Salesforce Project Management Software by Aprika
Welcome to Mission Control, the cloud-based project management system that helps you keep your finger on the pulse. Having access to all of your project data ‘in the Cloud’, we are confident you will enjoy using Mission Control.
This user guide will assist you with the installation, configuration and administration of Mission Control. Use the button to the right to download a PDF version of the user guide or navigate the various sections online using the toggles that follow.
Mission Control is a native application that runs on the Force.com platform. It is a project management system that integrates with the cloud-based CRM system, Salesforce.com. It enables you to manage all of your projects from the cloud, integrated with your existing Salesforce.com system.
Mission Control is available for the following editions of Salesforce.com:
If you are using any other edition, please speak to your Salesforce.com Account Executive about upgrading.
To install Mission Control, click the Get It Now link on the AppExchange.
Choose the appropriate settings to install Mission Control in your Salesforce.com org.
Confirm you agree to the terms and conditions and install the application
Enter your Salesforce.com User Name and Password and click Log in to Salesforce
Choose which Users you wish to assign permissions to and click Install.
You will now get a message that states your installation is complete and Mission Control will show on your application list.
Congratulations! Your Mission Control application has been installed correctly. You are now ready to move on to Configuration.
Before you can begin using Mission Control, there are a few steps required to configure the application to your specific Salesforce.com org.
Mission Control is licensed on a per user basis. When you install Mission Control into your Salesforce.com org, you will need to assign your Mission Control licenses to your Salesforce.com users. To do this, follow the steps below:
PLEASE NOTE: You do not need to assign Mission Control licences if you are installing in a Sandbox environment.
Should you need to increase the number of Mission Control user licenses, please email [email protected].
The Daily Digest provides detailed insight into what’s going on in Mission Control from the individual Role’s perspective. It includes the following sections:
Timesheet Summary
The Timesheet Summary section provides insight into the hours you’ve logged for This Week and Last Week.
Today’s Assignments
This section includes a list of Actions and Checklist Items. The records will be included if they meet the following criteria:
Actions
Checklist Items
New Assignments
The New Assignments section includes lists of Actions, Checklist Items, Risks and Issues that have been assigned to the Role in the last 24 hours.
Upcoming Deadlines
This section includes lists of Actions and Checklist Items that have an End Date in the next 5 days.
Outstanding Assignments
This section includes lists of Actions, Checklist Items, Risks and Issues that are outstanding. The records will be included if they meet the following criteria:
Actions
Checklist Items
Risks
Issues
Approvals Summary
The Approvals Summary section provides a record count of Time Logs, Expenses and Holidays that are currently awaiting your approval.
Rejections Summary
The Rejections Summary section provides a record count of Time Logs, Expenses and Holidays you have submitted that have been rejected.
Each section of the digest will only appear if there are records to display. For example, if you have not been assigned any new records within the last 24 hours, the ‘New Assignments’ section will not be visible.
The Daily Digest can be activated from the Daily Digest panel in the ‘Control Pad’ section of the Mission Control Console by following the configuration process below:
Your daily digests are now active and will be generated daily at the start time you specified.
In addition, you can further customise the content of the email by selecting to exclude certain content. This is controlled via settings within the Daily Digest Tile on the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console.
Note: Each individual Action Owner can subscribe / unsubscribe to the digest email by adjusting the ‘Receive Digest’ setting on their ‘Role’ record. The default is subscribed.
You specify the time of day that you would like the Daily Digest to be sent out from the ‘Daily Digest’ Tile on the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console. The Daily Digest will be distributed at the specified time, but it will be based on the Timezone of the individual digest recipients.
For example, we have two employees called Mick and Kelly. Mick is based in Melbourne, Australia and Kelly is based in San Francisco, USA. We have scheduled our Daily Digest to be distributed at 5am. Mick will receive his email at 5am AEST and Kelly will receive his email at 5am PST.
To accommodate Users that do not work every day, a number of fields are available on the Role Object that allow you to specify at an individual Role level, which days of the week they will receive the Daily Digest. The fields are as follows:
· Daily Digest – Monday
· Daily Digest – Tuesday
· Daily Digest – Wednesday
· Daily Digest – Thursday
· Daily Digest – Friday
· Daily Digest – Saturday
· Daily Digest – Sunday
To ensure each Role receives the Daily Digest on the days they wish to receive it, each field must be set to TRUE on their Role record.
The Daily Digest will not be distributed to any Role that is on Holiday that day, based on any of the following Holiday types:
· Individual Holiday
· Team Assigned Holiday
· Global Holiday
Mission Control allows you to generate sample data so that you can evaluate and get up and running quickly. If you would like to take advantage of this feature, navigate to the ‘Control Pad’ on the Mission Control Console and click the “Create Sample Data” button. This will populate sample records in all of the key objects required for Mission Control. Please note that once this sample data is created, you will need to manually delete each record that is no longer required.
That’s it! That is all the configuration you need to do. You are now ready to start using Mission Control. Continue reading to find out how to launch your first mission!
Before you can begin using Mission Control, there are a few steps required to configure the application to your specific Salesforce.com org.
Mission Control consists of 55 objects that hold the data relating to various aspects of your projects. These objects are:
You can access each object in the usual manner via their own individual tabs. However, you can launch straight into most of these areas directly from the Mission Control Console.
The Mission Control Console has been designed to work as your ‘command centre’, providing quick launch access to any aspect of your project data. From the Mission Control Console, you can quickly perform the following actions:
The Console is broken up into four separate Tabs. Each of which can be restricted to individual users if required. Four Tabs available on the Console include:
Let’s take a look at each Tab in a bit more detail.
Launch Pad
The Launch Pad is where you need to go if you’re looking to create a new record within Mission Control, such as a Role, Holiday, Skill, Risk, etc. It also provides you with the ability to launch a new Project, whether that’s through the Project Clone feature, or via the new ‘Project Launcher’, which we’ll cover off later in the release notes. It provides you with the ability to create any of the following records:
The Profile Permissions associated to the User will be applied. For example, if the User does not have the permission to create a Skill record, the Skill ‘Tile’ will not be visible on the Launch Pad.
Progress Pad
The Progress Pad is where you’d go if you’re looking to log progress against a Project you’re working on. From here, you’ll be able to access the following tools within Mission Control:
Management Pad
The Management Pad provides you with access to all of the tools within Mission Control that help you keep on top of the management of your projects, including:
Control Pad
The Control Pad provides you with access to all of the administration settings within Mission Control. We expect you’ll want to restrict access to this Tab to your System Administrators and potentially your Project Managers.
From the Control Pad, you’ll be able to complete the following administrative functions:
There are numerous Tiles on the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console that enable you to schedule Apex jobs. These jobs are set to run in the background in context of the User that enabled the job.
If that User becomes inactive (e.g. they leave the business), the job will fail to run and whilst there are notifications available within Salesforce Setup, there was previously no way of identifying this via the Control Pad of the Console.
Therefore, for each Tile on the Control Pad that enables you to schedule an Apex job a warning icon will be displayed to alert customers that action is required in order to reschedule the Apex job via an active User.
The image above shows the notification where an Apex job was scheduled by an inactive User.
Tab Access
We’ve focused on providing you as much flexibility as possible with regards to how much access you provide each User with on the Console. You can control access to each Tab for each individual Role record within Mission Control. The fields that control User access to the Console include:
Field | Field Type | Comments |
Console Default Tab | Picklist | Allows you to specify which Tab you would like to appear when initially loading the Console |
View Launch Pad | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Launch Pad Tab |
View Progress Pad | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Progress Pad Tab |
View Management Pad | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Management Pad Tab |
View Control Pad | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Control Pad Tab |
You can set these field values for an individual Role record by editing the record and updating the fields in the ‘Console Settings’ section.
You can also manage these settings for all of your Role records from a new List View that has been included called ‘Role Permissions – Console’.
To create the framework of a new project quickly, directly from your Mission Control Console, follow the steps below:
From the Console, navigate to the ‘Launch Pad’ and then click on the ‘New Project’ button as shown below. This will open the ‘Project Launcher’.
The Project Launcher allows you to build out the framework for a new Project by entering high-level details for the Project and Milestones.
From the Project Launcher, you’re able to specify the Project Name and Project Budget for the Project record, as well as adding the number of Milestones you require. For each Milestone, you’re able to enter the Milestone Name, Deadline and Budget (if applicable). Once you’ve entered the required information as per the below example, you’re able to click the ‘Launch Project’ button, which will generate the records for you.
You are able to add additional fields relating to the Project record and/or the Milestone record(s) via Field Sets on the respective Objects. The Field Set names are:
Fields added to the Project Field Set will be added below the Opportunity field. Fields added to the Milestone Field Set will be added to the right of the Budget field.
In addition to adding fields to the Field Sets, if a Customer adds a Custom Field to either the Project or Milestone Object and sets the ‘Required’ field to TRUE, these fields will automatically be included on the Project Launch Wizard.
In addition, if a Customer has Multi Currency enabled in their Salesforce Org, the Currency field on the Project will automatically appear below the Project Name field.
Global Action
You can also access the Project Launcher from the Global Action feature within Lightning Experience. Simply click on the Global Action + sign in the top right corner of your screen and select the ‘Project Launcher.
This will open up the Project Launcher component in a ‘Dock’ at the bottom right hand side of the window, as shown below.
Note: you will need to add the Project Launcher to your ‘Publisher Layout’ for it to appear in your Global Actions list. To do this, click Setup, search for Publisher Layouts in the quick find search box, click ‘Edit’ for the ‘Global Layout’ and add Project Launcher to the Salesforce1 & Lightning Experience Actions section, as illustrated below.
Once your project is saved you can quickly create the project actions using the Create Actions button. (See more detail on creating actions later in this document)
Projects can also be created using the standard ‘Create New’ options within Salesforce for the Project, Milestones and Actions.
Before adding actions to your project, it is important that you have completed the settings & billing information on the project if you are planning on using the financial information within the app, as the financials will be calculated as soon as you create your actions, based on this project information:
Mission Control allows you to track the revenue and costs of a Project. This enables you to track the Profit & Loss for individual Actions, Milestones and Projects.
You’re able to specify the Billing Rate and Cost Rate for each Project – the options are ‘Standard’ and ‘Role-based’.
Standard – This option will use the ‘Billable Hourly Rate’ and ‘Cost Hourly Rate’ on the Project. These are calculated based on the ‘Billable Day Rate’ and ‘Cost Day Rate’ values that you specify on the Project, which are divided by the ‘Hours per Day’ value.
Role-based – This option will use the ‘Billable Hourly Rate’ and ‘Cost Hourly Rate’ specified on the individual Role records, or the project specific role rates specified using the Manage Rates button on the individual project.
Skill-based – This option will use the ‘Billable Hourly Rate’ and ‘Cost Hourly Rate’ specified on the skill assignments for each individual role involved in the project based on the skill required to complete the action. In the event that Skill-based is selected for the billing type and there is no skill-based rate for the specific skill, the project specific role rates will first be used. If there are no project specific role rates in place (manage rates), then the roles standard rates will be used.
Rate Card – This option will use the ‘Billable Hourly Rate’ and ‘Cost Hourly Rate’ specified on the Rate Card Entry for the Function that matches the Role’s Function. When using the Rate Card method for either the Billing Rate or the Cost Rate, the financials relating to the hours will be calculated based on the following priority:
Action ‘Skill’ field is populated:
Action ‘Skill’ field is not populated:
When logging hours against a Project, the ‘Hours Completed – Billable’ will accrue when the ‘Non Billable Indicator’ on the Time Log is FALSE. Where it is TRUE, the time will be attributed to the ‘Hours Completed – Non Billable’.
There are currency fields that track the ‘Billable’ and ‘Cost’ values for the Project. Hours will be taken into account for the ‘Cost’ calculation regardless of whether they are billable or non-billable. Only hours that are considered billable will be calculated into the ‘Billable’ value. The example below aims to illustrate how this new functionality will work.
Scenario: Mick Fanning works for Rip Curl and has been assigned as the Action Owner of an Action on a Project to build a new website. The Action will require Mick to carry out both billable and non-billable work to deliver the Action. The following parameters will be used for the Project.
Hours Per Day: 8
Billing Rate: Standard Cost Rate: Standard
Billing Day Rate: $1,200 Cost Day Rate: $800
Billing Hourly Rate: $150 Cost Hourly Rate: $100
These parameters illustrate that Rip Curl will earn $150 revenue for every billable hour that Mick works on this Project. For every hour he works on the Project, Rip Curl will incur $100 cost (e.g. salary, overheads, etc).
Mick logs 2 hours of billable time and 1 hour of non-billable time on the Action. The net result is as follows:
Hours Completed – Billable: 3
Hours Completed – Non Billable: 1
Total Hours Completed: 4
Hours Completed Value (Billable): $450 (3 hours (billable) x $150 (the Billable Hourly Rate))
Hours Completed Value (Cost): $400 (4 hours (billable & non billable) x $100 (the Cost Hourly Rate))
P&L (Actual): $50
These calculations are available for the Scheduled Hours, Completed Hours and Remaining Hours.
A Validation Rule has been included that will prevent users from entering a number greater than 0 in the Hours Scheduled – Billable field if the Non Billable Indicator = TRUE.
Out of the box, this Validation Rule is inactive. If you would like to activate the rule, please carry out the following steps:
Click Setup > Object Manager > Action > Validation Rules > Edit ‘Billable hours Cannot Be Entered’ > Set Active to TRUE > Click Save
The Rate Adjustment feature allows you to create a set of rates (e.g. Billable and Cost Rates) for a specified time period. These Rate Adjustment records are created via the ‘Manage Rates’ page, which is accessible from either the Project or Role record. There are 5 types of Rate Adjustment scenarios, as outlined in the table below:
Rate Adjustment Type | Accessed From | Scenario |
Project | Project | When using the ‘Standard’ Billing Rate or Cost Rate, this would allow you to adjust the rates used on a specific Project. For example, you may have a Billing Rate of $2,000 per day during 2021 and that might increase to $2,200 in 2022 and further increase to $2,500 in 2023 |
Role-based | Role | When using the ‘Role-based’ Billing Rate or Cost Rate, this would allow you to adjust the rates for an individual Role. For example, Mick Fanning may have a Cost Rate of $150 per hour in 2021 and that might increase to $175 in 2022 |
Role-based Override | Project | When using the ‘Role-based’ Billing Rate or Cost Rate, this would allow you to override the rates for an individual Role on a specific Project. For example, Mick Fanning’s Role-based Cost Hourly Rate may be $150 but for one particular Project, you may need to reduce this to $125. You can also use this to account for changes in the overridden rates during different periods of time |
Skill-based | Role | When using the ‘Skill-based’ Billing Rate or Cost Rate, this would allow you to adjust the rates for an Individual Role when using a specific Skill. For example, Mick Fanning using the Skill of HTML Coding may have a Billing Hourly Rate of $175 in 2021 and that might increase to $200 in 2022 |
Skill-based Override | Project | When using the ‘Skill-based’ Billing Rate or Cost Rate, this would allow you to override the rates for an individual Role for a specific Skill being used on a specific Project. For example, Mick Fanning’s Skill Assignment Billable Hourly Rate for HTML Coding may be $175, but for one particular Project, you may need to adjust it to $200. You can also use this to account for changes in the overridden rates during different time periods |
Rate Card | Rate Card | When using the ‘Rate Card’ Billing Rate or Cost Rate, this would allow you to override the rates for an individual Rate Card Entry. For example, The ‘Project Manager’ Function may have a Rate Card Entry with a Billable Hourly Rate of $150, but for a specific period of time, this needs to be changed to $125 |
The Manage Rates page comprises of 5 x Tabs, for each of the Rate Adjustment Types outlined in the Table above. Depending on where you access the Manage Rates page from will determine which Tabs you see on the page. The Table below defines which Tabs you’ll see when you view the Manage Rates page from the Project record or from the Role record.
Project | Role | Rate Card |
Project Role-based Override Skill-based Override | Role-based Skill-based | Rate Card |
When viewing the Manage Rates page from the Project record, you will only see the Tabs that apply to the Billing Rate and Cost Rate values selected on the Project. For example, if my Project has a Billing Rate of Standard and a Cost Rate of Role-based, the Skill-based Override Tab will not be visible.
Project: Project Tab
Below is an example of the Manage Rates page being used to create Rate Adjustment record for a Project using the Project Tab.
Project: Role-based Override Tab
Below is an example of the Manage Rates page being used to create Rate Adjustment records for a Project using the Role-based Override Tab.
The Role-based Override Tab will automatically load any Role that is assigned to the Project as an Action Owner, Contributor and Checklist Item Owner. You will also be able to add additional Roles manually as required.
Project: Skill-based Override Tab
Below is an example of the Manage Rates page being used to create Rate Adjustment records for a Project using the Skill-based Override Tab.
The Skill-based Override Tab will automatically load any Role that is assigned to the Project as an Action Owner, Contributor or Checklist Item Owner. You will also be able to add additional Roles manually as required.
Role: Role-based Tab
Below is an example of the Manage Rates page being used to create Rate Adjustment records for an individual Role using the Role-based Tab.
Role: Skill-based Tab
Below is an example of the Manage Rates page being used to create Rate Adjustment records for an individual Role’s Skill Assignment records using the Skill-based Tab.
Rate Card: Rate Card Tab
Below is an example of the Manage Rates page being used to create Rate Adjustment records for a Rate Card Entry within a particular Rate Card.
The Manage Rates page will prevent you from creating two Rate Adjustment records that cover an overlapping time period. For example, you will not be able to have one Rate Adjustment covering 1st March 21 to 10th April 21 and another Rate Adjustment covering 1st April to 30th April.
The Manage Rates page will support Multi Currency if you have that feature enabled within Salesforce. When creating Rate Adjustments, they will automatically assume the same Currency as the parent record they apply to (e.g. Project, Role or Skill Assignment).
Note: If you override the rates after the Actions have been created, you will need to use the ‘Force Financials Recalculation’ feature to apply the new rates.
The ‘Rate Card’ method provides a way of applying specific rates to all Projects associated with a particular customer. To use the Rate Card values on a Project, you will need to set the Billing Rate and/or Cost Rate to ‘Rate Card’. In addition, you will need to select the Rate Card that you want to use. Only Rate Cards that relate to the Account specified on the Project can be selected.
A Rate Card is a container for a group of ‘Rate Card Entry’ records that contain Billing and/or Cost Rates for a particular Function. The Rate Card is related to an Account record, enabling you to create a set of rates for one Account that vary from the rates used for a different Account.
In order to create Rate Cards and Rate Card Entries, you must ensure the ‘Function’ field on each Role record has been populated. This Function field is used on the individual Rate Card Entries to identify the rates that should be used, based on the Function field value of the Role completing the work on the Project.
The Function field contains the following values by default, but you are able to add / remove by modifying the values in the ‘Function’ Picklist Value Set. By modifying these values, the Function field on both the Role and the Rate Card Entry will be updated. The default values include:
By using the Function, rather than the name of the person, you do not need to maintain Rate Card Entries for each individual Role that will be working on the Project. For example, if Mick Fanning and Kelly Slater both have a Function of ‘Project Manager’, you will only need to create a Rate Card Entry for Project Manager and that will be applied to both of these Roles if they are working on the Project.
Create a Rate Card
To create a Rate Card, you need to click on the ‘New’ button on the Rate Card Object Tab or from the Related List on the Account Page. This will open up the ‘Manage Rate Card’ page, which enables you to create the Rate Card and related Rate Card Entry records.
You will need to enter the Rate Card Name and ensure the Account field is populated with the name of the customer that this Rate Card will be used for.
Within the Rate Card Entries section, you can create Rate Card Entry records for each Function as required. You can optionally choose to associate a Skill to the Rate Card Entry. For example, you may charge different rates if your Project Managers are performing different activities on the Project, such as Business Analysis and Solution Documentation. For this scenario, you would need 2 Rate Card Entries for the Project Manager Function, one with the Skill of Business Analysis and the other with the skill of Solution Documentation.
Clone a Rate Card
You can clone an existing Rate Card and related Rate Card Entries by using the ‘Clone’ button the Rate Card record.
This deep clone process enables you to provide a new Rate Card Name, change the Account it will relate to and save all related Rate Card Entry records.
If required, you are also able to delete any unwanted Rate Card Entries as well as creating additional Rate Card Entries.
You have the ability to specify whether a Project is being measured on a ‘Fixed Price’, ‘Fixed Price + Expenses’ or ‘Time & Materials’ basis. There is no fundamental difference to the way the calculations will work. However, on a Fixed Price project, you may want to restrict the number of ‘Billable’ hours completed to ensure it does not exceed the scheduled billable hours. In addition, periodic billing can only be applied to Time & Materials based projects. Manual and Milestone Billing can be applied to either type.
To assist with management of scheduled and completed hours on fixed price projects, Mission Control includes a Validation Rule that will prevent the User from logging time if it will push the completed billable hours over the scheduled billable hours.
Out of the box, this Validation Rule is inactive. If you would like to activate the rule, please carry out the following steps:
You can specify on an individual Project basis whether overtime can be calculated into the billable and cost values using the following fields:
When logging time, the User will be able to specify whether or not the time they’re logging is ‘Overtime’. If the above fields have been set, the billable and cost values for the Project will calculate the Hours x Overtime Ratio x Hourly Rate (whether this is standard, role based or skills based).
Multiple Overtime Rates
For Customers who need to apply more than one Overtime Rate to a Project, there are the ‘Overtime Card’ and ‘Overtime Rate’ Objects. For example, you may apply an Overtime Ratio of 1.5 for overtime carried out through the working week and a higher ratio of 2.0 for overtime carried out on the weekend.
To use multiple Overtime Rates on a Project, you need to set the following fields on the Project record:
A Validation Rule on the Project Object will prevent Users from setting the ‘Use Multiple Overtime Rates’ field to TRUE without specifying a value in the ‘Overtime Card’ field.
To create a set of Overtime Rates, you first need to create an Overtime Card. This will be the parent record that contains the various Overtime Rates. To create a new Overtime Card, click the New button from the Overtime Card Tab, as shown below.
Once you have completed all of the relevant fields, save the record. From there, you’ll be able to click the Related Tab to create the individual Overtime Rate records.
The Overtime Rate records contain the ratio values that will be used to calculate the Billable and Cost values. For example, a company may charge their customers 2.0 x the standard billable hourly rate for weekend work, but they pay their staff 2.5 x the standard cost hourly rate. In this example, they would need to create an Overtime Rate record as shown below.
When logging time against a Project that has the ‘Use Multiple Overtime Rates’ field set to TRUE, the User will need to specify which Overtime Rate needs to be applied to the Time Log, if they have set the Time Log ‘Overtime’ field to TRUE. The ‘Time Log Information’ Modal of the Timesheet and the Log Time Component available on pages such as the Whiteboard, Action Pad, etc. will display a Lookup Field in this situation to enable the User to select from the available Overtime Rate records.
The Overtime Rates available in this Lookup Field are filtered to only those records that relate to the Overtime Card that has been specified on the Project.
Time Logs relating to Projects using multiple overtime rates will have the Overtime Rate record specified on the Detail Page of the record to enable you to identify which Overtime Rate was used when calculating the financials of the Time Log.
You are able to specify hourly rates per Role, per Project using the Manage Rates feature. This means you can specify different hourly rates (billable and cost) for Roles that may be working across different Projects.
For Example, when working on the project to develop a website for Billabong, the Hourly Rates for Mick Fanning may be $150 (billable) and $100 (cost). However, for a similar project to develop a website for Quiksilver, we may have needed to offer a discount in order to secure the deal, which means Mick Fanning’s billable rate may only be $120 for this project.
To use this feature, you need to set the rates prior to creating any Actions. After creating the Project & Milestones, navigate to the Project Detail page and click the ‘Manage Rates’ button. This will take you to the following page, where you’ll be able to add the required Roles and specify the Billable and Cost Hourly Rates where applicable.
You are able to specify hourly rates per Role, per Skill, per Project using the Manage Rates feature. This means you can specify different hourly rates (Billable and Cost) for Roles, using different Skills, that may be working across different Projects.
For example, when working on the project to develop a website for Billabong, when doing the UX Design, the Hourly Rates for Mick Fanning may be $150 (billable) and $100 (cost). However, for a similar project to develop a website for Quiksilver, we may have needed to offer a discount in order to secure the deal, which means when doing the UX Design on this Project, Mick Fanning’s Skill-based rate may only be $120.
After creating the Project & Milestones, navigate to the Project Detail page and click the ‘Manage Rates’ button. This will take you to the following page, where you’ll be able to add the Billable and Cost Hourly Rates for each Role / Skill as required.
Note: If you override the rates after the Actions have been created, you will need to use the ‘Force Financials Recalculation’ feature to apply the new rates.
You can flag a Project as a Template by setting the ‘Template’ Checkbox field to TRUE on the Project record. A Project Template is the same as any other Project, in that it will comprise of records in the Project, Milestone, Action, Contributor, Checklist Item and Dependency Objects. The ‘Template’ Checkbox field is the only differentiator.
Project Templates are excluded from the following pages:
Mission Control Console. Cloning a Project will copy across all Milestones and Actions for the Project. You can keep these details as they are or edit them before saving, as well as choosing to clone the Checklist Items, Contributors and Project Rates.
To clone a Project, simply follow the steps below:
This will take to you the Clone Project page where you can enter information relating to your project. Under the Project Settings section you can change the Start Date of the Project, simply by selecting the correct date and clicking ‘Update’. These settings will be applied across the whole Project.
This is the clone edit page. You can edit the project details, milestones and actions before saving your clone.
The ‘Clone Project’ Tile on the Launch Pad of the Mission Control Console will only display Project Templates. If you wish to clone a Project that is not specified as a Template, you will need to navigate to the Project page and click the ‘Clone’ button.
The Project Clone page provides customers with the ability to select which fields are visible in the Project field sections of the page. Each section is controlled by a Field Set as outlined below.
Field Set Name | Default Fields |
Project Details Clone Fields | Project Name Project Owner Status Account Project Reference # Contact Category Opportunity Sub Category Program Description |
Project Settings Clone Fields | Billing Type Project Budget Billing Rate Cost Rate Billable Day Rate Cost Day Rate Overtime Allowed (Billable) Overtime Allowed (Cost) Non Billable Colour Exclude from Scheduler Colour Hex Exclude from Timesheet Anticipated Project Expenses Exclude from Program Planner Exclude from Daily Digest Display on PMO Dashboard Enforce Dependency Validation Project Owner Timesheet Approval Reqd Project Owner Expense Approval Reqd Role Manager Timesheet Approval Reqd Role Manager Expense Approval Reqd |
Billing Information Clone Fields | Purchase Order # Tax Label Billing Cycle Include Time Log Appendix Periodic Billing Frequency Include Expense Appendix Payment Terms Include Non Billable Time in Appendix Retainer Amount Periodic Billing Last Date Periodic Billing Next Date |
There are Field Sets on the Milestone and Action Objects that enable you to add additional fields to the Project Clone page:
By adding Fields to either of these Field Sets, these Fields will be included in the Milestone / Action sections of the Project Clone page.
This provides customers with the ability to add and remove fields to suit their specific requirements.
There is a lot of information and records that can be copied over when cloning a Project in Mission Control. Here is a list of these items:
Keep in mind that you don’t have to keep all of the above from the original project; you have the option to pick and choose.
