1. Optimizing Your Configuration of MSP with CA PPM
Presented by: Lisa Olsen

2. Agenda Installing the CA PPM Microsoft Project Interface What’s New?
MSP Option Setup
Opening the Project Schedule in MSP
Improving Performance
Customizing MSP Views and Making them Global
Resource Availability vs. Resource Calendar
Allocation, Max Units and Assignment Units
Understanding Task Types
Task Constraints
Why Task Dates Change
Maintaining and Controlling the Project Schedule
MSP Prior Start, Prior Finish and Open for Time Entry Fields
Saving the Project Schedule to CA PPM and Working Off-line

3. Overview
CA PPM is a centralized project, resource, and portfolio management tool that can help manage, schedule, track, and report on projects
When Microsoft Project is integrated with CA PPM, project managers are no longer working in a stand-alone MSP environment
Consistent processes and accurate data are essential in providing accurate reporting and actionable metrics

4. CA PPM Schedule Connect
CA PPM Schedule Connect provides a full bi-directional connection between CA PPM and Microsoft Project
Whether you’re working directly in CA PPM or opened the project schedule from CA PPM to MSP, you’re always working with the most up-to-date information
The Schedule Connect interface must be downloaded and installed by each user

5. Installing the CA PPM Microsoft Project Interface

6. MSP Settings in CA PPM
CA PPM: Administration > Project Management > Settings
Default Load Pattern: This should be set to “Uniform” which will map to the MSP “Work Contour” field.
Only Export Current Baselines When Opening Investments in a Scheduler: This should be checked to improve performance.
Round Allocation to Nearest %: This should be set to “0” to prevent rounding issues when data is passed between CA PPM and MSP

7. MSP Settings in CA PPM
Scheduler: This must be set to “Microsoft Project”
% Complete Calculation Method: This should be set to “Manual” if MSP is being used with CA PPM or if you are using an external job to calculate % Complete. The % Complete field appears on the task properties page
Track Mode: This should be set to “Clarity” if CA PPM Timesheets are being used to record time
CA PPM: Project > Properties > Settings

8. Installation Prerequisites – MSP 2010 & 2013
The following third-party software must be installed on the workstation:
MSP 2010 or MSP 2013
Microsoft .NET Framework 4
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Tools for Office Runtime
Pre - CA PPM Release 13.3:
Java Runtime version (JRE) needs to be installed
For MSP 64-bit installs - 64-bit JRE version needs to be installed
For MSP 32-bit installs – 32-bit JRE version needs to be installed
You CAN have both 64-bit and 32-bit JRE versions installed on the same machine
CA PPM Release 13.3 & higher:
No need to install Java

9. Installation Browser Settings – MSP 2010 & 2013
If using Microsoft Internet Explorer, verify that the “Do not save encrypted pages to disk” is unchecked
From Internet Explorer, go to the Tools menu (gear icon towards top right of screen
Click Internet Options and then the Advanced tab
Under the Security section, uncheck “Do not save encrypted pages to disk” and click the OK button

10. Installation MSP Trust Center Level – MSP 2010 & 2013
Set Trust Center Level in MSP - Enable macros
Open Microsoft Project
Go to File > Options > Trust Center and then click “Trust Center Settings”
Click Add-ins. Clear the “require application add-ins to be signed by trusted publisher” option
Click Macro Settings and select the “enable all macros” option
Click “OK” and then click “OK” again to close the option boxes
Note: This action can be reverted following the installation

11. Installation – MSP 2010 & 2013
Install the Microsoft Project Interface:
From the CA PPM Home Menu, under Personal, click on Account Settings > Software Downloads and then click the download link for the Microsoft Project Interface that matches your version of Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project Interface (x86) – 32 bit
Microsoft Project Interface (x64) – 64 bit
Follow the instructions from the wizard and then select an interface version when prompted:
Microsoft Project Interface – Provides the current, updated version with the new XML driver
Microsoft Project Interface Legacy – Provides the legacy version

