Rego University: Integrating MSP with CA PPM (CA Clarity PPM)

www.regoconsulting.com Phone: 1-888-813-0444
Best Practices for a Successful Transition
Integrating MSP
with CA PPM (CA
Clarity PPM)

2
● CA PPM Scheduling Options
● New Functionality
● MSP Setup Options
● Opening the Project Schedule in MSP
● Improving Performance
● MSP Prior Start, Prior Finish and Open for Time Entry Fields
● Customizing MSP Views and Making them Global
● Resource Availability vs. Resource Calendar
● Allocation, Max Units and Assignment Units
● Auto/Manually Scheduled Tasks and Peak Units – New in MSP 2010
● Understanding Task Types
● Maintaining the Project Schedule & Why Task Dates Change
● Saving the Project Schedule to CA PPM
Topics

3
CA PPM is a centralized project, resource and portfolio
management tool that can help you manage, schedule, track and
report on projects.
When Microsoft Project is integrated with CA PPM, project
managers are no longer working in a stand-alone environment.
Consistent processes and accurate data are essential in providing
accurate reporting and actionable metrics.
Overview

4
CA PPM Schedule Connect provides a full bi-directional
connection between CA PPM and Microsoft Project.
Whether you’re working directly in CA PPM or have opened the
project schedule from CA PPM to MSP, you’re always working
with the most up-to-date information.
The Schedule Connect interface must be downloaded and
installed by each user.
CA PPM Schedule Connect

5
CA PPM
Scheduling Options

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1. CA PPM Gantt View – Autoschedule
2. Microsoft Project 2007 - 2010 – 2013
3. Open Workbench
CA PPM Scheduling Options
NOTE: Using different scheduling options within the same
organization is NOT supported. Each option uses a different
model to calculate project schedules. Project data will be
different when viewing the same project in MSP and OWB.

7
Simple Project Schedules can be updated using the
CA PPM > Projects > Tasks > Gantt View.
Autoschedule can be used to update the project schedule after
making small changes to it. You can review your changes before
publishing them as the Plan of Record (POR).
Autoschedule will:
● Use availability as early in the project as possible
● Set start and finish dates based on task constraints
● Minimize the duration of the critical path, which will
determine the earliest finish date for the project
CA PPM Gantt View & Autoschedule

8
Open Workbench will update the project schedule based on the
number of hours each resource will work per week to cover the
total number of hours on the task.
● Algorithm is Resource Driven
● Open Source application – no licensing costs
● Fully integrated with CA PPM
● Training may be required
Open Workbench

9
Microsoft Project will update the project schedule based on task
duration instead of resource availability.
● Algorithm is Date driven
● Custom fields will need to be mapped
● MSP license required for each user, but many organizations
already own the licenses
● Additional MSP Training may be required
Microsoft Project

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New Functionality

11
CA PPM Release 12.1
Lookup Values can be mapped between CA PPM and MSP and
are uniquely identified by a hidden key. Lookup values are listed
in the order defined in Studio. Inactive values will show an
asterisk (*).
CA PPM Release 13.2
Projects with a Calculation Mode set to “off” can be opened
from CA PPM to MSP without the tasks automatically re-
calculating and updating the task dates.
New Functionality and Improvements

12
CA PPM Release 13.3
1. Resource Leveling in MSP is now supported.
2. Performance Improvements in smaller projects when importing
and exporting the project schedules.
Small projects are defined as:
• Duration of 3 months or less
• 200 Tasks or less
• 50 Resources or less
• 2 Summary Levels
• 200 Assignments or less
• 100 Dependencies or less
• 1 Baseline

13
CA PPM Release 13.3 (Cont’d)
3. Java Runtime is included in the download and is copied to
the MSP Interface Installation directory on the workstation’s
hard drive. This eliminates all of the issues related to the JRE
version incompatibility.
4. The MSP Interface is installed silently without any user
intervention.

