HELP INDEX

 

GETTING STARTED.. 1

Installation. 1

Creating an Account 1

Password Reminder 2

Logging in. 2

MAIN STRUCTURE.. 2

ADMINISTRATION TAB.. 3

Projects. 3

Users. 4

Clients. 4

Configuration. 5

Login Log. 5

SELECTED PROJECT TAB.. 5

Project Info. 6

Project Tasks. 6

Project Users. 7

Project Meetings. 7

Project Resources. 7

Statistics. 8

Time Report 8

Gantt Chart 9

MY OFFICE TAB.. 10

My Tasks. 10

My Projects. 10

My Meetings. 10

Other Users. 11

My Notifications. 11

My Calendar 11

 

 

GETTING STARTED

 

          Installation

                        For instructions on installing Dproject see the Installation Manual.

 

          Creating an Account

As a company if you want to use DProject, first you must create a company account for yourself. You have to do this only once for a company. To do this click the “Create Your Account”  link on the Login Page. This will take you to the “Company Acount Creation Page”.

On the “Company Account Creation Page”, you will asked three pieces of information:

- The “Company ID” field will be your company login id, and every user who wants to login as a member of your company will have to supply this company login id, in the login page.

- The “Company Name” field will be stored as your company’s official name.

- The password field will be your company administrator’s password.

 

After you click “Submit” button, your company account will be created, and you will be directed to the “Login Page”. Here you can log in to the system using the company id you supplied, the user id “admin”, and the password you supplied.

 

          Password Reminder

If you forget your password, you can learn it by clicking the “Forgot Your Password” link. This will take you to a page which asks your company id, and your user id. Provided that your e-mail address was supplied to the system your account information including your password will be sent to this e-mail address.

 

          Logging in

To log into the system, you must have the “Login Page” open. After entering your company id, your user id, and your user password click “Submit”. This will let you in, provided that you supplied valid information.

 

 

 

 

MAIN STRUCTURE

 

DProject consists of three main parts as represented by the tabs shown on the top

frame. These are the “Administration” tab (shown only if you are given the administrator access right), “Selected Project” tab, and “My Office” tab. Each of these main tabs will supply different menus on the left hand side, and the content and functioning of these tabs will be given below.

Other than the main tabs, on the top frame you will see a “Sign Out” link, which

lets you out of the system in a secure way. The “Help” link will take you to the HTML version of this User’s Manual.

You can use the dropdown menu which says “Open this project...” to select a

project that you are assigned to and the “Selected Project” tab will contain the information of that project you selected. By this way you can change the content of the “Selected Project” tab.

 

 

 

 

ADMINISTRATION TAB

 

          The Administration tab is shown only to the administrators of the company. When you click on the Administration tab, on the left you will see a menu with the items:

-          Projects

-          Users

-          Clients

-          Configuration

-          Login Log

 

Now, these menu items will be detailed.

 

 

Projects

      In the “Projects” page you will see a list of all the projects in your company. You can filter the list using the filters above; such as selecting only the “Uncompleted Projects”, or the projects that are done for a specific client and so on.

      In the list of projects, you will see some brief information about the projects. But if you want to see detailed information about a project, you must click the “Edit” link near the name of a project. This will lead you to the “Project General Information” page.

      If you want to create a new project for your company, you must click the “Create new project” link, on the upper-right hand corner. This will take you to the “Project General Information” page.

      Here is snapshot from the “Project General information Page”.

     

    

 

      On the right you will see the tabs that you can use to see and edit information about the project. These tabs include:

 

-          General information; in which you can see information about the project such as the name, id, client, start date, percent done of the project.

-          Assignation; in which you can see the assigned users to the project, assign new users specifying access rights, and unassign assigned users.

-          Project Phases; in which you can see a list of the defined project milestones, create new milestones, edit pre-defined milestones and delete predefined milestones.

-          Task Types; in which you can see a list of the defined task types in the project,  create new task types, edit pre-defined task types, and delete pre-defined task types.

-          Task Statuses; in which you can see a list of the defined task stasuses in the project,  create new task statuses, edit pre-defined task statuses, and delete pre-defined task statuses.

-          Task Priorities; in which you can see a list of the defined task priorities in the project,  create new task priorities, edit pre-defined task priorities, and delete pre-defined task priorities.

