Managing Projects › Set Up a CA Clarity PPM Project › Define the Project Properties › Define the Scheduling Properties

Define the Scheduling Properties

You define scheduling properties for the following reasons:

• Open or close the project for time tracking.
• Auto-schedule your project.
• Define the default staffing options.
• Set the project-level default earned value calculation method.
• Associate the project to an earned value reporting period.
• Override the earned value.

Follow these steps:

1. Open the project.
2. Open the Properties menu, and from Properties, click Schedule.
3. Complete the fields in the Schedule section. The following fields require explanation:

   As Of Date

   Defines the date to include data in time and budget estimates. This date is used in Earned Value Analysis (EVA) calculations, such as Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS) and drives the calculations for costs. ETC for a project is not scheduled on or before the As of Date.

   % Complete

   Defines the percent of work that has been completed on the project, based on the percentage of completion of the tasks and subprojects. This field is displayed only if the % Complete Calculation Method is set to Duration or Effort.

   Default: 0

   Values: 0 through 100

   % Complete Calculation Method

   Specifies the method to calculate the % Complete value for the project and tasks.

   Values:

   • Manual. Use this method to enter the % Complete for the project, summary, and detail tasks manually. Also, select this calculation method if you are using CA Clarity PPM with Microsoft Project, or if you are using an external job to calculate % Complete. The % Complete field appears on the task properties page. When using the manual method, the status of a task does not change automatically. The task status changes only when you manually update the % Complete value or the status.
   • Duration. Use this method to track the % Complete based on the duration. The duration is a measure of the total span of active working time for a task: from the start date to the finish date of a task. The % Complete for summary tasks is automatically calculated based on the following formula:

     Summary Task % Complete = Total Detail Task Duration Complete / Total Detail Task Duration
     

   • Effort. Use this method to calculate the % Complete for summary and detail tasks, automatically, based on the work units that are completed by resource assignments. If you assign a nonlabor resource to a task, the effort and actuals for that resource are ignored in the calculation. The calculations are based on the following formulas.

     Summary Task % Complete = Sum of Detail Task resource assignment Actuals / Sum of Detail Task resource assignment Effort
     Detail Task % Complete = Sum of resource assignment Actuals / Sum of resource assignment Effort
     

   Default: Manual

   Note: Set the % Complete Calculation Method at the beginning of your project and do not change this value.

   Important! Verify that the start and finish dates of tasks and assignments are the same or within the start and finish dates of the project. Else, the start and end dates of the project are automatically redefined as per the start and end dates of the tasks and assignments.

4. Complete the fields in the Tracking section. The following fields require explanation:

   Track Mode

   Indicates the tracking method that is used by resource assignments to enter time spent on project tasks.

   Values:

   • Clarity. Resource assignments enter time against their assigned tasks using timesheets.
   • None. Resources other than labor resources track actuals from financial transaction records or through a desktop scheduler, such as Open Workbench and Microsoft Project.
   • Other. Actuals are imported from a third-party application.

   Default: Clarity

   Charge Code

   Defines the charge code against which transactions for the project are charged. If you also define task-level charge codes on timesheets, then the task charge codes override this code.

5. Select the Prevent Unassigned Timesheet Tasks check box if you do not want to allow users to add unassigned timesheet tasks to the project.
6. Complete the fields in the Staffing section. The following fields require explanation:

   Default Staff OBS Unit

   Defines the set default OBS unit that is used when you add team staff members to this project. This OBS unit describes a staffing requirement, and can be a resource pool, a specific location, or a department. By mapping roles with OBS units and resource managers, the roles can be filled more accurately. The default staff OBS unit is used during capacity planning for analyzing demand against your capacity using the staff OBS as filter criteria.

   Example:

   Use the OBS to find out if you have enough capacity for programmers in Atlanta to fulfill the demand for programmers in that location.

7. Save your changes.