fastProject 4.8.14 Released

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General

  • Made compatible with all regions where e.g. list separators, currency formats, etc. vary

  • Resource Tables added back to Global

  • Context Menu reworked (removed: Add Action, Notes & Highlight, added: Update Task)

  • Problem fixed with “Link to Last Milestone” where some VBA commands available in 32-bit MS Project were not available in 64-bit MS Project

Tools

  • fastBuild

    • Bug fixed where the Project Mission box in Step 2 (Milestones) would shift right each time the user when back to Step 2

  • Bug fixed where adding a Touchpoint, Checkpoint or Deliverable did not update the Inspector

Update

  • Target selected after an Update now determined by the setting of fastProject Options > Inspector > Default Target

Wigglechart

  • Wigglechart now lists the gap (days early/late) in the summary information when a milestone is completed.

Inspector

  • New function “Focus Now” added. Lists all tasks that meet criteria based on: the Target milestone selected (or Project), Starting/Finishing before a selected date, Days from Critical Path within a set number of days, and where the task is optionally Not started/In-progress.

  • Added ability to turn on/off summaries within No Group is selected for the Late Report

  • Fixed bug where closing the Late Report using the ‘x’ in the top right of the form would exit without resetting the schedule

  • Fixed bug where Target milestones were also listed

  • Clarified the number of days late are calendar days when the gap button is invoked

fastProject 4.8.12 Released

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General

  • Negative Float line added to milestones in the FP::model view

  • Fixed bug where “Link from first task” would cause an incorrect row much later in the schedule to be selected, which in some cases gave the appearance that all tasks had disappeared

  • Automatic recalculate now overs when a file is opened so custom fields are automatically recalculated

Tools

  • Importing a schedule

    • All task bars now visible (not hidden)

    • Fixed bugs where blank lines were not removed

    • Fixed bug where summary tasks were set to Manual if any of the subtask’s durations were set to estimated

    • Fixed bug where, the import would fail if a task had been broken down into subtasks between issuing the LAR and importing it.

Analyzer

  • Tasks Late To Target Simulator * NEW *

    • A new feature that answers the question “How many days do I need to pull-in each task to hit my Target date” has been introduced, located under the CP Analysis button in the Inspector.

    • First select a Target from the Inspector

    • Select one of three views - tasks that are Late to Target, On-time to Target and All tasks to Target. The tasks late to Target have negative float and two columns are added: Latest Start (the latest date each task can start to hit target) and Days To Pull-in which is the equivalent number of days to equal the Latest Start date.

    • Make sure to select the “Reset Simulator” button to reset the simulator.

      • For nerds (that’s you Tom!): the simulator puts a Must Finish On date constraint on the Wiggle milestone equal to the date of its Target date. the Reset Simulator ensures it’s removed.

  • Improved checking and fixing of Targets

    • Added Show, Set & Clear functions for the Target and Wiggle milestone settings (avoids having to display the Flag1 and Flag2 columns)

  • Clean-up now converts tasks with durations not expressed as days into days

  • Added option (in fP Options) to select whether the Analyzer automatically removes duplicate dependencies when run. Default is it does.

  • Fixed bug where a duplicate dependency would be removed if one of the predecessors had a negative lag but finishing earlier than one of it’s other predecessors. Tasks with negative lag are therefore now ignored.

Update

  • Added new functionality to the Import Lookahead Report, to allow the user to ignore not updated tasks. this would then update those tasks updated in the LARR, then those tasks not updated would be caught during the manual update.

  • Days Remaining and Predicted Finish Date now shown by default

  • Fixed bug in PreFresh Report where highlighted Summary tasks were listed in the Lookahead Report

  • Fixed bug where starting “From This Task” would start from the beginning of the schedule and not the selected task

Wigglechart

  • Additional notes not added when Wigglechart run on the same day

fastProject 4.8.11 Released

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General

  • Breakdown

    • Breaking down a task into parallel tasks now links all tasks to the summary’s end milestone

    • Added “Update prefix” to the shortcut menu

    • Milestone name now labeled correctly when breaking down a task with a prefix

  • Touchpoints/Checkpoints/Deliverables

    • Inserting a Touchpoint, Checkpoint or Deliverable now copies over the Core Team Member, Activity Owner and Function from the selected task to the Touchpoint

    • Fixed bug where inserting a Touchpoint before a Summary task would likely the Touchpoint to the Summary task. In this case, the Touchpoint is simply not linked.

  • Can now “Update” a prefix for tasks. Simply select one or more subtasks within a group with a prefix to add/update the prefix for the selected tasks.

  • Milestone Owner renamed to Core Team Member

  • Added “FP::completed within date range” filter so allow the user to display all tasks completed within the user-selected date range

  • Showing Actions now does not include the Notes column

Update

  • PreFresh Report now displays Core Team Member and Notes by default. The notes are empty and allow the person responsible for updating the task to add color to the status update. The notes are imported to the task’s notes and date stamped.

  • PreFresh report now shades the Remaining Duration/Finish Date cell yellow (with supporting text) when the Finish Date exceeds a threshold. The default threshold is 30 days, but can be changed through the fastProject Options > Update tab.

  • Bug fixed when updating a single task could cause an error if cursor was in the lower pane.

Analyzer

  • Added “Show All Excluded Tasks” under the “Analyze” dropdown to show all tasks that have been excluded by the Analyzer

fastProject 4.8.10 Released

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General

  • Enhanced interface to create Calendars, change calendar working time, define Exceptions (e.g. holidays), Work Weeks, etc.

