Altus for Microsoft Project - End User Guide

Index

Creating a Microsoft Project project in Altus

• How to Connect your Microsoft Project connected project in Altus

Connecting your Project Plan to Altus

• How to Connect your Microsoft Project Plan to Altus for the First Time
• How to Connect your Microsoft Project Plan to Altus - After your First Connection
• How to Connect to a different Altus environment

Unlinking your Project Plan from Altus

• How to Unlink your Microsoft Project Plan from Altus
• How to unlink from Altus
• How to unlink from Microsoft Project

Publishing your Project Plan

• Publishing your Project Plan to Altus

Managing Resources

• Managing your Project Resources

Managing Time sheet Actual Hours

• Importing Actual hours from your Altus time sheet into Project

Frequently Asked Questions

• FAQ

Creating a Microsoft Project connected project in Altus

You can connect a Microsoft Project plan to any Altus Project with the following criteria:

• It is an Altus project with either a Microsoft Project or Altus schedule type.
• It has no connection to another Microsoft Project plan.
• It has no tasks within the Tasks tab.

How to create a project with a Microsoft Project schedule:

1. Click + New in your projects list. This will open the New Project pane.

2. Fill in the fields on the form.

3. Select Microsoft Project from the Project Schedule drop-down.

   

   This will display the Next Steps details within the pane.

4. Click Create to create your project.

If you open this project, you will see that it is shown as being a Microsoft Project External Project type. As it has not been connected to a Microsoft Project plan it still displays the Next Steps message.

You will now need to follow the instructions below to connect you Microsoft Project plan to this project.

How to Connect your Microsoft Project Plan to Altus for the First Time

To be able to publish your Microsoft Project Plan to Altus you will need to have the following prerequisites:

• The Altus for Project Add-in installed on your PC.
• Access to an Altus environment.
• You need to be in the correct security role set by your organisation to use the tool.

The first time you connect a project plan to Altus you will need to select the environment you would like to link to. Once you have selected the environment, any subsequent connections to Altus will remember the environment you selected so you will not need to repeat this part of the process.

Follow these steps for your first connection to Altus:

1. Open your project plan in Microsoft Project.

2. Access the Altus toolbar in Microsoft Project. If you do not have access to this toolbar, you do not have the Microsoft Project Add-in tool installed on your PC. Please follow the instructions here.

   

3. Click Connect to Altus.

   

   This will open the Microsoft Login window.

4. Log into your Microsoft account.

   The system will now locate and list the environments you have access to.

   

5. Select the environment you would like to connect to from the list and click Next.

   The Select Altus Projects list screen will open and display only the projects you have access to.

   

   

   • Show unavailable projects: this tick box is not ticked by default. Projects will be unavailable if they already have tasks in them or are connected to an external scheduling tool.
   • There is a search box to help find your project from the list.

6. Select your project from the list.

7. Click Connect. The connection process will run, and you will receive a confirmation message when this project plan is linked to the Altus Project.

8. Click OK.

If you receive an error when you try and connect, there may have been a connection error, so try again.

Once you have connected your Microsoft Project plan the other action buttons within the Altus toolbar will become active.

How to Connect your Microsoft Project Plan to Altus - After your First Connection

As mentioned above, the first time you connect a project plan to Altus you will need to select an environment you would like to link to. Once you have selected an environment, any subsequent connections to Altus will remember the environment you selected so you will not need to repeat this part of the process.

Follow these steps to connect a Project plan to Altus after you have selected the environment to connect to:

1. Open your project plan in Microsoft Project.

2. Click Connect to Altus from the Altus toolbar.

   

   This will open the Microsoft Login window.

3. Log into your Microsoft account.

   The Select Altus Projects list screen will open and display only the projects you have access to.

   

4. Select your project from the list.

5. Click Connect. The connection process will run, and you will receive a confirmation message when this project plan is linked to the Altus Project.

6. Click OK.

How to Connect to a different Altus environment

If you would like to connect to a different Altus environment:

1. On the Select Altus Project window click the Change Environment button.

   

   This will display the Select Altus Environment window

   

2. Select a new environment to connect to. Follow the steps above to continue with the connection process.

How to Unlink your Microsoft Project Plan from Altus

Note

Access to this feature is restricted within the configuration settings. If you cannot perform this task you will need to speak to your administrator.

There are two places you can perform this unlinking process from:

• Altus.
• Microsoft Project.

How to Unlink from Altus

1. Open the Project in Altus.

2. Click the link indicator on the Details tab.

   

   This will open the Link to External Project pane.