The following records are NOT copied over as it is expected that this is a new Project that you will be working on:
The following fields are reset when cloning a Project:
Project | Milestone | Action | Checklist Items |
Status | Hours Completed Non Billable | Baseline Start Date | Complete |
Archived | Hours Remaining Non Billable | Baseline End Date | Status |
Template | Hours Completed Value Cost | Hours Completed Cost | |
Amount Invoiced | Hours Remaining Value Cost | Hours Remaining Cost | |
Total Paid | Status | Hours Completed Value Cost | |
Total Credited | Hours Remaining Value Cost | ||
Total Outstanding | Completion Percent | ||
Amount Invoiced | Complete Checklist Items | ||
Tax Amount Invoiced | Completion Overridden | ||
Amount Paid | Dependant Action | ||
Amount Outstanding | Gap From Parent | ||
Total Credited | Budget Item | ||
Periodic Billing Last Date | Status | ||
Periodic Billing Next Date | |||
Total Outstanding | |||
Hours Completed Non Billable | |||
Actual Project Expenses | |||
Hours Completed Value Cost | |||
Hours Remaining Value Cost | |||
External Project Id |
To track whether your Users are creating new Projects from scratch manually or if they are creating the Project via the cloning or auto-generation process, there is a field on the Project Object.
The ‘Source Project’ field on the Project will be populated with the Project that was used as the source Project in the following scenarios:
When a Milestone is being created as part of any of the cloning or auto-generation functions, the ‘Source Milestone’ field will be populated to identify which Milestone this new Milestone was generated from. This field will be automatically populated when a Milestone is created using any of the following functions:
To prevent Users from manually adding Milestones to their Projects, rather than adding via the above functions, the ‘Prevent New Milestone If Source Empty’ Validation Rule can be activated. This will prevent Users other than System Administrators from adding a new Milestone to a Project if the ‘Source Milestone’ field is empty.
You are able to automatically generate a Project Plan (Project, Milestones, Actions, Checklist Items, Contributors and Dependencies) from an Opportunity. There are two methods for auto-generation of Projects, including:
A number of Custom Fields are included on the Opportunity and Product Objects, as outlined below:
Opportunity | Product |
Generation Method (Picklist) Project Template (Lookup) Project Start Date (Date) Generate Project (Checkbox) Rate Card (Lookup) | Milestone Template (Lookup) Project Unit (Picklist) |
Note: A Permission Set called ‘Mission Control Opportunity & Product Fields’ is available so you can quickly provide Users with permission to access those fields.
Opportunity Method
The Opportunity ‘Generation Method’ provides you with the ability to clone and entire Project Plan based on the Project that is specified in the ‘Project Template’ field on the Opportunity.
This will clone the entire project plan exactly as it exists on the template, with the first Action in the Project being scheduled to occur on the ‘Project Start Date’, specified on the Opportunity.
Products Method
The Products ‘Generation Method’ provides you with the ability to build up a Project Plan based on the Products associated to the Opportunity.
The Project record will be cloned based on the ‘Project Template’ specified on the Opportunity. However, the rest of the project plan (e.g. Milestones, Actions, Checklist Items, Contributors and Dependencies) will be added only if the Product has been associated to a ‘Milestone Template’. If a Product is associated to the Opportunity multiple times, then a Milestone will be added to the Project for each Opportunity Line Item referencing the same Product.
Products – No Duplicates Method
The Products – No Duplicates ‘Generation Method’ provides you with the ability to build up a Project Plan based on the Products associated to the Opportunity.
The Project record will be cloned based on the ‘Project Template’ specified on the Opportunity. However, the rest of the project plan (e.g. Milestones, Actions, Checklist Items, Contributors and Dependencies) will be added only if the Product has been associated to a ‘Milestone Template’. No matter how many times a Product is associated to the Opportunity, only one instance of the Milestone will be added to the Project.
Product Quantity
The ‘Product Quantity’ Generation Method provides you with the ability to build up a Project Plan based on the Products associated to the Opportunity.
The Project record will be cloned based on the ‘Project Template’ specified on the Opportunity. However, the rest of the project plan (e.g. Milestones, Actions, Checklist Items, Contributors and Dependencies) will be added only if the Product has been associated to a ‘Milestone Template’ If a Product is associated to the Opportunity, the associated Milestone Template will be added to the project potentially multiple times based on the Opportunity Line Item ‘Quantity’ field.
Base Template + Products
The Base Template + Products ‘Generation Method’ provides you with the ability to clone a generic Project Plan from one Project Template, as well as building up the Project Plan based on the Products associated to the Opportunity.
This Generation Method lets you include standardised Milestones on your Project, as well as including additional Milestones based on the Products sold. For example, you may want to include standard Milestones into every Project Plan, such as ‘Kick-off’, ‘Go Live’ and ‘Customer Success Handover’, but they’re not included as Products that will be added to the Opportunity.
To use this Generation Method, you’ll need your standard Milestones to be on one Project Template, and your Product related Milestones on a different Project. The Project Template containing your standard Milestones will be considered your Base Template, and all of the Milestones within this Project will be added to the Project when it is auto-generated from the Opportunity. Any Milestones related to the Products will also be added.
When specifying the ‘Project Template’ on the Opportunity, you would enter the Project that is your Base Template.
This Generation Method will add a Product Milestone to the Project for each instance of where an Opportunity Line Item references the same Product.
Base Template + Products – No Duplicates
The Base Template + Products – No Duplicates ‘Generation Method’ provides you with the ability to clone a generic Project Plan from one Project Template, as well as building up the Project Plan based on the Products associated to the Opportunity. This method differs from the Base Template + Products method in that regardless of how many Opportunity Line Items reference the same Product, the Milestone will only be added once.
This Generation Method lets you include standardised Milestones on your Project, as well as including additional Milestones based on the Products sold. For example, you may want to include standard Milestones into every Project Plan, such as ‘Kick-off’, ‘Go Live’ and ‘Customer Success Handover’, but they’re not included as Products that will be added to the Opportunity.
To use this Generation Method, you’ll need your standard Milestones to be on one Project Template, and your Product related Milestones on a different Project. The Project Template containing your standard Milestones will be considered your Base Template, and all of the Milestones within this Project will be added to the Project when it is auto-generated from the Opportunity. Any Milestones related to the Products will also be added.
When specifying the ‘Project Template’ on the Opportunity, you would enter the Project that is your Base Template.
Base Template + Product Quantity
The ‘Base Template + Product Quantity’ Generation Method provides you with the ability to clone a generic Project Plan from one Project Template, as well as building up the Project Plan based on the Products associated to the Opportunity
This Generation Method lets you include standardised Milestones on your Project, as well as including additional Milestones based on the Products sold. For example, you may want to include standard Milestones into every Project Plan, such as ‘Kick-off’, ‘Go Live’ and ‘Customer Success Handover’, but they’re not include as Products that will be added to the Opportunity.
To use this Generation Method, you’ll need your standard Milestones to be on one Project Template, and your Product related Milestones on a different Project. The Project Template containing your standard Milestones will be considered your Base Template, and all of the Milestones within this Project will be added to the Project when it is auto-generated from the Opportunity. Any Milestones related to the Products will also be added, potentially multiple times based on the Opportunity Line Item ‘Quantity’ field.
When specifying the ‘Project Template’ on the Opportunity, you would enter the Project that is your Base Template.
The Product ‘Generation Method’ options will be useful for customers who sell their professional services as part of a larger sale. For example, imagine a software company is selling licenses and implementation support, they can have an Opportunity with multiple Opportunity Product lines. Only those that have a ‘Milestone Template’ specified on the parent Product record will be generated into the project plan.
The fields on the Product record allow you to specify whether or not a Product will require a Milestone, along with related Actions, Checklist Items, Contributors and Dependencies to be created.
You identify this by completing the following two fields on the Product record:
Milestone Template
The ‘Milestone Template’ field on the Product lets you reference a Milestone you’ve created on a Project Template. This is a filtered field that will only return Milestones associated to Projects where the ‘Template’ field is set to true.
Project Unit
The ‘Project Unit’ field on the Product lets you specify the unit of measure for calculating the total hours required on the Actions related to the Milestone. This is a Picklist field with values for ‘Day’ ‘Hour’ and ‘Source’.
When using the Products or Products – No Duplicates ‘Generation Method’, the Project will be cloned from the Project specified as the ‘Project Template’ on the Opportunity. Each Opportunity Product that relates to a Product with a value in the ‘Milestone Template’ field will be cloned from that Milestone and the first Action within each cloned Milestone will be scheduled on the ‘Project Start Date’, specified on the Opportunity.
Using either of these Generation Method, the ‘Hours Scheduled – Billable’ and ‘Hours Scheduled – Non Billable’ fields on the Actions within the Milestone will be calculated as follows:
The Opportunity Product ‘Quantity’ and Product ‘Project Unit’ will be used to determine the number of ‘Hours Scheduled – Billable’ and ‘Hours Scheduled – Non Billable’ on each Action. For the Day and Hour options within the Project Unit field, the calculation will identify the total number of hours required for the Milestone by multiplying the Opportunity ‘Quantity’ by 1 if the Product ‘Project Unit’ is set to Hour or by the Custom Setting ‘Hours per Day’ (accessible from the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console), if the Product ‘Project Unit’ is set to Day.
The total hours for the Milestone will be divided across related Actions, retaining the percentage split between the Actions from the Milestone Template.
For the Source option within the Project Unit field, the total number of hours are cloned exactly as they are the template records.
The Table below illustrates an example of how these calculations work:
Project Unit | Quantity | Total Hours | Template Milestone | New Milestone |
Day | 3 | 24 (e.g. 3 * 8) | Action A: 4 hours (50% of total) Action B: 2 hours (25% of total) Action C: 1 hour (12.5% of total) Action D: 1 hour (12.5% of total) | Action A: 12 hours Action B: 6 hours Action C: 3 hours Action D: 3 hours |
Hour | 4 | 4 (e.g. 4 * 1) | Action A: 6 hours (50% of total) Action B: 3 hours (25% of total) Action C: 3 hours (25% of total) | Action A: 2 hours Action B: 1 hour Action C: 1 hour |
Source | N/A | N/A | Action A: 4 hours Action B: 4 hours Action C: 2 hours | Action A: 4 hours Action B: 4 hours Action C: 2 hours |
Multiple Milestones per Product
The ‘Product Milestone’ Object enables you to associate multiple Milestones to an individual Product. This provides the ability to have multiple Milestones added to the Project Plan when a particular Product is added as an Opportunity Line Item.
For example, if a Product called ‘Website Page’ is sold, it may require 3 different Milestones to be added to the Project Plan (e.g. Design, Build, Content).
For all of the Product-based Generation Method options, Milestones referenced in the ‘Product Milestone’ Object will be added to the Project Plan. If the ‘Milestone Template’ field on the Product record contains a value, this will be used. If this field is empty, Milestones referenced in the ‘Product Milestone’ Object related to the Product will be used.
To auto-generate a Project from the Opportunity, you need to set the ‘Generate Project’ field to true. This can be done manually, or via a Workflow Rule / Process Builder based on your own criteria, such as when the Stage is set to ‘Closed Won’.
Only Projects with the Template field set to true will be able to be referenced in the ‘Project Template’ field on the Opportunity.
When auto-generating a Project, the following fields will be set by default:
Project Field | Default Value |
Project Name | Opportunity Name |
Opportunity | Opportunity Id |
Account | Opportunity > Account Id |
Project Budget | Opportunity Amount |
Archived | FALSE |
Template | FALSE |
Status | Planned |
Should you wish to override any of these default mappings, or if you would like to map additional fields from the Opportunity to fields on the Project, you can manage your own custom field mapping using the ‘Auto-Generation Field Mapping’ Tile on the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console, as shown below:
Clicking the ‘Create’ button will open up the Field Mapping component, as shown below:
From here, you are able to map a Project field to an Opportunity field. This mapping will then ensure that the Opportunity field gets populated into the Project field as part of the auto-generation project.
Record Ownership Setting
A Custom Setting within the ‘Project Automation Settings’ section of the Control Pad on the Mission Control Console allows you to control the Owner of the Project when it’s being auto-generated. This ‘Transfer Cloned Records to Running User’ setting will set the Running User as the record Owner of the Project when it is being automatically generated from an Opportunity or a Project Request record.
If this Setting is FALSE, the Owner will be set as the same value that is on the Template that is being used in the auto-generation process.
Clone Budget Items
Across all Generation Methods, any Budget Items related to the Project Template specified on the Opportunity will be created as part of the auto-generation process.
The ‘Project Request’ Object enables you to create a request for a new Project from any Standard or Custom Object. The Project Request record can be created, then reviewed prior to creating the Project, or it can automatically create the Project.
The Project Request Object has Lookup fields to the following Standard Objects:
If you wish to leverage this feature from any other Standard or Custom Object, you will need to add a Lookup field to that Object on the Project Request Object.
The Project Request record can be created manually, or automatically via a Process Builder. The key fields required for the Project Request record are outlined below:
The Project specified as the ‘Project Template’ will be cloned in its entirety, including all related Milestones, Actions, Checklist Items, Contributors and Dependencies, with the first Action being scheduled on the ‘Project Start Date’.
To create the Project automatically from the Project Request record, you must set the ‘Generate Project’ field to TRUE. Once saved, the newly created Project will be populated in the ‘Project’ field, as shown below:
The Project Request Related List will need to be manually added to any of the Objects you wish to be able to have access to it from.
Project Request Field Mapping
When auto-generating a Project, the following fields will be set by default:
Project Field | Default Value |
Project Name | Project Request: Project Name |
Project Budget | Project Request: Proposed Budget |
Archived | FALSE |
Template | FALSE |
Status | Planned |
Should you wish to override any of these default mappings, or if you would like to map additional fields from Custom Objects you add to the Project Request Object, you can manage your own custom field mapping using the ‘Auto-Generation Field Mapping’ Tile on the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console, as shown below:
Clicking the ‘Create’ button will open up the Field Mapping component, as shown below:
From here, you are able to map a Project field to a Project Request field. This mapping will then ensure that the Project Request field gets populated into the Project field as part of the auto-generation process.
If you track billable and non-billable hours, you can identify whether a Project, Milestone, Action or Time Log is ‘Non Billable’. If a record is flagged as Non Billable, all child records will automatically default to Non Billable too. For example, if you set a Milestone to Non Billable, then all Actions and Time logs beneath that Milestone will default to Non Billable as per below example.
To create a new Program, you can quickly access the relevant page from the Mission Control Console.
To create a new Project Role, you can quickly access the relevant page from the Mission Control Console.
The Create New Role page will appear as follows:
A Role is linked to either a Contact or a User within your system. Alternatively, you can create an ‘Asset’ Role, which can be used to identify a project resource such as a machine, truck or a ‘placeholder’ (e.g. Junior Developer, Copywriter, Designer, etc.). To create a new Role, follow the steps below:
You will be directed to the Detail page for this record, where you will see all of the contact details have been linked through to the Role record (see example below). This Role will now be available to assign actions to from within your Projects.
The Role ‘Edit’ Page has been overridden to provide you with an efficient way of managing the Role record as well as their skills and team assignments. If you add Custom Fields to the Role Object, you will need to add them to the ‘Custom Field Set’ to make them visible on the edit page.
To add your own Custom Fields to the Field Set, navigate to Setup > Create > Objects > Roles > Field Sets and click Edit.
Drag the fields you require into the Field Set and click Save.
The ‘Active’ checkbox on a role record makes the role available to use in pick lists. If this field is unchecked, then the role will be filtered out of pages such as Create Actions, Time Logs, Whiteboard and the Scheduler.
The skills object allows you to maintain a list of skills (e.g. Experience, Certifications, Languages), which you can assign to roles using Skills Assignments.
To create a skill, go to the Skills tab and then click on the New Button.
You can then enter a name for the skill, notes, make the skill active and select a type to categorise the skill by. Note: You can adjust the Type values in the object setup area.
You can then assign the skill to roles, using the Skills Assignment button.
This allows you to specify a proficiency and expiry date for each individual role that has the skill as well as skill based billable and cost rates. You can also make the skill record active/inactive for the role.
Multiple Skills can easily be managed for individual Roles via the Skill Assignment section of the Role edit page as follows. When adding Skills you can also filter by Skill type to search for a specific group of Skills.
Mass Assign Skills
When managing the Skills an individual Role is assigned to, you are able to mass assign a group of Skills to the Role from their Role Edit Page. Within the Skill Assignment section of the Role Edit page, you can select a Skill ‘Type’ from the picklist and click the Assign button.
This will create a Skill Assignment record for each Active Skill that has the Type value selected.
When creating a new Skill from the Skills Tab, you can mass assign to all Active Roles by setting the ‘Mass Assign to Roles’ field to TRUE.
Setting this field to TRUE will create a Skill Assignment record for any Active Role where they already have a Skill Assignment for another Skill with the same Type value. For example, Mick Fanning and Kelly Slater both have a Skill Assignment for the Skill ‘English’, which has a Type value of Language. When creating a new Skill record for ‘French’, the User sets the ‘Mass Assign to Roles’ field to TRUE. When the record is saved, a Skill Assignment record will be automatically created for both Mick and Kelly.
You are also able to set this field to TRUE on existing Skills and it will perform the same function. For example, Mick Fanning has Skill Assignment records for ‘English’ and ‘French’. Kelly Slater has a Skill Assignment for ‘English’. The User edits the ‘French’ Skill record, sets the ‘Mass Assign to Roles’ field to TRUE and saves the record. A new Skill Assignment record will be automatically created for Kelly.
The Teams object allows you to create teams of roles for example Marketing, Directors etc. which you can then use to easily apply holidays and skills to. Teams can also be filtered on scheduler and whiteboard so that you can see manage teams easily. Roles can be members of multiple teams.
To create a new Team, go to the Teams tab and then click on the ‘New’ Button.
Next, give your team a name, record notes about it and mark it as active before saving.
Once you save your team you can then add roles to the team using Team Assignments.
This allows you to select and add individual roles to the team.
You can also add a Role to multiple teams and manage these using the Team Assignments section of the Role edit page as follows:
The active checkbox on the Team Assignment records allows you to specify if the Role is currently a member of the Team. This means that when you filter the Scheduler or Whiteboard by Teams, only roles that have an active Team Assignment will show.
You can create Development Plans in relation to an individual Role within Mission Control. Within a Development Plan, you’re able to create Assessments against each Skill that is assigned to them.
The ‘Role Development Plan’ page is accessed by clicking the ‘Development Plan’ button on the Role record.
The Role Development Plan has two Tabs:
The Assessment Tab provides you with the ability to carry out an assessment of each Skill that is assigned to the Role.
The Insights Tab provides you with the ability to compare results from up to 5 Development Plans to see how a person’s results have changed between reviews.
Assessments Tab
When you initially load the Role Development Plan page, the Assessments Tab will load by default and you will have the option to:
Create New Development Plan
To create a new Development Plan record, click the New button. This will load a draft Development Plan record enabling you to complete the various fields, along with draft Assessment records for each Skill that the Role has an active Skill Assignment for.
The assessment can be carried out by up to 4 people, including the person that the Role record relates to and 3 additional assessors.
The Role will have the ability to complete the following fields within each Assessment:
Each of the Assessors will have the ability to complete the following fields within each Assessment:
When reviewing all feedback, you have the ability to view the Average Rating across all assessors, specify an Agreed Rating and choose to have the Enjoyment Factor and Agreed Rating update the Skill Assignment record values.
If during the assessment it is agreed that the Role is interested in developing a new Skill that they’re not currently assigned to, you are able to click the + icon located on the right-hand side of the Skill Assessment section of the page.
This will open up the ‘New Skill Assignment’ Modal where you can specify the Skill, Billable Hourly Rate, Cost Hourly Rate, etc.
Once you click Save, the new Skill Assignment record will be related to the Role and added to the appropriate section of the Assessments.
Load Existing Development Plan
To load an existing Development Plan, you will need to click the Load button. This will display a search field where you can select from the Development Plans related to the Role that you are viewing the page in context of.
Once you have selected the required Development Plan, click the Go button and the Development Plan and Assessment records will be loaded.
Clone Existing Development Plan
To create a new Development Plan based on an existing Development Plan, you’re able to perform a ‘deep clone’ by clicking the Clone button. This will display a search field where you can select from the Development Plans related to the Role record that you are viewing the page in context of.
Once you have selected the required Development Plan, click the Go button and the deep clone process will create draft records for the Development Plan and Assessment records.
Insights Tab
The Insights Tab provides you with the ability to view a variety of metrics from up to 5 Development Plans for an individual Role. This can help identify whether a person’s ability is improving or declining for particular Skills.
The 5 most recent Development Plans will automatically be loaded. This is based on the ‘Review Date’ on the Development Plan records. However, you are able to select the 5 Development Plans manually.
The settings enable you to choose whether to group the data by Skill or by Type. You can also choose what value from the Assessment records you view on the Insights Chart. The options are:
When grouping by Skill, the values from each Assessment will be displayed. When grouping by Type, the average values from all Assessments for Skills that have the same Type (e.g. Certification, Skill, Language, etc.) will be displayed.
The Chart and Table provide the progressive insight into the movement in the metrics between each Development Plan being analysed.
The ‘Skills Matrix’ Report can be found within the ‘Mission Control Reports’ Folder in the Reports Tab. This report enables Customers to view a matrix of Skills assigned to Active Roles.
The report provides insight into the Proficiency and Enjoyment Factor of each Role for the Skills assigned to them.
The Proficiency value is conditionally highlighted based on the following scale:
The Enjoyment Factor value is conditionally highlighted based on the following scale:
Any Role that has not been assigned the Skill or has not been provided a value in the Proficiency or Enjoyment Factor fields of their Skill Assignment records will be displayed as 0 (Red).
The Role record provides customers with the ability to specify values for ‘Hours per Week’ and ‘Billable Target’. However, these are static values and if changed, would be applied to all legacy periods as well. For example, if a new person joins the business during their ramp-up period they may be expected to achieve a lower Billable Target than once they are fully operational. Another example could be where someone previously worked part-time and has transitioned to work full time. Using these fields on the Role record alone do not provide this level of flexibility.
The Role Availability Custom Object provides customers with the ability to record availability information for different time periods.
A Role Availability record contains key information about when a Role will be working, including:
A Role can have multiple Role Availability records.
Role Availability Manager
To enable you to create and manage Role Availability records for a specific Role, you can access the ‘Role Availability’ component from the Role record by clicking the ‘Manage Availability’ button as shown below.
If a Role does not have any related Role Availability records, you will see a draft record ready to be completed, as shown below.
If a Role does have existing Role Availability records, they will be displayed in descending order based on Start Date and End Date.
Note: If you have not enabled the automated management of Role Availability activation/deactivation, you will need to manually adjust the records as required.
The Holiday Allowance Object allows you to define how many days are allocated to each Role over a period. When creating a Holiday record, if applicable, it can be related to a Holiday Allowance record.
Each Role can have multiple Holiday Allowances, each defined for a period of time and for a certain type of Holiday.
For example, you can create Holiday Allowance record for Mick Fanning as follows:
Type: Annual Leave
Days: 20
Start Date: 1/Jan/2021
End Date: 31/Dec/2021
Type: VTO
Days: 4
Start Date: 1/Jan/2021
End Date: 31/Dec/2021
When a Holiday is related to a Holiday Allowance record, the ‘Days Taken’ value from the Holiday record will be added to the ‘Used’ field on the Holiday Allowance.
Each Holiday Allowance record can be set to rollover or expire at the end of the period. If it can rollover, you can specify what percentage can be rolled over. You may for example provide 20 days PTO per year and agree employees can rollover 25%. If the employee uses 10 days, even though the ‘Remaining’ would be 10, once the End Date has passed it would reduce to 5 as that’s the maximum that can be rolled over.
You can specify a default setting for the Rollover % for Holiday Allowance records. This can be done via the ‘Holiday Allowance Rollover Percentage’ setting within the Custom Settings Tile on the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console.
If this Setting contains a value, it will be displayed by default in the ‘Accrual %’ field when creating a new Holiday Allowance record. It can also be overridden for individual Holiday Allowance records. For example, you may set your default to 100% and that is applicable to PTO and VTO, but you may not let Sick Leave accrue, so you can override the Accrual % value for that individual Holiday Allowance record.
When using Holiday Allowance feature, you can choose whether the full allowance is available immediately or if it accrues throughout the period it applies to.
This is controlled via the ‘Holiday Allowance Accrues’ setting within the Custom Settings Tile on the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console.
If this Setting is FALSE, the full allowance will be available immediately. However, if this Setting is TRUE, the ‘Available Allowance’ field will progressively increment throughout the period between the Start Date and End Date.
Holiday Trigger
The Apex Trigger on the Holiday Object will automatically update the Holiday Allowance record based on the following scenarios:
Validation Rules
Two Validation Rules are included to support the Holiday Allowance feature. By default, one is active and the other is inactive, but can be activated if required.
Validation Rule: Ensure_HA_Remaining_Sufficient (Active)
This rule ensures the Remaining value on the Holiday Allowance is not less than the number of days being taken on the Holiday record.
Validation Rule: Ensure_Holiday_Specified (Inactive)
This rule ensures a Holiday Allowance record is specified on the Holiday record if the ‘Type’ field is set to Annual Leave, Sick Leave or Study Leave.
Holiday Allowance Reports
Two reports are included that will provide details of the current number of days used and remaining across each Role, across the various Holiday Allowance records.
Holiday Allowance Remaining Summary
This report provides a summary of all Holiday Allowance records grouped by Role and Holiday Allowance ‘Type’.
Holiday Allowance Remaining Role
This report provides a summary of all Holiday Allowance records grouped by Holiday Allowance ‘Type’. You are able to add a ‘Report Chart’ component to the Role Lightning Page that will summarise the number of days ‘Remaining’ for each Holiday Allowance ‘Type’ for a particular Role.
For example, Mick Fanning may have 4 days of VTO for 2021, 20 days of PTO for 2021 and 5 days of PTO accrued from 2020.
By adding the Report Chart component to the page, you will get a real-time view of the Role’s Holiday Allowance.
Holidays allow you to record annual leave, public holidays and other unavailable time for individual Roles or entire Teams, which can then be easily seen on the Scheduler for consideration when planning. You can create a holiday record directly from the Holidays tab or from the Holidays related list of a Role record.
To complete the Holiday record, give it a Name, Select the Type and enter the Start Date and End Date of the Holiday, along with number of Hours Taken. From here you can assign the Holiday to an individual Role or leave it blank if you would like to apply it to a Team. Holidays that are not related to a Role or assigned to Team(s) via Holiday Assignments will be considered ‘Global Holidays’, they will need to have the ‘Global Holiday’ Checkbox set to TRUE and they will be assigned to all Roles.
For individual Holiday records, you can use the approval process whereby once a Holiday is submitted, it can be reviewed and approved or rejected by the Roles Timesheet Approver. The approval status field reflects the current status of the holiday record and should be set to Submitted once the user would like it to be approved.
A validation rule on the approval status field prevents the user that the holiday record is for from approving their own holiday records. (Note this rule is inactive by default and can be switched on by going to Setup > Create > Objects > Holidays > Validation Rules > Cannot Approve Own Holidays.)
All Holidays with a status of “Submitted” will then appear in a list view for the relevant approver called “Holidays Requiring My Approval”.
Holiday Exclusions
The Holiday Exclusion enables you to specify that individual Roles that are part of a Team should not be allocated to a Holiday that has been associated to the Team via a Holiday Assignment.
You can choose to exclude someone manually for a specific Holiday record. Alternatively, you can specify on their Team Assignment record that they should be excluded from Holidays assigned to the Team.
