What's new

Easier way to find fields to display in the spreadsheet

Before this release, to add a field to the spreadsheet you had to first find the category of the field, then search for the field within that category. If you knew the name of a field but were not sure of the category to which a field belonged, it could take some time to find the field you wanted.

You can now find spreadsheet fields by typing a few characters of their name. For example, if you type 'per', Asta Powerproject will suggest all fields that start with the characters 'per' - or, if you prefer, all fields that contain the string 'per' somewhere in their name.

To find new spreadsheet fields using this new feature, either:

• Right-click a column in the spreadsheet and select Add Column - Search for Column (to add a new column):
  
  
• Right-click a column in the spreadsheet and select Field - Search for Column (to replace an existing column with a different column):
  
  
• On the View tab, in the View Data group, click the Add Column dropdown and select Search for Column (to add a new column to the far-right of the spreadsheet):
  
  

The Search for Column menu command launches the new Add Spreadsheet Column dialog:

In this dialog, you find the field you want by typing a few characters of the field's name. For example, if you type 'per', Asta Powerproject will suggest all fields that start with the characters 'per' - or, if you prefer, all fields that contain the string 'per' somewhere in their name. This is useful if you know the name of a field but do not know which category it belongs to.

More information on adding columns to the spreadsheet

Combine two or more filters into a single filter

Before this release, if you wanted to combine two existing filters into one single filter, you had to create a new filter and manually edit its filter criteria to match the criteria of the filters you wanted to combine, which could be a time-consuming and error-prone task.

You can now combine two or more filters into one single filter automatically. For example, if you have one filter that returns tasks that have been assigned a particular code, and a second filter that returns tasks that have been completed, you can now combine these two filters into a single filter that returns tasks that have been assigned a particular code and that have been completed.

You can combine filters when working in the bar chart and when working in Library Explorer.

When working in the bar chart you can combine another filter with the currently applied filter, by clicking Filter, on the View tab, in the View Data group, selecting Combine with, then selecting the filter that you want to combine with the current filter:

When working in Library Explorer, you can combine any number of filters together, by right-clicking them and selecting Combine Filters:

More information on combining two or more filters into a single filter

Copy and paste lists of codes, resources and users into Library Explorer

You can now copy and paste lists of codes, consumable resources, permanent resources and users into Library Explorer. This speeds up the process of setting up new projects in situations where a list of these items is available in another application.

You can copy and paste lists from a variety of applications. For example, you can copy lists in which each item is separated by a 'carriage return' from text editors such as Microsoft Notepad or Microsoft Word; and you can copy lists in which each item comprises an individual cell in a spreadsheet column from spreadsheet editors such as Microsoft Excel.

The following illustration shows a list of permanent resources in Windows Notepad:

The following illustration shows a list of permanent resources in Microsoft Excel:

More information on creating objects in Library Explorer

Pan around the bar chart without using the scroll bars

You can now pan around the bar chart without having to use the scroll bars, using a new 'hand' mouse pointer:

To access the new 'hand' mouse pointer and pan around the bar chart, hold down ALT on the keyboard then click and drag in the bar chart, holding down the left mouse button as you do so. As you click and drag, the mouse pointer changes to .

You can pan around the right-hand sections of the resource usage view pane and the Line of Balance pane, and around both sections of the histogram pane, in the same way.

More information about moving around the bar chart

Colour-code tasks in the bar chart using the appearance of resources that have been assigned to them

You have always been able to colour-code tasks in the bar chart using the appearance of the codes that have been assigned to them. Now, as an alternative, you can colour-code tasks in the bar chart using the appearance of the permanent or consumable resources that have been assigned to them. Colour-coding tasks by resource is a good way of identifying the resources that have been assigned to tasks without having to display resource allocation bars in the bar chart.

To enable you to colour-code tasks in the bar chart using resources, new Consumable resources and Permanent resources radio buttons have been added to the Task appearance group, on the Tasks tab of the Format Bar Chart dialog:

Note the following name changes that have been made to other controls in this group:

• The Use on bars radio button is now called Codes on bars.
• The Use on tasks radio button is now called Codes on tasks.
• The Display Libraries button is now called Display.

If you click the Consumable resources or Permanent resources radio button then click the Display button, a new Multiple Display Resources dialog appears, which you can use to specify which resources to use to colour tasks in the bar chart:

New Display Resource and Multiple Display Resource menu commands have been added to the menu that appears when you right-click a resource or resource folder in the project view, enabling you to specify which resources to use to colour-code tasks without having to access the Format Bar Chart dialog:

More information on colour-coding tasks using the appearance of resources that have been assigned to them

More information on the Tasks tab of the Format Bar Chart dialog

More information on the Multiple Display Resources dialog

Colour-code tasks in the project timeline using the appearance of codes that have been assigned to them

You can now colour-code tasks in the project timeline using the appearance of the code library entries that have been assigned to them. If you use code library entries to colour-code tasks in the bar chart, choosing to colour-code tasks in the project timeline as well makes it easier to differentiate between tasks, and to identify which tasks in the project timeline correspond to which specific tasks in the bar chart.

To enable you to colour-code tasks in the project timeline using code library entries, a new Code library check box has been added to the Timeline Appearance dialog, with a Display Libraries field to the right of it:

Clicking this button launches the Multiple Display Libraries dialog, which you can use to specify which code libraries to use to colour tasks on the bar chart, in the calendar view and in the project timeline.

More information on configuring a project timeline

More information on the Timeline Appearance dialog

More information on the Multiple Display Libraries dialog

New 'Displayed in timeline' spreadsheet field

A new 'Displayed in timeline' spreadsheet field has been added to the 'Miscellaneous' group of fields:

If you display this field in the spreadsheet, it appears as a check box. As well as using this field to identify which tasks are included in the project timeline, you can select the check box against a task to include that task in the project timeline, and clear the check box to exclude the task from the timeline:

More information on adding tasks to a project timeline

More information on the available 'miscellaneous' fields

New 'Task activity names' spreadsheet field

A new 'Task activity names' spreadsheet field has been added to the 'Task activities' group of fields:

This field displays the names of each task's task activities, in a comma-separated list. If you display this field in the spreadsheet, you can identify each task's activities without having to view the properties of the task:

The field displays the task activity names in the order in which they appear in the Bar and Task Properties dialog. If a bar contains more than one task, the task activity names for each task on the bar are displayed, in task order, then in task activity order.

If you display this field in the spreadsheet and you have more than one task on a bar, you will find it easier to interpret the information in the field if you display the bar in one-task-per-line mode.

More information on breaking down tasks into smaller steps using task activities

More information on the available 'task activities' fields

More information on working in one-task-per-line mode

Display dates instead of durations for milestones when displaying bar and task information in the bar chart

Before this release, if you chose to display a duration field in the bar chart - to the left or right of each task or over the top of each task - a duration of zero was always displayed for each milestone. As every milestone has a duration of zero, this information is not particularly useful; a more useful piece of information about a milestone is its date.

You can now choose to display the date of each milestone instead of its duration when a duration field is displayed in the bar chart, using the new Show dates instead of durations check box that has been added to the Task data display group, on the Tasks tab of the Format Bar Chart dialog:

If you select this check box, the date of each milestone is displayed when a duration field is displayed in the bar chart:

If you clear the check box, the duration of each milestone - which is always zero - is displayed.

More information on displaying bar and task information in the bar chart

Display the start and finish dates of predecessor and successor tasks in columns on the Links tab of the Bar and Task Properties dialog

You can now display the start and finish dates of predecessor and successor tasks - as opposed to the start and finish dates of incoming and outgoing links - in columns on the Links tab of the Bar and Task Properties dialog.

You do this by displaying 'Start (predecessor)' and 'Finish (predecessor)' columns in the upper grid on the Links tab of the Bar and Task Properties dialog, and 'Start (successor)' and 'Finish (successor)' columns in the lower grid:

You can also add these new columns to the Links tab of the properties view.

It is still possible to display the start and finish dates of incoming and outgoing links on the Links tab of the Bar and Task Properties dialog, using the 'Start (link)' and 'Finish (link)' columns.