   

3. Click the Unlink Project button. This will open the additional dialogue in the pane.

   

4. Select whether you would like to:

   • Delete synced tasks: This will unlink this project from Microsoft Project and remove all tasks from the Altus Tasks list. This process could take a few minutes to be completed.
   • Leave tasks in place: This will unlink this project from Microsoft Project but leave all the tasks within Altus. If you leave your tasks within the Altus project, you will be unable to connect another Project plan to this project.

5. Click Accept to begin the unlinking process. The pane will now be overlaid with the message Unlinking project while the Project is being unlinked. The process would take longer if you selected to delete the tasks from Altus.

   

Your project will now be unlinked.

How to Unlink from Microsoft Project

Once you have Linked your Microsoft Project plan to Altus the Connect button will change to Disconnect from Altus.

NOTE: Access to this feature is restricted within the configuration settings. If you cannot perform this task you will need to speak to your administrator.

1. Open the project plan in Microsoft Project.

2. Click Disconnect from Altus.

   

   This will open the Disconnect from Altus Project? window.

   

3. Select whether you would like to:

   • Keep tasks: This will unlink this project from Microsoft Project but leave all the tasks within Altus. If you leave your tasks within the Altus project, you will be unable to connect another Project plan to this project.
   • Delete tasks: This will unlink this project from Microsoft Project and remove all tasks from the Altus Tasks list. This process could take a few minutes to be completed.

4. Click the Disconnect button. The disconnection process will now run.

Your project will now be unlinked.

Using the Microsoft Project to Altus Tasks Sync to Migrate Project plans to Altus

Once a Microsoft Project plan has been published to an Altus project, you can unlink the Microsoft Project plan from Altus, but leave the Microsoft Project tasks within Altus. You can use this process to migrate any projects from Microsoft Project to Altus.

Publishing your Microsoft Project plan to Altus Tasks

This process will publish all the tasks within your connected Microsoft Project plan to the Altus Tasks tab. You must Connect your Microsoft Project plan to an Altus Project before you can perform this task. If you have not please follow the instructions here.

1. Open the Altus toolbar.

2. Click the Publish Tasks button. The publish process will begin. The Processing Tasks window will open and display the progress of the publishing process.

   

3. Once the Publish dialogue completes click Close.

   

Now that you have published your Microsoft Project plan to Altus, you should see:

• The Tasks within the Altus Tasks app - in read only mode.
• The link indicator within the Details tab.

Managing your Project Resources

Within your Project plan you have the choice to add:

• Local Resources to your plan: these resources only exist within your Microsoft Project plan; they will not be published into your Altus Project.
• Altus Resources: you select these resources from the Build Team button within the Altus toolbar.
• A mix of Local and Altus Resources.

Using Altus Resources

The benefit of using Altus Resources:

• Altus Resources will be brought into your Project plan with the following details:
  • their calendar and calendar exceptions: so that their capacity will be taken into consideration on any tasks they are assigned to.
  • their Cost rate (Standard Rate) and their Sell rate (Overtime Rate): so that you can calculate the cost of any tasks to which they are assigned.
• If you are using the Altus Time sheet module:
  • If you add an Altus Resource to a task and publish your plan the Resource will see these tasks in their Time sheet.
  • Any approved time sheet hours can then be imported into your Project plan as Actual work, so that you do not need to manually maintain and update these tasks.

Using Altus Resources in your Project plan

All management and maintenance of Altus Resources is done through Build Team.

The Build Team window is split into two sections.

1. The left section Resources from Altus this displays all bookable Altus Resources
2. The right section Project Resources displays all the resources you have within your Project plan, this list contains both local resources added to your plan and Altus Resources you have previously added to your plan.

Both sections allow you to:

• Search for a specific resource from the list.
• Filter the list so that you only see Named or Generic resources.

There are icons that indicate the state of these resources:

• Local only resource: this indicates resources within the Project Resources list that are local resources.
• Generic resources: this indicates resources from either of the lists that have been marked as Generic resources.
• Inactive Altus Resource: this indicates an Altus Resource that has been made inactive. You cannot add an Inactive resource to your Project Resources list, but previously added resources that have become inactive will display with this icon.
• Actuals: these resources within your Project Resources list have actual values against them, so they are unable to be Removed or Replaced within this window.

Adding Altus Resources to your Project plan

Resources that have already been added to your Project Resources list will show as greyed out within the Resources from Altus list.

