home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Shareware Overload
/
ShartewareOverload.cdr
/
busi
/
ct111.zip
/
USERGUID.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1990-06-09
|
40KB
|
1,141 lines
^T - A TASK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
USERS GUIDE
VERSION 1.11
Copyright (C) 1989
Steve Starsinic
Hummelstown, Pennsylvania
All Rights Reserved
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction.................................................. 3
Features...................................................... 5
License/Copyright/Registration Info........................... 7
Installation/Configuration.................................... 8
How To Use ^T................................................. 9
Summary.................................................. 9
Editing the Custom Calendar.............................. 9
Edit File Name........................................... 9
Add Resources............................................ 9
Adding Tasks.............................................10
Conflicts................................................12
Removing Conflicts.......................................12
Editing Tasks............................................13
Editing Resources........................................13
Adding And Using Projects................................13
Outline Maintenance......................................14
Deleting Tasks...........................................14
Deleting Projects........................................15
Saving the File..........................................15
Customizing The Outline Display..........................15
Printing Reports.........................................15
Questions And Answers.........................................16
Future Versions of ^T.........................................18
^T Registration Form..........................................19
- 2 -
INTRODUCTION
^T (pronounced "control-T"), is a Task Management System. Its
purpose is to provide constant and accurate feedback about your
current workload.
To properly understand ^T, it is first necessary to distinguish
between "tasks" and "projects", not according to textbook or
dictionary definitions, but as they are interpreted by the
author.
A task is (1) a work assignment that is complete, in and of
itself, or (2) a single step in the development of a project.
A project is a work assignment whose completion is dependent on
the completion of a number of tasks.
^T is oriented towards managing tasks, not projects. ^T will
allow you to set up, in outline form, the resources (usually
people) you are responsible for managing, and the tasks assigned
to each. With regular management of your outline model, ^T will
be able to tell you (1) the size and duration of your current
workload, (2) the status of each task, (3) costs associated with
each task, (4) workload and scheduling conflicts, and (5) a
limited form of project tracking.
The design of ^T was influenced by a number of underlying
philosophies:
First, not all of us require $500 project Management packages.
The cost is too high, the systems too complicated, and the
learning curve too long.
Second, not all of us manage large scale projects. Instead, we
manage a number of people, to whom we assign individual tasks.
In these environments, the intricacies of network diagrams and
dependencies get in the way rather than help.
Third, tasks have a relatively high turnover rate and are subject
to frequent rearrangement, requiring frequent updating of
schedules.
Fourth, the duration of a task (on the calendar) is not the same
as the number of working days the task requires. All workers
have both "unscheduled" responsibilities as well as plain wasted
time that prevents full-time attention to scheduled tasks.
Lastly, even though people are capable of working on more than
one task at a time, managing the distribution of one worker's
- 3 -
time across several of that worker's tasks is best left to the
worker.
With these philosophies in mind, ^T is relevant, inexpensive,
easy to learn, and easy to use. With ^T, you create a workload
outline using resources as the "parent" items, and tasks as
"child" items. tasks are attached to resources, and can be
easily rearranged and/or reassigned. If more than one task
(regardless of resource) is part of a project (as defined above),
a project view of the outline will show that relationship. In
addition, start/end dates and costs are accumulated in the
project.
There are a number of things that ^T does NOT do.
It does not attempt to represent that fact that tasks are worked
on concurrently. tasks are arranged in an outline form, with the
start date of a given task being the end date of a previous task.
This arrangement relieves the user of having to "time-slice" a
resource (a maddening and futile chore in a high task turnover
environment), and still represents the total task load of the
resource and the status of individual tasks. Also, by logically
gathering tasks together in the outline, using priorities, and
setting commitment dates, all within ^T, planning and control can
be done effectively.
You can NOT force start dates. The jury is still out on this,
but for now ^T always calculates a start date. If a start date
must in reality be delayed, lock in the committed end date
instead. Then ^T will warn you if developments in the workload
are threatening this date.
Tasks can NOT be made dependent across resources. In other
words, the start date of a task for Resource 'A' cannot be
calculated based on the end date of a task for Resource 'B'.