 

 

Users

      In the “Users” page you will see a list of all the users in your company. You can filter the list using the filters above; such as selecting only the “Administrators” or “Normal Users”.

      In the list of users, you will see some brief information about the users. But if you want to see detailed information about a user, you must click the name of a user. This will lead you to the “User General Information” page.

      If you want to create a new user for your company, you must click the “Create new user” link, on the upper-right hand corner. This will take you to the “User General Information” page.

      Here is snapshot from the “User General information Page”.

 

On the right you will see the tabs that you can use to see and edit information about the user. These tabs include:

 

-          General information; in which you can see information about the user such as the name,  surname, id, access level, e-mail address, and also a photo of the user.

-          Assignation; in which you can see the assigned projects to the user, assign new projects specifying access rights, and unassign from assigned projects.

Clients

      In the “Clients” page you will see a list of all the clients of your company.

      In the list of clients, you will see some brief information about the clients. But if you want to see detailed information about a client, you must click the name of that client. This will lead you to the “Client General Information” page.

      If you want to create a new client for your company, you must click the “Create new client” link, on the upper-right hand corner. This will take you to the “Client General Information” page.

      In the “Client General Information” page you can see about the client such as the id, name, address, e-mail address of the client.

Configuration

      Here is a snapshot of the “Configuration” page.

 

On the right you will see the tabs that you can use to see and edit information about your company. These tabs include:

-          Company Information tab; where you will see information about your company. These information includes your company id, name, address, web page url and logo.

-          Project Types tab; in which you can see the project types in your company, define new project types, edit existing project types and delete existing project types.

-          Resource Types tab; in which you can see the defined resource types for your company, create new resource types, edit and delete existing resource types.

 

Login Log

      In the “Login Log” page you can trace the logs to the system. You can see who entered the system, when and from where (identified using the IP address).

 

 

 

 

SELECTED PROJECT TAB

 

            The “Selected Project” tab is used to show specific details about a project. That is, all the work about the project can be done using this tab. When you open a project using the dropdown “Open this project…” menu in the top frame, the project’s name will be displayed on the tab and when you click on this tab, on the left you will see a menu with the items:

-          Project Info

-          Project Tasks

-          Project Users

-          Project Meetings

-          Project Resources

-          Statistics

-          Time Reports

-          Gantt Chart

 

Now, these menu items will be detailed.

 

Project Info

      The “Project Info” page takes you to the “Project General Information” page descirbed above. It lets you modify general information about the project.

 

Project Tasks

      In the “Project Tasks” page you will see a list of all the tasks in this project. You can filter the list using the filters above; such as selecting the tasks that are assigned to a specific user.

      In the list of tasks, you will see some brief information about the tasks. But if you want to see detailed information about a task, you must click the id of the task. This will lead you to the “Task General Information” page.

      If you want to create a new task for this project, you must click the “Create new task” link, on the upper-right hand corner. This will take you to the “Task General Information” page.

 

      Here is snapshot from the “Task General information” page.

 

On the right you will see the tabs that you can use to see and edit information about the task. These tabs include:

-          General Information tab; in which you can see and edit information about the task, such as the task name, deadline, task priority, status, estimated hours and etc.

-          Assigned Users tab; in which you can see the assigned users to this task, assign new users for the task, and unassign assigned users. While assigning users, you can graphically see the workload of the users in the project, before deciding on the user to assign the task.

-          Attached Files tab; in which you can see the attached files to the task, attach new files, save or delete the already attached files, and also lock a file so that when you are editing the file other users know this.

-          Task Resources tab; in which you can see the resources given for this task, assign new resources, edit or delete existing resources etc. The assigned resources to a task will be decreased from the corresponding project’s resources.

-          Task Notes tab; in which you can see the notes written about this task, add new notes, edit and delete notes belonging to you.

-          Dependencies tab; in which you can see the dependencies between this task and other tasks, specify new dependencies, edit or delete existing dependencies.

 

 

 

 

Project Users

            In the “Project Users” page, you can see the list of all the users working in the project. In the list of users, you will see some brief information about the users. But if you want to see detailed information about a specific user, you must click the id of the user. This will lead you to the “User General Information” page.

            In the “User General Information” page, you can see information about the user such as the name,  surname, id, access level, e-mail address, and also a photo of the user.

 

Project Meetings

      In the “Project Meetings” page you will see a list of all the meetings in this project.

