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Create Subprojects from Project Templates

Use this procedure to create a subproject using a project template. The default field values, defined in the project template, vary depending on the selections made in the template.

Follow these steps:

  1. Open the project.
  2. Open the Tasks menu and click Gantt.

    The Gantt view appears.

  3. Click the down arrow for the Add Existing SubProject icon in the Gantt view, and click Create New Project From Template.

    The available project templates appear.

  4. Select a project template and click Next.
  5. Complete the requested information. The following fields require explanation:
    Assignment Pool

    Specifies the pool of resources that is allowed when assigning resources to tasks.

    Values:

    • Team Only. Allow only staff members.
    • Resource Pool. Allow team staff members and resources for whom you have access rights to book to a project. With this option, when you assign a resource to a task, the resource is also added as a team staff member.

    Default: Resource Pool

    Manager

    Specifies the name of the resource that is responsible for managing the project. The manager of a project automatically receives certain rights for the project.

    The project manager is not the same as the collaboration manager. The person creating the project becomes the collaboration manager for the project by default.

    Default: The resource creating the project. If you are creating a project that someone else can manage, change the default to another resource.

    Required: No

    Page Layout

    Specifies the page layout to view project information. Available layouts are company-specific and dependent on the values set by your CA Clarity PPM administrator. Layouts also depend on whether an add-in is installed. If other layouts are not available, the field is display only.

    Default: Project Default Layout

    Required: Yes

    Start Date

    Defines the initial start date for a project. As you create tasks and assignments, this date is auto-calculated to match the first date that a task is scheduled to start. At that point, to edit this date, adjust the following dates:

    • Start date of the first task of the project.
    • Start date of the resource assignments and allocations on the project.

    Important! Verify that the start dates of tasks and assignments are the same or later than the start date of the project. Else, the start date of the project is automatically redefined as per the start dates of the tasks and assignments.

    Default: Current date

    Required: Yes

    Finish Date

    Defines the initial finish date for a project. As you create tasks and assignments, this date is auto-calculated to match the last date that a task is scheduled to finish. At that point, to edit this date, adjust the following dates:

    • End date of the first task of the project.
    • End date of the resource assignments and allocations on the project.

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

    Default: Current date

    Set Planned Cost Dates

    Specifies if the planned cost dates are synchronized with the investment dates. Selecting the option for a detailed financial plan does not affect the planned cost dates.

    Default: Selected

    Stage

    Defines the stage in the investment lifecycle. The list of choices is company-specific and depends on the values that your administrator sets.

    The metric is used in portfolio analysis when you use comparable stage criteria across all portfolio investments.

    Goal

    Specifies the purpose or business case for this project.

    Values: Cost Avoidance, Cost Reduction, Grow the Business, Infrastructure Improvement, and Maintain the Business

    Required: No

    Priority

    Defines the relative importance of this investment in relation to all other investments. The priority controls the order in which tasks are scheduled during autoscheduling. The priority is subject to dependency constraints.

    Values: 0 - 36 (where zero is the highest importance)

    Default: 10

    Required: No

    Progress

    Indicates the level of work that is completed on the tasks.

    Values:

    • Completed (100 percent)
    • Started (1 - 99 percent)
    • Not Started (0 percent)

    Default: Not Started

    Required: Yes

    Required

    Specifies to pin this investment when added to a portfolio. This field is used during scenario generation.

    Default: Cleared

    Required: No

    % 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.

    Department

    Defines the department OBS for the project.

    Location

    Defines the location OBS for the project.

    Template Name

    Displays the name of the project template from which data is used to populate the new project. Use a template to create a project with the following types of information predefined:

    • Project roles
    • Work breakdown structure
    • Financial plans
    • Project documents

    A template enables you to implement projects with common elements throughout the organization.

    Scale Work By

    Defines the percentage by which the work estimate on each task is required to be increased or decreased for the new project. The scaling is relative to the template.

    Values: 0-100 (where zero means no change)

    Default: Zero

    Scale Budget By

    Defines the percentage (positive or negative) as the scaling factor for the dollar amounts defined in the project cost plans and benefit plans.

    Values: 0-100 (where zero means no change)

    Default: Zero

    Example: The template project from 1/1/2012 to 12/31/2012 allocates $10,000 for planned cost and $20,000 for planned benefit for the project duration. If a Scale Budget By value of 20 percent is defined, the plans copy over to the new project as follows. Assume that the project duration is same as the template project:

    • The planned cost shows $12,000 (scaled up by an extra 20 percent of the original value).

    The planned benefit shows $24,000 (scaled up by an extra 20 percent of the original value).

    Convert resources to roles

    Specifies to replace the resources in the new project with the primary roles, or team roles of the named resources on the project template. If a named resource has no primary role or team role, the named resource is retained on the new project. This setting overrides the default project management setting on the settings page.

    For example, a cost plan uses a resource as a grouping attribute. When you select this check box, the cost plan from the template is copied. However, the resource values are not converted to roles. The resource value can be the only value that differentiates one line item detail row from another. In the absence of the value, duplicate detail rows can result in the cost plan.

    Default: Cleared

  6. Save the changes.

More information:

Subprojects

Add Subprojects to Master Projects

Create Subprojects from Project WBS

View Combined Subproject Actuals and Estimates (projects)

Control Access to Subprojects

Rules for Copying Financial Plans from Project Templates