Change Details on Form Tab of Workflow Type Configuration

Use this tab to identify the workflow as one that supports making changes to cost and/or schedule data. When the workflow is used to submit a Budget Change Request or update a forecast, the changed data is entered into the Change Details view. The options on this tab control how the costs for the change are stored, and provide control over what data can be added or changed in the Change Details view.

After you have added change details to the form, PM compass will not allow you to change the control account or project. Also, you cannot edit change details in the form after the workflow steps have started.

Include Change Details on Form

Select this option to add the Change Details button to a workflow form. It allows you to view and enter changes to schedule and cost data. This option is only enabled if the workflow category is Change Management, except for the Move Work Package workflow type.

Class to Store Change Details

Changes to cost data are stored in a class to separate the proposed changes from the approved budget and forecast. There are a number of settings that are stored in a class including the correct rate file to be used for calculating the derived costs, the level where the costs are stored, if the class is an approved budget or forecast class, and so on. When you create a change request, a temporary project is created to store the change.

Each change request type allows you to identify which class will store the costs associated with a change and how the class should be added to the source project upon completion of the workflow.

Each class can define an overriding rate file used to calculate resource costs. The overriding rate file is copied from the selected class in the template project. If your projects do not share the same resource file, you may need to create different workflow types for each resource file. This is because the rate file defined in the template project class is used in the new project.

See Classes and Cost sets for a more information.

Field

Description

Select Template Project used for Class Settings

The template project is used to create the change class. When you create a change request, the change class defined in the template project is used to determine settings such as the class type (budget or forecast) and the rate file used for the change. If you want to use the rate file selected for the project on the change request, leave the rate file in the change class blank. If you want the change to use a different rate file, select that rate file on the change class in the template project.

The change class must be an unapproved class. In Cobra, an unapproved class is one that does not have the Include in Budget or Include in EAC option selected. The change class cannot use Pending Dates.

Make sure that the selected template project contains valid change classes or else the class lookups below will not contain any data.

The selected template project does not need to be visible in PM Compass, and only the person editing the change request needs read access to this project.

Click to display the Project Search Dialog Box to select from the lists of template projects. If Cobra is using a default template project, newly created change requests will default to this project; otherwise the default is the last selected project.

Change Class Options

The change amount is stored in the Change Class in the temporary (sandbox) Cobra project.  

You have two options for the change class:

Create a New Class

Select this option to create a new class with the name of the change number. This option is typically used for budget changes where the template class is an unapproved budget class with the appropriate rate file identified. This allows the changed costs to be saved into the new class without impacting the currently approved budget, the project audit log, or the work package and control account dates during the approval process. A matching cost set is automatically created for the new class. Using the new cost set, you can run a report and select any number of cost sets including the new change request.

  • When you use Copy Settings from Class, the new class is created by copying the settings from the selected class; for example, the class level (control account or work package), the class type (Budget or Forecast), whether or not an overriding rate file is to be used, and so on.
    C    lick to display the Class Search Dialog Box which displays valid classes in the Select Template Project used for Class Settings field.

  • Use Class

    • Select this option to edit a specific class as part of the change request. If the class does not exist in the project selected in the change request, it is added to that project by copying from the template project.

  • This option is most useful in a forecast change request used in conjunction with the Initialize with a Copy of Class option below. Using a specific class name makes it easier to product reports with a cost set of the “CAM’s Forecast”, for example. 

    If you select the option When workflow is complete: Add the Change to Class, when the change request is approved, the existing class data remains in the work package and the change request is added to the new class.

    Do not use this option with Add, as an Approved Class, to Cost Set (below). If you do, and there is data in the project using this class, the existing data is not correctly updated in the log. This is because the data was added to the project as an approved class and not tracked by the log. When the change request class is approved, the class definition is changed to an approved class and the change is added to the log. The data using this class before the change request was started is still in the project but now the class is an approved class and those existing records are not added to the log as part of the change request.

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    Load the Change into Cost System as:

    These options indicate whether the changes will be loaded into the cost system as an additive amount or a replacement of existing costs. In addition, specify the class the change will go into when the change class is moved into the source project. If the source project does not contain this class, it is added automatically by coping the class settings in the template project.

    A New or Change Amount

    Select this option to indicate that your change is additive. You are adding new data that will be stored in the change class and added to the existing budget or forecast. This option is useful for budget change requests because you can easily identify what changed and the changed resources can use a different set of rates. When the workflow is complete, the change request is added to the existing time phased data in the live project.

  • When you select this option, you will be unable to edit existing resource assignments. In order to delete a resource assignment, or reduce hours, you must insert a new line and enter a negative value to indicate a change. In order to increase hours, you must insert a new line and enter a positive value to indicate a change. Upon final approval of the change request, the change amount is added to the final budget. See the Activities section in Rules for Editing Change Details Data for more information.

    If the scheduler adds resource assignments in Open Plan during the approval process, the change class must be manually entered in the Cost Class field on the assignment. Open Plan assignments must be edited as an adjustment as described above.

