HELP INDEX
For instructions on
installing Dproject see the Installation Manual.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
The “Project Info” page takes
you to the “Project General Information” page descirbed above. It lets you
modify general information about the project.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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” 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.