Starting The status dashboard and risks of Timeless Project Tracking provide a lot of information for projects that are have assignments and estimates. But what if you have been using Timeless Time & Expense of a long time with a lot of data? How do you get started?
DashboardThe first thing to know is that there are many different dashboard items to choose from. For different work items, different status items are most appropriate. The ones you see when starting Timeless Project Tracking for the first time are just ones we selected as the default. You can choose your own by using the Tools |Configure Dashboard menu item. When configuring the dashboard, you can select different items to use a the default as will as selecting specific items for individual work items.
Using Burndown chartsThe next thing to understand is that the Burndown status items require estimates and actual time to provide useful information and are only for items that are in progress. Old items that have already completed do not need estimates as the burndown will not be useful anyway.
Additionally, for high level work items the burndown status items are not generally useful. This is because high level work items are composed of independent projects. Using the burndown at a high level results in an 'averaging' of the highs and lows of the child items. At higher levels, other status items are probably more appropriate, such as the time or cost status items.
To make use of the burndown status items on projects that are already active, add estimates for each of work items below it where work has or will occur. While you don't have to, we recommend creating estimates for those items already completed so other status items and the Risks tab are more accurate. You may make Anyone or User Group assignments to make this easier. For completed items the estimate should be the same as the current actuals. You can find actuals by using the Summary or Progress reports. Now, complete the assignments using the To Do list or the My Assignments tab of the status pane. Understand that making such large changes in the middle of a project will impact your burndown projections for a time.
For new projects, make assignments as you normally would when developing a project plan. You can use the Enter Multiple Work Items toolbar button to quickly add work items with assignments and estimates.
news & articles