This chapter provides overviews of activities and work breakdown structures and discusses how to:
Create and modify activities.
Add activities to projects.
Maintain activity status.
Activities are the specific tasks that make up a project. You can add transactions to a project only at the activity level.
This section discusses:
Activity creation options.
Activity owners.
PeopleSoft Project Costing summary activities.
Program Management summary activities.
Use any of these methods to create new activities:
Add an activity on the Activity Definitions - General Information page and enter the required information.
Add an activity to a project on the Project Activities page.
Activities created on the Project Activities page are merely placeholders with activity IDs and high-level descriptions sufficient to add transactions. Use the Activity Definitions - General Information page, and other pages in the Project Activity component (PROJECT_ACTIVITY), to create and further define these activities.
Use activities on a predefined project template or copy an existing project and activities.
Create project activities from other PeopleSoft applications such as PeopleSoft Proposal Management or PeopleSoft Contracts.
See Preparing, Generating, and Viewing Proposal Information.
Create project activities from Microsoft Project tasks.
Upload activities from third-party applications by using the Project and Activity Loader Application Engine process (PC_INTF_GEN).
Upload activities from Microsoft Excel by using the Excel to Component Interface utility.
See PeopleTools PeopleBook: PeopleSoft Component Interfaces, "Using the Excel to Component Interface Utility."
You can assign owners to detail and summary activities. The owner is primarily used for workflow approval at the activity level if you use PeopleSoft Program Management. They can be used for issues workflow or as interested parties.
You can search for activities by activity owner. In the Activity General component (PROJECT_ACTIVITY) search page, you only need to enter a business unit and any employee to view a list of activities that are owned by the employee.
Use the Activity Definitions - General Information page or the Project Activities page - Details tab to add activity owners. Any project team member is eligible to be selected as an activity owner. You cannot delete a project team member that is assigned as an activity owner.
If you modify or remove an activity owner for a summary activity, you have the option of making the change to all child activities of that summary activity.
Summary activities are used to group other activities for reporting and accounting purposes.
If you use PeopleSoft Project Costing without PeopleSoft Program Management, you cannot charge transactions directly to summary activities.
You can change detail activities into summary activities and move activities to different work breakdown structure (WBS) levels if no team members or transactions are associated with the activity in these tables:
Project Transactions Summary (PC_ACTIVITY_SUM)
Project Transaction Interface (INTFC_PROJ_RES)
Project Activity Team Member (PROJ_ACT_TEAM )
Project Costing Assets (PC_AM_PROJ_DEFN)
Contract Line Project Details (CA_DETAIL_PROJ)
Forecast Time Detail (FC_TIME_DTL)
If you use PeopleSoft Program Management, you can charge transactions and budgets to summary activities and to forecast summary activities based on the project charging level.
See Also
Understanding Project Charging Levels
The WBS of a project is represented by a hierarchical grid that shows project activities and their relationships. The placement of an activity on the WBS is maintained directly on the activity record. The WBS enables you to:
Maintain summary and detail activities on a WBS to a depth of 26 levels.
Roll up start and end dates to summary activities.
Insert multiple activities on the WBS at the same time.
If you use PeopleSoft Program Management, add dependency relationships between activities.
This diagram shows the activities for an implementation project in a WBS format, and it identifies the WBS levels of each activity. Summary tasks are represented as expandable rows, which have a + sign to the left of the Activity Name field:
A lower WBS level indicates a level in the WBS hierarchy that is more indented (deeper) than the current level. In the diagram, the 2.1 WBS ID is lower than the 2 WBS ID. A higher WBS level indicates a level in the WBS hierarchy that is less indented than the current level.
You manage the WBS on the Project Activities page where you can view all summary and detail activities. Additionally, you can see the structure change as you indent and outdent activities, and move them up and down on the WBS. On the Project Activities page, you can choose to display a specific WBS level or all levels. If you display a specific WBS level, the Project Activities grid collapses all summary activities at the selected display level and below. You can also expand and collapse summary activities individually.
This section discusses how to:
Enter activity general information.
Define activities.
Define activity locations.
Track activity quality.
Track activity billing and project costing rates.
