Project Partners Blog

The first step in working with a project in the Oracle Projects Suite, project initiation, is typically performed centrally by a project administrator using a template, and then routed for approval (to check proper template usage, project manager assignment, and funding).  Eventually the project manager (PM) is notified that the project is ready to be modified for detail workplan and date input, key member and resource assignments, other project attributes, transaction controls, and detail financial planning.

In many cases, however, this same project will then again need to be routed for approvals, in some cases to the same people who had previously approved the first phase of the project setup.  Or, some enterprises would prefer that the project manager initiate the project creation process since often they have been involved in the bid process and therefore are already familiar with the anticipated approach.

Clearly, it would be advantageous in many situations if the project initiation process started with the project manager.  However, usually, the project manager is a casual user of the Oracle Forms or HTML pages and as such cannot afford the time to have cultivated the level of proficiency in screen navigation required to perform project setup in a timely manner – plus many enterprises would prefer that PMs concentrate on project management. 

Project Partners UI-Apps products are designed with this in mind.  The UI-Apps are built around MS-Excel worksheets that are tailored to perform specific tasks and oriented to a specific end user resulting in an easy-to-use front-end that is seamlessly connected to the comprehensive Oracle Projects enterprise solution.  This means that project managers can use a tool they’re familiar with (Excel) and see only the information they need, and can click a button to upload to Oracle the information for project initiation.  An additional benefit is that when they start the process (first time connecting to Oracle – with standard Oracle Security), they can download the information they will need to build the WBS, add key members/ resources, classifications, and then log off and work off-line to complete project setup while being validated real-time by the business rules built into the UI-Apps Worksheet.

One Excel worksheet allows a PM to choose a template, enter project attributes from dropdowns in Excel (such as key members, classifications, project types, distributions rules, classifications, organization, customer, currency), enter other information such as project name, description, start/end dates, and  select documents to add as attachments to the project.  Upon uploading to Oracle, the project is routed through the workflow already established for project initiation.  Project managers can do all this in the office from a computer connected to the company network, or they can easily download all required information with the click on one button, and take their laptop on the road to perform all this while disconnected.  Once they are able and to connect again, the information can be uploaded to Oracle with the click of one button.

Project Partners UI-Apps Suite also provides other worksheets for WBS creation/updates, resource allocation, funding and agreement maintenance, budget and forecast creation/update and reporting.

Here are some example screen shots of this Project Partners UI-Apps solution:

Examples of Project Partners User Interface Applications Worksheets

Author: Peter Budelov