How to plan and schedule projects with InLoox PM 8

InLoox PM 8 facilitates editing your project planning in a time-saving way. Combine project planning with the work packages for the detailed project planning. Create project groups to overview the deadlines and resource capacity over the projects. Find out more about the features on the InLoox PM Ribbon that allow you to create and edit the planning.

In the project, on the Start tab, click Planning  to open the Planning page. On this page you will find the following features:

• Create and edit an activity  To create a new activity, click on the Edit tab in the Edit group New activity. To edit an already existed activity, select an activity from the planning list. On the Edit tab, in the Edit group click Edit.

  For more information on how to create an activity, see Create and edit an activity.

• Create and edit a milestone  To create a new milestone click New Milestone on the Edit tab, in the Edit group. To edit an already existed one, select a milestone from the planning list and click Edit in the Edit group.

  • For more information on how to create a milestone, see Create and edit a milestone.
  • Use the multi selection for simultaneous editing of the planning elements. Click the first planning element you want to edit and hold the Ctrl key on the keyboard while clicking on all the planning elements you want to edit. Then click Edit on the Edit tab, in the Edit group.
• Remove a planning element  Select the planning element from the planning list you want to remove. On the Edit tab, in the Edit group, click Delete.

• Assign or delete a work package  Select a planning element from the planning list and click New Work Package, in the Edit group, on the Edit tab.
   If you want to delete the work package, click Remove Work Package, in the Edit group.

  

  • A planning element contains now an assigned work package.
  • For more information about work packages in the planning, see Work with the work packages in the planning.
• Create your planning faster  Use the Copy and Paste commands from the Edit group on the Edit tab to copy already existing planning elements and insert them into a new planning. You can edit the newly created elements as you want.
• Change the order of the planning elements  Use the arrows Up and Down in the Arrange group. By clicking on these vertical arrows, you can move the selected item up and down in the list.
• Group the planning elements  Create or dissolve a group by using the arrows Left and Right, in the Arrange group.
  • The selected planning element will be grouped one level below by clicking Right.
  • Click Left to move the selected planning element one group level up.
• Mark a planning element as done  Select an activity or milestone from the planning list, which is finished, and click Done in the Highlight group on the Edit tab.
• Highlight a planning element in the planning list  Select one planning element from the planning list and click Flag in the Highlight group on the Edit tab. Choose one color from the drop-down list.
  Now you can see the selected flag in the planning list next to the element.
  The flag highlights the planning elements only in the list.
• Highlight a planning element in the Gantt chart  Select one planning element from the planning list and click Color in the Highlight group on the Edit tab. Click the color circle to select a user-defined color from the color spectrum. Click the arrow to see a compact pre-selection of standard colors. The planning element will be displayed in the Gantt chart in the selected color.

• Display the important planning elements on the timeline  Select planning elements you need and click Add to timeline, in the Highlight group.

  For more information about this feature, see Mark planning elements for the timeline.

• Synchronize a planning element with Outlook elements  Select one element from the planning list and click Synchronize with in the Action group on the Edit tab. Select either Outlook Task or Outlook Calendar from the drop-down list.
  For more information, see Quick access panels for tasks and calendar, in the InLoox PM elements in the Outlook task list / the Outlook calendar section.

• Create planning snapshot  Record the current state of your Gantt planner at different times. Click Snapshot in the Action group, on the Edit tab.

   For more information, see Snapshot.

• Link quickly planning elements  Select planning elements you want to link and cick Link Automatically, in the Action group. Such type of planning is called waterfall planning.

  You can adjust the constrains between planning elements by clicking dependency in the Gantt chart. For more information, see Create dependencies between planning elements, in the Edit dependencies in the Gantt chart.

• Remove the defined constraints of planning elements   Select from the planning list an element with time constraints and click Remove Constraint in the Action group, on the Edit tab.
  For more information about constraints, see Create dependencies between planning elements.
• Remove the dependency between planning elements  Click Remove Dependency in the Actions group on the Edit tab. The defined dependency will be deleted and you can move the elements as you like. 