Page Name |
Definition Name |
Navigation |
Usage |
PROJ_ACT_DESCR |
Project Costing, Activity Definitions, General Information, General Information |
Create an activity and assign it to a project. This page operates in deferred processing mode. Note. If you use PeopleSoft Program Management, you cannot access this page if no activities exist for the project, a change request is required to add activities to the project, and you are not the project manager. |
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PROJECT_ACTIVITY |
Project Costing, Activity Definitions, General Information, Definition |
Define an activity and enter work details. |
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PROJ_ACT_LOCATION |
Project Costing, Activity Definitions, General Information, Location |
Assign the physical location of an activity. |
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PROJ_ACT_DOC |
Project Costing, Activity Definitions, General Information, Attachments |
Attach, delete, and view activity-related files. |
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PROJECT_QUALITY |
Project Costing, Activity Definitions, General Information, Quality |
Rate and record quality of work for specific activities. |
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PC_ACT_USER |
Project Costing, Activity Definitions, General Information, User Fields |
Include additional, user-defined activity information. |
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ACTIVITY_SERVICES |
Project Costing, Activity Definitions, General Information, Rates |
Enter and view billing and project costing rates that are associated with an activity. |
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PC_BUD_ACT_ALERTS |
Project Costing, Activity Definitions, General Information, Budget Alerts |
Define budget alert thresholds at the activity level. |
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PC_AM_RULE_ACT |
Project Costing, Activity Definitions, General Information, Asset Integration Rules |
Define integration with PeopleSoft Asset Management at the activity level. |
Access the Activity Definitions - General Information page (Project Costing, Activity Definitions, General Information, General Information).
Activity Type |
Select an activity type. Use activity types to:
You set up activity types during implementation on the Activity Types page. |
Displays the percentage of the activity completed based on calculation method that you define on the Project Costing Definition page. If you select Manual in the Calculation Method field, you can enter a value in the Percent Complete field on this page. This field does not appear for activities with a processing status of Template. |
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System Source |
Select the origin of an activity, such as a third-party application or an online entry page in a PeopleSoft application. The default value is PPC (Project Costing online entry page). Available values are based on the translate values in the System Source field (SYSTEM_SOURCE) properties. |
Processing Status |
Select an activity processing status. Select Active to make the activity available for selection from prompt lists within feeder systems to charge transactions. This field displays a processing status of Template if the activity belongs to a project template. |
Activity Owner |
Select an activity owner from the list of project team members. The default value is based on the activity owner of the parent activity, if one exists. If there is no parent activity, the activity owner default value is based on the current project manager. The system uses the activity start date to determine the project manager. If you modify or remove an activity owner for a summary activity, a message appears when you save the page asking if you want to change the activity owner for all activities under this summary activity. |
Activity Team |
Click to access the Activity Definitions - Team page to view and modify membership to the activity team. This link appears only if you use PeopleSoft Project Costing without PeopleSoft Program Management. |
Resources |
Click to access the Resources by Activity page to view and modify the list of activity team resources. This link appears only if you use PeopleSoft Program Management. |
Activity Status |
Click to access the Activity Definitions - Status page to view information regarding the history and current status of the activity. |
Project Transactions |
Click to access the Transaction List page to view transactions for this activity. |
Deliverables |
Click to access the Deliverables Summary page to view and modify deliverables for this activity. This link appears only if you use PeopleSoft Program Management. |
Activity Schedule
Start Date |
Enter the activity start date. If the activity start date is earlier than the project start date, the system adjusts the project start date accordingly. If you use PeopleSoft Program Management, you cannot enter a start date for a summary activity if the Activity Date Cascade Calculations for the project are set to Delay Calculations Until Save or Realtime Calculations. |
Calculate |
Select the method of calculating the activity schedule. This field appears only when you use PeopleSoft Program Management and you select an Activity Date Cascade Calculations option of Delay Calculations Until Save or Realtime Calculations on the Program Management definition page for the project. For detail activities, select Duration, End Date, or Start Date to specify which one of these three fields is calculated by the system based on the values that you enter for the other two fields. For example, select End Date for the system to calculate the activity end date based on the values that you enter for activity start date and duration. The default value is based on the Activity Calculation Method field on the Program Management definition page for the project. For summary activities, the Calculate field value is Duration and is not editable. Note. You can override the default calculation method on a detail activity; however, you should limit this practice to exceptions only. We recommend that detail activities use the same activity calculation method as the project. |
