Projects In Timesheet 5.5

Projects

Journyx Timesheet uses Projects to indicate the object of the multitude of various time, mileage and expense entries created by users. Timesheet allows your organization to create an unlimited number of projects to use for time, expense, and mileage tracking purposes. Timesheet uses a hierarchical project structure, and allows an unlimited number of generations under any specific parent project.

Timesheet v5.5 includes new and improved Project control tools, with a focus on graphical representation of the Project hierarchy. These tools help everyone in your organization to visualize the project hierarchy structure and make it even easier to create, modify and delete projects as needed.

The Project Management Screen

The Project Management Screen, which is accessed via the Projects link located in the Common Links section found at the top of each screen in Timesheet, serves as the master control panel for all project creation, modification and deletion. This screen may appear in several different ways, depending upon the options selected in the Project Management portion of the Timesheet Global Preferences. By default, this screen will look like the following:

The most common alterations to the appearance of the Project Management Screen are the Enhanced Management Interface modifications, which apply a small number of appearance changes that help the admin better visualize the layout of the Project Management Tree. Additionally, your organization may elect to enable checkbox-based deletion and modification of projects as well. The use of these optional screen enhancements will replace the scissors and pencil icons seen in the above screen shot with checkboxes (as seen below). This set of screen enhancements enables the admin to modify or delete multiple projects at one time.

If the Enhanced Management Interface modifications are used, the Project Management Screen will also display the Project Creation Interface at all times. This interface is normally only displayed when the admin is actually creating projects.

Finally, your organization may have enabled the Project Management "Icon Legend." If so, this list of the Project Management Screen icons and what they mean will be located at the bottom of the Project Management Screen. The icon legend looks like this:

The Project Management Screen Icon Legend

Sorting The Project List

Regardless of the display options chosen for the Project Management Screen, you can choose to sort the visible projects by one of three methods:

Position within the Project Tree (default)
Alphabetical by Project name
Alphabetical by Project description

Projects are sorted by their position within the Project tree by default. Information on how to change the default sorting method for the Project Management Screen can be found in the Global Preferences portion of the Timesheet help documentation.

To change the sorting order for the screen you are currently viewing, click the Header name (Tree, Project Name, Description) that you would like Timesheet to use for sorting control. Timesheet will refresh the Project Management Screen and the visible Projects will be sorted by the method you indicated. The method currently in use for sorting is indicated by the presence of two bars around the column Header name that is being used as the sorting control.

The Project Management Screen, with Projects sorted by Description appears like the following:

The Project Management Screen, with Projects sorted by Project Name appears like the following:

Please Note: Choosing a sorting method other than the default applies to the current page view only. Leaving the Project Management Screen and returning later will reset your view to the default sorting method.

Creating Projects

One of the first actions that should be performed on any new installation of Timesheet is the creation of the various Project that your organization will be using for time, mileage and expense tracking. There are two main processes for creating new projects in Timesheet v5.5, each of which is outlined below.

Creating New Projects Using The "New Project" Icon

You may always create new projects using the "New Project" Icon . To create a new project using the "New Project" icon, simply click on the icon in the New column of the project you intend to be the parent of the new project. This will bring up the New Project screen, which will be used for the remainder of the project creation process, which is described below. By default, up to five new projects may be created at one time. This maximum number of new projects can be modified in the Project Management portion of the Timesheet Global Preferences.

Enter a name for the new project
Although Timesheet allows up to 252 characters for each project name, Journyx recommends keeping each project name as short as feasibly possible to keep the project dropdown menus manageable.
Enter a description for the new project
Timesheet allows up to 252 characters for the description for each project. The description should be used to provide further details on the nature of a given project.
Indicate Auto-Add status for the new project
If you select yes for this option, this project will be added to every new group that is created in Timesheet. You should only select yes for this option if you are unlikely to have more than a small number of groups that should not have access to this project. Otherwise, you will have to remove this project manually from each group that is not supposed to have access to it.
Enter the total estimated hours for the new project
Timesheet allows up to 8 digits for each project's estimated hours.
Indicate which currently existing groups should have access to the new project
Multiple groups can be selected by control-clicking each group you wish to select. You can always change which groups have access to any given project later by modifying that particular group or by modifying that specific project.
Click the Create New button
Timesheet will display the Project Management Screen, along with a green text message confirming the creation of the new project.