• You can undo an action, e.g. if you have accidently deleted one planning element. On the top left Planning page click Undo.
• You can repeat the last action by clicking Redo.

• Print a planning  On the View tab in the Common group, click Print to start the quick print feature of the planning. In the Print Planning box, in the Ribbon, in the Print Range group, define the time period as well as other table settings. In the Table group click Columns and select some for the print review.

   For more features about printing the planning, see Print the project list.

• Expand All / Collapse All  On the View tab, in the Common group, click Collapse All to minimize a group in the planning. Click Expand All to display it in the detail. Use this feature to get a better overview of your planning.
• Choose fields  This feature sorts and organizes the project planning by selected data.
  • On the Choose Fields dialog box, click one field, e.g. Customer, and drag it into the column headers.
  • Reset the field per Drag and Drop back into the dialog box.
• Show critical path  On the View tab, in the Details group, click Show critical path. 
  For more information, see Show critical path.
• Display slack  On the View tab, in the Details group, click Display slack. Now you can see for how many days you can postpone the regarding planning element until it affects the overall duration of the project.
• Today  Click Today in the Change to group to switch to the today's view. The plan is positioned so that the red day line is on the left side of the Gantt chart.
• Display All  Click Display All in the Zoom group to adjust the date interval of the Gantt chart to the project end or start - first and last element.
• Display the selected planning element only  Select a planning element from the planning list. On the Zoom tab, in the View group click Display Selected.
• Zoom   On the View tab, in the Zoom group click Zoom in or Zoom out to change the Gantt chart view. The following time intervals are available: years, quarters, months, weeks, days, hours, quarter-hours, and minutes.
• Sort  You can define the view of the project list by sorting it by criteria such as Name, Start date, End date or Progress. On the View tab, in the Arrange group, click Sort by. Select a criteria from the drop-down list, e.g. Is critical. 
• Group  On the View tab, in the View group, click Group by. In the drop-down list click on the field you want to group by. The project list will be grouped by the criteria you have chosen.
  You can remove the grouping by clicking None in the Group by drop-down list.
• Filter  On the View tab, in the Arrange group, click Filter by. Select the filter criteria from the drop-down list. Only those planning elements will be displayed in the planning list, which contain the selected criteria.
• Define outline level  Click Outline Level in the Arrange group, on the View tab. Select an outline level from the drop-down list to collapse or expand groups in the planning view.

• Show resources  On the View tab in the Resources group click Resources to check the resource utilization.

   For more information see Call up and manage resources.

• Create your planning by using templates  Use a previously saved planning as a template. On the Templates tab, in the Action group, click Import Templates or choose a saved one in the InLoox PM Templates group from the gallery view.
  For more information on templates, see the category Planning templates.
• Save an existing planning as a template in your data or in a gallery view  On the Templates tab in the Export/Import group click Export Template to save a mind map, in order to insert it as a picture or in other format to PowerPoint, Word or in the other project. You can also save the existing planning by clicking Export Template in the InLoox PM Templates group, on the Templates tab.
• Send a planning as a template via email  On the Templates tab, in the Action group, click Send Template by Mail. In the opened email, enter the recipient and additional text if you like and click Send. The planning is already attached to the email.

• Create a report  On the Reports tab, in the Create group, click Create Report to create the planning data as a report.

• Load a report  Select the report from the gallery view by clicking it, in the Report group.

   For more information see Create a report.

• Change planning direction  On the Edit tab, in the Settings group, click Direction. Select a planning direction, e.g. Forward Scheduling or Backward Scheduling. Then add the Project Start or End.
  For more information about the planning direction, see Backward scheduling.
• Stop sending notifications  On the Edit tab, in the Settings group click No Notification. Notifications with project information or regarding project changes will not be sent to the project resources. 

• Create project group  On the Edit tab, in the Settings group click Project Group. With this feature you can connect the plans of interdependent projects to identify cross-projects dependencies and resource bottlenecks.

   For more information see Create a project group.