Duration in Days |
Enter the length of time needed to complete an activity. This field appears only if you use PeopleSoft Program Management. You cannot enter a duration for a summary activity if the Activity Date Cascade Calculations for the project are set to Delay Calculations Until Save or Realtime Calculations. |
End Date |
Enter the activity completion date. If the activity end date is after the project end date, the system adjusts the project end date accordingly. If you use PeopleSoft Program Management, you cannot enter an end date for a summary activity if the Activity Date Cascade Calculations for the project are set to Delay Calculations Until Save or Realtime Calculations. |
Deadline Date |
Enter the deadline date for the activity. You can enter any date, regardless of the project and activity schedules. If the activity end date falls after the deadline, an alert indicator appears on the Project Activities page. The date that you enter in this field also populates the Deadline field on the Project Activities page: More Dates tab. This field is for informational purposes only and appears only if you use PeopleSoft Program Management. |
Constraint Type |
Select a constraint type to indicate when an activity can start or end. This field appears only if you use PeopleSoft Program Management. |
Constraint Date |
Select a constraint date if required based on the constraint type for this activity. The Constraint Date field appears only if you selected a constraint type that requires a constraint date and only if you use PeopleSoft Program Management. |
Baseline Start Date and Baseline Finish Date |
Enter the projected start and finish dates for the activity. These fields do not appear for activities with a processing status of Template. |
Early Start Date and Early Finish Date |
Enter the earliest possible activity start and completion dates. These fields do not appear for activities with a processing status of Template. |
Actual Start Date and Actual Finish Date |
Enter the actual activity start and completion dates. These fields do not appear for activities with a processing status of Template. |
Late Start Date and Late Finish Date |
Enter the latest possible activity start and completion dates. These fields do not appear for activities with a processing status of Template. |
Description
Enter a description and a long description for the activity. These fields are informational only, and you can use them to track notes over time. Each description is stamped with the date and time of entry and the user ID.
The Long Description field does not appear for activities with a processing status of Template.
Access the Activity Definitions - Definition page (Project Costing, Activity Definitions, General Information, Definition).
Use this page to select activity owner, activity team security, and options that control the functionality of the activity.
Charging Level |
Displays the WBS level at which you want to track project budgets, forecasts, and costs. The system restricts charges to summary and detail activities that are in the specified level. This field appears if you use PeopleSoft Program Management. |
WBS ID (work breakdown structure ID) |
Displays the hierarchical order of the activity within the WBS of the project. This value is system-generated based on the placement of the activity in the WBS. When you create a new activity from the Project Activity component, the system assigns a WBS ID that represents the last activity at level 1 of the WBS. You can move the activity in the WBS by using the Project Activities page. |
Enforce Team |
Designates who can charge time and expenses to the activity. The Enforce Team drop-down list box is available for selection on this page if both of these conditions exist:
If the Enforce Team drop-down list box is available for selection, the possible values are: No: Select to enable all members of the project team to enter time and expenses against this activity for the period that they are on the project team. Expenses: Select to enforce activity team membership in PeopleSoft Expenses. Only activity team members can charge time and expenses in the PeopleSoft Expenses system against this activity for the period that they are on the project team. Exp and TL (Expenses and Time and Labor): Select to enforce activity team membership in PeopleSoft Expenses. Additionally, users can charge time in the PeopleSoft Time and Labor system to any activity on the project if they have security access to the project. Time&Labor: Select to enable all members of the project team to enter time and expenses against this activity for the period that they are on the project team. A read-only value of No in the Enforce Team field indicates that either Do Not Enforce or Project Team Only is selected as the enforce team option at the project level. These security options are discussed in the "Creating and Maintaining Projects" chapter. A read-only blank value indicates that either Project Resource Pools Only or Project Activity Resource Pool is selected as the enforce team option at the project level. These security options are discussed in the "Creating and Maintaining Projects" chapter. Note. The PeopleSoft Time and Labor system does not enforce project activity team. If you select the Exp and TL or Time&Labor product option, the system restricts PeopleSoft Time and Labor users for projects to which they can charge time. However, PeopleSoft Time and Labor users can charge time to any activity on a particular project if they have security access to the project. See Defining Projects. |
Options
Scheduling
This group box appears only if you use PeopleSoft Program Management.
