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Tel: 01844 261 700

 Table of Contents
Course Objectives .........................................................................................................................5
Day 1........................................................................................................................................................ 5
Day 2........................................................................................................................................................ 5
Getting started ...............................................................................................................................6
Starting a new project .............................................................................................................................. 6
Opening an existing project ..................................................................................................................... 7
Saving a file ............................................................................................................................................. 7
Saving a file under a new name ............................................................................................................... 7
Closing a project ...................................................................................................................................... 8
Exiting Asta Powerproject ....................................................................................................................... 8
Asta Powerproject screen areas ...................................................................................................9
The Project View ..................................................................................................................................... 9
Calendars .....................................................................................................................................10
To display a list of available calendars .................................................................................................. 10
Select the Default Calendar ................................................................................................................... 10
Edit the Default Calendar ...................................................................................................................... 11
Adding exceptions ................................................................................................................................. 11
Deleting exceptions................................................................................................................................ 12
Creating a project .......................................................................................................................13
Entering bar & task names ..................................................................................................................... 13
Creating tasks ........................................................................................................................................ 13
Moving and editing tasks ....................................................................................................................... 14
Moving bars vertically ........................................................................................................................... 15
Inserting bars ......................................................................................................................................... 15
Milestones.............................................................................................................................................. 15
Task-per-line mode ................................................................................................................................ 16
Linking tasks................................................................................................................................17
Link types .............................................................................................................................................. 17
Drawing links with lead/lag time ........................................................................................................... 18
Moving/Editing Links ............................................................................................................................ 19
Block linking ......................................................................................................................................... 20
Link tasks mode ..................................................................................................................................... 20
Linking tasks without drawing on the Bar Chart ................................................................................... 21
Reschedule ...................................................................................................................................22
Changing the project start date .................................................................................................22
Constraints...................................................................................................................................23
Adding a constraint ................................................................................................................................ 23
Types of Constraint ................................................................................................................................ 24
Reschedule results (Float)...................................................................................................................... 24
Buffer Tasks ................................................................................................................................25
Structuring the project ...............................................................................................................26
Creating summary tasks ......................................................................................................................... 26
Opening and closing summary tasks...................................................................................................... 26
Adding & Removing tasks into Summary Groups ................................................................................ 27
Removing Summary Tasks .................................................................................................................... 27
Summary bar level formatting ............................................................................................................... 27
Using the project view to navigate your project .................................................................................... 28
Creating Expanded Tasks ...................................................................................................................... 28
Cross Chart linking ................................................................................................................................ 30
Hammock Tasks ..........................................................................................................................31
Task Pools ....................................................................................................................................32

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Code libraries ..............................................................................................................................33
Creating code libraries ........................................................................................................................... 33
Allocating codes .................................................................................................................................... 34
Multiple task allocation ......................................................................................................................... 35
Switching the display between code library folders............................................................................... 35
Viewing a Code Breakdown Structure .................................................................................................. 36
Editing the view ...........................................................................................................................37
The Date Zone ....................................................................................................................................... 37
Adjusting the scale of the Date Zone ................................................................................................................... 37
Slicing the Date Zone ........................................................................................................................................... 37
Fit to window ....................................................................................................................................................... 38
Adding/editing rulers on the Date Zone ............................................................................................................... 38
Hiding non-working time ..................................................................................................................................... 38
Week Numbering ................................................................................................................................................. 39
Grid Lines ............................................................................................................................................................ 39
Shading ................................................................................................................................................................ 39
The Bar Chart ........................................................................................................................................ 40
Show/hide switches .............................................................................................................................................. 40
Specifying the appearance of tasks ...................................................................................................................... 41
Control the display of Non-Working time ........................................................................................................... 41
Hiding Tasks ........................................................................................................................................................ 42
The Spreadsheet or ‘Table’ .................................................................................................................... 43
To add new columns ............................................................................................................................................ 43
To move the position of columns ......................................................................................................................... 44
Saving the Table .................................................................................................................................................. 44
Table definition .................................................................................................................................................... 44
User Defined Fields .....................................................................................................................45
User defined fields and hyperlinks ........................................................................................................ 46
Text Annotations .........................................................................................................................46
Attaching annotations to tasks ............................................................................................................... 47
Inserting data fields into text annotations .............................................................................................. 47
Creating Auto Annotations .................................................................................................................... 47
Unique Task ID Numbering.......................................................................................................48
Displaying Unique Task ID codes ......................................................................................................... 48
Renumbering Unique Task ID codes ..................................................................................................... 48
Filters ...........................................................................................................................................50
Creating a New Filter using the Filter Wizard....................................................................................... 50
To turn a filter off ................................................................................................................................................ 52
Sorting and Grouping your project...........................................................................................53
Creating a Sort ....................................................................................................................................... 53
To remove a sort .................................................................................................................................................. 54
Working with Views ...................................................................................................................54
Saving a view......................................................................................................................................... 55
Copy views from one project to another................................................................................................ 55
Specifying the views to open when a project is opened ........................................................................ 56
Baselines .......................................................................................................................................57
Creating Baselines ................................................................................................................................. 57
Displaying the baseline .......................................................................................................................... 60
To change the colour of the baseline .................................................................................................................... 60
To hide a baseline from the view ......................................................................................................................... 60
To choose specific baselines to show or hide ...................................................................................................... 60
Merging ................................................................................................................................................. 60
Reverting to a baseline .......................................................................................................................... 62
Reporting Variances against a Baseline ................................................................................................ 62
Progressing the Project...............................................................................................................64
Working with Multiple Progress Periods .............................................................................................. 64
Updating Progress in the Table.............................................................................................................. 65

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 The Progress Cycle ................................................................................................................................ 67
Displaying progress in the bar chart ...................................................................................................... 68
Reporting Progress in the Spreadsheet .................................................................................................. 68
Displaying Progress Data for specific progress periods ....................................................................................... 68
Displaying Planned v Actual data in the spreadsheet........................................................................................... 70
Recording a large volume of notes....................................................................................................................... 71
Jagged Progress View............................................................................................................................ 72
Progress Options .................................................................................................................................... 75
Using Overall % Complete to update progress .................................................................................................... 75
Progress Entry Mode............................................................................................................................................ 75
Snapping .............................................................................................................................................................. 76
Overall % Complete weighting ............................................................................................................................ 77
Using Duration % Complete to update progress .................................................................................................. 78
Printing the Project .....................................................................................................................79
Output Tab ............................................................................................................................................ 80
Details Tab ............................................................................................................................................. 80
To customise your chosen border file and insert a company logo ....................................................................... 82
Scaling Tab ............................................................................................................................................ 84
Appearance Tab ..................................................................................................................................... 85
Output Fields ......................................................................................................................................... 86
Display Switches ................................................................................................................................... 87
Print ....................................................................................................................................................... 87
Creating Templates .....................................................................................................................88
Appendix ......................................................................................................................................89
Creating a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).......................................................................89
Creating Work Breakdown Numbering (WBN) for your project .......................................................... 90
Creating a separate WBS Structure ....................................................................................................... 92
Glossary .......................................................................................................................................94
Exercises.......................................................................................................................................97
Shed Build Project ................................................................................................................................. 97
Construction Project .............................................................................................................................. 98
Office Block Project .............................................................................................................................. 99
Shop Refit Project ................................................................................................................................ 101
Creating Tables .................................................................................................................................... 103
Extension Project ................................................................................................................................. 104
Extension Project – Part ii ................................................................................................................... 106

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Course Objectives

Day 1

During the day you will learn how to:

 Edit and apply working time through Calendars

 Create a linked Bar Chart
 Understand and analyse the Critical Path and Float
 Manipulate the chart using constraints
 Summarise the Bar Chart
 Develop the project into a hierarchy of sub charts
 Create a coded reporting system
 Format the project for presentation

Day 2

During the day you will learn how to:

 Use Buffer Tasks

 Create Tables & User Defined Fields
 Create Filters & Sorts
 Work with views on a project
 Print your results
 Use Baselines for monitoring programmes
 Update progress on your project
 Use Task Pools & Templates

Topics will be backed up by exercises

This booklet is yours to take away. Please feel free to add any notes you feel are relevant.

Please ask any questions

 = Note, something of interest  = Warning, something

to make you aware of.

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 6 Asta Powerproject

Getting started
Powerproject follows many of the rules for Windows:

 Left click will usually select an item

 Double click will activate it
 Right click gives you a menu to make changes
 Click and drag will move an item from one part of the screen to another or will select
multiple items

 Hold Shift button and left click will allow you to select adjacent items
 Hold Control button and left click will select non-adjacent items

Starting a new project

Templates are used to make creating a new project as quick as possible. A template can contain
information that you use regularly in your projects like tables, code libraries, filters and many more items.

 Select the File tab

 Select New
 Select a template on which to base your project e.g. Construction Template

 Enter the details for the new project

Filename – The name of the document

Name – The print title

For – Who the project is for i.e. the client

By – Who the project is by i.e. your name or company

Start – The start date for the whole project

 Click Create

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Opening an existing project

 Select the File tab

 Recent projects are displayed to the right. Double click to select & open a project
 If your project has not been opened recently, Select Open… from the menu on the left

 Select your file & click Open

Saving a file
 Select the File Tab & Save or click the Save button on the quick access tool bar

Saving a file under a new name

When saving a file under a new name, the existing version is kept and a new version is saved under the
new name.

 Select the File tab and Save As…

 Name your file & Select where you wish to save the project and press Save.

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Closing a project
 Close the project tabs using the ‘X’ next to each tab

Or
 Return to the File tab and select
If the project has not been saved, you will be prompted to do so

Exiting Asta Powerproject

 Select the File Tab & select Exit from the left hand menu

 N.B. If you try to close an individual project, or the Powerproject software altogether, without saving,
Powerproject will ensure you do not accidentally lose changes by prompting you to save

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 Asta Powerproject 9

Asta Powerproject screen areas

The Asta Powerproject screen is divided into a number of areas. This may vary for existing projects
where the layout has been changed to suit the needs of the user.

Ribbon

Date zone

Project
View
Spreadsheet
Bar chart

Properties View

Object Edit Toolbar

 Ribbon – Contains the commands for your project

 Project View – Shows the structure of your project and shows the list of library items
available

 Bar Chart – Information on your project in graphic form, your Gantt Chart
 Date zone – Showing dates for years, months, weeks etc.
 Spreadsheet – Information on your project in tabular form
 Properties View – Allows you to edit the properties of a selected object
 Object Edit Toolbar – Used to edit tasks and/or links in the bar chart
The Project View
The project view lists information relevant to your project. It enables you to navigate the project &
provides a method of allocating codes, resources, calendars etc.

The project view area can be hidden if screen space is at a premium

 Select the Format tab and click the command

Or

 Select the same command on the bottom toolbar

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 10 Asta Powerproject

Calendars
Calendars define the working and non-working time within a project. The Calendar consists of a planned
pattern of work to which exceptions can be added. An exception is any day which does not conform to
the planned pattern of work, e.g. holidays or overtime

To display a list of available calendars

Calendars are accessed from the Project View

Click on the ‘+’

symbol to display the
contents of a folder

To view a Calendar or add

The Default exceptions to a Calendar, right
Calendar icon click on the Calendar name
and click on Properties

 Any new task you create will follow the default calendars’ work pattern
Select the Default Calendar
 Right click on the calendar you wish to set as the default

 Select Task Default from the list

 The tick will move to the new default calendar
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 Asta Powerproject 11

Edit the Default Calendar

The calendars properties can be edited to match the specific working times of this project

 Right click on the calendar you wish to edit

 Select Properties
Each day in the Calendar has a work pattern assigned to it. An exception is any day which does not
follow that working pattern.

Each day has periods of working and non-working time assigned. To view these times

 Double click on the day you wish to view.

 All Asta supplied calendars have the same 8 hour per day pattern
Adding exceptions

You can add additional exceptions to the calendar to show additional bank holidays, shut down days or
additional weekend working.

