10.3 Reviewing a task when it is underway

If  a  task  is underway and the work done so far has been  recorded
then there is an option which will assist with the recalculation  of
the  tasks  schedule. The "Review calculation" menu  option  on  the
"Task"  menu  allows  the end, work or rate,  as  indicated  by  the
"End/work/rate"  menu option to be re-estimated. It  is  similar  to
using  the  enter key to change the current task details which  also
recalculates the tasks schedule. The difference is that this  option
allows the work done so far to be taken into consideration.

The  dialog which appears when selecting this option will  show  the
work  planned and the work done for comparison, along with the  date
the  work  done was recorded up to. These values may not be  changed
here.  It  is important for the calculation that the work  done  and
date  are  accurate, failing to do this will result  in  incorrectly
recalculated values. The remaining options which may be  updated  on
the  review  calculation  dialog depend upon  what  value  is  being
calculated:

End               The  remaining  work and resource work  rates  are
                  displayed. The remaining work shows how much  work
                  is  left  to do to complete the task (equals  work
                  planned  minus the work done). The remaining  work
                  rates are initially set to be equal to the current
                  planned  work rates. Updating either the remaining
                  work  and/or rates will set the work equal to  the
                  work   done   plus   the  remaining   work,   will
                  recalculate the end of the task and will  set  the
                  resource rates for the task to be the average work
                  rates  taking  into account the start,  and  newly
                  calculated end and total planned work values.

Work              The   end  date  and  remaining  work  rates   are
                  displayed. The remaining work rates are  initially
                  set  to  the current planned work rates.  Updating
                  either the end date and/or rates will set the work
                  equal   to  the  work  done  plus  the  calculated
                  remaining work and will set the resource rates  to
                  be  the average work rate taking into account  the
                  start, end and newly calculated planned work.  The
                  remaining  work  is calculated by looking  at  the
                  duration between the date indicated as being  when
                  the work done was recorded up to and the end date,
                  taking into account the remaining work rates.

Rate              The remaining work and end date are displayed. The
                  remaining work shows how much work is left  to  do
                  to  complete  the task (equals work planned  minus
                  the work done). Updating either the remaining work
                  and/or  end  will set the work equal to  the  work
                  done  plus  the remaining work and  will  set  the
                  resource rates appropriately.

11. MEMOS

A  memo, or Psion Word document may be associated with each task. To
create a new memo select the "Edit memo" menu option from the "Task"
menu. This will activate the Psion Word Application. Enter the  memo
and exit Word to return to Plan. Once a memo has been created a memo
symbol will appear next to the description for the task in the  task
list view. To subsequently view or edit the memo use the "Edit memo"
option.

To remove a memo use the "Delete memo" menu option.

Memos are stored in a sub-directory below the directory in which the
plan  file is stored. The sub-directory will have the same  name  as
the  plan  file.  Each memo will be stored as a separate  Word  file
within  the sub-directory. Memo filenames are constructed using  the
task  Id  and  therefore  task Id's should be  restricted  to  valid
filenames.

If  a plan file is deleted, moved or renamed, remember to update any
sub-directory which contains memo files, otherwise Plan will not  be
able to find the memos.

12. RESOURCES

Plan  allows any number of resources to be created, subject to Psion
memory  limitations. The work hours for each day  of  the  week  are
stored  in  the form of start and end times. There is also  a  three
year  calendar  which indicates the resources holidays  or  non-work
days.

By default when first using Plan only one resource will be available
called  "General".  This  will be constructed  using  the  following
rules:

 - The  current  year  is used as the start of  the  three  year
   calendar period.
 - The  work/non-work days for the three year calendar  are  set
   according to the work days which have been set in the Psion  Time
   application.
 - The start and end time for each work day will default to 9:00am
   and 5:00pm respectively.

When  creating  additional  resources the  work  hours  and  holiday
settings  are  copied from the "General" resource.  Consequently  it
will  save time by setting common work hours and public holidays  in
the "General" resource before creating any additional resources.

The  holidays set for the "General" resource should be common public
or  bank  holidays. Changing the holidays for the "General" resource
will  update  the equivalent days for all other existing  resources,
e.g. if 25 December is changed to a holiday then all other resources
will  be  updated to ensure that the 25 December is also a  holiday.
Individual  resource holidays may subsequently be  overridden  on  a
resource by resource basis.

