LibrePlan at CRJ A hands-n tutrial By Sergi Reyes (April 2015) LOGING IN TO LIBREPLAN LibrePlan is running n a Linux server which is part ur CRJ s VPN system. In rder fr this link t wrk yu must be lgged in t ur VPN first. If yu are running yur cmputer utside ne f ur ffices, yu will need t have yur VPN Cisc Client sftware running first. If yu need help with this cntact ur IT Department. Als, in rder fr yu t lgin t LibrePlan yu have t be an authrized LibrePlan user. Please cntact ur Prject Manager t prvide yu with credentials if yu dn t have them. When all the previus cnditins are in place, g ahead and lgin t LibrePlan, using yur prvided credentials. The link t the LibrePlan training server is: http://10.2.2.97:8080/libreplan/ If yur credentials are accepted yu will land n LibrePlan hme page. If yu were nt created as an Administratr yu will nt see any prjects available until yu d yur first ne. 1
CREATE A NEW PROJECT Creating ur Wrk Breakdwn Structure Nrmally the first thing that we need t think abut are the tasks and their dependencies. S frm the main screen click n Prjects List. Image 1 2
Press the add prject buttn and define yur prject data. Yu can get LibrePlan aut-generate cdes fr yur prjects t, but in this case we ll define the prject cde manually. Image 2 Image 3 When yu have entered the Name, Cde and Custmer, press Accept and yu ll be greeted with the default Wrk Breakdwn Structure screen. If yu have defined a custm calendar, make sure yu select the crrect calendar. Otherwise all the infrmatin here is editable frm the General Data tab. S nw let s try adding sme tasks that we wuld likely have t d if we develp an nline market website. Inserting Tasks Grups in the WBS (Wrk Breakdwn Structure) windw is basically started as a nrmal task. S let s add the Graphic design grup stage and their tasks. In this instance the graphic design wrk grup will cnsist f: Welcme page Prduct listing Single prducts listing Checkut prcess, and Order cnfirmatin design. We ll define thse as separate tasks. In rder t make sure that they are under the graphic design grup we have t indent the task ne level belw the Graphic Design line. (See Indenting Tasks belw) 3
Image 4 I hpe that illustrates the way we add tasks int the WBS listing. T mve further we shuld add mre grups and tasks s that ur example prject lks mre real. Enter the tasks frm Appendix 1. Nw again, this is an exercise t demnstrate what LibrePlan can d. A real plan wuld have been much mre detailed than these tasks belw. Als yes, in this case study, we have decided t use an ut-f-the-shelve pen surce nline stre applicatin, therefre we can assume nt much develpment is required fr the admin and accunts side f things. 4
Image 5 Indenting tasks Indenting tasks is very imprtant, and given that the web interface desn t allw fr the use f ur keybard Tab key, yu can indent a task after it was entered by selecting it (click n the task and the backgrund clr will change t light range) and then pressing the tab icn as represented in the image befre the present ne (smething like => ). Alternatively, yu can select the base entry as in this image (ORDER0003-0023) and as yu enter New Task and Add, it will be autmatically tabbed, using the selected task as parent. Scheduling Once all the tasks are entered as indicated abve, yu will end up with a list f tasks with the same Start and End dates. It is nw time t adjust thse dates accrding t ur calculatin f the time that it will 5
take t perfrm each task. This is better accmplished in the Prject Scheduling view. T get there, click n the Prject Scheduling buttn n the left panel. Image 6 Nte that yu are nly seeing here the high level task headers fr the 3 stages f this prject. 1) Graphic Design, 2) Develpment and 3) Testing. When yu click n the expand buttn next t Graphic Design, fr instance, it will display all tasks under that header. As we started defining ur prject, we determined that this wuld g frm 5/1/15 thrugh 8/31/15, fur mnths. 6
Image 7 The indentatin has determined a hierarchy f tasks. Yu cannt change the dates fr Graphic Design, these are determined by the tasks that fall under that stage. Our cmpleted scheduling will be shwn n next page. 7
Image 8 8
Dependencies Nw ntice that sme f the tasks abve will have sme dependencies. It s easiest t link the dependencies frm the prject scheduling view. Image 9 T add a dependency, place the muse pinter n tp f the bar yu want t add the dependency then right-click n it. A menu with the ptins t Add Dependency, Add Milestne, Task Prperties and Prgress assignment will pen. When yu click n Add Dependency, a graphic line will pen that yu extend t the bar where the dependency will link. In the graphic belw we can see that we created dependencies between stages and als within the tw prcesses within the Develpment stage. Nte that the Gantt zm was set t mnth instead f week fr a mre cmpact lk at it. 9