    Select one of the following options to set what happens with the new or change amount when workflow is complete:

    • Add the Change to Class — When you select this option, all changes made will be added to the selected class. With this option, the reclass is a simple reclass to add the change class to the selected class.

    • Add, as an Approved Class, to Cost Set — When you select this option, the new approved class will be added to the selected cost set. This option is useful if the change class is using a different rate file than the existing budget or forecast class.

    • A Replacement of Existing Time Phased Data

    Selecting this option indicates that the data being entered into PM Compass will become the new budget or forecast. On approval, the existing data in the source project will be deleted and replaced with the data from the change request.

    The selected class must be in the cost set selected on the Cost Details on Form tab. In addition, the Budget Details grid on the change request form is easier to understand if you select the same class for both Initialize with a Copy of Class and When Workflow is Complete, Move to Class.

  • You cannot select this option if you select Create, Edit, or Delete Activities in the Actions Allowed group.

    • Initialize with a Copy of Class — Existing work package resource assignments with the specified class are copied to the change class in the temporary (sandbox) project. While this option has the added benefit of adjusting the existing records without creating adjustment rows, it is not possible for the changed amount to use a different rate than the original class. Nor is it possible to see a time phased record of the change in Cobra after the workflow has been completed. It is useful for updating an existing forecast. When the workflow is complete, the existing time phased data in the live project is replaced with the change class.

    • If this option is selected for a forecast class change, the data in the Time Phased columns on the Change Details Costs tab will include actual costs.

    • When Workflow is Complete, Move to Class — When the workflow is completed, the change class will be changed to the selected class.

    See Respread these Classes to Remain within Dates further down for information about how respread affects the classes.

    		•

    Schedule Integration Configuration

    When you select the Create, Edit, or Delete Activities option, Cobra’s Integration Wizard uses a saved configuration file to load data from the Open Plan schedule into Cobra. Click to display the Configuration Search Dialog Box and select a Cobra schedule integration configuration file. The search dialog displays configurations created using Cobra’s Integration Wizard and is filtered to display project data configurations for which you have view access rights. The selected file is used in the Cost System Process workflow step action and in the User-Initiated Alerts Invoke Custom Method action.

    The Change Details on Form fields and Schedule Integration cost system process support Cobra and Open Plan integration. Make sure you select a configuration that matches the settings found in the Cobra Integration Wizard Configuration File Settings.

    If you have projects that use a different number of fields to identify the control account, or have the control account stored in different fields on the schedule project, you need to create different change request types. Each change request type must specify the correct template project and schedule integration configuration. To help reduce confusion, use the Access Control tab in Workflow Type Configuration to provide access only to groups whose projects have the same (correct) configuration. This will reduce the likelihood of a user selecting the wrong change request type.

    See Storing cost and schedule change request data for details on how this selection impacts the workflow. See Cobra Integration Wizard Configuration File Settings for details on the settings that are needed in the configuration file.

    Respread these Classes to Remain within Dates

    Use this field to select the classes that should remain within the work package dates when the change request moves the work package dates. Under most circumstances, this will be all budget classes when the change class is a budget class and all forecast classes when the change class is a forecast class.

    When you use the setting: A Replacement of Existing Time Phased Data (see field description further up), you have two classes: the original budget and the change class. If you change the dates on the work package, the original budget should still have the original dates (before the change) and the change class dates should be respread within the new requested dates. However, if you respread the class that is being changed, when you change the dates on the work package, the dates on the original budget and change class both change.

    For both change class types, if you have other budget/forecast classes and want that data moved within the new work package dates, you need to select those classes to be respread.

    If you have other classes, such as original budget or funding, whose time phased data can remain outside the work package dates, you do not need to select those classes. These types of classes are typically marked as Prevent editing from Time Phased Grid in Cobra.

    Click to select a class. To select more than one class, select the first class then hold down CTRL and select the other classes. If multiple classes are selected, the field displays <Multiple Classes Selected>. Click to view the selected classes.

    The list of available classes is filtered to the classes that use the same date sets as the change class. For example, the respread lookup for a budget change class will list budget classes except for budget classes that use pending date sets.

    Actions Allowed

    Select the options that will be displayed in the Change Details view. For more information, see Rules for Editing Change Details Data.

    Field

    Description

    Create or Delete Work Packages

    Select this option to allow creating and deleting of work packages.

    Create, Edit or Delete Activities

    Select this option when you have an Open Plan schedule associated with your cost project and you want to allow creating, editing, and deleting of activities in the Change Details view. This is selected by default for a Budget/Forecast Change Request type.

    • When you select this option, the first and last step of the workflow must be completed in the Open Plan PM Compass Change Requests Add-In. If you do not have a schedule associated with your cost project, you will be prevented from using this option. If you have projects without schedules associated, you should copy the change request type and deselect this option in order to submit change requests.

    • When you do not select this option, and the project does have an associated schedule, the activities for work packages are displayed as read-only. In addition, the workflow should not contain any schedule-related actions. 

