Program Dashboard allows viewing and editing all the information about a specific program.
Program Dashboard Page Sections
Summary section is represented by a progress bar that shows the overall progress of the projects included in a specific program. It also shows general information about the number of projects by status, progress, and key dates.
If there are no start and/or finish dates for the Program, you will see the Dotted line in the summary section. The logic of the dates displayed for the dotted line is the following:
- no start and finish dates - 1 month before today and 2 after.
- If there is only start date - 3 months after the start date
- If there is only finish date - 3 months before the finish date
It is possible to configure program sections, create a layout and apply this layout to another program. Please refer to the 'How to create and apply layouts' article.
You can also edit the name of each section, and populate the description by clicking on the pencil-like button next to it. The sections can be expanded or hidden on the Program Dashboard.
All sections can be opened in full-screen mode.
By default, this page includes four sections: Statuses, Projects, Key Dates, and Details. Optionally the Budget, Action Items, Risks, Strategic Alignment, Key Decisions sections can be added.
Use the Program View option available on the left to share only the required information of the Program dashboard Program with the users. This functionality can help limit Program dashboard information for certain users.
Statuses section summarizes the overall statuses of the current Program. This section is also editable via its Configure menu. Two views are available here: cards and status history.
Click on the ellipsis button in the right part of the page to open the drop-down menu and choose Configure to open the Configure statuses menu. This menu allows hiding the unused status types by unchecking the corresponding checkboxes or rearranging their order (by clicking and drag). Status categories can be customized as needed. You can add more statuses to each category, and rename the existing ones. For more details, please refer to the 'How to customize status categories for Projects/Programs/Portfolios/Tasks/etc' article.
The auto-calculation of the Program statuses is available in PPM Express. Auto-calculation of Program statuses is disabled by default, it should be enabled by the PPM Express administrator. If the Modify Statuses Manually setting is set to on by the PPM Express administrator, users can override the automatically calculated status and set the required status manually, and select the period for which the status set manually will be set. After this period (3, 5, 7, 10 days) the status set manually will be overridden by the status calculated automatically.
If the auto-calculation option is not enabled, all newly created Programs are created with N/A status and then the status is updated by users as required.
To set the required value for each status, click on the status to open it for editing. The following values are available for each status: N/A, On Track, At Risk, Critical, and Done. Select the one you need, populate the description, and click the Update status button to save the changes.
Status History is available for each status. As the status information changes, status history shows who made the changes and what changes were made exactly. You can navigate to the Info option to see the details for the status changes.
Status History can be deleted if needed by users with Administrate app permissions, however, the latest update cannot be deleted. If the status history is deleted, it cannot be restored.
Projects section shows the list of all the projects currently included in the Program and allows to manage them.
By default, the Timeline view is selected. In case of necessity, you can switch to the Table view in the right upper part of the project section.
Using the Configure Columns menu you can configure the appearance of the Projects section by adding or hiding columns or changing their position (just drag and drop).
To navigate to the Project Details page of the required Project, click on a project name on the list.
Use the Add projects button to add a project to the current Program.
Please note: One specific project can be included in several Programs.
Use the Create Project button to create a brand new project within the current Program.
Select the projects and use the Remove projects button to remove projects from the current Program.
Please note: Remove option is available from the Table view only.
Key Dates section displays key dates created in PPM Express. PPM Express allows to create 3 types of entities, which are:
- Milestones
- Release
- Key Date
Please note: Key dates statuses are calculated automatically and will be set according to the Key dates finish date, taking into account the current date:
- On Track – Finish Date is greater or equals Today;
- At Risk – The key date is late for less than 10 days (from Today);
- Critical – The key date is late for more than 10 days (from Today).
- Done - the Key date is marked as Complete.
Timeline and table views are available for Key dates. By default timeline view is displayed, but you can switch to the table view at any time if needed.
Use the New key date button to create a key date. Also, Key Dates can be imported from your Projects using the Import Key Date button.
Use the Configure menu to configure the appearance of the Key date section by adding or hiding columns. It is also possible to rearrange their order (by clicking and dragging).
