Checking out programmes from Asta Vision

If you want to work with an Asta Vision programme in Asta Powerproject, edit it and save your changes, you should check it out. When you check out a programme, it is downloaded to your computer and opens in Asta Powerproject. When you have finished editing the programme, you should check it in again. Only one user can check out a programme at any one time. If you use Asta Enterprise, you can check out programmes to an Asta Enterprise server, rather than to your computer. If you do this, programmes become available for more than one user to work on.

If your organisation uses Asta Vision Live - a version of Asta Vision that enables users to collaborate on programmes - users are able to work together on a set number of Asta Vision programmes at any one time. If collaboration is enabled on a project in Asta Vision, rather than checking out programmes individually, users can start a 'collaboration session' on the project's programmes, which other users can join. The users can work together on a programme while the collaboration session is active, with each user having the programme open in Asta Powerproject at the same time, saving their individual changes to the project. Once the users have finished working on the programme, any user working in the collaboration session can check in or submit the programme to Asta Vision - provided their access rights in Asta Vision allow them to do this - at which point the collaboration session ends.

If Asta Vision is configured to work in 'Asta Powerproject Managed Baselines' mode, if a baseline of a programme is available, it is checked out along with the programme automatically.

If Asta Vision is configured to work with global libraries, Library Explorer is populated with library objects from the global library file, plus any library objects that have been created locally within the programme. Global library objects are identified in Library Explorer with a small blue cloud on the right of their icon: A Library Explorer folder with a small blue cloud over the right side of it . You can assign global library objects and view their properties in checked out programmes and in collaboration sessions, but you cannot edit or delete them; you can only edit or delete them within the Global Library Explorer.

If a quality check has been applied to a programme type in Asta Vision, the quality check is downloaded automatically when you download, check out or collaborate on a programme of that type. It appears in Library Explorer's Quality Check library as a quality check called "Vision Quality Check", with an object ID of 999. You can execute this quality check at any time when a programme is downloaded, checked out or collaborated on, but you cannot delete or edit the quality check from the programme in Asta Powerproject; its quality metrics and 'pass' and 'fail' percentages are derived from the quality check settings in Asta Vision.

If you want to view a programme in detail without making any changes to it, do not check it out; download a copy of the programme to your computer instead.

How downloading differs from checking out and collaborating

Downloading a programme differs from checking out and collaborating on a programme as follows:

	Downloading	Checking out to your computer	Checking out to an Asta Enterprise server	Starting a collaboration session
Checking out	Other users can check out the programme or start a collaboration session.	Other users cannot check out the programme or start a collaboration session until you have checked it in.	Other users cannot check out the programme or start a collaboration session until the programme has been checked in.	Other users cannot check out the programme or start a collaboration session until the programme has been checked in.
Editing	You can edit the programme, but any changes that you make are temporary as you cannot check them in.	You can edit the programme. Other users cannot make changes to the programme until you have checked it in.	You can edit the programme. Other users can edit the programme, provided they have access to the Asta Enterprise server.	You can edit the programme. Other users can join the collaboration session and edit the programme.
Committing changes	You cannot commit any changes that you have made to the programme.	You can commit any changes that you have made to the programme.	You can commit any changes that you and other users have made to the programme. Other users can also commit changes, provided their access rights in Asta Vision allow them to do this.	You can commit any changes that you and other users have made to the programme. Other users can also commit changes, provided their access rights in Asta Vision allow them to do so.
Checking in and submitting	You cannot check in or submit any changes that you have made to the programme.	You can check in and submit any changes that you have made to the programme.	You can check in and submit any changes that you and other users have made to the programme. Other users can also check in or submit changes, provided their access rights in Asta Vision allow them to do so.	You can check in and submit any changes that you and other users have made to the programme. Other users can also check in or submit changes, provided their access rights in Asta Vision allow them to do so.

