Planner

33
Chapter 2
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Before You Begin
Check with your ABT Results Management Suite system
administrator to ensure you have Methodology Author rights for
the project repository.
If standards are not yet in place, set up schemes for specifying
external IDs, and for naming roles and role categories.

Chapter 2 - Getting Started with Authoring34
About Authoring
What is the Authoring Component?
The Authoring component of ABT Planner lets you record your
organization’s best business practices in a custom methodology. After
the methodology is created or authored, project planners and estimators
use the methodology to plan new projects. A well-designed
methodology can speed up project planning, provide repeatable
processes, and set up standards across the entire organization.
ABT Planner provides a default methodology called the Results
Management Method (RMM). If it meets your organization’s
requirements, you do not need to create your own; you can customize
the Results Management Method or use it as-is.
When you author a methodology, you create profile pages with
questions, or factors, designed to prompt the project planner for specific
information. The answers provided during profiling can result in Work
Breakdown Structure (WBS) recommendations and project size
adjustments as well as contribute to estimating formula calculations.
When planning and estimating subsequent projects, the information
gathered in the profile pages is invaluable. It can be used to locate
A methodology is a set
of repeatable processes
and instructions for
efficiently and
systematicallyachieving
a goal. It provides you
with a standard
sequence of steps that
are required to plan and
complete projects.

About Authoring 35
projects with similar attributes in the repository for use as a basis for
WBS planning or estimating.
You can also author the WBS hierarchies, roles, dependencies, and
estimating cases your organization uses. After these are created, project
planners and estimators have libraries of selections from which they can
choose.
Who Uses the Authoring Component?
The people best suited to author the organization’s methodology are
those most familiar with previous, successful project plans. Some
organizations have a dedicated methodologist on staff devoted to
authoring best practices.
In other organizations, the person who authors a methodology may be
the person most interested in improving organizational practices. In
either case, the methodology author should have:
• thorough knowledge of the way the organization does business;
• familiarity with successful projects the organization has completed;
• knowledge of factors that affect project plan decisions;
• basic knowledge of project management principles;
• thorough knowledge of the components involved in building a
successful plan, including WBS structures, deliverables, roles,
estimates;
• some experience with a project scheduling tool such as ABT
Workbench or Microsoft Project.
For detailed information about the information that should be gathered
prior to authoring a methodology, see “Before You Create the
Methodology” on page 37.

Know Your Organization’s Methodology
What is a Methodology?
A methodology, or knowledge base, is a set of processes and
instructions for efficiently and systematically achieving a specific goal.
These processes can include a basic outline for a project plan, consisting
of a Work Breakdown Structure, role assignments, dependencies, and
other planning guidelines based on your organization’s best practices.
Your methodology provides you with a standard set of development
processes required to plan and complete projects that can be
implemented across the entire organization.
For ABT Planner, think of the methodology as a collection of global
objects and loaded methods. Global objects include definitions for roles,
factors, estimating cases, and size adjustments. Each method includes:
• profile pages that pose questions to project planners;
• WBS object definitions and their associated deliverables,
dependencies, duration and effort estimates, and role assignments;
• model definitions;
• rules for WBS objects, model and deliverable selections based on
profile answers.

Know Your Organization’s Methodology 37
See “Creating Methods” on page 63 for more information on the objects
used to create methods.
Before You Create the Methodology
This section can help you assess your needs and develop a plan of action
before you begin using ABT Planner to create your methodology.
Determine a Plan of Action
Use the points below as an outline. Exactly how you plan to achieve
your goals using ABT Planner will depend on the scope of your
customized project and the structure of the organization.
The four phases for developing an implementation strategy are:
Define your starting point as one of the following:
• the Results Management Method, ABT’s template for
Information Technology (IT) projects
• a new standardized process you plan to implement
! Perform a needs assessment and begin to develop your plan.
After you have clearly defined your starting point, you can look at
each of the following components of a methodology and decide
whether you need to create or customize it. You can customize:
• Roles
Methodology
Global Objects
Role Definitions
Factor Definitions
Estimating Case Names
Size Adjustment Definitions
Method
Profile Page Layouts
WBS Object Definitions
Deliverable Definitions
Deliverable Assignments
WBS Dependencies
Role Assignments
Estimating Formula Definitions
Model Specifications
Recommendation Rules
WBS Guideline Locations
Method
WBS Dependencies
Role Assignments
WBS Guideline Locations
Method
WBS Dependencies
Role Assignments
Guidelines Locations

