Working with Waterfall Project Plans

This how to article will help users to use waterfall plans on a project in the Project/Workspaces application in TDNext.

This how-to article will help users to use waterfall plans on a project in the Projects application in Work Management. The user must have the Add Plans and Edit Plans permissions for the specific Project application, as defined in the Project application security role.

Overview

Waterfall project plans entail mapping out projects into distinct, sequential phases. The waterfall model is the most traditional method for managing a project, with team members working in a linear fashion towards a set end goal.

Each row in the waterfall plan represents a step that must be completed for a project; the steps are listed in sequential order.

Creating a Waterfall Plan

To create a project plan:

1. In Work Management, navigate to View Applications, and select the appropriate Project application.
2. Click the project name in the left navigation under Projects.
3. On the project page, click Plans in the left navigation​​​​​.
4. Click the +New button.
5. Enter a Name for the new plan.
6. Enter a Description if desired.
7. For Type, select Waterfall.
8. Under Do you want to create this plan from anything, select a plan source or create an empty plan.
9. Select a Do you want to create this plan from anything? option:
   • Use a plan from an existing Project Template - Use a plan that has already been created as part of a template
   • TeamDynamix .TDPlan File
   • Microsoft Project XML - upload a Microsoft Project XML file from your computer​​​​​
   • No (Create an empty plan) - Start with a blank plan
10. Choose the Do you want to check this plan out now? option.
11. Click Save.
12. If you chose to create this plan from a template or file, the next step will be to choose the plan source:
    • To use a plan from an existing Project Template:
      • On the New Waterfall from Project Template page, select the desired Project Template from the dropdown.
      • Click the Create button.
    • To use a TeamDynamix .TDPlan File:
      • TeamDynamix .tdplan file: The user will need to select a TeamDynamix .tdplan file to import from their computer.
    • To use Microsoft Project XML:
      • Select a Microsoft Project XML file to import from your computer.

Building Your Waterfall Plan

To start building your waterfall plan:

1. In Work Management, navigate to View Applications, and select the appropriate Project application.
2. Click the project name in the left navigation under Projects.
3. On the project page, click Plans in the left navigation​​​​​.
4. Click the Title of the waterfall plan.
5. On the right side of the plan toolbar, click Check Out to check the plan out (this may appear as a pencil icon on new plans).
   • This will lock the plan, preventing others from editing it while you make modifications.
6. To add a step, click the Title column of a blank row and enter a title for the step.
7. Enter a Start Date if you know when you will begin the task. Or enter an End Date if you know when you need to finish by.
8. Enter the Duration as an estimated number of days or weeks the step will take.
9. Set a Priority and enter Estimated Hours.
10. In the Predecessor column, enter the Row Number for any step that must be completed before this one can begin.
    • You can establish dependencies between tasks, requiring that step A be finished before step B can start. Altering the start or end date of the predecessor will automatically adjust the dependent's dates. These relationships are visually represented on the Gantt chart by a connecting line.
    • When establishing Task Dependencies, you will need to reference the Row Number of the item you want to build the dependency with, not the WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) number. The row number is to the left of the WBS column in the project plan.
11. Double-click the empty Resources field to open a dropdown list of the project’s resources.
12. Select one or more resources to be assigned to the step.
13. Click Check In to stop editing and make the plan available to others.

Creating Parent and Child Steps

You can create a hierarchy on your sheet by indenting rows. When you indent a row, it becomes a child of the row above it- the parent row. Parent rows reflect a summary of the start date, end date, duration, and % complete values entered for the indented child rows.

To add child steps to a parent:

1. Create the parent task first.
2. Enter the child steps below the parent.
3. Select all of the child rows, then click the Indent button in the toolbar.

When you click and drag a row with indented child rows, the child rows will move with the selected item. You can’t delete a parent row without also deleting its indented child rows. To delete the row without deleting the child rows, remove the parent-child relationship first.

To learn more about parent and child steps, see the Adding Task Dependencies section of the Working with Waterfall Plan Tasks article.

