Company Planning Board - Overview

Setup required before use	Who can use it?	Where is it?
Rates Staff Timesheet Tasks Projects Sub Projects Work Breakdown	Project Manager Director Administrator System Administrator	Projects > Resource Management > Planning Board tab

Before using the Company Planning Board, the micro level project plan must be setup. The micro view allows you to setup the project plan for an individual project, without requiring to view what each of the staff in the company are also working on at the same time.

The steps to create the plan for the project level are:

1. Build a list of sub project tasks using the work breakdown structure, to create the project budget.
2. Schedule the sub project tasks to be completed at a set date/time using the project planning board.
3. Resource the project tasks, by checking the staff availability in the capacity board, and assigning a staff member to complete each of the planned project tasks.

Once the micro view of the project has been created, the planning and capacity levels can be checked at a macro level. The macro level allows managers to view all the tasks that are required to be complete for all planned projects, and deciding which staff will complete the project tasks.

1. Schedule the project tasks for the entire company or office location using the company planning board.
2. Resource the project tasks for the entire company, by checking the staff availability for the entire company or an office location, and assigning staff to complete the planned project tasks.

Use the Expand Tree button to view the Projects, Sub Projects and work breakdown items,or the Collapse Tree button to view the Projects only.

A filter is shown at the top of the projects to schedule panel to change which project are listed as available to be scheduled in the planning board. The filter options available are:

1. All ProjectsAll the projects for the selected office location are displayed. This displays projects with all of the project status options in the list.
2. Active ProjectsProjects for the office selected using the office filter, which have an active or custom active status are shown. Learn more about the Project Status.
3. My ProjectsAll projects that are part of 'My Projects List' are shown for the office selected in the office filter. This is the default filter applied when the planning board is opened. Learn how to add projects to your My Projects List.
4. Projects I ManageThe projects where the logged in user is listed as the Project Manager are displayed. The projects are limited to the projects for office selected in the office filter. Projects of all Project Statuses are shown in the list.
5. Managers Who Report To MeThis filter can be used by a manager who has staff setup to report to them. The staff hierarchy structure is setup in Practice > Staff and Application Security List, using the 'Reports to' field. If the project has a staff member assigned as the 'project manager' and is setup to report to the logged in user, then they will be shown when using this filter. The projects shown are for the office location selected in the office filter.
6. SearchThis filter is applied automatically when the search feature is used, to look for a keyword within the Project Reference Name field of the projects for the office selected in the office filter.

Click the image above to view the filter options available

Use the search feature to look for project to schedule in the planning board, by entering a keyword to look for in the Project Reference Name field in all Synergy projects..

1. Type the text to be searched for into the 'search...' box.
2. Press the Enter key to run the search.
3. The search will look for the text in the Project Reference Name and display the results in the Projects to Schedule panel.
4. The filter option of 'Search' is automatically applied when the search results are listed.
5. To return to the default view of 'My Projects' use the 'filter available projects' drop down to change the projects shown.

Click the image above to a project search

The width of the projects to schedule panel can be adjusted, by clicking the bar of the panel and dragging it to the left/right. Adjust the size of the panel to view all the Sub Project, Task, Rate and Staff information of the Work Breakdown item before it is added to the Planning Board.

Click the image above to see how to resize the Projects to Schedule panel.

Three views are available on the planning board: Month, Week and Day. The default view shown when opening the function is the month view.

Each scheduled item in the planning board displays:

1. Start timeThe time of day that the task work is scheduled to commence.
2. Display Option TextEither Project, Project Manager, Sub Project, Task, Rate, or Staff name will be shown. Toggle between which of these items is displayed, using the toolbar display buttons.
3. Scheduled HoursThe number of hours planned for the scheduled appointment.

Examples for each of the planning board views

Month View example	Week View example	Day View example
Click the image above to see the month view, with the project details shown.	Click the image above to see the week view, with the project details shown.	Click the image above to see the day view, with the project details shown.

Update the planning board to display a different date using the calendar buttons. These are shown in the top right of the planning board toolbar. Select the date that you want to be shown in the Month, Week or Day view of the Planning Board. Calendar options available are:

1. Toggle the date shown using the Previous or Next buttons.
2. Select a date from the drop down calendar using this button

Click the image above to see where the calendar drop down button is located.