Excluding manually for a specific Holiday
You may find you need to exclude an individual Role that is part of a Team from a specific Holiday. For example, Seth is part of the ‘US Team’ and is entitled to the Holidays that get assigned to this Team. The Labor Day public holiday is coming up next week, so a Holiday is created and a Holiday Assignment is created for the US Team. This will allocate the Holiday to all of the Roles associated to the US Team.
However, Seth has chosen not to take the day off due to work commitments and instead aims to take a TOIL day next month instead. To exclude Seth from this Holiday, a Holiday Exclusion record must be created, as shown below.
Once the Holiday Exclusion record has been created, Seth will not be included in the Holiday and will continue to be available to work that day.
The above shows Seth as still available on the day of the Public Holiday even though other Roles that are members of the US Team are unavailable due to the Holiday.
Excluding automatically for all Holidays assigned to the Team
You may find you need to have a Role included in a Team, but they are not eligible for any of the Holidays that get assigned to the Team. For example, let’s say we have a ‘US Team’ and this includes Colin, Chris, Seth and Mick. However, Mick is a Contractor and is not eligible for Public Holidays.
To avoid having to manually create a Holiday Exclusion record for Mick every time a Holiday is assigned to the US Team, you can specify on Mick’s Team Assignment record, that he should be excluded from team holidays.
The above image shows that the ‘Exclude from Team Holidays’ field has been set to TRUE for the ‘US Team’ Team Assignment for Mick.
This ensures that a Holiday Exclusion record is automatically created for Mick whenever a Holiday Assignment is created for the ‘US Team’.
This means Mick will not be allocated to the Public Holiday and will remain available for work.
The above shows Mick as still available on the day of the Public Holiday even though other Roles that are members of the US Team are unavailable due to the Holiday.
To enable customers to group Milestones of a Project together, you can choose to create ‘Phase’ records under your Project record. Unlike Milestones and Actions, which are mandatory requirements for a Project Plan, the Phase record is optional.
Some of your Projects may not be large enough to warrant having Phases, therefore you do not need to create them for every Project.
For larger Projects, you may wish to group your Milestones into layers beneath the Project. For example, we may have the following Milestones on a Project:
Below is an example of how these Milestones, and related Actions are shown on the Gantt Chart.
We may choose to group these Milestones into the three separate Phases, as detailed below:
Once the Milestones have been related to a Phase, the Phases will be displayed on the Gantt Chart as shown below.
Creating Phases
To create a Phase, click the New button on the Phase Related List on the Project record you want the Phase to relate to. Enter the applicable fields and click Save.
The only standard Fields that need to be populated manually are the Phase Name and the Project. All other fields will be updated automatically once the Phase has related Milestones.
Relating Milestones to Phases
To relate a Milestone to a Phase, you need to populate the Phase field on the Milestone record. This can be done by editing the Milestones individually, entering the appropriate Phase and clicking Save.
Alternatively, you can add the Phase field to the ‘Create Milestones Fields’ Field Set. This will enable you to populate the Phase field for all Milestones.
The Milestone Object allows you to set the Key Milestones for your Project. You can have multiple Milestones per Project, each with multiple Actions. The Milestone object allows you to capture the top-level information for the milestone such as status, budget, deadline and invoicing detail. Milestones can be created as part of the new Project creation on the Mission Control Console, or directly using the New Milestone button of the Project related list.
After clicking on the new milestone button you can enter the Milestone details and then save. Note: You only need to enter details in the information section of the Milestone page; the other fields will be updated by a trigger based on the Actions and Time Logs that get recorded under the Milestone.
The ‘Create Milestones’ page is accessible from the Project Page Layout. You access it by clicking the ‘Create Milestones’ button, as highlighted below.
This page enables you to quickly create multiple Milestones for one Project. You are able to edit existing Milestones if you need to make changes in bulk.
When you initially load the Create Milestones page, you’ll have one draft record ready to complete, as illustrated below.
You can add multiple draft rows by entering the number of rows you wish to add and click the ‘Add Row(s)’ button.
Alternatively, you can use the ‘Quick Add’ feature at the top of the page, which will add the new Milestone to the bottom of the list.
Once you have completed the required information for all of the Milestones, click the Save button at the bottom of the page.
In the top right corner of the page, you can toggle on/off the ability to view and edit Existing Milestones. Is this is toggled on, all existing Milestones related to the Project will be displayed to enable you to make changes as required.
Note: The maximum number of Milestones supported is 100. When editing existing records from the ‘Create Milestones’ page if there are too many Milestones that causes this limit to be exceeded, you will need to edit the Milestones individually.
Display Custom Fields
To provide customers with the ability to choose which fields are displayed on the page, there is a Field Set on the Milestone Object called ‘Create Milestone Fields’. All existing fields on the Milestone Object are available for selection, excluding the following:
These fields are excluded from the Field Set as they will always appear on the Create Milestones page by default.
The following fields are pre-selected within the Field Set and will be accessible from the Create Milestones page.
If you wish to add Custom Fields or remove any of the above pre-selected fields, you can do so by editing the fields included within the Field Set.
Milestone Budget:
This enables you to specify the dollar value (billable revenue) that will be generated as a result of delivering this Milestone. Note: The milestone budget amount will be used for Fixed Price Milestone billing projects in the event that an invoice amount has not been specified.
Unallocated Milestone Budget:
This is a formula field that calculates ‘Milestone Budget’ – ‘Hours Scheduled Value (Billable)
A Validation Rule is available on the Action Object that will prevent an Action from being saved if the Project’s Billing Type is ‘Fixed Price’ and the Action’s ‘Hours Scheduled Value (Billable)’ exceed the ‘Unallocated Milestone Budget’.
Note, this Validation Rule is set to Disabled by default. If you want to utilise this feature, you will need to edit the Validation Rule ‘Exceed_Milestone_Budget’ and set the Active Checkbox to TRUE.
Milestone Deadline
A Date field allows clients to specify the date that the Milestone must be delivered by. The current ‘Start Date’ and ‘End Date’ values on the Milestone are driven by the earliest Start Date and latest End Date of all child Action records.
This Milestone Deadline field can be set and used in conjunction with a Validation Rule to prevent users from setting the End Date on an Action record beyond the Milestone Deadline.
Note, this Validation Rule is set to Disabled by default. If you want to utilise this feature, you will need to edit the Validation Rule ‘End_Date_Exceeds_Milestone_Deadline’ and set the Active Checkbox to TRUE.
The Milestone Deadline can be plotted onto the Gantt Chart as a pink diamond as shown below.
Milestone Deadline Name
You are able to specify a meaningful description that can be associated to a Milestone Deadline. This description can be entered in the ‘Milestone Deadline Name’ field on the Milestone.
If this field is populated, this description will be displayed on the Milestone Deadline row of the Gantt Chart as shown above.
If this field is empty, a generic ‘Milestone Deadline’ description will be displayed on the Milestone Deadline row of the Gantt Chart as shown above.
When creating an Action, you need to associate it to a Milestone and fill in the relevant details, including:
Note: When creating Actions, you are able to specify the Start Date and End Date manually. Alternatively, you can specify the Start Date and the Working Days. When specifying the Working Days, the End Date will be calculated automatically taking into account Business Hours Settings, Holidays (Individual, Team and Global) as well as non-working days specified on the Role’s ‘Role Hours’ records.
The ‘Create Actions’ page is accessible from the Project & Milestone Page Layouts. You access it by clicking the ‘Create Actions’ button, as highlighted below.
This page enables you to quickly create multiple Actions for one Project, including adding Contributors and Checklist Items. You are also able to edit existing Actions if you need to make changes in bulk.
When you initially load the Create Actions page, you’ll have one draft record ready to complete, as illustrated below.
You can add multiple draft rows by entering the number of rows you wish to add and click the ‘Add Row(s)’ button.
Alternatively, you can use the ‘Quick Add’ feature at the top of the page, which will add the new Action to the bottom of the list.
Once you have completed the required information for all of the Actions, click the Save button at the bottom of the page.
Page Features
Display Existing Actions
In the top right corner of the page, you can toggle on / off the ability to view and edit Existing Actions. If this is toggled on, all existing Actions will be displayed to enable you to make changes as required.
Note: The maximum number of Actions supported is 200. When editing existing records from the ‘Create Actions’ page if there are too many Actions that causes this limit to be exceeded, you can access it from the Milestone record, allowing you to edit existing Actions relating to a particular Milestone within a Project.
Resource Assignment Wizard
You can access the Resource Assignment Wizard by clicking the icon. This will allow you to search for available Roles, and assign the Action Owner and Contributors.
Checklist Item Manager
You can access the Checklist Item Manager to add new, or edit existing Checklist Items by clicking the icon.
Multi Line Editing
You are able to apply edits to multiple lines on the Create Actions page at the same time. Click the checkbox at the top of the page, or selecting the checkbox for the individual rows you wish to edit, as shown below.
Applying an edit to one of the selected rows will apply the same change to all of the selected rows. For example, in the image below the User has selected rows 2, 3, 4 and 5.
The User adjusts the Action Owner of row 2, and the same change is automatically applied to rows 3, 4 and 5.
Copy Action Owner
The copy icon located to the right of the Action Owner field on the Create Actions page enables you to copy the Action Owner from the row above to the selected row.
For example, in the image below, row 1 has Mick Fanning specified as the Action Owner. If Mick is also required to be the Action Owner of the Action on row 2, the User can click the icon to copy the value from row 1, rather than having to use the lookup functionality.
Note: clicking this icon will not work in conjunction with the multi-line edit functionality.
Copy Contributors
The copy icon located to the right of the Resource Assignment Wizard icon on the Create Actions page enables you to copy the Contributors from the row above to the selected row.
For example, in the image below, row 11 has Contributors assigned to support the Action Owner. If the same Roles are required as Contributors for the Action on row 12, the User can click the icon to copy the Contributors and their hours contribution from row 11, rather than having to use the Resource Assignment Wizard.
Note: clicking this icon will not work in conjunction with the multi-line edit functionality. It will only be displayed if the Action above has contributors.
Custom Fields
You are able to add up to 5 x Custom Fields on the Create Actions page. To add Custom Fields to the page, you will need to select the fields within the ‘Create Actions Page Settings’ Tile on the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console, as shown below.
These fields will appear between the ‘Action Notes’ and ‘Non Billable’ fields.
By default, the following fields are available on the Create Actions page:
Custom Override of Fields
The ‘Create Actions Page Settings’ Tile on the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console enables you to specify up to 5 x Custom Fields to be included on the Create Actions page.
However, for Customers that want to add more Custom Fields and/or remove any of the default standard Fields, a Field Set is available on the Action Object called ‘Create Actions Fields’. When using this Field Set to control the page layout, you will need to add all of the required Fields to the Field Set.
Note, Milestone, Action Name and Action Owner are not available within the Field Set, as they will always be included on the page by default.
In addition to adding the Fields to the Field Set, you will need to set the ‘Override Fields using the ‘Create Actions Fields’ Field Set’ setting to TRUE within the ‘Create Actions Page Settings’ Tile on the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console.
The Dependency field visibility is not able to be controlled via the Field Set as it is not an actual field on the Object. As such, if you do not want this field to be included on the page layout, you will need to set the ‘Hide Dependency Field’ setting to TRUE within the ‘Create Actions Page Settings’ Tile on the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console.
The Action Contributors feature allows you to record multiple Roles against the one Action and to specify how many Billable and Non-Billable hours each of these Roles will contribute to the Action. Each action can have one Action Owner, multiple Action Contributors. Action Contributors can be added to an action using the Contributors related list of the action, or with the Resource Assignment Wizard. We will look at the Resource Assignment Wizard in the next section. To add Contributors to existing actions, go to the Action detail page and click the “New Contributor” button in the Contributors related list.
Select the Role for the Contributor and enter the Billable and Non Billable hours this Role will be contributing to the Actions completion and then Save.
Any hours on the Action that are not assigned to Contributors will be assigned to the Action Owner.
Actions assigned to contributors will appear on the Timesheet and Scheduler for the Contributor.
On the Scheduler, the action will appear as separate actions for each Contributor, however only the master Action can be rescheduled and all Contributor Actions will be rescheduled accordingly.
The Resource Assignment Wizard is a unique feature of Mission Control that not only allows you to easily add Action Contributors when creating your Actions, but also gives you insight into the availability and Skill sets of your Roles so that you can best decide which Roles to utilise as Contributors and as the Action Owner. You can also unevenly distribute the hours across various days. The Wizard comprises of two tabs:
To use the Resource Assignment Wizard, go to your Project and click the “Create Actions” button. From here select the Milestone you are creating Actions for, enter the Action Name, Status and Billable and Non Billable Hours as well as Start and End Date and then click on the Resource Assignment Wizard Icon.
Note: You must at least enter the Start Date and Billable or Non Billable Hours before you can access the Resource Assignment Wizard.
Assignment Wizard
The Resource Assignment Wizard provides you with the ability to search for the most appropriate resources that can be assigned to an Action on a Project based on various parameters, including:
You can access the Resource Assignment Wizard from a number of pages, including:
To launch the Resource Assignment Wizard, click the icon.
Below is an illustration of the Resource Assignment Wizard:
The sections on the left show the Action Owner and any Contributors, along with their hours allocation. The section on the right defaults to the ‘Search Filters’ feature that allows you to apply filters for the type of resource you require.
You can assign the Action Owner and / or Contributors by manually searching for them in the left sections, as shown below, or by dragging and dropping the appropriate resource from the list of Potential Resources into either the Action Owner zone or the Contributors zone.
Manually assigning an Action Owner
If you wish to quickly assign a Role as the Action Owner and you know who that will be, you can simply type their name in the lookup field within the Action Owner zone and click the + icon. In the example below, Chris Woolcott is the existing Action Owner and will be replaced with Colin Johnson.
Once the new Action Owner has been assigned, click the Save button.
Manually assigning a Contributor
If you wish to quickly assign a Role as a Contributor and you know who that will be, you can simply type their name in the lookup field within the Contributors zone, enter their Billable / Non Billable contributions and indicate whether their contribution should be ‘Excluded from Billable Capacity, then click the + icon. Each Contributor will appear below the search fields and can be edited / deleted as required.
Once the new Contributors have been assigned, click the Save button.
Searching for Resources
If you do not know which resources you will be assigning to the Action, you can use the ‘Search Filters’ section to help apply filters to find a list of Potential Resources. Note, you can click Search without applying any filters and it will return the full list of active Roles.
Within the Search Filters, you can apply filters for Teams, Skills and Skill Proficiency levels. You’re also able to specify the number of weeks in view and what scale you would like to view.
Once you’ve applied the required filters, click Search. At this point, the Search Filters section will collapse and you will see the Potential Resources section. If you need to adjust your filters, simply click on the Search Filters header and the Potential Resources will collapse, allowing you to make your changes and search again.
Potential Resources
Once you have clicked Search, you will see a list of ‘Potential Resources’ (matching your filter criteria if applied). For each Role, you will be able to see their real-time capacity based on existing allocation of work across other Projects.
You can also drill down into a particular Role to view the breakdown of their hours to see whether they are Billable, Non Billable or Holiday hours.
To find out which Projects the breakdown hours relate to, you can click onto the hours and a tooltip will display the Projects and Hours, as shown below.
Once you’ve identified the Role that you wish to assign to the Action, you can drag them to either the Action Owner zone or the Contributors zone, as shown below.
Mass assign Roles as Contributors
You can assign multiple Roles as Contributors via the Resource Assignment Wizard by using the select checkbox field next to each person’s Role record, as shown below.
For example, if I want to assign both Chris and Kelly as Contributors on an Action, I don’t need to drag them both individually to the Contributors section. I can set their select checkbox field to TRUE and drag one of their Roles to the Contributors section.
This will create Contributor records for each of the selected Roles, reducing the effort required to assign multiple Roles as Contributors.
Settings
You can use the Settings to customize the results of your searches, and how the data is displayed in the Potential Resources section. You access the Settings by clicking the icon in the top right of the Resource Assignment Wizard.
Exclude Roles >= Hours (per day)
This setting will be used to filter Roles from the Potential Resources list when the ‘Display capacity figures as’ setting is set to Hours and the Search Filters ‘Scale’ is set to Days.
Exclude Roles >= Hours (per week)
This setting will be used to filter Roles from the Potential Resources list when the ‘Display capacity figures as’ setting is set to Hours and the Search Filters ‘Scale’ is set to Weeks.
Exclude Roles >= Percentage
This setting will be used to filter Roles from the Potential Resources list when the ‘Display capacity figures as’ setting is set to Percentage.
Display capacity figures as
This setting lets you define whether you view the capacity of the Potential Resources as Hours or Percentage, below are illustrations of both views.
Hours (Day Scale)
Hours (Week Scale)
Percentage (Day Scale)
Percentage (Week Scale)
Capacity Shading Green Breakpoint %
This setting will define the breakpoint of the Hours / Percentage data that will result in the cell being shaded Green.
Capacity Shading Red Breakpoint %
This setting will define the breakpoint of the Hours / Percentage data that will result in the cell being shaded Red.
Include Events
This setting enables you to factor in Salesforce Events within the figures that show a Role’s availability.
Include Role Forecast Hours
This setting enables you to include hours from Role Forecast records within the figures that show a Role’s availability.
When this setting is TRUE, the calculations for the hours / percentage figures within the ‘Potential Resources’ section of the Resource Assignment Wizard will include the hours from Role Allocation records related to Role Forecast records. These hours will be included in the Hours Summary and incorporated within the Billable and Non Billable values on the Hours Breakdown.
When the Include Forecast Hours setting is TRUE, the User will need to specify the source of hours in the ‘Action / Role Forecast Hours Source’ setting, selecting from the following options:
When the Include Forecast Hours setting is FALSE, the Role Forecast hours won’t be included (e.g. it will be considered the same as Actions only).
Include Contributor Dates
If you have a need to assign a Contributor to a specific date range within the Action’s Start Date and End Date period, you can set the Start Date and End Date on individual Contributor records.
By default, if you leave the Contributor Start Date and End Date fields empty, the system will assume the Contributor is being assigned to the Action for the entire duration based on the Action’s Start Date and End Date. In the example below, Colin is the Action Owner and Chris is a Contributor. The Action spans 5 days, and Chris’ Contributor record has no values in the Start Date and End Date fields. Therefore, he is assigned to the entire duration of the Action.
In the example below, whilst Colin as the Action Owner, will be working on the Design UI Action for the entire week, Mick is only required as a Contributor for 2 days. Therefore, the Start Date and End Date on Mick’s Contributor record have been set.
To set the Start Date and End Date of individual Contributor records, you will need to set the ‘Include Contributor Dates’ setting to TRUE within the Resource Assignment Wizard (RAW) Settings, as shown below.
With this setting TRUE, the Start Date and End Date fields for each individual Contributor will be available within the RAW for you to specify manually as required.
Dates are only required if you wish to control when a Contributor is assigned to an Action. If they are being assigned to the Action for the entire duration, the Contributor Start Date and End Date fields can be left empty.
A Validation Rule is included on the Contributor Object to ensure the Start Date and End Date of the Contributor fall within the Start Date and End Date range of the Action.
Pre-set Team / Skill Filters
There is a custom setting available within the Resource Assignment Wizard Settings that enables the Team and Skill filter parameters to be automatically populated.
If this setting is FALSE, the Team and Skill filter parameters will be pre-populated with the following values:
Pre-populating these filter parameters enables Users to more rapidly search for Roles that have the attributes required to be assigned to the Action.
If this setting is TRUE, the Team and Skill search parameters will be left blank for the User to manually apply filters as required.
The ‘Hours Distributor’ feature enables you to manually control how the hours in the ‘Hours Scheduled – Billable’ and ‘Hours Scheduled – Non Billable’ fields are distributed between the working days of an Action or Holiday. By default, these hours fields are distributed evenly between the Start Date and End Date. For example, if an Action has a Start Date of Monday 3rd June and an End Date of Wednesday 5th June, and there are 12 hours scheduled to be done on the Action, then it will be assumed that 4 hours of work will be done on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It is accessible in the following locations:
For each Object, it will be accessible via the ‘Manage Distribution’ button. For the Resource Assignment Wizard it is accessible from the ‘Hours Distributor’ Tab.
Projects
When accessing the Hours Distributor from the Project record, it will display Role Allocations relating to each Role / Action contained within the Project Plan.
You are able to choose whether to view the data grouped by Action or by Role. When viewing the data by Action, you will see a data row for each Role that is assigned to the Action as either the Action Owner or Contributor. The Actions will be grouped by Milestone.
When viewing the data by Role, you will see a data row for each Action the Role is assigned to as either the Action Owner or Contributor.
Milestones
When accessing the Hours Distributor from the Milestone record, it will display Role Allocation records relating to each Role / Action relating to the Milestone.
You are able to choose whether to view the data grouped by Action or by Role. When viewing the data by Action, you will see a data row for each Role that is assigned to the Action as either the Action Owner or Contributor.
When viewing the data by Role, you will see a data row for each Action the Role is assigned to as either the Action Owner or Contributor.
Actions
When accessing the Hours Distributor from the Action record, it will display Role Allocation records relating to each Role assigned to the Action.
Resource Assignment Wizard
You are able to access the Hours Distributor from within the Resource Assignment Wizard. This provides the same functionality that is available when accessing it from an individual Action record.
Holidays
You can utilise the Hours Distributor on a Holiday record to create Role Allocation records. This enables you to distribute the hours across the days. For example, a person may be taking 12 hours of PTO across a 2 day period. Rather than it being evenly distributed with 6 hours per day, it may be that 4 hours are for day 1 and 8 hours for day 2. Another example may be where a person is taking PTO from Friday through to Tuesday, but it only requires 2 days (e.g. Friday and Tuesday, as Monday is a Public Holiday). In this scenario, you are able to distribute the 16 hours on Friday (8 hours) and Tuesday (8 hours).
Note: The Hours Distributor should only be used for Holidays that relate to an individual Role.
Roles
When accessing the Hours Distributor from a Role record, it will display Role Allocation records assigned to the Role across multiple Projects and Opportunities. As such, it the Role Allocation records may be related to an Action or a Role Forecast. You will be able to select a specific date range (e.g. view all Role Allocations assigned to Mick Fanning for the next two weeks).
In addition to Role Allocation records relating to Actions and Role Forecasts, this view will also show Role Allocations assigned to Holidays and provide a capacity summary at the bottom to easily identify any potential bottlenecks.
Adjust Start Date & End Date
When a Role Allocation record is created or edited with Total Hours Scheduled greater than zero, and it is before the existing Start Date of the Action, Contributor or Role Forecast that it relates to, the Start Date and Working Days fields of the parent record (e.g. Action, Contributor or Role Forecast) will be adjusted to be based on the date from the Role Allocation record.
When a Role Allocation record is created or edited with Total Hours Scheduled greater than zero, and it is after the existing End Date of the Action, Contributor or Role Forecast that it relates to, the End Date and Working Days fields of the parent record (e.g. Action, Contributor or Role Forecast) will be adjusted to be based on the date from the Role Allocation record.
Clear All Values
When distributing hours on the ‘Manage Forecast’ or ‘Manage Distribution’ Component, you can use the icon to clear all existing Role Allocation field entries.
When you click this icon, it will reset all fields to 0 if they are currently greater than 0. This enables Users to restart the manual distribution and gradually build up the allocation as they enter values into the individual Role Allocation fields.
Redistribute Remaining Hours
When distributing hours on the ‘Manage Distribution’ Component in relation to Actions, you can use the icon to redistribute hours from historical dates where the Role Actual does not match the Role Allocation.
This function can be carried out for an individual row of data being displayed on the ‘Manage Distribution’ Component by clicking the icon within that row. Alternatively, if you wish to carry this function out for all rows being displayed, you can click the master icon located in the top right.
When you click the icon, the sum of hours remaining for any Role Allocation with a Date less than Today will be redistributed across the remaining Role Allocations between Today and the End Date. Specifically, the following functions will be carried out:
Hours Distributor Distribution Rules
When modifying Action records, a User may amend key fields that will require related Role Allocation records to be modified. The table below summarises the distribution rules that will be applied to each scenario based on whether the Role Allocation records are evenly distributed or manually distributed.