12. Potential Installation Issues
If MSP does not open when trying to open a project schedule from CA PPM:
Make sure Pop-Up Blocker is not on
Turn off Active X Filtering – an “X” will appear on the IE tab

13. What’s New?

14. CA PPM 14.2: New MSP Interface -> New Driver
Before CA PPM Release 14.1, there was one MSP Interface driver which was COM-based
In CA PPM Release 14.1, a new XML-based driver option was introduced
During the installation process, you can choose to install the Legacy “COM-based” driver or the New “XML-based” driver
Both options are available for 32-bit and 64-bit environments

15. Noteworthy Differences with the NEW XML-based Driver
Resource Pools are no longer available for Master Projects; all Resources will be on the Master Resource Sheet
If a Task is created in CA PPM and NOT pinned through a dependency and does NOT start on the Project Start Date, MSP will NOT automatically put a Constraint on the Task
“Number1” and “Number2” fields are no longer mapped to the “Proposed ETC” and “Pending Actuals” Fields
Custom Views are no longer saved in the MPP file and should be saved in the Global.mpt file
“Save As” is not available on EXISTING CA PPM Projects

16. CA PPM: New in 13.2 and 13.3 CA PPM 13.2: CA PPM 13.3:
Projects with a Calculation Mode set to “off” can be opened from CA PPM to MSP without the tasks automatically re-calculating and updating dependent task dates
CA PPM 13.3:
Java Runtime is included in the download and is copied to the MSP Interface Installation directory on the workstation’s hard drive, eliminating all of the issues related to the JRE version incompatibility
Resource Leveling in MSP is now supported

17. If you revise Duration… If you revise Duration…
What’s New with - MSP 2010 & 2013
MSP 2010 MSP 2007 and prior
How may this affect me?
Task A is a “Fixed Unit” task and has one resource assigned at 100% for one day (8 hours)
In previous versions of MSP, if the resource charged 10 hours to that task, the Assignment Units would change from 100% to 120%
If you then changed the Work Hours or Duration on that task, it would recalculate the task based on the resource being assigned at 120%
Now, with MSP 2010, the 120% is saved in the Peak Units field, so if the Duration or Work Hours are changed, the assignment will still be based on the original 100%
Task Type is:
If you revise Units…
If you revise
Work…
If you revise Duration…
Fixed Units
Duration changes
Duration
changes
Work
Fixed Work
Peak
Fixed Duration
Changes
Task Type
If you revise Units…
If you revise
Work…
If you revise Duration…
Fixed Units
Duration changes
Duration
changes
Work
Fixed Work
Assignment Units
Fixed Duration
Changes

18. MSP Option Setup

19. MSP 2010 and MSP 2013 Option Settings
From the MSP Tools menu, select File > Options and refer to the following guidelines so MSP and CA PPM will effectively work together
General Tab:
Date Format: The storage of dates and timestamps are not consistent between tables in CA PPM. Some dates, like Task Start and Finish Dates, are recorded with specific timestamps. Some dates are recorded as the correct date with a timestamp of midnight. Some dates are recorded as a “plus 1” date, which means that the date stored in the table is one day later with a midnight timestamp. To avoid discrepancies, it is NOT recommended to use a date format with a timestamp.

20. MSP 2010 and MSP 2013 Option Settings
Calendar Options: The “Week starts on” and “Fiscal year starts in” calendar fields should match your calendar settings in CA PPM. The other MSP calendar fields will map through the integration.
Scheduling Options for this Project: This should be set to “All New Projects” in order for the settings to be effective for all new projects and not just the one that is open.
New Tasks Created: Automatic calculation is the preferred setting, but it is not required. If you select Manual Calculation, you must manually calculate the project before saving it to CA PPM.
Duration is entered in: Duration should be tracked in days since this is the lowest level that CA PPM is able to track.
Schedule Tab:

