Getting Started with Project Management

This concepts article will help Technicians to become acquainted with using the Projects application. The user must have the Projects permissions within TDNext.

Overview

As in most systems, in TeamDynamix a project is a unit of tasks, resources and information that produces a unique product, service, or result that is marked by a beginning and end. A project contains a collection of project plans that can either be tabular (waterfall plans) or board-based (card wall plans) and are used to break down the project into a series of steps. It contains various sections, such as risks, benefits and time types that allow the project manager to integrate the project details with the rest of the information in the system.

In Portfolio Planning, projects are proposed, evaluated, and compared. Accepted proposals turn into projects, meaning that project work can be implemented and managed. Additional information can be found in our knowledge base article, Getting Started with Portfolio Planning.

In TeamDynamix, project management is done in the Projects application. A project in this space have many manageable facets, such as Calendar, Briefcase, and project Plans. These features give people different views into the data from the Projects application.

Transcript

The project management module uses the TDAdmin interface to configure processes for managing active projects. The Projects application allows users to use the project plans, issues, links, the briefcase, and other components of project records to manage capacity and track work.

Features

• Project team members can use My Work to understand what they need to do across all projects.
• Create and apply reusable project templates to projects.
• Track availability for project members.
• Create Document Workflows for routing.
• Store files related to project in the Briefcase.
• Manage project-related issues in a single location.
• Manage a project Calendar and sync it with other calendar feeds.

Where to Find This

The Projects application appears in the TDNext interface. Here, project managers and coordinators work on projects in the Projects application and/or in the My Work application.

The Projects app is configured within the TDAdmin interface. Projects can also be viewed in the Client Portal in TDClient.

Navigate to Projects by following these paths:

• TDNext > Application Icon (Waffle Icon) > Projects (application)

Where to Start

Terminology

• Project management sections: the parts of a project record that you see under the "Manage" or "Details" component, e.g. General, Resources.
• Project management components: the parts of a project record that show up under the project when you view it in Projects, e.g. "Feed," "Contacts," "Links."
• Resource/project team member: people who can see a project in the TDNext Projects application. If you need to see all projects including projects for which you're not a resource, you need to use the Analysis application.

Setting Up a Project

• Learn how to create and configure a new project.
• Add resources
• Activate a project.

Managing a Project

• Updating the Status of a Project
• Make changes to a project’s settings.
• Closing, deactivating, or deleting a project.

Viewing the Project List

1. In TDAdmin, navigate to Projects > Projects
2. Use the filters at the top of the page to search for projects based on Acct/Dept, Project Type, Project Manager, and more.

Exporting the Project List to Excel

1. In TDAdmin, navigate to Projects > Projects.
2. Optionally, use the filters at the top of the page to filter the project list.
3. At the top of the page, click To Excel.

Printing the Project List

1. In TDAdmin, navigate to Projects > Projects
2. Optionally, use the filters at the top of the page to filter the project list.
3. At the top of the page, click Print.

Viewing the Project Status History

The project manager can view a project's status history. In order to view the project status history, the project manager must:

1. Navigate to Applications > Projects.
2. Click the Manage Projects folder link in the left navigation.
3. In the Manage Projects window, select the appropriate project.
4. Click on the Status Chart section to review your project’s charted status changes.

Gotchas & Pitfalls

• If project management is new to your organization or if there are no current standards for project management, this module can take much longer to complete.
• Converting existing project records, especially project plans, can make this module take much longer.
• "Top line" project management (tracking just the project name, owner, start & end dates, and updates) is extremely fast. The more you expect out of a given project record, the longer configuration will take.

Examples

• Some organizations use a project record to track how many projects they are working on and who is managing each one.
• Some organizations track very detailed task and issue information so that project team members can use My Work and other TeamDynamix components to understand what they need to do across all projects.