Milestones

To mark an important event, such as the end of a project phase or a key delivery date, you can create a milestone. Milestones are indicated by a black diamond in both the step list and the Gantt chart.

To create a milestone:

1. Create the step in the plan.
2. Click the step Title field or the entire step row to highlight it.
3. Click the Milestone button in the toolbar.

Changing Columns and Custom Field Names

TeamDynamix provides additional fields on the project plan that can be renamed to suit your needs.  Custom fields are used across all plans within the same project. Any changes made to field names here will apply to all plans on the project.

To change the name of a custom field and add it to your plan:

1. On the open waterfall plan, click Check Out on the right side of the toolbar. 
2. Click the Views button in the top toolbar, then select Configure Columns.
3. In the Show/Hide Columns popup, click the Manage Custom Columns button.
4. On the Edit Custom Columns page, rename the desired fields to be used in your plan.
5. Click Save and close the window.
6. In the Show/Hide Columns popup, click the checkboxes to add the custom fields. You may need to refresh the browser for the customized field to appear.
7. Click Save.
8. To see the updated column names, Check In the plan. 

Shifting the Dates of a Waterfall Plan

The dates of the entire plan can be shifted by changing the start date.

To shift the plan dates:

1. On the open waterfall plan, click Check Out on the right side of the toolbar. 
2. Click the Shift button in the toolbar.
3. In the Shift Plan popup, enter a New Start Date.
4. If you want already completed tasks to shift with the rest of the plan, uncheck the Do not shift tasks that are completed checkbox. 
5. Click Save.

All dates in the plan will be updated to reflect the new start date.

Viewing the Project Gantt Chart

Viewing the Gantt Chart

To view a project plan in a Gantt chart:

1. In Work Management, navigate to View Applications, select the appropriate Project application, and select the Project from the left navigation.
2. On the project page, click Plans in the left navigation​​​​​.
3. Click the Title of the waterfall plan.
4. In the toolbar, click the Gantt button. The Gantt chart will appear to the right of the steps; you may need to scroll right to see it all.
5. To adjust the chart display, click the down arrow next to the Gantt button in the toolbar. Make any desired changes to the timeline and details displayed on the chart.

Understanding the Color Scheme on the Gantt Chart

Each color used on the Gantt chart signifies a different element of the project plan:

• Gray bar = Parent task
• Blue bar = Non-parent task
• Red/burgundy bar = Critical Path
• Black bar = Progress bar (at 50% completion, the black bar will stretch halfway across the task bar)
• Thin gray bar under task = Baseline of task

Plan Views

There are several built-in views that highlight different aspects of your plan.

To access the plan views:

1. Navigate to Work Management > View Applications > Project application.
2. Click the project name in the left navigation.
3. Click Plans.
4. Click the Title of the waterfall plan.
5. In the toolbar, click Views.

Viewing Resources Allocated to a Plan

The user can view all the resources allocated to a project plan, the month(s) each resource is assigned to the plan, and the hours allocated to each resource.

The table will show all of the project’s steps. Steps that already have resources assigned will be listed first, with unassigned steps below. The list shows the number of hours each user is assigned for each month or week of the plan.

To view resource allocation for a project plan:

1. In the toolbar, click Views.
2. Select Resource Allocation View from the dropdown.

Using the Custom View

The Custom View allows users to view plan steps in various ways, including showing or hiding columns, grouping similar values, and sorting.

To use the custom plan view:

1. In the toolbar, click Views.
2. Select Custom View from the dropdown.
3. Click the Group By dropdown and select a column.
4. Click the Configure Grid dropdown (fenceposts icon), then add or remove any columns from the table.
5. To sort by a column’s values, click the arrow icon in the column header.

Forcing Check In of a Plan

Sometimes someone makes changes to a plan but forgets to check it in when finished, preventing others from making any changes. If someone has forgotten to check in a plan after finishing editing, the first course of action should be to look up the user and ask them to check it in, rather than risk deleting their work.