 Left click on the date you wish to select.

 To select more than one date hold the CTRL key and click on each date
 Click the Add Exception button

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 12 Asta Powerproject

 Select an Exception type from the drop down menu

 Choose the duration in the Exception period section
• Specific start and end times allows you to set the start and finish of the time to the
nearest 30 minutes
• From work pattern periods matches the morning and afternoon to those already set for
the calendar. (This option will produce the best results)
• 24 hour exception will add the selected exception for the whole 24 hours of the day

 Click Add
Deleting exceptions

Removing an exception from a date will return those dates back to the standard work pattern for the
calendar

 Select the dates with the exceptions you wish to remove

 Click Delete Exceptions

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 Asta Powerproject 13

Creating a project
A project is a series of tasks which must be completed to achieve a set of objectives.
A Task is a unit of work with a duration.

The Spreadsheet displays the task information and the Bar Chart (Gantt chart) shows the tasks in their
date position and duration.

Tasks can be created on the Spreadsheet or drawn onto the Bar chart.
They can be linked to show relationships between them to create the critical path.
You can create more than one task on the same bar to show repetitive or intermittent working.
Task names can be used to describe the task and do not need to be unique.

Entering bar & task names

 Move the mouse pointer over an empty cell in the Name

column and left click

 Type a name and press Enter

Creating tasks
A task can be created either by typing the duration into the column on the Spreadsheet or by using the
cursor to draw onto the Bar Chart. Once created, any aspect of the task can be edited using either the
Spreadsheet or using the mouse on the task bar

To create tasks in the Spreadsheet

 Click in the duration column of the task in the table

 Type the duration you wish into the column. Use any duration unit by adding the
appropriate letter after the number, i.e. d for days and w for weeks

 Press Enter. A task is displayed on the Bar Chart

To create tasks on the Bar Chart

 Place the mouse cursor in the Bar Chart on the line for the task. The cursor is a cross.
 Left click and drag the mouse to the right
A pop up box displays the duration of the task

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 14 Asta Powerproject

 Release the mouse button when the task is the required duration
The task remains selected (highlighted in black)

 Click away from the task to deselect it. It is displayed green again
Moving and editing tasks

Tasks can be moved and edited using either the mouse or the Object Edit Toolbar

To edit your tasks on the Bar Chart

 Place your cursor on the task you wish to edit

 Your cursor will change to one of these shapes

Select /move task:

Place mouse cursor in the
centre of a task. Left click &
drag.
While this cursor shape is
showing an item can be
selected or moved.
Adjust start date of task:
Place mouse cursor at start of a
task. Left click & drag.
While this cursor shape is
showing the start date of a task
can be moved without affecting
the end date.
Adjust end date of task:
Place mouse cursor at the end
of a task. Left click & drag.
While this cursor shape is
showing the end date of a task
can be moved without affecting
the start date.

To edit tasks on the Object Edit Toolbar

 Select a task on the Bar Chart using the cursor as shown above

The Object Edit Toolbar is now displayed at the foot of the screen

To change start To change end

To move date
date of selected date of selected
position of
tasks tasks
selected tasks

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 Asta Powerproject 15

Moving bars vertically

It is possible to change the order of tasks.

To move Design to the top of the project:

 Left click on the line number for the task you want to move.

 Place your cursor on the task in the bar chart, to display the cursor

 Click and drag the bar to the line above

Inserting bars
You can insert new lines into your project to add new tasks or add space between existing tasks.

 Right click on the line number where you want to insert your new line.
 Select Insert Bar to insert a line above the selected line or Insert Bar Below to insert
a line below the selected line

Milestones
Milestones are used to display key dates or events in our project and have zero duration

To create a Milestone

 Name the task in the normal way

 Enter 0 (zero) in the duration column.

A diamond symbol appears in the bar chart. The duration column shows blank.

Milestones can either be a Start or Finish milestone. Start Milestones will show at the start of a working
day, whereas Finish milestones will show at the end of the working day, e.g. if a task is completed on
Friday afternoon, a Start Milestone will appear on Monday morning. A Finish Milestone will appear at
the end of Friday afternoon. By default, you will create a start milestone.

To change a Milestone into a Start or Finish Milestone depending on your requirements

 Right click on the Milestone.

 Select Make Into > Start/Finish Milestone

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 16 Asta Powerproject

Task-per-line mode
In Asta Powerproject, it is possible to display more than one task on a bar. This is useful if you have
several tasks of the same type or you have a process made up of a number of single tasks. Asta
Powerproject can separate tasks that exist on the same line by dropping them down onto separate lines.
This is achievable by using Task-per-line mode.

To create multiple tasks on the same line

 Using the cross cursor draw more than one task onto the same line in the Bar chart.

 Note the table shows the information for all tasks on the bar
 Click the + symbol to the left of the line number to display info for each individual task.

This is called Task-per-line mode.

 Click on the - symbol to roll the tasks back up onto one line

To roll up existing tasks

There are also buttons which allow you to select existing tasks on separate lines and roll them up onto
one line

 Select the line numbers of the tasks you wish to place on one line
 On the Home tab, click the Roll up tasks command

 The process can be reversed using the Unroll task command

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 Asta Powerproject 17

Linking tasks
Once you have created tasks you will need to consider the order that you wish to work on those tasks.

In order for the software to understand the order or logical sequence that you wish to work through your
project, you will need to link your tasks to indicate how they relate to each other.

Link types

Links can be drawn starting and ending anywhere along the length of a task and you can link tasks in
many different ways. The type of link used depends on the nature of the relationship between tasks

There are 4 types of link:

Start – Start Finish – Start Start – Finish Finish- Finish

In all cases, the direction of the arrow controls where the next task appears (A controls where B appears)

Links are drawn between tasks using following cursor shapes:

End link Cursor:

This cursor shape indicates
that you are linking from / to
the end of a task

Start link Cursor:

This cursor shape indicates
that you are linking from / to
the start of a task

Mid-link Cursor:
This cursor shape enables you
to link from/to any midpoint
along the length of a task. A
pop up box will indicate your
exact position during the task,
e.g. 3 days into a 10 day task

To draw a finish to start link between 2 tasks

 Place the mouse on the top or bottom corner at the end of the first (predecessor) task
to display the end link cursor

 Left click and drag to draw the link to the start of the corresponding (successor) task.

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 18 Asta Powerproject

 Release the mouse when the Start Link cursor is displayed

A link is made between the 2 tasks. The link arrow is green. This means that the link is selected.

 Click elsewhere on the bar chart to deselect the link

This tells Asta Powerproject that task B cannot start before task A is finished

Sometimes it is necessary to show that tasks will happen simultaneously. To show this a link is drawn
starting or ending somewhere along the length of a task known as a mid-link.

To draw a mid-link

 Place the cursor at the start of the predecessor task. Without pressing, move the cursor
to the right so that the mid-link cursor is displayed

 A pop up box will indicate where during the task you are linking from
 Left click and drag at the desired position to move the pointer to the desired position on
the successor task

 Release the mouse when the corresponding link cursor is displayed

Drawing links with lead/lag time

There may be times when you need to insert a period of waiting or delay into your project, e.g. waiting for
paint or concrete to cure

 Position the cursor at the bottom right hand corner of the predecessor task. The end
link icon appears

 Left click and keep the mouse button held down

 Press and hold the Shift button on the keyboard.
 With the mouse button still held down drag the cursor horizontally. A pop up box will
appear displaying the lead/lag duration

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 Asta Powerproject 19

Hold SHIFT
whilst drawing
the link to set the
lag duration

 Once you have reached the desired duration release Shift but keep hold of your
mouse button and drag it over to where you want to end the link and let go

Alternatively the lag can be entered into the properties of an existing link

 Draw a Finish to Start link

 Right click on the link and select Properties
 Click on the Link Start tab
 Enter the lead/lag time in days, e.g. 2d
Moving/Editing Links

If you have drawn a link incorrectly, you can simply ‘drag’ the link to the correct position, rather than
deleting and re-drawing the link:

 Select the link (it will show as green)

 Hover the cursor over the end of the link you wish the move until a ‘cross’ cursor becomes visible

When the link is selected Pull the link to the

The link should have been
the Drag/Move Cursor can correct position on the
to the start of task 3
be displayed task

 The link can now be dragged to the correct position

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 20 Asta Powerproject

Block linking
If you have more than 2 tasks to link together e.g. a whole section of work, the Add/Delete Links button
can be used

 Select the tasks that you want to link

 Left click & drag downwards to select adjacent bars

To link tasks that are not next to each other on the chart hold the ctrl button on keyboard while clicking on
line number the task you want to link

 Click the Add/Delete Links button on the Home tab and then ‘Link tasks’

Finish to Start links are placed between each of the tasks

Link tasks mode

Link Tasks mode enables you to link tasks automatically as they are created or as you select them one-
by-one in the bar chart.

 Select the task you wish to link from

 Click the Add/Delete Links dropdown on the Home tab, in the Schedule group, and
select Link Tasks Mode.

The cursor changes shape to indicate that you are now in Link Tasks mode.

 Click on or draw the task you wish to link to

A Finish- to-Start link is drawn automatically from the first task to the second task

 As you click on or draw further tasks, each new task is linked to the previous task
automatically as long as you remain in Link Tasks mode.

 To exit Link Tasks mode, on the Home tab, in the Schedule group, click the
Add/Delete Links dropdown and select Link Tasks Mode again, or press ESC.

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Linking tasks without drawing on the Bar Chart

It is possible to link tasks by selecting one or more tasks in the Bar Chart and specifying the
predecessor/successor by name or ID. Creating links in this way is an easy way to link tasks which are
not close to each other in the Bar Chart.

 Right click on a task or tasks on the Bar Chart

 Select Linking > Add Link

The Link From/To dialogue box is displayed

 Indicate if you are linking from or to the selected

task(s)

 Identify the task you are linking to by name or ID

number

 Select the type of link & any lag

 Press Link and Close

The Wild Card

 Placing an asterix (SHIFT + ‘8’ on your keyboard) after the first few letters or words of the task acts
as a wild card to search for all tasks that begin with those letters or words

 If more than one task meets the search criteria, they will be displayed in a list and you can tick to
select as required.

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Reschedule
When you have linked your tasks, you must Reschedule the project. The reschedule performs a series of
actions:

 Places the start of the first task at the beginning of the project
 Calculates the optimum start and end dates of all tasks according to the logical links
applied

 Calculates whether a task has any float attached

 Shows whether a task is Critical (Critical Path Analysis)
 Identifies any constraints which have been exceeded
 Calculates the earliest project end date

To Reschedule the project

 On the Home tab, in the Schedule group, click the Reschedule command

 The critical path of the project is shown outlined in red

Changing the project start date
st
The start date of the project can be changed at any time. This will define the start date of the 1 task and
all tasks will be scheduled from this date.

 In the File tab, select Properties

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 Asta Powerproject 23

 Change the Imposed Start to the new project start date

 Click Close
 Reschedule the project to see the new start date take effect
Setting Date Zero
Reset Date Zero if you would like the Elapsed week ruler on in the Date Zone to start counting from the
start date of the project

Date Zero

Constraints
Once the tasks have been linked and rescheduled, your project will be shown in the most logical order.
What we have yet to take into consideration are any fixed dates that will need to be adhered to, such as a
specific start on site date or a contract completion date.

To show fixed dates in your project and to show the impact they have on the rest of the tasks in your
project you will need to use Constraints on those tasks

Adding a constraint

 Select the task or milestone you wish to constrain and move it to the required date
position

 On the Home tab click on the drop down arrow under the Constraint Flag command

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 24 Asta Powerproject

 Select the constraint you wish to impose on the task

 Once the constraint has been added a flag will appearon the task or milestone.