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Image 10 Hurs and Budget As yu can see frm the abve picture, things are starting t shape up. Nw the nly thing that we have t d is insert the hurs listing. We accmplish this by using the Prject Details view. Ntice that we assigned hurs fr all tasks in the Graphic Design stage (40, 24, 40, 24, 16, 24 and 16), which the system added autmatically t indicate that the Graphic Design stage will take 184 hurs t cmplete. Image 11 Likewise, we culd add Budget data n this same screen. That date will als be added t indicate hw much funding is allcated t accmplish this stage. The image bellws shws cmpletin f budget data. 11
Image 12 Creating Prject Wrkers Befre yu can assign team members t tasks, yu have t create resurces, in this case, wrkers. T d this, click n the Resurces tab, and then Wrkers n the resurces pull dwn. Ntice the ther resurces yu can wrk n under this tab (Machines, Virtual Wrkers, Calendars, etc.). Once in the Wrkers screen yu click n the Create buttn t add team perfrmers. Image 13 On the next screen after clicking n Create yu will enter the wrker infrmatin. 12
Image 14 T save the infrmatin entered, click n Save, then press Create and cntinue the prcess. Using Save & Cntinue might nt wrk as expected. After a while the list f wrkers culd lk like this: Image 15 Assigning Team Members Nw that we have all the tasks listed and a list f team perfrmers, we will assign ur team members t each f the tasks. T d this, mve t the Prject Scheduling mde and expand all the grups. 13
Image 16 In additin, t make things easier enable Shw Resurces (the little green peple icn) mde. Image 17 Yu ll see all f the tasks that we have defined previusly as bars n the Gantt chart. As we assign the crrect team members the task length will then be calculated autmatically. In rder t assign a resurce, simply duble-click n the bar belnging t the task yu want t dcument. This actin will bring up the task ptin dialg bx. 14
Image 18 Assigning resurce t the task is pretty straightfrward t, simply type the name f the team member and LibrePlan will autcmplete it. Optinally, yu can click n the search icn and select the crrect Wrker (team member) frm the pull dwn list. In this case we selected team member Jhn Kramer and assigned him t this 40-hur task. Image 19 15
Once yu press Accept, yu ll see that the task bar nw has a darker blue clr and with the Shw/Hide Resurces buttn selected, it will als shw the name f the team member respnsible fr the task. All we have t d nw is fllw thrugh and d the same with the rest f the prject items. Image 20 Managing Dependencies and Task Resurce Lad What we just did in the previus sectin is assigning designers and develpers t the specific tasks with n regards t dependencies r their lad. Obviusly ne persn cannt d mre than ne tasks in parallel unless they are nly wrking at certain percentage each, which makes things cmplicated. LibrePlan actually tells us abut lad prblems n the bar at the bttm f the Gantt chart. S in rder t avid having this issue we need t schedule s that ne persn s task happens after anther. Firstly, we made sure that the stages are happening ne after anther. T d this, we created the dependencies by right clicking at the end f the stage bundary and selecting Add Dependency. Then chse the stage that it depended n. This is very useful fr prper planning. Lastly, fr simple prject like this, we ve put the task dependencies depending n wh s ding what. This way ur resurce allcatin will be crrect and we ll get the prper estimated dates. Again, this is similar with assigning the grup dependencies. 16
Image 21 We can be sure there is n verlad because there are n range indicatins in the lad graph. We will assign Prducts listing which verlaps with Welcme page t Jhn Kramer t bserve the resulting verlad n the Lad graphic: 17
Image 22 Prgress Tracking One f the mst imprtant things that we want t track in a prject is prgress. In rder t d s we will need t assign percentage cmplete fr each f the task as it mves frward. Let s just say fr the sake f this article that the Welcme page task has been dne by rughly 30%. T assign this all we have t d is right click n the task bar and click n Prgress Assignment. Yu ll be greeted with the prgress assignment page and yu can add a measurement and its value. T d this, click n Add measure and add the infrmatin in the Value data bx. Yu culd actually assign different measurements ther than percentage if yu chse t d s. 18