Modification Scenario | Even Distribution | Manual Distribution |
Start Date is brought forward to start earlier | Create additional Role Allocation records for working days being added to the duration and evenly redistribute the hours across all of the Role Allocation records | Create additional Role Allocation records for the working days being added to the duration and set them to 0 hours, the User will manually distribute as required |
Start Date is moved back to start later | Delete the Role Allocation records for the outgoing days, if they have no related Role Actual records. If they do have related Role Actuals, set Hours Scheduled to 0. Redistribute the hours across the Role Allocation records for the days between the new Start Date and End Date | Delete the Role Allocation records for the outgoing days if they have no related Role Actual records. If they do have related Role Actuals, set the Hours Scheduled to 0. The User will then manually distribute the hours across the remaining Role Allocation records. |
End Date is brought forward to start earlier | Delete the Role Allocation records for the outgoing days, if they have no related Role Actual records. If they do have related Role Actuals, set the Hours Scheduled to 0. Redistribute the hours from the Role Allocation records between Today and the original End Date across the Role Allocation records for the days between Today and the new End Date | Delete the Role Allocation records for the outgoing days, if they have no related Role Actual records. If they do have related Role Actuals, set the Hours Scheduled to 0. The User will then manually distribute the hours across the remaining Role Allocation records. |
End Date is moved back to start later | Create additional Role Allocation records for working days being added to the duration and evenly redistribute the hours from the Role Allocation records between Today and the original End Date across all of the Role Allocation records from Today through to the new End Date | Create additional Role Allocation records for the working days being added to the duration and set them to 0 hours. The User will then manually distribute as required. |
Start Date and End Date both moved by the same number of working days but Start Date still occurs before the original End Date | Delete the Role Allocation records for the outgoing days, if they have no related Role Actual records. If they do have related Role Actuals, set the Hours Scheduled to 0. Create additional Role Allocation records for working days between the new Start Date and End Date that don’t already have an existing Role Allocation and evenly redistribute the hours across all of the Role Allocation records between the new Start Date and End Date. | Delete the Role Allocation records for the outgoing days, if they have no related Role Actual records. If they do have related Role Actuals, set the Hours Scheduled to 0. Create new Role Allocation records as needed. Mirror the original Role Allocation hours across all current Role Allocation records (for example the hours scheduled for Day 1 of the original date range will be scheduled to Day 1 of the new date range). |
Start Date and End Date both brought forwards (e.g. to start early) in time by the same number of days but End Date still occurs later than the original Start Date | Delete the Role Allocation records for outgoing days, if they have no related Role Actual records. If they do have related Role Actuals, set the Hours Scheduled to 0. Create additional Role Allocation records for working days between the new Start Date and End Date that don’t already have an existing Role Allocation and evenly redistribute the hours across all of the Role Allocation records between the new Start Date and End Date. | Delete the Role Allocation records for the outgoing days, if they have no related Role Actual records. If they do have related Role Actuals, set the Hours Scheduled to 0. Create new Role Allocation records as needed. Mirror the original Role Allocation hours across all current Role Allocation records (for example the hours scheduled for Day 1 of the original date range will be scheduled to Day 1 of the new date range). |
Start Date and End Date both moved by the same number of days and no overlap exists with the existing date range | Delete the Role Allocation records for the outgoing days, if they have no related Role Actuals. If they do have related Role Actuals, set the Hours Scheduled to 0. Create additional Role Allocation records for working days between the new Start Date and End Date that don’t already have an existing Role Allocation and evenly redistribute the hours across all of the Role Allocation records between the new Start Date and End Date | Delete the Role Allocation records for the outgoing days, if they have no related Role Actual records. If they do have related Role Actuals, set the Hours Scheduled to 0. Create new Role Allocation records as needed. Mirror the original Role Allocation hours across all current Role Allocation records (for example the hours scheduled for Day 1 of the original date range will be scheduled to Day 1 of the new date range). |
Hours Scheduled – Billable or Hours Scheduled – Non Billable is increased | Additional hours are split evenly across Role Allocation records for the Action Owner from Start Date or Today (whichever is later) through to End Date | No changes will be made, the User will manually distribute the change |
Hours Scheduled – Billable or Hours Scheduled – Non Billable is increased after the Start Date has passed | Additional hours are split evenly across Role Allocation records for the Action Owner from Today through to End Date | No changes will be made, the User will manually distribute the change |
Hours Scheduled – Billable or Hours Scheduled – Non Billable is decreased | The reduction in hours is evenly removed from each Role Allocation record from the Start Date or Today (whichever is greater) through to the End Date. The hours will only reduce down to 0, they will not be put into a negative. | No changes will be made, the User will manually distribute the change |
Hours Scheduled – Billable or Hours Scheduled – Non Billable is decreased after the Start Date has passed | The reduction in hours is evenly removed from each Role Allocation record from the Today through to the End Date. The hours will only reduce down to 0, they will not be put into a negative. | No changes will be made, the User will manually distribute the change |
Action Owner is changed | Delete the Role Allocation records for the outgoing Action Owner, if they have no related Role Actual records. If they do have related Role Actuals, set the Hours Scheduled to 0. Create Role Allocation records for the new Action Owner, calculated by the different between Hours Scheduled on the Action and the sum of hours already allocated to existing Contributor records. | For any Role Allocation records from Today through to the End Date, if there are no related Role Actual records, reassign the Role Allocation record to the new Action Owner. If there are related Role Actuals, set the Hours Scheduled to 0 and create new Role Allocation records for the new Action Owner with the Hours Scheduled that were assigned to the original Action Owner. |
Contributor is added | Create Role Allocation records for the Contributor, splitting the hours evenly across each remaining day from Today through to the End Date. Update Role Allocation records for the Action Owner, calculated by the difference between Hours Scheduled on the Action and the sum of hours already allocated to the Contributor records. | If existing Role Allocation records exist for any Role relating to the Action have been manually overridden, create Role Allocation records for the Contributor, splitting the hours evenly across each remaining day from Today or Start Date (whichever is later) through to End Date. The User will need to manually adjust the Role Allocation records as required. |
Contributor is deleted | Delete the Role Allocation records for the Contributor, if they have no related Role Actual records. If they do have related Role Actuals, set the Hours Scheduled to 0. Update the Role Allocation records for the Action Owner, calculated by the different between Hours Scheduled on the Action and the sum of hours already allocated to the remaining Contributor records. | Delete the Role Allocation records for the Contributor, if they have no related Role Actual records. If they do have related Role Actuals, set the Hours Scheduled to 0. The User will need to manually adjust the Role Allocation records as required. |
Contributor is changed from one Role to another Role | Delete the Role Allocation records for the outgoing Contributor, if they have no related Role Actual records. If they do have related Role Actuals, set the Hours Scheduled to 0. Create Role Allocation records for the new Contributor, evenly distributing the hours from Today through to End Date. | For any Role Allocation records from Today through to the End Date, if there are no related Role Actual records, reassign the Role Allocation record to the new Contributor. If there are related Role Actuals, set the Hours Scheduled to 0 and create a new Role Allocation record for the new Contributor with the Hours Scheduled that were assigned to the original Contributor. |
Contributor hours within Contribution Billable or Contribution Non Billable are increased | Additional hours split evenly across Role Allocation records for the Contributor from Today through to End Date. | No changes will be made, the User will manually distribute the change |
Contributor hours within Contribution Billable or Contribution Non Billable are decreased | Reduction in hours will be evenly removed from each Role Allocation record for the Contributor from Today through to End Date. The hours will only reduce down to 0, they will not be put into a negative. | No changes will be made, the User will manually distribute the change |
Checklist Items are individual items that need to be ‘ticked off’ as part of delivering an Action. The Checklist will serve as a simple ‘To Do’ list of items that you can mark as complete. For example, if you have an Action to deliver training for a client, your Checklist Items might include:
You can add notes to any Checklist Item as well as identify the person that will be responsible for it, and whether it has been completed for not. You can create Checklist Items directly from the Action Detail Page using the ‘Related List’.
You can also create Checklist Items when using the ‘Create Actions’ page and on the Whiteboard. To create Checklist Items you need to click the Checklist Item icon as per the below illustrations.
You will then be presented with the ability to add a new Checklist Item as per the screenshot below. You can fill in the Name, Owner and Notes and click the tick sign to confirm.
You are also able to add the ‘Checklist Item’ Tab to your menu navigation to access the Object’s home page. This will enable you to access List Views of your Checklist Items and manage them all from one place.
Checklist Item Hours
When applying hours at the individual Checklist Item level, this will override the ability to enter values in the Hours Scheduled – Billable and Hours Scheduled – Non Billable fields directly on the Action record the Checklist Item relates to.
For example, if I create an Action and enter 10 in the Hours Scheduled – Billable field and 4 in the Hours Scheduled – Non Billable field, and then proceed to create some Checklist Items that contain values in the Hours Scheduled – Billable and Hours Scheduled – Non Billable fields, the values I entered in the Action will be overwritten with the sum of hours from the related Checklist Items. To revert to entering values manually in the Action, I would need to remove all values in the fields from all related Checklist Items.
If you try to modify the Action fields, you will be presented with a notification as illustrated below.
However, this fuctionality can be turned off to allow you to enter Checklist Item hours without them overriding the Action hours. This is controlled by a Custom Setting that is accessible within the Project Automation Settings section of the Control Pad on the Mission Control Console. The setting is called:
Disable Action Hours Override from Checklist Item Hours
This setting will need to be set to TRUE if you do not want Checklist Item hours overriding the Action hours.
Automated Management of Contributor Records
You can choose to have Contributor records automatically created / updated / deleted based on the Role being assigned as the Item Owner of Checklist Items.
This feature is controlled by a setting in the ‘Project Automation Settings’ section of the Control Pad on the Mission Control Console.
If this setting is TRUE, the feature will be disabled and Contributors will need to be managed manually. If this setting is FALSE, the feature will be enabled and Contributors will be managed automatically.
When Contributors are being managed automatically, you will not need to create / edit / delete Contributor records manually. In addition, the ‘Contribution Billable’ and ‘Contribution Non Billable’ fields will be calculated automatically. If you try and edit these fields manually, you will be presented with a notification as illustrated below.
Contributor records will be created, updated and deleted automatically based on the Role’s assignment to the Action / Checklist Items.
For example, prior to creating Checklist Items, I assign Mick Fanning as the Action Owner and create Contributor records for Kelly Slater and Joel Parkinson. I then create a Checklist Item with values entered in the ‘Hours Scheduled – Billable’ or ‘Hours Scheduled – Non Billable’ fields and assign the Item Owner as Kelly Slater, the automated management of Contributors will be invoked. The result will be that Kelly Slater’s Contributor record will be updated to ensure the ‘Contribution – Billable’ and ‘Contribution – Non Billable’ fields reflect the hours on the Checklist Items. Joel Parkinson’s Contributor record will automatically be deleted, as he doesn’t yet own any Checklist Items. If a new Checklist Item with hours is created and assigned to Joel Parkinson, then a new Contributor record will be created for him.
In a scenario where the Action Owner also owns Checklist Items, they will not have a Contributor record created. However, if the Action is reassigned to a different Role and the outgoing Action Owner remains the Item Owner of Checklist Items, a Contributor record will automatically be created for them.
Log time to Checklist Items
You can associate a Time Log to a specific Checklist Item relating to the Action. A Time Log must always relate to an Action, but you can optionally choose to relate it to one of the Checklist Items under the Action and it will reflect in the Checklist Items ‘Hours Completed – Billable’ or ‘Hours Completed – Non Billable’ field. This enables you to identify how much time has been spent working on the individual Checklist Items.
When using the Log Time Component, you will be able to select the Action the Time Log relates to and then further select the specific Checklist Item.
When using the Timesheet, you can select the specific Checklist Item by double-clicking into the hours cell to open the Time Log Summary field.
The Time Log Related List can be included on both the Action Page Layout and the Checklist Item Page Layout.
Checklist Item Manager
The Checklist Item Manager lets you easily manage all of your Checklist Items relating to a particular Action or User Story.
Quick Create Items
The Quick Create section at the top of the Checklist Item Manager provides you with the ability to quickly create multiple Checklist Items.
Optionally select the Checklist Item Owner and then enter the Checklist Item Name. Once this has been done, you can either click the + icon, or press the Enter key.
The Checklist Item will appear in the Checklist Item Manager and focus will be retained on the Quick Create Checklist Item Name text box so you can create another record.
To add further information to the Checklist Item record, you can click the pencil icon to open it in Edit mode.
Add New Items
You can click the ‘New Item’ button in the bottom left of the Checklist Item Manager to open a draft record in Edit mode, allowing you to fill in all of the key fields.
When the new record is ready to be saved, you can click the tick icon and then the Save Items button. Alternatively, if you want to save the record and then immediately add another new record, click the + icon.
This will enable you to create another new Checklist Item. Once you’ve created all the required records, click the Save Items button.
Edit Individual Items
If you need to make changes to an existing Checklist Item, you can click the pencil icon for the required record. This will open up the record in Edit mode.
Once you have made your changes, click the tick icon to commit your save.
Edit All Items
If you wish to edit all Checklist Items at once, you can click the pencil icon located on the right-hand side of the Quick Create row of the Checklist Item Manager.
This will open up all Checklist Item records in Edit mode, allowing you to make changes across multiple records.
Once you have made all of your required changes, click the tick icon located on the right-hand side of the Quick Create row of the Checklist Item Manager.
This will commit the changes across all Checklist Items.
View Full Record
To access the full record detail of an individual Checklist Item, click the eye icon for the required record.
This will open up the full Page Layout view for the Checklist Item record. From here you can edit or delete the record.
Filters
You can apply filters within the Checklist Item Manager by clicking the Filter icon located in the top right.
This will open up the Filter modal as illustrated below.
From the Filter modal, you are able to apply various filters. In addition, you can save filters into the ‘Preset Filters’ list at the top of the modal. These preset filters will be stored for ongoing use.
Settings
By default, the Checklist Item Manager will show the following fields:
By default, the Checklist Items will be sorted using the following logic:
The first four fields are static, but the remaining five fields can be customized to your own preference as well as modifying the Sort Logic. This is controlled within the Settings modal, which is accessed by clicking the Setup icon located in the top right of the Checklist Item Manager.
When you access the Settings modal, you can specify the Fields you wish to display on the Checklist Item record rows. You can also adjust the fields and direction preferences for how your Checklist Items will be sorted.
When you make changes to the Settings, you will need to click the Save button. To reset the default settings, click the Reset button.
The Checklist Item Kanban Board enables you to visualise all of your Checklist Items based on their current ‘Status’. You can access the Checklist Kanban via the main navigation menu as a sub-tab on the Project Overview Component, which will pre-filter the board to show Checklist Items that relate to Actions on that specific Project.
Each Checklist Item is displayed as a ‘Sticky Note’ (also referred to as a ‘Card’) on the Kanban, showing details such as:
You can drag and drop the Checklist Item cards from one column to another. For example, if you have a Checklist Item that has progressed from ‘Planned’ to ‘In Progress’, you can simply drag it from the Planned column and drop it into the In Progress column.
Note: When you drag a card into the Complete column, the Status field of the Checklist Item will be updated to ‘Complete’ and the Complete (Checkbox Field) will also be set to TRUE. Similarly, if you set the Complete field to TRUE, the Status will automatically be updated to Complete.
Add Checklist
You can add a new Checklist Item record by clicking the blue ‘Add Checklist’ button located in the header of the Board.
This will open up the ‘New Checklist’ modal, where you are able to enter the full details for a new Checklist Item and then click Save.
Quick Add Checklist
You can quickly add a new Checklist Item by clicking the ‘Add Checklist Item…’ just below the column header. This will open up the Quick Add section, as shown below:
Simply select the Project, Milestone and Action, type in the Checklist Item Name, then click the tick icon or hit enter. The Checklist Item will be created and the fields will reset to enable you to add another Checklist Item.
Note: If you have a Validation Rule or field requirement that prevents the Checklist Item from being created, a New Checklist Item page will open up where you can complete the required fields and save the record.
Checklist Card
Below is an example of a Checklist Item Card on the Kanban Board.
The card offers you a lot of functionality, each feature of the card is explained below.
Collapse / Expand All
The Checklist Cards can show a lot of information, and as such, can take up a fair amount of space, and you may wish to have a more compact view. The Cards can be collapsed or expanded as required between the ‘Detail’ and ‘Compact’ views, based on how much information you with to view. Below are examples of the expanded and collapsed Cards.
Within the Board Settings, you can specify the default view for any new Checklist Items. You are able to collapse / expand individual cards by clicking the icon in the footer of the Card. You are also able to collapse / expand all Checklist Cards at once by clicking the Expand All or Collapse All button within the Board Header, as shown below.
Checklist Sort Order
By default, the Checklist Cards will be displayed based on the following values:
If you need to reorganize the priority of the Checklist Items within a specific column, you are able to drag and drop them up or down within the column and that adjustment will be persistently remembered.
The ‘Board Priority Order’ field value is adjusted by dragging a Checklist Item up / down within a column, but if the Checklist Item is dragged left / right into another column, the values will not be adjusted.
Users have the ability to control the Sort Order of Cards should they not wish to use the default sort order. This can be controlled within the Board Settings modal, as shown below:
Users can disable the Board Priority Order field from being used as the initial sorting value. In addition, they can specify up to 5 fields to sort by, and the direction (e.g. ASC / DESC).
Column Heading
You’re able to dynamically adjust the Column Headings. By default, Status columns will be displayed. However, if you want to switch from viewing columns for Status to Item Owner, you just need to select the Picklist in the ‘Column Heading’ field as below.
This will dynamically switch the column headings on the Kanban Board and rearrange all of the Checklist Items based on their ‘Item Owner’ value.
Summary Field
You’re able to dynamically adjust the Summary Field. By default, the Summary Field will be set to Total Hours Remaining. You have the option to change this to a range of other Number or Percent fields on the Checklist Item Object.
The Summary Field will be persistently remembered for each User.
Checklist Filters
You can apply any combination of filters to make sure you’re viewing the Checklist Items that are most important to you. Simply click on the Filter icon to open up the Filters modal and apply the filters as required.
The filters can be applied as required, alternatively, you can save any Filter selection, and that will be persistently applied each time you visit the Checklist Board.
Preset Filters are created and accessed by individual Users and cannot be shared with other Users.
Board Settings
The Board Settings modal enables you to customise various settings to control which features are accessible on the Board.
These Board Settings can be controlled by each individual User by clicking on the Settings icon on the Board.
Alternatively, you can choose to override these settings at an organisation-wide level from the Control Pad of the Console. If you override from the Control Pad, Users will no longer have access to the Settings icon on the Board.
Roles Tab
The ‘Roles’ Tab located on the right-hand-side of the Board allows you to view all of the active Roles within Mission Control.
You can expand / collapse the Tab, which will be persistently remembered between visits to the Board. Therefore, if you don’t wish to use the Role Tab, you can keep it collapsed.
The primary purpose of the Roles Tab is to enable you to re-assign a Checklist Item from one owner to another. You can do this by dragging and dropping the right person on top of the image of the existing Item Owner, which will transfer ownership.
You can filter to find Roles that match the criteria you require. For example, you may be looking for Roles that have a specific Skill or are a member of a particular Team. To access the Role Filters, click the Filter icon at the top of the Role Tab, which will open the Role Filters modal as shown below.
Within the Role Filters, you can:
The filters can be applied as required, alternatively, you can save any Filter selection, and that will be persistently applied each time you visit the Checklist Board.
Task/Event Synchronization allows you to create a standard Salesforce.com Task or Event record that relates to a Mission Control Action and have it update the actions date and time values based on the event. Note: Where a User has changed the Subject of the Event, when being updated, the Action will no longer overwrite this value.
When creating an Action, if you set the ‘Task’ Checkbox field to TRUE, a Salesforce Task record will be created and associated to the Action in the Activity History related list.
When creating an Action, if you set the ‘Event’ Checkbox field to TRUE, a Salesforce Event record will be created and associated to the Action in the Activity History related list. It will be assigned to Action Owner and Contributors, providing their Role records relate to Salesforce User records.
Note: Events will only be created if the Action Owner’s Role record relates to a Salesforce User. If Multi-Day setting is disabled and the Event checkbox is set at the action level, users will have to schedule actions for a single day to have them populate as events in the calendars.
By default when the ‘Task’ or ‘Event’ fields on the Action are set to TRUE, the Task or Event record is created with ‘Mission Control: ‘ set as a Prefix followed by the Action Name with the Project Name in brackets within the Name field. For example, for the ‘Rip Curl: Website’ Project, if you set the Task field to TRUE on the ‘Design Wireframes’ Action, the Name of the Task will be as follows:
Mission Control: Design Wireframes (Rip Curl: Website)
To provide Customers with flexibility on the Prefix, there is a Setting within the ‘Project Automation Settings’ Tile on the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console called ‘Enable Task/Event Prefix Override’.
This Setting enables Customers to choose to override the Prefix with a Custom Prefix value or to remove the Prefix altogether.
To override with a Custom Prefix, set the Setting Checkbox to TRUE, select ‘Custom Prefix’ in the Override Option and specify a value in the Custom Prefix field, as shown below.
In this example, the Task Name would be:
Project Task: Design Wireframes (Rip Curl: Website)
To remove the Prefix, set the Setting Checkbox to TRUE and select ‘No Prefix’ in the Override Option, as shown below.
Leaving this Setting FALSE will mean Task and Event Names use the out of the box format.
The Clone button on a Milestone allows you to clone (make a copy of) a Milestone and all child Actions, saving them to the existing Project or to a new Project. Before the records are cloned, you are able to make changes to the Milestone and Actions so they are relevant to the new Project or requirements.
To Clone a Milestone, go to the Milestone page and click the ‘Clone’ button.
Make the desired changes for the new Milestone and Actions and click the Clone Milestone button.
Note: If the Milestone you are cloning relates to a skills based project, you will also be able to edit the view and edit the skills for the actions.
The Milestone Clone page provides customers with the ability to select which fields are visible in the Milestone field sections of the page. Each section is controlled by a Field Set as outlined below.
Field Set Name | Default Fields |
Milestone Details Clone Fields | Milestone Name Project Milestone Owner Status Exclude from Scheduler Exclude from Timesheet Invoice on Completion Invoice Amount Non Billable Exclude from Billable Capacity Exclude from Gantt Exclude from Status Report Exclude from Client Page |
There is also a Field Set on the Action Object to enable Custom Fields to be added to the Action section of the page:
By adding Fields to this Field Set, these Fields will be included in the Action section of the Milestone Clone page.
This provides customers with the ability to add and remove fields to suit their specific requirements.
The Milestone Loader is a tool that takes the existing Milestone Clone feature to a new level. You’re able to select and load in multiple Milestones in one go, including all of their Actions, Contributors and Checklist Items.
So for example, I may have created a Project record, but not yet created any Milestones, Actions, etc. I may have two other Projects that between them already contain the detail of what is required on this new Project. Therefore, I can use the Milestone Loader to go and grab a copy of the relevant records from each of the other two Projects.
You access the Milestone Loader from the Overview Tab on the Project Overview page, as shown in the screenshot below.
The Milestone Loader will initially load as shown below:
You’re able to search for the Project that you want to load the Milestones from. As you start typing the Project Name, the search list will automatically begin to filter the list of Projects you can choose from.
Once you have selected the Project you’re looking for, a list of Milestones will appear. You can then choose the Milestones you’re looking to load in to your new Project.
You’re able to select all, or as many of the Milestones as you require. You can also choose to specify the Start Date for the first most Action being loaded in to the new Project, along with whether you want to clone the Checklist Items and Contributors.
The Milestone Loader lets you load in multiple Milestones from one Project at a time, if you require Milestones from more than one Project, you’ll need to perform this process for each Project.
The Action Clone Page provides you with the ability to perform a ‘Deep Clone’ of the Action and any related Checklist Items and Contributors.
When you click the ‘Clone’ button the Action Page Layout, the custom clone page will load as shown below.
The page will show the Action record, and any related Checklist Items and Contributors. Within the Clone Settings section at the top, you are able to:
You can also modify any field values manually as required, as well as adding / deleting Checklist Items and Contributors.
Custom Field Sets
The fields displayed on the Action record section of the custom clone page are controlled by two Field Sets:
If you have your own custom fields that you would like to be included on the custom clone page, you can add them to the Action Clone Custom Field Set. You can also adjust the order of the fields within the Action Clone Standard Field Set.
You’re able to set Milestones and their Actions, or just individual Actions to be recurring. The process is slightly different for each option.
Recurring Milestones & Actions
A Milestone can be set to be recurring. This will recur the Milestones and its Actions and their Checklist Items & Contributors. To set a Milestone as recurring, you need to specify the following field values on the Milestone record:
When the Milestone Status is set to Complete, the next instance of the Milestone (and Actions & Checklist Items) will be created with the Milestone Deadline and the Action Start Date, End Date, Baseline Start Date and Baseline End Date all adjusted based on the ‘Recurring Frequency’ using the following adjustment rules.
The Milestone created as part of the recurring process will have the same field values as the original Milestone. The Milestone Name will have a number in brackets at the start of the string, indicating which recurrence it is. For example, a Milestone that has been configured to recur 3 times will result in the following:
Note: Where the Milestone’s Name is using all 80 characters of the field string, the final four characters will be dropped from the string for the subsequent recurrences to make room for the number.
Each Action created as part of the recurring process will have the same field values as the original Action, except for the Status field, which will be set to ‘Planned’.
Each new recurrence of the Milestone is used to recur the subsequent Milestone. Therefore, any new Actions added to the current Milestone will be created as part of the next recurrence. To support the recurring process, each recurrence of the Milestone will have a ‘Recurrences Remaining’ field identifying how many more recurrences are required. Once the final Milestone has been recurred, it will have a ‘Recurrences Remaining’ value of 0 and therefore, when the Status is set to Complete, no further recurrences will be created. The below table illustrates how this will function.
Note: If you want to continue recurring the Milestone, you’ll need to adjust the ‘Remaining Recurrences’ value of the last Milestone.
Recurring Actions
An Action can be set to be recurring. This will recur the Action and its Checklist Items & Contributors and parent the new Actions to the same Milestone. To set an Action as recurring, you need to specify the following field values on the Action record:
When the Action is created, or updated and has been set to ‘Is Recurring’, the relevant number of additional Actions will immediately be created, changing the Start Date, End Date, Baseline Start Date and Baseline End Date based on the ‘Recurring Frequency’ using the following adjustment rules.
Each Action created as part of the recurring process will have the same field values as the original Action, except for the Name and the Status. The Status will default to ‘Planned’ for all recurrences. The Name will have a number in brackets at the start of the string indicating which recurrence it is. For example, an Action that has been configured to recur 3 times, will result in the following:
Where the original Action Name is using all 255 characters of the field string, the final four characters will be dropped from the string for subsequent recurrences to make room for the number.
Validation Rules are included on the Milestone and Action Objects to ensure the ‘Number of Recurrences’ and ‘Recurring Frequency’ fields contain a value if ‘Is Recurring’ is set to TRUE.
Note: An Action that was set to be recurring within a recurring Milestone will not be recurred when the Milestone is recurred to prevent doubling up the required Actions within the new Milestone.
Budget Items allow you to breakdown and track the Project Budget at a granular level across multiple budget line items. For example, if you have a Project that is developing a new software application you may choose to break your budget into three areas:
Whilst you have an overall ‘Project Budget’ field on the Project, the Budget Items will allow you to track the budget allocation and performance for each of these individual areas of the Project.
From the Project Overview page, you can access the ‘Budget’ Tab. This comprises of summary charts with a Data Table below where you can view the Budget Items. Within the Budget Tab, there are a series of Tabs that allow you to get to key information relating to your Budget Items, including:
Below is an illustration of the Budget Tab with the Summary Data Table being displayed.
You can create new, and edit existing Budget Item records using the ‘Manage Budgets’ page. This is accessible from the Budget Tab on the Project Overview page by clicking the ‘Manage Budgets’ button.
To track the performance of your Budget Items, you will need to relate your Actions and Expenses to Budget Items. The Hours and Material Cost financials from the Action, along with Expenses will be summarized on the Budget Item record they relate to. It’s easiest to relate the Budget Items to the Actions from the Create Actions Page. It’s also recommended to set up the Budget Item to Action relationship on the Project Template which will carry over into new Projects.
Note: Budget Items do not update the ‘Project Budget’ field on the Project.
When creating a Risk you need to associate it to a Project and fill in the relevant details, as per the example below:
You are able to create Risks from the Project Overview page, the Risk Object home page, the ‘Add Risk’ component on the Track Pad or Utility and directly from the Risk Log.
Risk Log
The Risk Log is accessible as a stand-alone page, which you can access via the ‘Progress Pad’ on the Mission Control Console.
You can also access it on the Project Overview from the Risks sub-tab. Access via the Project Overview page can be controlled via the Project Overview permissions on the Role record, like all other Project Overview Tabs.
Below is an example of the Risk Log being viewed as a stand-alone page.
It comprises of two main sections – Summary and Risk Log. Each can be collapsed to allow you to focus on the area of interest.
When using the Risk Log on the Project Overview page, it’s filtered to show all of the Actions related to that Project. On the stand-alone page, you will be able to determine which Risks are displayed, by selecting a ‘List View’ filter on the Risk Object.
Summary Section
The Summary Section includes 4 charts, providing you with a high level overview of the following:
Risk Log Section
The Risk Log section provides you with a working ‘pad’ where you can do numerous tasks, including:
Quick Create Risks
You’re able to quickly create new Risks using the quick create feature located at the top of the Risk Log – see below.
Providing you don’t have any Validation Rules or mandatory field requirements preventing a Risk from being created with just the Risk Name, you’ll be able to rapidly create new Risks using the feature.
If a Validation Rule or mandatory field requirement does prevent the Risk from being created, a new Risk page will open up where you can complete the required fields and save the record.
Using the quick create feature, new Risks will appear at the top of the list in your Risk Log and you can then click on any of them to view them in the Risk Detail on the right-hand side, or double click to edit further information.
Sort by any Column
Within the Risk Log, you’re able to sort the data by any of the columns. Just click on the column you would like to sort by and the data will be re-organised accordingly. You can identify which column is being used for sorting by the directional arrow – in the example below, the Category is being used.
Close Risks
You can quickly mark a Risk’s Status as Closed by ticking the box on the left-hand side of the table, or at the top of the Risk Detail Tab.
View / Edit Risks
If you need to view further information relating to an individual Risk, you can click on to the Risk within the Risk Log table, and that will populate the ‘Risk Detail’ Tab on the right-hand side.
If you need to edit the record, you can select the drop-down arrow and click Edit, or you can double-click on the record within the table and the Risk Edit page will open, where you’ll be able to make changes and click Save.
Collaborate via Chatter
If you need to collaborate with colleagues on a Risk, you can click on the ‘Chatter’ tab within the Risk Detail section to access the Chatter Feed for the individual Risk.