You can select multiple resources to add at once by holding down Ctrl and selecting multiple resources.

Until you have selected a resource from the Resources from Altus list the Add > button will remain inactive.

To add an Altus Resource to your Project plan:

1. Select a resource from the Resources from Altus list.
2. Click the Add > button. The resource will now be added to your Project Resources list.
3. Click OK to save your changes or Cancel to not save your changes.

Replacing Altus Resources to your Project plan

When you replace a resource within your Plan all the tasks and work allocated to the original resource will be allocated to new resources and the original resource will be removed from your Plan.

You cannot replace a resource who has Actual work allocated to them.

Resources that have already been added to your Project Resources list will show as greyed out within the Resources from Altus list. If you would like to replace work allocated to another resource with this resource, you will need to make these changes at the task level.

You can only replace one resource at a time.

Until you have selected a resource from the Resources from Altus list the Replace > button will remain inactive.

To replace an Altus Resource with a resource on your Project plan:

1. Select a resource from the Resources from Altus list.
2. Select a resource from the Project Resources list.
3. Click the Replace > button. The resource will now be added to your Project Resources list overwriting the original resource.
4. Click OK to save your changes or Cancel to not save your changes.

Removing Altus Resources from your Project plan

When you remove a resource from your Plan all the tasks they are removed from your Project completely. This feature works for both Altus and local resources.

You cannot remove a resource who has Actual work allocated to them.

You can only remove a resource from the Project Resources list.

You can select multiple resources to remove at once by holding down Ctrl and selecting multiple resources.

Until you have selected a resource from the Resources from Altus list the Remove button will remain inactive.

To remove a Resource from on your Project plan:

1. Select a resource from the Project Resources list.
2. Click the Replace button. The resource will now be removed from your Project Resources list.
3. Click OK to save your changes or Cancel to not save your changes.

Refreshing Resource Calendars and Exceptions

When you open the Build Team window the system refreshes the Altus Resource information, so any resources that have become inactive will be indicated, and the Calendars and Exceptions of the resources within your Project Resources list will be updated.

When you click OK within this window, the system will save these changes and update the Calendar/Exceptions/capacity of the Altus Resources within your plan. If you click Cancel these values will not be updated.

Importing Actual hours from your Altus time sheet into Project

This process will allow you to import any Actual values resources have logged against your Project in their Altus time sheet. Only values from Approved time sheets will be imported.
To allow resources to time sheet to tasks within your project you need to map Altus resources to your Microsoft Project tasks. For instructions on how to do this click here

The Time sheet Import Screen contains the following features:

• The left-hand pane displays:
  • A tree view showing Resources with time sheets awaiting to be imported into the Project plan broken down by time sheet period.
  • Alerts that allow the user to identify any time sheets that have actual hours that exceed the planned hours on a task.
• The right-hand pane displays:
  • The time sheet values available to be imported, based on the item you have selected on the left-hand pane:
    • If the time sheet period is selected on the left-hand pane you will see all Resources that have time sheets for import within that period.
    • If a Resource within a time sheet period is selected on the left-hand pane you will see all the task rows for that Resource within that period available to be imported.
  • An alert for any rows/tasks where the actual hours exceed the planned hours.
  • The Planned Work (hrs) column displays the planned work assigned to this resource on the task within the Project plan.
  • The Total Actuals (hrs) column displays the total actuals on the task which includes the hours from this time sheet as well as the actual hours already imported into the task.
  • The Remaining (hrs) columns calculates the Planned Work (hrs) minus the Total Actuals (hrs) value.

Note: If any time sheet Actual work values that have previously been imported into your Project plan are edited within the plan, the time sheet import will identify that these values have changed, and these records will display on the time sheet import screen again.

The following error states will trigger an alert screen as part of the import. Alerts will be thrown by the Time sheet import process if:

• The task has been deleted from Microsoft Project. The only way to action this is to have the resource recall their time sheet and put their hours against a current task.

  

• The resource has been removed from the task in Microsoft Project. To action this you will need to add the resource back onto the task in Project and publish the plan to Altus.

  

To Import Timesheet values:

1. Click the Import Timesheets button.

   

   Note

   If there are not any time sheets to import you will be shown the no time sheets to import screen.

2. If there are any errors with the time sheet data, the relevant error message will display these messages contain the following options:

   • Download Tasks List (csv): if you click this link a csv file will download showing all the errors. These errors can then be actioned outside of this process.
   • Continue: if you click this button the process will continue onto the next screen.
   • Cancel: if you click this button the process will end.