Types of Constraint

Start on or after
A soft constraint which will not allow the task to start before
the constraint date, however to could move to a later date
Start on
A hard constraint which will fix the start of the task to a
constraint date
Finish on or before
A soft constraint that will not allow the task to end after the
constraint date, however it could finish earlier
Deadline
A soft constraint which works as a warning but will allow the
project to move beyond the target deadline
Finish on
A hard constraint that will fix the end date of the task to the
constraint date
Work between
A soft constraint that will allow either the start or the end
date to be constrained between
Holding pin
A Constraint which will move with the task if the task is
moved. Useful for holding unlinked tasks in place.

Reschedule results (Float)

Rescheduling a project with constraints will affect the appearance of tasks & may result in some items
showing Float

Total float – the period a task can be delayed or extended

without delaying the end of the project - however this will
affect other tasks (successor tasks)

Free float – the period a task can be delayed or extended

without affecting the end of the project - or any other
tasks.

Critical Task - displayed in red. If a critical task is

delayed, it will change the project end date.

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Buffer Tasks
Most projects will have a period of contingency planned into the program to allow for delays.
This could be hidden by being planned into the duration of each task. Alternatively, it could be marked by
using a finish constraint on the desired completion date, resulting in float throughout the program if tasks
finish earlier than the constrained date.

Buffer tasks can be used to collect the entire contingency of a plan, making it explicit. Buffer tasks protect
important dates and reduce excess float.

A buffer contributes to the Critical Path calculation, but when its start date is affected, it will shrink or
expand in duration without moving beyond its finish date or the start date of successor tasks, filling time
that may otherwise show as float on a project and thereby protecting the Critical Path.

This technique is often referred to as Critical Chain.

Consider the example below:

A Before Design is changed

Without buffer –Design is changed

B to 1 week and causes the project
end date to move. This could result
in float.

With Buffer – Design is changed

C to 1 week, although this affects
the project, the buffer increases
to protect the end date.

There are two types of buffer tasks:

 Feeder buffers – which sit within the project protecting key dates of successor tasks. If a task
has an outgoing link, it is a feeder buffer.

 Project buffers – usually the last task in a project protecting a specified finish date. The task
has no outgoing link and will have a deadline flag applied to it when created.

Buffer tasks will only move beyond their finish date, or delay the start of successor tasks, once they are
completely consumed, at which point they are turned automatically into finish milestones.

To create a Buffer:

 Create a new task of the required contingency duration or select an existing task within the
project

 Link the task into the project and reschedule so that the task takes up the correct position
within the project

 Right Click on the task and go to Make Into > Buffer Task
 If the task has no successors (project buffer) a deadline flag is applied to it
 If the task is within the project (feeder buffer) then the successor task will need to be
constrained by a flag or by some other task within the project

 Reschedule

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Structuring the project

Project management is not only about defining tasks and setting up their dependencies, it is also about
organising the different parts of a project into a coordinated whole

Asta Powerproject lets you organise your project using Summary Tasks to group related tasks together.

Creating summary tasks

Summary tasks are useful for grouping related activities together in sequential order.

A summary task takes its position and duration from the position and duration of the tasks within the
summary group.

It provides ‘rolled up’ information relating to all tasks within the summary and gives the user control over
displaying each & every task in the project or displaying only the summarised information

 Click & Drag on the line numbers to highlight the bars and tasks you wish to group
together

 On the Home tab click the Summarise command

A summary bar appears on the Bar chart

 Enter a name for the summary bar in the table e.g. Sub Substructure
You can now choose to hide the tasks that are part of the summary group from the chart so that only the
summary bar & ‘rolled up’ details are displayed

Opening and closing summary tasks

 On the Bar Chart, place the cursor over the summary task so that the sweet wrapper
cursor is displayed and double click

 Individual tasks are hidden from view. Only the summarised details are displayed.
 Double click again to display the tasks

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Adding & Removing tasks into Summary Groups

 Select the bar(s)/ task(s) to add to the summary by clicking on the line number

 On the Home tab click on the Indent button on the ribbon

 Bars are added to the summary that is above

 To remove tasks from a summary group, use the Outdent button

Removing Summary Tasks

 Select all of the contents of the summary group
 Click the Outdent button from the ribbon
If there are no contents in the summary group the summary task no longer exists

Summary bar level formatting

Summary Headings are displayed with a coloured banding. The spreadsheet cell colour and font, as well
as the background colour for that row on the bar chart, can be edited in the Project View. The colouring is
set for each level of the project, so more than one summary may have the same colour.

 In the Project view right click on any Summary level and select Appearance

 Choose the text colour, background colour and font style and size of your
choice

To control the appearance of the summary row colour on the spreadsheet & bar chart

 On the Format tab click the Format Bar Chart command

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 On the General tab tick to Use Summary row colouring on the Spreadsheet, Bar
chart and also to show banding down the left hand side of the spreadsheet

Using the project view to navigate your project

The structure of our project is clearly displayed in the Project View.

 Click on the ‘+’ sign to open the contents of headings. Programme is usually the top
level

 Select any of the summary groups to display only that section of work on the Bar Chart
In the example below only the Superstructure phase is displayed on the bar chart.

Creating Expanded Tasks

Expanded tasks allow you to organise your plan as a hierarchical tree of charts, gradually breaking the
project down further and further into more and more detail. These new Charts are clearly displayed in the
Project View. Tasks within the charts can be summarised to structure the work within each chart.

Any existing task can be converted into an expanded task or a new task can be created and made into an
expanded task.

To add more detail into our project without overly complicating our chart we will create a new task called
Landscaping within which further detail will be contained.

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 Create a task by entering a task name and duration

into the table e.g. Landscaping

 In the bar chart, place the mouse over the task and
right click on it

 Select Make into > Expanded

The task becomes a new chart in the project hierarchy.

To access the new chart either:

 Left click on the new chart in the Project View

Or

 Double click on the expanded task on the bar chart

Create tasks and plan your work in this new chart as normal.

 Link & reschedule the tasks. The tasks will appear non critical and take the start date of
the project

To return to the main ‘Programme’ chart of the project:

 Select Programme from the project view or select Up one level from the Quick Access
Toolbar at the top your screen

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At programme level, the expanded task is displayed with a non - critical appearance.
It takes its duration from the tasks held within it and its position at the start date of the project.

The expanded task can now be linked into the project just like a normal task.

Cross Chart linking

Sometimes it is necessary to show logic links between tasks held in different charts in your project or
between the root chart of your project and tasks held in sub-charts. These links can be made by bringing
the tasks onto one screen to enable links to be drawn between them or by using the Link From/To
dialogue.

To display the tasks from different charts on one screen:

 Click on Programme in the Project View

 Hold down the Ctrl key on the keyboard and also click on the
expanded chart in the Project View

Tasks from both charts are now displayed on the same screen and links can be drawn between tasks as
required.

Link between tasks on

separate charts as
required and reschedule

Alternatively, the Link From/To dialogue can be used. This is useful if the tasks are not near to each
other and links cannot easily be drawn between them.

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Hammock Tasks
Hammocks are used to show an overview of related tasks that are not next to each other in the project.
Like summaries & expanded tasks, hammock tasks take their total duration from the tasks within them.

 Create a task
 Right click the task and select Make Into –
Hammock

To add tasks to a Hammock:

 Right click on a task

 Select ‘Add to Hammock’ from the list
 Select the hammock if there is more than one and click OK
 Repeat to add additional tasks
A copy of each task is shown within the hammock. In the example below the Walls & Roof tasks have
been added to a hammock called Scaffold.

To remove tasks from a Hammock:

 Right click on a task & select ‘Remove from Hammock’

Viewing Hammocks in the project View

Hammocks can optionally be displayed in the project view. This is useful for viewing the contents of the
hammock independently of the project or printing just the contents of the hammock.

 In the project view, select the hammock

 This will update the table and bar chart to show just the contents of the hammock

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To return to display the whole project:

 In the project view select Programme

Task Pools
Task pools allow you to save a ‘series of tasks’ such as those for a particular build type or house plan or
any tasks that are grouped together under summary bars (or in expanded tasks) to form ‘phases’ of work
in a project.

These can then be copied through the programme to show repeated work or used as a starting point in
new programmes.

To create a new task pool:

 Where you have a group of tasks grouped together right click on the relevant summary bar on
either the bar chart or the project view

 Select ‘Copy to task pool’

 The task pool will then display in the project view on the left hand side of the screen. It can be
used again in the same project or saved into a project template for use in future projects

When you want to add this group of tasks into a project:

 Move your cursor over the task pools in the project view

 Click and drag the task pool onto the bar chart of your programme
The group of tasks are copied into the project.

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Code libraries
Code Libraries allow us to colour-code tasks so that their appearance represents something relevant.
A project can contain many code libraries, which can be hierarchically based.
Once allocated to tasks the codes can be used as the basis of Filters & Sorts to report on our project.

The codes are created in the Library Explorer.

Creating code libraries

For this example, we will create a Code Library for Sub-Contractors used in the project

 On the View tab click the Library Explorer

 In the left window of Library Explorer, click on the Code Library folder

 In the right window, on a blank part of the screen, right click and select New Code
Library.

 Give the library a name (e.g. Sub-Contractors). A folder is created

 In the right window, double click on the library folder
 Right click in a space in the right hand pane and choose New Code Library Entry

 Type in the names of the Sub contractors used in your project e.g. ‘ACME Builders’.
Press enter after each entry.

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 Click under Foreground Fill, Background Fill and Pattern to select colours and
patterns to identify this contractor

To return to the project

Click on the Bar Chart View Tab or close the Library Explorer tab by clicking on the ‘x’

Allocating codes

Code Libraries are displayed in the project view and can be allocated to tasks by dragging & dropping.

 Click the + to the left of the Code Libraries folder to display all
available libraries

 Click the + to the left of a folder to display the contents of that

folder

 Place the cursor over the Acme Building code entry in the
Project View

 Left Click and drag until the cursor is over the Dig Footings task, then release the
mouse

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The following message is displayed

 Click Yes to display the new Code Library colour on your task.
Multiple task allocation
It is possible to allocate codes to more than one task at a time

 Hold CTRL and select tasks as required.

 Place the cursor over the code entry in the Project View.
 Left click and drag the cursor to one of the tasks on the Bar Chart then release the
mouse.

 Click away to deselect and the bars will change colour

Switching the display between code library folders
Powerproject will only allow you to display one Code Library at a time on your tasks.
To switch between folders

 In the Project View, right click on the Code Library Folder

you wish to display and select Display Library

The red tick indicates the code library currently on display

To remove the display of Code Libraries:

 Right click on the folder that is on display (shows a red tick)

 Select Display Library to remove the display of this library.
No code libraries are selected to be on display

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Viewing a Code Breakdown Structure

Once code libraries have been assigned to tasks in a project we can easily display tasks with a given
code by displaying a ‘code breakdown structure’.

 Open the project view

 Right click on a code library entry
 Select Open Code Breakdown Structure

Only tasks with that Sub Contractor code are displayed on the project

 Click on other codes to display only those tasks

 Select the code library folder to view the whole project broken down by Sub Contractor

 To return to the standard view, select

programme from the project view

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Editing the view

The ‘view’ of your project is made up of 3 areas. Changes can be made to the appearance of each of
these areas independently

Date Zone

Table Bar Chart

The Date Zone

The Date Zone is the area where date information relevant to the project is displayed.
By default the Date Zone shows 4 rulers (Date lines) running across the top of the project, these are the
Year, Month, Week Start and Project Week Numbers (elapsed weeks)

Adjusting the scale of the Date Zone

 Place the mouse in the Date Zone area on any of the red lines (tick marks)

 Left click and drag the mouse either left or right.

Slicing the Date Zone
The Date Zone can also be ‘split’ into two or even three different scale zones, so that all three areas can
be scaled separately. This is useful when working on large projects.

 Place the mouse in the Date Zone, over the area you want the new section to begin.

 Right click with the mouse.

 Select Start New Scale Zone.

A faint grey line will appear at the point of clicking. Dragging any of the red lines either side of the grey
line will adjust the scale ONLY in that area.