Promote a Risk to an Issue
In order to be able to ‘promote’ a Risk into an Issue, customers can use the ‘Promote Risk to Issue’ Quick Action on the Risk record. This is accessible from the Chatter Feed on the Risk Log, or from the Buttons on the Risk Detail Page. When you click the ‘Promote Risk to Issue’ button/link, it will open up a draft Issue record with Risk field information merged in to the appropriate Issue fields, as illustrated below:
To add this button to the Chatter Feed inside the Risk Log, you’ll want to update the Risk page layout to include this button in the ‘Quick Actions in the Salesforce Classic Publisher’ section. You will also need to ensure the ‘Enable Actions in the Publisher’ option in Chatter Settings is checked.
To add this button to the Risk record page, you’ll want to update the Risk page layout to include this button in the ‘Salesforce Mobile & Lightning Experience Actions’ section.
From Mission Control, you can quickly launch into a Project Overview for a specific Project. This Project Overview provides a complete overview of the project, including:
To launch into a Project Overview from the Mission Control Console, follow the steps below:
You can also access the Project Overview by clicking the “Project Overview” button on a Projects detail page.
The project Overview provides information via various ‘Tabs’. Each tab provides you with detailed information relating to a specific area of the Project. Each tab is explained below.
Insights
This tab provides various charted information showing the current state of play for the project.
The aim of the Insights Tab is to provide you with a high level, graphical view of how the project is performing. The key information represented on the Insights Tab includes:
The entire Insights Tab can be hidden by setting the ‘View Insights Tab’ to FALSE on individual Role records. However, you may want to provide access to the Insights Tab, but restrict visibility to certain Charts.
You are able to control the display settings for each individual Chart, to determine whether or not they are displayed for each individual User. These settings are controlled via Checkbox Fields on the Role record.
Overview
The Overview Tab provides a number of Charts relating to the status of Actions and Checklist Items along with a expandable tree grid of the Work Breakdown Structure of a Project, including Phases, Milestones, Actions and Checklist Items.
Overview Charts
Within the Overview Tab, you have a number of Charts providing insight into specific metrics.
Completed Actions Chart
The Completed Actions gauge chart provides you with an overview of how many Actions have been completed on the Project.
Overdue Actions Chart
The Overdue Actions donut chart provides you with insight into any Actions that are overdue and groups them based on their ‘Priority’ value. When you hover over this chart, you’ll see a list of the Actions that are overdue, so you can quickly jump to the detail if required.
Completed Checklist Items Chart
The Completed Checklist Items gauge chart provides you with an overview of how many Checklist Items have been completed on the Project.
Overdue Checklist Items Chart
The Overdue Checklist Items donut chart provides you with insight into any Checklist Items that are overdue and groups them based on the ‘Priority’ value of the Action they relate to. When you hover over this chart, you’ll see a list of the Checklist Items that are overdue, so you can quickly jump to the detail if required.
These Charts can be hidden for individual Users by setting the ‘View Overview Tab Charts’ field to FALSE on their Role record.
Work Breakdown Structure
The Work Breakdown Structure section of the Overview Tab provides details of the full project plan, including:
Each layer can be collapsed / expanded by clicking the +/- buttons. This will be persistently remembered for each User each time they view a Project Overview. For example, if Mick collapsed Actions and Checklists, so was only looking at Phases and Milestones, he would only see Phases and Milestones the next time he loaded the Project Overview page.
Warning Icons
Where Start Date and End Date values are either overdue or approaching, a Red or Yellow warning icon will be displayed, as illustrated below.
The table below outlines the rules that control which warning icon is displayed.
Date Field | Status Value | Date | Warning Icon |
Start Date | Planned | <= Today | |
Start Date | Planned | Today +1 OR Today +2 | |
End Date | Planned OR In Progress | <= Today | |
End Date | Planned OR In Progress | Today +1 OR Today +2 |
Sort Order
By default, the Sort Order of each layer is set to the values specified in the table below.
Phase | Milestone | Action | Checklist Item |
Gantt Sort Order ASC Start Date ASC End Date ASC Name ASC | Milestone Sort Order ASC Start Date ASC End Date ASC Name ASC | Gantt Sort Oder ASC Start Date ASC End Date ASC Action Name ASC | Sort Order ASC Start Date ASC End Date ASC Created Date ASC Name ASC |
Project Overview Filters
Filters can be applied to the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) table on the Overview Tab of the Project Overview. This enables you to remove records that you may not wish to currently view. For example, you may wish to filter the records to only show you those where you are the owner, or remove any that have already been completed.
To access the Filters Modal, you will need to click the filter icon located on the right-hand side of the Overview WBS table, as shown below.
You can apply Filters at each of the following layers:
Filters applied at the Action layer can comprise of Filters on the Action, Checklist Item and Contributor Objects. For example, you may want to filter Actions based on you being the Action Owner, or a Contributor, or an Item Owner of a related Checklist Item.
You are able to adjust the Filter Logic for each layer. Filters can be saved using the Pre-set Filter feature and shared with other Users.
Project Overview Settings
Each User can set their own preferences by clicking on the icon and adjusting the sort settings for each layer.
Users can specify up to 5 fields per Object to determine the sorting of records, along with whether the field should be sorted in ascending (ASC) or descending (DESC) order. To reset to the default settings, click the Reset button.
Customising the fields displayed
By default, the fields included for each layer of the Work Breakdown Structure are as specified in the table below.
Phase | Milestone | Action | Checklist Item |
Name Phase Owner Phase Budget Status Start Date End Date Total Hours Scheduled Total Hours Completed Phase Completion Status | Name Milestone Owner Milestone Budget Status Start Date End Date Total Hours Scheduled Total Hours Completed Milestone Completion Status Milestone Type | Action Name Action ID Action Owner Status Start Date End Date Total Hours Scheduled Total Hours Completed Completion % Action Type | Name Item Owner Status Start Date End Date Total Hours Scheduled Total Hours Completed |
You are able to adjust the fields displayed using the following Field Sets:
Page Functions
There are a variety of buttons/icons that provide you with access to key features, each button/icon is explained below.
Button/Icon | Function |
Click to create a new Milestone | |
Click to open the Milestone Loader | |
Click to open the Edit Modal for the record | |
Click to delete the record | |
Click to open the Resource Assignment Wizard | |
Click to open the Log Time component | |
Click to open the Checklist Item Manager | |
Click to open the Issue Manager | |
Click to open the Action Splitter | |
Click to add a new Action relating to the Milestone |
Detail
This tab gives you access to the standard detail page layout based on the Project record’s record type / user’s page layout assignment
The benefit of this page is that you can control which fields you present to individual Users/Profiles, which is something the previous Project Overview page didn’t offer.
Budget Tab
This tab gives you access to the Budget Items related to the Project. From here, you can also access the ‘Manage Budgets’ page, which allows you to create and edit Budget Items.
Action Pad
This tab gives you access to the Action Pad, filtered for the specific Project.
Time Logs
This tab includes the burn down chart, hours summary chart and ‘Timeline’ of all time Logs
Burn Down Chart
The Burn Down Chart illustrates the ‘ideal’ and ‘actual’ delivery of hours throughout the project.
Hours Summary
The Hours Summary chart provides you with an overview of the ‘Total Hours Scheduled’ in comparison to the ‘Total Hours Completed’ + ‘Total Hours Remaining’, giving insight to whether the project is likely to be delivered in less or more hours than were scheduled.
Time Log Table
The table shows a list of all Time Logs in descending order as they’ve logged against the Project’s Actions.
Project Time Logs PDF
The ‘Time Logs PDF’ can be generated from the Time Logs Tab on the Project Overview. This provides you with the ability to generate a PDF containing the Time Logs related to the Project, which can be downloaded and shared, for example, with your customer, to provide insight into the time spent on the project.
To generate the PDF, navigate to the Time Logs Tab on the Project Overview and click the ‘Generate PDF’ button, located on the right-hand side above the Time Log Summary table.
When you click the button, a modal will appear allowing you to specify a date range.
By default, these field values are set based on the following rules:
Start Date: Set to the Project Start Date or the Date of the earliest Time Log, whichever is earlier
End Date: Set to the Project End Date or the Date of the latest Time Log, whichever is later
You are able to run the report using these default dates, or select the required date range you want to apply. Time Logs will be included in the report if the ‘Date’ is greater or equal to the specified Start Date and less or equal to the specified End Date.
When you download the PDF, the default format for the File Name will be:
YYMMDD – Project Name – Time Log Summary.pdf
For example, if you generate the PDF on the 14th August 2024 for the Rip Curl: Website Build Project, the file name will be:
240814 – Rip Curl Website Build – Time Log Summary.pdf
Sort Order
The Sort Order used within the PDF is:
Custom Fields
The Milestone Name / Action Name column will always appear as the first column within the table. The other columns included by default are:
You can add additional fields into the table by using the ‘Time Log Summary PDF’ Field Set on the Time Log Object. You can include a total of 10 columns into the table, therefore, the first 9 fields included within the Field Set will be included in the PDF.
Branding
The logo located in the top right will display the file set as the ‘Gantt Chart Logo’ on the Control Pad within Mission Control. If there is no logo specified within this setting, the Mission Control logo will display by default.
The footer can be turned off by setting the ‘Report Generated by Mission Control Footer’ Setting to TRUE within the ‘Project Status Report Settings tile on the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console.
Expenses
The Expenses Tab provides access to key Purchase Order / Expense summary charts along with lists of Purchase Orders and Expenses.
Expense Charts
Within the Expense Tab, you have a number of Charts providing insight into specific metrics.
Purchase Order Summary
This bar chart provides a summary of all Purchase Orders related to the Project.
Expense Summary – Approval Status
This donut chart provides a summary of all Expenses grouped by the Approval Status.
Expense Summary – Category
This bar chart provides a summary of all Expenses grouped by Category.
Expense Summary
This bar chart provides a summary of Anticipated Expenses versus Actual Expenses.
These Charts can be hidden for individual Users by setting the ‘View Expense Tab Charts’ field to FALSE on their Role record.
Purchase Orders & Expenses Tabs
Below the charts, there are Tabs that provide access to Purchase Orders and Expenses. You also have the ability to create new Purchase Orders and Expenses.
Purchase Orders
The Purchase Orders Tab provides visibility of all Purchase Orders logged against the Project, along with related Purchase Order Items and Expenses.
Expenses
The Expenses Tab provides visibility of all Expenses logged against the Project, including key fields such as Category, Amount Claimed and Approval Status.
Customising the fields displayed
By default, the fields included for the Purchase Orders and Expenses Tabs are as specified in the table below.
Purchase Order | Purchase Order Item | Expense |
Purchase Order Number Account Summary Status Amount Amount Paid Amount Outstanding | Purchase Order Item Number Description Quantity Unit Price Amount | Expense ID Incurred By Amount Claimed Category Date Status Non Billable |
You are able to adjust the fields displayed using the following Field Sets:
Risks
This tab includes the Risk Matrix and a Risk Summary chart as well as a list view of all Risks.
Risk Matrix
The Risk Matrix is a bubble chart representing all of the Risks based on their probability and impact rating. The bubbles increase in size based on the number of Risks with that rating.
Risk Summary
The Risk Summary donut chart provides insight into the Risk Score of each Risk related to the Project.
Risks List
You’re able to view all Risks logged against the project including key fields such as Category, Area of Impact and Risk Score.
You’re able to Edit or Delete any Risk directly from the list by clicking the arrow on the right-hand side and selecting ‘Edit’ or ‘Delete’.
Billing
This tab includes some financial charts and a tree-structure of Billing Events > Billing Event Items and Billing Payments
Billing Event Summary
This bar chart provides a summary of all Invoices and Credits that have been raised against the Project and summarised based on the ‘Status’.
Invoices Summary
This bar chart provides a summary of the project budget and the amounts invoiced, remaining, paid and outstanding.
Billing Events List
This tab provides you with visibility of all Billing Events, Billing Event Items and Billing Payments logged against the project. The Billing Events are displayed in descending ‘Invoice Date’ order.
The list displays the Billing Events by default and can be expanded to display any related Billing Event Items and Billing Payments. To expand any individual Billing Event, simply click the + sign next to the Billing Event Name.
To collapse any of the Billing Event records, click the – button and the Billing Event Items and Billing Payments will be hidden again.
You’re able to Edit or Delete any Billing Event, Billing Event Item or Billing Payment directly from the list by clicking the arrow on the right-hand side and selecting ‘Edit’ or ‘Delete’.
Whiteboard
This tab provides you with access to the Whiteboard, filtered for the single Project. All of the main Whiteboard functionality is available here.
Checklist Board
This tab provides you with access to the Checklist Board, filtered for the single Project. All of the main Checklist Board functionality is available here.
Gantt Chart
This provides you with access to standard Gantt Chart, filtered for the single Project. All of the main Gantt Chart functionality is available here.
Revenue Recognition (Rev Rec)
The Rev Rec Tab gives you access to the Revenue Recognition page of the PMO Dashboard, filtered to the individual Project.
Scheduler
The Scheduler Tab gives you access to the capacity planning resource scheduler page, filtered to the individual Project.
Retro
The Retro Tab gives you access to the Retrospective Kanban Board, filtered to the individual Project. It will display Learnings related to Retrospectives that are related to the Project.
Field Level Security / Object Access
Please note that all records displayed on the Project Overview Page have Field Level Security, Object Access and Sharing Rules enforced. However, whilst the Charts enforce Object Access and Sharing Rules, the Field Level Security is not enforced. For example, if a User does not have the permission to view the Expense Field ‘Amount Claimed’ they would still see the figures in the Expense Charts. Therefore, we recommend you review the contents of each chart to ensure you set User visibility accordingly.
Tab / Chart Access
We’ve focused on providing you as much flexibility as possible with regards to how you use the Project Overview. You can control access to each Tab, and the Charts on the Tab for each Individual Role. A number of new fields have been added to the Role Object to enable you to set the access to each Tab. The new fields are summarised below.
Field | Field Type | Comments |
Project Overview Default Tab | Picklist | Allows you to specify which Tab you would like to appear when initially loading the Project Overview page |
View Insights Tab | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Insights Tab |
View Overview Tab | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Overview Tab |
View Detail Tab | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Detail Tab |
View Overview Tab Charts | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the charts on the Overview Tab |
View Budget Tab | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Budget Tab |
View Action Pad Tab | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Action Pad Tab |
View Time Logs Tab | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Time Logs Tab |
View Time Logs Tab Charts | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the charts on the Time Logs Tab |
View Expenses Tab | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Expense Tab |
View Expenses Tab Charts | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the charts on the Expense Tab |
View Risks Tab | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Risks Tab |
View Risks Tab Charts | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the charts on the Risks Tab |
View Issue Log Tab | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Issue Log Tab |
View Billing Tab | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Billing Tab |
View Billing Tab Charts | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the charts on the Billing Tab |
View Whiteboard Tab | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Whiteboard Tab |
View Checklist Board Tab | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Checklist Board Tab |
View Gantt Chart Tab | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Gantt Chart Tab |
View Rev Rec Tab | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Revenue Recognition Tab |
View Scheduler Tab | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Scheduler Tab |
View Retro Tab | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Retro Tab |
You can set these field values for an individual Role record by editing the record and updating the fields in the ‘Project Overview Settings’ section.
You can also manage these settings for all of your Role records from a new List View that has been included called ‘Role Permissions – Project Overview Page’
To ensure all of your Roles have access to the Project Overview upon initial upgrade to this version, an Install Script will run as part of the upgrade that will set all of the fields to TRUE. You will then be able to adjust the settings for each Role as required.
LEX Configuration
For customers using Salesforce Classic, you will not need to take any action to begin using the Project Overview Page. However, for Lightning Experience customers, you will have to make a small modification to the Page Layout.
Please Note: You will need to have already configured ‘My Domain’ within Salesforce to be able to use the Project Overview Page within Lightning Experience. Please refer to the Salesforce Help Documentation on how to configure ‘My Domain’.
To access the Project Overview Page in Lightning Experience, please navigate to a Project, where you will see a page similar to the one shown below.
Then click the Settings Icon in the top right hand corner of the screen and click ‘Edit Page’
This will open up the Lightning App Builder and show you a screen like the one below.
Click on the ‘Record Detail’ Component that is in the Overview Tab and delete it, as shown above. This will then result in your page looking like this:
Using the left-hand menu, navigate to the Custom Components and drag the ‘ProjectOverview’ Component into the position where you have just removed the Record Detail Component from. This will result in the page now looking like this:
Then click ‘Save’ and ensure you follow the instructions as outlined below to set the page to be your org wide default.
Then when you navigate back to the Project record, you’ll see the Project Overview Page now looks something like this:
The ‘Resource Re-assignment Wizard’ enables you to quickly re-assign ownership from one Role to another within a Project, Milestone or Action.
The Reassignment Wizard can be used in context of a Project, Milestone, Action or a Role.
Project Reassignment
Below is an example of the Resource Re-assignment Wizard:
The page lists all Role records with involvement in the Project. Involvement is defined by being at least one of the following:
The Roles are listed alphabetically by First Name. For each instance where the Role has involvement in the Project, as outlined above, a Lookup field is displayed. These Lookup fields enable you to transfer the ownership of record(s) of that type to another Role.
By default, when using the Reassignment Wizard, you will reassign all records. However, you can select which records to reassign based on their Status.
For example, looking at the wireframe above, Colin is a Project Owner, also owns some Milestones and Checklist Items. Therefore, those Lookup fields are visible, but as he doesn’t own any Actions, and isn’t a Contributor on any Actions, those fields are not visible.
Some example use cases for the Resource Re-assignment Wizard would include:
You access the Resource Re-assignment Wizard from the Project Page, by clicking the ‘Reassignment’ button as shown below.
Milestone Reassignment
When being used in context of a Milestone, it will enable you to do a mass transfer of the Milestone Owner and the Owner of records relating to the Milestone, including Actions, Checklist Items and Contributors.
Action Reassignment
When being used in context of an Action, it will enable you to do a mass transfer of the Action Owner and the Owner of records relating to the Action, including Checklist Items and Contributors.
Role Reassignment
The Reassignment Wizard can also be used on the Role record. This for example, would enable you to do a mass transfer of records across multiple Projects if a team member left the organisation, or was temporarily unavailable.
You access the Resource Reassignment Wizard from the Role Page, by clicking on the ‘Reassignment’ button as shown below.
This will show one line for the Role you will be transferring from. You will be able to choose to transfer all records, or select which records to transfer based on Status.
The Auto Assignment Wizard is a feature within Mission Control that enables you to easily identify and auto-assign the most appropriate Roles to a Project, based on defined criteria including Capacity, Team Membership and Skill set. In order to use the Auto Assignment Wizard, the Project’s Actions must have values in the Start Date and End Date fields.
The Auto Assignment Wizard is accessible from the Project record, by clicking the ‘Auto Assignment’ button, as shown below.
Note: If this button is not available on your Project records, please speak to your System Administrator.
When using the Auto Assignment Wizard, there are 3 steps to complete:
Step 1 – Select Assignment Method
This step lets you choose whether you automatically assign the best matched resources, or view a list of the top recommendations, allowing you to manually choose the final selections. To automatically assign resources, you will need to select ‘Auto-Assign’. To view the list of recommended resources, you will need to select ‘Recommend’.
Step 2 – Select Search Method
This step lets you choose the criteria that you will use to search for Roles. The options include:
The Master Team option will factor in how long each Role has been a member of the Team and their available capacity. The Skill option will factor in how long each Role has had the Skill, their proficiency in that Skill, their enjoyment factor of the Skill and their available capacity.
Within the Settings Modal of the Auto Assignment Wizard, you are able to control the weighting applied to each data point used in the auto-assignment process.
To use the ‘Master Team’ option, each Action, Contributor and Checklist Item on the Project needs to have a Role assigned. Each Role needs a value in the ‘Master Team’ field. To use the ‘Skill’ option, each Action, Contributor and Checklist Item on the Project needs to have a Role assigned. Each Action on the Project needs a Skill assigned.
Step 3 – Launch the Assignment Wizard
This step initiates the auto-assignment process. Whilst the process is running, you will see the screen below.
Once the auto-assignment process has completed, you will be presented with one of the following screens. This will be dependent on which option you selected during Step 1.
If you chose ‘Recommend’, you will be presented with a list of Recommendations. This will show you the Roles that most closely match the requirements for the Project. They are ranked based on their Match %. You are able to review the results and select a Role for each assignment. Once you have selected the Roles you want to be assigned, you will need to click the Assign button.
After clicking the Assign button having made your selections from the Recommendations, you will then get a confirmation screen showing the list of Roles assigned to the Project. When using the ‘Auto-Assign’ option, you will arrive on this screen without having to make any manual selection.
At this stage, the auto-assignment process is complete and these Roles have now been assigned to the Project.
Note: The auto-assignment process will assign Roles as Project Owners, Phase Owners, Milestone Owners, Action Owners, Contributors and Checklist Item Owners.
The Settings Modal within the Auto-Assignment Wizard provides you with access to the weighting values that are used for the ‘Master Team’ and ‘Skill’ assignment options. These Settings are Organization-wide settings, so all Users that are using the Auto Assignment Wizard will all use the same weighting values.
Note: In order to be able to edit the values within the Settings Modal, you will need to ensure the ‘Edit Auto Assignment Settings’ field on your Role record is set to TRUE.
To access the Settings Modal, click the icon in the top-right of the Auto Assignment Wizard component. This will open the Settings Modal.
This Setting will only be visible for Customers using Role Forecasting. Specifically, it will be displayed if the ‘Auto-generate Role Allocation records’ setting within the Role Allocation Automation Settings on the Control Pad is set to TRUE.
When the ‘Auto-generate Role Allocation records’ setting is TRUE, you will need to select a value for this Setting. This Setting enables you to determine which datasets will be factored in when calculating existing allocation towards capacity.
Note: allocations will always include Role Allocations relating to Holidays, regardless of which value is selected.
When the ‘Auto-generate Role Allocation records’ setting is FALSE, the following datasets will be used:
Master Team Assignment Weighting
When a User selects the Master Team Option in Step 2, the following parameters will be considered to determine how well the Role matches the assignment requirement.
Example Master Team Weighting
In this scenario, we have set our Master Team Assignment weightings as per the table below.
Setting | Value |
Team Duration | 20 |
Capacity | 60 |
This indicates that we are placing three times more importance on Capacity than how long the person has been a member of the team.
As each parameter will return a maximum of 5 Roles, the highest parameter score will be 5 and the lowest will be 1. The maximum score a Role could achieve in this scenario is 5 x the Team Duration Weighting and 5 x the Capacity Weighting. Based on these example weightings, the maximum score a Role could achieve is:
Team Duration: 5 x 20 = 100
Capacity: 5 x 60 = 300
Maximum Score: 400
Role | Team Duration Ranking | Team Duration Weighting | Capacity Ranking | Capacity Weighting | Assignment Score | Match % |
Colin | 5 | 100 | 2 | 120 | 220 | 55% |
Chris | 4 | 80 | 3 | 180 | 260 | 65% |
Mick | 3 | 60 | 1 | 60 | 120 | 30% |
Kelly | 2 | 40 | 4 | 240 | 280 | 70% |
Joel | 1 | 20 | 5 | 300 | 320 | 80% |
Based on these calculations, the Top 5 recommended Roles would be listed in the following order:
Joel: 80%
Kelly: 70%
Chris: 65%
Colin: 55%
Mick: 30%
When a User selects the Skill Option in Step 2, the following parameters will be considered to determine how well the Role matches the assignment requirement.
Example Skill Weighting
In this scenario, we have set our Skill Assignment weightings as per the table below.
Setting | Value |
Skill Duration | 20 |
Skill Proficiency | 20 |
Enjoyment Factor | 40 |
Capacity | 80 |
This indicates that we are placing the most importance on Capacity, followed by Enjoyment Factor.
As each parameter will return a maximum of 5 Roles, the highest parameter score will be 5 and the lowest will be 1. The maximum score a Role could achieve in this scenario is 5 x the Skill Duration Weighting, 5 x the Skill Proficiency Weighting, 5 x the Enjoyment Factor Weighting and 5 x the Capacity Weighting. Based on these example weightings, the maximum score a Role could achieve is:
Skill Duration: 5 x 20 = 100
Skill Proficiency: 5 x 20 = 100
Enjoyment Factor: 5 x 40 = 200
Capacity: 5 x 80 = 400
Maximum Score: 800
Role | Skill Dur. Rank | Skill Dur. Weight | Skill Prof. Rank | Skill Prof. Weight | Enjoy. Factor Rank | Enjoy. Factor Weight | Capacity Rank | Capacity Weight | Assign. Score | Match % |
Colin | 5 | 100 | 2 | 40 | 2 | 80 | 2 | 160 | 380 | 47.5% |
Chris | 4 | 80 | 3 | 60 | 3 | 120 | 3 | 240 | 500 | 62.5% |
Mick | 3 | 60 | 1 | 20 | 3 | 120 | 1 | 80 | 280 | 35% |
Kelly | 2 | 40 | 4 | 80 | 1 | 40 | 4 | 320 | 480 | 60% |
Joel | 1 | 20 | 5 | 100 | 1 | 40 | 5 | 400 | 560 | 70% |
Based on these calculations, the Top 5 recommended Roles would be listed in the following order:
Joel: 70%
Chris: 62.5%
Kelly: 60%
Colin: 47.5%
Mick: 35%
Automatically Run the Assignment Process
You are able to automatically invoke the auto-assignment process via a Flow or Apex Trigger. For example, you may want to execute the auto-assignment process automatically after a Project has been auto-generated from an Opportunity. This can be done by calling an invokable Apex Class.
There are two separate invokable Apex Classes. Which one you use will depend on whether you want to use the ‘Master Team’ or ‘Skill’ assignment method.
If you want to use the ‘Master Team’ assignment method, you will need to call the ‘AutoAssignmentWizardTeamMethod’ Apex Class. If you want to use the ‘Skill’ assignment method, you will need to call the ‘AutoAssignmentWizardSkillMethod’ Apex Class.
When calling either Apex Class, you will need to supply it with a Project ID or a list of Project IDs.
Once the Apex Class has processed, the person that invoked the process will receive a confirmation or failure email notification.
The Project Stakeholders Object enables you to associate Contacts, Users or Roles to a Project, identifying their Stakeholder position, including:
Project Stakeholders can added to a Project by going to the Project record, selecting the Project Stakeholders Related List and clicking the ‘New’ button.
When adding a Project Stakeholder, you will associate it to a User, Contact or Role. Note: An individual Project Stakeholder can only be associated to one of these records. You can also choose to set the Project Stakeholder to follow the Project on Chatter (if they are a User or a Role related to a User). You an also choose to subscribe the Project Stakeholder to receive the Project Status Report.
Project Status Report
The Project Status Report is a PDF that can be emailed to Project Stakeholders on a weekly basis. The Project Status Report comprises of the following sections:
Cover Page
The Cover Page includes key details such as the Project Name, along with the Account & Contact information for the customer. You can also include the customer’s logo and a ‘Hero’ image.
Below is an illustration of the Cover Page.
The elements that can be branded within the report include:
Your Logo will be visible in the top left of the page if you have specified a logo within the Gantt Chart Settings section of the Control Pad on the Mission Control Console. This logo has a fixed width of 200px.
The Customer Logo will be visible if you have populated the ‘Logo URL’ field on the Project record. Note, this URL must be a ‘Document’ that you add to Salesforce Documents, ensuring the ‘Externally Available Image’ Checkbox field is set to TRUE. This logo has a fixed height of 400px.