More information on the Links tab of the Bar and Task Properties dialog

More information on the Links tab of the properties view

Classify programme revisions when committing, checking in or submitting programmes to Asta Vision

You can now classify Asta Vision programme revisions, to identify the type of each programme revision that is created. The different classifications you use depends on how your organisation works with revisions. For example, you could set up a series of classifications including 'Progress update', 'Client change' and 'Scenario planning', to apply to your revisions.

In Asta Powerproject, if programme revision classification is enabled:

• You can now apply a classification to the revision that is created each time you commit, check in or submit a programme, using the new field that has been added to the dialogs that you use to commit, check in and submit programmes:
  
  
• When specifying that a revision should be imported automatically when a programme is checked out or downloaded, you can now filter the revisions that are presented to you in the Import From Vision dialog by revision classification:
  
  

These new fields may be called something other than 'Revision Classification': their names are taken from whatever has been specified in Asta Vision.

More information on checking programmes into Asta Vision

More information on submitting programmes to Asta Vision

More information on specifying that a programme or baseline revision should be imported automatically when the current programme is checked out or downloaded

Create Asta Vision projects from within Asta Powerproject

Before this release, to create new projects in Asta Vision, you had to access the Asta Visionweb app in a web browser, then navigate to the Create Project from Template page.

You can now create Asta Vision projects from within Asta Powerproject, using the New Vision Project control that has been added to the New tab of the Backstage view:

Clicking this control launches the Asta Vision Create Project from Template page within the Asta Powerproject Backstage view, so you can create new Asta Vision projects without having to access the Asta Vision web app separately.

More information on creating Asta Vision projects

Retain implied links between tasks on the same bar when exporting projects into XER format

Before this release, if you exported a project to Primavera software in XER format and chose to create a work breakdown structure in the exported project based on the project's WBS, rather than based on the natural order hierarchy of charts and summary groups, implied links between tasks on the same bar were lost in the resulting file.

A new Export implied bar links for WBS hierarchy check box has been added to the Primavera XML & XER Export Options dialog. If you select this check box, which becomes available if you choose to create a work breakdown structure in the exported project based on the project's WBS, links are created between tasks that are located on the same bar in the exported project, which capture the link logic of the 'implied links' between the tasks on the bar:

If you clear this check box, these links are not created between tasks that are located on the same bar. This enables you to export projects using the behaviour as it used to be before this release.

If a bar is configured to allow the tasks on that bar to overlap, no links between the tasks on that bar are created in the exported project, regardless of whether the Export implied bar links for WBS hierarchy check box is selected.

More information on exporting projects to Primavera software

More information on setting up a work breakdown structure (WBS)

More information on implied links

More information on specifying that tasks on a bar can overlap

Enable federation for Asta Siteprogress Mobile to allow users to sign in using their Microsoft Entra ID credentials

You can now enable federation for Asta Siteprogress Mobile, which allows users to sign in using their Microsoft Entra ID credentials.

There are three main advantages to this:

• If a user leaves your organisation, you no longer need to remember to edit their user record in Asta Siteprogress Mobile configuration and change their user name and password to prevent them from accessing Asta Siteprogress Mobile; as soon as their Microsoft Entra ID account is disabled, they are automatically denied access to Asta Siteprogress Mobile.
• If your organisation mandates the use of multi-factor authentication, you can implement this using Microsoft Entra ID and it will apply automatically to Asta Siteprogress Mobile.
• Elecosoft will be implementing federated authentication across their range of software products, to enable users to sign into a range of Elecosoft apps using the same credentials.

You enable federation and specify the domains that you use using the new Federation tab that has been added to the Site Progress Settings dialog:

More information on enabling users to sign into Asta Siteprogress Mobile using their Microsoft Entra ID credentials

Include information only from allocations that meet the criteria of the selected allocation-based filter in histograms

Before this release, if you graphed resource or cost information in a histogram and applied an allocation-based filter to the histogram, information from allocations that did not meet the filter criteria, but that were assigned to tasks with allocations that did meet the filter criteria, was included in the histogram.

To illustrate this, the following view contains two tasks:

• 'Task 1', which has two permanent resource allocations to which a 'Yellow' code has been assigned. Each allocation has 37h 30m effort.
• 'Task 2', which has one permanent resource allocation to which the 'Yellow' code has been assigned, and one permanent resource allocation to which a 'Blue' code has been assigned. Each allocation has 37h 30m effort.

A histogram graphs effort from the permanent resource allocations in the view. A permanent resource allocation filter has been applied to the graph (but not to the view), which filters for permanent allocations with a 'Yellow' code assigned to them:

The histogram includes information from both the permanent resource allocations on Task 1, as the 'Yellow' code has been assigned to both allocations. The histogram also includes information from both the permanent resource allocations on Task 2, even though the 'Yellow' code has only been assigned to one of the allocations. Because the 'Yellow' code has been assigned to one of Task 2's allocations, information from all of Task 2's allocations is included in the histogram.

You can now specify that only information from allocations that meet the criteria of an allocation-based filter is included in a histogram, using the new Filter individual allocations check box that has been added to the Report tab of the Histogram Report Properties dialog:

With this check box cleared, the histogram appears as in the above illustration: information from all of Task 2's allocations is included in the histogram, even though only one of the allocations meets the filter criteria. This is the behaviour that always applied before this release.

With this check box selected, the histogram appears as follows:

Now, the histogram only includes information from one of the permanent resource allocations on Task 2 - the one to which the 'Yellow' code has been assigned. Information from any of Task 2's allocations that do not meet the filter criteria is excluded.

Although the example above uses permanent resource allocations, the new check box also applies to histograms that graph consumable allocation and cost allocation information, and to which a consumable resource allocation filter or a cost allocation filter has been applied.

You may find it helpful to use this new check box in conjunction with the Show only relevant allocations check box, on the Filter Properties dialog, which you can use to omit all allocations that do not meet the filter criteria from the bar chart in a filtered view.

More information on editing histogram report options

Check resource availability when changing the details of a task's resource allocations

Before this release, you could configure Asta Powerproject to check the availability of resources when creating new resource allocations. Now, you can also configure Asta Powerproject to check the availability of resources when you change the details of a task's resource allocations. You do this by selecting the Show overallocation when allocations change check box that has been added to the Assign tab of the Options dialog:

If you select this check box, the popup that appears if you select 'Assignment only' or 'Show alternatives' in the Overallocation check field also appears in the following circumstances:

• When you create new resource allocations.
• When the start or finish date of a resource allocation is changed.
• When a resource's calendar is changed.
• When a resource's quantity or allocation amount is changed.
• When a resource's nonlinear type or resource curve is changed.
• When a resource is reassigned to an allocation.

More information on checking resource availability

Display the availability of permanent resources in resource assignment menus

You can now configure Asta Powerproject to show the availability of permanent resources in the right-click Assign, Reassign and Specialise menus that you can use to assign permanent resources to tasks. You do this by selecting the Show availability in resource assignment menus check box that has been added to the Assign tab of the Options dialog:

If you select this check box, the availability of each individual permanent resource for the duration of the relevant task is displayed, in percentage terms, to the right of the resource name on the assignment menus. This can help you to identify which resources are available to work on tasks, given their current start and finish dates.

More information on checking resource availability

Specify whether users can edit the allocations of specific resources and cost centres

Before this release, although you could specify whether users could edit specific permanent resources, consumable resources and cost centres, it was not possible to specify whether they could edit the allocations of specific resources or cost centres. The only way you could specify whether users could edit allocations was by setting chart access rights, which applied to all allocations in a chart, regardless of their resource or cost centre.

You can now specify whether users can edit the allocations of specific permanent resources, consumable resources, or cost centres, using the new Edit Assignments check box that has been added to the Library Access Rights tab of the Security Group Properties dialog:

You can use this check box to prevent members of a security group from being able to edit the allocations of specific permanent resources, consumable resources or cost centres, even if they are able to edit the resources or cost centres themselves. If the members of the security group do not have 'Modify' rights over a type of allocation in a particular chart or summary group (as specified on the Chart Access Rights tab of the dialog), they cannot edit an allocation in that chart or summary group, even if the Edit Assignments check box is selected for the resource or cost centre in question.

If you clear the Edit Assignments check box, members of the security group cannot edit allocations of the selected resource or cost centre, even if they have been given 'Modify' rights over allocations in one or more charts or summary groups. With the check box cleared, users can still delete or reassign allocations, or switch the allocation type between 'demand' and 'scheduled' - these actions are covered by the Unassign check box the Library Access Rights tab of the Security Group Properties dialog.

More information on specifying user access rights

Fewer access rights needed to edit the allocations of permanent resources

Before this release, it was not possible to edit permanent resource allocations in a chart or summary group unless you also had 'Modify' permissions over the chart or summary group's bars and tasks. This restriction had been put in place because changing the finish date of an allocation could cause the finish date of the task to change.

This restriction was felt to be too severe, as there are many allocation edits you can make that do not impact the finish date of the task.

Now, you no longer need 'Modify' permissions over a chart or summary group's bars and tasks to edit permanent resource allocations - or any other allocations in that chart or summary group. The ability to edit allocations is now determined by allocation 'Modify' permissions for the chart or summary group, and by the new Edit Assignments check box that has been added to the Library Access Rights tab of the Security Group Properties dialog (see above).

However, if you edit an allocation in such a way that would cause the finish date of the task to change, your edit will fail if you do not have 'Modify' permissions over the chart or summary group's bars and tasks. This includes edits such as:

• Dragging and resizing allocations in the bar chart.
• Editing allocation properties such as duration, effort, the 'may be shorter than task' setting and modelling parameters.
• Editing allocations using the spreadsheet and Object Edit toolbar.

More information on specifying user access rights

Satisfy demand allocations with scheduled allocations of resources with a different skill

Before this release, if you worked with demand and scheduled resources, it was only possible to satisfy a demand allocation with a scheduled allocation of a resource with the correct skill - ie with an allocation of a resource that belongs to the resource folder specified by the demand allocation. For example, if you had two resource folders - 'Carpenters' and 'Electricians' - and you created a demand allocation by assigning the 'Carpenters' resource folder to a task, you could only satisfy that demand allocation with one of the resources in the 'Carpenters' resource folder.

It is now possible to satisfy demand allocations with scheduled allocations of resources with any skill - ie with allocations of resources that belong in any resource folder, not just the one specified by the demand allocation. This means that you can now satisfy a demand allocation for a 'Carpenters' resource with a scheduled allocation from any other folder - for example, from the 'Electricians' resource folder. Allowing demand allocations to be satisfied with resources of any skill may suit you if you have structured your resources in such a way that demand allocations originate from one branch of the resource hierarchy, and the resources that satisfy these demand allocations are located in a completely different branch.

To enable this new feature, a new Allow demand allocations to be satisfied with any skill check box has been added to the Assign tab of the Options dialog:

Select this check box to enable the new feature, or clear it to specify that demand allocations can only be satisfied with a scheduled allocation of a resource with the correct skill - ie with an allocation of a resource that belongs to the resource folder specified by the demand allocation.

If you allow demand allocations to be satisfied with resources of any skill, you can only satisfy demand allocations with resources from a different folder by dragging and dropping resources onto the demand allocation, or using the OLE interface: if you right-click the demand allocation and select Satisfy Demand from the menu that appears, only resources from the folder corresponding to the demand allocation are shown.

More information on satisfying demand allocations

Retain allocation profile of nonlinear allocations when adding and removing progress

Before this release, once you applied progress to a nonlinear allocation - ie one to which a resource curve or individual allocation profile had been assigned - although the completed section contained the correct total effort, quantity or cost, the effort, quantity or cost was no longer distributed according to the resource curve or allocation profile; the completed section contained average values, and the profile on the Nonlinear Assignment tab of the Resource Properties dialog displayed zero values for the completed section. This 'flattening' of the resource curve or allocation profile also affected the resource usage view, histograms and time-phased spreadsheet fields:

Also, if you removed progress from a nonlinear allocation to which an individual allocation profile had been assigned, the shape of the allocation profile was lost for the section of the allocation from which progress was being removed, unless the progress was removed using Asta Powerproject's Undo feature. For example, you had progressed an allocation up to 50% complete, then changed the progress to just 20% complete, the shape of the allocation profile would be flattened between 20% and 50%. This proved to be a problem for customers who reuse schedules for multiple projects, and who remove progress from allocations in a schedule when one project is complete before reusing the schedule for another project.

You can now specify how effort, quantity or cost is distributed in completed sections when progress is applied to nonlinear allocations, using the Maintain allocation profiles on progress check box that has been added to the Progress tab of the Options dialog:

• If you select this check box, when you apply progress to a nonlinear allocation, the effort, quantity or cost in the completed section is distributed according to the resource curve or allocation profile that has been assigned to the allocation, and the profile on the Nonlinear Assignment tab of the Resource Properties dialog displays correct values for the completed section. This is illustrated below, where 40% progress has been recorded against the task:
  
  
• If you clear this check box, when you apply progress to a nonlinear allocation, although the completed section contains the correct total planned effort, quantity or cost, the effort, quantity or cost is not distributed according to the resource curve or allocation profile; the completed section contains average values, and the profile on the Nonlinear Assignment tab of the Resource Properties dialog displays zero values for the completed section. This is illustrated below, where 40% progress has been recorded against the task:
  
  

If you now remove progress from a nonlinear allocation to which an individual allocation profile had been assigned, the shape of the allocation profile is now retained for the section of the allocation from which progress was being removed - unless the progress had been recorded in an earlier version of Asta Powerproject.

More information on working with nonlinear allocations and resource curves

Specify a foreground colour to apply to baselines by default

You can now specify which foreground colour to apply to baseline tasks and allocations by default, using the Default baseline colour field that has been added to the General tab of the Options dialog:

The colour you select in this field is applied to all baselines that you create or import from that point onwards - including any baselines that are downloaded from Asta Vision when you check out or download an Asta Vision programme.

If you want to change the foreground colour of individual baselines, you can do this by selecting the baseline in the Baseline/What If Manager dialog and selecting a different foreground colour in the Appearance fields.

More information on setting baseline display options

Display only programmes you have been assigned to in the Asta Vision programme list

You can now filter the list of Asta Vision programmes that appears on the Open tab of the Backstage view so that it displays only programmes to which you have been assigned in Asta Vision. You do this using the Assigned to me check box, which now appears immediately above the Asta Vision programme list:

Filtering the list in this way makes it easier to find the programme you want.

More information on opening Asta Vision programmes

Open projects in Asta Vision using a new Ribbon command

When working with an Asta Vision programme in Asta Powerproject, you can now open the programme's project in Asta Vision, using the new Open in Vision command that has been added to the Home tab of the Ribbon:

More information on working with Asta Vision projects

Perform Asta Vision workflow actions by right-clicking programmes in the Backstage view

Before this release, you could perform Asta Vision workflow actions on Asta Vision programmes using the Programme Actions drop-down, which appears on the Home tab of the Ribbon when you check out a programme or join a collaboration session.

Now, you can also perform Asta Vision workflow actions by right-clicking an Asta Vision programme on the Open tab of the Backstage view and selecting Programme Actions:

More information on working with Asta Vision projects

Collaborate on Asta Vision Live programmes as a different user

If you use Asta Vision Live to manage your programmes and you create a number of different users within individual programmes using Asta Powerproject's Library Explorer, you can choose to collaborate on a programme by signing into the programme as a different user. This enables you to switch between different users when collaborating on Asta Vision Live programmes.

To sign into and collaborate on an Asta Vision Live programme as a different Asta Powerproject user, once a collaboration session has been started on the programme, right-click the programme in the Vision programme list, on the Open tab of the Backstage view, and select Collaborate as New User:

You can also right-click the programme in the Collaboration Programmes section of the Open tab, and select Collaborate as New User:

When you do this, a dialog appears, allowing you to sign into the programme as a different Asta Powerproject user, and collaborate on it.

More information on collaborating on Asta Vision programmes

Commit, check in and submit Asta Vision Live programmes even if you did not start the collaboration session

Before this release, only the user that started a collaboration session on an Asta Vision Live programme - or who checked out an Asta Vision programme to an Asta Enterprise server - was able to commit, check in or submit changes to the programme. Now, any user who has worked on such a programme is able to commit, check in or submit the programme, provided their Asta Vision access rights allow them to do so.