    • See Create a Workflow Type for Cobra-Only Changes for information on how to change the workflow when you deselect this option.

    If you select this option, you cannot configure the change request type change class as A Replacement of Existing Time Phased Data.

    Edit Work Package Dates when Linked to Activities

    In order to keep cost and schedule in sync when you create a Forecast Change Request, you can use this option to enable or disable the forecast work package forecast dates when a work package is linked to activities.

    If you select this option, you must run the integration between your schedule and Cobra before creating a Forecast Change Request (FCR) to get the cost and schedule dates in line so that when the FCR is created, you are editing the time phased forecast within the work package dates that match the schedule dates.

    If the work package is linked to one or more activities:

    • Select the option if the work package is linked to activities and you want to be able to edit the work package forecast dates.

    • Clear the option if you want the work package forecast dates to be read-only when the work package is linked to activities.

    If the work package is not linked to an activity, the forecast dates may be edited, regardless of whether or not this option is selected.

    This option does not affect the editing rules based on the status. For example, if the work package is In Progress, you will not be able to edit the forecast start date.

    This option is unchecked and disabled when the change class is a budget class, or if the Create, Edit, or Delete Activities option (above) is selected.

    Cobra Export Report

    Select a project-based, saved, or shared report to use as the .xls report format when you export sandbox project data from the Change Details view by clicking Export on the toolbar. For more information about configuring the export report that you need to use, see Step 2: Configure the Cobra Export Report in Cobra.

    Import File Configuration

    Select the import file configuration that will be used to import the data back into PM Compass. This file must contain the same fields as in the configuration. For example:

    • WBS

    • OBS

    • CA ID

    • WP

    • Resource

    • Baseline Start Date and Baseline Finish Date (for a budget class)

    • Forecast Start Date and Forecast Finish Date (for a forecast class)

    • Hours

    • Direct

    • From Date

    • To Date

    For more information about how this file should be configured, see Step 3: Configure an Import File Integration Configuration in Cobra.

    Change Number Prefix

    The Change Number Prefix is a three-character acronym used to identify change request. The default prefix for a Budget Change Request is BCR. The default prefix for a Forecast Change Request is FCR. This prefix is used in conjunction with the auto-generated number used to create the system-generated change number.  

    There are two different controls that link to the same field: txtDisplayChangeNumber and txtluDisplayChangeNumber. These fields are placed directly on top of each other in the Form designer. If the project selected on the form is validating the change number with a code file, the text field becomes hidden and the lookup field is displayed. This control allows you to select a code from a code file to use as the change number.

    If you modify the form and have a project where the change number is validated against a code file, it is helpful to include a code called "Unknown" so that the CAM can choose this if they don't know the change number.

    Update the Forecast with the Budget Change

    Select this option to update the forecast by the amount of the budget change.

    If the work package is linked to an activity in the schedule, the budget change amount is spread across the forecast dates and loaded into the cost system using Cobra's Integration Wizard. When this option is selected, the remaining quantity is updated on the resource assignments in Open Plan. See Change Baseline for more information.

    If there are costs entered on the work package, the budget is copied to the forecast. You need to run Calculate Forecast in Cobra to spread the time phased data within the forecast dates.

    The forecast is only updated on the final step of the workflow when the change is completed; therefore, the forecast that will be applied is not visible in the Change Details view.

    Control account level forecasts cannot be loaded as part of a budget change. After the change request is completed, access Cobra and use Reclass to copy the work package-level budget to the control account-level forecast. See Reclass Process for more information.

    This field is enabled when you select a budget change class and the Load the Change into Cost System as: A New or Change Amount option.

    Significant Change

    Use this option to set the default for the Significant Change field on the Advanced tab for the selected change request type. When the class is a budget class, changes flagged as significant are broken out and shown as individual entries on the IPMR CPR Format 3 report while non-significant changes are grouped together and displayed as "Others." This option is cleared by default.

    Forecast Baseline Options

    Select the Open Plan Forecast Baseline options that will be modified when the Change Baseline is created/updated.

    These options are only for forecast changes. Baseline changes inherit the options from the Budget Baseline.

    Field

    Description

    Ignore Progress

    When selected, this option ignores any actual start dates and progress values (for example, percent complete, elapsed duration) for activities and creates baseline dates by analyzing from the project start date. 

    If this option is not selected then the analysis dates for the baseline are based on the current project date and status.

    Use Remaining Quantity

    When selected, this option creates baseline activity resource usage values from the remaining resource requirement on the resource assignment for planned activities.  

    If this option is not selected, the baseline resource usage values for planned activity resource assignments are generated from the original quantity on the assignment.

    What do you want to do?

    Add Multiple Control Accounts to a Change Request

    Create a Budget Change Request

    Create a Forecast Change Request

    Create a Contract Change Request

    Update the Forecast with the Budget Change

    Update Forecast Baseline

    Select a cost set

    Select a schedule integration configuration

    Work with activities

    Work with work packages

    View Location

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