• Factors
• Estimating cases
• Size adjustments
• Profile pages
• WBS structures (including dependencies and assignments)
• Guidelines—instructions for performing the tasks
" Solidify your plan and identify a team to carry it out.
# Prepare a way of distributing your standardized knowledge base.
Answer questions such as:
• Who will use the Planning and Estimating components in ABT
Planner?
• What methods should be loaded by each project planner, if more
than one?
• If ABT Repository is not being used, how will the methodology
files be accessed for use by project planners and estimators?
Gather Essential Information
Before you start using the Authoring component, you should have the
following information available:
• The project roles used in your organization (for example, Business
Analyst, Project Manager, Engineer). If you are using ABT
Repository or ABT Resource, these roles may already be available
to ABT Planner.
• The factors that are important to know for each project, especially
ones that may influence a decision of what tasks or deliverables are
recommended. For example, the type of project, such as Intranet
Development or Client/Server may impact which Work Breakdown
Structure (WBS) objects are recommended.
• The different types of estimating scenarios, or cases, your
organization uses. Examples of estimating case names include
Standard, Bottom-Up, and Top-Down.
• Size adjustments your organization uses; that is, what factors would
cause a percentage change to task estimates on a project-wide
basis?
• Whether more than one method would be useful in your
organization. For example, the Testing and Development
departments might have separate methods. One of the advantages
of using multiple methods is that in the repository, methods can be

Know Your Organization’s Methodology 39
locked individually, allowing update and creation by more than one
methodologist. However, methods don’t share data such as WBS
objects and deliverables, so it might be faster to create only one
method if the planning elements such as WBS objects and
deliverables are common to several project realms in your
organization. Project planners can load more than one method at
once; therefore, your decision of how many methods to create
might be based on the number of methodologists who will create
methods.
• A list of deliverables projects may produce.
• The WBS objects typically used for each project. For example,
what phases and tasks does your organization use when developing
a new intranet project? What are the typical role assignments,
dependencies, deliverables, and estimates for these items?
• How WBS objects might be grouped together into useful packages,
called models, for profile page recommendations and easy
selection.

Enabling the Authoring Component
Because not all users work with the Authoring component, it might be
disabled upon initial installation. If you do not see the Authoring icon
on the component selector, use the Configuration component to enable
the Authoring component.
To enable the Authoring component:
Open ABT Planner by selecting ABT Results Management Suite 5 on
the Programs menu of the Windows Start menu, and then selecting
ABT Planner.
Depending on your configuration settings, you may be prompted to
log on to the system repository.
! At the top left corner of the ABT Planner screen, click the currently
active component icon to display the component selector. The
component selector is similar to a toolbar that displays all of the ABT
Planner component icons.
I‚‡r) The component icon displayed is the component in which
you are currently working. It has a small arrow in the bottom right
corner to indicate that you can click the icon to open the component
selector.
" Click the Configuration icon in the component selector.
Currently active component icon
Component selector
Configuration icon

Enabling the Authoring Component 41
# In the Configuration window, click the General tab
.
$ At the bottom of the window, check Show Authoring Component.
% Exit and then restart ABT Planner. The Authoring icon should now
appear on the component selector.

