This page displays information relating to the projects in the system. It also shows the topics for which issues can be recorded.
Projects list
This section shows the projects in the system. The list can be filtered to show only a subset of projects.
Unlike project, milestone and issue pages, where the scheduling information is always up to date, the start and end times in this table are only recalculated approximately hourly. The information shown here may therefore be slightly out of date. To force the dates to be recalculated, click the Refresh button.
Depending on your permissions, you may be able to perform the actions below.
To show only a subset of projects:
- Select one of the options (All projects, Active projects, Inactive projects or Alternative projects) in the Show drop-down.
To recalculate the start and end times of all active projects:
- Click the Refresh button.
To create a new project:
- Click the New… button.
To delete one or more projects:
- Select the projects you wish to delete.
- Click the Delete button.
Contingency planning with alternative projects
There are sometimes situations when you might wish to have a contingency plan, ready to bring into action should the primary project plan fail to come to fruition in the desired manner. Ketura caters for this by enabling alternative projects to be created. An alternative project is, as the name suggests, a contingency plan for another project in the system. If needed, the contingency plan can be brought into effect by activating the alternative project.
Alternative projects have some special features:
- On the General tab of the management page for an alternative project, the primary project (for which it is an alternative) is listed in the Alternative for drop-down.
- They are inactive. If activated, the alternative project effectively trades places with the primary project, such that the primary project becomes an alternative for the newly activated project.
- It is not possible to allocate a user’s time to an alternative project. Instead, the system calculates the schedule of the alternative project according to the users’ time that is allocated to the primary project.
- Because an alternative project is always inactive, its milestones can (but do not have to) contain issues that are in the milestones of the primary project. The system only allows a given issue to appear in one active project at a time.
Taken together, these features make it easy to create an alternative project plan, perhaps with a reduced number of issues, and track that effortlessly alongside the primary project. If necessary, such a contingency plan can be activated to replace the primary project.
When an alternative project is activated (on the General tab of the alternative project’s management page), the following occurs:
- the primary project is made inactive;
- the primary project becomes an alternative for the newly activated alternative project;
- any users’ time allocated to the primary project is reallocated to the newly activated alternative project;
- any other projects that were alternatives for the primary project become alternatives for the newly activated alternative project.
To create an alternative project:
- In the table, select the project for which you wish to create an alternative.
- Click the Duplicate button.
- You will be asked to confirm that you wish to create a duplicate. Click the OK button.
- The alternative project will be created, identified by ‘(Alternative)’ being appended to the name of the original project.
Duplicating projects
There are three possible scenarios when a project is duplicated:
- An active project is duplicated. In this case, an alternative for the project is created, as discussed above.
- An inactive project plan that is an alternative for an active project plan is duplicated.
- An inactive project plan that is not an alternative is duplicated.
When duplicating any inactive project, the resulting project is an exact duplicate of the original, although ‘(Alternative)’ is still appended to the name. A duplicate of an alternative is therefore an alternative for the same primary project as the alternative being duplicated.
Description of table columns
| Name | The project’s name. This is a link to the project. |
|---|---|
| Actual or Expected Start Date | The date on which work on the project is expected to start, calculated by Ketura based on the expected work remaining for the project. If work on any of the project’s issues has already started, the actual start date will be shown instead. |
| Actual or Expected End Date | The date by which work on the project is expected to end, calculated by Ketura based on the expected work remaining for the project. If work on any of the project’s issues has already been completed (that is, if there are no active issues on any project milestones), the actual end date will be shown instead. |
| % Complete (Expected Work) |
The ratio, expressed as a percentage, of the project’s work done to the expected total work (which is sum of work done + expected work remaining). This column displays the combined estimates from all project task assignees of the progress towards completing the project. |
| Active | Indicates whether or not the project is active. Only tasks from current milestones of active projects are scheduled and shown in users’ In progress and Pending task lists. |
| Issues Complete | The number of completed issues in the project, out of the total number of issues in the project. Issues are regarded as being complete if they are in an inactive state. |
| Selection | A checkbox that, when checked, selects the project. Selected projects are highlighted with a blue background. You can select all the projects in the current table page by clicking the checkbox in the column’s heading. |
For help working with tables, see Tutorial 1: The Basics of Working with Ketura.
Gantt
This chart shows the expected and planned timing and duration of the projects in the system. The chart can be filtered to show only a subset of projects.
Expected schedules are calculated based upon the expected work remaining for all the tasks in the project’s milestones’ issues. Planned schedules are based on planned work for all the tasks in the project’s milestone’s issues, taking into account work done.
Because both expected and planned schedules are shown, it is very easy to see whether each project is broadly on-track. The desired end date of each project (which is the desired end date for the last milestone in a project) is also shown, indicated by a small orange diamond.
Unlike project, milestone and issue pages, where the scheduling information is always up to date, the start and end times in this chart are only recalculated approximately hourly. The information shown here may therefore be slightly out of date. To force the dates to be recalculated, click the Refresh button on the Projects list tab.
To show only a subset of projects:
- Select one of the options (All projects, Active projects, Inactive projects or Alternative projects) in the Show drop-down.