To  create  a  new  resource use the "Make"  menu  option  from  the
"Resource" menu. This will prompt for a resource name which must  be
unique.  To  delete a resource select the "Kill" menu  option.  This
will  display  a  dialog prompting for the name of the  resource  to
delete.  Any  existing  tasks which use the resource  will  then  be
switched to use the "General" resource.

There  is a concept of a current resource in the same way that there
is  a  current task. The current resource is the resource  which  is
displayed  in  the resource usage and holiday views. To  change  the
current  resource use the "Switch to" menu option on the  "Resource"
menu,  or  press  the  tab or shift-tab key  to  cycle  through  the
available resources in the resource based views.

13. PREFERENCES

The  following  preferences may be set using the "Preferences"  menu
item on the "Special" menu:

                             PERT chart

Task top text     None,   Description,  Start,  End,   Work,   Rate,
                  Resource, Done, Labour, Fixed, Total, Value, Text,
                  Saved Start, Saved End, Saved Work, Dependencies

Task bottom text  None,   Description,  Start,  End,   Work,   Rate,
                  Resource, Done, Labour, Fixed, Total, Value, Text,
                  Saved Start, Saved End, Saved Work, Dependencies

                             Gantt chart

Task bar text     None,   Description,  Start,  End,   Work,   Rate,
                  Resource, Done, Labour, Fixed, Total, Value, Text,
                  Saved Start, Saved End, Saved Work, Dependencies

Holiday shading   Use general, Resource specific

Shading control   None, Day zoom, Week zoom, Month zoom

Saved start/end bar    Yes, No

                             Calculation

New tasks         End, Work, Rate

Recalculation     Automatic or Manual

                               Display

Dates/times       Dates & times, Dates only

Grey graphics     Yes, No

Description (% screen)	Width of description field in Task list and
		Gantt chart views as a percentage of the total
		screen width.

                              Resources

Average work day  Time in hours and minutes

The  PERT chart task top and bottom text options control which items
appear above and below the task boxes in the PERT chart.

The  Gantt chart task bar text controls what is displayed at the end
of each task bar in the Gantt chart.

The Gantt holiday shading option controls the shading of holidays in
the  Gantt chart. If set to "Resource specific" any non-working days
will  be  shaded  grey  for  the particular  resource  the  task  is
allocated  to.  The  "General" resource will  be  used  if  multiple
resources are assigned to one task. If set to "Use general" then all
shading will use the holidays for the "General" resource. The  later
option will result in much faster redraws of the Gantt chart.

Note  that shading can be time consuming when zoomed out, hence  the
"Shading  control"  option allows it to be  turned  on  at  suitable
scales.

The  Gantt chart saved start/end bar option controls whether one  or
two  bars are used for each task in the Gantt chart. If one  bar  is
used  (the "No" option) then the bar indicates the start and end  of
the  task. If two bars are used (the "Yes" option) then a lower  bar
is  also  displayed which indicates the equivalent  dates  from  the
saved  start  and  end fields. This is useful  for  seeing  how  the
current plan compares with the original estimates.

The  new  task calculation item controls whether for new  tasks  the
end, work or rate of work is calculated. For existing tasks this may
be controlled individually using the "End/work/rate" menu option.

If  the  recalculation option is set to automatic then if  any  task
changes  any  tasks which are dependent upon the task will  also  be
recalculated.  This  implies that it should never  be  necessary  to
force  a recalculation unless resource details change. When  set  to
manual  only the task which is edited will be recalculated, in  this
case the tab key or "Recalculate all" menu option should be used  to
recalculate all tasks when required.  Note that the critical path is
not  automatically updated even if the calculation option is set  to
automatic. The "Recalculate all" or the "Critical path" menu options
should be used to update the critical path when required.

The  dates/times  preference  setting  controls  whether  times  are
entered  and displayed. If it is set to "Dates & times"  then  start
and  end  dates  will include a time component. If  the  setting  is
"Dates only" then start and end dates will have no time component.

