Project templates are very useful, reusable elements. Each project template can contain a set of prefilled documents. This is a time saving solution because it allows project leaders to quickly create new projects based on model projects that resemble theirs. Most of the required documents are thus already created for the project leaders. They only need to complete or modify what does not meet their requirements.
Creating a project template is exactly like creating a project and the various elements which make it up. The main difference between a project and a project template is the status of the 'Project description' document and the use of generic resources instead of named resources.
It is possible to create a project from the copy of an existing project, provided that the copied project has not started, i.e. no time has been spent on tasks.
It is good practice to put all project templates in a dedicated 'Project templates' database.
How to Proceed to Create a Project Template
In the Project Description
- Change the project description Status field to Template (code #01).
- In the Participants section fill in the lists with generic resources. By default, the names of such resources start with % and are easily recognizable.
- No need to fill in the Project Leader field with a generic resource as this field is automatically replaced by the resource that creates the project from a template. However, some tasks may also be assigned to the project leader. It is strongly recommended that all tasks in a project template are assigned to generic resources. It is therefore wise to add the generic resource corresponding to the project leader, for instance %Project_Leader to the Project Leader Substitutes list. This ensures that the replacement of the generic resources also applies to the project leader assignments.
- Fill in the Classification section and the Budget section if it makes sense to pre-fill such information.
- If some project leaders are not allowed to access certain templates, specific rights have to be implemented in the project description of these templates.
- Click on the View action bar and select Security
- Set up the Read Access to meet the requirements; for instance, change the Read access Type to Private and fill in the Additional Readers with the project leaders that are allowed to use this template.
Note: Project templates are available to users when they are visible in the Portfolio, i.e. when the Refresh the list of projects agent of the Portfolio database has run. Project templates are visible to any resource having the ViewTemplates role in the Portfolio.
Note 2: When specific rights have been set up at the Project Description level, the project leader that creates the project from the template must change the default Read Access Type value back to Project, in order to allow the project participants to see the Project Description document.
In the Plan (Gantt)
To plan a project template is the same as to plan a standard project, except for the topics that are listed below.
The author of the plan (Gantt) should be the Project Leader generic resource, because when the plan is synchronized and the tasks are generated, the Requester of the tasks is by default the author of the plan. Defining the author of the plan as a Generic Resource ensures that the requester of the tasks is replaced by the actual project leader of the project when the Replace the generic resources is used.
- Edit the Plan document
- Click on the key
icon in the right lower corner of the header. - In the Author field, select the correct generic resource.
The resources available in the plan should be generic resources. There is no difference between assigning a named resource and a generic resource.
It is not mandatory to synchronize the plan of a template. However, it is necessary to synchronize the plan when tasks, assignments or deliverables contain information that does not come from the plan and thus must be updated manually. Here are some examples:
- The activity type of the tasks is required in order to compute the cost of the task depending on the activity.
- The approvers of the deliverables are known (generic resources or named resources).
- Links are set between deliverables or between any document generated from the plan and other documents.
Documents
All document management features are available in project templates, but the way to use them is slightly different. Any kind of document can be created in a project template: standard Geniusproject documents, other documents, either from a template or using 'Generic' documents associated with a 'Type.' The most important thing to remember when using documents in 'Project Templates' is to use 'generic' instead of 'named' resources. This applies to the following cases:
For document of all types:
- Document properties Distribution.
- Document properties Reply request.
- Document properties Security: it is recommended to set the Author of the document to the Project Leader generic resource;
Risks: assign the tasks of the mitigation plan to generic resources.
Cost: select the Requester among the generic resources.
To Do: select the Assigned to resource among the generic resources.
Task: when created manually, that is, not generated by a plan synchronization, assign the task to generic resources.
Deliverable: when created manually, i.e. not generated by a plan synchronization, select the Responsible and the Approvers among the generic resources.
Workflows
If a workflow is assigned to a type of document used in a project template, the first status can be reached when the document is created, depending on the workflow definition. This occurs when the property Status by default of the first workflow status is set to Yes. According to this setup, the first status is assigned to the author of the document; hence a generic resource needs to entered, as recommended above in this document.
If the Status by default is set to No, nothing needs to be done, since resources will be assigned to the document once a project was created from the template.
Note: To ensure that all document templates are up-to-date, it is recommended to use one 'Projects' database as the reference for all document templates in the Geniusproject environment.
Note2: The workflow definition must be consistent between the 'Projects' database where the project template is created and the 'Projects' database where the project is created from a template.