      In the list of meetings, you will see some brief information about them. But if you want to see detailed information about a specific meeting, you must click the id of the meeting. This will lead you to the “Meeting General Information” page.

If you want to create a new meeting for this project, you must click the “Create new meeting” link, on the upper-right hand corner. This will take you to the “Meeting General Information” page.

      Here is snapshot from the “Meeting General information” page.

 

On the right you will see the tabs that you can use to see and edit information about the meeting. These tabs include:

-          General Information tab; in which you can see and edit information about the meeting, such as the meeting name, meeting time options, meeting time decision deadline, estimated duration and meeting location. If you create a new meeting the time options you selected will be available to the attendants of the meetings to give priorities. In this phase the “Meeting Status” field will be seen as “Being Arranged”. After all the attendants of the meeting submit their choices, DProject will choose the date that seems best for everybody, and send notifications to all the attendants. The meeting status field then becomes “Fixed”.

-          Assigned Users tab; in which you can see the assigned users to this meeting, assign new users for the meeting, and unassign assigned users.

-          Attached Files tab; in which you can see the attached files to the meeting, attach new files, save or delete the already attached files, and also lock a file so that when you are editing the file other users know this.

-          Meeting Notes tab; in which you can see the notes written about this meeting, add new notes, edit and delete notes belonging to you.

 

Project Resources

      In the “Project Resources” ” page you will see a list of all the resources in this project.

      In the list of resources, you will see some brief information about them. But if you want to see detailed information about a specific resource, you must click the id of the meeting. This will lead you to the “Resource General Information” page.

If you want to create a new resource for this project, you must click the “Create new resource” link, on the upper-right hand corner. This will take you to the “Resource General Information” page.

In the “Resource General Information” page you will be able to buy new reosurces for the project. You can specify the resource type and the quantity, and the corresponding amount of money will be decreased from the project budget.

 

Statistics

In the “Statistics” page, you can see some general quantitative facts about the project. The statistics include:

-          Project Users Statistics; where data are displayed for each user who works in the project. The number of created tasks by the user, the number of the tasks that the user is assigned, the number of tasks the user is assigned as a reviewer, the number of meetings the user attended, the number of meetings the user arranged can be seen in this table.

-          Task Types Statistics; where data are displayed for each task type defined in the project. The number of tasks that were created as that type, the total estimated hours that the tasks of that type will take, and the actual hours worked on this type of tasks can be seen in this table.

-          Task Statuses Statistics; where data are displayed for each task status type defined in the project. The number of tasks that are in that status, the total estimated hours that the tasks of that are in that status, and the actual hours worked on the tasks of that status can be seen in this table.

-          Task Priorities Statistics; where data are displayed for each task priority type defined in the project. The number of tasks that are of that priority, the total estimated hours that the tasks of that are of that priority will take, and the actual hours worked on the tasks of that priority can be seen in this table.

 

Time Report

In the time report page, you can generate reports about users and tasks inside the project. If you have the project manager access rights, you can generate reports about all the users working in the project. If you are not a project manager you can generate a report only about yourself.

Here is a snapshot of the “Time Report” page.

 

 

To generate a report, first you specify a user, then a task. Then you specify the time interval you want to see the report of using the “From” and “To” fields. And lastly you prefer weekly or monthly view form the “View” field. When you click “Generate”, the amount of time the specified user spent on the specified task, between the specified interval will be displayed, with periods of a week or a month, according to your selection.

 

 

Gantt Chart

            In the “Gantt Chart” page, you can see the tasks of the project on a timeline. The “Gantt Chart” page has several functionalities. Here is a snapshot of the Gantt Chart.

 

 

            Using the “Select Your View” dropdown menu, you can select the interval of the Gantt Chart. You can view it either “Weekly” or “Monthly”, but if you choose “View Interval”, you can view any interval you want, specifying the period using the “Chart Start Date” and “Chart End Date” calendars.

            If you are in monthly or weekly view you can go to the next month/week by clicking on the little arrows to the left (for previous month/week), and to the right (for next month/week). Or you can directly choose the name of a month from the “Select Month” dropdown menu.

            You can use the form below the Gantt Chart to create several new tasks rapidly, specifying rather limited information compared with the detailed creation of a task, using the “Task General Information” page. The tasks you created will directly be shown on the Gantt Chart.