21. MSP 2010 and MSP 2013 Option Settings, cont.
Scroll Down on Schedule Tab…..
Calculation Options for this Project: This should be set to “All New Projects” in order for the settings to be effective for all new projects and not just the one that is open.
Updating Task status updates Resource Status: If checked, resource actuals, remaining work (ETC), and costs are automatically updated when percent complete, actual duration, or remaining duration is updated. This open should ONLY be checked when Actual hours are NOT being tracked through CA PPM timesheets.
Inserted Projects are calculated like Summary Tasks: If checked, on a master project, project will display a single critical path for the Master Project and all of its sub-projects.
Schedule Alerts Options: This should be set to “All New Projects” in order for the settings to be effective for all new projects and not just the one that is open.
Calculate Project after each Edit: If “On” is selected, the project will automatically calculate after each edit. If set to “Off”, task scheduling that occurs as a result of task dependencies (predecessors) will be turned off within MSP as well as when a project schedule is re-opened from CA PPM to MSP.

22. MSP 2010 and MSP 2013 Option Settings, cont.
Save Tab:
Save Files in this Format: This option can be changed if you want to save the MPP file in a format that’s compatible with an older version of MSP.
Default File Location: When saving the MPP file outside of CA PPM, you can change the default location where the file gets saved.

23. MSP 2010 and MSP 2013 Option Settings, cont.
Allow Cell Drag and Drop: If checked, you can move cells by using the “drag and drop” functionality, moving the task ids with the task. Don’t use the “cut and paste” functionality to move tasks because MSP will change the task unique id which will affect the integration mapping.
Automatically add new views, tables, filters, and groups to the global: (New in MSP 2010): If checked, any changes made to views, tables, filters and groups will automatically be available across your projects. In previous MSP versions, changes needed to be manually copied to the Global.mpt file through the Organizer.
Advanced Tab:

24. MSP 2010 and MSP 2013 Option Settings, cont.
Scroll Down on Advanced Tab…
Show “Links between Projects” dialog box on open: This feature is incompatible with CA PPM external dependencies, and is ignored when selected.

25. Opening the Project Schedule in MSP

26. Opening the Project in MSP
From CA PPM
From MSP
Choose either (Read-Write) or (Read- Only) from the Project > Properties or Tasks tab:
The CA PPM “Scheduler Format” in Project > Properties needs to be set to “Microsoft Project.”
Choose “Open” from the CA PPM Integration menu:
You may be asked to login to CA PPM.
Choose the project from the “Open from Clarity” selection box.

27. Opening the Project Schedule in MSP
When opening a project schedule from CA PPM to MSP, an “.mpp” file is created on the local drive and then:
If the project was previously saved from MSP, that last saved “.mpp” file from the CA PPM database is downloaded and will overwrite the “.mpp” file on the local drive
The MSP schedule will be updated with any changes that were made in CA PPM since the “.mpp” file was last saved
Actuals Posted from Timesheets
Task Level Updates
Project Team Updates
Resource Assignment Updates

28. Improving Performance

29. Improving Performance
How can you decrease the amount of time it takes to export a project schedule from CA PPM to MSP?
Set the CA PPM default loading pattern to “Uniform” – which will map to a “Flat” work contour in MSP
Select Only Export Current Baselines When Opening Investments in a Scheduler in CA PPM Administration > Project Management > Settings
Remove unnecessary assignments
Increase the memory on the workstation to at least 512 MB (ideally 1 GB)

30. Customizing MSP Views and Making them Global

31. MSP Organizer
When customizing views in MSP by rearranging columns or adding and removing fields, the changes are only visible in the project you’re currently working on
You can copy your customization to the Global Template so all the changes are available in future projects, as well as projects that were created in the past
To create a global template, open an empty project or the project that has the customization directly from MSP
MSP 2007
Tools menu > Organizer
MSP 2010
File > Info > Organizer

32. MSP Organizer, cont.
Once the changes are made, you can see the active project’s customizations on the right-side panel of the Organizer
From the “Views” tab, highlight all of the views from the right-side panel and then click “<<Copy”
Do the same for the “Tables” tab