Calculate |
Displays the calculation method that determines when the system rolls up start and end dates on summary activities for the activity. |
Hours per Day |
Displays the number of hours that define a work day for this activity. The system uses this value to calculate the amount of time that a resource is available for the schedule. |
Schedule Method |
Select the method for calculating schedules. The scheduling method determines what element of a project schedule remains constant when one of the three scheduling variables (work, duration, or units) changes. |
Project Calendar |
Displays the calendar that the system uses for calculating schedules for the activity. The system uses this calendar to determine business holidays and nonwork days, and factor them into the calculation of start dates, end dates, and durations. |
See Managing Programs and Projects.
The Funds Distribution group box appears when the Enable Funds Distribution check box is selected on the Installation Integration Options page.
Select to indicate that the activity is eligible to be selected as a source to Funds Distribution. All activities are eligible to be selected as a target to funds distribution. Deselect this check box to prevent the activity from being processed by the Funds Distribution process. This field allows specific activities that are not reimbursable to be excluded from the Funds Distribution process. For example, you could define a single distribution rule for a project and use this attribute to exclude selected activities. |
For more information about funds distribution:
See Distributing Funding.
Access the Activity Definitions - Location page (Project Costing, Activity Definitions, General Information, Location).
Location Code |
Select a location code that is already defined in the system. The address for this code appears in the bottom half of the page and cannot be edited. |
Add Location |
Click to access the Location Definition page, where you can add or modify a location in the Location table (LOCATION_TBL). The location codes and addresses that you enter on the Activity Definitions - Location page are stored in the Project Activity Location table (PROJ_ACT_LOC). See Setting Up Locations. |
Access the Activity Definitions - Quality page (Project Costing, Activity Definitions, General Information, Quality).
Quality Date |
Displays the date on which the quality rating is performed. |
Quality Type |
Select the criteria on which the quality rating is based. Quality types are defined in the Project Quality Type table (PROJ_QUAL_TBL). |
Quality Rating |
Enter a quality rating as a whole number from 1 to 999. |
Quality Weighting |
Enter a quality weighting as a whole number from 1 to 999. |
Team Mate |
Select the employee ID of the person performing the quality rating. |
Access the Activity Definitions - Rates page (Project Costing, Activity Definitions, General Information, Rates).
Displays the current contract information associated with the project and activity. The grid is blank if no contracts are associated with the project and activity, which is the case when you use this page to associate rate sets or rate plans with a project and activity for internal project costing that does not require billing, or when you have not yet linked the project and activity to a contract line.
Contract Number |
Click the link to access the Contract - General page in the PeopleSoft Contracts system. |
Line |
Click the link to access the Related Projects page in the PeopleSoft Contracts system. |
Billing |
Click to access the Review Billing - Plans page to search for and view billing plans in the PeopleSoft Contracts system. |
Revenue |
Click to access the Review Revenue - Plans page to search for and view revenue plans in the PeopleSoft Contracts system. |
Rate Selection |
Displays one of these values if a contract is associated with the activity: Contract Rate Set Contract Rate Plan Rate Plan Rate Set Click the link to access the Related Projects page in the PeopleSoft Contracts system. |
Description |
Click the link to access the rate set or rate plan. |
Rates
Displays the rate set or rate plan that is associated with the project activity ID. This group box appears if no contracts are associated with the project and activity.
