Projectmates Construction Software Blog

Projectmates Administrators

There are 3 types of administrators in Projectmates: Site Administrators, Project Administrators, and Co-Administrators.  Knowing the differences between the three can help you when deciding who should get which status.

Site Administrators:This administrator has the highest level of access in Projectmates.  The Site Admin can access any project or user on the system.  They have the capability of permanently deleting projects, changing the look and feel of Projectmates, and granting other users access to Portfolio, Bids/Planroom, Campaigns, and Site Admin areas.

Project Administrators: Each project will have a designated user who is the Project Administrator.  The Project Administrator has full access within that project.  He/She will have the ability to add users and roles, create threads, and assign rights to users in that project.  The changes that a Project Administrator makes to his/her project will only effect that single project. Project Administrators also have the ability to delete or park their own project.  When a new project is first created the Project Administrator will default to the user that is creating the project; however, this user can be changed later.  There can be only one Project Admin per project.

Co-Administrators:The Project Administrator of a project can assign one or more Co-Administrators to help manage the project. Co-Administrators have nearly the same access as Project Administrators.  They too can add users, threads, and grant permissions in the Project.  The differences being, a co-administrator cannot assign other co-administrators or change the project administrator.  They also cannot delete or park the project. These capabilities are reserved solely for the Project Administrator.

Note: The three types of administrators described above do not affect the permissions that a user has to individual threads within a project.  The rights associated with viewing and creating new items in a threads are dependent upon a user's ROLE in that particular project.  That being said, any of the administrators above have the ability to change their role in a project so that they have the appropriate rights to threads. 

I.E. 8.0 and Projectmates

ISSUE: The XSS filter feature in the new version of I.E. comes enabled and seems to distort the return images from Projectmates when a file is uploaded in certain modules. So far I have noticed this in document management uploads and document attachments to RFI and Submittals. The good news is that the files do get uploaded even if the return page is distorted.

 

RESOLUTION: If you notice a return message that is unclear or distorted you will need to add Projectmates as a trusted site in your internet options and enable XSS filter for your trusted sites.

 

An unexpected error has occurred!

Does this image look familiar?

If so, you've experienced a technical glitch that may have a very simple solution.  Anytime, you see an error like this, rest assured that it is logged and emails are sent to the necessary administrators.  If you cannot resolve the error yourself, it is best to call support, since the emails they receive have more detailed information regarding the error.  If you would like to see this detailed information for yourself you can click on the far bottom right corner of the page where the error is displayed, and select 'view source.'   Look at the top of the page for a line that starts 'Error='.  This will describe the error in more detail; however, if you are not an IT specialist, this may not make much sense to you.  To try to resolve the issue on your own first do exactly what the message suggests, and closeall of your Internet Explorer windows and try again.  If the error still occurs, this can often be because of a special character or you are exceeding a character limit on a form you're trying to fill out.  Check for any special characters such as percent signs, quotation marks, etc or especially length text.  If you are getting this error while trying to import something from Microsoft Excel, you will want to check your spreadsheet for any errors, such as incorrect date formats or empty required fields.  If this doesn't help try re-downloading the Projectmates Excel template and copying and pasting your data into it.  This can fix many formatting issues that can cause errors during import.

If none of the above help, make sure to call support and inform them of exactly what you were trying to do when you received the error.

Import a Schedule from Microsoft Project into Projectmates

Did you know you can import a schedule from Microsoft Project into Projectmates?  It's simple! Just make sure your schedule is saved as a 2003 Project file (the extension should be .mpp).  In Projectmates, use the 'Import/Export MS Project' link to browse for that file, check the box to confirm all existing items will be deleted, and click 'Import.'  That's it.  All of your scheduled tasks, dates, predecessors, baselines, etc. are now stored in Projectmates.  (Note: Currently resources are not able to be imported into Projectmates)  If you receive an error that stating 'An unexpected error has occurred!', you've probably tried to import a file that was not created with Microsoft Project 2003.  If you have the 2007 version, you can save the schedule as a 2003 mpp file and import it into Projectmates.

Now you want to export your schedule from Projectmates to Microsoft Project?  No problem.  Similar to importing, you can click on the 'Import/Export MS Project' link and click 'Export' with Microsoft Access selected as the file type.  You can open this Access file using Microsoft Project. 

Attached Files in Email Notifications

As a follow-up to last week's blog topic, 'Projectmates Email Notifications and Reminders,' I would like to make a few comments about file attachments and email notifications.  When sending any type of email notification through Projectmates, if the item contains file attachment(s), Projectmates will send a link to that file in the email.  Emails from Projectmates will never contain attachments.  This will prevent emails from being rejected due to file size or type.  If a user's username and password is saved (They have selected the 'Remember Login:' option on the login page), they will automatically be prompted to either open or save the file after clicking the link in the email.  If this is not the case, they will be prompted to enter their login information before being able to save the file; therefore, any one you are sending an email to will be required to login to open attachments.  Keep this in mind when sending emails to non-users via the Send To Email option discussed last week.

Email Notifications and Reminders

Projectmates offers numerous opportunities to send email notifications to others. Knowing the different types of notifications that are sent may help you decide who should receive them and when.

