Maximising performance with large projects

If you are working with a particularly large project, you may notice that Asta Powerproject works more slowly than it does when you work with smaller projects. This is normally a result of the large amounts of tasks and allocations that are included in the project, and the number of calculations that Asta Powerproject has to make as you work with the project. You can take a number of steps to improve the performance of Asta Powerproject when you are working with large projects.

Create projects as group projects

If you are using Asta Enterprise, creating group projects rather than single projects will improve performance, as users can access projects at a lower level and access only the information they need, rather than having to access the entire project each time they open it. Note that any cross-chart links, hammocks or annotation fields that refer to other projects within a group will lessen the performance improvements that can be gained by using group projects.

Use hierarchies effectively

Make use of expanded tasks and summary tasks to divide the tasks in your projects into subcharts and summary groups. The more (tasks and allocations) you have in a single chart, the slower Asta Powerproject will work. If you divide large charts into smaller subcharts, performance should improve. Expanded tasks are generally more effective than summary tasks in this respect.

Use rollup spreadsheet fields sparingly

Displaying fields in the spreadsheet that display values rolled up from subordinate tasks can cause Asta Powerproject's performance to suffer, as the values for all subordinate tasks have to be loaded in order for the rolled up value to be calculated; also, the rolled up value has to be recalculated each time one of the subordinate tasks is edited. Examples of these fields include fields that display information relating to an expanded or summary task that is rolled up from the tasks in the subchart or summary group. Limiting your use of such fields will improve performance.

Use hammocks rather than filters to access non-consecutive tasks

There are two ways of accessing tasks that do not appear next to each other in a project. If they share a common parameter, for example a code or resource, you can filter for them; alternatively, you can add the tasks to a hammock. Using hammocks rather than filters to access non-consecutive tasks where possible will result in improved performance. Note that hammocks and filters do not share exactly the same functionality; new tasks that match a filter parameter are added to the filter automatically, but you have to add new tasks to a hammock manually.

Hide allocation lines when they are not required

Hiding allocation lines from the bar chart when they are not required can improve performance significantly. If you do hide allocation lines (via the Allocations tab of the Format Bar Chart dialog), you can redisplay them when they are required.

Hide histograms when they are not required

Closing the histogram pane when histograms are not required can improve performance significantly.

Use 'drag and drop' rather than 'cut and paste'

Dragging and dropping bars, tasks and allocations in the bar chart is quicker than cutting and pasting them. This is especially noticeable when you are copying or moving large numbers of bars, tasks and allocations.