Project Planning

With Allegra, you can plan and execute projects. Planning includes a timeline and optionally a resource planning.

The planning process is as follows:

1. You create a project structure with all known items and collection items without dates (see Project Structure Plan)

2. You create a schedule with timing of the items and considering dependencies (see Enter Project Structure Plan)

3. You optionally plan the efforts for the items (see Cost Centers and Accounts)

4. You optionally assign resources and ensure that none are overloaded (see Planning Resources).

The scheduling and resource planning usually have to be created iteratively in several cycles, as there are dependencies between them. For example, if a resource is not available, this can have an impact on the timing.

• Prerequisites for project planning

  Project planning can become very complex. Therefore, it is important to know the model underlying a planning process.

• Project Structure Plan

  The project structure plan is the basis for every project plan.

• Enter Project Structure Plan

  In Allegra, you can easily enter the project structure in the Gantt chart or in the item overview (hierarchical view).

• Creating a Schedule

  For the schedule, you add dependencies and dates to the structure plan.

• Planning work time

  In Allegra, the duration of an item and its planned effort are initially decoupled, so no calculation of one value from the other is made. The coupling occurs in Allegra in the assignment view.

• Planning Resources

  In Allegra, items are first planned with their durations and efforts. After this, the assigned resources are iteratively matched in the assignment view.

• The Earned Value Method

  The Earned Value Method or Earned Value Management (EVM) is a technique for objectively measuring project progress. In Allegra, EVM is used in such a way that you can always get a conservative but very reliable statement about deviations from the planned effort and schedule.

• Cost Centers and Accounts

  The Allegra system can manage efforts in the form of “work” and “costs”. Efforts are assigned to accounts, which in turn belong to cost centers.

• Working with the Gantt Chart

  The interactive Gantt chart is well suited for displaying and editing the timing of a plan, dependencies, and visualizing project progress. In the Gantt chart, the plan, the baseline plan, and both together can be displayed.

• Working with the Allocation View

  The “Assignment” view allows you to see and manage the use of your resources (people, rooms, equipment, and skills) over time.

• Prerequisites for project planning
  • Planable and non-planable items
  • Plan and baseline plan
  • Duration
  • Planned
  • Budget
  • Remaining
  • Hierarchical behavior
  • Date values without time
  • Fix dates of individual items
  • Fix dates for milestones and via filters
  • Lift individual date fixations
• Project Structure Plan
  • Finding Items
  • Arranging Elements in the Project Structure Plan
  • Object-oriented Structure
  • Function-oriented Structure
  • Time-oriented Structure
  • Which Structuring Principle to Apply?
  • Coding in the Project Structure Plan
  • How Detailed Do You Need to Plan?
• Enter Project Structure Plan
• Creating a Schedule
• Planning work time
  • Attributes for effort planning
  • Relationship between work, duration and resources
• Planning Resources
• The Earned Value Method
• Cost Centers and Accounts
• Working with the Gantt Chart
  • Focus and scale
  • Create item
  • Change item hierarchy
  • Change dates
  • Mark critical path
  • Remove unnecessary delays (normalize)
  • Label items
  • Adjust baseline to plan
  • Release individual date fixations
  • Backward planning
  • Print Gantt Chart
• Working with the Allocation View
  • Project View and Organizational View
  • Allocation Display