Projects

What is a Project?

Projects are an integral component of the workflow module in BLUE. The workflow module enables you to manage process templates, create and track projects, and monitor tasks. Below is a description of each element related to the creation and management of a project.

    • A process template is a structured series of activities defined in a certain order with dependencies to produce a designated outcome or reach a specific state of completion. Each activity is tracked by start and due dates, durations, statuses, and responsible owners.
    • Projects are created from process templates and contain all the resources needed to accomplish an objective, including tasks, files, assigned personnel, and schedules.
    • Tasks are the most basic component of a project schedule. These are the activities that need to be performed or completed. While some tasks are manual tasks completed by a user, some tasks may be automated and completed by the system.

All project features are accessed through BLUE’s projects and tasks lists in the left panel of the workspace. Here, project and task owners can keep track of ongoing and pending work, support team management, delegate tasks, and conduct reassignments.

Task and project behavior can be influenced by different features and configurations. The following sections provide an overview of important project-related concepts.

Who can create and manage projects?

To provide security and control access to project-related functions, BLUE implements user groups in the workflow module. Workflow access rights fall into several categories: task owners, task owner groups, project owners, and project owner groups.

Projects are created and owned by users who are members of a project owner group. Activities that project owners typically perform include planning, creating, initiating, and managing projects. By managing a project, the project owner can assign tasks to users or groups to set up online file reviews or collaborative work sessions, route information for approval, upload files, edit metadata for project schedules, and complete other project-related tasks.

If you think you should be a member of a particular group and should be able to access projects, then contact your administrator.

Creating projects

Projects in BLUE are built from process templates. Before you can create a project, you must have access to at least one process template. See process templates for more information. Contact your administrator if you are unable to access any process templates.

To create a project

Step 1: Open the left side panel of the BLUE workspace.

Step 2: Click on “Projects.” The project list will appear to the right. You can switch from the “My Projects” to the “All Projects” view.

Step 3: To create a new project, click on the next to the “PROJECTS” title.  A window will appear to create a new project.

Step 4: Select a Process Template. If you have only one template available to you, it will automatically be selected as the process template and this field may not display. If multiple templates are available to you, click on the drop-down arrow to select a template from the list provided. If the list is long, enter part or all of the template name in the search field to narrow down the list.

Note: Fields with the asterisk (*) symbol are required fields and the project cannot be created if these are not completed.

Step 5: Enter a project Name. This name will be used to identify the project in the system, so make sure it is unique. It may not exceed 255 characters in length. If you are using a process template with the auto project name function, the name field will be disabled and the [auto generated] text will appear. See Auto-Generating Project Names for more information.

Step 6: Select the Resources  for your project. A resource plan is a predefined set of individuals assigned to complete project tasks. Resource plans are defined when process templates are created. Depending on the template you selected to create the project, you may have access to one or multiple resource plans.

Note: If there is only one resource plan, it will automatically be selected and this field will not display.

Step 7: Select the Folder Type and Folder  for your project. A folder type is predefined in the system and will be used to display one or more folders where you can save your project. Once you choose a folder type, the corresponding available folders will appear in a drop-down list. You will only be able to select one folder, so that this project and its items will be saved to that folder.

Step 8: Depending on the process template selected, the Project Owner Group and Project Owner  fields may be completed by default. If the group has not been selected, or if you need to change it, click on the drop-down list. If other groups are available, they will be displayed. The group will determine who will appear in the project owner list. If you are a member of the group, you may be selected by default as the project owner, if not, you can select a group member from the list to be the project owner.

Step 9: Optionally, you can add a Description  to be clear about what the project is about.

Step 10:  You can choose a Forecast Method for your project to follow:
– A Fixed Schedule  will maintain the due date of a project’s tasks regardless of whether the previous task was completed early, on time, or late. The Fixed Schedule  is selected by default when creating a project.
– An Elastic Schedule  will adjust the project due date based on task completion dates. Task due dates adjust to give the user the allotted amount of time for the task. The Forecast Method can also be modified when editing a project.

After you select a Forecast method, you can add a Forecast Based On: 
– Start Date and select the date you want to start the project on. When creating a new project, Forecast Based On Start Date will be selected and the project creation date will be considered as the start date.
– End Date and select the date you want to end the project by. Forecast based on End date is available only if your project follows a fixed schedule.  When creating a new project, if Forecast Based On End Date is selected and no date is specified, on project creation, the fields will be reset to the default Start Date values.

The Forecast Basis and Forecast Date can also be modified when editing a project.

Step 11: If the process template you selected has attributes that need values, enter them for the fields appearing in the Attributes  section. You can also edit these values later while your project is in draft mode, but these may be required to start your project.

Step 12: To create and save your project as a draft, click on Save Project.

Project attributes

Many of the projects created in BLUE contain attributes that require values. These attributes are essential to the properties of the project to help identify the type of project it is, to help find it in searches, or to categorize the project by brand, regions, or countries. These attributes may be required in some cases, and these may have been configured to be “homed” or “extended.”

A homed attribute is an attribute that has been configured to be based at a main location, such as at a project level, sub-process level, or task level. The homed attribute will be viewable and editable at the main location and it may be required or optional.

An extended attribute is when the homed attribute is also shared to another location in the project. The shared location will display the attribute and its value from the homed location, and may or may not be editable at the extended location.

These are some examples of homed and extended attributes:

    • Project attribute:  Brand —> extended to the review and approval tasks, not editable
    • Sub-process attribute: Region —> extended to tasks within the sub-process, but not other sub-processes, as each sub-process represents a region. Not editable.
    • Task attribute: Regulatory Code —> extended to the sub-process, because the task is assigned to a task owner who knows the code and can enter it when he is working on the task. Attribute is editable, as the sub-process owner can modify it from the sub-process details panel, if needed.

Project attribute rules

BLUE enforces validation of required attributes at the home location. A project cannot be started if a required attribute, homed at the project level, does not contain a value.

BLUE enforces validation of required attributes at the extended location, if the attribute is editable. A project item, such as a task or sub-process, that has a required and extended attribute without a value cannot be completed.

Note: In the special case that a required attribute is extended to a project item, and the value is blank from its homed location, then the validation will allow the project item to complete with the blank value. Once the attribute has a value from the homed location or another extended location, then the attribute will be required to have a value so that the project item can be completed.

If there are required attributes homed on a project, a draft of the project can be saved, but it cannot be started until there are values entered on those required attributes.

If there are required attributes homed on a task in the project, the project can be started, but the task, nor the project, can be completed until the attribute has a value.

For more information on project-related topics, visit these links…

To learn how to manage the projects you created, see Managing Projects.

To learn more about working on tasks, see Tasks.

To learn how to create projects from assets in the library, see Auto-Generated Sub-Processes.

To control who reviews and approves in subsequent review cycles, see Managing Review Cycles.

To learn how to search for your projects, see Project Search.

To learn how to link one project to another, see Related Projects.