14
Robert Newell
Adecco
CA PPM & MSP Experience

15
MSP Setup Options

16
From the MSP Tools menu, select File > Options and refer to the
following guidelines so MSP and CA PPM will work effectively
together.
MSP Options

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MSP Options – General
Date Format: The storage of dates and timestamps are not consistent
between tables in CA PPM. Some dates, like Task Start and Finish Dates,
are recorded with specific timestamps. Some dates are recorded as the
correct date with a timestamp of midnight. Some dates are recorded as a
“plus 1” date, which means that the date stored in the table is one day later
with a midnight timestamp. To avoid discrepancies, it is NOT
recommended to use a date format with a timestamp.

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MSP Options – Schedule
Scheduling Options for this
Project: This should be set to “All New
Projects” in order for the settings to be
effective for all new projects and not just
the one that is open.
New Tasks Created: Automatic
calculation is the preferred setting, but
it is not required. If you select Manual
Calculation, you must manually
calculate the project before saving it to
CA PPM.
Duration is entered in: Duration
should be tracked in days since this is
the lowest level that CA PPM is able to
track.
Split in-progress tasks: When
checked, remaining duration and work
is rescheduled when a task slips or
reports progress ahead of schedule.
Tasks will always honor their
constraint dates: Project will
schedule tasks based on their
constraint dates.
NOTE: CA PPM owns all “Calendar” data, so any options selected in the
“Calendar Options” section will be ignored when saving the project schedule
from MSP to CA PPM. Projects that are created in CA PPM will inherit the
correct defaults in MSP. If new Projects can be created in MSP in your
organization, make sure that the “Calendar Options” in this section match
the settings in CA PPM, otherwise, you may see unexpected results when the
schedule is opened from CA PPM to MSP in the future.

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MSP Options – Schedule (cont’d)
Calculate Project after each Edit: If “On” is selected, the project will automatically calculate after each edit.
Calculation Options for this Project: This should be set to “All New Projects” in order for the settings to be effective
for all new projects and not just the one that is open.
Updating Task status updates Resource Status: If checked, resource actuals, remaining work (ETC) and costs
are automatically updated when percent complete, actual duration or remaining duration is updated.
Inserted Projects are calculated like Summary Tasks: If checked on a master project, project will display a
single critical path for the Master Project and all of its sub-projects.

20
MSP Options – Save
Save Files in this Format: This option can be changed if you want to save the .mpp file
in a format that’s compatible to an older version of MSP.
Default File Location: When saving the .mpp file outside of CA PPM, you can change
the default location where the file gets saved.

21
MSP Options – Advanced (cont’d)
Allow Cell Drag and Drop: If checked, you can move cells by using the
“drag and drop” functionality, moving the task ids with the task.

22
MSP Options – Advanced
Show “Links between Projects” dialog
box on open: This feature is incompatible
with CA PPM external dependencies, and is
ignored when selected.
Calculation Options for this Project:
This should be set to “All New Projects” in
order for the settings to be effective for all
new projects and not just the one that is
open.
Edits to Total Task % Complete will be
spread to the status date: Unchecked
will distribute the task percentage of
completion changes to the end of the actual
duration of the task.
Calculate Multiple Critical Paths:
When checked, late finish dates for tasks
without successors or constraints are set to
their early finish dates, making these tasks
critical.

23
Opening the Project Schedule
in MSP

24
From CA PPM:
Choose either (Read-Write) or
(Read-Only) from the Project >
Properties or Tasks tab:
● The CA PPM “Scheduler
Format” in Project >
Properties needs to be set
to “Microsoft Project”.
From MSP:
Choose “Open” from the CA PPM
Integration menu:
● You may be asked to login
to CA PPM.
● Choose the project from the
“Open from CA PPM”
selection box.
Opening the Project Schedule in MSP

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When opening a project schedule from CA PPM to MSP, an
“.mpp” file is created on the local drive and then:
1. If the project was previously saved from MSP, that last saved “.mpp” file
from the CA PPM database is downloaded and will overwrite the “.mpp”
file on the local drive.
2. The MSP schedule will be updated with any changes that were made in
CA PPM since the “.mpp” file was last saved.
Opening the Project Schedule in MSP
• Actuals Posted from Timesheets
• Task Level Updates
• Project Team Updates
• Resource Assignment Updates