Automated Reminders: Projectmates will automatically send out email reminders to users who are responsible for completing a task once that task becomes overdue. (This only applies to tasks that have a due date)  In certain modules, such as Action Lists, Schedules, and Meeting Minutes, you can override this by setting a reminder to go out at a specified time such as 1 day before the due date.  Note: Projectmates will not send reminders if the task has already been completed.

Copy To/Notify Options: When creating, editing, or responding to various items in Projectmates, you will often be given the option to Notify or Copy other users of the project.  Checking user's names here will immediately send those users an email with a copy of the item as a notification.  This does not assign the item to that user, but strictly servers as a means to notify him/her that something was added or changed.  Only existing users of the Project can be selected.  Optionally, you can choose to 'List by Roles' to send an email notification to all users in a selected role instead of selecting individual user names. (Selecting 'List by Roles' will refresh the page, so choose this option before entering in any data into the item)

Send To Email Option: On nearly every page in a Project you will see a 'Send To' drop down in the top right corner of the screen.  Selecting the 'email' option will allow you to select users, contacts, or manually type email addresses to send emails to.  The email that is sent will look almost identical to what you are seeing on the screen at the time you clicked the send to email option.  This means that any sorting or filtering options that were selected at the time will still be intact on the email that is sent out.  This is an excellent option to send emails to non-users of Projectmates or to send emails of log pages.  For instance, you can open a Punchlist log, filter it by contractor, and then send an email of the log to the contractor(s) who are responsible for completing those items.

As as a side note, please be considerate when sending email notifications..only send emails to the people who absolutely need to see the information.  If users begin getting too many unnecessary emails from Projectmates, they may decide to mark these emails as Spam.  It only takes one person to mark Projectmates emails as spam to create a problem for multiple users receiving these valuable email notifications.

Subcontract Summary Dashboard

You may have already discovered that with the release of Projectmates Version 9.0 you now have access to a budget and subcontract summary dashboard. If not, then at your project’s home page, click on the Const Mgmt group and select Const Subcontracts (Note: The menu names could be different depending on how your site has been configured)

 

In the dashboard, you have an at-a-glance view of where the project currently resides in terms of budgeting. You instantly know what was budgeted, whether there is a variance, and the projected total. When the budget is breached, then the numbers in the “Budget Total” column turn red, signifying a problem. At the close of the project, you can also easily compare the budgeted costs with the actual costs.

 

Knowing that a visual summary is sometimes the best way to get an accurate grasp of the current situation, Projectmates also now offers charts that illustrate a project’s financial status. Located on the budget and subcontract summary dashboard page, you will find a pie chart and a bar chart. The pie chart illustrates the breakdown of cost commitments, while the bar chart shows a comparison of all budgeted, committed, and paid amounts.

Master Budget

If you need to manage a Master Budget for a large number of projects, Projectmates Version 9.0 has the solution.  Creating a Master Budget to distribute money amongst multiple subprojects is simple.  The Master Budget will even report back the cumulative costs spent within these subprojects as contracts and change orders are created.

You begin creating a Master Budget by creating a new project and selecting 'yes' for 'Master Project?'  From this project, you can setup a new Master Budget similar to how you would create any other budget.  Ass you add line items to your Master Budget you will be able to create subitems for multiple other projects.  This will associate those projects with the Master Budget, allowing their budgets to be linked.  The subprojects will not be able to budget more than the specified amount in the Master Budget, and the Master Budget will reflect the costs as they are added to the subprojects.  For complete instructions on how to create and manage a Master Budget, please refer to our online Help Guide.

Projectmates Ball-in-Court (BIC)

Projectmates' Ball-in-Court (BIC) provides a list of the logged in user's assignments.  From within a project, the BIC summary displays a list of any items that are due today or are past due.   Checking or unchecking the 'Overdue', 'Upcoming', and 'No Date' check-boxes on this summary will update which BIC items are displayed.  You can also filter items by a particular module such as RFIs or Change Orders, simply by selecting that module from the drop-down menu. 

Additionally, you can send your assignments to your Outlook calendar by clicking the calendar icon to the right of the task.  Simply open the file when prompted, make any desired changes to the task such as adding a reminder, and then click 'Save and Close'

Project Map

Did you know that you can show a map of your project along with any relevant nearby locations, such as competitors or satellite offices? With the release of Version 9 Projectmates' Construction Software has added this feature to every project's home page.  Simply put a valid address in the Project Info section to display the Project's location in red on the map. To display nearby locations, enter business names, categories, etc separated by commasinto the last custom field in the Project Info section (Custom Tab 4/Custom Field 80).  Projectmates will display the nearby locations with these specified descriptions on the Project Map.

The first time you view the map, you may have to select 'Update Location Data' to display the map on the Project Home Page.  Once this is done once, it will not be required again unless the Project Information changes.

If you would like to view the map differently, try selecting the Aerial or Hybrid views.  Also, clicking 'Full View' will not only display the map as a larger image, it will give you the option to show a Bird's Eye View or show current traffic speeds where available.