We are pleased to announce the introduction of the latest version of the PPO application!

Version 1.3 includes enhancements relating to Task Reports, Scope Changes Report, Health Indicators Module Update, Project View Page Modifications, User Group Filters, Document History Maintenance, introducing the Quick Page Locator & Planning Toggle

Task Reports – Two new task reports were added to the application and the existing task report was modified. The existing “Task Detail Report” was improved to allow the task type formatting to be applied to the report. A “Tasks Not Completed” report was added to allow the project manager and other users to extract a task report which only shows task which have not yet been completed. In addition an “Upcoming Tasks Report” was added to allow for a task report which focuses on the coming period. The report will only reflect tasks which fall into the next Reporting Period as specified on configuration (http://support.ppolive.com/entries/21475327)

Scope Changes Report – A new scope change report type was added to PPO as well as three scope change reports. The first report will allow users to draw an “Individual Scope Change Report” which will provide full details of the respective scope change. The second report, “Detailed Scope Change Report” provides a full set of scope changes information for the selected scope changes. The final report “Summary of Scope Changes” allows for a simple report which details of the impact of scope changes on costs and timelines (http://support.ppolive.com/entries/21475127)

Health Indicators Module Update – The Health Indicator (RAG) module received an update which included the inclusion of a Health Indicators List page as well as improvements on the view page in terms of the history of the health indicator. Furthermore the Logical Access Control was upgraded to allow the entire module to be switched off if required

Project View Page Modifications – The project view page has been modified to allow for the automatic collapsing of the project information sections at the top of the report. Once the project has been approved and is active most users are not interested in the project information (e.g. objectives, stakeholders etc.) These sections will thus automatically be collapsed when using the application. Should users wish to view the information they can expand the required sections.

User Group Filters – Previous versions of PPO support a “Global Filter” (administrators function) where the application could be configured to filter specific information for all users. Furthermore users had a “User Filter” where they could also apply their own filters. This version now includes a third filter called “User Group Filter”. This will allow the application to be configured for multiple user groups and filtering to be applied to each user group. This functionality will assist in large implementation to allow user groups to be set for example geographical regions and thus these users will only see the projects being executed in their region (http://support.ppolive.com/entries/20745173)

Document History Maintenance – A new module has been added to allow PPO users to maintain history of documents after they have been loaded. It was found that users were not maintaining the history of documents which resulted in multiple versions of the document being loaded as single documents. This new module now allows the users to link these single documents together to create the required history records. Furthermore history documents can also be split from other versions so as to as ensure that documents that are incorrectly loaded can be corrected.

Quick Page Locator – Version 1.3 of PPO now includes a Quick Page Locator which can be found in the top right corner next to the print icon. Users can mouse over the icon and are presented with a list of entities (Issues, Risks, and Tasks etc). The users will then be taken to the list page of the entity selected. By default the top priority project will be displayed. Users can then navigate to another project if required. Furthermore from the list page users can view the entity view page or go to the project view page (http://support.ppolive.com/entries/21206133)

Planning Toggle – PPO now supports an extra planning mode. If the application is configured to exclude weekly, daily or hourly planning the users home page will show the tasks assigned to them for the next week irrespective of whether or not planning has been done. This will assist in implementation in volatile environments where detailed planning changes frequently. Project Managers will now only have to do their planning and then upload the project plans. The home page will then reflect the tasks assigned to the user using the “Responsibility” field on the task entity.

We look forward to hearing your feedback and providing further benefits for our future planned upgrades!