This how-to article will help users to Activate, Deactivate, Close, Copy or Delete projects using the TDNext interface (or TDAdmin for deletion). The user must be the Project Manager or have Analysis app access to perform the other actions.
Overview
A project may need to be Deactivated (as opposed to being Closed entirely) because the project efforts may need to pause temporarily, but it does not yet need to be Closed out since it isn’t finished. You would Activate the project again once work was ready to resume.
If a project is created in error, it may need to be Deleted entirely. This article will list the steps needed to accomplish all of these actions.
Deactivating a Project
When a project is complete, the project manager deactivates the project, and the project no longer appears in the projects list. Deactivating does not remove a project from the system, but it does remove it from the projects list of every member of that project. Deactivation of a project also removes it from the Active section of the management console. This effectively archives the project for historical use.
Project managers have the ability to activate and deactivate the projects they are manager over.
The project manager may activate the project at any time to refer to its contents.
To deactivate a project:
- Navigate to TDNext > Projects > Manage Projects.
- Click a project Name in the list to open the Project Details window.
- Click the Actions button and select Deactivate.
Locating Inactive Projects That You Manage
Project managers often want to find closed or inactive projects and review the associated artifacts including documents, time, expenses, and plans using a custom project report.
A project manager can find their closed project following these steps:
- Navigate to TDNext > Projects > Manage Projects.
- Click the Inactive filter option by the search box.
- Click the Search button at the top.
A project member can find closed projects they were assigned to following these steps:
- Navigate to TDNext > Analysis > Active Projects Search.
- Click the Filter button at top-right.
- Enter the project search criteria in the Search field
- Under Options, select the Inactive Projects or Closed Projects.
- Click the Apply button.
See this article to view a video showing closed projects being located in TDNext.
Activating a Project
Activating the project will restore it to the Manage Projects page, and give other project members access to the project and its assets again.
To activate a project:
- Follow the above steps to locate inactive or closed projects.
- Click a project Name in the list to open the Project Details window.
- Click the Actions button and select Activate.
Closing Projects
Project managers may close projects that have been completed or canceled. Once a project is closed, users will not be able to access documents, issues, plan, tasks, or any other items associated with this project.
To close a project:
- Navigate to TDNext > Applications > Projects > Manage Projects.
- Click the project Name in the list.
- In the Project Details window, click the Actions button, then select Close.
- If there are files in the project Briefcase that users will continue to need access to:
- On the Close Project page, click Go To Briefcase
- Select a Folder to view its files
- Right click on a file and select Details
- Click Actions > Add to File Cabinet
- Repeat steps 2 – 4 for all files/folders in the project that you wish to preserve in the File Cabinet
- Choose whether to close any incomplete tasks or issues. If you choose not to close issues and tasks, these issues and tasks will still be open even though the project is closed.
- Choose whether to leave the project active.
- Select a new project status. Statuses are customizable, but the defaults are:
Canceled
Completed: Met Expectations
Completed: Exceeded Expectations
Completed: Did Not Meet Expectations
- Enter a comment on the project status.
- Click the "Close Project" button.
The project's end date will be changed to the day you close that project. If the end date needs to be changed for reporting purposes, please contact the system administrator.
Copying A Project
Project Managers are able to copy a project if they were to have the same project year over year for example. When copying a project the resources stay on the project, project plans are on the project still and reset back to 0%, and lastly the project date duration is the same in working days just updated Start Date will reflect the date of the copy. Note: Copying a project will set the new project as inactive until you manually activate it.
To copy a project:
- In the Project, go to Manage > Project Details
- Select Actions > Copy
- Revise the Title, Date Range, Status, and Health
Deleting a Project
Projects can only be deleted by users who have access to the TDAdmin application and who have the administrator permission to delete projects.
To delete a project:
- Navigate to TDAdmin > Projects > Projects.
- In the list of projects, click the project Name.
- In the project detail window, click the Delete button.
This cannot be undone and all data will be lost. Time and Expense entries will be preserved in an orphaned state, meaning they no longer will be associated with a project directly.
Gotchas & Pitfalls
- Deleted projects cannot be brought back, so Administrators must be careful when taking this action that it is intended and that any useful files or data has been extracted from the project prior to completing deletion.