APM 2.0 Release Notes

Summary

Version	2.0	Prior Vsn	1.10
Key Changes	Major Release introducing unique and differentiated new features, such as Assistive Scheduling, the Assignee Dashboard and providing Collaborative cross-platform Visualization for Catalog users.
Walk-Thru'	Interactively explore the changes in this release. Highlights Walk-Thru
User Guide	Self-paced interactive Guides for each of the APM key functional areas are available in the Actify Learning Center
Release Highlights download pdf: Actify APM 2-0 – Release Highlights revB.pdf

New Features

Assistive Scheduler

This unique and powerful feature provides a “killer app” for program managers, enabling them to address the challenges of evaluating - and then actually implementing - the impact of potential schedule changes on a live project, which typical project management tools just don’t do.

With Assistive Scheduler (AS), managers can:

Interactively edit Tasks in time and immediately see the impact of the change on dependent or downstream tasks
- Move Tasks forwards or backwards in time - or change their duration or Target dates
Using the color-coded dual-view, see the adjusted WhatIf plan against the currently Active project schedule
Conduct further edits or changes, interactively evolving the plan to establish a better, To Be schedule
Assess the plan graphically with dependency connection and RequiredByDates (RBDs) display
Review a detail list of each change and its multi-task impacts
Work in a continuously updated and flexible Gannt view
Discard the what-if exploration or return and review it later - the current session is Saved automatically)
Be sure that their changes are not inconsistent with any dependencies built into the plan such as trying to move a Task “too far backwards”
- or actually edit the plan to change/remove or add dependencies to facilitate a desired scheduling or sequencing change
If good, Publish the plan to update the Active schedule and all related Tasks/Assignments dates with one click
PMs can even:
- collaborate with a colleague on suitable schedule - using the Lock/Unlock feature to exchange edit access
- “switch off” successor updating (useful if the plan requires major restructuring or if say, extra time is going to be worked to “catch up”)
- modify the workflow or structure of the current project plan, for example to change dependencies that prevent preferred schedule adjustments

Using Assistive Scheduler

Entering AS, from Project Setup in an Active Project	The Plan may be Locked	Lock Take-Over
click Assistive Scheduler	This message reflects that another user is or has been editing the plan and that an un-published set of changes exist This appears because the other user's Assistive Scheduler changes have been saved and associated with them (even if they have actually logged out)	Clicking Unlock will “take over” the current set of edits so this user can continue the work, and edit further. The prior editor is informed Take Over ensures that in-process wont be lost if the original editor is unable to complete (or discard)them and enables colleagues to collectively iterate towards a better plan.
Adjust a Task & Evaluate a change	See the Impacts
click on a task to change it move the task directly, forward or back (color shown for clarity) change duration, dues dates as needed Optionally, limit the change to NOT impact successors click OK	see the change against The Active Project bar (dark green) the Changes counter tracks the changes and how many Tasks each change impacted see the impacted tasks that have been updated/moved thru’out the plan
Edit again	Change Log has details
Edit another Task, including those moved prior a prior change. Optionally, restrict the change from impacted successor Tasks	This further change impacted several more successor Tasks - ex. moving the one below further out also which is captured in the Change counter and further detailed in the Change Log (see below)
Change Log details
Users can flip back and forth between the Gannt and Change Log views	Changes are grouped by triggering Change and can be filtered and exported to Excel
Managing sessions
The current edit state is retained if the user navigates away to other areas or even logs out; WhatIf sessions can be built up and evaluated over time
Users can just erase the current change set (red circle)	Users can just erase the current change set (red circle arrow) - and remain in AS Edit mode	The Abort button will both clear all the changes and release the Edit Lock (allowing another user to enter Edit mode). After Abort, this user can simply re-enter Assistive Scheduling mode if needed.
Publish the revised Plan
	Publishing the plan will: Update the currently Active plan per the AS plan and clear the Edit Lock Possibly, change the Status of impacted Tasks as some may now be - or not be - Overdue, based on (adjusted) Target Date changes. Generate Notifications where appropriate Update the Project Dashboard views, Timeline and Program Dashboards accordingly. Result in updated views for Assignees (My Dashboard)

Usage Notes

AS will “fill-in-the blanks” for any impacted Tasks which happen to have blank Target Start/Finish dates (which can arise in projects created with earlier APM versions)
The Delay/Expedite feature can also be used from the Setup-Timing page and operates independently of AS. This feature applies a wholescale adjustment (forward or back) to the entire project from a certain date, such as to move everting after August 15th out by 20 days.

Assignee Dashboard

Team members now each have a personalized “home page” that summarizes their assigned Tasks or pending Approvals across all projects with various filtering options to efficiently support planning and addressing of their pending and in-process workload.