Effective Date |
Enter the effective date of the association of the rate set or rate plan to the activity. This field can be based on one of these options:
|
Status |
Select Active or Inactive as the status that corresponds to the effective date of the association of the rate set or rate plan to the activity. |
Rate Selection |
Select a Rate Plan or Rate Set to attach to the activity. The default value is based on the project's rate selection. |
Rate |
Enter a rate set or rate plan for project costing. This field can be based on these options:
You can link a rate set to an activity if no rate set or rate plan is attached at the contract line. You can link a rate plan to an activity for either of these conditions:
See Understanding the Relationship Between PeopleSoft Contracts and PeopleSoft Project Costing. Activities do not inherit the project level default rate set if any of these situations occur: |
View/Add Rates |
Click to access the Rate Sets component (PC_RATE) to view, add, or modify rate sets. |
See Also
Defining Rate Set Categories, Rate Sets, and Rate Plans
Asset integration rules for the business unit, project, or activity are discussed in the "Managing Assets" chapter of this PeopleBook.
Budget alerts for the business unit, project, or activity are discussed in the "Budgeting Project Costs and Revenue" chapter of this PeopleBook.
See Setting Up Budgets in PeopleSoft Project Costing.
This section discusses how to:
Add project activity schedules.
View WBS Gantt charts.
Page Name |
Definition Name |
Navigation |
Usage |
PC_PROJ_ACTIVITY |
Project Costing, Activity Definitions, Project Activities, Project Activities |
Add activities to a project and view all activities assigned to a project. This page operates in deferred processing mode. Note. If you use PeopleSoft Program Management, you cannot access this page if no activities exist for the project, a change request is required to add activities to the project, and you are not the project manager. |
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PGM_PRJ_ACTALT_SEC |
Click the warning icon on the Project Activities page. |
If you use PeopleSoft Program Management, view alert messages for an activity in the Project Activities grid. |
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PC_GANTT_CHART |
Project Costing, Activity Definitions, Project Activities, Gantt Chart |
View project activity schedules in a WBS grid and Gantt chart format. |
Access the Project Activities page (Project Costing, Activity Definitions, Project Activities, Project Activities).
Changes that you make to fields on this page also appear on the Activity Definitions - General Information page.
Use the toolbar located just above the Project Activities grid to expand and collapse rows and to perform actions on selected activities in the WBS.
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Click to indent the selected row by one WBS level. This is a list of characteristics and restrictions for indenting rows:
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Click to outdent the selected row by one WBS level. This is a list of restrictions and characteristics for outdenting rows:
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Click to move the selected row one row higher in the grid. If you move a summary activity up in the grid, the system also moves the detail activities that belong to the summary activity. The moved row inherits the lower (more indented) WBS level of the row above and below the moved row. For example, in the page shown above, if you move activity Install (WBS level 2) up one row, then it is placed between activity Expenses (WBS level 2) and Phase II Implementation (WBS level 1). Therefore, the Install activity inherits WBS level 2. |
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Click to move the selected row one row lower in the grid. If you move a summary activity down in the grid, the system also moves the detail activities that belong to the summary activity. The moved row inherits the lower WBS level of the row above and below the moved row. For example, in the page shown above, if you move activity Milestone 1 (WBS level 3) down one row, then it is placed between activity Expenses (WBS level 2) and Phase III Implementation (WBS level 1). Therefore, the Milestone 1 activity inherits WBS level 2. |
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Click to cut the selected row from the grid. If you cut a summary activity, the system also cuts all of the detail activities that belong to the summary activity. After you cut a row, the next action in the grid should be to paste the row, or click the Undo Cut icon for the cut row to reappear in the location from which it was cut. If your next action is anything other than to paste the row or undo the cut, a message appears stating that cut rows are still in the clipboard. Select an action to perform next:
If you use PeopleSoft Program Management, you cannot permanently delete cut rows on this page if a change request is required to delete activities on the project, and you are not the project manager. |
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Click for the cut row to reappear in the location from which it was cut. This icon appears when you cut a row and disappears when you paste the row. |
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Click to copy the selected rows. If you copy a summary activity, the system also copies all of the detail activities that belong to the summary activity. If you use PeopleSoft Program Management, the Copy icon does not appear if a change request is required to add or delete activities on the project, and you are not the project manager. |
