FlexTeam DOCUMENTATION
Documentation FlexTeam
.1
NEW SCHEDULE .1.1.
About schedules
A schedule is the document type of FlexTeam. This is where resources and tasks are assigned to optimize the management of your staff. Every company or organization need to manage and compute the working time of employees. FlexTeam is the perfect tool to reach this goal ! If you are more interested in project management, take a look at our product named Projector : www.app4mac.com/projector.html .1.2.
Create a new schedule
To create a schedule, do either one of the following : ! Click the “New Schedule” button in the main toolbar or use the menu item “New Schedule”
! Enter a name (for this tutorial, don’t enable the Default values).
! Choose a folder where your schedule will be saved. ! Click on the Save button. Now, your schedule window will have the title of your document. Any modification of your new schedule will be automatically saved. You don’t have to worry about saving like Apple iCal.
Documentation FlexTeam
.1.3.
Manage preferences of the application 1. Choose the menu item “Preferences” in the menu “FlexTeam”. 2. The following can be modified : ! the default starting day for weeks view ! the default items for the library ! The color of Holidays and Days Off, Not working days and hours, Current Day and Pause (clicking the colored box open a window where you can select a color).
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.1.4.
Manage Settings
The settings are the Default Values of the current document for your resources. You will see later that you can create different settings for each resource! .1.5.
Edit Settings. 3. Click the “Settings� button in the main toolbar. 4. Change the default values of working hours for your resources. f
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5. If necessary, add Holidays of your country in the second tab view. ffffffffffffffffff
6. Click on Save Button.
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.2
LIBRARY .2.1.
About Library
FlexTeam works with two types of data : ! Resources which represent the human resources of your company or organization ! Tasks which represent the “to do” assigned to your resources .2.2.
Creating data
The Library is organized in this way : ! Groups to arrange your resources and tasks by categories ! Items which are Resources and Tasks .2.3.
Creating data in the Library If you haven’t enabled “Default Values” in the new schedule window, you have to create your own data. This is the goal of this tutorial. 7. Click the “Display Library Zone” button in the main toolbar. You can see a zone that allows you to handle your Library data.
8. Click the “Group” button at the bottom-left corner of the Resources tab view to add a new group.
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9. A “New Group of Resources” window will appear. 10. Enter the name of your group. Then, click the Add Group button.
Your group is now created. 11. Select the group.
12. Click the “+” button at the bottom-left corner of the Resources tab view to add a new resource.
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13. A New window will appear. You have two tab views : Weekly Working Schedule and Days Off
14. Enter the name of your resource. Tips : By selecting the Address Book button, you can add resources from Apple Address Book integrated in Mac OS X. (you can move an Address Book resource to the field name with a simple drag and drop).
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15. Change settings of Weekly Working Schedule For your new resource, you can use File settings or specific hours.
When you create specific hours, you can make a template after. In this case, choose “Make Template” in the template menu. If necessary, change also the settings in tab view “Days Off”. You can also make a template after adding your specific list of days off.
16. Click on the button “Add Resource”. You can see your new resource now.
17. When you have added all your resources, click on the tab view “Tasks”.
18. Click the “Group” button at the bottom-left corner of the Tasks tab view to add a new group. 19. A “New Group of tasks” window will appear.
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20. Enter the name of your group. Then click the Add Group button.
21. Your group is created. 22. Select the group. 23. Click the “+” button at the bottom-left corner of the Tasks tab view to add a new task. 24. A new window will appear.
25. Enter the name of your task. 26. Choose a color. 27. Click on button “Add task”. You can see your new task.
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28. When you have added all groups and tasks, your are ready to use your schedule and create Assignments. .2.4.
Modifying the values of a resource or a task 29. To edit a resource or task, select one and use “edit� button in the bottomleft corner of the library or double click on it
Documentation FlexTeam
.3
ASSIGNMENTS .3.1.
About Assignment
In a schedule, any job or component that contributes to the completion of the overall plan is referred as an “Assignment”. An Assignment has a beginning date and a duration. It’s mandatory to have at least one resource and a task assigned to it. .3.2.
Creating an Assignment
In FlexTeam, there are three distinct ways to create an Assignment. ! Using the “New Assignment” button ! Using your mouse to draw assignments on the calendar ! Using “drag and drop” on the calendar from the tasks Library or from the “Task to assign” window. Creating an Assignment with the “New Assignment” button: 30. Click the “New Assignment” button in the main toolbar 31. A new window appears. The window contains several fields to set up the properties of the Assignment you want to create.
