Completing the PM Central Portfolio Configuration Checklist

Completing the PM Central Portfolio Configuration Checklist

Getting started with PM Central Overview of Portfolio PMC Control Panel

The Configuration Checklist associated with the portfolio site provides administrators with instructions on how to prepare the site for use. A link to the Configuration Checklist will be available in the warning message displayed at the top of the Portfolio home page.

Image of the warming configuration message with link to the Configuration Checklist

When working with the Configuration Checklist keep in mind:

  • You will need Full Control permission on the Portfolio site to complete items in the checklist.

  • The Warning message on the Portfolio Home page will be displayed until all Mandatory items associated with the Configuration Checklist have a been closed.

Open item in the Configuration checklist

NOTE: The contents of the Portfolio Configuration Checklist changed in PMC 4.3

Action Description
Verify the successful installation of all PM Central components
  • Review the Health Check display, accessed from the PM Central Control Panel or from the item’s action link, to confirm PM Central Timer Jobs and Web Parts were successfully installed.

  • If a specific web part did not install successfully, run the setup.exe for the specific component found in the SA12 folder on the SharePoint server.

Review the Resource Center settings

Standard templates only

The working days, hours, and holidays defined in the Resource Center settings will be referenced by PM Central when generating Resource Allocation and Capacity reports.
By default, resource reports are created individually for each user with access to the PM Central Control Panel, and the report contents are security trimmed.

  • From the PM Central Control Panel, or this item’s action link, access Resource Center Settings and validate the work schedule.

  • Check the Report Settings box if you want to use the System Account to generate reports, making all resource allocation information available to users with access to the Resource Center.
    (Feature added in PM Central 4.3)

    Icon-WarningImportant:
    The working days, hours, and holidays identified here must be consistent with the settings used on the project sites. If using a holiday list it must be created with a SharePoint Calendar list, and the same list must be used throughout the PM Central Portfolio and associated sites.

Determine if projects should “Auto Update” by default

When the Project Health list’s Auto Update check box is checked, a regularly scheduled timer job will update the Project Start Date, Project End Date and % Complete fields, based on the contents of the project’s associated Tasks list.

If you want to enable Auto Update by default on newly created project sites complete the following step:

  • From the PM Central Control Panel on this site, or this item’s action link, access Auto Update Settings and set the value to Yes.

    (Feature added in PM Central 4.3)
Enable Alert Plus notifications

PM Central uses Alert Plus to send automated reminder notifications to users. Each of the 6 pre-defined alerts will send a notification to assigned users when specific criteria are met; a task or issue is due in 3 days, a task or issue is overdue, etc. By default, these alerts are configured to be sent daily as a summarized notification.

  • From the PM Central Control Panel, or this item’s action link, access Alert Plus web and change the status of the desired alerts from disabled to Enable.

  • Optional modifications to Event frequency, Mail format, etc. can also be applied.

NOTE: PM Central Lite Portfolio sites will have 5 pre-defined alerts.

Populate the Enterprise Resource Pool

Standard templates only

The Enterprise Resource Pool (ERP) is a centralized list of users who are available to work on projects created under the Portfolio site. User information can then be easily copied from the ERP into the Project Resource Pool on each project site.

  • Click the Resource Management link under Resource Center in the PM Central Control Panel, or this item’s action link, and populate the ERP using one of the two available methods:

    1. Click Add New and enter user information directly into the provided form.
    2. Go to the User Profile Import tab and use the provided tool to copy user information from the SharePoint User Profile Database.

    NOTE: This option requires specific SharePoint services to be available and the use of SharePoint Server or Enterprise.

Decide if resource reports will be complied on page load

Standard templates only

Resource reports on the Portfolio site are compiled, by default, every evening at 11:45 PM. Specific reports, however, provide a Run Now option in the configuration tool pane that when checked will generate the associated report on page load.

To change the default setting on a report you will need to complete the following steps:

  • Go to Resource Management in the PM Central Control panel for this site, or use this item’s action link, to access the resource reports under Resource Allocation and Capacity Planning.

  • Navigate to the appropriate report and edit the report web part

  • Check the Run Now check box

Icon-WarningImportant: Administrators should monitor pages using the Run Now option as request timeout errors can occur.

Run Now is a configuration option associated with the following reports:

  • All Allocations
  • By Resource
  • By Project
  • By Project Department
  • Allocation by Manager
  • Resource Availability
  • By Department
  • Risk Chart (accessed from the Risks tab)

    NOTE: By default, the Risk Chart is only available to users with Design permissions or higher on the Portfolio site. To make the chart available to all users, check Allow View Report in the Risk Chart configuration tool pane.

Expose the Budget Cost Status KPI in the Project Summary dashboard

Standard templates only

When Standard Rates are associated with user profiles in the Enterprise Resource Pool, and tasks are assigned to Project Team Resources, PM Central can calculate the human resource cost of the project. The calculated Project (Human) Cost can then be compared with the Budget (Estimated) Cost value entered in the Project Health list, and the budget health of the project displayed in the Budget Cost Status KPI.

The Budget Costs Status column is not displayed in the Project Summary dashboard by default. To display this column you will need to complete the following steps:

  • From the Portfolio home page (Project Central tab) edit the Project Summary web part
  • Click the Data-Viewer Web Part Settings button
  • Click Bamboo List Rollup on the left navigation pane
  • Click the Column Display Settings button and check the Budget Cost Status box
  • Click Save & Close and OK to exit the configuration tool pane

Note: The Budget Cost Status column was removed from the default display in PM Central 4.3