By default, the Hero Image will be the generic Mission Control image as illustrated in the example above. However, you are able to personalize the Hero Image with your own branding, or customize it appropriately for the individual project/customer. To override the generic Hero Image, you can populate the ‘Weekly Status Report – Hero Image URL’ field on the Project record. Note, this URL must be a ‘Document’ that you add to Salesforce Documents, ensuring the ‘Externally Available Image’ Checkbox field is set to TRUE.
Below is an example of the Cover Page with the Hero Image overridden with a custom image.
Project Summary
The Project Summary page provides a quick overview of the progress that has been made to date on the Project.
The following sections of this page will only be visible if the applicable Appendix has been selected to be included in the report:
Below is an example of the Project Summary page.
You can include up to 5 x Additional Fields from the Project Object on the Project Summary page. Please refer to the ‘Include Project Custom Fields’ section below for instructions on how to do this.
Project Detail
The Project Detail page(s) will provide a full breakdown of the project, including the following records:
By default, the following information will be displayed on the report:
Below is an example of the Project Detail page.
If you wish to exclude a particular Milestone from the Project Status Report, you will need to set the Milestone ‘Exclude from Status Report’ field to TRUE. This will flow down to all related Actions and Checklist Items, setting their ‘Exclude from Status Report Indicator’ field to TRUE.
If you wish to exclude a particular Action from the Project Status Report, you will need to set the Action ‘Exclude from Status Report’ field to TRUE. This will set the Action ‘Exclude from Status Report Indicator’ field to TRUE and flow down to all related Checklist Items, setting their ‘Exclude from Status Report Indicator’ field to TRUE.
If you wish to exclude a particular Checklist Item from the Project Status Report, you will need to set the Checklist Item ‘Exclude from Status Report’ field to TRUE. This will set the Checklist Item ‘Exclude from Status Report Indicator’ field to TRUE.
Records will be excluded from the Project Status Report based on the following field criteria:
Milestone: ‘Exclude from Status Report’ = TRUE
Action: ‘Exclude from Status Report Indicator’ = TRUE
Checklist Item: ‘Exclude from Status Report Indicator’ = TRUE
You can include up to 5 x Additional Fields from the Project, Milestone, Action and Checklist Item Objects on the Project Detail page. Please refer to the appropriate section below for instructions on how to do this.
Gantt Chart
You can choose to include a copy of the Gantt Chart within the report. This can be done by setting the ‘Weekly Status Report – Include Gantt Chart’ field to TRUE. To include the Gantt Chart, you must ensure you go to the Gantt Chart Tab of the Project Overview page and click the ‘PNG Export’ button prior to the Project Status Report being generated. This will store an up to date PNG file of the Gantt Chart so it can be included in the Report.
Time Log Appendix
The Time Log Appendix can be optionally included in the Status Report by setting the ‘Weekly Status Report – Include Time Logs’ field to TRUE on the Project record. This Appendix includes Time Logs with a Date of Last Week.
Below is an example of the Time Log Appendix.
By default, the Time Log page within the Project Status Report will include Time Logs from ‘Last Week’. Customers can adjust this time period on a per Project basis by specifying a value in the ‘Weekly Status Report – Time Log Period’ field on the Project. The values within this field include:
If this field is null, the default ‘Last Week’ filter will be applied. If you specify ‘Last n Days’ you need to specify a value in the ‘Weekly Status Report – Time Log Days’ field, indicating how many days you want to report on.
A Validation Rule on the Project Object will prevent Users from setting the ‘Weekly Status Report – Time Log Period’ field to Last n Days without specifying a value in the ‘Weekly Status Report – Time Log Days’ field.
Budget Items (Appendix)
The Budget Item Appendix can be optionally included in the Status Report by setting the ‘Weekly Status Report – Inc Budget Items’ field to TRUE on the Project record. This Appendix includes Budget Items where the ‘Include in Weekly Status Report’ field on the Budget Item record is TRUE.
Below is an example of the Budget Item Appendix.
Issue Log Appendix
The Issue Log Appendix can be optionally included in the Status Report by setting the ‘Weekly Status Report – Include Issues’ field to TRUE on the Project record. This Appendix includes Issues where the ‘Include in Weekly Status Report’ field on the Issue record is TRUE.
Below is an example of the Issue Log Appendix.
To add Custom Fields to the Issue page within the Project Status Report, Customers can add fields to the ‘Issue: Status Report’ Field Set, which is available on the Issue Object within Setup.
Any fields added to this Field Set will appear at the bottom of the ‘Issue’ cell of the Issues Summary Table, beneath the Issue Name.
Risk Log Appendix
The Risk Log Appendix can be optionally included in the Status Report by setting the ‘Weekly Status Report – Include Risks’ field to TRUE on the Project record. This Appendix includes Risks where the ‘Include in Weekly Status Report’ field on the Risk record is TRUE.
Below is an example of the Risk Log Appendix.
To add Custom Fields to the Risks page within the Project Status Report, Customers can add fields to the ‘Risk: Status Report’ Field Set, which is available on the Risk Object within Setup.
Any fields added to this Field Set will appear at the bottom of the ‘Risk’ cell of the Risk Summary Table, beneath the Risk Name.
Change Request Appendix
The Change Request Appendix can be optionally included in the Status Report by setting the ‘Weekly Status Report – Include CRs’ field to TRUE on the Project record. This Appendix includes Change Requests where the ‘Include in Weekly Status Report’ field on the Change Request record is TRUE.
Below is an example of the Change Request Appendix.
To add Custom Fields to the Change Request page within the Project Status Report, Customers can add fields to the ‘Change Request: Status Report’ Field Set, which is available on the Risk Object within Setup.
Any fields added to this Field Set will appear at the bottom of the ‘Change Request’ cell of the Change Requests Table, beneath the Change Request Name.
Project Stakeholders Appendix
The Project Stakeholder Appendix can be optionally included in the Status Report by setting the ‘Weekly Status Report – Inc Stakeholders’ field to TRUE on the Project record. This Appendix includes Project Stakeholders where the ‘Include in Weekly Status Report’ field on the Project Stakeholder is TRUE.
Below is an example of the Project Stakeholder Appendix.
To add Custom Fields to the Project Stakeholder page within the Project Status Report, Customers can add fields to the ‘Project Stakeholder: Status Report Fields’ Field Set, which is available on the Project Stakeholder Object within Setup. Note: A maximum of 3 additional fields will be displayed on the Appendix.
Note: A Validation Rule on the Project Stakeholder Object will prevent you from setting the ‘Include in Weekly Status Report’ field to TRUE if the Role it relates to is an ‘Asset’ Role.
Back Page
The Back Page provides your Company Name, Phone Number and the email address of the Project Owner.
Below is an example of the Back Page.
Include Project Custom Fields
You can include up to 5 x Custom Fields from the Project record on the Project Summary and Project Detail pages of the Status Report. You can include different fields on each page by adding fields to the two different Field Sets.
Project Summary Custom Fields
These fields need to be added to a Field Set on the Project Object called ‘Project: Status Report Fields’. Whilst you can add more than 5 Fields to this Field Set, only the Top 5 Fields will be displayed within the Status Report.
You can access the Field Set by going to Setup > Object Manager > Project > Field Sets > Project: Status Report Fields.
Once you have added your Fields, click Save.
Project Detail Custom Fields
These fields need to be added to a Field Set on the Project Object called ‘Project: Status Report Detail Fields’. Whilst you can add more than 5 Fields to the Field Set, only the Top 5 Fields will be displayed within the Status Report.
You can access the Field Set by going to Setup > Object Manager > Project > Field Sets > Project: Status Report Detail Fields.
Once you have added your Fields, click Save.
Include Milestone Custom Fields
You can include up to 5 x Custom Fields from the Milestone record on the Project Detail page of the Status Report.
These fields need to be added to a Field Set on the Milestone Object called ‘Milestone: Status Report Fields’. Whilst you can add more than 5 Fields to this Field Set, only the Top 5 Fields will be displayed within the Status Report.
You can access the Field Set by going to Setup > Object Manager > Milestone > Field Sets > Milestone: Status Report Fields.
Once you have added your Fields, click Save.
Include Action Custom Fields
You can include up to 5 x Custom Fields from the Action record on the Project Detail page of the Status Report.
These fields need to be added to a Field Set on the Action Object called ‘Action: Status Report Fields’. Whilst you can add more than 5 Fields to this Field Set, only the Top 5 Fields will be displayed within the Status Report.
You can access the Field Set by going to Setup > Object Manager > Action > Field Sets > Action: Status Report Fields.
Once you have added your Fields, click Save.
Include Checklist Item Custom Fields
You can include up to 5 x Custom Fields from the Checklist Item record on the Project Detail page of the Status Report.
These fields need to be added to a Field Set on the Checklist Item Object called ‘Checklist Item: Status Report Fields’. Whilst you can add more than 5 Fields to this Field Set, only the Top 5 Fields will be displayed within the Status Report.
You can access the Field Set by going to Setup > Object Manager > Checklist Item > Field Sets > Checklist Item: Status Report Fields.
Once you have added your Fields, click Save.
Apply Date Range Filters
You can choose to apply a Date Range filter to the ‘Project Detail’ section of the Status Report. This is controlled by the following fields on the Project record:
These dates need to be manually entered and will only apply to the information displayed in the Project Detail page.
Setting up the Project Status Report
On the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console, there is a ‘Project Status Report’ Tile, as illustrated below.
To activate the Project Status Report, you will need to set the Checkbox to true and select the day and time you would like your reports to be generated and distributed.
On the Project, you will need to set the ‘Project Owner’ to a Role with an email address on it and set the ‘Generate Weekly Project Status Report’ field to true. If this field is false, a report will not be distributed, even if there are Project Stakeholders.
Note: The ‘Project Status Report Required Fields’ Validation Rule ensures the appropriate fields are populated if the ‘Generate Weekly Status Report’ is set to TRUE. This Validation Rule is Active by default.
There is also a button available on the Project record called ‘Preview Status Report’ that will enable you to manually generate the PDF as and when required.
You can also choose to include the following appendices within the Project Status Report:
For Issues, Risks and Change Requests, you may not want to share all records with your Project Stakeholders. To accommodate this scenario, there is a Checkbox field available on the Issue and Risk Objects called ‘Include in Weekly Status Report’. If this field is TRUE, the record will be included in the appendix.
To include any of the appendices within the weekly Project Status Report PDF, you need to ensure the following Project fields are set to TRUE:
The records are included based on the following filter criteria:
Time Logs
Include all Time Logs related to Actions within the Project that have a Date within the ‘Last Week’ date range.
Issues
Include all Issues related to this Project where ‘Include in Weekly Status Report’ is TRUE.
Risks
Include all Risks related to this Project where ‘Include in Weekly Status Report’ is TRUE.
Remove Mission Control Footer
The Project Status Report PDF includes ‘Report Generated by Mission Control’ in the page footer, as shown below.
If Customers wish to remove this from the PDF footer, they are able to do so by setting the ‘Remove Report Generated by Mission Control Footer’ setting to TRUE on the Project Status Report setting tile on the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console.
If this setting is FALSE, the text will be included in the Footer.
Report Distribution
When a Project is updated to meet either of the following two conditions:
The ‘Generate Weekly Project Status Report’ field will be set to FALSE. This ensures the automatic distribution of a Project’s Status Report will stop.
Distribute Reports on different days
Mission Control also provides the ability to distribute the Weekly Status Reports on different days of the week. For example, you may have one client that wants to receive their report on a Monday, and another that wants to receive it on a Tuesday.
On the Control Pad, you specify the day of the week and the time of day that the Weekly Status Reports should be distributed. This day is considered the ‘Default Distribution Day’.
If you have a Project that you would like to distribute the report on a different day to the ‘Default Distribution Day’, you can set the day of the week for that Project using the ‘Report Distributed On’ field.
NOTE: This Feature is not available for customers on the Professional Edition of Salesforce. This is due to requiring features within Salesforce that are only available with Enterprise Edition and upwards. In order to use the read-only page feature, you will need to configure a Force.com Site. As part of configuring a Force.com Site, a Site Guest User will be created. This Site Guest User will require a Mission Control license.
The ‘Read-Only’ page allows you to provide your customers with a unique link that can be used to access a read-only, real-time view of the Project.
The page can be configured on a per-Project basis to include any of the following Tabs:
For any of the Tabs, records will only be displayed if the ‘Exclude from Client Page’ field is FALSE. This field can be found on each of the following Objects:
The Action, Checklist Item and Time Log Objects also have an additional field called ‘Exclude from Client Page Indicator’. If the parent record has been marked to be excluded, then the child record will automatically be marked to be excluded as well. For example, if I mark an Action to be excluded, then any Time Log or Checklist Item that relates to that Action will also automatically be excluded.
Overview Tab
Below is an example of the Overview Tab. By default it shows the Project, Milestone, Action and Checklist Item records.
By default, the following fields will be visible:
However, you can also add additional fields for any of the records as explained below.
Include Project Custom Fields
You can include up to 5 x Custom Fields from the Project record on the Overview Tab.
These fields need to be added to a Field Set on the Project Object called ‘Project: Status Report Fields’. Whilst you can add more than 5 Fields to this Field Set, only the Top 5 Fields will be displayed within the Overview Tab.
You can access the Field Set by going to Setup > Object Manager > Project > Field Sets > Project: Status Report Fields.
Once you have added your Fields, click Save.
Include Milestone Custom Fields
You can include up to 5 x Custom Fields from the Milestone record on the Overview Tab.
These fields need to be added to a Field Set on the Milestone Object called ‘Milestone: Status Report Fields’. Whilst you can add more than 5 Fields to this Field Set, only the Top 5 Fields will be displayed within the Overview Tab.
You can access the Field Set by going to Setup > Object Manager > Milestone > Field Sets > Milestone: Status Report Fields.
Once you have added your Fields, click Save.
Include Action Custom Fields
You can include up to 5 x Custom Fields from the Action record on the Overview Tab.
These fields need to be added to a Field Set on the Action Object called ‘Action: Status Report Fields’. Whilst you can add more than 5 Fields to this Field Set, only the Top 5 Fields will be displayed within the Overview Tab.
You can access the Field Set by going to Setup > Object Manager > Action > Field Sets > Action: Status Report Fields.
Once you have added your Fields, click Save.
Include Checklist Item Custom Fields
You can include up to 5 x Custom Fields from the Checklist Item record on the Overview Tab.
These fields need to be added to a Field Set on the Checklist Item Object called ‘Checklist Item: Status Report Fields’. Whilst you can add more than 5 Fields to this Field Set, only the Top 5 Fields will be displayed within the Overview Tab.
You can access the Field Set by going to Setup > Object Manager > Checklist Item > Field Sets > Checklist Item: Status Report Fields.
Once you have added your Fields, click Save.
Adding permissions for custom fields
Please keep in mind that if you’re using the Mission Control Customer Read Only permission set for the guest user, it only includes access to standard Mission Control fields. You may also find that you created a new custom field and selected the option to apply Read and Write Field Level Security for all Profiles thinking it would apply to the Guest User Profile as well but that may not be the case. Guest User Profile does not appear there as per Salesforce and the permission for the new field will have to be added by following the steps below.
This can be done in 2 ways, create a new permission set which is assigned to the Guest User or assigning the permissions on the Guest User Profile.
If you’d like to create a Permission set with access to the custom fields and assign to the Guest User, please follow these steps:
All done! If there are any other custom fields you want to show on this page, you can just update this permission set to include the access.
If you’d like to update the Guest User profile with access to the custom fields, please follow these steps:
When you need to include access to additional fields, you will need to repeat the steps above to update the Guest User profile.
Gantt Chart Tab
Below is an example of the Gantt Chart Tab.
Kanban Tab
Below is an example of the Kanban Board Tab.
Time Logs Tab
Below is an example of the Time Logs Tab.
Risks Tab
Below is an example of the Risk Log Tab.
Issues Tab
Below is an example of the Issue Log Tab.
Change Requests Tab
Below is an example of the Change Requests Tab.
Each Tab can be included on the read-only page by ensuring the appropriate field from the list below is set to TRUE on the Project record.
Field Name | Comments |
Display Overview Tab | Set this field to TRUE if you wish to include the Overview Tab on the read-only page |
Display Gantt Tab | Set this field to TRUE if you wish to include the Gantt Chart Tab on the read-only page |
Display Kanban Tab | Set this field to TRUE if you wish to include the Kanban Tab on the read-only page |
Display Time Logs Tab | Set this field to TRUE if you wish to include the Time Logs Tab on the read-only page |
Display Risks Tab | Set this field to TRUE if you wish to include the Risks Tab on the read-only page |
Display Issues Tab | Set this field to TRUE if you wish to include the Issues Tab on the read-only page |
Display Change Requests Tab | Set this field to TRUE if you wish to include the Change Requests Tab on the read-only page |
Page Branding
The page can display your logo and your customers logo. By default, it will display the Mission Control logo in the top-left corner of the header section.
You are able to configure the settings to display your logo on the top-left of the header. To do this, you need to ensure the following setting within the Gantt Chart Settings section of the Control Pad on the Console is set to reference your logo.
You are able to configure the settings to display your client’s logo in the top-right of the header. To do this, you need to populate the ‘Logo’ field on the Project record. The Customer Logo will be visible if you have populated the ‘Logo URL’ field on the Project record. Note, this URL must be a ‘Document’ that you add to Salesforce Documents, ensuring the ‘Externally Available Image’ Checkbox field is set to TRUE.
Below is an example displaying both custom logos.
Site Setup
In order to use the read-only page feature, you will need to configure a Force.com Site. As part of configuring a Force.com Site, a Site Guest User will be created. This Site Guest User will require a Mission Control license.
Configuring Force.com Site
The steps to complete this configuration are outlined below.
Navigate to Setup > User Interface > Sites and Domains > Sites
Register a Force.com Domain
Note: This step only applies if you do not already have a Force.com Domain. To register a Force.com Domain, enter [Your Company Name] into the text box and click ‘Check Availability’.
If the Force.com Domain Name is available, accept the Terms of Use checkbox and click ‘Register My Force.com Domain’. If it’s not available, choose another name for your Domain, such as an abbreviated or extended version of your business name.
Once you have a registered Domain, you will be able to create a new Force.com Site.
Create a Force.com Site
Click the ‘New’ button to create a new Site.
Configure your Site as shown below and click ‘Save’.
Granting Site Guest User Access
From the Site Details page click on the ‘Public Access Settings’ button. Next click on the ‘View Users’ button. Next click the ‘Full Name’ of the User displayed.
Scroll down to the Permission Set Assignments Related List and click the ‘Edit Assignments’ button. Move the ‘Mission Control Customer Read Only’ Permission Set from the Available Permission Sets column to the Enabled Permission Sets column and click ‘Save’.
Scroll down to the Managed Packages Related List and click the ‘Manage Assignments’ button. Select Mission Control from the ‘Unassigned Packages’ so it appears in the ‘Selected Packages’ and click the ‘Add’ button.
Configure Sharing Rules
By default the Organization-Wide Defaults Sharing Settings for Default External Access is Private. In order for your customers to be able to view the information on the read-only page, we recommend the following Objects have Sharing Rules configured as outlined below.
Object | Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 | Step 5 |
Project | Read Only Page | Guest user access, based on criteria | Archived Equals FALSE | Share with Read Only Site Guest User | Read Only |
Checklist Item | Read Only Page | Guest user access, based on criteria | Exclude from Client Page Equals FALSE | Share with Read Only Site Guest User | Read Only |
Change Request | Read Only Page | Guest user access, based on criteria | Exclude from Client Page Equals FALSE | Share with Read Only Site Guest User | Read Only |
Issue | Read Only Page | Guest user access, based on criteria | Exclude from Client Page Equals FALSE | Share with Read Only Site Guest User | Read Only |
Dependency | Read Only Page | Guest user access, based on criteria | Created By ID Not Equal to . | Share with Read Only Site Guest User | Read Only |
Note: If the Sharing Setting ‘Require permission to view record names in lookup fields’ is enabled, you will also need to configure the following Sharing Rule.
Object | Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 | Step 5 |
Role | Read Only Page | Guest user access, based on criteria | Created By ID Not Equal to . (e.g. Period / Full Stop) | Share with Read Only Site Guest User | Read Only |
Control Pad Setting
Once you have completed all of the above configuration steps, you will need to go to the Control Pad on the Mission Control Console. Within the ‘Customer Read Only Page’ Tile, select the URL of the Force.com Site you have configured and click ‘Save’. This URL will be referenced in the Unique URL for each Project.
Unique URL
For each Project, a unique Id will be generated and stored within the ‘External Project Id’ field. This unique Id, along with the Force.com Site URL will form the Unique URL for the Project that will be stored in the ‘Client Overview Page URL’ field.
To provide your customer with access to the read-only page for a Project, you will need to supply them with the URL contained within the ‘Client Overview Page URL’ field.
For a Project that does not have an External Project Id, simply click Edit, then click Save and the field will be populated. Likewise, if you need to refresh the field value, simply Edit, remove the field value, click Save and a new value will be populated.
Track Pad
Another really cool feature, which compliments the Project Overview Page is the ‘Track Pad’. The Track Pad provides you with quick access to the following features:
The Track Pad is accessible on the right-hand side of the Project Overview Page. However, as it is a stand-alone component, you can also add it to other pages within Lightning Experience. For example, you could add it to the Home Page so you can quickly see everything that’s going on across all of your projects.
When using the Track Pad on a Project Overview page, the Tabs will show records relative to the context Project. If you are using it elsewhere, for example, on the Home page, it will show you records for all Projects.
You will notice that whilst viewing the Track Pad in context of the Project Overview Page, you’ll see a X in the top-right hand corner. This enables you to collapse the Track Pad so you can use the full width of the screen for your Project Overview. Whilst the Track Pad is collapsed, you’ll see an arrow icon at the bottom-right hand corner. If you click this arrow, the Track Pad will be expanded again.
Feed
The Feed Tab provides you with access to the Chatter Feed for the Project.
Timeline
The Timeline Tab pulls together a Timeline for your Project, brining together all of the key records onto one time line. The Objects that are included in the Timeline are listed in the table below with the date from that record that is used for the Timeline.
For Actions and Tasks that are displayed in the Timeline that are not yet complete, a Checkbox will be displayed to the left of the record name. To complete the Action or Task, simply set the Checkbox to TRUE.
Log Time
The Log Time Tab provides you with access to the Time Logger Component. From here, you will be able to log your time or start/stop your time recording against any Action.
Whilst using the Track Pad on the Project Overview Page, the Project Member and Project fields will be pre-populated. If you’re using the Track Pad elsewhere, for example, on the Home page, the Project Member field will be pre-populated, but not the Project field.
Log Expenses
The Log Expenses Tab provides you with access to the Expense Logger Component. From here, you will be able to log your expenses against any project, as well as uploading a copy of the receipt if applicable.
Whilst using the Track Pad on the Project Overview Page, the Incurred By and Project fields will be pre-populated. If you’re using the Track Pad elsewhere, for example, on the Home page, the Incurred By field will be pre-populated, but not the Project field.
Add Action
The Add Action Tab provides you with the ability to create a new Action relating to a Milestone within the Project. You’ll be able to specify all of the key fields, as well as access the Resource Assignment Wizard and Checklist Item Manager.
Whilst using the Track Pad on the Project Overview Page, the Action Owner and Project fields will be pre-populated. If you’re using the Track Pad elsewhere, for example, on the Home page, or the Mission Control Console, the Action Owner field will be pre-populated, but not the Project field.
You can customize which fields appear on the Add Action Component. This is controlled by a Field Set on the Action Object called ‘Add Action Component Fields’.
All existing fields on the Action Object are available for selection, excluding the following:
These fields are excluded from the Field Set as they will always appear on the Component by default.
The following fields are pre-selected within the Field Set and will be accessible from the Component.
If you wish to add Custom Fields or remove any of the above pre-selected fields, you can do so by editing the fields included within the Field Set.
Add Risk
The Add Risk Tab provides you with the ability to create a new Risk relating to the Project. You can quickly create a new Risk and the Project field will be pre-populated when using the Track Pad on the Project Overview Page.
Add Issue
The Add Issue Tab provides you with the ability to create a new Issue relating to the Project. You can quickly create a new Issue and the Project field will be pre-populated when using the Track Pad on the Project Overview page.
Tab / Chart Access
We’ve also aimed to provide you with as much flexibility as possible with regards to how you use the Track Pad. You can control whether a specific Role has access to the Track Pad, and whether they can have access to each Tab. A number of new fields have been added to the Role Object to enable you to set the access to each Tab. The new fields are summarised below.
Field | Field Type | Comments |
Track Pad Default Tab | Picklist | Allows you to specify which Tab you would like to appear when initially loading the Track Pad |
View Track Pad | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Track Pad |
View Track Pad Feed | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Feed Tab |
View Track Pad Timeline | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Timeline Tab |
View Track Pad Time Logger | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Log Time Tab |
View Track Pad Expense Logger | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Log Expenses Tab |
View Track Pad Add Action | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Add Action Tab |
View Track Pad Add Risk | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Add Risk Tab |
View Track Pad Add Issue | Checkbox | Identifies whether the Role can view the Add Issue Tab |
You can set these field values for an individual Role record by editing the record and updating the fields in the ‘Track Pad Settings’ section.
You can also manage these settings for all of your Role records from a new List View that has been included called ‘Role Permissions – Track Pad’
To ensure all of your Roles have access to the Project Overview upon initial upgrade to this version, an Install Script will run as part of the upgrade that will set all of the fields to TRUE. You will then be able to adjust the settings for each Role as required.
Lightning Experience ‘Utility Bar’
For customers using Lightning Experience, you will now be able to take advantage of the ‘Utility Bar’, which will provide you with the ability to access the ‘Log Time’ and ‘Log Expense’ Components from anywhere in Lightning Experience.
Log Time
To log time from the Utility Bar, simply click the ‘Log Time’ icon in the bottom left corner of the screen. This will open up the Time Logger Component. From here, you will be able to log your time or start/stop your time recording against any Action.
Log Expenses
To log expenses from the Utility Bar, simply click the ‘Log Expenses’ icon in the bottom left of the screen. This will open up the Expense Logger Component. From here, you will be able to log your expenses against any project, as well as uploading a copy of the receipt if applicable.
Add Action
To create a new Action from the Utility Bar, simply click the ‘Add Action’ icon in the bottom left of the screen. This will open up the Add Action Component. From here, you will be able to create a new Action against any Project.
Add Risk
To create a new Risk from the Utility Bar, simply click the ‘Add Risk’ icon in the bottom left of the screen. This will open up the Add Risk Component. From here, you will be able to create a new Risk against any Project.
Add Issue
To create a new Issue from the Utility Bar, simply click the ‘Add Issue’ icon in the bottom left of the screen. This will open up the Add Issue Component. From here, you will be able to create a new Issue against any Project.
Add Requirement
To create a new Requirement from the Utility Bar, simply click the ‘Add Requirement’ icon in the bottom left of the screen. This will open up the Add Requirement Component. From here, you will be able to create a new Requirement against any Program.
Configuration
A Lightning App has been included in the release. However, Salesforce does not currently allow customers to modify the apps that come as part of a Managed Package such as Mission Control. You will therefore need to configure a Lightning App in order to be able to use the Utility Bar in the footer of the Lightning Experience User Interface. Follow the instructions below:
Click Setup, then navigate to Apps > App Manager
Click the ‘New Lightning App’ Button in the top-right section of the page. This will take you to a step-by-step wizard page as shown below.
Complete the ‘App Details & Branding’ section as below:
The Mission Control Logo can be sourced here: resources.aprika.com.au/logos/mc_logo_lex_app.png
Click Next and then select ‘Standard Navigation’ for the App Options Tab and then Click Next again.