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Select a row and click the Paste icon to paste the most recent cut or copied rows below the selected row. This icon appears on the page when you cut or copy a row. You can paste a copied row as many times as needed until you copy or cut another row. You can paste a cut row only once, after which the Paste icon disappears until you copy or cut another row. The pasted row inherits the lower WBS level of the row above and below the pasted row in its new location. On pasted rows that you copied, the default value of the activity ID is NEXTn, where n is the number of rows that you are inserting since the last save. At save time, the system assigns the next sequential activity ID number to all rows with an activity ID of NEXTn. On pasted rows that you cut, the row retains the activity ID of the cut row. |
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Select a row and click the Delete icon to delete the selected row. This icon appears only for pending projects. If you use PeopleSoft Program Management, you cannot delete an activity that is a predecessor to another activity. Note. To remove a predecessor-successor relationship, use the Gantt chart to identify the successor activity, navigate to the successor activity row on the Project Activities page, and access the Activity Predecessors page to remove the predecessor activity. |
and Number Rows |
Select a row, enter the number of rows that you want to add, and click the Add icon to add the blank rows below the selected row. New rows that you add to the grid are inserted below the selected row. Rows following the new inserted rows are renumbered sequentially. If you select a detail activity, the new rows are inserted at the same level as the selected detail row. If you select a summary activity with detail rows that are expanded in the grid, the new rows are inserted as detail rows to the selected summary activity. If you select a summary activity with detail rows that are collapsed in the grid, the system ignores the hidden subtasks and inserts the new rows at the same level as the selected summary row. The default value of the activity ID on inserted rows is NEXTn, where n is the number of rows that you are inserting since the last save. At save time, all rows with an activity ID of NEXTn are assigned the next sequential activity ID number. |
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Click the Expand All icon to expose all summary and detail rows. You do not need to select rows when you use the Expand All icon. |
Expand |
Select the WBS level that you want to view in the Project Activities grid. Available options are: All Subtasks: Select to display all levels of the WBS. This value is the default. Level 1 through the level specified on the Project Costing Options page. Select to collapse all summary activities at the selected level and lower (more indented). For example, if you select Level 3, only rows in Levels 1, 2, and 3 are visible in the grid. If you select Level 1, all rows are collapsed and only the first level is visible. You can then individually expand summary activities by clicking on the plus sign next to the activity name in the grid. You do not need to select individual rows when you use the Expand drop-down list box. |
Project Activities - Schedule
On the Schedule tab you can:
View all summary and detail activities on a project and their relationships in the Project Activities grid.
You can expand and collapse summary activity rows and select the WBS level to appear.
Modify the activity name, schedule, and percent complete.
Modify activity relationships.
You can indent and outdent rows, move rows up and down, and insert rows. If the project processing status is Pending, you can delete rows from the grid.
Add a new activity to the list.
After you add an activity on this page, you may further define the activity using the Project Activity component pages, beginning with the Activity Definitions - General Information page.
Note. If the Standard Activities option is selected on the Project Costing Definition page, you can assign only predefined standard activities to the project.
Select check box |
Select to perform an action on a row, such as to indent, outdent, cut, copy, or move the row. Each time you select a new row, the previously selected row is deselected. |
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Indicates one of these conditions for the activity if you use PeopleSoft Program Management:
Move the mouse pointer across the icon to view alternate text about the nature of the condition. This icon appears only if you use PeopleSoft Program Management. |
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Indicates one of these conditions for the activity if you use PeopleSoft Program Management:
Move the mouse pointer across the icon to view alternate text about the nature of the condition. If more than one condition exists, click the icon to access the Activity Alerts page to view the alert messages. This icon appears only if you use PeopleSoft Program Management. |
WBS ID (work breakdown structure ID) |
Displays the WBS level where the activity resides. |
Activity Name |
Enter a unique description of the activity. |
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Click the Create Predecessors icon to access the Activity Predecessors page to add predecessors. This icon appears only if you use PeopleSoft Program Management and no predecessor exists for the activity. |
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Click the Review Predecessors icon to access the Activity Predecessors page to view, modify, or delete predecessors. This icon appears only if you use PeopleSoft Program Management and one or more predecessors exist for the activity. |
Activity |
Displays the activity ID for existing activities. When you add rows to the grid, this field is available for you to enter a new activity ID, or accept the default value for the system to assign the activity ID. |
Duration (Days) |
