uDesigner

The uDesigner grouping node contains the following functional nodes:

Business Processes

Displays a list of the Business Process templates.

Activity Manager

Displays a list of activity, OBS, and WBS sheets (the activity manager components).

Asset Manager

Displays a list of assets, based on the asset type.

The Asset Manager is where users can enter company assets into Unifier, set up depreciation schedules for them, and classify them into categories to make managing them more efficient. Ultimately, they can gather these assets onto a sheet to track asset depreciation in monthly, quarterly, or yearly increments.

The Asset Manager uses the three most common depreciation methods— straight line, double decline, or sum of year digits—as well as manual depreciation.

Configurable Modules

Displays a list of configurable managers, including their description, type, and other related information.

A configurable manager is a manager that has been especially created for your company. Up to 25 managers can be created to consolidate and monitor any entities you want. Configurable managers differ from the managers that are shipped with Unifier in that configurable managers can roll up not only currency amounts, but also quantity amounts.

You can design two kinds of managers: Code and Records-based and Code-based.

A Code and Records-based manager employs both codes to create a tracking sheet and records of individual items.

A Code-based manager employs only a sheet to keep track of the values it is monitoring.

From a Code and Records-based manager, you can drill down from the sheet to individual items; from a Code-based manager, you cannot.

Cost Manager

Displays a list of the cost-related attributes.

Document Manager

Displays a list of the folder- and document-related attributes.

Planning Manager

The Planning Manager is where users can plan for new projects and proposals and create forecasts for those projects that are already running. They cannot administer planned projects the way they administer real projects in Unifier; however, they can manage the planning phases for these projects as business processes in Unifier using the same functions used by other business processes.

Resource Manager

Displays a list of resources, their owners, status, level, type, and other related information.

The Resource Manager is where Unifier users can set up and manage a company’s personnel resources. These resources are always maintained at the company level, to be distributed among the company’s projects.

The Resource Manager classifies job functions into roles that can then be allocated to projects. These roles are used to define billable rates, which are used in budgeting, and can also be used in planning for resource demands across projects. Roles are associated with personnel resources—the people who can perform these roles in a project. The Resource Manager is where users assign personnel to roles and projects.

The Resource Manager manages time sheets, and also hard and soft resource bookings using a calendar that shows what projects a resource has been booked for, as well as the resource’s availability.

Schedule Manager

Displays a list of schedules, their owners, status, level, type, and other related information.

The Schedule Manager is where Unifier users can create and manage schedules at both the project/shell and program level. They can create a schedule sheet that is customized to a project's or shell’s needs. Once these sheets are created, users can then use them to create project/shell activities and tasks, assign resources to tasks, create relationships between activities, track schedule progress and variables, and calculate the schedule’s critical path.

Space Manager

Displays a list of space-related items, their owners, status, level, type, and other related information.

A space is an entity—such as a cubicle, office, or conference room—that resides on a level in the Space Manager.

Shell Manager

The Shell Manager is where uDesigner users create the shell types that will be used in Unifier. In Unifier, administrators group shells into hierarchies, create shell “instances,” and specify what functions and features will be included in the shell, such as a cost manager (standard or generic), Document Manager, Schedule Manager, etc.

User Administration

Displays a list of the user attributes, including logs and pickers, their owners, status, level, type, and other related information.