Working with Asta Vision projects

Asta Vision is a web-based application that stores your Asta Powerproject projects in a single location in the Cloud. Each project in Asta Vision is associated with one or more programmes. For example, you might work with two different types of programme - Contract and Delivery, both progressed in parallel but with the Contract programme containing a lesser level of detail than the Delivery programme.

Programmes in Asta Vision follow a preset workflow, which is defined by a number of workflow rules that have been defined for your organisation. Your organisation's workflow may vary from this, but the basic workflow of working with an Asta Vision programme is as follows:

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 your organisation uses Asta Vision Live, users are able to work together on a set number of Asta Vision projects 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.

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.
You update the programme using Asta Powerproject and save your changes.
Once you have finished working with an Asta Vision programme in Asta Powerproject, you should check it back into Asta Vision. When you check in a programme, your changes are committed to Asta Vision, the programme's status changes to Checked In and it becomes available for other users to check out.

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.
If you have checked out a programme to your computer, you can also commit any changes that you have made to Asta Vision without checking in the programme. If you commit changes rather than checking in a programme, the programme remains checked out to you and you can continue working with it, but the changes that you have made become available to other users who download the latest revision of the programme. Committing changes rather than checking in a programme may be useful if you have a low bandwidth Internet connection, as it enables you to upload your changes to a programme without having to check out the programme again.

If you commit changes to a programme that is in a collaboration session, or that has been checked out to an Asta Enterprise server, you can commit changes while other users are still working on the programme, and all changes from all users - even changes that are unsaved at the time of committal - are committed.
Depending on the way in which Asta Vision is configured, you may be able to submit programmes as well as check them in. When you submit a programme, your changes are committed to Asta Vision and the programme's status changes 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.

At any point, you can download the latest revision of a programme from Asta Vision to your computer. You may want to do this to view a programme in detail.

You can also choose to download a specific revision of a programme, and optionally a specific revision of a baseline, to your computer. You may want to do this to view a programme in detail and to compare it against a baseline without having to check it out.

You cannot download a programme from Asta Vision to an Asta Enterprise server.

The programmes that you can access, and your access rights to the programmes, are determined by the user roles that you have been assigned in Asta Vision.

Depending on the way in which Asta Vision is configured, your Asta Vision programmes may use global libraries. These are calendars, codes, progress periods, quality checks and resources that can be stored in a global library file in Asta Vision and used in any number of individual programmes, saving you from having to set up the same libraries in your programmes multiple times.

To access Asta Vision programmes:

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.

An icon appears to the left of each programme to indicate its current state:

Programme icon	Programme state
	Checked in, and available to be checked out. If collaboration is enabled for the programme's project, available for you to start a collaboration session.
	Checked out by you to your computer.
	Not available to be checked out or for a collaboration session to be started. The programme may be checked out to another user, or it may be checked out to you but not available on this computer (if, for example, you have checked it out on another computer, or if the programme file has been moved to a different folder since it was checked out).
	Either: Currently in a collaboration session that has been started by you or another user. You can join the collaboration session, and any user with the appropriate access rights in Asta Vision will be able to check in or submit the programme. Checked out by you or another user to an Asta Enterprise server. If you have access to the Asta Enterprise server, you can open and edit the programme, and any user with the appropriate access rights in Asta Vision will be able to check it in or submit it. Hover the mouse pointer over the programme to view a tooltip that shows the server to which the programme has been checked out.
	Available to be checked out or for a collaboration session to be started; progress is being recorded against the programme.
	Available to be checked out or for a collaboration session to be started; a comment has been recorded against the programme. Hover the mouse pointer over the programme to view the comment.
	Submitted and awaiting approval; not available to be checked out or for a collaboration session to be started.
	Complete; not available to be checked out or for a collaboration session to be started.
	On hold; not available to be checked out or for a collaboration session to be started.
	Archived; not available to be checked out or for a collaboration session to be started.
	A problem exists with the programme and it is not available to be checked out or for a collaboration session to be started. Hover the mouse pointer over the programme to view details of the error.