Enter or view the activity duration in days. The duration calculation is based on the option that you select in the Calculate field for this row. If you choose a Calculate value of Duration, the system calculates the Duration (Days) value anytime that you change the Start Date or End Date and the scheduling Calculate method on the Activity Definitions - Definition page is not Manual. This field appears only if you use PeopleSoft Program Management. |
Start Date and End Date |
Enter the start and end dates for the activity. The default value for the Start Date is based on the project start. The end date is determined by the start date plus a default duration of one day. You can override the default dates. If you enter activity dates that are outside of the project date range, the system updates the corresponding project dates. If you use PeopleSoft Project Costing without PeopleSoft Program Management, you must manually enter activity start and end dates or accept the default start and end dates. The system does not calculate the scheduling dates, and the detail activity start and end dates do not roll up to the summary activity dates. If you use PeopleSoft Program Management, you can select an Activity Date Cascade Calculations option on the Program Management options page for the project that enables automatic calculation of activity dates. For example, if you select an Activity Date Cascade Calculations option of Realtime Calculations or Delay Calculations Until Save:
If you use PeopleSoft Program Management and you select an Activity Date Cascade Calculations option of Manual:
See Establishing PeopleSoft Program Management Business Unit Options. |
Calculate |
Select the method of calculating the activity schedule. This field appears only when you use PeopleSoft Program Management and you select an Activity Date Cascade Calculations option of Delay Calculations Until Save or Realtime Calculations on the Program Management definition page for the project. Select Duration, End Date, or Start Date, to specify which one of these three fields is calculated by the system based on the values that you enter for the other two fields. For example, select End Date for the system to calculate the activity end date based on the values that you enter for activity start date and duration. The default value is based on the Activity Calculation Method on the Program Management definition page for the project. Note. You can override the default calculation method on an activity; however, you should limit this practice to exceptions only. We recommend that the activity use the same Activity Calculation Method as the project. |
Displays the percentage of the activity completed based on calculation method that you define on the Project Costing Definition page. If you select Manual in the Calculation Method field on the Project Costing Definition page, you can enter a value in the Percent Complete field on this page. If you select a calculation method of Budget Amount, Budget Hours, Duration, Forecast Amount, or Forecast Hours, the system automatically calculates and displays the percent complete value. The Duration calculation method is available only if you use PeopleSoft Program Management. See Defining PeopleSoft Project Costing Options for Business Units. |
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Click the Activity Definition icon to access the Activity Definitions - General Information page, where you can view specific information about the activity. |
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Click the Drill to Resources by Activity icon to access the Activity Definitions - Team page if you use PeopleSoft Project Costing without PeopleSoft Program Management. If you use PeopleSoft Program Management, click this icon to access the Resources by Activity page. |
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Click the Project Transaction List icon to view transactions for the corresponding activity on the Transaction List page. |
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Click to access the Issue page to view, add, or modify issues for the activity. This icon appears only if you use PeopleSoft Program Management. |
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Click to access the Deliverables Summary page to view, add, or modify deliverables for the activity. This icon appears only if you use PeopleSoft Program Management. |
Primavera Synchronization Options
If your organization synchronizes project and activity data with Primavera P6, then these fields are available on this page; Synchronize with Primavera P6, Synchronization Template, and Add or Modify Template. For information about these fields:
See Exporting Data from the Project Activities Page.
Project Activities - More Dates
Access the Project Activities page: More Dates tab.
This page contains additional activity dates that are not part of the summary activities date calculation.
You cannot enter a finish date without first entering the corresponding start date, and you cannot enter a finish date that is earlier than the corresponding start date.
Deadline |
Enter the deadline date for the activity. The date that you enter in this field also populates the Deadline Date field on the Activity Definitions - General Information page. This field is for informational purposes only and appears only if you use PeopleSoft Program Management. |
Constraint Type |
Displays the value that you entered in the Constraint Type field on the Activity Definitions - General Information page. This field appears only if you use PeopleSoft Program Management. |
Constraint Date |
Displays the value that you entered in the Constraint Date field on the Activity Definitions - General Information page. This field appears only if you use PeopleSoft Program Management. |
Project Activities - Details
Access the Project Activities page: Details tab.
This page contains activity attributes for activity owner, type, processing status, milestone, and interest calculation.