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Improving Performance

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How can you decrease the amount of time it takes to export a
project schedule from CA PPM to MSP?
Improving Performance
• Set the CA PPM default loading pattern to “Uniform” - which
will map to a “Flat” work contour in MSP.
• Select in CA PPM Administration > Project
Management > Settings
• Remove unnecessary assignments
• Increase the memory on the workstation to at least 512 mg
(ideally 1G)

28
MSP Prior Start, Prior Finish
and Open for Time Entry Fields

29
One of the biggest complaints from Project Managers is that CA PPM
changed their MSP task dates in their project schedule.
● When many task dates change, it’s difficult for the PM to find the
root cause.
● By default, Task Start and Finish Dates are already mapped between
CA PPM and MSP. Those dates may change as Actuals are applied to
the project schedule.
● You can extend the mapping table with the following MSP fields to
make it easier:
Start10 Prior Start
Finish10 Prior Finish
Prior Start and Prior Finish Fields

30
● The extended mapping should NOT be bi-directional. It should
be on “Export from CA PPM” only.
● When a project schedule is exported from CA PPM to MSP,
the Task Start and Finish Dates will be copied to both the MSP
Start and Finish fields as well as the new Start10 and Finish10
fields.
● The Actuals are then applied to the schedule which may cause
the original Task Start and Finish Dates to change, but not the
new Start10 and Finish10 fields.

31
The Project Manager is now able to compare the following fields
to find the first task with a difference.
Start >> Prior Start
Finish >> Prior Finish
You can then look at that task and any predecessors to see what
Actuals were applied that caused the dates to change.

32
● You can extend the mapping table by adding the “Open for
Time Entry” (Flag11) field so Project Managers can better
control what tasks are open for time entry from MSP.
● This should be a bidirectional mapping so the data flows from
CA PPM to MSP and from MSP to CA PPM.
● In CA PPM, the Open for Time Entry field defaults to “Yes” for
new tasks and in MSP it defaults to “No” for new tasks.
Open for Time Entry

33
Customizing MSP Views and
Making them Global

34
MSP 2007
Tools menu > Organizer
MSP 2010
File > Info > Organizer
MSP Organizer
When customizing views in MSP by rearranging columns or
adding and removing fields, the changes are only visible in the
project you’re currently working on.
You can copy your customization to the Global Template so all
the changes are available in future projects, as well as projects
that were created in the past.
To create a global template, open an empty project or the project that has the
customization directly from MSP…

35
Once the changes are made, you can see the active project’s
customizations on the right-side panel of the Organizer.
● From the “Views” tab, highlight all of the views from the right-side
panel and then click “<<Copy”.
● Do the same for the “Tables” tab
MSP Organizer

36
In Microsoft Project 2010, the organizer behaves a bit differently.
By default, new views are automatically saved to the global
template file and are made available to future projects (as are
new tables associated with the view).
To change this setting, on the File tab, click Options, and then
click Advanced. Find the setting in the Display section:
MSP 2010 Organizer Note
Changes to existing view
elements are not
automatically saved to the
Global template with this
setting. This only applies to
NEW views, tables, filters and
groups.

37
Danette Purkis
Chubb Group of Insurance Companies
CA PPM & MSP Experience

38
Resource Availability vs.
Resource Calendar

39
The CA PPM default Base Calendar is the “Standard” calendar. If you
have resources in different locations that have different daily
availability hours, you can create additional Base Calendars.
Base Calendars
Default shifts on the Standard Calendar represent
8 hours per day

40
To represent a 7 hour work day, create a new calendar and
choose the Standard calendar as the Base Calendar.
Base Calendars
Set the Shifts to represent the
number of hours in the work day

41
Resource Calendar
Select the correct Base Calendar for each resource from the Resource >
Calendar page.
The Resource Availability on the Resource >
Properties page will automatically update to
reflect the working hours from the
resource’s Base Calendar.