Starting the Authoring Component
If the Authoring component icon is not available when you display the
component selector, see “Enabling the Authoring Component” on
page 40.
To start the Authoring component:
Open ABT Planner by selecting ABT Results Management Suite 5 on
the Programs menu of the Windows Start menu, and then selecting
ABT Planner.
Depending on your configuration settings, you may be prompted to
log on to the system repository.
! At the top left corner of the ABT Planner screen, click the currently
active component icon to display the component selector. The
component selector is similar to a tool bar that displays all of the ABT
Planner component icons.
I‚‡r) The component icon displayed is the component in which
you are currently working. It has a small arrow in the bottom right
corner to indicate that you can click on the icon to open the
component selector.
Currently active component icon

Starting the Authoring Component 43
" Click the Authoring icon on the expanded component selector.
I‚‡r) In the component selector, the icon for the currently open
ABT Planner component is grayed.
Component selector
Authoring icon

Overview of the Authoring Window
The main Authoring window contains these parts:
• Component icon
Click the currently active component icon to display the component
selector. From there, click the icon for the ABT Planner component
you want to open.
• Drop-down lists
Select from the two drop-down lists to view data in your
ToolbarCurrently active
component icon
Information
bar
Drop-down lists
Edit bar
Properties
button

Overview of the Authoring Window 45
methodology. Moving through the lists sequentially takes you
through all necessary steps to create a methodology.
I‚‡r) You can also use the Next and Previous command buttons at
the bottom of the window to navigate through the profiling pages in
order.
• Toolbar
Click the toolbar icons to save you steps in performing certain
tasks. In Authoring, the toolbar provides these shortcuts:
• Information bar
Review the information bar to orient yourself within ABT Planner,
as well as to indicate what actions you need to perform. The user
guide refers to the titles of windows by the information in this area.
• Edit bar
Click the edit bar icons to set up or arrange your information, such
as adding new rows or removing rows.
• Properties button
Click the Properties button to open the Properties window to
modify additional data attributes.
Tips for Users
• Tooltips
Position your cursor over icons or buttons to view a brief pop-up
description. Additionally, ABT Planner includes some tooltips for
fields, to direct you about what information to enter.
• Online Help
Click the Help icon on the toolbar to access procedure and
reference information.
New
method
Save Print Open
guidelines
Open
method
Save As Undo
last step
Open
online
help

Using the Results Management Method
The fastest way to get started with ABT Planner is to use the Results
Management Method (RMM) included with ABT Planner. You can use
the RMM as provided or modify it to meet your organization’s needs.
The Results Management Method is the culmination of years of
Information Technology (IT) development knowledge. It contains
profiling pages and recommendation rules, and provides a fully
developed WBS hierarchy, including role assignments, deliverables,
and dependencies.
I‚‡r)ÃWhen you open the Results Management Method, any new
global objects contained in it, but not present in your method, will be
added to your current library of global objects.
Accessing the Results Management Method
The Results Management Method is located in the 506?'$7$ folder on
the server where the ABT Results Management Suite 5 is installed. The
file is named 500(7+2'500. Guidelines for the WBS objects, factors,
and deliverables in the Results Management Method are located in the
506?'$7$?*8,'(/,1(6 directory.

Using the Results Management Method 47
Open the Results Management Method in ABT Planner to review it. If
you decide that it is useful to your organization, you can save it to the
repository from ABT Planner.
To open the Results Management Method file:
In the Authoring component, click the Open Method icon on the
toolbar.
! From the Source drop-down list, select File.
Enter the full path and name of the Results Management Method, for
example, 5?506?'$7$?500(7+2'500 or browse through the
directories to locate it, and select the file.
# Click Open.
To save the Results Management Method to your repository, see
“Saving Methods” on page 111.
Modifying the Results Management Method
If the elements of the Results Management Method meet your needs,
you can begin to use it to create plans immediately. Otherwise, you can
customize it to satisfy your organization’s requirements. The remainder
of this chapter discusses how to create and customize global data objects
in your methodology. “Creating Methods” on page 63 takes you through
the steps for creating or customizing methods.

Defining Global Objects
A methodology created in ABT Planner is comprised of methods and
global objects. Global objects include role definitions, factors,
estimating models, and size adjustments for use by any loaded method.
You use a wizard-like process to create global objects.
Setting Up Global Objects
ABT Planner takes you through the steps to define global objects in
your methodology.
To create global objects:
In the Authoring component, select Set Up Global Objects from the
drop-down list.
! From the Step drop-down list, select the type of global object you
wish to create. You may create roles, factors, estimating cases and
size adjustments.

Defining Global Objects 49
Use the icons on the edit bar to create a list of global objects:
Adds a new global object by clicking the New icon on the edit
bar. A new, unnamed object appears above the current
selection.
Deletes a global object by selecting it and clicking the Remove
icon on the edit bar.
# Edit the global objects by either clicking in a field in the grid to edit the
value or by clicking the Properties button to open the Edit Properties
window to edit additional data values. Some attributes for size
adjustments are only accessible in the Edit Properties window.
$ Use the Step drop-down list or the Next/Previous command buttons
to continue creating other types of global objects. For a description of
the main Authoring window, see “Overview of the Authoring Window”
on page 44.
Saving Global Objects
When you save global objects, they are automatically saved to both the
file and the project repository that you specified during configuration,
see “Configuring ABT Planner” on page 11.
To save global objects:
drop-down list.
! Click the Save Globals icon on the toolbar.
I‚‡r)ÃWhenever you attempt to save a project or method which
contains global objects which have not yet been saved, ABT Planner
prompts you to save them.

Defining Roles
Roles are generic resources that represent the job responsibilities of the
resources assigned to a project. A role defines the work to be done and a
resource identifies the individual who performs the work. Examples of
roles include project manager, programmer, and business analyst.
Examples of resources include individual employees or contractors,
such as Bob Arturo.
Roles are defined in the Authoring component of ABT Planner. In
addition, you can also define roles in ABT Resource, or in ABT
Repository. If your organization has set up roles using ABT Resource or
ABT Repository, you may not need to perform any further role
definition in ABT Planner. If you log on to ABT Repository when you
start ABT Planner, you access the same, centralized information in the
repository, and can edit existing roles, add new ones, or delete those you
don’t need. However you proceed, roles must be defined before you can
assign them to tasks in ABT Planner.
Xh…vt: If you are logged on to ABT Repository, any changes you
make to roles in ABT Planner will be reflected in your project
repository.
To define or delete roles:
drop-down list.
! From the Step drop-down list, select Define Roles.

In the Define Roles window, use the icons on the edit bar to add or
delete roles. For more information, see “Setting Up Global Objects”
on page 48.
# Modify the fields for a role, as necessary. You can modify the fields
directly in the grid, or in the Edit Properties window by clicking the
Properties button.
• ID: The unique identification code, or external ID for this role.
You can change this to any other unique (within the repository
resource list or global data file resource list) alphanumeric
sequence. It is a good idea to use an organizational system for
creating IDs for roles.You may want to use the first letter of each
word. For example, the external ID for the role Business Analyst
could be BA.
• Name: The name of the role used in your organization. For
example, Business Analyst, Programmer, Test Engineer.
• Category: An identifier used to classify roles in outline display in
other parts of ABT Planner. If you use the same category
designation for related roles, the project planner can view and
select roles more easily, as they will be grouped together in the
outline display.
• Billing Rate: The cost the role assignment incurs, based on its
unit of measure. For example, $85 per hour or $200 per day.
• Unit of Measure: Choose Hours or Days if the role is usually
allocated by the hour or day respectively. Choose Cost if
assigning the role incurs a charge based on each single use.

Choose Quantity if the role represents an object charged by
quantity, such as per unit printing costs.
$ When you have finished editing the roles, make another selection
from the Step drop-down list to define additional global objects. Or
click Next.
I‚‡r) If you have add a new method to an existing methodology, the
roles (and additional global objects associated with the method) are
automatically added to the global objects in your methodology as well.
If the method to be added contains duplicates of existing external IDs,
ABT Planner prompt you about creating duplicates. Duplicate
occurrences of global objects will be numbered according to their
original external IDs with the addition of -1, -2, and so on to designate
that this is the second or third occurrence of that external ID.

Defining Factors
Factors are information fields or questions that gather information
about projects. You can group several factors together to build profiling
pages. Profiling pages are used by the project planner to quickly create
an accurate plan from recommendations, and to provide data for future
project matching.
You define a factor before you insert it into a profiling page. Answers
and values for factors provided by project planners can lead to:
• WBS recommendations,
• size adjustments projections,
• better estimating formulas,
• more accurate plans and estimates based on information from
existing projects in the repository, and
• accurate metrics analysis.
The status of a factor can be:
• set, meaning it contains a value entered by the project planner or
other user by answering the profiling questions, or the default value
• unset
A factor will be set to the default value under any one of the following
circumstances:
• It is displayed on a profiling page and is not set by the user.
• It is referenced in a recommendation rule.
• It is referenced in a size adjustment rule. It will be set when the size
adjustment rule panel displays.
• It is referenced by a task estimating formula in an estimating case.
• It contributes to a calculated factor theat is currently used by the
project plan.