To request the user who checked out a project to check it in:

1. On the Plans page, the Checked Out To column displays the user's name. If this is someone you know, you could reach out directly and ask them to check it in.
2. To send a check-in request through the system, click the plan Title. On the plan page, click Request Check In at the right side of the toolbar.

Forcing check-in of a plan marks it as checked in, allowing other users to check it out and make changes. The ability to force check-in is available only to Global Administrators.

 A forced check-in will cause any draft changes made while checked out to be lost.

To force check-in a plan:

1. In TDAdmin, go to Applications, then select the Project application.
2. Select Projects in the left navigation and click the project name in the list.
3. In the Project Details window, select Plans in the left navigation.
4. On the Plans page, locate the plan. The rightmost column will show the name of the user who has it checked out.
5. Click the plan Title in the list.
3. At the top of the Plan Details window, click the Force Check In button.
4. Click OK in the warning popup to confirm the force check-in.
5. You may need to click the Refresh button to see the updated Checked Out status on the Plan Details page.

Associating an Issue with a Plan Task

Issues can be associated with tasks in a project plan to represent problems or risks that may prevent the task from being completed.

To associate an issue with a task:

1. In Work Management, navigate to View Applications, select the appropriate Project application, and select the Project from the left navigation.
2. Click Issues in the project left navigation.
3. Click the issue Title in the list.
4. In the Issue Detail window, click the Edit button.
5. On the Edit Issue page, scroll down to the Task field and click the search button (magnifying glass icon).
6. In the Plan Selector popup, click the Title of the project the task belongs to.
7. In the Task Selector popup, click the Title of the task.
8. Click the Save button in the Edit Issue window.

Learn more about project issues.

Deleting a Plan

Only users who have permission to delete project plans will see the Delete button. Deleting a project plan will remove all associated data, including the plan and its tasks.

To delete a project plan:

1. Navigate to Work Management > View Applications > Project application.
2. Click the project name in the left navigation.
3. Click Plans in the left navigation​​​​​​.
4. On the Plans list, click the Delete link in the far right column for the plan you wish to delete.
5. Click OK on the confirmation popup to confirm and delete the plan.

Gotchas & Pitfalls

• A parent task reflects the child task below it. For instance, the parent's percent complete is the result of combining the percent complete of the child tasks. The same is true for resources; all resources assigned to any child task will appear as resources on the parent task.
• When establishing Task Dependencies, you will need to reference the Row Number of the item you want to build the dependency with, not the WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) number.
• After updating the percent complete of a task, it will be represented at the parent task and plan level. However, using the Est Hours column on a task will cause this calculation to use the Act Hours column to track the plan's percent complete.
• When applying project template plans, project plans will not carry over any custom column names (Fields 1-10), column visibility, or column ordering from template plans in the Project Templates application. Applying a plan from the Project Templates app simply builds out the task plan itself as specified by the template. This holds true regardless of when a project template plan is applied.
• The ordering and visibility of column headers in the Projects application is preserved on a per-project, per-computer basis. Effectively, this means the settings are user-specific (assuming a user normally uses the same machine) and can be unique for each project the user is on. They cannot be unique for a user, per project, or per plan. Nor can these sorts of customizations be applied to all users at the global, project, or plan level.
• When using the Web Plan Manager in the Projects application, Fields 1-10 are preserved for plans within the same project. This setting, while project-specific, does apply to all resources on the project. As a final thought, only Fields 1-10 can have their names customized. All other column names are not customizable.
• There are some scenarios where the user will be presented with a read-only version of a plan instead of the regular full plan manager window. This happens because the user has accessed the plan, and one of the following scenarios is true:
  • The user does not have access to the Project application. They probably only have Analysis application access and cannot edit plans.
  • The user does not belong to the project associated with the plan. 
  • The project is inactive. The project is not workable, and thus, plans cannot be edited.
  • The project is closed or canceled. The project is not workable, and thus, plans cannot be edited.