Checking out programmes from Asta Vision to your computer

To check out a programme from Asta Vision to your computer:

Click the File tab, then click Open.
Click Vision. If you are not already logged in, a button appears for you to log into Asta Vision.
Log into Asta Vision. A list of programmes to which you have access appears. You can filter the programmes that appear in the list by entering text in the Filter field, by clicking Status and selecting the programme statuses in which you are interested, or by selecting a specific programme type in the drop-down field to the right of the Status button. You can also filter the list so that it displays only programmes to which you have been assigned in Asta Vision, by clicking the Assigned to me check box. Filtering is a good way of reducing the number of programmes that appear in the list, making it easier to find the programme you want.
Click the programme that you want to check out. If the programme is available to be checked out, a message appears asking you to confirm whether you want to check it out; if the programme is not available to be checked out, you are given the option to download a copy of it instead.
Click OK. The programme is checked out, downloaded to your computer and opened in Asta Powerproject. If you have specified that a programme or baseline revision should be imported and treated as a baseline automatically each time the selected programme is checked out or downloaded, the programme or baseline revision is downloaded at the same time and appears as a baseline in the Baseline/What If Manager dialog.

If you attempt to check out a programme and you see the warning 'This programme is checked out, but currently unavailable', the programme is in one of the following states:

You have already started a collaboration session on the programme, but the session is still starting up. Wait a few moments for the collaboration session to start.
You have already checked out the programme onto another computer. Either sign into the other computer onto which you checked out the programme, or cancel the checkout.
You have already checked out the programme, but the programme cannot be located. Contact Elecosoft Technical Support.

Once you have checked out a programme, you can open and close it in the same way you would a standard Asta Powerproject project. You can open a checked out programme in the following ways:

Click the programme in the Vision programme list, on the Open tab of the Backstage view.
Click the programme in the This PC section of the Open tab of the Backstage view.
Click the programme in the Recent section of the Open tab of the Backstage view, where it appears after you have first opened it.

Checking out programmes from Asta Vision to an Asta Enterprise server

To check out programme from Asta Vision to an Asta Enterprise server:

Click the File tab, then click Open.
Click Vision. If you are not already logged in, a button appears for you to log into Asta Vision.
Log into Asta Vision. A list of programmes to which you have access appears. You can filter the programmes that appear in the list by entering text in the Filter field, by clicking Status and selecting the programme statuses in which you are interested, or by selecting a specific programme type in the drop-down field to the right of the Status button. You can also filter the list so that it displays only programmes to which you have been assigned in Asta Vision, by clicking the Assigned to me check box. Filtering is a good way of reducing the number of programmes that appear in the list, making it easier to find the programme you want.
Right-click the programme that you want to check out and select Check out to Enterprise server from the menu that appears. The Select Server dialog appears.
Select the Asta Enterprise server to which you want to check out the programme and click OK. The programme is checked out, sent to the server and opened in Asta Powerproject. If you have specified that a programme or baseline revision should be imported and treated as a baseline automatically each time the selected programme is checked out or downloaded, the programme or baseline revision is downloaded at the same time and appears as a baseline in the Baseline/What If Manager dialog.

Once you have checked out a programme to an Asta Enterprise server, it appears as a data source in the Enterprise section of the Open tab of the Backstage view. If the current programme type has a baseline, that is downloaded and appears as a separate data source in the Enterprise section of the Backstage view.

You can open and close the programme in the same way you would a standard Asta Enterprise project. Provided you can access the Enterprise server, you can open a checked out programme in the following ways:

Click the programme in the Vision programme list, on the Open tab of the Backstage view. Hover the mouse pointer over the programme to view a tooltip that shows the server to which the programme has been checked out.
Click the data source in the Enterprise section of the Open tab of the Backstage view to display the programme, then click the programme to open it.
Click the programme in the Recent section of the Open tab of the Backstage view, where it appears after you have first opened it.

Starting a collaboration session on an Asta Vision programme

To start a collaboration session on an Asta Vision programme:

Click the File tab, then click Open.
Click Vision. If you are not already logged in, a button appears for you to log into Asta Vision.
Log into Asta Vision. A list of programmes to which you have access appears. You can filter the programmes that appear in the list by entering text in the Filter field, by clicking Status and selecting the programme statuses in which you are interested, or by selecting a specific programme type in the drop-down field to the right of the Status button. You can also filter the list so that it displays only programmes to which you have been assigned in Asta Vision, by clicking the Assigned to me check box. Filtering is a good way of reducing the number of programmes that appear in the list, making it easier to find the programme you want.
Right-click the programme on which you want to start a collaboration session and select Collaborate. The programme is checked out, a new collaboration session is started, and you see the Collaboration Programmes section of the Open tab, where the programme is added to the list of programmes that are currently under collaboration.

If the Collaborate menu command is not available for a programme, either collaboration has not been enabled for the programme's project in Asta Vision, or the programme is currently checked out to you or another user.
You and other users can now click Collaborate to the right of the programme to join the collaboration session. When you do this, the programme opens in Asta Powerproject and you can begin working collaboratively on it. If you have specified that a programme or baseline revision should be imported and treated as a baseline automatically each time the selected programme is checked out or downloaded, the programme or baseline revision is downloaded at the same time and appears as a baseline in the Baseline/What If Manager dialog.

Once you have started a collaboration session on a programme, you can open it in the following ways:

Click the programme in the Vision programme list, on the Open tab of the Backstage view.
Click Collaborate to the right of the programme in the Collaboration Programmes section of the Open tab of the Backstage view.

Once you have started a collaboration session on a programme, if multiple users have been created in the programme using Library Explorer in Asta Powerproject, you can sign into the programme as a different user and start collaborating on it in the following ways:

Right-click the programme in the Vision programme list, on the Open tab of the Backstage view, and select Collaborate as New User.
Right-click the programme in the Collaboration Programmes section of the Open tab, and select Collaborate as New User.

Collaboration sessions do not appear in the Recent section of the Open tab of the Backstage view.

Once you have checked out an Asta Vision programme or started a collaboration session and opened it in Asta Powerproject, the following additional commands appear in a Vision group on the Home tab of the Ribbon:

Command	Use this command to
Check-In	Check in the active programme to Asta Vision, uploading any changes that you have made to the programme and changing its status to Checked In. If you have started a collaboration session on a programme, or if you have checked out a programme to an Asta Enterprise server, anyone who has worked on the programme can check it back into Asta Vision, provided their access rights in Asta Vision allow them to do this. When such a programme is checked in, both your changes and the changes made by all other users are checked in. You can only check in a programme that is in a collaboration session, or that has been checked out to an Asta Enterprise server, if no other users are currently using it.
Cancel Check-Out	Cancel the checking out of the active programme from Asta Vision. Cancelling a programme check out changes the status of the checked out programme to Checked In and makes it available for editing to other users. If you have started a collaboration session on a programme, cancelling the check-out cancels the collaboration session.
Submit	Check in and submit the active programme to Asta Vision, uploading any changes that you have made to the programme and changing its status to Submitted. If you have started a collaboration session on a programme, or if you have checked out a programme to an Asta Enterprise server, anyone who has worked on the programme can submit it, provided their access rights in Asta Vision allow them to do this. When such a programme is submitted, both your changes and the changes made by other users are submitted. You can only submit a programme that is in a collaboration session, or that has been checked out to an Asta Enterprise server, if no other users are currently using it.
Add Comment	Record a comment against the active programme and - if Asta Vision has been configured to allow this - attach files to the comment.
Programme Actions	Perform any available actions that correspond to workflow rules. The actions available depend on your Asta Vision workflow.
Open in Vision	Open the active programme's project in Asta Vision. You may want to do this to view details of the project, its history and its revisions.

Many of these commands are also available by right-clicking an Asta Vision programme on the Open tab of the Backstage view.