42
● Do Not change a Resource’s Availability from the Resource >
Properties page. This field is calculated based on the
resource’s base calendar.
● If this is not done properly, you will see an invalid number in
the Resource Availability field.
Resource Availability

43
Allocation, Max Units and
Assignment Units

44
Allocation (CA PPM) – the expected amount of time
that a resource is expected to work on the project.
Max Units (MSP) – the maximum percentage of
working time that a resource is available to work on
project tasks.
Assignment Units (MSP) – the percentage of working
time that a resource is assigned to work on that one
task.
Allocation, Max Units & Assignment Units

45
Allocation – Based on Percent
Allocation based on Percent:
Enter the % Allocation on the
Team > Resource > Properties page
As of CA PPM Release
13.1, the Allocation % is
“Average Allocation %”

46
Allocation – Based on Hours
Allocation based on Hours:
Enter the number of Allocated Hours by time period
The % Allocation segments are calculated on
the Properties page based on the Allocation
Hours entered.

47
The 36% comes from the Allocation %
Segment that matches the current date.
In CA PPM, it’s displayed to the
hundredths, but is rounded to a whole
number in MSP.
Max Units
Average Allocation % and Allocation Hours from CA PPM Team Page:
MSP Resource Sheet – Max Units:

48
Assignment Units
When Tasks are created and resources are assigned, the Assignment Units for
each resource is defaulted from their Max Units.
The two tasks below were entered with 40 hours of work and then assigned
to each resource.
Since Jerry’s Assignment Units is 100% on a 40 Work Hour task, the Task
Duration was calculated to be 5 days.
Sine Lisa’s Assignment Units is 36% on a 40 Work Hour task, the Task
Duration was calculated to be 14 days.
Note: The Assignment Units for a resource on a task can be changed when
assigning the resource to the task. This will not change the Max Units.

49
Back in CA PPM….
Since MSP rounds Max Units to a
whole number, the Allocation %
Segments are rounded to a whole
number after saving the schedule back
to CA PPM.
Based on those new Allocation %
Segments, the Allocation Hours get
recalculated.

50
Auto/Manually Scheduled
Tasks and Peak Units – New in
MSP 2010

51
In MSP 2010, project can schedule tasks using two methods:
○ Auto Scheduled – Task Dates are automatically adjusted based on
changes to Task Dependencies, Constraints and Project Calendars.
○ Manually Scheduled (Default) – Changes to Task Dependencies,
Constraints and Project Calendars DO NOT automatically adjust Task
Dates. Resource Calendars are ignored.
Project Managers can control the Scheduling Method for specific
tasks, as well as for the entire project.
Auto and Manually Scheduled Tasks

52
Manually Scheduled Tasks
Tasks 1 and 2 are Manually Scheduled. Duration is a text field and the Task Dates
are not populated.
Tasks 3 and 4 are Automatically Scheduled. Duration is a numeric field and the Task
Dates are automatically populated based on the Project Dates.
• Manually Scheduled Tasks cannot be Effort Driven
• You can switch scheduling modes on a task, but Project will make decisions when
switching from Manual to Automatic. For example, if text is entered for the
Duration, Project will set the Duration to a default of 1d.

53
To always open MSP in the Auto Scheduled mode:
○ In MSP, click on File > Options > Schedule Tab:
○ Select “All New Projects” for “Scheduling Options for this Project” and
“Auto Scheduled” for “New Tasks Created”.
Auto Scheduled

54
Manually Scheduled Tasks are constrained by both their Start and
Finish Dates. If a date change occurs on one of their predecessor tasks,
there will be NO IMPACT on the manually scheduled task.
If you want a Manually Scheduled Task rescheduled based on its
predecessor, click on the “Respect Links” icon on the Task Tab.
If you want all tasks to always respect date changes on predecessors,
change the Task mode to “Auto Scheduled”.
Manually Scheduled Tasks