To define factors:
drop-down list.
! From the Step drop-down list, select Define Factors.
In the Define Factors window, use the icons on the edit bar to add or
delete factors. For more information, see “Setting Up Global Objects”
on page 48.
# Modify the fields for the factors, as necessary. You can edit the fields
either directly in the grid, or in the Edit Properties window by clicking
the Properties button. For more information on these fields, see the
table on page 55. For more information about using the Calculated
Factor type, see “Using Calculated Factors” on page 56.
• Name: The name of the factor. Examples of factors could be
Description, Environment, and System Life. Can be any
combination of alphanumeric characters up to 16 characters.
• Caption: The prompt or question that will appear on the profiling
pages that reference this factor. For example, the caption for
Development Cost might be: +RZ PXFK ZLOO WKLV SURMHFW
FRVW
• Type: The format for the factor’s value. Choose from the
following options or use the Edit Properties window by clicking
Properties to supply additional values:

• Default: The default value for the factor. Valid entries in this field
depend on the type of factor; see the table above.
• Guidelines: The path to the location of the file that contains
information for the project planner about this factor. Guidelines
may contain procedural or other useful information. You create
guidelines as a separate process, and type the URL of the
guidelines here. Examples of guideline paths are:
/GHVFULSKWP and 3URWRWSHSGI. The location is
appended to the base address provided; for more information,
see “Understanding Guidelines” on page 20.
$ Click Next to define additional global objects.
Type
Definition (what project
planner sees) Other Values to Supply
Text Entry Any alphanumeric entry
up to 254 characters
Default Value
Number
Entry
Any numeric entry up to
two decimal places
Integer Only?
Minimum Value
Maximum Value
Default Value
Currency Any numeric entry up to
two decimal places
Minimum Value
Maximum Value
Default Value
Boolean Check box to signify true
(checked) or false
(unchecked)
Default State (checked equals
true or 1; unchecked equals
false or 0)
Single
Choice
Choose from a finite list Choices to list (use edit bar)
Default Value (choice)
Value
Choice
Choose from a finite list;
the choice is associated
with a value, which can
be used in formulas
Choices to list (use edit bar)
Default Value (choice)
Value to use for each choice
Calculated Calculated from other
factors; not editable by
the project planner
Factors to use (use edit bar)
Weight for each factor
(for more information, see
“Using Calculated Factors” on
page 56)

Using Calculated Factors
Calculated factors allow you to combine several existing boolean or
value choice factors to build a score or sum that can be used in formulas.
For example, you might have several factors relating to the complexity
of a proposed project. You could create a calculated factor that
combined these other factors into a “complexity score,” which could
then be used in a recommendation rule, formula, or anywhere you
would use a single factor. The value of the calculated factor is the
weighted average of the values of the subordinate factors, and is
normalized to a value between 0 and 100.
Another example would be if you used two equally weighted value
choice factors in a calculated factor. If the project planner selected the
choice with highest value for each of the two factors, then the score or
sum of the calculated factor would be 100.
Likewise, if the project planner selected the choice with lowest value for
each factor, then the score of the calculated factor would be zero. If the
project planner selected a mixture of choices, the value of the calculated
factor would depend on the values of the individual factors in relation to
the minimum and maximum values for those factors.
The formula that calculates the sum uses the minimum and maximum
allowable values for each factor you choose. Since there is no way of
determining the maximum and minimum allowable values for number
entry or currency factors, only value choice factors and boolean factors
can be used to build a calculated factor.
Calculated factors are set in the same ways as regular factors. When a
calculated factor is set, all factors referenced by that calculation are also
set. However, an unused calculated factor does become resolved simply
because all of the contributing factors are set. The exception to this rule
is in the Profile Summary window. In the Profile Summary window,
whenever all of the contributing factors are set, the calculated factor will
also become set. You can manually unset the calculated factor if