^T does NOT provide PERT style (network) diagrams or Critical
Path determination. If those approaches to project management
are important to you, ^T is inappropriate for your needs.
^T does NOT print Gantt charts. Some form of Gantt chart
printing may be added in the future.
- 4 -
FEATURES
Some ^T Program Features.
GENERAL
- Outline orientation
- Drop-down menus
- Pop-up data entry screens and error messages
- Help
- Modifications made in-memory. File saves take place only
on command. Built in warnings to prevent accidental loss
of changes.
- Easy modification of data
- File loads on demand and from command line
RESOURCES
- Handles up to 50 resources
- Hourly charge rates for each resource
- "Unscheduled Time" factors for each resource
TASKS
- Handles up to 500 tasks.
- tasks can be rearranged or reassigned
- Tracking of time spent, costs, start and end dates, etc.
- Set priorities and committed completion dates
- Age warning for inactive tasks
- On-screen warning of conflicts
PROJECTS
- Handles up to 100 projects
- project commitment date governs all linked tasks
- Accumulate dates and costs for all linked tasks
CONFIGURATION
- Customize calendar as to days per week worked, hours per
day, and holidays.
- Customize age warning period, manual recalc, printer
driver
- Modify or create new printer drivers
- Complete control over which fields for tasks, resources
and projects display in outline.
- Customized screen colors, with pre-configured color and
monochrome color sets.
- 5 -
PRINTING
- Print to screen, print file, ASCII data, printer
- Uses either serial or parallel printer
- Outline report prints entire outline
- Resource assignment report prints just the assignments for
one resource on a separate page. Select one at a time
or print all resources consecutively.
- Project assignment report prints assignments for a
project on a separate page. Select one at a time
or print all projects consecutively.
- In reports, only currently selected fields are printed.
- 6 -
LICENSE/COPYRIGHT/REGISTRATION INFO
License
^T is a Shareware product. It is legal to take or to give copies
of ^T for the purpose of evaluating it. If, after evaluating ^T
for a period of 30 days, you decide that it does not meet your
needs, you are expected to discontinue use. If you wish to
continue to use ^T, you are expected to register your copy by
completing the registration form in the back of this manual and
sending it and $35.00 to
Steve Starsinic
7 Dorchester Road
Hummelstown, PA 17036
Registration benefits: (1) the legal right to use ^T, (2) the
current version on disk, and (3) inclusion on the ^T users
mailing list.
You may NOT (1) sell ^T, (2) bundle ^T with other goods or
services, or (3) modify ^T in any way. Licenses are granted to
the individual registrant only. Write to the above address to
request exceptions or to inquire about site or corporate
licenses.
^T is provided on an AS IS basis without warranty of any kind,
expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied
warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular
purpose.
Any comments, bug reports, or suggestions for improvement may be
mailed to the above address or sent to Steve Starsinic on
Compuserve, 71735-1660.
- 7 -
INSTALLATION/CONFIGURATION
Installing ^T
1. Make a subdirectory for the ^T files:
Type 'MD\^T' and press enter
2. Make this directory the default directory:
Type 'CD\^T' and press enter
3. Copy the ^T files. In the following commands, if you are
not installing the files from drive A, substitute your
drive letter:
Type 'COPY A:^T.EXE' and press enter
Type 'COPY A:^T.CFG' and press enter
Type 'COPY A:*.DRV' and press enter
4. Start the program:
Type '^T' and press enter
Configuration
1. ^T is pre-configured for color monitors. If you have a
monochrome monitor, press 'CV' to select Configure-Video.
At the Mode field, type 'M' to select monochrome, and press
'F2'.
2. Type 'CD' to select Configuration-Default Calendar.
Enter all info (working days, hours per day, and holiday
dates). Press 'F2' when finished.
4. Type 'CG' to select Configure-General Defaults. Tab to
Printer Driver, and select one of the pre-built drivers. If
your printer is not included in the set of printer drivers,
select GENERIC driver. Drivers can be modified and renamed
later. Press 'F2' when finished.
Other customizations are available, but these are all that are
necessary to get started. Changes are automatically saved when
you press F2.