            If you click on a task on Gantt Chart, you will go to the corresponding “Task General Information” page for the task.

 

 

            If you want to see the dependencies between tasks, or edit and delete already existing dependencies, click on the “Dependency Chart” link, shown on the upper right hand corner. This will lead you to the Detailed Gantt Chart. Here is a snapshot of the detailed Gantt Chart.

           

           

            Here you can see the dependencies between tasks, shown by the links between tasks. Also the tasks on the critical path of the project will be shown in red.

You can add new dependencies by clicking on one of the tasks, then the other task, then from the drop-down menu selecting one of the dependency types “Finish-to-Start” and “Start-to-Start”, and then clicking the “Add Dependency” button. “Finish-to-Start” means that the second task can not start before thr first one finishes. “Start-to-Start” means that two tasks must start paralelly. If the start-finish dates of the tasks are not appropriate for the dependency selection, their dates will be modified accordingly.

You van delete existing dependencies, by clicking on the two connected tasks, and then clicking on the “Delete Dependency” button.

                        The “Back” button will take you back to the Gantt Chart.

 

 

 

 

 

MY OFFICE TAB

       

“My Office” is the place where you can find information spefically about you. Here, you can find your tasks, your meetings, your personal information etc. This tab includes the menu items:

- My Tasks

- My Projects

- My Meetings

- Other Users

- My Notifications

- My Calendar

These menu items are detailed below.

 

 

My Tasks

      In the “My Tasks” page you will see a list of all the tasks assigned to you.

      In the list of tasks, you will see some brief information about them. But if you want to see detailed information about a task, you must click the id of the task. This will lead you to the “Task General Information” page described before.

The modifications that you can do to the task will be limited according to your access rights.

 

 

My Projects

      In the “My Projects” page you will see a list of all the projects you are working in.

      In the list of projects, you will see some brief information about them. But if you want to see detailed information about a specific project, you must click the id of the project. This will lead you to the “Project General Information” page described before.

The modifications that you can do to the project information will be limited according to your access rights.

 

 

My Meetings

      In the “My Meetings” page you will see a list of all the meetings that you are the arranger of, or that you attended/will attend.

      In the list of meetings, you will see some brief information about them. But if you want to see detailed information about a specific meeting, you must click the id of the meeting. This will lead you to the “Meeting General Information” page described before.

The modifications that you can do to the project information will be limited according to your access rights.

Other Users

            In the “Other Users” page, you can see the list of all the users in your company.

            In the list of other users some limited information will be supplied; such as his first name, last name and e-mail. But if you want to see more details about a specific user, you can click on the id of the user. This will lead you to the “User General Information” page, but some of the fields will not be displayed for security reasons.

 

 

My Notifications

            In the “My Notifications” page you will see the list of your notifications, that are either sent to you by another user intentionally, or sent by the system because a task has been assigned to you, or you are required to make time preferences for a meeting, or a meeting date that you are going to attend has been fixed. Here is a snapshot from the Notifications page.

 

 

            If the “Classification” field in the list says “Meeting” then the message is from the system about a meeting. If it says “Task” then the message is from the system about a task. But if the field says “Message” the it is a message from another user to you.

            If you want to send a notification to another user, click on the “Send Message” button. Then on the “New Message” page type the id of the user you are sending your message to, type your message and click send button.

            If you want to delete a notification click the checkbox near that notification and click “Delete” button.

            In the list, if you click on a message sent to you by another user, then the message will be displayed. If it is a notification about a meeting sent by the system, then clicking on it will take you to the “Meeting General Information” page for that meeting. If it is a notification about a task sent by the system, then clicking on it will take you to the “Task General Information” page for that task.

 

 

My Calendar

            In the “My Calendar” page, you will see a calendar of the month you are in with associated information for each day.

Here is a snapshot.

 

 

To change the viewed month, you can either use the arrows, (right for next month and left for previous month), or select a month and year from the dropdown menus and click “Go”.

There can be two knd of items associated with a calendar day:

o       system generated items

o       items generated by you

            The system generated items are deadlines of the tasks you are assigned to, deadlines and phases of the projects you are assigned to and meeting dates that you are to attend.

            The items generated by you can be anything. It can be a friend’s birthday, an anniversary or something about work.

            You can view calendar item details by clicking on them. You can create new calendar items by clicking on the little plus sign (+) on a day.