The  grey  graphics  option controls whether a grey  plane  is  used
within Plan. This provides an enhanced display at the expense of  an
extra 10K of memory.

The description  setting controls how wide the  description filed is
in  the  task list and  Gantt  views.  Choosing  a large  value will
display  more of  the  description  text on  the screen,  choosing a
smaller value will provide  more space for the Gantt  chart or other
fields in the task list.

The  average work day option defines the duration of one normal work
day.   This  unit of work is used when entering work and  work  done
values.  Typically this should be set to the length  of  an  average
working day, including any breaks.

The  preference settings are saved in the plan and resource file and
so will be restored the next time the files are opened by Plan.

14. PRINTING

The  task  list may be printed using the print options available  on
the  "File" menu from the task list view. The output from the  print
option  is  sent  to the device specified using the  "Printer"  menu
option  accessed from the "Control" menu on the Psion system screen.
This  may be set to use a printer attached to the serial or parallel
port or a file. If the given destination is not ready, e.g. a serial
cable is not connected then an error message will be displayed.

The  print  output  may also be sent through a  PC  to  an  attached
printer  via Psion's PsiWin software. Note that PsiWin  is  a  Psion
software product and is not supplied with Plan.

The  "Print Setup" menu option on the "File" menu controls the paper
size,  orientation,  printer type, etc. This  option  also  provides
control  over the range of fields or columns which are to be printed
from  the  task list and the width of the description and user  text
fields.  Where the specified printer cannot handle the  printing  of
all  the  fields  from  the task list across the  page  it  will  be
necessary  to use the print option more than once with  a  different
range  of  fields each time. The task Id and description fields  are
always  printed on the left of the page, the range of fields printed
on the right may be specified.

The  "Print preview" menu option may be used to take a look  at  the
overall page layout prior to printing.

There  is  an  optional postscript printer module for  printing  the
Gantt and PERT charts (see "Modules" section).

15. MODULES

A  number of plug in modules are available with Plan. These  modules
consist of files with an OPO file extension which are located  in  a
sub-directory  called  PLAN  below  the  directory  where  the  main
PLAN.OPA  file  is kept. When these modules are available  the  "Run
module"  menu  option  on  the  "Special"  menu  will  display   the
additional  facilities supplied by the optional modules.  Each  Plan
module will appear as a separate item within the modules dialog.  To
access  a  module select the corresponding item in  the  run  module
dialog.

The currently available modules are:

MPX.OPO           Allows  data to be transferred between  the  Psion
                  Plan  application and Microsoft  Project  3.0  and
                  4.0.

PS.OPO            Provides a postscript print facility for the Gantt
                  and PERT charts.

AGN.OPO           Allows  tasks  to be exported to  a  Psion  Agenda
                  file.

15.1 Microsoft Project MPX module

The  MPX  module allows task and resource data to be exchanged  with
Microsoft Project. To transfer data into Microsoft Project:

 - Ensure  that the MPX.OPO module is installed in  a  directory
   called \APP\PLAN on any drive.
 - Ensure the plan to be transferred is open.
 - Select the "MPX transfer" option from the "Run module" menu
   item.
 - Select "Export".
 - Enter the name of the MPX export file which is to be created.
 - The file will be generated.
 - Transfer the MPX file to the relevant host machine.
 - Start  up Microsoft Project and select the open file  option.
   Choose  the MPX 1.0, 3.0 or 4.0 file type rather than the Project
   file type (it does not matter which version of MPX file is used).
 - If  asked whether the file should be merged into the  current
   project  choose "No". It is not possible to merge a plan into  an
   existing Microsoft Project plan.

To transfer a project from Microsoft Project into Psion Plan:

 - Save the file as an MPX file (any version) and transfer it to
   the Psion.
 - Create  a new Psion plan and resource file. The data  may  be
   merged into an existing plan and resource file provided the incoming
   task Id and resource initials are equivalent to any old ones.
 - Select the "MPX transfer" option in Plan.
 - Choose "Import".
 - Select the MPX import file which is to be read.
 - The  file  will  now be read. Look for any warning  or  error
   messages in the output. Press any key when complete to continue in
   Plan.
 