- 8 -
HOW TO USE ^T
SUMMARY
The intent of ^T is to give you constant feedback on the status
of your current workload. It does this by telling you, at any
given time, how much work remains for each task. In a ^T task
outline, resources are responsible for tasks. Tasks are assigned
to resources. Tasks are listed in outline form beneath their
assigned resources. The Start Date of the first task is the date
that comes from the Start Date field in the resource record. The
End Date of the first task is determined by adding the time
REMAINING in the task to the start date. Note the emphasis on
the word "remaining". Even though ^T stores the number of
working hours actually worked so far, the Start and End dates
shown in the outline represent how much work you have remaining.
The Start Date for the resource is important. The normal routine
you should follow in updating your outline is to periodically
(e.g. once per week) update all the tasks currently assigned to a
given resource as to hours spent and percentage complete. Then,
change the resource Start Date to the date you updated the
information. In this way, ^T is able to tell you your remaining
workload AS OF THE LAST DATE YOU UPDATED THE INFORMATION. You
continue in this way, completing and deleting tasks, adding new
ones, reassigning, and rearranging as necessary.
The following topics lead you logically through the steps
necessary to build an outline and perform periodic maintenance.
EDITING THE CUSTOM CALENDAR
The Custom Calendar establishes which days of the week are
working days, the number of hours in a working day, and scheduled
Holidays. You access the custom calendar by selecting Edit from
the main menu and Calendar from the edit menu. Complete the data
entry form, and press F2 to save. All ^T data entry screens are
saved with F2 and canceled with Esc.
EDIT FILE NAME
Before an outline file can be saved it must first be given a
name. Select Edit from the main menu and File Description from
the edit menu. You should enter a description of the outline
file, a path, and a filename. The description will be used as a
header for all reports, so make it formal and relevant.
ADD RESOURCES
- 9 -
Before any tasks can be added, you must add at least one
resource. In most cases a resource is a person. Add resources
by pressing 'AR' to bring up the Resource Details screen.
The Name is simply a long name or description of the resource.
The Label field should be a recognizable short description of the
resource. The Label field is important in that this field is
used as an index to the resource. An entry is required and must
be unique from every other resource label.
The Start Date of the resource becomes the Start Date of the
first task assigned to that resource. When setting up a ^T
outline for the first time, you will normally use the current
date. However, this date is intended to be changed regularly.
The intent of ^T is to show you the amount of work remaining in
the tasks, not the past work already done (although it stores
this information). Because of this, every time you update task
information, the resource Start Date should be set to the date
the task info was updated.
The Number field is optional and can be used for any purpose.
The Hr. Rate is used to calculate the costs for all tasks linked
to this resource. If you're not interested in tracking costs,
you don't have to enter a rate.
The Unscheduled task description and hours fields are critical to
accurate scheduling. In this area, you account for the fact that
people engage in activities (both work and non-work) that cannot
practically be planned into a formal schedule. Use as few or as
many lines as required. On each line, enter a description of the
"activity" that contributes to the reduction of efficiency for
formally scheduled tasks. Categories might include
"Supervisory", "Administrative", "Phone interruptions", and "Non-
Work Activities". For each category, enter the number of hours
per week spent on that activity. As each amount is entered,
you'll see the Total and the Scheduled Task Efficiency changing.
The Scheduled Task Efficiency is used to translate the working
hours required to perform a task into realistic calendar
durations.
You can add all resources at one time, or add them as needed.
ADDING TASKS
Access the Task Details (Add) screen by pressing 'AT' (Add-Task).
The Description is just that - a description of the task.
The Label, Number, and Classification fields are optional and may
be used for any purpose. However, the intent was to provide a
field for a very short task description (Label), a place to store
- 10 -
a task identification number (Number), and a categorization of
the task (Classification). The label and number fields are free
form. The classification field is completed by selecting from a
pop-up, pre-defined table of classes (user-customized via the
Configure menu).
The Resource field is used to link the task to a resource. It
will default to the resource that is "current" in the outline,
but the task can be assigned (at any time) to any other resource
simply by selecting the desired resource from the pop-up table.
The Project field is used to link the task to a project. In this
discussion we haven't mentioned projects yet, but tasks can be
linked or unlinked to projects at any time. Projects are
discussed below.