In the Utility Bar Tab, click on the ‘Add’ button.
Add the ‘InboxAppLogTime’ Component and configure as shown below.
Add the ‘LogExpense’ Component and configure as shown below.
Click Next and then select the Tabs you want to appear in the ‘Selected Items’ section. Once you’re finished, Click Next.
Then add the Profiles to the ‘Selected Profiles’ list that you wish to assign access to for this Lightning App and Click Done.
Your new Lightning App will now be available to select from the ‘App Launcher’ as shown below:
Before adding actions to your project, it is important that you have completed the settings & billing information on the project if you are planning on using the financial information within the app, as the financials will be calculated as soon as you create your actions, based on this project information:
The Gantt Chart is available within The Project Overview page of specific Projects, or as a stand alone chart. The Gantt Chart displays the Actions and Milestones for your Projects on a grid and offers a number of features as follows:
You can launch the stand alone Gantt Chart from the Mission Control Console on the ‘Management Pad’ Tab as follows:
The Gantt Chart displays all of the Milestones and Actions for your selected Project(s) for the Entire Timeline of the Project(s) which you can navigate by scrolling left and right, as well as a Project List which allows you to collapse and expand the Projects and Milestones that are displayed.
The top section of the Gantt Chart provides the ability to filter which Projects are displayed, whether or not to show the Project Data Table, the ability to zoom in and out of the grid, the ability to add a week at a time to the start or end of the timeline, as well as the PDF & MS Project exports. Don’t forget the Save button which you will need to save any changes you make!
The project data table on the left-hand side can be hidden and displayed as required using the show hide project list button. This section allows you to collapse or expand the Projects and Milestones that are displayed on the Gantt Chart and lists the Project, Milestone, Action and Checklist Item Names, Owners, Start and End Dates and number of Working Days. Here, you can also use the plus (+) icons to create new Milestones, Actions and Checklist Items.
Creating new Milestones
You can create a new Milestone directly within the Gantt Chart using the + symbol next to the name of a Project. This will open up a New Milestone Lightbox, allowing you to specify a Name, Budget, Deadline, Owner and Notes as follows:
Note: When creating new Milestones on the Gantt chart, you need to Save the Lightbox and then Save the Gantt Chart.
Creating new Actions
You can create a new Action directly within the Gantt Chart using the + symbol next to the name of a Project. This will open up a New Action Lightbox, allowing you to specify a Name, Hours Scheduled, Owner, Start and End Date, and Notes as follows:
Note: When creating new Actions on the Gantt chart, you need to Save the Lightbox and then Save the Gantt Chart. For Skills Based Actions you will also be able to add the Skill.
Creating new Checklist Item
You can create a new Checklist Item directly within the Gantt Chart using the + symbol next to the name of an Action. This will open up a New Checklist Item Lightbox, allowing you to specify a Name, Owner and Notes as follows:
Editing Projects, Milestones, Actions & Checklist Items
You can also make changes to the Project, existing Milestones, Actions or Checklist Items by double clicking on the Action or Milestones within the Gantt Chart. For example, if you want to reassign from one Action Owner to another, you can double click on the Action, select a different Owner and click Save.
For the Project, Milestone and Checklist Item, you’re able to edit key fields within the default tab, or click onto the ‘Record Detail’ tab and edit the full record. In addition to this, for the Action, you’re also able to access the ‘Log Time’ tab to enter time against the Action.
After making changes you will need to click the Confirm button in the Lightbox and then Save the Gantt Chart.
Control display of fields on Edit Modals
The Edit Modals on the Gantt Chart display certain fields out of the box. However, the fields displayed within these Modals can be customized using Field Sets on each Custom Object, as outlined below:
Each Field Set contains the default fields already selected. Customers can add or remove fields, and adjust the order in which they appear as required within each individual Field Set.
Dependencies
A number of additional Dependency options have been added to provide greater flexibility in managing predecessor relationships.
Previously you were able to create ‘Finish to Start’ or ‘Start to Start’ relationships. The parent in the relationship could be the Milestone or the Action and the child always had to be an Action.
The enhancements included in this release provide additional relationship types as well as greater flexibility in which records can be the parent and the child.
Dependencies are displayed on the Gantt Chart with orange connecting lines. Note, if the dependency forms part of the ‘Critical Path’, then the line will be red.
You are able to create any of the following relationship types:
Finish to Start
A Finish to Start (FS) dependency means the child record in the relationship cannot start until the parent record is finished. If the End Date of the parent record is adjusted, the FS relationship will ensure the child record is rescheduled accordingly to ensure it starts once the parent is completed. Below is an example of a Finish to Start dependency.
Start to Start
A Start to Start (SS) dependency means the child record in the relationship should start once the parent record has started. If the Start Date of the parent record is adjusted, the SS relationship will ensure the child record is rescheduled accordingly to ensure it starts on the same day as the parent. Below is an example of a Start to Start dependency.
Finish to Finish
A Finish to Finish (FF) dependency means the child record in the relationship can only be marked as complete once the parent record has been completed. If the End Date of the parent record is rescheduled to extend beyond the End Date of the child record, then the child record’s End Date will also be rescheduled. Below is an example of a Finish to Finish dependency.
Lead & Lag
You can specify Lead or Lag on a Dependency. Lead indicates the child can start x days before the relationship trigger point. Lag indicates the child can start x days after the relationship trigger point. For example, the parent Action below has a duration of 3 days. There is a Finish to Start dependency between the two Actions. The dependency has 1 day of Lead applied to it. This means the child record can start 1 day before the parent record is completed.
In the example below, there is 2 days of Lag applied. This means the child record will start 2 days after the parent record is completed.
You can add Lead / Lag to a dependency by double-clicking on the dependency line. This will open up a pop up where you can set the Lead or Lag value.
Supported Dependencies
You have the ability to specify both the parent and the child from the following records:
Certain relationships are not supported due to the roll up of dates between Milestones, Actions and Checklist Items. For example, you are unable to create a Finish to Start relationship between a Milestone and one of the Actions contained within that Milestone. The reason behind this is that the End Date of the Milestone is driven by the latest of the End Dates of all related Actions. Another example is where you are unable to add Lead to the child record in a Start to Start relationship between a Milestone and one of the Actions contained within that Milestone. The reason behind this is that the Start Date of the Milestone is driven by the earliest of the Start Dates of all related Actions.
The table below provides an overview of all supported dependencies, indicating whether they are possible within the same family tree structure and across different family tree structures. The term Family Tree is used in context of identifying whether the child record relates directly to the parent record. For example, Action A relates to Milestone A, and is therefore in the same family tree structure. Therefore, certain dependencies will not be available. However, Action B relates to Milestone B so a dependency between Milestone A and Action B would be crossing between two different family tree structures and therefore would be possible.
Dependency Type | Parent | Child | Same Family | Different Family |
Finish to Start | Phase | Phase | N/A | Yes |
Finish to Start | Phase | Milestone | No | Yes |
Finish to Start | Phase | Action | No | Yes |
Finish to Start | Phase | Checklist Item | No | Yes |
Finish to Start | Milestone | Phase | No | Yes |
Finish to Start | Milestone | Milestone | N/A | Yes |
Finish to Start | Milestone | Action | No | Yes |
Finish to Start | Milestone | Checklist Item | No | Yes |
Finish to Start | Action | Phase | No | Yes |
Finish to Start | Action | Milestone | No | Yes |
Finish to Start | Action | Action | Yes | Yes |
Finish to Start | Action | Checklist Item | No | Yes |
Finish to Start | Checklist Item | Phase | No | Yes |
Finish to Start | Checklist Item | Milestone | No | Yes |
Finish to Start | Checklist Item | Action | No | Yes |
Finish to Start | Checklist Item | Checklist Item | Yes | Yes |
Start to Start | Phase | Phase | N/A | Yes |
Start to Start | Phase | Milestone | Yes | Yes |
Start to Start | Phase | Action | Yes | Yes |
Start to Start | Phase | Checklist Item | Yes | Yes |
Start to Start | Milestone | Phase | N/A | Yes |
Start to Start | Milestone | Milestone | N/A | Yes |
Start to Start | Milestone | Action | Yes – No Lead | Yes |
Start to Start | Milestone | Checklist Item | Yes – No Lead | Yes |
Start to Start | Action | Phase | N/A | Yes |
Start to Start | Action | Milestone | N/A | Yes |
Start to Start | Action | Action | Yes | Yes |
Start to Start | Action | Checklist Item | Yes – No Lead | Yes |
Start to Start | Checklist Item | Phase | N/A | Yes |
Start to Start | Checklist Item | Milestone | N/A | Yes |
Start to Start | Checklist Item | Action | N/A | Yes |
Start to Start | Checklist Item | Checklist Item | Yes | Yes |
Finish to Finish | Phase | Phase | N/A | Yes |
Finish to Finish | Phase | Milestone | No | Yes |
Finish to Finish | Phase | Action | No | Yes |
Finish to Finish | Phase | Checklist Item | No | Yes |
Finish to Finish | Milestone | Phase | Yes | Yes |
Finish to Finish | Milestone | Milestone | N/A | Yes |
Finish to Finish | Milestone | Action | No | Yes |
Finish to Finish | Milestone | Checklist Item | No | Yes |
Finish to Finish | Action | Phase | Yes | Yes |
Finish to Finish | Action | Milestone | Yes | Yes |
Finish to Finish | Action | Action | Yes | Yes |
Finish to Finish | Action | Checklist Item | No | Yes |
Finish to Finish | Checklist Item | Phase | Yes | Yes |
Finish to Finish | Checklist Item | Milestone | Yes | Yes |
Finish to Finish | Checklist Item | Action | Yes | Yes |
Finish to Finish | Checklist Item | Checklist Item | Yes | Yes |
Creating Dependencies
You are able to create dependencies from within the Gantt Chart Data Table or within the Gantt Chart Timeline.
Data Table
To add a dependency within the Data Table, you can view two Columns, ‘WBS’ and ‘Predecessors’. These two columns can be toggled on / off within the Gantt Chart settings, as shown below:
When this setting is true, the WBS and Predecessor columns will be visible within the Gantt Chart Data Table, as shown below:
The real power of this feature is the ability to create ‘Dependencies’ directly within the Data Table. To create a Dependency, click into the Predecessor cell for the child Action, as shown below:
Enter the WBS number for the parent record (e.g. Action or Milestone). In the example above, we are making the ‘Deliver Training’ Action a child to the ‘Prepare Training Materials’ Action in a Finish to Start relationship. So we enter 1.3.1 into the Predecessor field.
Once the WBS number has been populated, press the Enter key and the Dependency relationship will appear within the Gantt Chart, as shown below:
If you wish to create a Start to Start relationship, you must enter SS after the WBS number (e.g. 1.3.1SS). If you wish to create a Finish to Finish relationship, you must enter FF after the WBS number (e.g. 1.3.1FF).
If you wish to add Lead or Lag to the relationship, you must enter -n or +n after the WBS number (e.g. to add a 2 day Lead, enter 1.3.1+2).
Timeline
To add a dependency, click on the circle that appears at the start or end of the bar for the parent record when hovered over, and then drag to see a dotted line appear. Drag the dotted line to the circle that appears at the start or end of the bar for the child record. Once you let go it should appear as a solid orange line, indicating the dependency has been added.
Remember, you will still need to save the Gantt Chart to save this dependency. If a line does not appear, it likely means the type of dependency you are trying to create is not supported and you will see a notification in the top right of the Gantt indicating ‘Link Type Not Supported’.
Deleting Dependencies
You can delete the dependency by double-clicking on the relationship line and clicking the Delete button. Alternatively, you can delete the value in the Predecessor column of the Data Table.
Cross Project Dependencies
You are able to create dependencies between records in separate Projects. For example, in the screenshot below, we have a Finish to Start dependency between the ‘Deliver Training’ Action on the Rip Curl Project and the ‘Design Wireframes’ Action on the Aprika Project. These are referred to as ‘Cross Project Dependencies’.
If the parent (e.g. the Deliver Training Action) is adjusted, this cross project dependency will ensure the child (e.g. the Design Wireframes Action) is also adjusted by the same period of time.
In the image above the ‘Deliver Training’ Action has been extended to a 3-day Action, moving the End Date from 21st August to 23rd August. The cross project dependency automatically moved the ‘Design Wireframes’ Action to be scheduled on 24th August instead of the 22nd August.
Enforcing Dependencies
Dependency enforcement logic is available for dependencies. This logic is controlled by a field on the Project Object called ‘Enforce Dependency Validation’. If this field is set to TRUE, the following logic will be applied:
If the field is set to TRUE and the parent records fall outside of this criteria, the User will receive an on-screen notification advising why the child Action is unable to be progressed.
Dependency Notifications
Each email notification was sent independently of any other dependencies tied to the same child record. For example, if Action C is a successor in Finish to Start relationships with Action A and Action B, an email would be sent when Action A was marked as Complete and another email would be sent when Action B was marked as Complete.
The distribution of these email notifications has been adjusted to only send one email once all predecessors has reached the correct trigger point.
The ‘Dependency Email Notification’ will be issued to those Roles involved in the child record to be notified that all predecessors have reached the correct Status value in order for work to commence on the child Action.
If a record is updated and is a predecessor (parent) in a dependency relationship to any successor (child) and all other predecessor records have already reached their trigger point, the email will be sent:
Below is an example of the Dependent Email Notification:
Note: In order for a Role to receive these email notifications, the ‘Receive Dependency Notifications’ field on their Role record should be set to TRUE.
Drag n’ Drop Rescheduling
You can reschedule an Action simply by clicking and dragging to where ever you need to reschedule it to. Milestone dates will automatically adjust to match Actions when they are moved. Dependant actions will move with parent actions.
Note: Drag n’ Drop Rescheduling is only available when the timeline scale I set to days. To adjust the schedule whilst the timeline scale is set to anything else, please use the date fields within the Data Table.
You can also extend or shorten the length of the Action by dragging the end of the Action.
Hover Box Tooltips
Each layer of the Gantt Chart (e.g. Project, Phase, Milestone, Action, Checklist Item) has a Hover Tip that will appear when you hover over the record within the Gantt Chart, as shown below.
Each layer has preset default values. If a Customer wishes to include additional information in the Hover Tip, they can do so by adding fields to the applicable Field Set from the list below.
Any Fields added to the Field Set will appear beneath the default values.
You are able to turn off the hover box (see illustration below) that displays various field values.
This can be turned off by navigating to the ‘Control Pad’ on the Console. Within the ‘Gantt Chart Settings’ section, set the ‘Disable Gantt Tooltips’ to be TRUE and click Save.
Note: This is an org-wide setting, so if it is turned off, it will be turned off for all Users.
Milestone Sort Order
You can specify the order of the Milestones. This will primarily be visualized on the Gantt Chart, but will also drive the ordering of Milestones on the Project Overview ‘Overview’ Tab.
The example below shows a Gantt Chart where the Milestone Sort Order field has been left blank on all Milestones.
The example below shows a Gantt Chart where the Milestone Sort Order has been set as follows:
Design = 2
Build = 1
Follow Up Support = 3
Deliver = 4
The Milestone Sort Order field is accessible from the Milestone Edit Modal Window on the Gantt Chart, as illustrated below.
You can also drag and drop records within the Gantt Chart Data Table to adjust the ‘Sort Order’ field. To adjust the sort order, click and drag a record (e.g. Milestone, Action or Checklist Item) and drop it to the new location. Below is an illustration of the ‘Client Approval’ Action being moved to appear above the ‘Design UI’ Action.
Once you have adjusted the sort order as required, please click the Save button on the Gantt Chart.
Note: This drag and drop functionality can also be used to re-parent child records from one parent to another (e.g. you can change an Action from relating to one Milestone and relate it to another.
Milestone Deadline
If a Milestone has a value in the Milestone Deadline field, this will be visible on the Gantt Chart via a pink diamond as shown in the illustration below.
You are able to specify a meaningful description that can be associated to a Milestone Deadline. This description can be entered in the ‘Milestone Deadline Name’ field on the Milestone.
If this field is populated, this description will be displayed on the Milestone Deadline row of the Gantt Chart as shown above.
If this field is empty, a generic ‘Milestone Deadline’ description will be displayed on the Milestone Deadline row of the Gantt Chart as shown above.
Reschedule Actions on Action Owner Change
When an Action is reassigned to a different Action Owner within the Gantt Chart it will automatically reschedule to take into account that Role’s non working days.
For example, the ‘Utility Bar Test’ Action in the Gantt Chart below is currently assigned to Colin for Tuesday and Wednesday.
When it is reassigned to Chris, it automatically reschedules to Wednesday and Thursday as he is on PTO on Tuesday.
The same logic occurs when you reassign an Action outside of the Gantt Chart.
Standalone Gantt – Save Filters
The Standalone Gantt Chart filters can be saved and persistently set, including applying multiple filters. When you create a Filter on the Standalone Gantt Chart, you’re able to save as a Preset Filter using the feature at the top of the Filters Modal, as shown below.
Preset Filters will be persistently applied when you reload the Gantt Chart, enabling you to have the Projects you want to view automatically load each time you visit the page.
Baseline Dates
The Gantt Chart provides you with the ability view the Baseline Dates as well as the actual Dates. The Baseline Dates can be toggled on/off by clicking the Baseline button.
When you toggle the Baseline Dates on, they will appear as a secondary line for each Action, Milestone or Project as shown in the illustration below.
Reset Baseline Dates
A Checkbox field on the Project record called ‘Set Baseline Dates’ enables you to reset the baseline dates of a Project. When this field is set to TRUE, all of the Baseline Start Date and Baseline End Date values on the Actions will be updated to match the existing Start Date and End Date.
This will allow you to create Projects, adjust the scheduling of the Project and then once it’s ready to go live, you can commit the Baseline Dates.
Display Custom Fields
You can add 3 additional fields in the Data Table. From the ‘Control Pad’ on the Console, within the Gantt Chart Settings section, you can specify up to 3 fields to add for the Project, Milestone, Action and Checklist Item, as shown below.
The 3 additional fields will appear on the right-hand side of the Data Table, as shown below. Once you’ve set these on the Console, you can then choose to add them from the Gantt Chart by clicking the button.
Checklist Items
The Checklist Items can be toggled on/off by clicking the Checklist button.
When you toggle the Checklist Items on, they will appear as child items to the Action as per the illustration below. Note: Checklist Items cannot be rescheduled independently of the Action, but if you reschedule the Action, the Checklist Items will automatically reschedule to remain with the Action.
Note: If you create a Checklist Item on the Gantt Chart whilst you have the Checklist Item visibility toggled off, the new Checklist Item will remain visible on the Gantt Chart until you click Save, at which point, it will be hidden as per the setting.
Auto Scheduling
An ‘Auto Scheduling’ feature is available on the Gantt Chart that will automatically reschedule records when dependencies are created. For example, in the illustration below, there is one day of lag between the Build Framework and Build Page Content Actions.
Once I create a dependency between the two Actions, in this instance a ‘Finish to Start’, the Auto Scheduling feature will automatically snap the child Action to start on the day following the completion of the parent Action, as shown below.
To ‘fine tune’ the scheduling of your Projects, you can turn off the Auto Scheduling feature.
To do this, there is a button available on the Gantt Chart, as shown below.
When Auto Scheduling is on, it will be displayed in green, when it is off, it will be displayed in red.
Critical Path
The Critical Path is the path within the project that has the least amount of slack. Therefore, if any of the Actions within the Critical Path are delayed, the overall Project is likely to be delayed.
If an Action / Milestone falls within the Critical Path, through it’s relationships with other Actions / Milestones from it’s dependencies, the relationship will be highlighted red, as shown below.
Note: Critical Path will support Lead and Lag between Actions. Lead is where the child Action starts prior to the parent Action finishing, whereas Lag is where there is a gap between the parent Action finishing and the child Action starting. See below for examples of Lead and Lag.
Inline Editing
To enable you to quickly create out the detail of a project plan directly on the Gantt Chart, you’re able to add new Milestones, Actions and Checklist Items using the inline edit functionality.
By default, the Inline Edit feature is disabled. To enable the feature, you will need to click the button on the Gantt Chart. Clicking this button will reveal a blank row at the bottom of the Gantt Chart as shown below.
To add a new record, click into the ‘New Task’ area and you will then be able to quickly create new records by typing in the record name and hitting enter, as shown below where two new Milestones have been created.
Once you’ve created a record, you can drag it to change the type (e.g. from a Milestone to an Action). To make the record an Action, drag it on to the Milestone you want to parent it to and upon release, the record will be displayed as an Action, as shown in the examples below.
Any new records created, will assume the same record as the last one you created. For example, if I add a new record and make it an Action, then subsequent records will also be Actions, as shown below.
You can also change the record to be a Checklist Item, as shown below. To make the record a Checklist Item, drag it on to the Action you want to parent it to and upon release, the record will be displayed as a Checklist Item, as shown in the example below.
Before saving records created via the inline edit feature, you can change the record type between Milestones, Actions and Checklist Items. After saving the records, you will no longer be able to change the record type. However, you will still be able to re-parent from one parent to another, as shown in the example below where Action 3 has been re-parented from Milestone 2 to Milestone 1.
You can change the Action Owner using the inline edit feature within the Data Table of the Gantt Chart. To change the Action Owner, double-click into the Owner cell that you wish to change.
Start typing the name of the person you want to assign as the Action Owner. You will see their full name appear in the search box – click on the name and it will populate in the cell.
Click away from the cell and ensure you click the Save button at the top of the Gantt Chart to commit the change.
If you prefer not to use the ‘Inline Edit’ feature on the Gantt Chart, you’re now able to disable that from within the Gantt Chart settings. This can be done centrally for all Users within the Gantt Chart Settings section of the Control Pad on the Mission Control Console, or at an individual User level within the settings section of the Gantt Chart, which you can access by clicking the button.
Hiding Records
To enable you to hide specific records from the Gantt Chart (for example, internal components of the project that may not be required to be presented to the customer), ‘Exclude from Gantt’ Checkbox fields are available on the Milestone, Action and Checklist Item Objects.
If the Milestone field is set to TRUE, the Milestone and all related Actions and Checklist Items will be hidden from view on the Gantt Chart / Gantt Chart PDF. If the Action field is set to TRUE, the Action and all related Checklist Items will be hidden from view on the Gantt Chart / Gantt Chart PDF.
Timeframe Scale Enhancement
The ‘Zoom In’ and ‘Zoom Out’ buttons enable you to zoom the scale from days to weeks to months to years. This will enable you to zoom out and see a larger duration without needing to endlessly scroll. Below are some examples of the various scale views.
Day Scale
Week Scale
Month Scale
Year Scale
Note: It is recommended to be on the days scale when rescheduling Actions for more precise rescheduling.
Setting to control Progress % display
For each row of the Gantt Chart (e.g. Project, Milestone, Action, Checklist Item) there is a Progress value displayed to the right of bar within the Chart.
This progress information can be turned on / off within the Gantt Chart settings as shown below.
This setting can be controlled by individual Users within their own Gantt Chart Settings or centrally for all Users via the Gantt Chart Settings on the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console.
Completion % Slider
The slider feature on the Action bar within the Gantt Chart enables you to adjust the Completion % field on the Action record. When you use the slider, it will update the Completion % field and the Action will be considered to be manually overridden. Therefore, if Time Logs are created for this Action they will not automatically increase the Completion %, it will continue to need manual adjustment.
The Completion % slider is a triangular button accessible at the bottom of the Action bar, as shown below.
You are able to drag that forwards and backwards to increase or decrease the Action ‘Completion %’ field value as required.
This slider feature can be turned on / off as required via the Gantt Chart settings controlled by the individual User or centrally via the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console.
When this setting is set to FALSE, the triangular slider will not be accessible.
Load to Today
By default, the Gantt Chart loads to the first day of the Project. There is a custom setting that enables you to choose the default loading action from the following options:
This setting can be controlled via the Gantt Chart settings controlled by the individual User or centrally via the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console.
This setting controls the initial load behaviour. You are also able to quickly jump from the Project Start Date to Today, and vice versa by clicking the button.
Start/End Date Warning Icons
The Red / Amber warning icons for the Start Date and End Date are displayed on the Gantt Chart, as shown below.
These icons can be turned off within the individual User settings on the Gantt Chart or via the Gantt Chart Override settings on the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console.
PDF Export
The PDF Export feature allows you to export a PDF version of the Gantt Chart. This can be for the entire length of the selected Projects, or for a specified date range.
To export the Gantt Chart to PDF, click on the PDF Export button.
This will open a pop up window allowing you to specify a date range to export, or you can leave it blank to expire the entire Project(s). After selecting your date range click the export button.
The PDF will then be downloaded and can be opened, saved and printed as required. Here is an example of the PDF version of the Gantt chart:
You are able to brand the PDF by including your logo, a secondary logo that is project specific and a custom title. You can also choose to include the baseline dates onto the PDF if required.
Display your Logo
If you want to include your own logo on the Gantt Chart PDF, you can specify the logo you would like to include from the Console as per the illustration below.
The logo selected here will appear at the top left of the Gantt Chart PDF.
Display Secondary Logo
You can also include a second logo on the Gantt Chart PDF that will appear at the top right. We anticipate this could be used to display your customer’s logo.
To add a secondary logo to the Gantt Chart, this is done on an individual project basis. To add the logo to a specific project, you first need to upload the logo as a ‘Document’ and then add the URL for that Document into the ‘Logo URL’ field on the Project record as shown below.
Display Custom Title
The Gantt Chart ‘Title’ will display the Project Name by default. However, you can also adjust the Title using the custom heading section at the time of generating the PDF, as shown below.
Display Baseline Dates
If you wish to export the Baseline Dates on the Gantt Chart PDF, you will need to select the ‘Raw Export’ option at the bottom of the Export
Export Data Table CSV
To export the Gantt Chart Data Table as a .csv file, click the ‘CSV Export’ button located on the top right-hand-side of the Gantt Chart, as shown below:
When you click the button, a .csv file will be downloaded with the File Name ‘Gantt Chart Export YYMMDD.csv’, and will contain the export of the Data Table, as shown below:
Mission Control allows you to export your Projects as ‘XML’ files, which can then be imported into Microsoft Project.
To Export a project for MS Project, select your desired Project on the Gantt Chart and then Click the MS Project Project button.
Then click the Export button in the pop up window as follows:
The XML file will then be generated allowing you to save it to your computer. Once saved, you can then open MS Project and select the “New from Excel Workbook” option.
You will then be able to locate and select your “XML” file and click open, then click finish and the project will be imported as follows:
To enable the transfer of a Project Plan from one Salesforce Org to another, Customers can use the JSON Import/Export feature available on the Gantt Chart. For example, if you have created a Project Plan in a Sandbox Org and you want to transfer it to your Production Org, you can export the JSON file from the Sandbox Org and import it into the Production Org. This will be a more efficient process than using the Salesforce Data Loader to export/import each individual Custom Object at a time.
This process includes all fields from the following Objects within Mission Control:
To export the JSON File of a Project, from the Gantt Chart, click the ‘Import/Export’ button. Click the ‘Export’ button within the JSON Export section of the Modal.
The JSON File will be downloaded to your computer. It will have a File Name format of ‘Mission Control Export YYMMDD.json’. This file can then be used to import the Project Plan into another Salesforce Org.
Note: To import a JSON File, you need to use the Standalone Gantt Chart. The Import button will not be accessible from the Gantt Chart on the Project Overview Page.
To import the JSON File of a Project, from the Gantt Chart, click the ‘Import/Export’ button. Click the ‘Choose file’ button and select the JSON File you want to use. Then click the ‘Import’ button within the JSON Import section of the Modal.