More information on collaborating on Asta Vision programmes

Specify that a programme or baseline revision should be imported automatically when the current Asta Vision programme is checked out or downloaded

You can specify that a programme or baseline revision should be imported and treated as a baseline automatically each time the current Asta Vision programme is checked out or downloaded. This saves you from having to import the programme or baseline revision manually each time.

You do this using the new Always download this baseline check box that has been added to the Import From Vision dialog:

A graphical indicator - - is displayed in the Name column in the Baseline/What If Manager dialog for any baselines that are imported automatically when the current programme is checked out or downloaded.

More information on specifying that a programme or baseline revision should be imported automatically when the current programme is checked out or downloaded

Specify which font to use in the project timeline

You can now specify the font, style, size and colour of the text in the project timeline, using the Change Font button that has been added to the Timeline Appearance dialog:

The font settings you select are previewed to the right of the Change Font button, and are applied to the project timeline when you click OK.

More information on configuring the project timeline

Hiding and showing bars and tasks in a project now affects the project timeline

Before this release, if you marked one or more bars or tasks for hiding and hid them, they were hidden from the bar chart but they still appeared in the project timeline. Now, bars and tasks that are marked for hiding are hidden from the project timeline as well as from the bar chart.

More information on hiding and showing bars and tasks in a project

Enable different users to collaborate on projects in real time using Asta Vision Live

Before this release, if you wanted to enable different users to collaborate on projects in real time, you had to use Asta Enterprise, which involved setting up and maintaining an Asta Enterprise server to which Asta Powerproject clients could connect. Now, you can enable users to collaborate on projects in real time using Asta Vision Live - a much simpler solution, with no need to set up and maintain an Asta Enterprise server.

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, the user that started the collaboration session can check in or submit the programme to Asta Vision, at which point the collaboration session ends.

If your organisation uses Asta Vision Live, a new Collaborate option appears on the Open tab of the Backstage view:

Click this option to view the Collaboration Programmes section of the Open tab, which displays a list of programmes that are currently under collaboration:

To join an existing collaboration session, click Collaborate to the right of a programme.

To start a new collaboration session on a programme, right-click the programme in the Vision section of the Backstage view Open tab and select Collaborate:

The programme is added to the Collaboration Programmes section of the Open tab, where you and other users can now click Collaborate to the right of the programme to join the collaboration session.

Collaboration via Asta Vision Live is not available in Asta Powerproject by default. Please contact Elecosoft to find out more.

More information on collaborating with other users on Asta Vision programmes

Manage Asta Vision global libraries

If you use Asta Vision to manage multiple projects, you can now use Asta Vision to manage global libraries. Global libraries 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 projects, saving you from having to set up the same libraries in your individual projects multiple times. This can save you a considerable amount of time.

You use Asta Vision to enable the use of global libraries, to specify which library object types are included in the global library file, and to specify which users are able to manage the global library file. Refer to the Asta Vision Help for information on how to do this.

If you have been given permission to manage the global library file, you do this using the Manage Global Libraries button that appears on the Vision section of the Backstage view Open tab:

Clicking this button checks out and downloads the global library file and opens it in the Global Library Explorer, which you can use to edit the global libraries. Once you have finished editing global libraries, you check in the global library file using the Check In control, in the Vision group, on the Home tab of the Ribbon.

More information on managing Asta Vision global libraries

Use a project timeline to display an overview of a project

You can use a project timeline to display a visual summary of a project. Timelines give you an easy way of reporting the progress of a project at a high level to stakeholders who do not want - or need - to view detailed information about a project.

You choose which tasks and milestones to add to the timeline. Adding those tasks and milestones that give a good overall picture of the project - for example, key summary tasks and milestones - can be a good approach.

In the following illustration, a project timeline displays the four key phases of a project, together with key milestones; the tasks - which represent top-level summary tasks within the project - have been colour-coded to make the timeline easier to read:

You format the timeline using a new range of timeline formatting controls, which appear on the Format tab of the Ribbon when you click in the timeline:

A new Show in timeline check box has been added to the Task tab of the Bar and Task Properties dialog. You can use this to add tasks to the timeline:

You can configure access rights to the project timeline using the new Edit timeline check box that has been added to the General tab of the Security Group Properties dialog:

More information on project timelines

Apply colours to the tabs that identify the views you have open

You can now apply colouring to the tabs that identify the views you have open. This makes it easier to identify which views belong to which project when you have more than one project open at the same time.

If you use tab colouring, you can apply a different default tab colour to each project, which makes it easier to identify which views belong to which project when you have more than one project open at the same time. You can also specify a different colour for each view category which overrides the project's default tab colour.

Note that only the tab that is currently active is displayed with full tab colouring; tabs that are not currently active have a bar of colour to the left of the tab name to indicate their colouring.

You specify whether to apply colouring to tabs using the new Use tab colouring check box that has been added to the Tab Display Options dialog:

All projects are assigned a default tab colour when you create them, and all views inherit this tab colour from the project. You can change the default tab colour that is assigned to each project, using the new Default tab colour field that has been added to the Properties tab of the Backstage view:

You specify whether to apply colouring to the views to which a specific view category has been assigned using the Tab colour field, on the new View Category Properties dialog - before this release, view categories did not have a properties dialog, as their only attribute was their name:

More information on applying colours to tabs

Break down tasks into smaller steps using task activities

You can now use task activities to break down tasks into smaller units of work. Rather than adding additional tasks to a schedule, which adds to its complexity, you can have one task in a project that is broken down into subtasks by task activities.

Task activities also enable you to monitor the progress of work that cannot be easily sequenced. For example, in a new housing development you may have four driveways that need to be tarmacked, where only one drive can be worked on at a time but you do not know the order in which the driveways will be worked on. If you created four individual 'Tarmac Driveway' tasks, one for each driveway, it would be difficult to link them properly, as you would not know the order in which they would be worked on. If you linked them using Finish-to-Start links, you could end up in a situation where a task was completed earlier than one or more of its predecessors.

In a simple scenario such as the one above, each task activity will contribute equally towards the progress of the task. For example, if all four driveways were an equal length, they would contribute equally towards the progress of the 'Tarmac Driveways' task. In other scenarios, particular task activities may contribute more, or less, towards the progress of a task. If one of the driveways was four times the length of the other driveways, its task activity would contribute more towards the progress of the 'Tarmac Driveways' task than the other task activities; if another driveway was half the length of the other driveways, its task activity would contribute less towards the task's progress. You can represent this in a project by applying weightings to task activities. A weighting is a factor by which the progress of a task activity should be multiplied to affect its impact on progress of the task.

If you need to assign the same set of task activities to a number of tasks, you can save those task activities as a task activity template. For example, you may have a commonly-used set of Plastering task activities, or Concreting task activities. You can then add the template's task activities to any number of tasks without having to create each individual task activity for each task.

You can create as many task activity templates as you need, using a new 'Task Activity Template' library that has been added to Library Explorer:

If a task has one or more task activities, the only way to mark progress against it is by marking progress against the task activities themselves - all other methods of marking progress are unavailable for such tasks.

A new 'Task activities' group of fields has been added. You can display these fields in the spreadsheet, and use them to sort/group views:

A new Include only tasks with task activities field has been added to the Progress page of the Filter Wizard, enabling you to filter for tasks that have one or more task activities recorded against them:

You can use this check box to filter for all tasks that have task activities, regardless of the amount of progress on the tasks, by selecting the check box and filtering for tasks with a specific amount of progress that is greater than or equal to zero percent.

More information on breaking up tasks into smaller steps using task activities

Configure Asta Powerproject to save the active project automatically

You can now configure Asta Powerproject to save the project you are currently working on automatically. If you do this, Asta Powerproject saves the active project according to the period you specify - for example, every five minutes - without you having to save the project manually.