Creating A New Project Using The "Create New Project Interface"

If your organization is using the Enhanced Management Interface options for the Project Management Screen and Project Tree, the Create New Project Interface will be displayed at the bottom of the Project Management Screen at all times. This interface is very similar to the interface seen on the Create New Projects screen; the only difference is the presence of the parent dropdown menu, which is used to select a parent for the new project(s). The process of creating a new project using this interface is outlined below.

Enter a name for the new project
Although Timesheet allows up to 252 characters for each project name, Journyx recommends keeping each project name as short as feasibly possible to keep the project dropdown menus manageable.
Enter a description for the new project
Timesheet allows up to 252 characters for the description for each project. The description should be used to provide further details on the nature of a given project.
Select the parent for the new project
Unlike creating projects via the "New Project" icon, which allows the creating user to indicate the parent for a new project based on which level the "New Project" icon is selected from, creating new projects using the Create New Project interface requires the creating user to choose a parent project from the dropdown list named "Parent."
Indicate Auto-Add status for the new project
If you select yes for this option, this project will be added to every new group that is created in Timesheet. You should only select yes for this option if you are unlikely to have more than a small number of groups that should not have access to this project. Otherwise, you will have to remove this project manually from each group that is not supposed to have access to it.
Enter the total estimated hours for the new project
Timesheet allows up to 8 digits for each project's estimated hours.
Indicate which currently existing groups should have access to the new project
Multiple groups can be selected by control-clicking each group you wish to select. You can always change which groups have access to any given project later by modifying that particular group or by modifying that specific project.
Click the Create New button
Timesheet will display the Project Management Screen, along with a green text message confirming the creation of the new project.

Modifying Projects

There may be times when it is necessary to modify information regarding a specific project. Depending on the Project Tree display options your organization is using, the Global Project Modification screen will be accessed via either the "Edit Project" Icon or by using select boxes and clicking the Modify button. If you use the "Edit Project" icon, you will only be able to modify one project at any given time. Check box modification of projects allows you to modify any number of projects at once. Check box modification of projects is an option that can be enabled in the Project Management portion of Timesheet's Global Preferences.

The Global Project Modification Screen

Primary Project Characteristics Modification

Once you have accessed the Global Project Modification Screen, you will be able to make changes to the primary characteristics for the selected project(s). Changes to the extra project fields are covered below, under Extra Project Fields Modification. The following primary characteristics of any given project may be modified:

Group affiliation
This field allows you to change which groups have access to the project in question.
- To add a project to a group, highlight that group in the list of available groups by clicking on it (CTRL-click to choose multiple groups).
- To Remove the project from a group, highlight that group in the list of available groups by clicking on it (CTRL-click to choose multiple groups).
Status:
- Loggable and Reportable: This status indicates that the project is fully-active, i.e., users can log time to this project and all time logged to this project can be reported on
- Reportable Only: This status indicates that the project can no longer have time logged against it, but that any historical time already logged will be displayed in reports
- Hidden: A project with this status can neither be logged against nor can it be reported upon
Automatically Added to New Groups?
As discussed above under project creation, this field determines whether this project will be made accessible to any newly created groups. Again, this field should typically be set to "no."
Description
This field allows the admin to change the text description for the project in question
Parent
This field allows the admin to change the parent project for the project in question
Total Estimated Hours
This field allows the admin to change the total estimated hours until completion for this project
Percent Done
This field allows the admin to enter a current percentage of completion for the project in question. This is most often used for project management.
Once the desired changes have been made, click the Modify button
The Admin will be returned to the Project Management Screen, which will display a green text message confirming that the project(s) were modified

A Note About "Root"

Earlier versions of Timesheet would not allow you to change the name or description of the master project known as "Root." As of Timesheet 5.5, you may freely rename this project and/or modify its description. Changing the name or description of "Root" will not affect the functionality of Timesheet in any way - it is merely an aesthetic option.