Zone 1 | Zone 2 | Zone 3

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To remove a scale zone

 Right click on the right hand side of the line you wish to remove
 The line will be removed and the scale will revert to how it currently looks on the left
hand side.

Fit to window
When working on large projects, not all tasks will be on display on the screen at the same time. The date
zone can be instantly re sized so that tasks can fit on to the screen.

 Click on the View tab and in the Tab section select ‘Fit all to Window’
 Select which tasks you wish to fit to the current window

Adding/editing rulers on the Date Zone

The Date Zone can contain up to 10 rulers of date information across the top. To control the information
that is displayed

 Place the cursor anywhere in the Date Zone area and right click
 Select Properties from the list
The General tab controls the folding Calendar and the date ruler on display

 To add a fifth ruler, click once on an Unused ruler and select from the drop down list
 To remove any of the rulers first select and then choose Unused from the list
 Click on Apply to see the changes on your project

Hiding non-working time

 Select from the options to ensure that non- working time is
not displayed in your folding calendar. Holidays, Overtime
& Weekend working are displayed as default on the
Construction Template.

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Week Numbering
Week 1 in the Date Zone will default to the project's start date when the project was first created. This is
displayed in the ‘elapsed week’ line

To align week 1 to another date or if the start date has changed

 Select the Dates/Scales tab

 Set ‘Date Zero’ using the date picker
 Click Close

Grid Lines
The construction template supplied with Asta Powerproject comes with some grid lines for Year, Month,
Week and Day

Additional vertical grid lines can be added at dates specified by you e.g. a line that shows at a date of your
choice or a variable date like ‘Today’s Date’ or the ‘Month End’

 Select the Grids tab from the Date Zone Properties dialogue
 Click Add to add a new grid line
 Enter a new Name
 Left click in the Time Unit column and change Elapsed Week to Variable date
 Left click in the space in the Variable
date column

 Select a date or ‘click to select variable

date’ e.g. Today or Month end

 Click in the Style column to edit the grid

line appearance

 Press Close

Shading
Asta Powerproject can also put shading behind the tasks within the project. It has no effect on the
project dates or scheduling but it can be used to show certain information i.e. bad weather, school term
times etc.

 Right click in the Date Zone and select Properties

 Select the Shading tab
 Enter the Start and Finish dates for the shading
and choose a colour

 Click Close. This will also ‘Apply’ changes.

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The Bar Chart

There are many Bar Chart attributes that you can switch on and off to tailor the chart display exactly to
your needs. For example, you can choose whether to display Float, Critical Path, Code Libraries, non-
working shading and much more

Show/hide switches

On the Format tab, there are two rows of show/hide switches, which will allow you to easily show and
hide certain visual elements of the project. These are a quick way of turning on/off such things as Float,
Critical Path, Progress lines, progress, and links.

 Hover your cursor over the buttons to see a Tooltip as to what the button does.
 Select a button to display on the Bar Chart
 Re-Select to hide from display

The Format Bar Chart dialogue can be used to make more specific changes to the display of the Bar
Chart
 Right click on the Bar Chart and select Format Bar Chart

Or

 Select the Format Bar Chart button on the Format Tab

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Specifying the appearance of tasks

As an alternative to displaying tasks using the appearance of the codes that are assigned to them, you
can choose to display the default colour of tasks according to their task type. You could also choose to
show task data alongside the tasks and indicate if there is a note on the task

Select to display
Select to display an icon on the
the code library task to indicate if
that has been there are task
assigned to tasks notes
or bars or to
display the default
task appearance

Select the default

Choose to display appearance of
data fields on the tasks types
bar chart with
tasks

Control the display of Non-Working time

Holidays & Weekend working are displayed on the Bar Chart in the form of coloured lines running
vertically down the Gantt chart.

By default, the shading shows on the Chart and the Tasks & sometimes this could obscure the tasks
themselves, as in the example above where weekend work has been added for the 2nd fix plumbing &
Electrics tasks.

Use the Non-Working tab to control and improve this display to your requirements

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Select to display Remove the tick so

‘necking’ to that shading is not
highlight non - shown on tasks
working time like
holidays

Select the
calendar you want
to use on empty
bar lines

Hiding Tasks
You can choose to hide certain tasks before printing. They can easily be put
back onto display at any time.

In order to hide specific bars or tasks, you must first mark them for hiding.

 Right-click the bar or task and select Mark for Hiding

Once you have marked items you can hide them from view at any time

 Select the Hide/Show command on the Format tab to hide those

tasks that have been marked for hiding.

 Re-select to display hidden tasks again.

To unmark the items so they are not hidden in future:

 Right click on the task/bar

 Select ‘Mark for Hiding’ again to unmark the items

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The Spreadsheet or ‘Table’

The Table can be customised to display whatever project information you choose. Columns contain
Fields, which read data from your project, ie, End date, Start date, Percent Complete.
Columns can be added, edited and deleted from a table.

The columns on display can be saved as a Table so that it can be applied to other Bar Chart views. For
example, you might have one table for entering new tasks and another for assigning progress.

To add new columns

 Right click on an existing column heading and select Add Column:

 Choose a Field category (e.g. Identification) and then choose a field (e.g. Notes)

 The Table Definition Properties will pop up. This can be used to change the Appearance &
Attributes for that column if required

 Click Close

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To move the position of columns

 Place the cursor at the top of a column heading so that the select/move
cursor is displayed: When
cursor is
displayed, left
click and drag to
move column

 Left click & drag column to desired position

Saving the Table

 In the View tab, click the Table command

 Select Save As

 Give your table a new name

 Choose a Category for the new table to be

saved in if desired

To switch between different tables:

 Click the Table command and select from the list of saved tables

Table definition
Table Definition is the properties box for the table you are in. It can also be used to create new tables
and is useful for setting more specific attributes to produce more advanced tables e.g. changing a
column title, referencing a token to a baseline rather than to the live project:

 Right click on a column heading and select Table Definition

Edit the title &

Left click on a field position of a selected
title to change the field’s column
field. Right click to heading
select the field

Specify that a field

should display
Baseline data or data
from a specific task
on a line.

Add/remove columns
& change their
position

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User Defined Fields

Within Asta Powerproject, you can add your own “user fields” to tables in the database. For example,
you might want to add fields to show delay notes, progress comments or if a task has been approved.

Creating user fields for your projects:

First, the project must be saved. The User Field Manager will not be available if there is any unsaved
information

 Click Save
 In the Project tab select the User Field Manager
command

 In the Object Type select ‘Bar’

 Click Add
 Select the type of field that you want to create:

• String – a text field, e.g. for a name or comment field

• Integer – a field for whole numbers

• Float – a field for decimal numbers

• Duration – a field for recording a combination of numbers

and letters e.g. 2w 3d

• Boolean – a True/False field, e.g. for an option that can be

on or off. Boolean fields might be shown as check boxes or
drop-down controls providing Yes/No or True/False options

• Date – a date/time field, e.g. to record the date or time

• URL – A hyperlink field

 Enter a User Field Name. Do not include spaces

 Click OK, then Close

 The field name will not accept spaces. If using more than 1 word in the Name (e.g. QA Approved)
then use an underscore (_) between the words. When the column is added into the table, use table
definition to edit out the ‘_’ in the title

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To add the user field to a table:

 Right click on an existing column heading and select Add Column

 Choose the User Fields category and then choose your new User Defined Field
User defined fields and hyperlinks
If you create a URL user defined field you can input web addresses or file locations into the column.
This is useful to link to documents or photos from your project.

To link to file locations:

 Navigate to the document on your computer

 Hold SHIFT & right click and select ‘Copy as Path’ from the menu
 In Powerproject paste the pathname into your URL column
 The column will display the path to the document as a hyperlink
 Hold down the Alt key and select the link with your mouse to activate the link.
 You can hide the full path to the document by inserting a title within < > signs
e.g. <doc 1>

You can also show hyperlinks on the left or right hand side of your tasks using task data display. If
these hyperlinks are displayed next to the task, by left clicking on the link it will activate.

To switch on task data display:

 Right click on the bar chart and select Format Bar Chart
 On the Tasks tab, select left or right data display
 Select your URL column from the user field category to display the link next to the tasks.
Text Annotations
 On the Home or Format tab, click the Text Annotation command
 Take the cursor onto the bar chart. Your cursor will be a letter ‘T’
 Left click and drag the mouse downwards & to the right to draw a box:

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 The text colour, font, style and size can all be adjusted using the Font section of the
Home tab

 Click away to deselect the box

Attaching annotations to tasks
Text annotations can be created to refer to specific tasks in your project. In this case the text box can be
attached to the task so that it stays with it should it move in your project

 Click on the annotation you wish to move

 Left click and drag the annotation toward the task to which you wish to attach it
 The cursor will change to an arrow in a box to indicate how the
text box will attach to the task

Inserting data fields into text annotations

Asta Powerproject can display ‘Fields’ in annotations in the same way they are used in the Table. These
will update according to the current project data.

 Double click the text annotation so that the cursor is inside

ready to type

 Right click to display a list of available ‘Fields’

 Select a field as required e.g. select Date > Finish
 Click OK at the pop up box
When deselected, the annotation will display the end date of the task. If the task should change the
annotation will also be updated.

Creating Auto Annotations

The properties of the text box can be adjusted to control how it looks on your project e.g., whether there
is a border, set the text into the background of the project or even make the task annotation appear only
against specific tasks in our project

 Left click once on the annotation to select it

 Right click and select Properties:

Set to display
annotations ‘in
front’ or ‘behind’
tasks on your
chart
Set a
background
colour and to
display text in a Auto
‘box’ Annotations
Tick here to
make the
annotation
appear against
every task or
select a filter to
control which
tasks it appears
on.

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Unique Task ID Numbering

Asta Powerproject generates a unique identification number for each task in a project.

The ID, which is created automatically each time you create a task, can be a combination of an
alphanumerical prefix string, which you can define, and a number. As each new task is created within a
project, the number is incremented by an amount that you can specify. You can specify a minimum
number of digits for the task ID if you wish. If you do this, Asta Powerproject pads out smaller IDs with
zeros to bring them up to the minimum width. You can use unique task IDs as a way of identifying the
tasks within your project.

If you copy bars and tasks from one project to another, unique task IDs are maintained in the copied
tasks, unless any of the IDs conflict with IDs in the destination project.

Unique ID Numbering should be defined before you start creating tasks.

 Select the Project tab, Unique Task ID’s, Unique ID Numbering

Displaying Unique Task ID codes

To view Unique Task ID’s in the Table, add a column containing the Unique Task ID field from the
Identification Category.

Renumbering Unique Task ID codes

If you have inserted or moved tasks in the project, the numbers can fall out of sequence & could be
confusing. You can manually change ID numbers to suit your requirements or Asta Powerproject can
automatically renumber tasks for you.

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To renumber all the tasks in view:

 Select the Project tab, Unique Task ID’s,

Unique ID Renumbering

 Enter a Prefix if required. This can be a

letter or number.

 Enter a Numeric suffix that should be

added to the prefix and applied to the
first of the tasks to create the unique task
ID

 Enter an Increment for each ID

 Specify the Scope and behaviour if ID
conflicts occur

 Click Apply
All tasks are re numbered to your requirements

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Filters
Filters allow us to access only specific information from our project or a subset of our project.

A commonly used filter is based on Code libraries that have been applied to tasks, but you can also filter
by date, cost and many other criteria. Filters will be stored in your filter menu for future use.

Creating a New Filter using the Filter Wizard

 On the View tab, select the Filter command, then select New

The Filter Properties dialogue appears.

 Enter the Name for the filter you are creating (e.g. Acme builders only)
 Choose a Category for the filter if applicable (e.g. Codes)
 Click Display on Menu to add the filter to the short list of filters
 Click Subheading properties to include a sub-heading band to highlight which part of the
project hierarchy a task is in (as seen on the next page):

 Choose a colour & font

 Click OK

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 The filter criteria are displayed in the grid. Select Edit

 Choose what types of tasks you wish to find with your filter and click Next.