You configure Asta Powerproject to save automatically using the new Save every x minutes check box on the General tab of the Options dialog:

More information on configuring Asta Powerproject to save automatically

Configure reschedule access rights at the level of individual charts

Before this release, you could only configure reschedule access rights across the whole portfolio of projects: it was not possible to enable users to reschedule some charts, but prevent them from rescheduling others. This could result in users accidentally rescheduling charts for which other users were responsible.

It is now possible to configure reschedule access rights at the level of individual projects and charts, using the Reschedule check box that has been added to the Chart Access Rights tab of the Security Group Properties dialog:

If you select this check box for a project or chart, members of the security group are able to reschedule tasks in that project or chart; if you clear the check box, they are prevented from doing so.

More information on specifying user access rights

Specify materials when recording task work details

You can now specify the appropriate material when recording details of task work against tasks. This is useful if you model tasks in terms of task work without using resources. For example, a task may require 600 cubic metres of concrete; or 50 metres of electrical wire. Before this release, you could record the amount of task work, the work unit and the work rate, but not the material; you can now record the material too.

You record details of the materials that are used in task work using a new 'Material' library that has been added to Library Explorer.

You record details of the material involved in task work using the new Task work material field that has been added to the 'Effort & Modelling' group of fields on the Task tab of the Bar and Task Properties dialog:

A new 'Task work material' field has been added. You can display this field in the spreadsheet, and use it to sort/group views:

A new Materials field has been added to the Task Work page of the Filter Wizard, enabling you to filter for tasks with task work relating to one or more specific materials:

More information on modelling tasks in terms of task work

Specify a work rate against tasks that overrides the work rate of permanent resources

The default work rate for each permanent resource is defined on the permanent resource record. All new allocations of a permanent resource are assigned this work rate by default. In some circumstances, it can be more appropriate to record the work rate against each individual task rather than against different resources. For example, a 'Produce glass pane' task could have a particular work rate - perhaps set by the machinery that is used - regardless of the resource that is assigned to the task; or a steel fixer could work at a different rate depending on the thickness of the steel they are working with.

Before this release, to cater for this situation you had to either edit the resource's work rate before assigning it to the task, or edit the resource allocation work rate after having assigned the resource to the task.

You can now specify a default allocation rate against individual tasks, using the Default allocation rate field that has been added to the 'Effort & Modelling' fields, on the Task tab of the Bar and Task Properties dialog:

If you specify a default allocation rate against a task, this work rate is applied to any permanent resource allocations that are assigned subsequently to the task, overriding the permanent resource's default work rate. Changing the task's default allocation rate has no effect on any permanent resource allocations that have already been assigned to the task. To make a task use the work rate that has been defined against the permanent resource, set this field to zero.

A new 'Default allocation work rate' spreadsheet field has been added. You can display this field in the spreadsheet and use it to specify default allocation rates for tasks.

More information on specifying an override work rate against tasks

Schedule logistics using Quantity From Task modelled resources

Before this release, although you could define the amount of materials used in a project using task work, you could not carry out any calculations on the materials required for logistics purposes. For example, if a task used 300m³ of concrete, you could not easily calculate how many lorries would be needed to bring the concrete onto site.

You can now use Quantity From Task modelled consumable resources to calculate the number of consumable resources that are required for logistics purposes. For example:

• If a task uses 100m³ of concrete, if you know the capacity of concrete mixer lorries, you can calculate how many lorries are needed to bring the concrete onto site.
• If a task uses 20,000 bricks, if you know the capacity of brick lorries, you can calculate how many lorries are needed to bring the bricks onto site.

To enable you to calculate the logistics required, a new field has been added to the right of the Task conversion factor field on the Consumable Resource Properties and Consumable Allocation Properties dialogs:

More information on scheduling logistics using Quantity From Task modelled resources

New quality metric to identify tasks with no outgoing links from the end of the task

A new 'link activity finishes' quality metric has been added:

Any task that has no outgoing links from its end - including any links that do not exist but are implied by later tasks that are positioned on the same bar - will fail the quality metric. You can specify that a single task with no outgoing links should be allowed, so that the last task in a logically-linked chain - which would not be expected to have any outgoing links - does not fail the quality metric. This new quality metric helps you to ensure that the link logic of your projects is correct.

More information on the link activity finishes quality metric

Combine resources' work rates when using 'Work From Task' modelled resource allocations

Before this release, if a permanent resource allocation used the 'Work From Task' modelling method, it was always considered to be working on its own: it was considered to be performing all the work, and any other allocations of the same type on the task were also considered to be performing all the work. Regardless of how many allocations were assigned to a task, the calculated parameter - for example, the task duration - was calculated from the allocation with the slowest work rate.

You can now combine work rates when modelling resources using the 'Work From Task' method. This is useful if you have two allocations of the same type of resource working together to complete a task. For example, you might have two roofers working together to tile a roof. You do this by selecting the Combine work rate check box that has been added to the Assignment tab of the Permanent Resource Properties dialog, and to the Modelling tab of the Permanent Allocation Properties dialog. This check box appears when you set the modelling type to 'Work From Task':

If you select this check box for two or more permanent resource allocations on a task, their work rates are combined for the purposes of resource modelling, provided that the allocations:

• Are of the same type (ie demand or scheduled).
• Use the 'Work From Task' modelling type.
• Have the calculated and balancing parameters set to something other than 'Work rate'.
• Have the Combine work rate check box selected.
• Have the Ignore check box cleared.

More information on combining the work rates of Work From Task modelled resources

Specify access rights for print profiles

You can now specify user access rights over print profiles. You may want to do this to prevent certain users from being able to create, edit or delete some or all print profiles. You specify user access rights over print profiles using the Library Access Rights tab of the Security Group Properties dialog, where 'Print Profile' now appears in the library hierarchy:

You can specify user access rights over all print profiles, or over individual print profiles. User-specific print profiles do not appear in the library hierarchy, as these print profiles are always available to the user that created them.

If you remove the Modify permission from one or more print profiles, users of that security group are unable to save changes to any print profiles apart from their own, user-specific print profiles.

As part of this change, it is now possible to create, edit and delete print profiles using Library Explorer, and a new Print Profile Properties dialog has been introduced. You can use this dialog to view and edit the properties of print profiles. The dialog is similar to the existing Print dialog, except that the Preview and Print buttons are absent, and the Print profile group of fields on the Details tab are unavailable:

More information on specifying user access rights

Specify the day on which weeks start in calendar views

You can now specify the day on which weeks start in calendar views, using the new Week start day field that has been added to the General tab of the Format Calendar View dialog:

Weeks start on Sunday by default, but you may want to change this to another day - Monday, for example. The day you select will appear at the far left of each week in the calendar view.

More information on formatting calendar views

Export projects to be opened in Primavera Cloud

You can now export projects in a format that can be opened in Primavera Cloud, which uses a different file format to Primavera P6. To export a project so that it can be opened in Primavera Cloud, click the XML radio button on the Primavera XML & XER Export Options dialog, then select the new Oracle Primavera Cloud check box:

More information on exporting projects to Primavera software

Import exception dates from Microsoft Excel into calendars

You can now create identical exceptions on a series of dates in a calendar, by importing a Microsoft Excel file that comprises a list of dates. This might be useful if, for example, you have been provided with a spreadsheet of dates that are holidays, or on which a contractor cannot work. You can specify the type of exception to create on each of the dates. For example, you could create a 24 hour holiday, or a 2 hour period of overtime working on each day. If any of the new exceptions conflicts with an existing exception, you are given the chance to cancel the import.

You import exceptions by right-clicking a calendar in the project view and selecting Import Exceptions:

This displays the new Import Exceptions into Calendar dialog, which you use to select the Microsoft Excel file that contains a list of the dates on which you want to create exceptions, and to specify the type of exception you want to create on each date:

More information on importing exceptions into calendars from Microsoft Excel

Specify an amount of leeway when checking the integrity of the critical path

Asta Powerproject checks the integrity of the critical path by temporarily increasing the duration of each incomplete task on the critical path in turn to 600d, and checking that the finish date of the project moves into the future by the same amount.