The Chargeback field is optional and can be used for any purpose.
However, it was provided because many users work in companies in
which service departments (e.g. Data Processing) charge costs
back to production departments. This field allows you to record
a chargeback label or code.
The Priority can be set from 0 to 99. 0 is highest priority, 99
is lowest. The priority defaults to the midpoint of 50.
Priority can be used to "break the tie" when one (or more) tasks
are more important than others and you want to be warned if,
during "what-if" rearranging, you violate that priority.
The Commit Date is the date by which the task must be completed.
Note that it is an optional field. However, if you have a "must
complete by" date, it can be entered in this field. If at any
time the task's calculated End Date falls after the Commit Date,
you will be warned.
The Adjust Working Hrs field defaults to YES. For most tasks,
the default will be correct. This means that we want ^T to
adjust the working hours for the "unscheduled tasks" performed by
this resource. We would use "NO" for tasks like Travel and
Training where the duration and the actual working time are
equal.
The Date Entered field is normally left defaulted to today's
date. Date Entered is used only to determine a task's age (how
long it's been on the schedule).
The final field to add a task is Estimated Working Hours to
perform this task. Enter the expected number of working hours to
complete the task. Enter Working hours, not the span of time,
or duration, you expect it to take on a calendar. It is ^T's job
to figure out the duration of the task.
As with every other data entry screen, press F2 to save it.
- 11 -
Each time you enter a task, a number of other fields are
automatically calculated, including date and cost fields. To
immediately see these fields, simply press Enter.
CONFLICTS
As you add tasks, you may start to see the characters 'C', 'P',
or 'A' appear in the screen immediately to the left of the task
line. The word "Conflict" will also be highlighted on the bottom
status line. These represent Conflict warnings. If 'C' appears,
it means that the calculated End Date for the task has exceeded
the Commit Date. If 'P' appears, it means that this task appears
in the outline before a task with a higher priority. If 'A'
appears, it means that the age of the task exceeds the warning
level set in the Configure-General Defaults screen.
REMOVING CONFLICTS
Commit Date Conflicts. One approach is to move the task to a
position in the outline in which the calculated End Date no
longer exceeds the Commit Date. You can do this by moving the
pointer to the task, and pressing 'RM' (Rearrange-Move). You can
then use the arrow keys to move the task up or down in the
outline. As the task moves, the dates are automatically
recalculated, and the 'C' warning will clear if the conflict
corrects itself. Another alternative is to change the Commit
Date. Either rearrange your business affairs so that a later
date is acceptable, or remove the date altogether if the commit
date is not really necessary. Next, you could assign the task to
another resource whose schedule would allow the task to be
completed on time. Lastly, you could change the resource's
unscheduled time to allow for more task time. However, this can
be dangerous. If you change the person's unscheduled time, you
must make sure that you arrange your business affairs so that the
reduced unscheduled time can be made a reality.
Priority Conflicts. There are only two ways to remove a priority
conflict. First, rearrange the tasks so that higher priority
tasks (lower numbers) precede lower priority tasks (higher
numbers) in the outline. The other is to change the priority
numbers so that there is no conflict.
Age Conflict. Age conflicts only occur on Active tasks (tasks
whose Status fields are marked Active). You can remove the age
warning for an individual task by marking the Status field as
Inactive (in effect, saying "this is on hold, I don't care how
old it is). Alternatively, you could raise the Age Warning Level
in the Configure-General Defaults screen to a very high number
like 999. However, this action would turn off the age warning
feature globally (for all tasks).
- 12 -
EDITING TASKS
Tasks can be edited at any time. All task fields except
calculated fields, Date Entered, and Est. Working Hours may be
modified. To edit a task, you must first highlight it with the
outline pointer and either (1) press Enter, or (2) press 'ET'
(Edit-task).
EDITING RESOURCES
Resources can be edited at any time. All resource fields except
calculated fields may be modified. There are 3 ways to trigger
resource editing. First, if the outline pointer is positioned on
a task, press 'ER' (Edit-resource) to start data entry for the
resource to which the task is assigned. Next, if the outline
pointer is positioned on a resource, either press Enter or press
'ER' (Edit-resource).