 Select the type of information that you wish to filter by, e.g. Code Library or Time Slice etc.
Click Next

 Depending on your choice at the previous step you will be shown the specific data you need
to filter your results. In this case we chose Code library, so are given the option to select a
specific code library

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 Click Next

 If you select the tick box ‘Ask me which code library entries to use each time the filter is applied’
the filter will open this page of the filter wizard every time you run the filter

 Review the filter you have created, if all is correct click Finish. If not you can click Back to
return to the previous screens:

 Click OK to run your filter:

To turn a filter off

 On the View tab click on the filter icon and select No Filter

 Or click on the filter description showing at the bottom of the

screen:

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Sorting and Grouping your project

Within Asta Powerproject, you can sort or group bars and tasks to reorder your project according to
certain data such as start date, by code library, their amount of work, their cost, their progress and many
other parameters.

Creating a Sort
We will Sort that w the project by the Sub Contractors Code library

 On the View tab, select Sort/Group

 Click on New
 Enter a Name for this sort, e.g. By Subcontractor

 Select a Category for this sort (if applicable) and tick Display on Menu to show the
sort on the shortlist next time you select Sort/Group from the View tab.

 In the Type column select Task to sort all tasks in the project
 In the Attribute column select Codes and Sub Contractors

 Tick Insert page break to have a page break at the bottom of each set of data. This will allow
you to print each set of data on a separate page

 If you have assigned multiple codes to the same task, select Show duplicate items for
multiple assignments, which creates a copy of the task in each group of tasks

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 The Sub-heading drop down allows you to choose how you want the summary heading to be
displayed, e.g. Sub heading with only a name column

 Click OK to apply the sort

To remove a sort

 On the View tab click on Sort/Group and select Natural

Order.

 Or click on the sort description showing at the bottom of

the screen:

Working with Views

A ‘view’ is a display of your project. A view can display any subset of the project data and present it
with any combination of formatting options. A view can be saved to show the project in this way again in
the future.

You can have several views in a project

When you save a project, any changes in the active window are saved to the current view. For
example, if you change the scale of the date zone, adjust columns or format of the bar chart, when you
save the project all of these changes are saved in the current view.

It is useful to configure different views to work with in your project. For example may want a view that
displays only a subset of filtered tasks, with particular columns displayed in the spreadsheet and specific
bar chart formatting.

A view will record:

• The Date Zone

• The bar chart format settings.
• The spreadsheet.
• Any Filters of Sorts that may be running
• The project scope - that is whichever charts are selected in the project view (and hence are
displayed in the view).
• Whether or not the Project View or Properties Pane is displayed

Once the different areas have been changed, the settings can be saved as a collective called a ‘view’.
Each view of your project therefore can display the project in a different way to facilitate working on the
project or presentation & reporting.

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Saving a view
Configure the project as required with the relevant table, formatting, filter etc.

 On the View Tab, select Save As

 Give your View a name

Once a view has been opened, it will show as a tab across the top of your project area. Multiple views
can be open at any time and each view is displayed on its own tab. Views can be changed by selecting
the relevant tab:

To open another view:

 Select View on either the Home or View tab and choose the view you wish to open

Copy views from one project to another

It is possible to copy views from one project to another. This is useful if you have set up a view in one
project that you want to use in another project without having to set up the view's attributes - filter,
sort/group etc. again in the other project

When you copy a view from one project to another, you can specify
whether associated objects, such as the view's filter, sort/group and table,
are copied across to the destination project along with the view itself.

In order to copy a view from one project to another, both projects must be
open in Asta Powerproject.

To copy a view from one project to another:

 Open the project to which you want to copy the view.

 Also open the project that contains the view that you want to
copy

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 In the project that contains the view that you want to copy, Select the View option on the
View tab and select More Views.

The More Views dialogue appears

 Select the View you want to copy and select Copy To…

 In the Destination project field select the project to

which you want to copy the view.

 Click OK.

Specifying the views to open when a project is opened

When opening a Powerproject file you can specify which view(s) will open by default.

 Select File > Options > View tab

 Select an option.
 To specify which view is the ‘Default’ view click Edit

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Baselines
Baselines are created to record the project at a particular point in time (e.g. for recording the contract
programme). This allows you to compare current information with planned information. A baseline is a
record of all or any part of a project including bars, tasks, links, resource/cost allocations, libraries,
histograms and annotations. Creating a baseline allows you to forecast using what if scenarios and can
be useful with claim situations.

Creating Baselines

 In the Project tab, choose the Baseline Manager command

 Click New. The Baseline Wizard appears

 Enter a name for your baseline and a description of it e.g. Contract Programme
 The Next button will become active once details have been completed. Click Next to continue
to the next stage.

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 On the Destination screen, click Browse to save the baseline to a desired location & change
the name if desired.

 If the default is not changed, the baseline will be stored in the same location on your computer as
the live project and will take the same name as your project with a numeric suffix.

 Click Next to continue

 On the Scope screen, choose ‘All tasks in the current view’. If you are at the top level of
your project this will include any tasks held within expanded tasks or sub charts (N.B. you can
alternatively choose to baseline a selection from the programme)

 Click Next to continue

 Check the information is correct on the final screen

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 Select Finish

 The Baseline/What If manager box is displayed. Click on the name of the baseline to see the
baseline details

 N.B. The baseline has a tick under ‘Current’. If you create a new baseline and you want
subsequent reports to pick up data from that baseline instead of your first baseline, click the ‘Set as
Current’ button, to make the new baseline the ‘Current’ baseline.

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Displaying the baseline

The Baseline will now appear as a second line mirroring the task above. (N.B. Should you now make a
change to your programme e.g. an anticipated delay, the baseline will not move)

Live project Live tasks showing a delay

matching baseline against a baseline project

To change the colour of the baseline

 In the Project tab, choose the Baseline Manager command

 Select the appropriate baseline
 Click the appearance colour bar at the bottom left
 Click Close out of the baseline manager dialogue

To hide a baseline from the view

 In the Format tab, choose the Show/hide baselines command

To choose specific baselines to show or hide

 Select the Format tab on the ribbon
 Click the Baselines drop down

 Select the baseline(s) that you want to be display

Merging
Once a baseline has been created a function becomes available that allows you to merge extra data into
that baseline. It may be that data was missed off or came later. The following shows how to merge new
data into an existing baseline.

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 In the Project tab, choose the Baseline Manager command
 If you have more than one baseline, select the baseline you wish to merge the new data in to
 Select Merge

 The Details screen of the baseline will appear

 You cannot change the name of the baseline but may wish to amend the description if
required

 Click Next
 On the Scope screen, choose the data that you are merging into this baseline. All tasks in the
current view or just selected tasks:

 Select how you want the existing baseline to be affected by the merge.
• If you are only adding in additional data then choose Add new data only.
• nd
If the original data has changed choose the 2 option
• A full update would include any deleted data

 Click Next
 If the Summary details are correct click Finish
Your baseline will be updated to record the changes made to your project.

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Reverting to a baseline
When planning a project you might create one standard plan then experiment with several other ‘what if’
scenarios and baseline each scenario for your records. If you decide that you want to adopt one of
these scenarios as the project plan, you can 'Revert' the project to that baseline.

To revert a project to a baseline:

 In the Project tab, choose the Baseline Manager command

 Select the baseline you want to revert to and click Revert To

 Select from the Revert Options group. Overwrite will revert the whole project to the
baseline

 Click Close
 Click OK to revert to the baseline
All tasks will now move back to their positions recorded in that baseline

Reporting Variances against a Baseline

As your project progresses you may wish to report variances between the baseline information & the
‘Live’ project data. This is easily done using the spreadsheet. Many columns – Start dates, Finish
dates, and durations can be customised to display baseline data. In this example we will create a table
to display the Finish Date variance against a baseline.

Create a table with the following columns

Date Category

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 Within the Table Definition edit the Column title of the 1st Finish column to rename the column
‘Planned Finish’

 Edit the Data field to show the ‘Current Baseline’

The table will now show the planned v live end dates & the variance

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Progressing the Project

Once the project is underway, you should record its progress at regular intervals. Recording progress
ensures that your project is kept up to date and lets you see if work is progressing as planned or if there
are delays. It also ensures that you know how much work remains to be done to complete the project
and will give you a projected programme end date.

Working with Multiple Progress Periods

Asta Powerproject allows us to create multiple report dates so that we can record progress against each
date. This gives benefits over using a single progress line, which is re-dated each time we want to
update more progress, because it allows us to record when the work was carried out and keep more
accurate As-built records.

Progress Periods are created in the Library Explorer

To create weekly progress periods

 Open the Library Explorer by selecting on the Quick Access Toolbar

 Select the Progress Period folder

 In the right hand pane, double click on the default ‘Project Report Date’.
 Rename it to Week 1 and choose a Report date 1 week into your project.
 Edit the Vertical Progress style (Drop down line colour) and Fill Style (Progress colour on
task) if desired

 Note that the time of the date defaults to 00:00 (midnight). Therefore, to set a report date of
Friday you would need to change the time or choose the next day at 00:00 to ensure that Friday’s work is
included.

 Select Close

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 Right click in the Name column below Week 1 and select ‘New Progress Period’
 Name it ‘Week 2’ then press Enter on your keyboard

 The date of week 2 has defaulted to 7 days after week 1 and the next colour has been
selected. Press Enter

 Type ‘Week 3’ , Press Enter etc.:

 Close the Library Explorer

 If you do not want weekly progress dates, change the date of week 2 as required. If you choose
regular intervals between your dates, Powerproject will recognise the pattern & default to these intervals
after three dates have been set.

Updating Progress in the Table

There are several ways to update progress in a project. The easiest way to update progress is using
the spreadsheet table.

1. Display Progress Table

Ensure you have the required progress columns in your spreadsheet set up for entering your project
progress, either by selecting an existing table or creating a new table.

If creating a new table you could add the following columns to the default table.

Default Progress Date Identification

Table Category Category Category

2. Display the Progress Line

 On the Format tab select the Progress lines toggle switch

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This will display a line for the current ‘Progress Entry Date’. By default, this is the earliest progress
st
period (the 1 Progress Period date that you set in the library)

3. Set the Progress Entry Period

Before we enter progress, we need to ensure we are recording the progress against the correct
progress period. The current ‘Progress Entry Date’ is shown in the Progress section on the Home Tab.

It is also indicated in the Project View by a red tick

The first time we enter progress the earliest date will be set as the progress report
date. In subsequent weeks, we can change this by editing the drop down in the
Progress section of the home tab

You will notice the progress line for the date selected will appear down from the report date and ‘jag’
around the left hand side of the appropriate task(s)

4. Enter Progress

 Enter the required progress into the ‘Overall Percent Complete’ column to progress the
tasks.

The duration of the task will be shaded in step with the % progress you have entered.

5. Reschedule

To see the effects of the progress entered we will ask Asta Powerproject to straighten the progress line
and move any uncompleted tasks to the right of the report date. This will allow us to see any variance
against our baseline.

 Select Reschedule
 Select ‘Progress entry period’ from the Straighten progress period option in the
Reschedule Progress Period Warning

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 When rescheduling with multiple progress periods, each is listed in the Straighten Progress
Period menu. Select a period to reschedule to that specific date or select the ‘Progress entry period’
to use the current period selected on the Home tab.

The progress line will straighten and the uncompleted section of the project will move to the right of the
report date.

Before After

6. Capture Delay Reasons

To record any delay reasons or important notes from the previous week, type these in the Notes column
of your spreadsheet.

7. Baseline

After each progress period, you could keep a record of the projects progress by using a Baseline. This is
useful to keep a record of the project dates at the end of each progress period, especially if you plan to
‘undo’ to return to the jagged line.

The Progress Cycle

This process can be repeated each time you need to update your project, be it weekly or monthly.

1. Baseline

2. Display
Progress Table

7. Capture delay
reasons
3. Display the
progress line

6. Reschedule
4. Set progress
entry period

5. Enter your
progress

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Displaying progress in the bar chart

If the Bar Chart has been formatted to display progress lines, selecting a progress period from the
Progress group on the Home Tab will always show the line for that period.

To edit the display of progress lines or shading on the tasks:

 Select Format Bar Chart on the Format tab

 Select the Progress tab

Reporting Progress in the Spreadsheet

Displaying Progress Data for specific progress periods

One benefit of using multiple progress periods is to display progress data for the specific progress
periods you have used. Within the ‘Table Definition’, we can specify the attributes of many different
fields to report on a specific progress period. In this example, we will use the ‘Progress at period’ field.

 Right click on a column & select Add Column

 Select the Progress Category and select Progress at Period
The Table Definition Properties appears

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 Select the Progress at Period column from the list of fields on the left
 Rename the column title ‘Week 1 Progress’
 In the Attributes section change the Progress Period to look at ‘Week 1’:
 Click Add to add a 2nd Progress at Period column
 Select the column you added and rename it to ‘Week 2 Progress’
 Point the column to the ‘Week 2’ Progress Period, etc.:

 Your spreadsheet will show the progress percentage at each report date

 Notice the figures are “cumulative”. To show the % Complete of a task entered at a specific
progress period use the ‘Overall Percent Complete’ field. In the Attributes section tick the option to
make the figures cumulative.

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Displaying Planned v Actual data in the spreadsheet

It is useful to compare planned and actual progress data in your columns. All planned data within Asta
Powerproject comes from the Baselines you have created. The actual data is what you have recorded
against the live tasks in your project.

In this example, we will create a table to show planned and actual start and finish dates of the tasks in
your project
 Right click on the Finish column in the Default table.

 Select Add Column > Date > Actual Start

 In the Table Definition click Add and select the ‘Actual Finish’ field
 Now select the ‘Start’ field and rename the column title to ‘Planned Start’
 Next, in the detail section, set the ‘Data’ field point the column to look at the Current
Baseline (as shown on next page)

 Repeat to rename ‘Finish’ and point this to the baseline

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The spreadsheet will be populated with all the relevant data:

Recording a large volume of notes

If you have a large amount to document in the Notes column of a task, you will notice the column width
will increase accordingly to display them all:

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Notes can also be entered directly into the properties of a task using the Bar & Task Properties Pane

 Select the ‘Toggle Properties View’ icon at the bottom left hand side of the Asta Powerproject,
screen

 Select the Notes tab

 Select a task in the bar chart to which you want to record a note. Enter text directly into the
Notes field

Jagged Progress View

Sometimes it is required to maintain 2 versions of your progressed project to satisfy the requirements of
both internal & external reporting.

1) A ‘straight line’ version that has been rescheduled and shows all remaining work in the future. This
type of ‘As-Built’ progress report shows any variance against a baseline & potentially a different
projected end date for the project.

2) A ‘jagged line’ version of the project that shows the tasks in their original position but easily indicates
if you are ahead or behind for the current date by the direction of the progress line.

To satisfy both these requirements a ‘Jagged Progress View’ is available. This uses the baseline
positions of tasks & displays the current live progress values onto these baseline tasks.

This means that you can maintain an accurate ‘Straight line’ programme whilst at any time viewing a
‘jagged line report’ with progress to date displayed on the tasks in their original planned positions.

To show the jagged line view:

 Select the View Tab

 Select View again
 Select the Jagged Progress view

 st
It is necessary to have 1 taken a
baseline to use this feature

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Straight-line programme

This programme has been rescheduled after each weekly progress report. The progress line is straight,
all remaining work pushed to the right. The baseline is on display to show the variance against the
Original Plan.

Jagged Progress View

Here tasks are shown in their original positions. The line is jagged to show that we are behind. The
shading shows the progress entered each week.

You have the benefit of ‘Actual’ & ‘Variance’ data in the table even though the tasks are in the original
planned positions.

In Jagged Progress view, the smaller ‘baseline’ tasks shown below the main task actually show the live
task positions. These can be hidden from display by formatting the Bar Chart

 Right click on the Bar Chart and select Format Bar Chart
 Select the Baselines tab

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 In the bottom right de-select the tick Show live tasks

To return to the straight-line programme:

 Go to the View tab and select View

 Select the Jagged Progress view to turn off
 Alternatively click the toggle at the bottom of the screen

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Progress Options
Using Overall % Complete to update progress
The defaults in the Construction Template for percentage (%) progress are for Overall Percent
Complete.

Using Overall % Complete when updating % progress on tasks we think in terms of the % of work that
is complete rather than the % of the tasks duration that is complete.

For example, consider a 1 week task, which is 50% complete.

Do you want to record that you have spent 2.5 days on the task & there are 2.5 days remaining (50% of
the tasks duration, i.e. a Duration % measure) or do you want to record that you have completed 50%
of the work , regardless of the amount of time you have spent on the task or how much is remaining?
(you may have spent the whole week working but have only completed 50% i.e. an Overall %
measure).

When using Overall Percent Complete to apply progress, the % entered will remain the same even if
the overall duration of the task changes. If using a duration Percent Complete the % entered will
always be expressed in relation to the duration of the task & will change if the remaining duration
changes.

When entering progress using Overal % Compelte you may want to consider the options available that
can affect how progress is applied to your tasks.

 In the File tab, select

 Choose the Progress tab

Progress Entry Mode

 Leave the default setting as Update duration in step if you would like the actual duration of
the task (the duration that has been completed) to be updated according to the % of progress
entered

Or

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 Select Fill to progress line if you would like the Actual Duration to automatically fill up to the
current report line. This indicates that you have worked on the task continuously to achieve
the % entered and will push the remaining duration to the right of the report line

This option can have very different results on your tasks.

th
Consider a 1 week task that is 50% complete at the report date of 25 April.

Update duration in step

This is the default setting.

The tasks Actual Duration has been updated in step with the progress % entered so 2d 4h shows as
completed

The progress line shows as ‘jagged’. Reschedule to straighten the progress line & move the remaining
duration to the next working date.

Fill to progress line

The tasks Actual Duration has been updated up to the progress line, showing that we have spent 1
week (5d) working on the task but we are only 50% complete. The remaining duration is calculated
based on 50% of the original planned duration, which means the task duration has changed to 1w 2.5
days.

Snapping
By default snapping is enabled so that Actual and remaining durations are rounded to full days.
 Un- Tick the box if you do not want progress to snap to the selected time unit (e.g.
Days).

The actual duration will be calculated exactly as per the % progress entered and may result in partial
days remaining. (E.g. 5 day task with 50% done will leave 2d 4h left. If snapping to the nearest day it
will read 3d remaining.

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With Snapping

Without Snapping

Overall % Complete weighting

When using the overall percent complete method of progress entry in Asta Powerproject it is possible to
assign a weight to each task according to its importance. These weights are then reflected in progress
data recorded against Summary Bars, Expanded Tasks and Hammock Tasks.

By default, all tasks are equally weighted, so, when each task is completed an equal amount is shown
to be progressed.

In the example below you will see a summary bar with 4 tasks. Task one is 1 day long, Task Two, Three
and Four are all 1 week long.

When Task One is complete, the summary bar shows 25% complete. This is because currently all the
tasks within the summary have an equal weighting, regardless of duration.

To weight activities:

 Right click on the summary bar and select Calculate Task Weightings

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Each task now has a weighting relative to its duration in the summary and the summary bar will show
the percentage complete based on the duration of each task.

 To manually enter weightings for each task to your own criteria enter a value into the Overall %
complete weight field of the Task Properties

Using Duration % Complete to update progress

If you prefer to update progress using a duration-based measure of %, you will need to change the
option for the ‘Ribbon, toolbar progress controls & percent complete field’ on the Progress tab of the
Options dialogue.

 Select File, Options and the Progress tab

This will change the ribbon, Object-Edit toolbar, ‘Percent Complete’ field to use a duration-based
measure. You can then use the Percent Complete field instead of Overall Percent Complete in your
spreadsheet columns.

 There is no snapping option when updating by duration percent

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Printing the Project

As a general rule, what you display on the screen is what will be printed. Therefore, select the ‘View’ of
your choice or manually change any formatting, tables etc. to customise the display to what you wish to
print.

The scale of the project can be adjusted to allow printing to a certain number of pages.

When you print an Asta Powerproject file, it is printed with a border around the project. The border file
enables you to display relevant project & company information along with your project data.

Some of this information, like the Project Name has already been completed. Other information can be
edited at the print stage.

 Select the File tab

 Click the Print command on the left hand side
 Choose Full Preview

A preview of the print will be displayed

 Click the Print Settings icon

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Output Tab

The output tab controls where the print out is going to and what file type is going to be created if
applicable. The main output options are:

 Printer – Tick Printer and choose your printer from the drop down list; from the
properties button decide your printer orientation and size (standard printer usage)
Press the Print button to activate Print

 PDF – If you have a PDF writer installed, you should see it listed in your printer
dropdown list. If not, consult your IT department who can install it for you

 Clipboard – Tick clipboard to have your print preview copied to the clipboard. You can
then open Word, Excel etc. right click on the page and select paste, to paste your
print preview into the document. Press the Print button to activate the copy to
clipboard

 Picture file – Tick Picture file to have your print converted into a JPEG picture file,
which can be inserted into Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc. Use the Browse button to
choose where to save the new file and what filename to give it. Press the Print button
to activate the file creation

The Print Range decides which pages of the project document you wish to print this time:

 All – Prints all pages

 Selection – Prints only what you have selected in Powerproject
 Pages – Prints only the pages you specify in the available field
Details Tab
The Details tab allows you to select the border file you will use and define the page size you will print.

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 Click ‘Browse’ to select your border. There are a number of examples supplied with
Asta Powerproject or you may have your own company border.

 The file location for Borders can be set in File-Options-File Locations. This means that
Powerproject will always look to the default location for your Powerproject Border files

The filenames of our border files contain a name (i.e. CHT) and page size (i.e. A4) and the orientation of
the paper (i.e. ‘L’ for landscape or ‘P’ for portrait).

 Select the border CHT-A4L. An example of the border file will appear on the right
hand side

 Click Open when you have selected the appropriate border file

 Click Embed to keep a copy of the chosen border file with the powerproject file.

 Borders are separate files on your computer or network and do not form part of your
Powerproject file. This means that if you send your project elsewhere to be viewed or printed, i.e.by
email, the border file may not be available to the recipient.

To avoid this, you are able to embed the border file, which will add a compressed copy of the border
file to the Powerproject file, meaning if it were to be sent, the border file would be included.

 Set the ‘Printer page size’ & Orientation to match that of your border. e.g. as seen
below, the Printer page size needs to be changed to Landscape

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 In the Date Range section select specific dates within the project that you wish to
print (if applicable)

Once you have chosen your settings, sizes and selections in the print dialogue box you can save all
these ticks and clicks as a Print profile:

 With all selections made click on Save As

 Give your new profile a name, click on OK
 The next time you print, go straight to ‘Print profile’ ‘and choose the profile that you
want from the dropdown arrow. All the selections you saved will be remembered

To customise your chosen border file and insert a company logo

 Click Edit on the right hand side to customise your border

This will open up a separate software programme called ‘Asta Powerdraw’, which is used solely to
create and customise border files for Asta Powerproject files

You will notice the fields of information that will be shown when this border file is printed, e.g.
<PROJ-TITLE> as seen in the screen print below. These can be moved around your border file or
deleted completely until you are happy with the layout and the project data that will be visible:

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To insert a company logo

 Select the ‘New Picture’ icon on the toolbar.

 Use the cursor to draw a square box where you want the logo to appear. The
following dialogue box will appear

 Click Filename to navigate to the logo file you wish to use.

 Click Insert and OK. The logo is added to your border file.
By default, the picture(s) will snap around the faint square boxes that appear in the
background of the border file. To reposition and resize it accurately

 Select View from the toolbar

 Untick the ‘Snap to Grid’ option from the list
When all the changes have been made
 Click ‘File’ and ‘Save As’ to save the customised border file.

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Scaling Tab
The scaling tab is used to control the size of your print out. It can be set manually, by selecting the
actual print size of a time unit (i.e. 1 Week to a centimetre) or by selecting the number of pages you
would wish to have.

The View Scales options allow you to control the size manually:

• Override horizontal (date zone) scale – Allows you to control the scaling of the date
zone (size of a week etc.) ‘Automatic’ is set by default

• Override vertical (Chart) scale – Allows you to control the scaling of each bar line,
Allocation and Baseline height. This is controlled by the settings in Format Bar Chart,
Vertical Scale but does not set them in the programme.

The Scaling Type details how the border file will be used on a multi-page print out.

• Fit border around output – If printing to more than one page, this setting allows you to
apply the border around all of the pages

• One border per page – If printing to more than one page, applies your chosen border to each
page printed

One border per page Fit border around output

The Horizontal & Vertical Pagination options allow Asta Powerproject to adjust the size of the print
out to fit to a chosen number of pages.

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• True size – Prints your plan at the exact size set in the date zone or spread sheet, so
may end up printing across a number of pages.

 Horizontal scaling – With true size selected this will increase or decrease your print
out by the number selected e.g. 1.5 would print at 1.5 times its normal size
 Expand to fill space – Expands the chart to the edge of the border
 Vertical scaling – Increases your vertical scale by the number entered. E.g. 2
would increase your vertical scale by twice the height
 Use Defined page breaks – Prints a page dictated to by the position of a page break.
A page break is created in the bar chart by right clicking in the bar chart where you want
the page break to happen and selecting Page Break

• Fit lines per page – Gives you control of how many lines you would want printed on each
page

• Fit to at most - Will fit it to the pages you specify 1x1, 2x2 but if you choose a size which
is beyond a reasonable printout e.g. 5x5 pages for a 10 line programme it will keep it to a
size which it regards as a best fit

• Try to fit to exactly – Will fit exactly to the pages requested whether it would look
reasonable or not

Appearance Tab
The appearance tab allows you to add or remove certain elements of the printout, such as legends,
shading and hidden columns

A small selection is shown below:

Legends – this shows a key at the bottom of the print out for any of
the items ticked

Bar Chart – ‘Show date shading’ will either show or hide shading
used on a plan

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Spreadsheet – ‘Tick Visible columns’ only to only print the columns

you can see on the screen

Date zone – ‘Display at foot’ will show the date zone at the bottom of
the page as well as the top

On the right of the dialogue box:

Legends – You can change the font of the legends which display at
the base of the print out or just use the fonts from the spreadsheet

Spreadsheet – If a font is difficult to read, you can use these options

to change the size of the font in the spreadsheet to make it easier
to read

Output Fields

The Output fields icon (circled below) is where you can edit the display of relevant project and company
information that may appear within your chosen border file:

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The information you can edit in these tabs that show on our example borders include the programme
Name (Long Name), Project for, Project by, Comment, Drawn by, revision number, etc.

Display Switches
In Asta Powerproject you are able to access the format display switches from the Format tab in the Full
Preview screen. When you click the icon circled below you will see these appear on the right hand side
of the toolbar:

Print

When you are satisfied with the layout and data displayed click the ‘Print’ button from the toolbar circled
below:

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Creating Templates
Templates are used to make creating a new project as quick as possible, as the template can contain
filters, code libraries, tables and many more items that you may use.

To create a template, it is best to base it on one that already exists (e.g. Construction Template) as this
should already contain some items that may prove useful to you.

Once this project has opened on the screen you can now create everything you want in the template
(e.g. Filters, Code libraries, Views etc.)

You can even include titles and tasks within the Bar Chart. This could mean that for the first few lines of
the project, you type in the most common titles (and include tasks if you wish) as it is quicker to delete
something than to create it.

Once everything has been created, to save this project as a template:

 Go to the File menu, select Save As:

 The Projects folder & contents are displayed.
 Go up a level by clicking once on the yellow folder just to the right of the folder window

 Select the Templates folder

 Save your template project to this location by entering a File Name, then click on Save
Next time you begin a new project your template will be displayed

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Appendix

Creating a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a system where all the tasks on one level are grouped together,
either by tasks on the level above or by the assignment of a WBS code. A WBS is useful when you
want to break down the work involved in a project, starting from the main phases of the project and
expanding right down to the individual tasks that must be carried out (see diagrams below).

House build
(1)

Substructure Superstructure Finishes

(1.1) (1.2) (1.3)

Slab Walls Roof

(1.2.1) (1.2.2) (1.2.3)

Some of the benefits for a work breakdown structure are:

 Subdivides the overall project scope into smaller more manageable tasks or work efforts
 Ensures all areas of work are considered
 An ‘owner’ for each task or deliverable can be established and held accountable
 Provides a tool for measuring performance
 Provides a framework to identify projects separately from other projects, funding sources,
accounting sources etc.

 Enables realistic duration and cost estimates

In Asta Powerproject the WBS is typically created using the summary bars and expanded tasks
that will give the physical breakdown of the activities.

If you have created a WBS using summaries & expanded tasks you can use a Work Breakdown
Numbering system (WBN) to help identify tasks & where they occur (at which level of the WBS) within
your project.

Additionally to this, a WBS Coded structure can be produced which can work separately to the physical
hierarchy.

This next section covers creating a WBN numbering system to use with your project hierachy and also
creating a WBS Structure as an alternative to defining your project hierarchy using summaries &
expanded tasks.

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Creating Work Breakdown Numbering (WBN) for your project

Tasks within your project can be allocated and work breakdown number (WBN) to help identify specific
tasks within your project. Work breakdown numbers are automatically generated for each task, but can
be changed at any time.

To view the Task ID (WBN), you will need to set up a spreadsheet column containing the following
columns:

 Task ID (WBN)
 Task ID (WBN) pathname

The work breakdown number shows the number for that specific task and the pathname shows the
WBN code of parent tasks, indicating a task’s level in the project hierarchy (its address).

Renumbering the Task ID (WBN) codes

Now that the Work Breakdown Numbers are displayed on the Project, Asta Powerproject can
automatically renumber tasks for you:

To renumber all the tasks in view:

 Hold down the Ctrl key and then select the letter A on your keyboard
 Select Tools – Task ID (WBN) Numbering

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 The Start Value will be the first task number you wish to assign, i.e. 1
 The Increment will be the progression number, i.e. 1
 The Minimum width is the minimum number of digits found on a single number
 The Path Separator will define how one level of tasks is separated from the next
 The Task Separator will define how one level of tasks on the same line are separated
 The Task ID (WBN) Prefix is a letter or a number which will appear at the start of all Task ID
(WBN) numbers

 The Uniqueness options define if you want a unique number for each task (If not using the
pathname), or if you want the numbering to restart inside each summary/expanded task (if
using the pathname)

 The Renumber options define if and how you want to renumber your selected tasks
 Once completed, click OK

Customising Task ID (WBN) codes

We can self-generate work breakdown numbers by typing specific or individual codes into the Task ID
(WBN) column. This is particularly useful for breaking down the hierarchy of the project, and can
beneficial for creating your own companies WBN structure.

 Edit the Task ID (WBN) code for the Sub Structure summary bar to be “SUB”.
 Press Enter. The code is also shown in the WBN Pathname column
 This summary task now has its own code set by you. Each task has its own ID number

 The WBN Pathname column shows hierarchy code & the tasks held within it show the code
along with the Task id number.

 You may have to press F5 to ‘refresh’ the screen and show your customisations through
the WBN pathname column

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Creating a separate WBS Structure

To create the coded WBS as an alternative to the project hierarchy created using
summary & expanded tasks.

 Open the WBS Management window by clicking the command on the Project tab

 Input the different WBS codes you wish to use for each section of work, building up the
hierarchy of WBS codes. NB Asta supplied templates will already have an example WBS
created

 Click Close

To allocate the WBS codes to tasks

 Open the Project View

 Use the + symbol to open the WBS Hierarchy folder
 Open the relevant levels of the WBN hierarchy:

(Displayed by WBS Code) (Displayed by WBS Name)

 To change the display of the WBS Hierarchy, go to the File tab,

select Options and click on the View tab.

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 Place the mouse over the WBS code you wish to allocate
 Press the left mouse button and drag until the cursor is over the task, then release

WBS Codes can also be reported on using the spreadsheet:

 Add the following columns:

• WBS Code Identification category

• WBS Name Identification category

Once the WBS codes have been added to the tasks, you will need to sort the project in order to see the
WBS hierarchy displayed on your project:

 Go to the View tab and select Sort/Group

 In the WBS category, choose either sort order

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Glossary

Bar
Horizontal area, identified by a line number, including information in the Spreadsheet and one or more
tasks on the bar chart.

Bar Chart
The area of the screen where Tasks are displayed graphically.

Baseline
A copy of the project recorded at a single point in time. Asta Powerproject can record and display
multiple baselines allowing for: tracking of major changes; production of what-if scenarios; comparison
of information (e.g. budget cost to actual cost)

Border File
A print function which contains information to be included around your project, including graphics such
as company logo, project information such as the project title and relevant dates.

Buffer
A Task that is used to collect Float and protect the Critical Path through the project. It achieves this by
having a duration which increases or decreases in response to project

Code (Colour)
A facility to allow the assignment of colours to tasks to represent information about the task.

Code Library
This is the library (or folder) that contains Codes, allowing you to have multiple ‘categories’ of codes

Constraint (Flags)
These are used to enforce dates when a Task can happen outside of the logic defined by the links.
(stopping a task starting before a certain date, or stopping a task finishing after a certain date). Using
Constraint Flags within the project can have a major effect on your Critical Path

Control Key (CTRL)

A key on the keyboard normally found at the bottom left (and one on the right) used throughout windows
applications for specific commands (e.g. CTRL + S for saving) or for selective highlighting. (To highlight
everything that is clicked upon whilst the key is held down)

Critical Path
This is the sequence of tasks though a project whose duration affects the project end date & the overall
project duration. If any of the tasks on the critical path are changed the end date of the project will
change. It is shown as a red outline on Tasks and as red Links.

Date Zero
Normally at the start of the project, but can be moved without affecting the project. Date Zero is the point
where the elapsed week ruler in the Date Zone starts counting.

Date Zone
This is the area above your project that contains rulers of information (e.g. Elapsed week numbers,
week start).

Exceptions
These are time periods that are different to the usual work pattern. e.g. holidays, working etc.

Expanded Task
This type of task is similar to a Summary Task in that it is used to group together Tasks within the
project. Unlike a Summary Task, the content is held off the main chart in its own Sub Chart.

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Filter
This is a tool that will leave on screen only those items that meet a particular criteria, for example all the
items that a particular contractor is doing (Code based filtering) or everything happening during a 6
week period (time based filtering) even to show only those items that have been completed (Progress
based filtering)

Float
This appears on items that are not on the Critical Path. Float is the amount of time a Task may be
delayed or extended before the item re-joins the critical path and pushes out the end date of the project.

Free Float
Free float means that if the task is extended or delayed in anyway during its period of float only this item
is affected, nothing else will move.

Lag (Links)
A link that has a delay at its start or finish end. Usually used at the start end of a link to allow a period of
waiting time before the successor task. It is shown as the horizontal part on a Link (e.g. Concrete curing
time, paint drying time or just delivery times).

Library Explorer
An area that allows you to navigate all of the folders of items used in your project. (Cost Centres,
Calendars, Codes, Permanent Resources etc.) Some library items are displayed in the Project View
others can only be viewed & edited from the Library explorer (e.g. Exceptions, Link Categories, and
Currency)

Link
The relationship between two tasks, displayed as an arrow. If shown in red then the link is Critical.

Mid-link
A link that starts anywhere along the duration of a task rather than from (or to) the start or end of the
Task.

Milestones
Milestones are points in time; they have no duration (0 days) and are used to represent key events
within projects. (E.g. Handover)

Progress (Period)
The progress report date; the date at which progress is updated to the project. Can be displayed as a
line going down the screen that will bend to the left to show items behind time and bend to the right to
show items ahead of time.

Project View
The white window that opens on the left hand side of the screen. Used to navigate around the project,
and to view & assign items into the project like Code Libraries, Cost Centres, Permanent Resources,
Consumable Resources and Calendars.

Shift Key (or a bold arrow pointing up)

A key on either side of the keyboard, used for creating capital letters, to pick up any of the top row of
symbols on the numerical keys and others. Also used to highlight a range of items, (left click on one
item, then hold down shift and select another item. Everything in between becomes highlighted.) Also
used for creating Lag links.

Sort
To Re-order the project according to a set of criteria. E.g. the project tasks could group together all the
tasks according to the code that has been assigned to them.

Spreadsheet (Table)
This is the yellow and white stripped table down the left hand side of the screen (assuming the Project
View is closed) The Spreadsheet is made up of different columns which contain data fields. Columns
can be removed, added and moved within a table.

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Summary
This type of task groups together Tasks on screen. The tasks can be rolled up & hidden so only the
summary is shown. Items are grouped because they share certain information, for example, summaries
could be used to group together all the Tasks on different floors. A Summary could also be used to show
different phases or stages within a project. Multiple summaries can be placed inside of each other
allowing a project structure or hierarchy to be created.

Task
The activities that appear within a Bar on the Bar Chart.

Task Pool
A series of tasks that are saved to be re used. Useful if the same sequence of tasks is repeated
regularly. The Task Pools are displayed in the project view.

Template
A template is a project file that is used when creating a new project. A Template typically contain items
needed in all new projects i.e. Calendars, Permanent Resources, Cost Centres, Code Libraries, Task
Pools.

Total Float
Total float means that if the task is extended or delayed during its period of float, then all items directly
after it (those containing Float) will also be affected as well.

UDF
A User Defined Field. The software already has a large range of data fields that can be used. UDF’s are
created by the user for additional reporting needs e.g. to record notes or have a tick box to indicate
whether an H&S check has been completed.

View
A view is the method used for the software to remember screen settings. When saved the
‘View’ will remember if the Project View is opened or closed, it will remember the current column
configuration within the Spreadsheet. It will also remember the current settings of the Bar Chart, the
Date Zone and finally whether there are any Filters or Sorts running within the program. Putting all of
this together a view is the ability to change all of these settings to a predefined set by only doing one
click of the mouse. The software can have unlimited number of views saved.

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Exercises

Shed Build Project

You have decided that you need to buy and erect a new shed for your back garden.
You know what tasks are involved and how long each task will take you.

Creating a Project

• The title of the project will be Shed Build.

• The project will start next Monday
• You will use the Construction Template

Calendars

• The sixth weekend of the project will be available to work, so this period should be added
to your default calendar as overtime (09:00 – 17:00).
• The first Friday you are going to take one day’s holiday, again add this to your default
calendar.

Planning the project

Market Research 2 weeks

Buy Shed Milestone
Delivery Period 10 days
Dig Base 6 days
Pour Concrete 2 days with a 1-day lag for curing
Erect Sides 1 week
Paint (2 tasks) 2 days for undercoat
2 days for topcoat with a 1-day lag for drying
Roof 3 days
Window 1day
Door ½ day
Lock ½ day
Final Checks 1 day
Complete Milestone

You have given yourself a maximum of 7 weeks to complete the project, so it is likely that certain
activities will have to be worked on at the same time.

Create a fully linked bar chart. Each task must be linked and a reschedule is required to show
the critical path.

What is the end date of your project?

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Construction Project

Getting Started

Start a new project using the construction template, the File Name & Title of your new project
will be CONSTRUCTION and the start date will be next Monday.

Editing your default calendar

Add the following exceptions to your default calendar (5 day week, Bank Hols & Xmas)

You will work overtime on the first 2 Saturdays of the project from 08:00 – 12:00.

You will be taking a day’s holiday on the 3rd Friday of the project.

Creating the Project

Create the following tasks:

1. Procurement sheet piles 15d

2. Breakout concrete slab 3d
3. Piling platform 2d
4. Sheet piling 4d
5. Reinforcement 5d
6. Concrete 1d
7. Falsework 4d
8. Reinforcement 4d
9. Concrete 1d
10. Covers 1d
11. Complete Milestone

Create a fully linked bar chart and then reschedule to show the critical path.

Create 3 summary tasks:

Construction Procurement Sheet Piles to Sheet Piling

Main Base Reinforcement to The First Concrete
Roof Slab Falsework to Covers

Create an Expanded task called Finishes with the following tasks:

1. Doors 1d
2. Waterproofing 1d
3. Render Walls 3d
4. Floor Screed 1d
5. Complete Milestone

Link all tasks and then reschedule your project, what is your end date?

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Office Block Project

Getting Started

Your company has been asked to plan for a new office block.

Start a new project using the Construction Template, the File Name & Title of your new project
will be OFFICE BLOCK and the start date will be next Monday.

Editing your default calendar

For the first 2 weeks of your project you will be working at the weekend from 9.00 – 17.00 on
both days.

Add this into your default calendar as overtime.

Creating the Project

Create the following three tasks:

Design 20 days
Procurement 30 days
Construction 35 days

Make the Construction task into an expanded task. Open as a new chart and create the
following tasks inside:

Fencing 3 days
Demolition 2 weeks
Excavate 2 weeks
Temporary Road 1 week
Foundations 2 weeks
Ground beams 2 weeks
Ground slabs 2 weeks
1st Slab and 2nd Slab (2 tasks on one line) 3 weeks each
Roof Slab 2 weeks
Stairs 2 weeks
Brickwork 4 weeks
Roof Finishes 4 weeks
Windows 2 weeks
Roof watertight Milestone
Electrical 3 weeks
Mechanical 2 weeks
Plumbing 3 weeks
Carpenter 2 weeks
Plastering 3 weeks
Painting 2 weeks
Final Clean 1 week

Create a fully linked bar chart and perform a reschedule to show the critical path.

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Project Hierarchy

Tasks will now be put into the following summary tasks:

Site Establishment –Fencing, Demolition, Excavate, Temporary Road.

Substructure –Foundations, Ground beams, Ground slabs.

Superstructure –1st Slab, 2nd Slab, Roof Slab, Stairs.

Envelope – Brickwork, Roof Finishes, Windows, Roof watertight.

Services - Electrical, Mechanical, Plumbing.

Finishes – Carpenter, Plastering, Painting, Final Clean.

Code Library

Create a code library called Responsibility with three entries:

Elecosoft
Client
Sub-contractor

Allocate these to tasks in your project.

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Shop Refit Project

Getting Started

Your company has been asked to plan the refurbishment of a high street store.

Start a new project using the construction template, the File Name & Title of your new project
will be SHOP REFIT and the start date will be next Monday.

Editing your default

For the first four weeks of your project you will be available every Friday to work overtime from
17.00 – 18.00.

You have already got a holiday booked for the 5th Thursday and Friday of your project add these
into the default calendar as exceptions.

Creating the Project

You know the tasks that are involved in this project and how long they will take you to complete.

Internal Design 1 week

Measure Internal Space 2 days
Order Shop fittings Milestone
Delivery Period 4 weeks
Clear space 1 week
Repair External Walls 1 week
Repair external flooring 1 week
Layout Shop fittings 2d
Replace fittings 1w
Paint Walls 3 days
Paint Ceiling 3 days
Redecorate staff facilities 4 days
Replace doors 1 day
Replace windows 1 day
Erect Signage 5 hours
1st fix cabling 1d
2nd fix cabling 1d
Clean 2d
Final Checks 1d
Complete Milestone.

Create a fully linked bar chart. Each task must be linked and a reschedule is required to show
the critical path.

What is the earliest end date for the project?

Project Hierarchy

Tasks will now be put into the following summary tasks:

Internal Work – Measure internal space, order shop fittings, delivery period.

External Work – Clear Space, Repair external walls, Repair external flooring, Layout Shop
fittings, replace fittings.

Domestic Work – Paint Walls, Paint ceiling, Redecorate staff facilities, Replace doors,
Replace windows, Erect signage, 1st fix cabling, 2nd fix cabling.

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Now create a new expanded task called Re-Stock Shop with the following activities:

Place Stock order Milestone

Stock Delivery Period 1 week
Erect Shelving 3 days
Re-Stock Shelves 2 days

Link these together and then apply the following logic:

The Stock order can be placed as soon as the cleaning has finished, and once you have Re-
stocked the shelves you can then carry out Final Checks. Delete any unnecessary links.

Creating Code Libraries

You will subcontract out some of the work. Create a code library called ‘Trades’ and list the
following trades

Builders
Decorators
Electricians

Assign the trades to tasks in your project

Save and close.

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Creating Tables

Create the following tables for use in your project:

1)

Overall
Planned % Notes (reason for
Name Start Finish Percent
Complete delay)
Complete

Field =
Progress Identification

Save this table as: Progress Table

2)

Name Duration Finish Finish Finish Variance

Field = Date

Save this table as: Finish Variance Table

3)

Name Progress at Period Progress at Period Progress at Period

Field = Progress

Save this table as: Progress at Period Table

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Extension Project

Getting Started

You have decided to build an extension on your house.

Start a new project using the construction template, the File Name & Title of your new project
will be EXTENSION and the start date will be next Monday.

Selection the default calendar

You will work 6 days a week & take all UK Bank Holidays. Set the default calendar and ensure
the folding calendar is set to match.

Creating the Project

You know the tasks that are involved in this project and how long they will take you to complete.

Create Plans 2 weeks

Measure up 2 days
Buy materials Milestone
Delivery period 1 week
Dig foundations 4 days
Pour concrete 1 day
Build walls 5 days
Roof 2 days
Windows 1 day
Doors 1 day
Plaster Walls 2 days
Electrical work 1 day
Decorate 3 days
Lay Carpet 1 half day
Finishing touches 1 half day
Complete Milestone

Create a fully linked bar chart. Each task must be linked and a reschedule is required to show
the critical path.

Codes and Filters

You have decided that you can’t complete all of the work yourself and are going to call upon
some people to help you.

Create a new code library called Extension Team with the following entries:

Painter
Builder
Carpenter
Electrician

Allocate to tasks within your project.

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Each member of the team will need a list of the tasks that they will be doing within your extension
project.

Create 4 filters one for each member of the team so that you can give them updated printouts at
a later date.

Tables

Create a table containing the following columns:

Line
Name
Start
Finish
Planned Percent Complete
Overall Percent Complete
Finish Variance

Save this as a new table called ‘Progress Table’

Baselines

Create a baseline of your current project called First Plan and display the baseline on your
current project.

Annotations

Create a text box and attach it to a task within your project. Put an end date token into the text
box and make this into an auto annotation that will pick up the end date for all of your tasks.

Now make this into an auto annotation on milestones only.

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Extension Project – Part ii

Progressing the project

You are required to monitor progress over the course of your project. Create five progress
periods for every week of the project. To ensure weekend work is included we will do progress on
Monday morning at 00.00.

Period 1 1st Monday after start date

Period 2 1 week later
Period 3 2 weeks later
Period 4 3 weeks later
Period 5 4 weeks later

You must now enter the following progress. Remember to reschedule after each progress entry.

Period 1 50% through create plans

Period 2 Create plans completed
Period 3 Measure up & buy materials complete. 75% of base dug
Period 4 Dig base & concrete complete. 20% walls built. Materials delivered.
Period 5 Walls & roof completed

Based on the progress you entered, reschedule the project up to Progress Period 5.

What is the revised end date of your project?

When you have rescheduled, create a new baseline to record your position at Period 5.

 Elecosoft UK Ltd Jun-17