by selecting a template from a list of available system templates.

If you would like to save a template based on an existing project or milestone structure, select in the work plan and choose “Save as Template” from the “Utilities” (or “Misc” depending on your settings) menu in the Ribbon.

The pop-up window will give you the option of creating a brand new template or updating and existing template (Override).

Templates will include all project settings, documents, notes, resources, etc.


Using a Template to Create a Project

From the Add New Project window, select “…” from the Template field.

The pop-up window will show all Templates available for selection.

At the bottom, you have the option of selecting which details and related items to include when creating the new project.


Hooray, my project is scheduled! Now what?

Make the project active

Make sure you have the project line selected in the work plan, select “Mark As” from the Ribbon and click Active. This means users can start to see the tasks they need to do.


Project Roles and Permissions


Project Level Roles: High Level Definitions

PROJECT MANAGER – controls WBS, scheduling, resource assignment, resource load, overall project delivery within budget

MANAGERS – every single work item has a manager who controls the same things a PM does, but only for that scope of the project

OWNER – Similar to Manager, is responsible for the timely completion of assigned work. The purpose of the Owner role is to promote accountability in a multi-manager environment. While all managers are equally involved in the project, the Owner is responsible for a successful completion of the assigned work.

RESOURCE – person(s) responsible for completing assigned work item and reporting progress against it

REVIEWER – similar to a manager without the ability to impact or change any aspect of the project


Project Level Roles: Detailed Breakdown and Permissions

Defining Project Roles Role Permissions


Multiple Managers

When more than one team is involved in completion of a project or a work item, the ability to assign multiple managers to the same work item provides the flexibility to manage work in a much more efficient, transparent and intuitive way.

It increases visibility into the project or work item progress for key stakeholders (such as, Program Managers, Product Managers, Direct Managers, etc.) who can view what work has been done, track progress, reassign resources, and identify potential risks.

When assigning Managers to work, you can select their managerial Role from the dropdown as shown.


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clarizen training - creating and managing projects

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