ADDING AND USING PROJECTS
Project records are used to summarize the data from several
tasks. You must first add the project, and then link tasks to
the project. A project record is added by typing 'AP' (Add-
project). You must add a Description and a Label. The label, as
with resources, is used as an index to the project record. It
must be present and it must be unique among all project labels.
The Number and Commit Date fields are optional. However, if a
Commit Date is entered for a project, that Commit Date is also
imposed on any tasks linked to the project in addition to the
task's own Commit Date.
You'll notice at first that the project record doesn't appear in
the outline. You can only see projects if the outline is placed
into project mode. Do this by entered 'RP' (Rearrange-Project).
The project will now appear as the top level item in the outline.
Since no tasks will be linked, they (and all their resources) are
included under the project heading "all other not linked". The
^T outline may be switched back and forth from resource to
project outline modes by typing 'RR' and 'RP'.
To link tasks to the project, simply edit each task, Tab to the
Project field (which will no longer be skipped over since a
project exists), and select the project from the pop-up table.
Not only will the tasks appear in the project mode outline under
that project, but it's data will appear in the project summary.
To view the project summary, edit the project record and look at
the calculated fields. The project Start Date is the earliest
Start Date for any task linked to the project. The End Date is
the latest End Date for any task linked to the project. The
- 13 -
costs are all sums of the costs for all the tasks linked to the
project.
OUTLINE MAINTENANCE
It is expected that, at routine intervals, the data in the
outline will be updated. This would occur, for example, as a
result of a weekly status meeting. This maintenance is performed
in the following steps.
1. Update each task to reflect current Act. and O.T. hours worked
on the task. These would be cumulative numbers. Also, update
Percent Complete.
2. Add new tasks that have been assigned since the last update.
3. Delete old tasks that are now 100% complete.
4. For each resource for which you have updated task information,
update the Start Date.
When these 4 steps are completed, you will see an automatically
recalculated, date-adjusted, new schedule of the remaining work.
You are also gradually accumulating incurred time and cost
information.
Each week (or other adjustment interval) new conflicts may arise.
You'll have to deal with them by rearranging positions, changing
Commit Dates or Priorities, etc.
DELETING TASKS
A task is deleted by pressing 'DT' (Delete-task). You will be
asked if you want to Archive or Discard the task. Archiving mean
that the record is written into an archive file and deleted from
the outline. See the ^T Reference for details on the archive
file. Discarding means to simply throw the task away, deleting
it from the outline file. NOTE: In this version, ^T provides no
means to access the Archive file. The record layouts for this
file are documented in the ^T Reference for those who which to
design their own access facility.
When deleting a task, you may be given a warning that the task is
linked to a project. You are warned because, if the task is
deleted, its data will no longer be included in the project
summary. When tasks are linked to projects, it is recommended
that they be marked 100% complete and left in the outline. That
way their data will be included until all tasks are finished and
the project record is complete.
DELETING PROJECTS
- 14 -
A project is deleted by pressing 'DP' (Delete-project). You will
be asked if you want to Archive or Discard the project.
When deleting a project, you may be given a warning that there
are still tasks linked. If it is indeed your intent to delete
the project, the tasks will be automatically unlinked but will
otherwise be intact.
SAVING THE FILE
Your file can be saved at any time by typing 'FS' (File-Save).
CUSTOMIZING THE OUTLINE DISPLAY
The outline may be displayed in either resource mode or project
mode. In addition, each of the three record types (resources,
tasks, and projects) may be customized as to the fields that are
displayed in the outline. This is done by entering the Configure
menu, and selecting either Task Fields, Resource Fields, or
Project Fields. Then enter 'Y' for each field you want to
display and 'N' for fields you want to hide.
PRINTING REPORTS
In this version, ^T prints 3 basic reports.
For all reports, the fields that are printed are the fields
marked with a 'Y' on the configuration screens and currently
visible on the screen. This gives you a lot of variation as to
what appears in the report.
The Outline report is simply a continuous listing of the outline
currently displayed.