  • Windows now pop-up on the same screen as MS Project when extended display is used

Refresh

  • Importing a PreFresh report :

    • Imports the Task name and Activity owner when different.

    • Opens he LAR if there are errors (vs. the user having to open it).

    • Enhanced error checking when entering the status updates through conditional formatting.

    • Notes column now visible. Any notes added by the user are imported to the task’s notes on import.

  • Yellow shading representing started tasks that are due to be finished by the next refresh not highlighted in the prefers report (still highlighted in the PostFresh report)

  • Near-term critical paths now works on checkpoints with a date constraint in the future

Wigglechart

  • Bug fixed when displaying only one target on the 3-on-1 Wigglechart

Effort Update

  • Bug fixed where a task’s % Complete was incorrectly flagged as an error when importing effort numbers

  • Baseline now automatically set when importing

Analyer

  • Fix duplicate links only performed on projects with no inserted projects

  • Fixed bug where the Analyzer would crash with inserted projects

Inspector

  • Item added to WBS sub-menu to automatically display all near-term tasks (starting within 1 month) with a duration of more than 15 days

fastProject 4.8.9 Released

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General

  • Link to Last and Link from First functions improved - now works for all scenarios

  • Updated “Change working time” functions

Update

  • Importing a PreFresh Report now automatically imports the updates using the following rules when no update is provided:

    Tasks

    • All update fields blank then update as not started

    • If started and Finish date is in the past then update with a remaining duration of 1 day

    • If started and Finish date is in the future then update as on schedule

    Milestones

    • Finish date is in the past then update as not finished (reschedule)

    Touchpoints, Checkpoints and Deliverables

    • Finish date is in the future then assume on schedule

  • Importing a PreFresh report will automatically invoke an Update immediately after. This is to ensure all tasks get updated, i.e. Update will catch any tasks that were not or need updating.

  • PreFresh report now shades the input cells that require response. Invalid responses are shaded red.

  • Days Remaining and Predicted Finish Date columns now hidden by default

  • In the PreFresh report, entering Days Remaining as a date will now automatically format the cell as a date. Likewise if entering as a duration will automatically format it as a number.

Inspector

  • Targets report now omits the start-up window (with options) and simply generates the report. First column is now the Target ‘s ID and Targets ar enow sorted by ID as the default.

  • Bug fixed when analyzing the critical path with near-term critical paths only, when the primary critical path hasn’t been updated.

Wigglechart

  • Wigglechart 3-on-1 bug fixed when only one data point exists in the Wigglechart.

Analyzer

  • 15-20x speed improvement in Delete Duplicate Dependencies

  • Clean Up schedule and Delete Duplicate Dependencies functionality now integrated into Analyzer, i.e. performed when running the Analyzer and is now no longer a separate function

Resources

  • New feature added “Update Effort” within the Resources tab. Like “Update Progress”, it runs through the schedule, but updates effort (rather than time). Effort can be expressed in days or hours, and can be updated by % Complete or Actual and Remaining. In addition, resources can be allocated to a task from the resource pool. An effort PreFresh report accompanies the effort updater. More detail can be found in the corresponding documentation.

fastProject 4.8.8 Released

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General

  • Problem fixed when breaking down a task when the schedule has a blank line (could cause the task to be broken down incorrectly)

  • Restoring Views/Tables/Filters improved and minor bugs fixed

Inspector

  • Bug fixed where the ribbon would disappear in some cases with sub-projectsewfwe

  • Target status now reflects correctly the Target details when the target is in a sub-project

  • Displaying the “Latest baseline” when a target is in a sub-project, now displays the baseline for that sub-project

    • Note: this will also display the same baseline for all sub-projects, so bear in mind that if the sub-projects have not been updated in sync with each other, the baseline displayed for the other sub-projects could be a different date

Update

  • Updating a schedule now automatically displays the Inspector and displays the information relating to the next Target. This allows the team to track changes to the target as the schedule is updated.

Wigglechart

  • Options made clearer when a Wigglechart does not exist

Analyzer

  • Added a check for the fastProject defaults not being set, indicating the schedule should be converted.

fastProject 4.8.7 Released

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General

  • Warning when deleting a Target manually removed

  • Importing a schedule now

    • Sets the split bar up to the Duration column

    • Fits the schedule to the screen

  • Breakdown

    • Can now add prefix to multiple selected summary tasks

    • Bug fixed where breaking down an in-progress activity with a finish date in the past and tasks are not linked would cause an error

    • Doing an Unbreakdown now displays the task bar in the Gantt chart (since it may have been a Summary with the task bards hidden)

  • Updated training files

  • Link to Blog fixed

Refresh

  • After an Update, the Inspector is now automatically invoked

  • Optimized the Refresh interface so the functionality works left to right

  • Bug fixed when trying to run the Wigglechart when the Wigglechart is open. The Wigglechart can be run when open, but only if opened via fastProject, otherwise the user will get a warning to close the Wigglechart.

Macro-micro Roll-up

  • New “Create Macro from Micro” function added. This will delete all subtasks to a roll-up task while moving external dependencies to the associated roll-up task

  • Added an additional test to check for Touchpoints in the macro - these buts be contained within a summary task

  • Updated Macro-micro Roll-up documentation

  • Added a new function “Find duplicate task names” which finds tasks with the same name that can cause problems with the roll-up

  • Added “Display timing analysis” as an option in the initial dialog box

  • Documentation updated (V2.0)