33. MSP 2010 Organizer Note
In Microsoft Project 2010, the organizer behaves a bit differently
By default, new views are automatically saved to the global template file and are made available to future projects (as are new tables associated with the view).
To change this setting, on the File tab, click Options, and then click Advanced. Find the setting in the Display section
Changes to existing view elements are not automatically saved to the Global template with this setting. This only applies to NEW views, tables, filters and groups

34. Resource Availability vs. Resource Calendar

35. Base Calendars
The CA PPM default Base Calendar is the “Standard” calendar
If you have resources in different locations that have different daily availability hours, you can create additional Base Calendars
Default shifts on the Standard Calendar represent 8 hours per day

36. Base Calendars, cont. To represent a 7 hour work day
Create a new calendar and choose the Standard calendar as the Base Calendar
Set the Shifts to represent the number of hours in the work day

37. Resource Calendar
Select the correct Base Calendar for each resource from the Resource > Calendar page
The Resource Availability on the Resource > Properties page will automatically update to reflect the working hours from the resource’s Base Calendar

38. Resource Availability
Do Not change a Resource’s Availability from the Resource > Properties page; this field is calculated based on the resource’s base calendar
If this is not done properly, you may see an invalid number in the Resource Availability field

39. Allocation, Max Units and Assignment Units

40. Allocation, Max Units & Assignment Units
Allocation (CA PPM) – the expected amount of time that a resource is expected to work on the project. Max Units (MSP) – the maximum percentage of working time that a resource is available to work on project tasks. Assignment Units (MSP) – the percentage of working time that a resource is assigned to work on that one task.

41. Allocation – Based on Percent
Enter the % Allocation on the Team > Resource > Properties page
As of CA PPM Release 13.1, the Allocation % is
“Average Allocation %”

42. Allocation – Based on Hours
Enter the number of Allocated Hours by time period
The % Allocation segments are calculated on the Properties page based on the Allocation Hours entered

43. Max Units
Average Allocation % and Allocation Hours from CA PPM Team Page:
MSP Resource Sheet – Max Units:
The 36% comes from the Allocation % Segment that matches the current date
In CA PPM, it’s displayed to the hundredths, but is rounded to a whole number in MSP

44. Assignment Units
When Tasks are created and resources are assigned, the Assignment Units for each resource is defaulted from their Max Units
The two tasks below were entered with 40 hours of work and then assigned to each resource
Since Jerry’s Assignment Units is 100% on a 40 Work Hour task, the Task Duration was calculated to be 5 days
Since Lisa’s Assignment Units is 36% on a 40 Work Hour task, the Task Duration was calculated to be 14 days
Note: The Assignment Units for a resource on a task can be changed when assigning the resource to the task. This will not change the Max Units.

45. Back in CA PPM…
Since MSP rounds Max Units to a whole number, the Allocation % Segments are rounded to a whole number after saving the schedule back to CA PPM
Based on those new Allocation % Segments, the Allocation Hours get recalculated

46. Understanding Task Types

47. Task Types
MSP uses the following scheduling formula when calculating tasks:
Work = Duration x Assignment Units
Each value of the formula corresponds to a Task Type:
Fixed Work
Fixed Duration
Fixed Units
Which task type should be used?
It depends on the processes in the organization

48. Fixed Work
If work hours are used to estimate how long deliverables will take on a project based on resource assignment
All Fixed Work tasks are Effort Driven
Example:
Team Leads will look at project requirements and provide an estimate in hours for each project deliverable
Project Managers will estimate how many hours each deliverable will take based on experience or a project sizing tool

49. Fixed Duration
If Duration (number of days) is used to estimate how many hours deliverables will take to complete based on resource assignment
Example:
Team Leads will provide the estimated number of days or weeks that deliverables will take to complete
Project Managers will estimate how many days each deliverable will take based on experience or a project sizing tool

50. Fixed Unit
If resources are managed and allocated to projects based on a percentage of their time or if projects are estimated based on the number of resources needed in each role, then “Fixed Units” would work
Example:
“Resource A” is assigned to a project for 100% of their time to work on tasks. It’s the Resource Manager’s responsibility to make sure they are adequately utilized
Projects are estimated and staffed with one Project Manager, two Business Analysts, four Software Engineers, etc.

51. Task Constraints

52. Task Constraints
All “automatically” scheduled tasks will have an “As soon as possible” constraint
If tasks are created in CA PPM or copied from a template and the Task Start Date is not the same as the Project Start Date, MSP will place a “Start No Earlier” constraint on the Task when the Project Schedule is first opened from CA PPM to MSP
This applies to the Legacy Driver ONLY; no constraints will be applied using the new XML driver
Constraint Types
As Late As Possible
Forces a task to start on a date in order for it to finish before the end of the project
Finish No Earlier Than/Finish No Later Than
Sets the completion of the task to fall no sooner or no later than the specified date
Must Finish On/Must Start On
Forces a task to Finish or Start on the specified date
Start No Earlier Than/Start No Later Than
Sets the start of the task to fall no sooner or later than the specified date

53. Why do Task Dates Change?

54. How Actuals Affect the Project Schedule
When Actual Work hours are posted to projects via CA PPM Timesheets, tasks dates in Microsoft Project may change the next time the project schedule is opened in MSP
Actuals posted to one task may affect the dates of another task if they are dependent on one another

55. Actuals – Same Number of Hours
Resource submitted their timesheet with the same number of hours assigned
Assigned Hours vs. Actual Hours:
Results:
Thu 1/23
Fri 1/24
Mon 1/27
Tue 1/28
Wed 1/29
Thu 1/30
Assigned Hours 8
Hours Entered on Timesheet

56. Hours Entered on Timesheet
Actuals – Fewer Hours
Resource submitted their timesheet with FEWER hours than assigned
Assigned Hours vs. Actual Hours:
Results: Since only 4 of the 8 hours that were assigned were recorded, the duration increased by .5 days for both the Fixed Units and Fixed Work Task Types
Thu 1/23
Fri 1/24
Mon 1/27
Tue 1/28
Wed 1/29
Thu 1/30
Assigned Hours 8
Hours Entered on Timesheet 4

57. Actuals – Fewer Hours, cont.
The Fixed Duration task didn’t change the duration, but distributed the additional 4 hours over the last two days so Work is now 10 hours for Tuesday and Wednesday

58. Hours Entered on Timesheet
Actuals – More Hours
Resource submitted their timesheet with MORE hours than assigned
Assigned Hours vs. Actual Hours:
Results: The Fixed Units and Fixed Work task Durations went back down to 5 days since the resource “caught” up
Thu 1/23
Fri 1/24
Mon 1/27
Tue 1/28
Wed 1/29
Thu 1/30
Assigned Hours 8
Hours Entered on Timesheet 4 12

59. Actuals – More Hours, cont.
The Fixed Duration assigned hours for Wednesday went back down to 8 hours since the resource submitted additional hours the day before

60. Hours Entered on Timesheet
Actuals – Skipped a Day
Resource skipped the last day of assigned work and then entered fewer hours on the day after the task was supposed to finish
Assigned Hours vs. Actual Hours:
Results: Since zero hours were recorded on Wednesday, the task gets split
Fixed Units and Fixed Work task types will calculate Duration without counting the days in between the split
Fixed Duration tasks WILL count the days in the middle of the split
Thu 1/23
Fri 1/24
Mon 1/27
Tue 1/28
Wed 1/29
Thu 1/30
Fri 1/31
Assigned Hours 8
Hours Entered on Timesheet 4 12

61. Actuals – Skipped a Day, cont.
The Task Finish Dates all changed to Friday, 1/31, to accommodate the extra 4 hours needed to complete the task

62. Maintaining and Controlling the Project Schedule

63. Maintaining the Project Schedule
Once a resource charges time to a project and those hours are posted as Actuals, the Project Manager needs to frequently maintain the project schedule
Step 1: Open the Project Schedule from CA PPM to MSP
Step 2: Review new Actual Work Hours to ensure they look accurate
Step 3: For Tasks that are Complete:
Verify that the Remaining Work field is zero (0)
If there are hours, enter zero (0), which will reduce the Work field so it matches the Actual Work field
Enter “100%” in the “% Complete” field
Mark the task as “Not Open for Time Entry”