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32. The "date" field lets you set the day when the Assignment should begin. Clicking the icon on the right of this field displays a calendar from where you can select a date. 33. You have to set the time the Assignment needs to be completed. To do so, you can either fill the “Duration” field or set the time required for this Assignment. 34. Select one or multiple resources associated with this Assignment by selecting items from the “Resources” list. Assigning at least one resource to an Assignment is mandatory. 35. Select a task associated with this Assignment by selecting an item from the “Tasks” list. Assigning one task to an Assignment is mandatory. 36. You can also setup the Assignment to repeat automatically a given number of times, either per day, weekly or monthly. To use this function, you have to select the frequency of the repetition with the round radio buttons. 37. To add the Assignment, click the “Add” button. 38. A block representing your Assignment will be added on your schedule.
Using your mouse to draw Assignments on the calendar You can also create an Assignment on the calendar with the following steps: 39. Choose a resource line. Click and hold the mouse button on beginning date on the calendar view for more than one second. 40. Drag the cursor to the right and stop at the date you want the Assignment to finish. 41. Release the mouse button. 42. Choose a task in the inspector. 43. The Assignment is created ! (if you use the command key at the same time, you can create an hourly assignment)
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Using “drag and drop” on the calendar from the tasks library You can also create an Assignment on the calendar with the following steps: 44. Select a task in the Library 45. Drag and drop the task to the calendar for a resource 46. You will have a new assignment created for this resource! Fast and easy! You can change the values in the inspector.
Using “drag and drop” on the calendar from the “Tasks to Assign” window You can add an Assignment on the calendar with the following steps: 47. Click on the button “Tasks to assign” on the toolbar 48. Drag and drop Tasks from the Library to this new small window. In fact, it’s where you will temporary put tasks to assign later to the calendar. It’s like a dashboard that allows you for example to put on a side the planned tasks for the day. 49. Drag and drop a task to the calendar from this small window. 50. You will have a new assignment created for this resource! Fast and easy!
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.3.3.
Editing Assignments
Once an Assignment has been created, you can change its’ properties at any time. When you select an Assignment with the mouse, the Inspector pane on the right of the schedule window becomes the Assignment Inspector. Modifying directly using input devices An Assignment can be moved sideways with the mouse. Simply drag it to the left or to the right with the mouse to move it to the required position. You can also use the arrows of your Keyboard.
Modifying using the “ Assignment Inspector” The “ Assignment Inspector” allows you to view/modify Assignment specific properties. Top to bottom, there are the following controls
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.4
THE USER INTERFACE .4.1.
The Library Zone button
The Library zone button toggles the library zone panel on the left of the schedule window.
.4.2.
The Inspector button
The Inspector button toggles the Inspector pane on the right side of the schedule window. The Inspector pane changes to reflect the item selected at the time.
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.5
THE CALENDAR VIEW .5.1.
Zoom levels
The view magnification of the calendar view can be adjusted to the desired size : Click the “+” or “-” buttons at the top-right corner of the calendar view.
This function is available with the “All” view (day, week, month, year). .5.2.
Year, Month, Week and Day views
The calendar can be viewed at different levels of complexity using the buttons at the bottom of the application window. 51. Click the Year, Month, Week or Day button in the view bar at the bottomright corner of the application window.
52. Navigate into the calendar view with the arrows on the right side of the view bar. You can also resize the height of Resources lines with your cursor at any time.
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.6
THE DIFFERENT VIEWS .6.1.
Calendar
The calendar view is used to represent and analyze graphically the required human resources for your schedule according to time and by a list of Assignments.
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.6.2.
Report
The report view is used to print the schedule of your people and analyze who is available.
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.7
EXPORTING .7.1.
Exporting
You can export a schedule or a report to an Image or a PDF document. Just use the export menu of the application.
.8
PRINTING .8.1.
Printing
FlexTeam allows you to print your schedule with the view mode that you are currently using. Before printing, it is advisable to set the page orientation to landscape printing. 53. Choose File > Page Setup… 54. In the dialog that appeared, click either of the two buttons shown below.
55. As the schedule view tends to be quite long, it is recommended that you set the “Scale” field to less than 100% in the “Page Setup” window. The setting actually depends on your project, but setting it to 70% should be a good starting point. While ascertaining the scale percentage that best suits your needs, it is advisable to use the “Print Preview” function to prevent paper waste. 56. Choose File > Print current view… 57. A system default “Print” dialog should have appeared from which you can configure your printer. 58. To proceed, click the “Print” button.
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.9
SHARING .9.1.
Sharing
FlexTeam allows you to share your schedule with other people on a local network or the internet. You can publish a schedule to your website and your MobileMe website Just use the export menu of the application. You can setup some preferences: