Creating a project site template allows you to reuse sites that have already been configured and/or “lightly” customized to help ensure standardization across project sites, and reduce administrative overhead.

When creating a customized PM Central project template keep in mind:

• When a newer version of PM Central is installed your existing PM Central sites will be updated, but your customized template, stored as a .wsp file in the Solutions gallery, will not get updated.

• We strongly recommend that the project site that is modified in the steps below for the purpose of creating the project template be maintained strictly for the purpose of creating future templates.

How to create a template:

Step	Action
1.	Create a new PM Central project site
2.	Configure the project site to meet your business requirement. This can include, but is not limited to: Completing the sites configuration checklist Modifying the site’s welcome message Defining the structure of the site’s document library Adding new columns to existing lists Creating new lists IMPORTANT: It is strongly recommended that you review the PM Central customization guidelines before making changes to the out-of-the-box PM Central application.
3.	Select Site Settings from the Site Actions drop down menu on the project site
4.	Click Save Site as Template
5.	Enter a File Name and a Template Name
6.	Select the checkbox to Include Content and click OK
7.	Recommended: Verify that the project status in the Project Health list is not Active and enter text in the Project Name field to advise that the site should not be deleted e.g., Project Template Site – DO NOT DELETE.
8.	Navigate to the PM Central Portfolio Site and click the Create New Project… button on the Portfolio home page OR From the Central Actions drop down menu, click Add New Project
9.	Edit the page and access the Bamboo Site Creation Plus configuration tool pane
10.	Select the new template from the Site Template drop down selector. NOTE: The drop-down will display all templates available in the Site Collection
11.	From the Allow user to select the list of site templates below selector box, add the newly created project site template to the list of available site templates on the right. NOTE: It is recommended that the Bamboo PM Central – Custom Template – With Sample Data be removed from the available site templates selection in production environments.
12.	Click Save. You will need to stop editing the page to see the changes in the Bamboo Site Creation Plus web part. Additional information on how to configure Site Creation Plus is available here.

Set up PM Central

• Work through the Getting Started guide to create a new PM Central Portfolio or Stand-alone site, and create project and department sites.

General PM Central Information:

• Read this to learn about creating an optimal SharePoint environment for your PM Central sites

• Learn about the PM Central Hierarchy

• What PM Central Site Collection Features need to be activated

Explore the PM Central Sites:

• Portfolio Site

• Review the portfolio site’s Configuration Checklist

• Project Site

• Review the project site’s Configuration Checklist

• Create and configure Department Site

Configure PM Central Web Parts:

• Modify the PM Central Warning and Welcome messages

The following configuration options are available for PM Central Resource Reports.

Option 1: Generate resource reports using the System Account:
By default, all resource reports are security trimmed so users with access to the Resource Center will only see resource information pertaining to projects they have permissions to access.

PM Central provides the option of displaying reports generated for the System Account, providing a comprehensive, portfolio-wide, reports to all users with access to the Report Center.
The Report Settings feature was added in PM Central 4.3

Step	Action
1.	From the portfolio site’s PM Central Control Panel, click the Report Center Settings link
2.	Check the Report Settings check box

Option 2. Configure the reports to “Run Now”
This option removes the wait time associated with the default report generation method by referencing content from List Rollup rather than the Report Information list.

Run Now is a configuration option associated with the following reports on the Portfolio and Department sites:

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

  Important: This option can result in page time out errors.

Step	Action
1.	Navigate to the report page
2.	Edit the Report web part
3.	Click the Run Now checkbox and Save.

The Resource Assignments Gantt Chart displays information from lists that are populated by a scheduled timer job, the Bamboo Gantt Chart Timer Job, which by default, runs daily.

When the Bamboo Gantt Chart Timer Job runs for the first time, it will create the Gantt Chart Information list and extract data from the tasks list of all the projects, save the items, and display them in the report. The next timer job will extract and copy the data from the Bamboo Gantt Chart Information list to the Bamboo Gantt Chart Information Backup list, add new items to the list and then delete the Bamboo Gantt Chart Information list. The web part will display information from the updated list.

When working with the Resource Assignments Gantt report keep in mind:

• Only users with Full Control or Design permissions can access the Resource Center by way of the PM Central Control Panel.

• Assignments are only displayed when a resource has been associated with a task, using with the Assigned To or Resource fields in the task.

• By default, 20 items will be displayed per page.

To change the number of items in a page view:

Department sites allow project managers and administrators to view, track and manage a subset of the portfolio’s projects according to specific filtering criteria that you provide.

When working with Department sites keep in mind:

• Department sites will not display project information until a project site has been created that meets the filter criteria defined.

• Department sites will be filtered by columns associated with the Project Health list

• By default, you can only filter on values found in specific columns of the Project Health list (see image below). For information on how to filter a department site using the contents of a custom column added to the Project Health list click here

To configure a PM Central Department site

Step	Action
1.	Click the Configuration settings link that is available on the home page of the department site NOTE: Configuration Settings can also be accessed from the PM Central Control Panel on the department site.
2.	Use the drop down selectors to specify the filter criteria for the department site. Important: Only the Project Health list columns shown above will be available by default in the Column drop-down selector. Information on how to add custom columns to the drop-down is available here NOTE: The available operators may vary based on the type of column selected.
3.	Click OK The Summary list timer job, which runs every 59 minutes by default, will continually update the List Rollup filters to ensure the contents of the department site are an accurate reflection of the specified filter.

PM Central includes a variety of skins that can be applied to change the color scheme and style of sites, providing an easy way to customize the appearance of PM Central sites without manually modifying master pages and style sheets.

Step	Description
1.	From the site where you want to change the skin go to Central Actions > PM Central Control Panel
2.	Under PM Central General Settings, click Change Skin NOTE: You must have Full Control permissions on the site to complete this action.
3.	From the PM Central Site Skins web part select the skin you want to use and click Apply. A preview of the skins provided is available here. NOTE: The screen shot below shows the skins that are available for the Portfolio and Department sites. The Mega Menu skin options were added in PMC. 4.2.

The Budget Cost Status KPI associated with a project site’s Project Health
list can be used to provide insight into the project’s budget health if the following conditions are met:

1. Standard rates are associated with user profiles in the Enterprise Resource Pool

2. The Resource column is used to assign users to tasks

3. The budget value was manually entered into the Project Health list’s Budget Cost field

NOTE: When the above pre-requisites are not met the Budget Cost Status KPI will always be green.

Important: The Budget Cost Status KPI is not include in the default displays of Project Health information.
The removal of the Budget Cost Status KPI from the default displays was new in PM Central 4.3

To add the Budget Cost Status KPI to a dashboard display complete these steps:

Step	Action
1.	Edit the Project Info web part on the Project Home tab of the project site OR Edit the Project Summary Web Part on the Project Central tab (portfolio or department sites)
2.	Click the Data Viewer Web Part Settings button
3.	Click SharePoint List and Library if you are editing the Project Info display on the project site OR Click Bamboo List Rollup on the left of the screen if you are editing the Project Summary on the portfolio site
4.	Click the Column Display Settings button, then click the Budget Cost Status check box and Save & Close
5.	Then click Save & Close again to exit the Data View Configuration Settings screen. You will need to click OK to close the Web Part’s configuration tool page before you will be able to see the changes to the web part’s display.

Scenario

You have added a custom column, Project Location, to the Project Health lists associated with your PM Central portfolio and project sites.
Now, you want to create a PM Central department site that only displays information associated with projects that have a Project Location equal to Virginia so your Team Manager has easy access to this data.

In this topic we will look at the steps required to accomplish this objective.

Keep in mind:

• PM Central department sites can only be filtered on information maintained in the Project Health list.

• By default, you can only filter a department site on values associated with the following Project Health list columns:
  

Step	Action	Result
1.	Add the new column to the Project Health lists found on the Portfolio and Project sites. NOTE: See section A in this topic for additional information on how to add a custom column to a PM Central list.
2.	From the Portfolio site, go to Site Contents and click the Summary List.
3.	Add or create the same column that was added to the Project Health lists in Step 1 to the Summary list. NOTE: The column added to the Summary list must match the column added to the Project Health lists.	NOTES: 1.The column will be immediately available from the department sites filter settings web part. 2.The column will be populated with content when the Bamboo Summary list timer job next runs.
4.	Navigate to the Department site and configure the site by identifying the filter criteria.	The new column will be available from the Column drop-down selector of the filter web part.

Scenario

You want to add a SharePoint Choice column, Project Location, to the Project Health list and make the contents of this column visible in the Project Summary dashboard on the Portfolio home page.

In this topic we will look at the steps required to accomplish this objective.

Keep in mind:

• Creating the new column as a site column will allow the column to be managed from a central location and ensure consistency when the column is added to other lists.

• Only SharePoint or Bamboo Solutions columns can be supported as new columns in PM Central lists.

• It is strongly
  recommended that you review the customization guide before making any changes to the out-of-the-box PM Central application.

A. Add the column to the list
1.	Project Site Create the new column directly in the designated list Or Create the column as a site column, then add the site column to the designated list NOTES: 1. Keep the Add to all contents types checkbox selected if it is displayed when adding or creating the column. 2. The new column should be added to a project site that will be maintained solely for the purpose of creating your organizations customized PM Central project site template
2.	Portfolio Site Add or create the same column in the same list on the Portfolio site. NOTE: The column added to the list in the Portfolio site column must match the column added to the list on the Project level

B. Add the new column to the list rollup
4.	From the Portfolio site navigate to the Site Contents
5.	Access the PMCentralPages document library and click the ListRollupSchemaDesigner link.	You will be taken to the Web Part page.
6.	Locate the rollup schema you need to modify and access the schema’s edit screen by: Clicking the rollup’s Title link Or Selecting Edit Schema from the drop-down menu NOTES: 1. Each of the portfolio site’s data views is configured to reference a specific list rollup 2. All Project Health rollups are located on Page 2 of the schema designer. Edit the desired “destination” web part to identify the name of the referenced List Rollup Schema.
7.	Click the Select Columns button
8.	Add the new column to the Selected Columns box on the right, then click Save
9.	Click Create/Update Schema at the bottom of the page. NOTE: Clicking Preview will allow you to verify that you can see the desired column content before you save the changed to the rollup.	You will be returned to the home page of the List Rollup Schema Designer.

C. Display the new column in the data view
10.	Navigate to the web part that should be modified to display the newly added column and Edit the Web Part Make a note of the current column display order so it can be referenced in step 14.	NOTE: In this scenario the Project Summary – Active Projects data view, found on the Portfolio home page, will be updated to display the new Project Location column
11.	Click the Data Viewer Web Part Settings button
12	Click Bamboo List Rollup on the left of the screen, then click Load List Rollup Schemas	NOTE: If you do not reload the schema the new column will not be available in the next step.
13.	From the List Rollup Schema drop-down select the updated rollup, then click the Column Display Settings button.
14.	Check the boxes next to the columns to be displayed and enter the desired display order.
15.	Click Save & Close to exit the pop up. Then click Save & Close again to exit the Data View Configuration Settings screen.	You will need to click OK to close the Web Part’s configuration tool page before you will be able to see the changes to the web part’s display.