Before this release, a task was considered to break the critical path integrity if the finish date of the project did not move into the future by exactly 600d when the duration of a task was temporarily increased. This meant that the critical path integrity was broken in situations like the following, where Task 1 is included on the critical path, but has an outgoing Start-to-Start link midway along the task that ends at Task 2, meaning that the end of Task 1 does not currently affect the end of the project:

You can now get around this problem by specifying an amount of leeway that each task is allowed before it is deemed to break the critical path integrity. You do this using the new Days leeway field that has been added to the reschedule options:

For example, if you specify 10d leeway, a task is allowed to increase in duration by up to 10d before it is deemed to break the critical path integrity. Asta Powerproject defaults to allowing each task one day's leeway - and this is the minimum amount of leeway allowable - to allow for tasks that are configured to start on a new day.

If you configure the reschedule to check the integrity of the critical path, the 'Scope and options' section of the reschedule report now shows the number of days' leeway that has been specified:

If you configure the reschedule to check the integrity of the critical path, the 'Critical tasks' section of the reschedule report now lists any tasks that break the critical path integrity:

More information on checking the integrity of the critical path

Reschedule reports now give more information on out-of-sequence progress

The 'Out of sequence progress' section of the reschedule report now gives more information on the tasks that are involved in out-of-sequence progress and gives more information on exactly what out-of-sequence work has occurred. This makes it easier for you to identify and deal with tasks that are involved in out-of-sequence progress:

More information on understanding reschedule reports

Specify whether times are displayed with dates when displaying date fields in the bar chart

Before this release, if you displayed a date field in the bar chart - using the Task data display fields on the Tasks tab of the Format Bar Chart dialog - times were always displayed as well as dates.

The scope of the Annotations check box, on the Format tab of the Options dialog, has now been increased: as well as determining whether times are displayed as well as dates in annotations, this check box now also determines whether times are displayed as well as dates when date fields are shown in the bar chart. Select the check box to display times with dates:

Clear the check box to display dates only:

More information on displaying bar and task information in the bar chart

Stay logged into Asta Vision and Asta Siteprogress Mobile

Before this release, if you logged into Asta Vision or Asta Siteprogress Mobile from the Backstage view of Asta Powerproject, your log in details were lost each time you closed Asta Powerproject, which meant that you had to log in again each time you restarted Asta Powerproject.

Now, if you log into Asta Vision or Asta Siteprogress Mobile from the Backstage view of Asta Powerproject, your log in details are remembered, so you do not need to re-enter your email address and password to log in again if you close and restart Asta Powerproject. If you log into Asta Vision, you are logged into Asta Siteprogress Mobile automatically, and vice-versa.

The screens that you use to log into Asta Vision and Asta Siteprogress Mobile have been improved, and now offer the option to reset your password if you have forgotten it:

More information on the Backstage view

Easier access to border files uploaded to Asta Vision

Before this release, Asta Vision users could find it difficult to use the correct border files when printing. Some organisations uploaded their border files using Asta Vision's Global Files page to make them available to all users, but this still required all users to download the border files to a folder on their computer in order to use them.

Now, the Browse button, on the Details tab of the Print dialog, has a dropdown arrow to the right of it:

If you click the Browse button, or click the dropdown arrow and select Local from the menu that appears, you see the usual Open dialog; if you click the dropdown and select Vision, a new Download From Powerproject Vision dialog appears (if you are not currently signed into Asta Vision, you need to sign in before the dialog appears):

This dialog displays a list of all the border files that have been uploaded using Asta Vision's Global Files page. The Status column displays 'New' for borders that you have not yet downloaded; 'Updated' for borders that you have downloaded where a more recent version is available to download; and nothing for borders where you have already downloaded the latest version. Select a border and click Download to download the border file to your local 'Border' folder, as specified on the File Locations tab of the Options dialog, and to select it in the Border file field on the Print dialog.

More information on using border files when printing

Prompt to download missing borders from Asta Vision

If you are signed into Asta Vision and the border file that is specified in a project is not available locally, but is available as one of Asta Vision's global files, a message now appears to inform you that the border is available in Asta Vision:

Click Yes to download the border to your local 'Border' folder, as specified on the File Locations tab of the Options dialog.

More information on using border files when printing

Enable users to indicate that comments have been incorporated into Asta Vision programmes

When you record a comment against an Asta Vision programme, you can now specify that users should indicate when the comment has been incorporated into the programme - or that it has been dealt with in some other way. For example, if you record a comment to ask a planner to revise part of a programme, you may want the planner to indicate when the programme has been revised. You do this using the new Display comment completion check box check box that has been added to the Add Programme Comment dialog:

If one or more of a programme's comments has Display comment completion check box selected, a Completed column appears on the Programme Comments page in Asta Vision, and users can select the check boxes in this column to indicate that they have incorporated a comment into the programme.

More information on recording comments against Asta Vision programmes

Files attached to emails when checking in and submitting Asta Vision programmes

Depending on the way in which Asta Vision is configured, you may be able to attach files to programmes when you check in or submit them. If you attach a file, a new programme comment is recorded against the programme, with the file attached.

In addition to this, the files you attach when checking in or submitting are now attached to the emails that are sent automatically as a result of the check in or submit, as part of your workflow. This makes it easier for reviewers to access any files relating to the checked in or submitted programme.

More information on checking programmes into Asta Vision

More information on submitting programmes to Asta Vision

Asta Vision programmes now moved following check in or submit

Before this release, after you had checked in or submitted an Asta Vision programme from within Asta Powerproject, a local copy of the programme remained available. Some users found that they were accidentally opening the local copy, by selecting it in the list of recent projects on the Open tab of the Backstage view, then editing the programme and finding that they could not check in their changes.

Now, after you have checked in or submitted an Asta Vision programme from within Asta Powerproject, the local copy of the programme is moved to your 'Backup Files' folder and it is removed from the list of recent projects on the Open tab of the Backstage view. This prevents you from opening a checked in or submitted programme accidentally.

More information on checking programmes into Asta Vision

More information on submitting programmes into Asta Vision

New warning if you attempt to close an Asta Vision programme without having checked it in

Asta Powerproject now displays a warning if you attempt to close a programme that you have checked out of Asta Vision, without having checked it in.

If you have edited a programme and attempt to close it without having checked it in, the following warning appears:

Clicking Check In allows you to check the programme in; clicking Save allows you to save and close the programme without checking it in; clicking No closes the programme without saving your changes; and clicking Cancel keeps the programme open.

If you have not edited a programme and attempt to close it without having checked it in, the following warning appears:

Clicking Check In allows you to check the programme in; clicking No closes the programme; and clicking Cancel keeps the programme open.

You can choose whether or not to display these warnings, using the Show close project Vision check in warning check box that has been added to the General tab of the Options dialog:

More information on checking programmes into Asta Vision

Commit Asta Vision programmes that are checked out to an Asta Powerproject Enterprise server

Before this release, it was not possible to commit Asta Vision programmes that had been checked out to an Asta Powerproject Enterprise server. You can now do this.

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.

More information on checking in and committing Asta Vision programmes 

Easier to locate BIM-related controls when customising the Ribbon

Before this release, it could be difficult to identify Asta Powerproject 4D-related controls when customising the Ribbon. To make it easier to locate BIM-related controls, a new 'All BIM Commands' option has been added to the Choose commands from field, on the Ribbon tab of the Ribbon Customisation dialog:

If you select 'All BIM Commands' in the Choose commands from field, the command list displays only Asta Powerproject 4D-related controls.

An 'All BIM Commands' option has also been added to the corresponding fields on the Quick Access Toolbar, Object Edit Toolbar and Keyboard tabs of the Ribbon Customisation dialog, making it easier to locate Asta Powerproject 4D-related controls when customising the Quick Access and Object Edit toolbars, and when customising keyboard shortcuts.

More information on customising the Ribbon

Improvements to the way in which overall percent weighting is calculated

Before this release, the overall percent weighting of tasks was calculated to be the same as the task duration - unless you manually edited a task's weighting, in which case the value you had specified was used. Unless you had baselined a project, the weighting of progressed tasks would change if the tasks' duration remaining was changed subsequently. This behaviour was not ideal; once progress has been recorded against a task, its overall percent weighting should not change, even if the task's duration remaining is changed.

Asta Powerproject now uses a task's original duration to determine its overall percent weighting. The original duration is the duration of a task before any progress has been applied. If the duration of a task is changed before any progress has been applied, its weighting is updated automatically to reflect the new duration, but once progress is applied to a task, the weighting no longer changes, even if the duration of the task does.

A Calculated weight field has been added to the 'Progress' fields, on the Task tab of the Bar and Task Properties dialog - and to the corresponding tab of the properties view. This field displays the calculated overall percent weighting of a task. This will be the task's original duration in hours, unless you have manually edited the weighting:

'1.00' normally appears in the Overall % complete weight field. This means that Asta Powerproject will calculate the weighting of a task automatically, setting it to be the task's original duration in hours. If you want to override the weighting with your own value, enter this value in the Overall % complete weight field. This value then appears in the Calculated weight field, and does not change, even if the duration of the task changes.

If you have manually edited the weighting of a task and subsequently want to revert to its weighting being calculated automatically, you can enter '1.00' in the Overall % complete weight field. The weighting will then be calculated automatically once more, according to its original duration in hours.

In addition, baselining a project no longer has any effect on the overall percent weighting of a task.

More information on calculating progress on parent tasks according to overall percentage complete

Retain text formatting when copying and pasting spreadsheet data to and from other applications

Using Asta Powerproject, you can apply formatting to individual spreadsheet cells, columns and rows, in the same way as you can using Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel. Before this release, if you copied data from Microsoft Project or Microsoft Excel and pasted it into the Asta Powerproject spreadsheet - or if you copied data from the Asta Powerproject spreadsheet and pasted it into Microsoft Project or Microsoft Excel - any formatting that had been applied to the cells was lost.

Now, when you copy and paste data into or from the Asta Powerproject spreadsheet, any formatting that has been applied to the cells is retained. For example, if the text in a particular column has been coloured red, the text in a particular row has been formatted in bold italics and the text in a particular cell has been formatted with a particular font, this formatting information is now retained when the data is copied and pasted.

You specify the way in which cell formatting is pasted into Asta Powerproject, using the Pasting from other programs field that has been added to the Spreadsheet tab of the Options dialog:

More information on copying and pasting spreadsheet data

Apply strikethrough formatting to text

You can now apply strikethrough formatting to text in the spreadsheet and to text in text annotations, using the new control that has been added to the Home tab of the Ribbon:

When you apply strikethrough formatting to text in the spreadsheet, it is applied to all of the text in the selected cell or cells:

When you apply strikethrough formatting to text in a text annotation, you can apply it to the entire annotation, or to selected text within the annotation - by selecting part of the text in the annotation then clicking .

You can also apply strikethrough formatting to text in the spreadsheet using the Strike through check box that has been added to the Font tab of the Format Cells dialog (pictured below); a corresponding Strike through check box has also been added to the Format Font dialog that you can use to configure the font of text annotations:

More information on formatting spreadsheet cells

New dialog helps you deal with projects that fail to open

The File Open Error dialog appears if you try to open a project that cannot be opened for some reason. The dialog displays the reason why the project cannot be opened, and provides you with access to any backup versions of the project that exist. The following types of backup may be available:

• The primary backup. This is a backed-up version of the project, backed up from the folder from which you attempted to open the project. Backup files are located in whichever folder is specified against 'Backup Files', on the File Locations tab of the Options dialog.
• Alternative backups. These alternatives are backups of versions of the project that existed in folders other than the one from which you attempted to open the project, or backups of the project that were created in versions of Asta Powerproject earlier than version 16, which exist in the same folder as the project. If more than one alternative backup exists, each one is listed. You might want to access an alternative backup if the project you are trying to open has been moved between folders and opened in different locations.

If a project cannot be opened, you can use one of its backups in place of the main project.

The fields available in the File Open Error dialog depend on the types of backup that are available. The dialog looks like this if the primary backup is available:

More information about dealing with projects that fail to open

Remove individual date range shading selections from the bar chart temporarily

Before this release, if you had shaded the bar chart between two dates, it was not possible to remove individual date range shading selections from the bar chart temporarily; you had to either use a display switch to turn off all shading selections, or remove the shading selection permanently.

You can now remove individual date range shading selections from the bar chart temporarily, using the Enabled check box that has been added to the Shading tab of the Date Zone Properties dialog. Select this check box to display a shading selection in the bar chart, or clear it to omit the shading section from the bar chart.

More information on shading the bar chart between two dates

Display date range shading in the date zone

You can now display shading between a range of dates in the date zone, as well as in the bar chart, using the Display date shading check box that has been added to the General tab of the Date Zone Properties dialog:

If you select this check box, date range shading - as configured on the Shading tab of the dialog - is displayed in the date zone as well as in the bar chart; if you clear the check box, date range shading is displayed in the bar chart only.

If the Display progress shading check box is selected, date range shading is not displayed in the date zone and this check box is ghosted, as progress shading takes preference over date range shading.

More information on shading the bar chart between two dates

Display date range shading in the date zone only when printing

You can now display date range shading in the date zone only when printing. You may want to do this to save ink: printing when date range shading is displayed in the bar chart can use a lot of ink, especially if you have a large number of date range shading selections. To display date range shading in the date zone only when printing:

1. Select the Display date shading check box, on the General tab of the Date Zone Properties dialog, to display date range shading in the date zone as well as in the bar chart.
2. When printing, clear the Show date shading check box, in the 'Bar chart' section of the Appearance tab of the Print dialog:

If you are printing a histogram view, clearing the Show date shading check box in the 'Histogram' section of the Appearance tab of the Print dialog has the same effect: it displays date range shading in the date zone only.

More information on shading the bar chart between two dates

Copy and paste date range shading selections between views and projects

You can now copy date range shading selections, by right-clicking a shading selection on the Shading tab of the Date Zone Properties dialog and selecting Copy shading to clipboard:

Once you have copied a date range shading selection to the Clipboard, you can paste it into another view - in a different project, if required - by accessing the Shading tab of the Date Zone Properties dialog in that view, right-clicking the grid and selecting Paste shading from clipboard. You can copy more than one date range shading selection at the same time, by CTRL-selecting the selections, then right-clicking one of them and selecting Copy shading to clipboard.

Copying date range shading selections between views enables you to set up shading selections in one view and apply them to other views easily.

More information on shading the bar chart between two dates

Date range shading selections now have a more sensible default start date

Before this release, the start date of date range shading selections - on the Shading tab of the Date Zone Properties dialog - always defaulted to today's date, which made setting up date range shading selections less easy than it could have been.

Now, the start date of each new date range shading selection defaults to the day after the end of the latest shading selection in the grid. For example, if the latest shading selection in the grid had a finish date of 09/11/2021, the start date of the next shading selection you created would default to 10/11/2021.

There are two exceptions to this new behaviour:

• If the finish date of the latest shading selection is a variable date, the next shading selection you create will start the day after the latest shading selection that has a fixed finish date.If the finish dates of all the shading selections are variable dates, the start date of the next shading selection will default to today's date.
• If the finish dates of all the shading selections are variable dates, the next shading selection you create will start on today's date.If the finish date of the latest shading selection is a variable date, the start date of the next shading selection will default to the start date of the latest shading selection.

More information on shading the bar chart between two dates

Improved dragging and dropping of multiple objects from the project view

Before this release, if you wanted to assign multiple library objects from the project view to a task in the bar chart using drag and drop, you had to SHIFT or CTRL-click the objects in the project view, release SHIFT or CTRL, then SHIFT-click and drag the selected objects onto the task. This is not standard Windows behaviour.

Now, you can assign multiple library objects from the project view to a task by simply SHIFT or CTRL-clicking the objects in the project view, thenkeeping SHIFT or CTRL held down, and clicking and dragging the selected objects onto the task. This is standard Windows behaviour.

More information on assigning objects from the project view

More appropriate calendars used to calculate the duration of sort/group subheadings

Before this release, the duration of sort/group subheadings was always calculated using the calendar that is selected in the Subheading calendar field, on the Non-Working tab of the Format Bar Chart dialog. This is appropriate if the tasks in a sort/group band use different calendars, but not if the tasks all use the same calendar; in this case, it is more appropriate to calculate the subheading duration using the calendar that is used by the tasks in the sort/group band.

Now, if all the tasks in a sort/group band use the same calendar, this calendar is used to calculate the duration of the sort/group subheading, which means that the subheading duration will be completely accurate. If the tasks use different calendars, the calendar that is selected in the Subheading calendar field is still used to calculate the subheading duration.

More information on sort/group subheadings

More appropriate calendars applied to summary tasks when importing projects from Primavera software

Before this release, the default calendar was applied to all summary tasks when you imported projects from Primavera software. If all the tasks within a summary group use the same calendar, it is more appropriate to apply the calendar that is used by the tasks in the summary group to the summary task.

Now, if all the tasks in a summary group use the same calendar, this calendar is applied to the summary task when you import the project from Primavera software, which means that the duration of the summary task in Asta Powerproject will match the duration it had in Primavera software. If the tasks use different calendars, the default calendar is applied to the summary task.

More information on importing projects from Primavera software

Match and update existing code libraries when importing projects from Primavera software

Before this release, if you applied a template when importing a project from Primavera software, and the template contained one or more code libraries with the same name as code libraries in the project you were importing, Asta Powerproject would create two code libraries with the same name in the resulting project. For example, if both the template and the project contained a code library called 'Location', the import would result in a project containing two 'Location' code libraries - one containing the codes from the template and the other containing the codes from the project you were importing. This behaviour was not ideal; in most cases, you would want the resulting project to contain a single 'Location' code library, containing both the codes from the template and the codes from the project.

A Match existing code libraries check box has been added to the Primavera XML & XER Import Options dialog. If you select this check box when importing a project and applying a template, any code libraries with the same name in the template and project are combined into a single code library in the resulting project. If you clear this check box, the code libraries are not combined during the import, and the resulting project will contain two code libraries with the same name.

More information on importing projects from Primavera software

Specify the location in which backups are stored

• You can now specify the location in which backups are stored, using a new 'Backup Files' option that has been added to the File Locations tab of the Options dialog.
• A new Open Folder button has been added to the File Locations tab of the Options dialog, making it easier to access files of various types.
• The Create BAK files (backups) and Create JOURNAL files (logs) check boxes have been removed from the Edit tab of the Options dialog. Backup and SQLite journal files are now always created for your projects. These check boxes used to be provided to enable you to disable the creation of backup and SQLite journal files if you were using Microsoft SharePoint and did not want these files to appear in SharePoint. Now that you can specify a folder in which to store backups, this is no longer necessary: you can specify that backups are stored in a different folder to your projects.

More information about specifying the frequency of backups

More information about specifying the location of files

Better handling of projects that are located on a network drive

Before this release, if you opened a project or baseline that was located on a network drive, Asta Powerproject opened the file directly. This could lead to problems if your network connection failed when the project was open.

Now, when you work with a project or baseline that is located on a network drive, Asta Powerproject does not open the project or baseline directly; it takes a copy of the project or baseline file, copies this to the temporary folder on your local computer, and opens this file. This improves performance when working with projects and baselines that are located on a network drives and reduces the possibility of file errors caused by network problems.

Each time you save, the original file on the network is synchronised with the local copy, in such a way to minimise the possibility of network errors causing problems during the save operation - the file being saved is saved under a new file name on the network, then this file is given the same name as the original file. For large files, a progress indicator appears each time this happens, indicating the progress of the save operation:

If a save operation to a network location fails, you are given the option to save the file to a different location.

While you work on a project or baseline that is located on a network drive, even though you are actually working on a local copy of the file, the project or baseline on the network drive is locked to prevent other users from accessing it.

Improvements to the dialogs you use to open and save projects

The dialogs that you use to open and save projects have been updated to improve their look and feel. The following illustration shows the revised dialog that you use to open local projects - a separate dialog is now used to open Enterprise projects:

If you use Asta Powerproject Enterprise, separate open and save dialogs are now provided for local and Enterprise projects, and a drop-down arrow appears to the right of appropriate buttons to enable you to specify whether you are dealing with a local project or an Enterprise project:

In Asta Powerproject Enterprise projects, the Import button on the Baseline/What If Manager dialog also has a drop-down arrow to the right of it, which you can use to specify whether you want to import a local or an Enterprise project or baseline:

Copy user options, as well as access rights, to subordinate users

Before this release, you could copy a user's access rights to one or more of their subordinate users, by right-clicking the user and selecting Clone Rights to Sub-Entries. This would display the Clone Rights dialog, which you could use to assign one or more subordinate users to the same security group as the selected user. However, this did not copy the selected user's options to the subordinate users - ie the fields that can be viewed as columns in the Library Explorer list view when viewing the Users library, by right-clicking a blank part of the list view and selecting Show All Fields.

Now, when you copy a user's access rights to one or more subordinate users, the selected user's options are copied to the subordinate users as well.

The Clone Rights to Sub-Entries menu command has been renamed Clone Rights and Options to Sub-Entries:

The Clone Rights dialog has been renamed Clone Rights and Options:

More information on copying user access rights and options to subordinate users

Prevent users from editing project-wide dates

You can now prevent users from editing project-wide dates, using the Edit project date controls check box that has been added to the General tab of the Security Group Properties dialog:

If you clear this check box, members of the security group are prevented from editing the fields in the 'Dates' section of the Properties tab of the Backstage view, the corresponding fields on the Properties tab of the Properties dialog and - when viewing the properties of the programme chart - the date-related fields on the Project tab of the Chart/Project Properties dialog.

This field is selected by default in new projects and in projects that have been converted from an earlier version of Asta Powerproject.

More information on specifying user access rights

Display code short names when displaying bar and task data in the bar chart

For each code library entry, you can specify a 'name' and a 'short name'. When you display the codes from a specific code library in the spreadsheet, you have always been able to specify whether to display each code's name or short name, but when displaying code names in the bar chart, you have only ever been able to display each code's name.

Now, when you display the names of codes from a specific code library in the bar chart, you can specify whether to display each code's name or short name, using the Use short name check box that has been added to the Attributes dialog:

Select this check box to display the short name of each code in the bar chart, or clear the check box to display the name of each code.

More information on displaying bar and task information in the bar chart

Specify a progress period as a parameter for many fields in formulae and when displaying task data in the bar chart

Before this release, you could not specify a progress period as a parameter for fields in formulae or when displaying task data in the bar chart. This could lead to discrepancies between what was displayed in a field in the spreadsheet, and what was displayed in the same field in a formula or in the bar chart. For example, although you could configure a spreadsheet column to display the actual cost of tasks within a specific progress period, you could only display the actual cost of tasks in a formula or in the bar chart for all progress periods.

Now, you can specify a progress period as a parameter for many fields in formulae and when displaying task data in the bar chart, using the Progress period field that has been added to the Select Object and Attributes dialogs:

More information on using fields in formulae

More information on displaying bar and task information in the bar chart

Configure the Planned percent complete (PPC) field to display a distributed average for parent tasks

You can now configure the Planned percent complete (PPC) field to display a distributed average for parent tasks, using the Show distributed average for charts/summaries check box, on the Table Definition Properties dialog:

If you select this check box, Asta Powerproject displays a progress value for expanded and summary tasks that takes into account how the progress is distributed within the subchart or summary group (a distributed average figure, which matches precisely the shading on expanded and summary tasks). If you clear this check box, a simpler value, which indicates the percentage of progress that has been completed without taking into account how the progress is distributed throughout the subchart or summary group, is displayed.

More information about progress fields

Create user-defined fields with names that include space characters

Primavera software enables you to create user-defined fields with names that include space characters - for example, 'Field 1'. Before this release, Asta Powerproject did not allow user-defined field names to include space characters, and converted any space characters in user-defined field names to underscores when you imported a project from Primavera software. For example, a Primavera user-defined field called 'Field 1' would be converted into an Asta Powerproject user-defined field called 'Field_1'. This resulted in duplicate user-defined fields in projects that were transferred backwards and forwards between Primavera software and Asta Powerproject.

You can now include space characters in the names of user-defined fields in Asta Powerproject. This enables you to transfer projects backwards and forwards between Primavera software and Asta Powerproject without any changes being made to the names of user-defined fields.

More information about user-defined fields