When the file has been uploaded, the Project Plans will be displayed on the Gantt Chart. You will not be able to make any edits until the master Save button has been clicked and the records have been created. The only exception is the values within the ‘Owner’ column in the Gantt Chart’s Data Table can be modified prior to clicking Save.
Whilst in draft mode, the Owners will appear with asterixis around the Owner’s Name, as shown below.
Once saved, if a Role can be found with a matching Name, it will be saved on the record. Any names of Owners that cannot be found within the target Org will be set to blank.
The Gantt Chart Lightning Component can be added to the Page Layout of any parent Object that a Project relates to. For example, out of the box the Project Object has Lookup fields to the Account, Contact, Opportunity and Program Objects. Therefore, you will be able to add the ‘LightningGantt’ Lightning Component to the Page Layout of any of these Objects, and it will display all related Projects. Setting a component height of approximately 1000 is recommended. Below is an example of the Gantt Chart being added to the Opportunity Page Layout.
If you have created your own Custom Lookup Fields to other Objects, you will also be able to add the Lightning Component to the Page Layout for those Objects.
Note: This feature is only available in Lightning Experience.
By default, Actions are coloured Green on the Gantt Chart. If the Priority is set to High, the Action will be coloured Red, and if the Priority is Medium, it will be coloured Amber. You can now specify your own colours based on the Action Status field, which will override the default settings of the Gantt Chart.
You set the colours based on Action Status from the Gantt Chart Settings section of the Control Pad on the Mission Control Console. Below is an example where each Status has been provided it’s own Hex Colour Code.
Once these settings have been saved, the Action bars on the Gantt Chart will be displayed with those colours, as illustrated below.
For each record displayed on the Gantt Chart (e.g. Project, Milestone, Action or Checklist Item), you can access the Modal window for that record by clicking the pencil icon, or by double-clicking on the bar for that record on the chart timeline.
Within the Modal for each record you have access to the following Tabs.
Project | Milestone | Action | Checklist Item |
Project Summary Record Detail Chatter | Milestone Summary Record Detail Chatter | Action Summary Log Time Record Detail Chatter | Checklist Summary Record Detail Chatter |
For each Role record you have the ability to specify which of these Tabs they have access to, and which will load by default. This is controlled via fields within the ‘Gantt Chart Settings’ section of the Role Page Layout.
For your convenience, these fields will be pre-populated as part of an Install Script. Full details of the Install Script can be found later in these release notes.
Control Pad Gantt Chart Settings
To enable you to centrally configure the Gantt Chart settings for all Users, the Gantt Chart Settings on the Control Pad of the Console have been updated to include a Gantt Chart Settings Override feature. I
If this is TRUE, the Settings icon on the Gantt Chart will not be visible and the column selections in the Gantt Data Table will be controlled based on the Control Pad Gantt Chart Settings.
The Scheduler provides a calendar style view of Action records and is an excellent resource capacity planning tool.
The scheduler offers the following features:
You can access the Scheduler for all projects from the Scheduler tab, or to instantly open the scheduler for a specific project, you can launch it from the Mission Control Console, as follows;
Once you have accessed the scheduler, it will appear as follows.
The Scheduler features two Tabs, giving you a different view:
Timeline
Within the Timeline Tab, you have options to control the View, Group By and Scale values, as outlined in below.
View
The View options allow you to determine what information is being displayed within the Timeline, including:
Financials
The Financials View will show you a breakdown of the ‘Hours Scheduled Value (Billable)’ field across all Actions that are scheduled to be worked on during the timeline. The shading of the cells reflects the Hours Shading Breakpoint % values in the Scheduler Settings. Below is an example of the Financials View:
Note: If a User does not have Field Level Security access to the Hours Scheduled Value (Billable) field, they will not see any information on this View.
Hours Detail
The Hours Detail View will show you a breakdown of the hours assigned to each Role, categorised into the following areas:
Below is an example of the Hours Detail View:
Note: The Hours Detail View can only be used with the Role Group By and Days and Weeks Scale values.
Hours Total
The Hours Total View will show you a summary of the hours assigned to each Role. Below is an example of the Hours Total View:
Note: The Hours Total View can only be used with the Role Group By and Days and Weeks Scale values.
Actions
The Actions View will show you the separate ‘bars’ for the individual Actions assigned to the Action Owner / Contributor. Below is an example of the Actions View:
Note: The Action View is the only view that will support edits being made to the records.
Projects
The Projects View will provide a high level summary view of work scheduled. In this View, Actions within the same Project that are scheduled to occur on the same day or consecutive days will be grouped into a single ‘bar’. Below is an example of the Projects View:
Note: The Projects View can only be used with the Days and Weeks Scale values.
Group By
The Group By options allow you to determine how the Rows are organised, including:
Role
The Role Group By option will display each Role in alphabetical order, based on the Role’s First Name. Below is an example of the Role Group By view:
Master Team
The Master Team Group By option will display each Role in alphabetical order, based on the Role’s First Name, grouped within their ‘Master Team’. Below is an example of the Master Team Group By view:
Scale
The Scale options allow you to determine the scale used across the Timeline, including:
Hours
The Hours Scale will display the Timeline scale per hour, based on the number of hours and days you’ve selected in the Scheduler Settings. Below is an example of the Hours Scale showing 8am to 6pm over a 3-day period.
Note: The Hours Scale can only be used with the Actions View.
Days
The Days Scale will display the Timeline scale per day, based on the number of weeks you’ve selected in the Scheduler Settings. Below is an example of the Days Scale showing a 4-week period.
Weeks
The Weeks scale will display the Timeline scale per week, based on the number of weeks you’ve selected in the Scheduler Settings. Below is an example of the Weeks Scale showing a 52-week period.
Months
The Month Scale will display the Timeline scale per month, based on the number of months you’ve selected in the Scheduler Settings.
Below is an example of the Actions View with the Months Scale showing a 12-month period.
Below is an example of the Hours Total View with the Months Scale showing a 6-month period.
Month
The Month Tab provides a month in view calendar display. All Actions across all Projects will be displayed. Below is an example of the Month View:
Note: If you use the Scheduler Filters to filter to an individual Role, any Holidays assigned to that Role will also be displayed on the Month View.
Scheduler Features
There is a range of features that the Scheduler provides to help you manage your resource capacity, each feature is explained in further detail below.
Scheduler Settings
The Scheduler Settings are accessible by clicking the icon, located in the top-right corner of the Scheduler. Note: These Settings are persistently remembered, and controlled at the individual User level.
Hours View – Visible Days
This Slider allows you to specify how many days will be displayed when using the Hours View. The maximum value for this Slider is 7 days.
Days View – Visible Weeks
This Slider allows you to specify how many weeks will be displayed when using the Days View. The maximum value for this Slider is 12 weeks.
Weeks View – Visible Weeks
This Slider allows you to specific how many weeks will be displayed when using the Weeks View. The maximum value for this Slider is 52 weeks.
Display Hours
The From and To fields allow you to specify the hours that will be displayed on the Timeline when using the Hours View.
Show Tasks
This Checkbox enables you to toggle on / off the ability to display Salesforce Tasks on the Scheduler.
Show Events
This Checkbox enables you to toggle on / off the ability to display Salesforce Events on the Scheduler.
Hours Shading Green Breakpoint %
This percentage value will be used on the Hours Total View. If the sum of hours scheduled for a Role is less or equal to this value, the cell will be shaded Green.
Hours Shading Red Breakpoint %
This percentage value will be used on the Hours Total View. If the sum of hours scheduled for a Role is greater or equal to this value, the cell will be shaded Red.
Display Scheduled Hours / Utilisation
This Checkbox enables you to toggle on / off the ability to view the Scheduled Allocation and Scheduled Utilisation figures for each Role.
Display Remaining Hours / Utilisation
This Checkbox enables you to toggle on / off the ability to view the Remaining Allocation / Remaining Utilisation figures for each Role.
Show Collapsible Sections
When using the ‘Actions’ or ‘Projects’ View you have the ability to collapse / expand the rows of individual Roles displayed, as illustrated below.
You can also collapse / expand all rows by using the + / – buttons located between the Group By and Scale Options.
This feature can be toggled on / off within the Scheduler Settings, as shown below:
If this setting is FALSE, the + / – buttons will be hidden, along with the collapsible header above each row.
Show Section Hours Summary
Within the ‘Actions’ View of the Scheduler, you can choose to display an hours summary for each cell within the Timeline.
The hours summary will be colour-coded using the ‘Hours Shading Green Breakpoint %’ and ‘Hours Shading Red Breakpoint %’ Settings.
This is enabled within the Setting Modal of the Scheduler. To enable this feature, the ‘Show Section Hours Summary’ Setting must be set to TRUE. Note: in order to use this feature, the ‘Show Collapsible Sections’ Setting must also be set to TRUE.
Hours Source
By default, the Scheduler uses the ‘Total Hours Scheduled’ as the data source for displaying capacity / allocations. Within the Scheduler Settings, you’re able to adjust the source of hours that will be used by choosing one of the following four options within the ‘Hours Source’ setting.
The selected option will be used across all Views within the Scheduler.
Holidays Source
To provide flexibility for customers to choose whether they view all Holidays or only approved Holidays on the Scheduler, there is a setting within the Scheduler Settings that enables you to choose whether you view:
If this setting is null, only Approved Holidays will be displayed on the Scheduler.
When viewing Holidays on the Scheduler, Approved Holidays will display in Red and any other Holidays will display in Amber.
Customize Bar Display
By default, the bars representing Actions that appear on the Action and Project Tabs of the Scheduler display the following text:
These default values can be replaced by any field on the Action or Project Object. This is done by using the following custom settings within the Scheduler Settings Modal:
These settings can reference any field on the Object. Therefore, if a Customer wishes to compile a Formula Field that included multiple values, such as the Action ID, Action Name, Milestone Name and Project Name, they could create that Custom Field on the Action Object and then select that field to be displayed as the Action Bar Text setting.
Polling & Pagination
For customers with large volumes of data, the Polling & Pagination settings can assist in optimising the performance of the Scheduler.
These Settings are controlled from the ‘Scheduler Settings’ Tile on the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console.
Enabling the Polling Setting will load the data into the Scheduler in batches, based on the ‘Polling Batch Quantity’. This ensures Salesforce Governor Limits are not invoked if trying to load a large volume of data at once.
Enabling the Pagination Setting breaks the Scheduler up into pages and will load a set number of Roles per page, based on the ‘Pagination Role Quantity’ setting.
With pagination enabled, page navigation will be displayed in the top-right of the Scheduler, as shown above.
Quick Search
The ‘Role Search’ field located at the top-right of the Scheduler enables you to perform a quick search/filter based on the Role Name.
By entering a text string within this search field and hitting enter, the Roles displayed will be filtered based on the Role ‘Name’ including the search string.
For example, in the image above the User has entered ‘Co’ in the search field and the results have been filtered to show the Roles for Chris Wolcott and Colin Johnson.
Scheduler Filters
The Scheduler Filters are accessible by clicking the icon, located in the top-right corner of the Scheduler. Note: These Filters can be saved and persistently remembered, and are controlled at the individual User level.
You are able to filter based on a combination of the following records / fields:
To save a Filter selection, click the ‘save’ and enter a ‘Filter Name’ and then click save.
The Filter will then be available for the individual User to access within their ‘Saved Filters’ picklist. When a Saved Filter is applied, it will be persistently remembered each time you visit the Scheduler.
View All Roles / Assigned Roles.
To provide flexibility for customers when using the Scheduler, to choose whether they view all Roles or only Roles assigned as Action Owners or Contributors, there is a ‘Display Roles’ filter within the Scheduler Filters that enables you to choose whether you view:
When viewing the Scheduler via the Project Overview or the Scheduler Anywhere component, this Filter will be set to ‘Assigned Roles’ by default. Therefore, you will only see a list of Roles that are assigned as either an Action Owner or a Contributor.
When viewing the main Scheduler, Users will be able to select whether they view ‘All Roles’ or ‘Assigned Roles’.
PDF Export
You are able to export the Scheduler as a PDF using the icon located in the top-right corner. When you click the icon, you will be able to specify the File Name, Header Text and Footer Text prior to generating the PDF, as shown below:
Once you’ve completed these (optional) details, you can click Export and the PDF will be generated.
Date Navigation
There are a number of ways to navigate the period displayed on the Scheduler, as shown below.
Saving Changes
Any adjustments you make to the Scheduler will not be saved until you click the ‘Save’ button, which is located in the top-right corner of the Scheduler. If there are unsaved changes, a warning icon will be displayed, as shown below.
Timeline Settings
When you have the Timeline Tab selected, you will see the View, Group By and Scale settings as outlined below.
Each of these features are explained earlier in this document.
Editing Actions
Rescheduling
From the Actions View of the Scheduler, you’re able to drag and drop Actions to reschedule to a different point in time, and / or to adjust the number of days.
The example below illustrates how an Action is rescheduled from Monday and Tuesday to Thursday and Friday.
The example below illustrates how an Action’s End Date has been extended from Tuesday to Thursday.
Editing
By double-clicking on an Action within the Scheduler, you will open the ‘Action Summary’ component, which will give you access to:
The example below illustrates the Action component with all of the various tabs.
Adding Actions or Holidays
You are able to create a new Action or a new Holiday record directly from the Scheduler. Drag your mouse across the day(s) and when you release your mouse, the following modal will load.
To create an Action, select the applicable option and click the Next button. The following screen will appear, enabling you to create the Action.
To create a Holiday, select the applicable option and click the Next button. The following screen will appear, enabling you to create the Holiday.
The new records will automatically appear on the Scheduler.
Reassigning Actions
You can drag an Action from one Role to another if you need to reassign ownership. You can do this for the Action Owner, or for a Contributor.
Role Access
When on the Timeline Tab, you will have a row for each Role. Within each row, you’re able to access the Role Profile and Role Chatter components.
Utilisation Figures
The Timeline view of the Scheduler also provides you with visibility into the hours allocation and utilisation of each Role.
Role Profile
You’re able to click the icon to open the ‘Role Profile’ component, that will give you access to the Teams and Skills this Role is associated with. Within either of the Teams or Skills tabs, you can view / edit / add to their profile.
Role Chatter
You’re able to click the icon to open the ‘Role Chatter’ component, that will enable you to post to the Chatter Feed for that individual Role.
Action Tab Hover Content
The Hover Box that appears when you hover over a bar on the Scheduler when on the Action View Tab displays the following information by default.
You are able to replace these default values by adding fields into the ‘Scheduler Hover’ Field Set, which is available on the Action Object within Salesforce Setup.
Once you’ve added your required fields to the Field Set, they will be visible in the Hover Box, along with the ‘Scheduled This Period’, ‘Remaining This Period’, Project Dates’ and ‘Action Dates’ information.
To reset to the default values, you need to remove all fields from the Field Set.
Holiday Information Setting
By default, the Name of the Holiday will be visible on the Scheduler, along with the Approval Status, Type, Days Taken and Hours Taken.
For Customers that may not wish to display the detail of Holidays on the Scheduler, there are settings available within the Scheduler Settings Tile on the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console that provide options on what information is displayed for Holiday records on the Scheduler.
Display Holiday Information
This setting allows you to control what information is displayed. The options are:
Each of these settings will change the information that is displayed on the Scheduler for a Holiday, as shown below.
Note: These settings do not restrict visibility of Holiday records related to the Role record of the User viewing the Scheduler. They will continue to be able to the default ‘Display Holiday Details’ for their Holiday records.
Display Holiday Details
This is the default setting, which shows the Holiday Name, Approval Status, Type, Days Taken and Hours Taken.
Display Holiday Generic Description
This setting enables you to display a generic statement explaining the Role is unavailable. Note, to select this option, you need to enter a value in the ‘Holiday Generic Description’ setting, as shown below.
With these settings in place, the Holidays will only display the generic description, as shown below.
Display No Information
This setting removes all information and simply shows the Role as being unavailable, as shown below.
Tab & Modal Access
You can control which Tabs each User has access to on the Scheduler through a collection of fields on their individual Role records. There are Checkbox Fields on the Role record that control whether the person is able to see the following sections of the Scheduler:
Main Tabs
View Buttons
Action Modal Tabs
The fields within the ‘Scheduler Settings’ section of the Role record allow you to control which of the above Tabs/Buttons are available to the individual person.
You are also able to set the ‘Default Tab’ within the Action Summary Modal. For example, if the User would prefer the Chatter Tab to load by default, this can be controlled through this field.
These fields can also be updated in bulk via the above ‘Role Permissions – Scheduler’ List View for all Roles.
Project Tab Hover Content
The Hover Box that appears when you hover over a bar on the Scheduler when on the Project View Tab displays the following information by default.
You are able to replace these default values by adding fields into the ‘Project Scheduler Hover’ Field Set, which is available on the Project Object within Salesforce Setup.
Once you’ve added your required fields to the Field Set, they will be visible in the Hover Box, along with the ‘Scheduled This Period’ and ‘Remaining This Period’ information.
To reset to the default values, you need to remove all fields from the Field Set.
Scheduler Anywhere
The Scheduler component has been enhanced to support being added to the Page Layout of any parent Object that a Project relates to. For example, out of the box the Project Object has Lookup fields to the Account, Contact, Opportunity and Program Objects. Therefore, you will be able to add the ‘Scheduler Anywhere’ Visualforce Component to any of these Objects, and it will display all related Projects. Setting a Component Height of approximately 1000 is recommended. Below is an example of the Scheduler being added to the Account Page Layout.
If you have created your own Custom Lookup Fields to other Objects, you will also be able to add the Lightning Component to the Page Layout for those Objects.
Note: This feature is only available in Lightning Experience.
Role Forecasting encompasses a range of features that provide the ability to soft book resources based on potential Opportunities and/or live Projects without knowing the granular detail of all the individual Actions that will be needed.
There are 3 Custom Objects that are core to using the Role Forecasting features, these include:
From either an Opportunity or a Project, a User will be able to access the Role Forecast Component. This page enables Users to create Role Forecast requirements, specifying the hours being booked, as well as distributing those hours via the Role Allocation records throughout the duration of the Role Forecast period.
Role Forecast Component
The ‘Role Forecast’ component enables you to create Role Forecast and related Role Allocation records. The component is accessible from the Opportunity and Project Objects. It can be added as a component on a Lightning Page Layout or accessed via the ‘Manage Forecast’ button as shown below.
If you have not yet created any Role Forecast records, the Role Forecast component will be as shown below.
If you have created Role Forecast records, they will be visible in the Forecast Tab, as shown below.
Related Role Allocation records will be visible in the Allocation Tab, as shown below.
Add Role Forecast
When adding a new Role Forecast, you need to select the Role and optionally select a Skill. Note, if you select a Role, the Skill field will be filtered to show the Skills that are assigned to that Role. If you select a Skill first, the Role field will be filtered show Roles with that Skill.
When entering Billable and Non Billable hours, you can choose to enter a specific number of hours or you can enter a percentage. The percentage will be used to calculate the number that will be added to the ‘Hours Forecast – Billable’ and ‘Hours Forecast – Non Billable’ fields on the Role Forecast record.
For example, if Mick Fanning has an Hours per Week value of 40 and a Billable Target value of 80% he is expected to do 32 hours of billable work and 8 hours of non billable work per week. Therefore, if I create a Role Forecast for Mick for 7 days using the percentage values rather than entering a specific number of hours, I would get the following results.
Percentage | Hours | Explanation of result |
Billable: 50% | 22.40 | Mick is expected to do 32 hours of billable work per week. This Role Forecast is requesting 50% of Mick’s billable time, therefore (32 / 5 * 7) * 50% = 22.40 |
Non Billable: 25% | 2.8 | Mick is expected to do 8 hours of non billable work per week. This Role Forecast is requesting 25% of Mick’s non billable time, therefore (8 / 5 * 7) * 25% = 2.8 |
You will also be required to enter a Start Date and a number of Working Days. For example, if I set the Start Date to be Monday 24th January and Working Days to be 7, the End Date of the Role Forecast will automatically be calculated based on the Working Days, so would be Tuesday 1st February. Holidays will also be taken into consideration when calculating the End Date, so if the Role was on Holiday on Thursday 27th and Friday 28th January, the End Date would be set to Thursday 3rd February.
Below is an example of adding a Role Forecast based on the above scenario.
When the Role Forecast is added, the following fields are automatically populated:
Field | Population Criteria |
Hours Forecast – Billable | Either Billable Hours or calculated using Billable Percentage |
Hours Forecast – Non Billable | Either Non Billable Hours or calculated using Non Billable Percentage |
End Date | Start Date + Working Days (factoring in Holidays & Non Working Days) |
Billable Hourly Rate | Based on Billable Hourly Rate from Skill Assignment or Role, Rate Adjustments will take priority if available |
Cost Hourly Rate | Based on Cost Hourly Rate from Skill Assignment or Role, Rate Adjustments will take priority if available |
The Billable Hourly Rate and Cost Hourly Rate fields can be adjusted if they need to be modified from the source rates for this specific Role Forecast. The following fields will all automatically calculate to provide you with a summary of all Role Forecast records:
Using Rate Card Financials on Opportunities
A Lookup field can be added to the Opportunity Page Layout that enables you to specify a Rate Card to be used when sourcing the Billable Hourly Rate and Cost Hourly Rate for Role Forecasts. When this Rate Card field is populated, any Role Forecast records that are created in relation to the Opportunity will source the appropriate rates from the Rate Card Entries relating to the Rate Card. If a Role Forecast is created for a Role which results in no rates being sourced from the Rate Card Entries, the existing Role rate logic will be used instead.
If Role Forecast records exist prior to a Rate Card being specified on the Opportunity, or if the Rate Card is changed, the financial calculations of the Role Forecasts will be recalculated.
When adding a Role Forecast within the Manage Forecast Component, you can leverage the Resource Assignment Wizard (RAW) to search for a Role based on their Teams / Skills / Skill Proficiencies / Availability.
If you are unsure of which Role to add, you can click the blue RAW icon to open the Resource Assignment Wizard. Note: before doing so, you need to specify values in the Start Date and Working Days or End Date fields.
Click the Resource Assignment Wizard icon to launch the RAW and search for available Roles.
Their name will be populated in the Role field. Once you’ve completed the remaining field values, you can click the ‘Add’ button to create the Role Forecast record.
Once the Role Forecast record has been added to the Forecast Tab, the Role Allocation records will be available on the Allocation Tab. By default, the hours from the Role Forecast will be evenly distributed across each of the working days between the Start Date and End Date of the Role Forecast.
You will be able to expand / collapse all of the records by using the + / – buttons. You can also choose to view the Role Allocation records as individual Days or grouped by Weeks.
You can modify the distribution of the hours across the Role Allocation records, for example if you need to front load the effort or back load the effort. Note: when modifying the hours on the Weeks view, the hours will be evenly distributed between each working day within that week.
If you have manually distributed the hours you will see the icon. This indicates the hours have been manually distributed. If you click on this icon, it will reset the hours to be evenly distributed between the Role Allocation records.
If the total hours across all Role Allocation records does not equal the value of the hours field on the Role Forecast record, you will see the icon. This serves as a warning notification so you can review the hours on the Role Allocation records and adjust them accordingly.
Adjust Start Date & End Date
When a Role Allocation record is created or edited with Total Hours Scheduled greater than zero, and it is before the existing Start Date of the Action, Contributor or Role Forecast that it relates to, the Start Date and Working Days fields of the parent record (e.g. Action, Contributor or Role Forecast) will be adjusted to be based on the date from the Role Allocation record.
When a Role Allocation record is created or edited with Total Hours Scheduled greater than zero, and it is after the existing End Date of the Action, Contributor or Role Forecast that it relates to, the End Date and Working Days fields of the parent record (e.g. Action, Contributor or Role Forecast) will be adjusted to be based on the date from the Role Allocation record.
Role Forecast: Specify Working Days or End Date
When adding a new Role Forecast on the ‘Manage Forecast’ Component, you are able to specify the Start Date and Working Days or the Start Date and End Date.
When the User enters the Start Date and Working Days, the End Date of the Role Forecast is automatically calculated when the Role Forecast record is added to the Forecast Tab.
When the User enters the Start Date and End Date, the Working Days field will be automatically calculated when the Role Forecast record is added to the Forecast Tab.
You are unable to add values in both the Working Days and End Date fields of the Add Role section. If you enter a value in Working Days and then enter a value in End Date, the value in Working Days will be automatically cleared.
Role Forecast: Apply Filters
You can apply filters to the Forecast and Allocation Tabs of the ‘Manage Forecast’ Component. These filters are accessible at the top of the Forecast Tab. When applied, they will filter the results of both Tabs.
These filters enable you to filter the data based on the following options:
To apply filters, make your selection and click the ‘Go’ button. To remove existing filters, click the ‘Clear’ button.
Clear All Values
When distributing hours on the ‘Manage Forecast’ or ‘Manage Distribution’ Component, you can use the icon to clear all existing Role Allocation field entries.
When you click this icon, it will reset all fields to 0 if they are currently greater than 0. This enables Users to restart the manual distribution and gradually build up the allocation as they enter values into the individual Role Allocation fields.
Component Settings
The Settings icon on the Role Forecast component provides access to the following settings:
You are able to:
These settings are controlled by individual Users.
Add Custom Fields on Role Forecast Component
Customers can add Custom Fields to the Role Forecast Object and add them to the ‘Manage Forecast Custom Fields’ Field Set, in order for them to display on the Manage Forecast Component.
You are able to convert Role Forecast records relating to a Project into Actions, so they can be considered a firm allocation of resources and people can log time against those Actions.
To convert Role Forecasts to Actions, you need to set the ‘Convert Role Forecasts to Actions’ field on the Project to TRUE. This will convert each individual Role Forecast into an Action. It will also clone the Role Allocations related to the Role Forecast. Therefore, if any manual adjustment has been made to the Role Allocations, this will be carried over to the Role Allocations related to the Actions.
As Actions need to be related to a parent Milestone, this conversion process also creates a Milestone. The name of the Milestone will be ‘Role Forecasts’ by default. However, you can define your own default Milestone Name using the ‘Role Forecast Conversion’ setting within the ‘Role Allocation Automation Settings’ Tile on the Control Pad of the Mission Control Console.
Once a Role Forecast is converted, the ‘Converted to an Action’ field will be set to TRUE. This will ensure the same Role Forecast will not be converted again if the User carries out the conversion process a subsequent time.
When an Action is converted from a Role Forecast record, the ‘Converted from Role Forecast’ field on the Action is populated, allowing you to identify which Role Forecast it was converted from.
The table below outlines which fields are populated on the Action when a Role Forecast is converted.
Role Forecast Field | Action Field |
Role Name – Skill Name e.g. Colin Johnson Colin Johnson – Training | Action Name |
Role | Action Owner |
Skill | Skill |
Start Date | Start Date |
End Date | End Date |
Hours Forecast – Billable | Hours Scheduled – Billable |
Hours Forecast – Non Billable | Hours Scheduled – Non Billable |
Manual Allocation | Manual Allocation |
If any Role Forecast records are unable to be converted to Actions, the User that invoked the conversion process will receive an email notification. This email will contain a list of the Role Forecast records that were unable to be converted. The most likely reason the conversion process would fail is due to mandatory fields or validation rules a customer has configured within their own Org.
The ‘Resource Planner’ component will be accessible from the Management Pad of the Mission Control Console and directly from a Tab in the navigation menu. It will provide a summary of the hours booked against each Role across:
This will provide insight into the full capacity of all resources within the business. The Resource Planner includes 2 Tabs: