Project Dependency In Timesheet 5.5

Project Dependencies In Timesheet 5.5

Journyx Timesheet uses Project Dependencies to restrict what objects can be logged against a particular Project by any given user. These objects include Tasks, Pay Types, Bill Types, Expense Codes, Sources, Currencies, Reasons, Vehicles, and Measurements. When no project dependencies exist for a Project, it is considered "open" and users can log any object against that Project as long that object is contained in at least one of the user's groups.

Group membership restricts users to logging objects that are contained in the groups in which they have membership. A user assigned to multiple groups can combine elements from those groups regardless of whether those objects are in the same group. Consider a user's combination of groups as one large group for that user.

From the user perspective this is all automatic. When logging Time, Expense, or Mileage the user's group membership and a project's dependencies are calculated on the fly and the user is presented with only valid choices. Care must be taken when creating Groups as well as Project Dependencies. If a project is dependant upon objects that are not contained in any of an individual's groups, that user will not be able to create records using that project.

Creating Project Dependencies

The Project Dependency Creation/Modification Screen is accessed by clicking on the "New Dependency" icon (

) under the Deps column on the main Project Management Screen. Once you have reached this screen, you may begin the process of creating a new Project Dependency for the Project in question.

The Project Dependency Creation/Modification Screen works on the same fundamental principle as the Group Management Screen in Timesheet 5.5; that is, the screen displays two columns: items that are "in" the dependency and items that are not. By default, every Project in Timesheet is initially in an open state and any item (Task, Pay Type, Currency, et. al.) within the Timesheet database can be logged against any Project, depending only on a user's group association to limit this access. Therefore, when you begin the Project Dependency creation process, every item is listed in the right-hand column and is available to be moved into the left-hand column to create a Project Dependency.

Items are moved between the two columns by clicking on them (CTRL-click to select multiple items in a section) and then clicking the Button at the bottom of this screen. When the screen refreshes, you will see that items that were selected in one column have moved to the other column.

Items that are in the left-hand column are considered dependency items and are therefore the only items that can be logged against this particular project. Items in the right-hand column are considered non-dependency items and are therefore not loggable against this particular project. If you do not create dependencies for a specific project, then that project is open and users will be able to log any item that they have access to (via group membership) against that individual project. Likewise, if you specify some dependencies for certain categories but not for others, the categories that have been left will retain their open status and users will be able to log any item within that category (again, based on group membership) against the Project in question.

Therefore, in the screen shown above, the Project "DalEx Inc." has the following Project Dependencies:

Task
Users may only log Coding, Debugging, Design/Plan and Dev as tasks against this project. All other tasks may not be logged to this project regardless of whether or not a user can see those other tasks (based on group membership)
Pay Type
Users may only log Regular as a Pay Type against this Project. Again, any other Pay Types that users may have access to via group membership cannot be logged against this Project.
Bill Type
Billable and Unbillable are the only Bill Types that may be logged against this Project.
Expense Code Users may only log Airfare/Rail, Lodging/Room and Per Diem Bill Types against this Project.
Source
Company and Customer are the only allowed Sources for expenses logged against this Project.
Currency
Any Currency that a User has access to via group membership may be logged for expenses against this Project.
Vehicle
Any Vehicle that a User has access to via group membership may be logged for Mileage against this Project.
Reason
Any Reason that a User has access to via group membership may be logged for Mileage against this Project.
Measurement
Any Measurement that a User has access to via group membership may be logged for Mileage against this Project.

Project Dependencies And Child Projects

Timesheet allows Project Dependencies for a "parent" project to be assigned to that project's "child" projects both manually, at the time of dependency creation and automatically, by having the "parent" project's dependencies assigned to all "child" projects when those projects are created.

To assign a "parent" project's Dependencies manually, simply click the Button located at the bottom of the Project Dependencies Screen. Timesheet will refresh the Project Dependencies Screen and display a green text message confirming the application of the "parent" project's Dependencies to its "child" projects.

To have a "parent" project's Dependencies applied automatically to all of its "child" projects, set the Should new children inherit these settings? option at the top of the Project Dependencies Screen to "Yes" before clicking the Button or the Button. The Dependencies associated with the project that is currently being modified will be applied to all new "child" projects created under this project.

Please Note: Exisiting "child" projects will not inherit dependencies in this manner. To assign a "parent" project's dependencies to an exisitng "child" project, use the Button located at the bottom of the Project Dependencies Screen.

Notes On Inherited Dependencies

There is no limit to how many generations "down" a Project's dependencies will be applied. Therefore, if Project 1 has "children" projects spanning 8 additional generations, applying the dependencies to Project 1's "children" will result in all of those generations (including the last project generation - Project 9) inheriting dependencies from Project 1.
A Project inherits dependencies from its closest "parent" that has dependencies. Therefore, if Project 1 has dependencies and its child, Project 1A has dependencies, then Project 1A2, a child of Project 1A, will inherit dependencies from Project 1A only and the dependencies of Project 1 will not be associated with Project 1A2.

Modifying Existing Project Dependencies

If a Project has an existing Project Dependecy, the Deps column on the Project Management Screen will display the "Modify Dependency" icon (

) rather than the "New Dependency" icon. Click on this icon to bring up the Project Dependency Creation/Modification Screen.

Once you have reached the Project Dependency Creation/Modification Screen, you may modify the Project Dependency in question to suit your needs. Again, items in the left-hand column are considered actual Project Dependencies while items in the right-hand column are considered excluded if there are items in the left-hand column for that category. Otherwise, if there are no items for a category in the left-hand column, that entire category is "open."

To move items between the columns, simply click the items you wish to move (CTRL-click for multiple items in a category) in each column and then click the button at the bottom of this screen. The screen will refresh and your changes will be committed to the Timesheet database.

Deleting Project Dependencies

If you determine that an existing Project Dependency should be removed from your organization's installation of Timesheet, you will need to access the Project Dependency Creation/Modification Screen as described in the section above on modifying Project Dependencies. Once you have reached this screen, simply move every item in the left-hand column out of the Project Dependency by selecting it and clicking the button at the bottom of this screen. This will return the Project in question to it's initial "open" status. Users will now be able to log any item they have access to via their group membership against this individual Project.