The Resource Assignments report prints each resource on a
separate page with only the tasks assigned to that resource. You
can choose the resource to print or print all of them at once.
The intent of this report is to provide hand-out assignment
sheets to individual workers.
The Project Assignments report prints each project on a separate
page with only the resources and tasks for that project. You can
choose the project to print or print all of them at once.
You can also print data into a print file or into an ASCII data
file. A print file is simply a text image of how the report
would have printed, minus the printer control codes. This file
can be loaded into a word processor, text editor, or even a
spreadsheet to be modified by the user. The ASCII data format is
designed for access by other programs. See the ^T reference for
details.
- 15 -
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Here is a list of actual users' questions with the answers
provided.
Q. How do I handle employees' vacation time?
A. There are a couple of approaches. First, if your
establishment has regular planning periods, you might want to
average the vacation into the unscheduled tasks for each
resource during the planning stage, and then remove it after
the schedule is set. When vacation is actually scheduled,
enter it as a task, with a Commit Date set to the last
scheduled vacation day, and Adj Working Hours set to 'NO'.
Q. What items should be included in the resource Unscheduled
Tasks area?
A. The rule of thumb is to include any activity that is not
likely to be added to the outline as a task. Also, be honest.
Many people are slightly shocked when they first realize just
how much unscheduled time there really is. A "working
supervisor" (a supervisor who is also expected to do 'work',
and a common denizen of the modern business office), may
actually have only 10% to 20% of his or her schedule available
for scheduled tasks.
Q. How do I use the Adj Working Hours field?
A. Much of the inaccuracy in date scheduling arises from
confusing the hours spent actually working on a task with the
hours that pass on the clock. For example, a person who is
frequently interrupted may require 8 hours on the clock to
perform 2 hours of actual work on a task. ^T attempts to
alleviate the confusion by automatically adjusting the working
hours to clock hours in the schedule. However, there are
activities which do take place in an uninterrupted manner,
such as Travel, Classes, Vacation, etc. To have ^T do the
adjustment from working hours to clock hours, set Adj Working
Hours to YES. For activities that are uninterrupted, set it
to 'NO'.
Q. What is happening when I have a Commit Date conflict on a task
that does not have a Commit Date and/or is obviously not in
conflict with it's End Date.?
- 16 -
A. The task is probably linked to a project that does have a
Commit Date, and the task End Date is in conflict with that
date.
Q. I keep getting Commit Date conflicts on tasks that are marked
100% complete.?
A. If the task is complete and you want to leave it in the
outline, delete the Commit Date.
Q. Is there a way to assign multiple resources to the same task?
A. No. If two or more resources are working on the same task,
break the task down into two or more task records with a piece
assigned to each resource.
Q. Can I force a task to start on a specific date?
A. No. For now, we recommend the following procedure. Enter a
dummy task before the subject task to push the back task to
the desired Start Date. Then enter the calculated End Date
into the Commit Date field. Finally, delete the dummy task.
Now, if the task slides past that Commit Date, you'll be
warned.
- 17 -
FUTURE VERSIONS OF ^T
The following changes are under consideration for future versions
of ^T.
- The ability to make temporary configuration changes.
- Search capability
- Zoom feature (e.g. treat a resource as though it is the
entire outline).
- True 4-directional field-to-field cursor movement during
data entry.
- Have a calendar for each resource (to facilitate part time
employees, etc.).
- Ability to move resources and projects.
- Print to structured outline file.
- Add a field to each record to indicate when last updated.
- Provided a facility for accessing Archive files.
- Performance improvements
We would appreciate any feedback on these or any other
recommendations for improvement.
- 18 -
^T REGISTRATION FORM
Please complete this form and send it with the $35.00
registration fee to the address below.
Name____________________________________________________________
Company_________________________________________________________
Shipping Address________________________________________________
Mailing Address_________________________________________________
City______________________________State_____Zip_________________
^T Version Number_______________________________________________
Computer Make/Model_____________________RAM Installed___________
Diskette Size: 3 1/2_______ 5 1/4_______
Where did you acquire ^T?_______________________________________
Comments/Suggestions
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Send to
Steve Starsinic
7 Dorchester Road
Hummelstown, PA 17036
- 19 -