55
In MSP 2010, when initially scheduling or later rescheduling a
task, the Assignment Units value is used, but Peak Units is used
for resource’s maximum peak units.
In previous versions of MSP, if a resource charges more hours
than planned in one day on a Fixed Unit task, the Assignment
Units would get recalculated.
At a later time, if you change the Duration on that task, Work
would get recalculated based off of the new Assignment Unit
Value, not the one that was originally planned.
Assignment Units vs. Peak Units

56
Example:
Resource is assigned to a “Fixed Unit” task at 100% for one day,
so MSP will calculate 8 hours of work.
Resource works 10 hours on that day…
In MSP versions prior to 2010, the Assignment Units would have
recalculated to 125%
Assignment Units vs. Peak Units

57
Understanding Task Types

58
MSP uses the following scheduling formula when calculating tasks:
Work = Duration * Assignment Units
Each value of the formula corresponds to a Task Type:
Fixed Work
Fixed Duration
Fixed Units
Which task type should be used?
It depends on the processes in the organization.
Task Types

59
If work hours are used to estimate how long deliverables will
take on a project based on resource assignment. All Fixed Work
tasks are Effort Driven.
Example:
● Team Leads will look at project requirements and provide an
estimate in hours for each project deliverable.
● Project Managers will estimate how many hours each
deliverable will take based on experience or a project sizing
tool.
Fixed Work

60
If Duration (number of days) is used to estimate how many hours
deliverables will take to complete based on resource assignment.
Example:
● Team Leads will provide the estimated number of days or
weeks that deliverables will take to complete.
● Project Managers will estimate how many days each
deliverable will take based on experience or a project sizing
tool.
Fixed Duration

61
If resources are managed and allocated to projects based on a
percentage of their time or if projects are estimated based on
the number of resources needed in each role, then “Fixed Units”
would work.
Example:
● “Resource A” is assigned to a project for 100% of their time to
work on tasks. It’s the Resource Manager’s responsibility to
make sure they are adequately utilized.
● Projects are estimated and staffed with one Project Manager,
two Business Analysts, four Software Engineers, etc…
Fixed Unit

62
Task Type is:
If you revise
Units…
If you revise
Work…
If you revise Duration…
Fixed Units Duration changes
Duration
changes
Work
changes
Fixed Work Duration changes
Duration
changes
Peak
changes
Fixed Duration
Work
changes
Peak
changes
Work
Changes
Task Type Calculations
MSP 2010:
MSP 2007 and prior:
Task Type
If you revise
Units…
If you revise
Work…
If you revise Duration…
Fixed Units Duration changes
Duration
changes
Work
changes
Fixed Work Duration changes
Duration
changes
Assignment Units
changes
Fixed Duration
Work
changes
Assignment Units
changes
Work
Changes

63
Maintaining the Project
Schedule &
Why Task Dates Change

64
Once a resource charges time to a project and those hours are
posted as Actuals, the Project Manager needs to frequently
maintain the project schedule.
Maintaining the Project Schedule
Step 1: Open the Project Schedule from CA PPM to MSP
Step 2: Review new Actual Work Hours to ensure they look
accurate

65
● Step 3: For Tasks that are Complete:
1. Verify that the Remaining Work field is zero (0). If
there are hours, enter zero (0), which will reduce the
Work field so it matches the Actual Work field.
2. Enter “100%” in the “% Complete” field
3. Mark the task as “Not Open for Time Entry”

66
Step 3 – For Tasks that are Complete - Cont’d
To “Close” this Task:
RIGHT WAY:
Enter “0” for Remaining Work
Enter “100” for % Complete
WRONG WAY:
Enter “100” for % Complete
Work was planned to take 40 hours, but the task was
completed with 16 hours:

67
Step 4: For Tasks that are still in progress:
• Adjust any Work hours that need to be increased
• Verify that all tasks have values in the Remaining Work
field
• Reschedule any task with a “Finish Date” in the past
• Reschedule any task with a “Start Date” in the past that
hasn’t started yet