Image 23 The 30% prgress will be recrded when yu click n the buttn Back (which shuld have been labeled Save, instead). In rder fr this prgress t be visible n the Gantt Chart the Shw/Hide Prgress buttn must be selected. This is hw it will lk: Image 24 Ntice that the Welcme page task bar nw has a black bar inside the blue bar. Als ntices that the black bar under Graphic Design als has a similar dark bar underneath. T see the verall prject perfrmance and metrics such as ttal hurs required, etc; navigate back t the Prject Details screen. As mentined abve, we want t see hw many percentages this prject has prgressed after mdifying the Prgress Assignment. Click n the Prgress tab t see the ttal 19
percentage prgress f the prject. At this pint we can see that we have 1.00% cmplete ut f the whle prject. Image 25 In a real prject yu will definitely see a graph in the prgress evlutin area. This is ne f the helpful indicatr f hw the prject is tracking. Reprting LibrePlan supprts a limited array f reprting ptins. Yu can explre their reprting features frm the Reprts tab. In rder t maximize the usage f the reprts, we need t input all the crrect prject prgress infrmatin, which f curse we d nt have in ur example. Presently, the fllwing reprts are available: Hurs Wrked Per Resurce, Ttal Wrked Hurs By Resurce in a Mnth, Wrk and Prgress Per Prject, Wrk and Prgress Per Task, Estimated/Planned Hurs Per Task, Prject Csts, Task Scheduling Status in Prject, Materials Needs at Date, and Prject Status. Image 26 20
Cnclusins T cnclude his LibrePlan series, the riginal authr f this article clsed up with prs and cns f this tl. Prs: Free pen surce prduct. Great Gantt chart which is very usable unlike ther tls that I have tried. This is actually very clse t what Micrsft Prject can d. Very flexible glbal cnfiguratin. Basically we can custmize this tl t suit almst any type f prjects, fr example: it can measure machine resurces, track prgress in units, etc. Very flexible reprting tl. There are vast amunt f reprting ptins that we can make use f. [I disagree with this statement] Truly nline prject management tl, with the ability t give user lgins t each f the team members. Easy installatin n ppular Linux servers. Mderate cmmunity supprt is available frm ask.libreplan.rg Cns: The applicatin can be resurce intensive at times. Decent server hardware is expected t run this applicatin. Reply fr questins in the frum (http://ask.libreplan.rg/) can be a bit slw, but bviusly this depends n the uptake f this prject. Hpefully by ding this article mre peple will be interested. The applicatin can be unstable at times. Therefre save ften, especially when there are racing cnditins; such as tw persns mdifying the same task at the same time. Lking at the prs and cns abve, I persnally can suggest anyne t give this prject management tl a g. There shuld be nthing stpping anyne frm trying this, simply install the applicatin n a virtual machine and try it n a smaller scale prjects. Lastly, implementing this tl will cst s much less than any ther cmmercial tls such as Office 365 in my pinin; especially if yu are running a small prject team. ------------------------------------ This tutrial is based n: 21
http://www.cdingepiphany.cm/2013/05/03/libreplan-the-pen-surce-web-based-prjectmanagement-tl-part-3-prject-plan/ I intrduced a series f detailed explanatins that were nt present in the riginal. Als, I redid the riginal screenshts and added many mre. Sergi Reyes 22
APPENDIX 1. LIST OF TASKS TO PROCESS Stage 1: Graphic Design Welcme page Prducts listing Prduct details Checkut prcess Order cnfirmatin Design presentatin Revisins Final design sign-ff Stage 2: Develpment User Interface Develpment Design slicing and static HTML mck-up Main CSS definitins Respnsive mck-up Welcme page design integratin Prducts listing design integratin Prduct details design integratin Shipping selectins design integratin Payment selectins design integratin Cnfirmatin design integratin User accunt design integratin Cre Applicatin Develpment Custmizatin f pen surce nline stre applicatin Shipping lgic integratin Payment gateway integratin Stage 3: Testing High level 23
Prduct display and listing Shipping mdules Payment gateways Order cnfirmatin Custmer accunt settings Admin reprting 24