Note  the  following points before attempting to  import  data  into
Plan:

 - Plan expects numbers to be in a given format, as specified by
   the "Number formats" menu option on the "Control" menu of the Psion
   system  screen.  For  example, if you have a  German  version  of
   Microsoft Project then in general numbers will include a comma for a
   decimal point rather than a dot. The number format settings on the
   Psion  should match the international settings on the  PC  before
   exporting/importing MPX files.
 - Avoid  modifying  the  standard Export  tables  in  Microsoft
   Project.
 - Plan  expects a date format of the form "31/12/95", "31/12/95
   12:33am" or "31/12/95 12:33". The date order is not important, e.g.
   92/12/31 may also be used. Ensure the date format is set correctly
   in Microsoft Project preferences before creating the MPX file. In MS
   Project 4.0 the date format may be set as above from the "Options"
   menu item on the "Tools" menu and in the "View" section.
 - Plan  uses the resource initials field for the resource name,
   these should be set in Microsoft Project.
 - Plan ignores dependencies of the type Finish-Finish and Start-
   Finish.
 - Plan  assumes a holiday lasts all day so avoid holidays which
   are less than a full day in Microsoft Project.

15.2 Postscript module

The  postscript module may be used to print the Gantt or PERT  chart
on  a postscript printer. Selecting the print postscript menu option
from  the  "Run module" dialog will display a dialog which  controls
which chart to print along with the page size and orientation.

The  output  from the postscript module will be sent to  the  device
specified using the "Printer" menu option on the "Control"  menu  on
the Psion system screen. If the given destination is not ready, e.g.
a  serial  cable  is  not connected then an error  message  will  be
displayed.

The  custom width and height apply only if the page size is  set  to
"Custom".   These   give  the  smallest  and  largest   measurements
respectively  of the paper in centimetres. The margin item  controls
the width of the margin around the edge of the paper.

When  printing  the  Gantt chart a second dialog will  appear  which
allows the date range to be specified. This may be set to either the
entire  project, derived from the current Gantt view, the  remaining
part of the project, or a specified date range. The custom start and
end  dates  are  used only when the range item  is  set  to  "custom
dates".  The  Gantt chart will be paginated if necessary,  the  PERT
chart will always be printed on one page.

When  printing  the  PERT chart a second dialog  will  appear  which
allows  a  section of the PERT chart to be printed. If set to  "All"
then  all  the PERT chart will be printed on one sheet of paper.  If
set  to  "Pert  view" then the top left corner of the printout  will
match the top left corner of the current view in the PERT chart.  In
this  case the "Pert view screens" option controls the amount to  be
printed,  a value of 1 implies that the printout will correspond  to
the PERT chart.

Note  that printouts may be sent to a printer connected to a PC  via
the  RPRINT  utility and a 3Link cable. RPRINT is  included  in  the
freely  available  RCOM package developed by  Psion  which  is  also
supplied with PsiWin.

Users without access to a postscript compatible printer may like  to
investigate  the  facilities  available  with  the  software  called
Ghostscript. This allows postscript output to be viewed and  printed
on most printers connected to a PC. Aladdin Ghostscript and a front-
end   called  Ghostview  may  be  obtained  via  the  Internet  from
ftp.cs.wisc.edu in the directory /pub/ghost.

15.3 Agenda module

The Agenda module provides a mechanism for transferring task details
to  the Psion Agenda application. Plan will create a new agenda file
which contains a dated to-do entry for each task in the current open
plan.  The due date of each to-do item will be the end date for  the
corresponding task. The start date of the task will be used  as  the
date from which the to-do will be displayed in the day/week view  of
Agenda.  The interface also provides a facility to set an alarm  for
each  to-do entry which will activate at the given time on  the  end
date for the task.

Once  the  agenda  file  has been created  there  are  two  possible
techniques for using the file:

 - Maintain the file as a separate Agenda file and open it as  a
   separate Agenda process.
 - Merge the file into an existing Agenda file.