64. Maintaining the Project Schedule, cont.
Step 3 – For Tasks that are Complete, cont.
To “Close” this Task:
Work was planned to take 40 hours, but the task was completed with 16 hours:
Right Way
Enter “0” for Remaining Work
Enter “100” for % Complete
Wrong Way

65. Maintaining the Project Schedule, cont.
Step 4: For Tasks that are still in progress:
Adjust any Work hours that need to be increased
Verify that all tasks have values in the Remaining Work field
Reschedule any task with a “Finish Date” in the past
Reschedule any task with a “Start Date” in the past that hasn’t started yet

66. Copying Tasks You CAN use copy/paste to create a New Task
DO NOT use cut/paste to move a task in the project schedule
This will change the unique ID on the task that is used by the CA PPM – MSP Integration

67. MSP Prior Start, Prior Finish and Open for Time Entry Fields

68. Prior Start and Prior Finish Fields
One of the biggest complaints from Project Managers is that CA PPM changed their MSP task dates in their project schedule
When many task dates change, it’s difficult for the PM to find the root cause
By default, Task Start and Finish Dates are already mapped between CA PPM and MSP
Those dates may change as Actuals are applied to the project schedule
You can extend the mapping table with the following MSP fields to make it easier:
Start10 Prior Start
Finish10 Prior Finish

69. Prior Start and Prior Finish Fields, cont.
The extended mapping should NOT be bi-directional; it should be on “Export from Clarity” only
When a project schedule is exported from CA PPM to MSP, the Task Start and Finish Dates will be copied to both the MSP Start and Finish fields as well as the new Start10 and Finish10 fields
The Actuals are then applied to the schedule which may cause the original Task Start and Finish Dates to change, but not the new Start10 and Finish10 fields

70. Prior Start and Prior Finish Fields, cont.
The Project Manager is now able to compare the following fields to find the first task with a difference.
Start >> Prior Start
Finish >> Prior Finish
You can then look at that task and any predecessors to see what Actuals were applied that caused the dates to change

71. Open for Time Entry Field
You can extend the mapping table by adding the “Open for Time Entry” (Flag11) field so Project Managers can better control what tasks are open for time entry from MSP
This should be a bidirectional mapping so the data flows from CA PPM to MSP and from MSP to CA PPM
In CA PPM, the Open for Time Entry field defaults to “Yes” for new tasks and in MSP it defaults to “No” for new tasks

72. Saving the Project Schedule and Working Offline

73. Save to CA PPM
To save a project schedule back to CA PPM that was opened from CA PPM to MSP, click on the “Save” button under the “CA Clarity PPM Integration” menu
When the schedule has been saved back to CA PPM, you will see a “Project successfully Saved” message flash on the screen

74. “Save As” to CA PPM
The “Save As” button should only be used to save the existing project schedule as a new project in CA PPM or if you want to copy the project schedule to another project in CA PPM, which is a great way to “copy” a CA PPM Project
If using the new MSP XML-based Drive, the “Save As” option is NOT available when saving to an EXISTING CA PPM project

75. Save to Your Local Drive
If you would like to work on the project schedule offline or disconnected from CA PPM, you can:
Open the Project from CA PPM to MSP in Read/Write mode
From the MSP file menu, click File > Save As and select a location on your local hard drive
Exit out of MSP
You can now work on the project schedule that was saved to your local drive
CA PPM will maintain a lock on the project until it is successfully saved back to CA PPM
When you’re ready to save it back to CA PPM, open the file and click on “Save” under the CA PPM Integration Toolbar.
You may need to log back into CA PPM

76. Questions Phone Email Website
We hope that you found this session informative and worthwhile. Our primary goal was to increase your understanding of the topic and CA PPM in general.
There were many concepts covered during the session, if you would like to contact any presenter with questions, please reach out to us.
Thank you for attending regoUniversity 2015!
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