Drag and drop to the Planning Board a Project, Sub Project or Work Breakdown item from the 'Projects to Schedule' panel. Drop the item onto the date/time that the work should be completed.

Learn more in the adding multiple appointments to the planning board topic.

Double click an appointment in the Planning Board to update the appointment details. The Project, Sub Project, Task, Rate, Staff, and start and end time of the appointment can be adjusted.

Learn more about updating appointments in the planning board topic.

Use the Refresh button in the toolbar, to update the Scheduled Hours total shown on each of the items in the Planning Board, and the colours applied to new added work breakdown items.

Use the 'Show projects available for scheduling' button in the top toolbar, to toggle on/off if the 'Projects to Schedule' panel is shown.

Split a long appointment and assign different staff to the task for each day it is to be worked upon. Or move one day of the scheduled work to the following week/month.

The split appointment button is located in the top toolbar. Use this button when you have scheduled an item across several days in the planning board, and you want to break-up the appointment to show as a separate item for each day it is scheduled . The split process will place one appointment onto each day the office the office is open, or create an appointment for each day the staff member works on. The working days are setup in the office and staff calendars.

To use this feature:

1. Select the item to split in the planning board.
2. Click the split appointment button.
3. A separate appointment item is shown for each day this item was scheduled across.

Use the display by buttons in the resource management toolbar, to change what information is shown on each of the appointments in the planning board. The following display by views are available:

1. By ProjectThe Project Number and Project Reference Name are displayed. The colour shown for the project is chosen in Project List.
2. By ManagerThe Project Manager assigned to the project is displayed. Project Managers are selected on the General tab of the Project. The colour shown for the project manager is the colour selected for the staff member in Practice > Staff and Application Security List.
3. By Sub ProjectThe name of the Sub Project is displayed. Sub Projects are setup on the Project > Project Plan > Sub Projects tab. The colour shown for the sub project is selected in the Sub Projects tab. If the project was scheduled at project level, the sub project name is not know, and the project number and name are shown.
4. By TaskThe name of the task assigned to the work breakdown item is displayed. The task name is defined on the Project > Project Plan > Work Breakdown tab. The task colour is chosen when setting up the work breakdown item. If the scheduled appointment displays 'Any Task' then no task was selected for the work breakdown item when creating the sub project budget.
5. By RateThe rate selected for the work breakdown item is shown. The rate is selected in the Project > Project Plan > Work Breakdown tab. The colour shown for the rate is selected in Practice > Rates List. If the scheduled appointment displays 'Any Rate' then no rate was selected for the work breakdown item when creating the sub project budget.
6. By StaffThe staff member assigned to complete the scheduled item is shown. The colour displayed for the staff member is selected in Practice > Staff and Application Security List. If the scheduled appointment displays 'Any Staff' then no staff member has been selected to complete the project work in either the work breakdown tab of the project, or within the planning board.

When multiple office locations are setup in Synergy, you can use the office filter located in the right corner of the resource management toolbar. This will update the Projects to Schedule panel, and the Planning Board to display project details only for the selected office location.

The default office displayed is primary office for the logged in user. The primary office is selected in Practice > Staff and Application Security > General Tab. Multiple offices are shown in this filter if they have been enabled for use in the staff record on the Offices tab.

Export the contents of the planning board out to MS Excel® to take the plan to a meeting, or review the details at a closer level. This report is great for management to print to see what all of the staff are scheduled to work on this month / next month, or for a project manager to view which staff are scheduled to work on their project.

Print the company planning board by:

1. Open the planning board and click the print button in the top right corner.

Click the image above to see the how to print the planning board.

2. Select the date range that you want to export the details to MS Excel®. e.g. This month and next month.

Click the image above to see the adjust the date range exported.

3. MS Excel® opens and shows the results. The MS Excel® file has two tabs, that let you see the details grouped by either project or staff member.

Click the image above to see the results in MS Excel®.

Customise your Excel template for this report

This should be done by your Synergy Administrator. Changes to the Synergy template for this report will impact all the staff that print this report. You can only have one layout for this, we do not allow for multiple layouts.