16. COMMAND SUMMARY

Menu      Name            Key      Purpose

File      New             psion-n  Create new plan file
          Open            psion-o  Open existing plan file
          Save as         psion-a  Save plan under a new name or
                                   save plan as a text file (comma
                                   separated, tab separated or
                                   space padded)
          Save            psion-s  Save plan and resource file
          Revert          psion-v  Revert plan and resource files
                                   to last saved versions
          Print setup     psion-y  Print configuration (paper
                                   size, orientation, printer,...)
          Print preview   psion-*  Preview output from print
                                   option
          Print           psion-p  Print task list to the serial
                                   or parallel port or a file. Use
                                   the system screen printer
                                   control option to set-up the
                                   print destination and
                                   parameters
Edit      Copy            psion-c  Copy current task into a buffer
          Insert          psion-i  Re-insert task from buffer
          Delete          psion-J  Delete current task (see also
                                   Delete key)
          Edit memo       psion-M  Create or edit memo associated
                                   with current task
          Delete memo     psion-D  Delete memo associated with
                                   current task
Task      End/work/rate   psion-r  Change current task calculation
                                   to end, work or rate
          Dependencies    psion-d  Change current task
                                   dependencies
          Cost & data     psion-b  Change cost and user data
          Set work done   psion-W  Enter/update work done field
                                   for current task
          Review          psion-R  Re-estimate end/work/rate for
          calculation              current task taking into
                                   consideration work done so far
                                   and remaining work
          Pert Move       psion-A  Move current task in PERT chart
                                   dynamically using cursor keys,
                                   any key exits mode
          Pert X/Y        psion-Y  Set current tasks x, y PERT
                                   position
Resource  Make            psion-m  Make a new resource
          Kill            psion-k  Delete a resource
          Switch to       psion-w  Change current resource and
                                   display resource histogram
                                   display
          Rename          psion-j  Rename a resource
          Settings        psion-u  Set current resource maximum
                                   units, charge rate and work
                                   hours.
          Over-           psion-L  Checks for cases where
          allocated?               resources have been allocated
                                   too much work. Displays tasks
                                   associated with over-allocated
                                   resources
          Holiday count   psion-h  Count non-public holidays
                                   between two dates for current
                                   resource
          Start year      psion-K  Set year for start of three
                                   holiday calendar for all
                                   resources
Plan      Set fields      psion-E  Set saved fields or set user
                                   text field to a W.B.S
                                   identifier
          Critical Path   psion-/  Recalculate critical path
          Recalculate     psion-   Force recalculation of tasks
          all             minus    (see also tab)
          Totals          psion-e  Calculate and display summary
                                   of totals for current plan
                                   (work planned, done, % done,
                                   start and end dates, costs)
View      Zoom font in    psion-z  Alter size of font
          Zoom font out   psion-Z  Alter size of font
          Zoom in         psion-z  Change scale on time axis
          Zoom out        psion-Z  Change scale on time axis
          Field order     psion-t  Customise order of fields in
                                   task list view
          Mask tasks      psion-B  Controls which tasks are
                                   visible in Task list, Gantt and
                                   PERT charts
          Sort tasks      psion-S  Sort tasks
          Layout PERT     psion-l  Automatically layout tasks in
                                   PERT chart
          Refresh         psion-F  Refresh screen
          Cursor off      psion-C  Turn cursor off until any key
                                   pressed (useful in combination
                                   with psion-control-shift-s
                                   which saves current screen to a
                                   file)
Special   Preferences     psion-q  Set preferences
          Find text       psion-f  Find given text in task id,
                                   description or user text fields
          Find again      psion-g  Find next occurrence of text
          About Plan      psion-V  Display information about Plan.
          Register        psion-Q  Register Plan using a
                                   registration key.
          Run module      psion-   Run optional Plan module
                          plus
          Exit            psion-x  Exit Plan
Diamond   Task view       psion-N  Switch to task view
          Task list       psion-T  Switch to task list view
          Gantt chart     psion-G  Switch to Gantt chart view
          PERT chart      psion-P  Switch to PERT chart view
          Resource usage  psion-U  Switch to resource usage view
          Holidays        psion-H  Switch to holiday view
(Keys)                    Tab      Force recalculation of all
                                   tasks
                          Enter    Edit current task details
                          Shift-   Insert a new task above current
                          Enter    task
                          Delete   Delete current task
                          Help     On-line help system
                          Space    Re-centre Gantt or PERT display
                                   on current task
                          Esc      Abort recalculate all