Extra Project Fields Modification

Extra Project Fields are now covered in the Extra Fields section of the documentation.

Deleting Projects

Journyx Timesheet v5.5 allows your organization to delete unused or unneeded projects under certain circumstances. A project that has never had any time, expenses or mileage logged against it may be deleted from the Timesheet database and thereby removed from use. However, if a project has ever been used as part of a time, expense or mileage entry, Timesheet will not allow you to delete that project. These projects should be modified to have a status of "hidden" instead of deleted. Status is covered in detail above, in the Modifying Projects section.

Projects that are eligible for deletion may be deleted in one of two ways, depending on the options that your organization is using for the Project Management Screen. A project that is not eligible for deletion will have the "not modifiable or deletable" icon in place of either the "Delete Project" icon or the checkbox in the Delete column, depending on which GUI options are in use by your organization. Both methods of deletion are outlined below.

Deleting A Project Using the "Delete Project" Icon

If your organization is not using checkbox project deletion, you may simply click the "Delete Project" Icon

to the right of the project in question. Timesheet will display a popup window asking you to confirm that you wish to delete the project.

If you wish to continue with the deletion process, click the OK box in this popup window. Timesheet will then refresh the Project Management screen and display a green text message confirming the deletion of the selected project. Please Note: You will only be able to delete one project at a time when using the "Delete Project" icon.

Deleting A Project Using Checkbox Project Deletion

If your organization is using checkbox project deletion, you will need to click the checkbox(es) of the project(s) you intend to delete. After you have selected projects for deletion, click the Delete button at the bottom of the Project Tree. Timesheet will a popup window asking you to confirm that you wish to delete the project(s). If you wish to continue with the deletion process, click the OK box in this popup window. Timesheet will then refresh the Project Management screen and display a green text message confirming the deletion of the selected project.

Working With Projects

The project tree on the Project Management Screen provides features beyond creating, modifying and deleting projects. These additional actions are covered below.

Reparenting Projects

The "cut" icon

may be used in conjunction with the "paste" icon

to reparent projects if GUI reparenting is enabled in the Project Management portion of Timesheet's Global Preferences. To reparent a project graphically:

Click the "cut" icon
Timesheet will refresh the Project Management Screen, including a green text message indicating that reparenting a project is in process. The "paste" icon will be displayed in place of the "cut" icon for all projects that may serve as the new parent for the "cut" project. Please Note: The "not available" icon will be displayed in place of the "cut" icon for any project that cannot serve as the new parent for the "cut" project. This include the "cut" project itself.
Click the "paste" icon for the project that will serve as the new parent for the "cut" project
Timesheet will refresh the Project Management Screen, with the Project Tree focused on the newly specified parent project. Please Note: The "cut" icon will again be displayed for all projects that are available for reparenting.

Reparenting Projects Without Using The GUI

If your organization has chosen to disallow the reparenting of projects via the GUI, you may still reparent projects by changing the parent project via the Global Project Modification screen, as discussed above.

Navigating The Project Tree

Journyx Timesheet v5.5 displays your organization's project hierarchy as a tree structure. By default, Timesheet shows the entire project tree, starting from the root level. The "focus" icon

is used to change the tree view to start at the level of a specific project.

The Project Tree Zoomed To A Different Level

In the above example, the admin has clicked the "focus" icon to the left of the project A&A Biscuit and Timesheet has displayed the tree focused on that level. The blue link to Root at the top of this screen allows you to return the view to the root level of the project tree. Links like this one will appear for each level above the current view.

This ability to change the focus of the tree view is provided to allow your organization with a better way to navigate the project tree, especially in case that involve a large number of projects.