necessary by selecting it and pressing Alt + F10. In all other windows,
you can unset a calculated factor one of two ways:
• unset any contributing factor.
• add an unset factor to the set of contributing factors. However,
adding or removing a set factor will not unset the calculation.
I‚‡r) The weights you specify are relative weights and do not have to
add up to 100 percent. If you want factor A to influence the calculated
value twice as much as factor B, you can assign A a weight of 2 and
assign B a weight of 1.
Creating Estimating Cases
Estimating cases allow you to create a number of different scenarios for
the duration of a WBS object (task, phase, activity). Some examples of
estimating case names are Standard, Top-Down, and Bottom-Up. You
can name the cases whatever you like according to your organization’s
standards in ABT Planner.
When you create estimating cases in the Authoring component, you
create named placeholders for estimating formulas. You can set up
names for as many estimating cases as you like. You later associate the
estimating formulas with an individual WBS object using the
Estimating component in ABT Planner.

For example, you create three different estimating cases (named
placeholders) for the methodology in the Authoring component;
Standard, Top-Down and Bottom-Up. Later, when you make initial
estimates using the Estimating component, you can enter a specific
number or formula corresponding to each estimating case for each of
your WBS objects. This makes it easier for the project planner or
estimator to compare “what-if” estimating cases based on different
scenarios.
To create estimating cases:
drop-down list.
! From the Step drop-down list, select Create Estimating Cases.
In the Create Estimating Cases window, use the edit bar icons to add
or delete estimating case names. For more information, see “Setting
Up Global Objects” on page 48.
# You can modify the name of an estimating case names directly in the
grid, as necessary.
I‚‡r) The Properties button is not available. Estimating case
information is added or modified using the Estimating component.

Uvƒ†)
• If you will be creating more than one estimating case you might
want to name the most commonly used case Standard. Projects
created from the methodology will automatically show the
Standard case, by default, in the Planning and Estimating
components.
• In the Authoring component, you enter or modify only the
estimating case names. The estimating cases you create here
are placeholders for when you later define estimating formulas
for each WBS object in a method.
$ Make another selection from the Step drop-down list or click Next to
define additional global objects.

Defining Size Adjustments
You can use size adjustments to recommend to project estimators a
percentage-based change to the work estimates. Size adjustments allow
you to set up conditions that trigger the recommended increase or
decrease, based on given factor values.
For example, suppose that in your organization there are three levels of
technical familiarity that must be taken into account: inexperienced,
satisfactory familiarity, and expert. A work group or team that is not
familiar with the technical environment may require a longer
development period. In this case, you might want to build additional
time into the length of a project to take the experience level of the team
into consideration when planning a project.
To do this, you can include a factor in your method to determine the
level of familiarity. Then you can define a size adjustment that increases
all the work estimates by a specified percentage if the project planner
chooses inexperienced when profiling the project.
Each size adjustment contains of one or more conditions. Each
condition consists of a factor, the words is or is not, and one of the
possible responses for that factor.

To define Size Adjustments:
In the Authoring component, select Set Up Global Objects.
! From the Steps drop-down list, select Define Size Adjustments.
In the Define Size Adjustments window, use the icons on the edit bar
to add or delete size adjustments. For more information, see “Setting
Up Global Objects” on page 48.
# Modify the fields for the size adjustments, as necessary.
• Name: The name of the size adjustment.
• Summary: The conditions that determine whether the size
adjustment is used. To change the rules, click the Properties
button to display the Edit Properties window. (See next step.)
• Value: The percentage value to apply in order to adjust the size
of the project. Both positive and negative values are accepted.

$ Click the Properties button to display the Edit Properties window to
modify the set of conditions used to define the size adjustment.
% On the Rule tab, edit the combined set of conditions that ABT Planner
uses to determine if the size adjustment should be applied.
• Use the icons on the edit bar to insert, remove, copy, move up,
or move down a condition respectively. After you add a condition,
choose the factor to use in the condition, choose the operator (for
example, LV or LV QRW

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