1. In Windows Explorer, open the Synergy shared directory.
2. Open the folder Synergy\Excel Templates\Resource Management and open the file Template.xlsx

Click the image above to see the template file in the Synergy shared directory.

3. View the instructions tab of the Excel file to see the rules of how to use this template, and the list of available bookmarks to use.

Click the image above to see the instructions for the template file.

4. Add bookmarks as required to the Projects or Staff tabs.
5. Update the colours and fonts as required.
6. Update the logo if required.
7. Save and close the template.
8. The next time you press print the in the company planning board the updated template will be used.

The projects to schedule panel is displayed on the left side of the Planning Board tab. The following columns are shown in the projects to schedule panel:

1. ProjectThe project number and project reference name are shown on the project grouping row. Click the arrow on the left of the project name to expand the group and view the sub projects.
2. Sub ProjectThe sub project name is shown on the second level of grouping for the project. The colour shown is chosen on the sub project tab. Click the arrow to the left of the sub project name to view the linked work breakdown items. If work breakdown items have not been setup for the sub project, then the grouping expand arrow is not available.
3. Task, Rate and StaffThe details entered on the work breakdown item for task, rate, and staff member are shown. If the work breakdown has not had these details entered then the phrase 'any task', 'any rate' or 'any staff' is displayed. The colour for the task is selected in the work breakdown item. The colour for the rate is selected in Practice > Rates List, and the colour for the staff member is selected in Practice > Staff and Application Security List.
4. Complete A check mark is shown in the budgeted column if the work breakdown item is marked as complete. The complete indicator is shown to advise no more work should be scheduled on the planning board for this work breakdown item.
5. BudgetedThe number of hours included in the budget for the work breakdown item. This is setup on the Project > Project Plan > Work Breakdown tab. Budgeted hours are shown for the work breakdown item level only. This information is not shown for the project or sub project grouping rows.
6. ScheduledThe total number of hours on the planning board for the work breakdown item. The multiple appointments can be scheduled across multiple months, and this column is used to see a sum of the hours scheduled. Compare the scheduled hours to the budgeted hours, and see if the budget is being over-delivered.

The planning board is the calendar style view shown on the right side of the Planning Board tab. Which details are shown for each appointment will depend on the view display by option selected in the toolbar. All the items listed below can be seen in the hover box displayed when you place the mouse over an appointment in the company planning board.

1. Project Number and Project NameThe project number and project reference name are shown on the appointment in the 'by project' view. These details are also shown in the 'by Sub Project' view, if the appointment was planned using the project grouping level. The colour shown for the appointment was chosen in Project List.
2. Sub ProjectThe sub project name and colour chosen on the Project > Project Plan > Sub Projects tab is shown. This information is shown on the appointment when using the display option 'by sub project'. If the appointment was planned using the Project level grouping the Project Name and Number will be shown instead, as the sub project details are not known.
3. TaskThe task name selected for the work breakdown item is shown on the appointment when using the display option 'by rate'. The task and task colour are chosen on the Project > Project Plan > Work Breakdown tab. If a task is not chosen on the work breakdown item, or if the appointment is scheduled at Project or Sub Project grouping level then 'Any Task' is shown on the appointment.
4. Scheduled HoursThe number of hours the single scheduled appointment is planned for is shown. The scheduled hours take into account the number of hours and days of the week that the office is open, and the number of hours per day that the assigned staff member works for. The number of scheduled hours is taken from the office calendar and the staff calendar settings.The number of scheduled hours is shown in the appointment on the planning board for all of the display by options.
5. StaffThe name of the staff member assigned to complete the planned work is shown when using the 'by staff' display option. The colour shown for the staff member is selected in Practice > Staff and Application Security List. If no staff member has been assigned to complete the work then 'any staff' is shown on the appointment.
6. DescriptionThe description of the appointment can be seen in hover pop-up box. The description can be entered on the work breakdown tab, or by editing a appointment on the planning board.
7. Start timeThe date and time that the appointment is scheduled to begin is shown in the hover pop-up box.
8. End timeThe date and time that the appointment is scheduled to end is shown in the hover pop-up box.