Using the “My Dashboard” header-level link, users can be sure they will never miss key deadlines and always have a current view of their assigned tasks and due dates. This page provides a current or updated view if Program managers have revised a current Project schedule using Assistive Scheduler- of if the set of Approvals for their review have changed, , so that Assignees no longer have to rely on tracking their Notifications to have a complete and current view.

Users can directly access and execute assigned Tasks, Approvals via their displayed hyperlinks in the summary views and leverage the filtering options to prioritize work across multiple projects or deadlines, ad well as keep track of completed work and finish dates.

The MyDashboard is very straightforward and intuitive, making it easy to use especially for infrequent users who may only have Tasks every few weeks or months. Busier users with tasks across multiple Projects or Programs can filter their view for review with the relevant team.

System-calculated Task Completion
The multi-panel dashboard summarizes Unfinished and Overdue (late to Start or late to Finish) above the panels
Tasks Panel	Approvals Panel	Project Panel
Selectively Lists All Tasks assigned to this user, those that are Late or (Default) Unfinished Tasks Click into the task row to access and execute or inspect the specific Task Tasks Status is displayed with the same lozenge indicator as on the Project Dashboard or Task panel The degree of completion is show, along with Due date (Target Finish), if defined	Lists the Outputs Awaiting (this user's) Approval or all (previously approved by this user) Outputs Click into the row to approve or review the Task	Lists those (Active or All Projects for which this user is defined Team Member

Collaborative, Cross-Platform Visualization

Users can now Visualize a Catalog item either in the web browser or in the desktop application (SpinFire) and review / conduct Commenting with other users from either platform.

The desktop mode provides additional functionality and analytic capabilities and may provide better performance for larger models.

Visualizing

Invoking Visualization

Usage Notes

Setup Notes

When viewing a Catalog item, the “3D” icon below the Catalog image enables Visualization.

Users can select either mode. See Usage Notes

If a desktop visualization file (ACT3D) file is present for that item, the 3D icon presents the Open in browser/Open in Desktop choice
Otherwise,
- if a browser visualization file (.SCS) is present, the browser viewing mode is invoked
  - Typically, all Catalog items automatically have an SCS file, ex. if created via the Autoloader.
- If neither are present, the 3D icon is disabled
Browser/Desktop options are provided in the Catalog view, (Accelerate) Project images (ex. in the Visualize tab) always open in the browser.

SpinFire desktop needs to be installed/activated on the user's local machine to take advantage of the Open-In-Desktop feature option.
- see: Installation and Configuration (SpinFire)
SpinFire version 11.10.3 or later is required to support these features with the APM cloud application.
- also see: SpinFire Ultimate 11.10.3 Release Notes
Contact Actify if web or desktop files (SCS, ACT3D) are not being automatically created for Catalog items as desired.

Open in Desktop generates the following intermediate screen.

The Launch button will invoke the desktop application, automatically transferring the associated desktop (ACT3D) file to the user's machine.
- No action will occur if the desktop application has not been properly installed. See Setup.

Collaborative Commenting

Users can generate (new), reply to and delete Comments. There are minor differences in how these features appear between web and desktop.

Invoking, Viewing Comments

Click the Comments button - this indicates the total number of Comments for this item

The Comments Tab organizes the Comments per the platform used and tags each Comments with Author, timestamp and (file) Version

Desktop users must be logged in to APM to Collaborate (see top right of screen)

Commenting Actions

Snapshots

Authors can Edit or Delete a generated Comment, or Reply to others

Users can Delete their own Comments, only if they haven't been replied-to

Web (tab) comments may include an activatable Snapshot, which restores the current view to that of the Snapshot

Desktop (tab) Comments do not currently support/provide Snapshots

Further information re Visualization:

browser-mode: SpinFire Web
desktop-mode: SpinFire Desktop

Fixes

Key Fixes in this release are below. A detailed list is available on request.

Key Fixes in this release

Notifications were sometimes not generated when a Task was re-assigned to a different user

Occasional Connection errors arose in Automate recipes if Project names were changed

Known Issues

Key Known Issues with this release are below. A detailed list is available on request.

Note: A screen refresh or repeating the action after a refresh is often a successful workaround for apparent issues.

Key Known Issues in this release

Project Setup - Timing: The Assignee filter (in the column heading) does not always work if the Page-level Assignee chooser has been used.

Project Create: Can fail when creating a Project from a Template with over 200 Tasks.

Autoloader: Incorrectly allows users to upload 2D files (which will not be successfully handled (Don't load 2D CAD files)

Autoloader: Can fail if reusing a prior Autoload process after the project name has been changed