   If there are no errors the Apply Timesheet Effort to Schedule window will open.

   These values are broken down by Timesheet Period and Resource. All Resource time sheets are ticked by default.

3. Review the time sheet values within the window.

4. Uncheck the box next to any Resource name in the left-hand window that you do Not want to Import.

5. Click Apply. The time sheet rows you selected will now be imported into your schedule.

Note: you will still need to save your Project plan to save these values into your plan, so if you are not happy with the data when it has been imported you can undo your changes. Once the Actual values are removed you can re-run the Import Timesheet process.

You can run this process as many times as you need to as you clean up errors.
If you modify any of these imported Actual values in your Project plan, the time sheet import process will identify these changes and allow you to import the actual values recorded in the time sheets again.

Warning

Using Save As will create a completely new version of your schedule. If published against the original project it will delete and re-create all the tasks and disconnect timesheets.
To back up your Microsoft Project file, avoid using Save As, and instead use Windows Explorer to make a copy.

Frequently Asked Questions

What version of Microsoft Project do I need?

Please review the table in Technical information.

Does Altus for Project support Project Online/Project Server Projects?

Altus for Project can use mpp files that have been saved locally and cannot be used on mpp files still connected to Project Online/Server.

To integrate with these projects there are two options:

1. Use the Dataflow based integration available for Project Online.
2. Save your project as an MPP file and then proceed to use the Altus for Project Add-in

I have made a copy my Project plan by using Save As and my Altus Resources are no longer mapped. Why?

You should avoid using Save As on your mapped mpp as it will create a completely new version of your mpp with new task and assignment IDs.
If you publish this mpp against the mapped Altus project it will delete and re-create all the tasks and Resource mappings and disconnect any previously completed timesheets. To back up your Microsoft Project file, avoid using Save As, and instead use Windows Explorer to make a copy.

Can I transition an Altus Project from Project Online integration to Project Desktop integration?

No, Altus for Project cannot be used to transition an in-flight project from one integration type to Microsoft Project. You should create a new Altus Project and initiate a link and publish operation from Altus for Project within Microsoft Project.

I cannot see the project I want to connect to in the project list

This might be because of the following reasons:

1. You do not have access to the project in Altus. Check the project in Altus and make sure you are part of the project group.
2. The Project has already been linked to an external scheduling tool, if this is the case you will be able to see the project if you select Show unavailable projects.
3. There are already tasks within this project, if this is the case you will be able to see the project if you select Show unavailable projects.

I have Published my Microsoft Project plan to Altus, and I can see my tasks within the Altus Tasks tab, but I am unable to edit them in Altus

This is correct behaviour. Any tasks published from Microsoft Project need to be maintained within Microsoft Project. The tasks within the Altus Tasks list are read-only. To make changes update the tasks within Microsoft Project and Publish them to Altus.

I have a copy of the Microsoft Project plan that was linked to Altus, but do not have the original plan, can I use this to continue managing my project?

If you have a copy of the Microsoft Project plan that was made after it was linked to Altus, it will contain all the linking details, so you can continue to manage your project with this Copy. If you have a copy of the Microsoft Project plan that was made before it was linked to Altus, it will NOT contain all the linking details, so Altus will see it as a new Microsoft Project file unlinked to Altus.

I have a milestone in Microsoft Project that has turned into a task when I publish it to Altus. Why?

If you have milestones in Microsoft Project that do not have a duration of 0 days Altus will interpret them as tasks. You will need to change your milestone in Microsoft Project to duration of 0 days to bring the items in line.

Why is my Duration weekdays value rounded in Altus?

Altus stores Duration weekdays as whole days and as a result we round the incoming value.

Why aren't my resource assignments for milestones and summary tasks flowing through to Altus?

Because milestones and summary tasks should not have timesheet Actuals assigned to them, their assignments are removed when the tasks are published to Altus. If you would like a resource to timesheet to these tasks you will need to create a task for these items and not use a summary or milestone task.

I have inactive tasks in my Microsoft Project plan. They are coming through in Altus as Active. Why?

Altus Tasks does not have a feature comparable to Microsoft Project's Inactivate Task feature. These tasks will not be published into Altus.

I have inter-project dependencies in my Microsoft Project plan what will happen when I publish them to Altus?

Altus Tasks does not have a feature comparable to Microsoft Project's Inter-project dependencies feature. Any tasks showing in your plan due to inter-product dependencies will not be published into Altus. Any sub-projects that display in your plan in Microsoft Project will not be published to Altus.