68
When Actual Work hours are posted to projects
via CA PPM Timesheets, tasks dates in Microsoft
Project may change the next time the project
schedule is opened in MSP.
How Actuals affect the Project Schedule

69
Actuals – Same Number of Hours
Thu
1/23
Fri
1/24
Mon
1/27
Tue
1/28
Wed
1/29
Thu
1/30
Assigned
Hours
8 8 8 8 8
Hours Entered
on Timesheet
8 8
Resource submitted their timesheet with the same number of hours assigned.
Assigned Hours vs. Actual Hours:
Results:

70
Actuals – Less Hours
Resource submitted their timesheet with FEWER hours than assigned.
Results:
Since only 4 of the 8 hours that were assigned were recorded, the duration increased
by .5 days for both the Fixed Units and Fixed Work Task Types.
Thu
1/23
Fri
1/24
Mon
1/27
Tue
1/28
Wed
1/29
Thu
1/30
Assigned
Hours
8 8 8 8 8
Hours Entered
on Timesheet
8 8 4

71
Actuals – Less Hours (Cont’d)
The Fixed Duration task didn’t change the duration, but distributed the additional 4
hours over the last two days so Work is now 10 hours for Tuesday and Wednesday

72
Actuals – More Hours
Resource submitted their timesheet with MORE hours than assigned.
Results:
The Fixed Units and Fixed Work task Durations went back down to 5 days since the
resource “caught” up.
Thu
1/23
Fri
1/24
Mon
1/27
Tue
1/28
Wed
1/29
Thu
1/30
Assigned
Hours
8 8 8 8 8
Hours Entered
on Timesheet
8 8 4 12

73
Actuals – More Hours (Cont’d)
The Fixed Duration assigned hours for Wednesday went back down to 8 hours since
the resource submitted additional hours the day before.

74
Actuals – Skipped a Day
Resource skipped the last day of assigned work and then entered less hours on the day
after the task was supposed to finish.
Results:
Since zero hours were recorded on Wednesday, the task gets split. Fixed Units and
Fixed Work task types will calculate Duration without counting the days in between
the split. Fixed Duration tasks WILL count the days in the middle of the split.
Thu
1/23
Fri
1/24
Mon
1/27
Tue
1/28
Wed
1/29
Thu
1/30
Fri
1/31
Assigned
Hours
8 8 8 8 8
Hours Entered
on Timesheet
8 8 4 12 0 4

75
Actuals – Skipped a Day (Cont’d)
The Task Finish Dates all changed to Friday, 1/31 to accommodate the extra 4 hours
needed to complete the task.

76
Saving the Project Schedule
to CA PPM

77
To save a project schedule that was opened from CA PPM to
MSP, click on the “Save” button under the “CA PPM Integration”
menu.
Save to CA PPM
When the schedule has been saved back to CA PPM, you will see a
“Project successfully Saved” message flash on the screen.

78
Save As to CA PPM
The “Save As” button should only be used to save the existing project
schedule as a new project in CA PPM or if you want to copy the project
schedule to another project in CA PPM.

79
If you would like to work on the project schedule offline or disconnected from
CA PPM, you can:
Save to your Local Drive
• Open the Project from CA PPM to MSP
in the Read/Write mode
• From the MSP file menu, click File >
Save As and select a location on your
local hard drive.
• Exit out of MSP
You can now work on the project schedule that was saved to your local
drive. CA PPM will maintain a lock on the project until it is successfully
saved back to CA PPM.
When you’re ready to save it back to CA PPM, open the file, click on
“Save” under the CA PPM Integration Toolbar. You may need to log back
into CA PPM.

80
Questions
Contact US
888.813.0444
Email Contact
info@regoconsulting.com
Web Site
www.regoconsulting.com
For CA PPM and Microsoft Project
Integration questions, training needs
or for more information, you can
contact:
Rego Consulting
Lisa Olsen
Austin, Texas
Lisa.Olsen@RegoConsulting.com

Rego University: Integrating MSP with CA PPM (CA Clarity PPM)

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