Activity Type |
Enter or modify the activity type. |
Cascade Owner |
Select to populate the Activity Owner field on child activities of this summary activity with the activity owner of the summary. |
Activity Owner |
Select an activity owner from the list of project team members. |
Activity Status |
Displays the current activity status. Click the link to transfer to the Activity Definitions - Status page to view or update activity status. |
Processing Status |
Select an activity status. Select Active to make the activity available for selection from prompt lists within feeder systems to charge transactions. |
Milestone |
Select to indicate that this activity is a milestone. |
Allow Interest Calculation |
Select to include this activity in interest calculations. |
Project Activities - User Fields
Access the Project Activities page: User Fields tab.
Use the fields on this page to enter and maintain user-defined attributes for the activity. The only edit that the system performs on this page is to the User Currency field. Available currencies are based on the Currency Codes table (CURRENCY_CD_TBL).
See Also
Access the Project Activities - Gantt Chart page (Project Costing, Activity Definitions, Project Activities, Gantt Chart).
The Project Activities - Gantt Chart page represents project activity schedules in a WBS grid and Gantt chart format for the rows that appear on the Project Activities page. The count of rows in the grid and the total number of activities on the project appear above the grid. The chart refreshes each time that you access the page.
Filter |
Select All Activities, Critical Path, or Milestone Activities to indicate how to filter the activity rows. The Critical Path option identifies each activity path in the project by using the activity hierarchy as well as the chain of dependencies plus their constraints. It then determines the activity path that has the latest end date. The activity path that has the latest end date is the critical path. Critical path activities appear in orange. |
WBS Grid
In the grid area you can view the WBS ID, activity description and ID, duration, activity start and end dates, and percent complete.
To navigate in the grid:
Click the blue First, Previous, Next, and Last navigation arrows to scroll vertically through the activity rows.
Click the plus and minus symbols to expand and collapse summary activities in the WBS grid and the Gantt chart area.
This action also expands and collapses the grid on the Project Activities page.
Click the black navigation arrows below the grid to scroll horizontally across the columns.
Note. You must click the black navigation arrows, not the sliding bar, to scroll horizontally across the grid.
Gantt Chart
The chart area displays schedules for multiple periods beginning with the earliest activity start date. A horizontal bar represents the duration for each activity. Summary activities appear in gray, detail activities appear in cyan, and critical path activities appear in orange. A black overlay bar represents the percent complete for the activity. Use the horizontal scroll bar of the browser to view earlier and later periods.
Based on the duration of the project, the system determines the appropriate two-tier calendar scale to appear at the bottom of the chart. If the project duration is greater than or equal to 180 days, then the calendar scale is in increments of month and year. If the project duration is less than 180 days, then the calendar scale is in increments of day and month.
Move the mouse pointer across each bar to view alternate text about the activity name, start date, end date, and percent complete.
If you have more than 25 rows of activities, select View All for all activities to appear in the grid.
If you use PeopleSoft Program Management, lines appear on the Gantt chart to show activity dependency relationships if any exist. If you have more than 25 rows in the grid, you must select View All to view all dependency relationships. If you have more than 25 rows and you do not select View All, then the Gantt chart will not display all of the dependency relationships for the project.
This section discusses how to define activity status.
Page Name |
Definition Name |
Navigation |
Usage |
PROJECT_ACT_STATUS |
|
View detailed information about the life of the project. This page operates in deferred processing mode. |
Access the Activity Definitions - Status page (Project Costing, Activity Definitions, Status, Status).
Use this page to create a new effective dated row for each status change to maintain a history of the activity.
Changes that you make on this page can trigger an email notification to project team members if you select these options:
Enable Status Control on the Installation Options - Project Costing Integration page.
Email Notify for Status Change on the Activity Type Status Path page.
Email Notify for Status Change on the Project Definitions - Team page for the team member (if you use PeopleSoft Project Costing without PeopleSoft Program Management) or the Resource Detail page (if you use Program Management).
Sequence |
The system increments the sequence number, which tracks incremental changes in status. By using a sequence number in combination with the status effective date, multiple status changes can occur on the same day. |
Status |
Select the activity status that corresponds to the status effective date. Available options are based on the values that you enter on the Status Types page during implementation. |