You can add custom statuses to Key dates if you open the status field for editing. For more details, please refer to this article: How to customize status categories.
On the key date creation panel, select the key date type – a milestone, release, or key date. Enable Show on Timeline checkbox to display the created milestone on the main progress bar in the Summary section of the Program page.
It is also possible to enable Show on Timeline checkbox in the Key dates. For this purpose, select the Key date you would like to change information for, and click Edit key date button.
The following statuses are available for key dates: N/A, On Track, At Risk, Critical, and Done.
To delete a key date, select the key date you would like to delete and click the Delete key date button.
The Baseline can be set for all PPM Express Key Dates. To set the baseline, select the Key Dates and click the Set Baseline button (the Baseline is created for the Date field).
If you open the Key Date for editing, the Baseline tab becomes active once all required fields are filled in. To remove the Baseline mark from the timeline view, click the 'Style' option and disable the Show Baseline option.
The Baseline will be read-only for rolled-up Key Dates (imported from Project or Program level). It is also possible to set the Baseline for the Key Dates imported from the external systems.
Please note: For the Key dates section the configuration of fields is shared between Projects, Portfolios, and Programs. If the field is added to the Project Dashboard, these changes will also appear in Programs and Portfolios.
Details section includes the most important details about the Program: Program name, Description, Program status, start and finish dates, etc.
Using the Configure menu (ellipsis button, drop-down menu, in the right part of the section title bar), you can show or hide the fields set by default or even add your own custom fields.
The budget section uses the FluentPro Financials app allowing to edit the Program budget.
Viewing or editing budgets can only be done by the users, who have Manage Financial Details permission enabled in their account settings.
You can find more on creating and editing a budget in the Managing budgets help article.
If you would like to change the currency for the PPM Express tenant, please refer to this article to find step-by-step instructions.
Benefits section - is available for users with Manage Financial Details permission.
The Benefits Program section is similar to the Budget section and is configured via the Financials widget.
Two formula fields were added for this section to display data as needed: Estimated ROI and Estimated ROI Baseline.
- Estimated ROI = ((Benefits Forecast - Budget Forecast)/Budget Forecast) *100% (if at least one parameter is 0, the value will be 0)
- Estimated ROI Baseline = ((Benefits Forecast - Budget Baseline)/Budget Baseline) *100% (if at least one parameter is 0, the value will be 0)
Also, the Benefits Start/Finish date fields are available in the Program Details section and are hidden by default. There are two Benefit types: Fiscal and Non-fiscal.
The settings and fields are similar to the Budget section.
Strategic Alignment section - shows all strategic priorities on the organization level that are added to the Strategic Priorities page. By default, the impact of the strategic priorities in this section is set to N/A.
Users who create and manage Programs can decide how organizational priorities impact the specific Program by setting the Impact of each priority in the Strategic Alignment section.
As the impact is set for each priority in the Strategic Alignment section on the Program Dashboard, the Alignment Score field in the Details section is populated with the value. This value takes into account the Importance of the strategic priorities set on the Strategic Priorities page and the Impact set by the program manager in the Strategic Alignment section. The percentage in the Alignment Score field shows Program compliance with company strategic priorities.
The higher the number in the Alignment Score field, the more the Program is consistent with the priorities of the company.
If there are any changes in the priorities on the Strategic Priorities page (changes in the Importance of the strategic priorities, new priority added, the priorities are edited or deleted, the priority activated/deactivated), program managers will see a message in the Strategic Alignment section as for the changes on the Strategic Priorities page.
If the program manager clicks the Apply Changes button, the changes will be applied automatically and the Alignments Score field will be recalculated according to the changes applied.
Please note: Users who do not have permission to edit the programs will not see the message as for the changes on the Strategic Priorities page.
Risks - this section displays risks for your Program. Use the New Risk button to open the Risk edit menu.
Risks can be imported from your Projects to Programs using the Import Risk button.
Configure Columns button is used to show or hide specific columns from the list or to add a custom field or rearrange their order (by click and drag).
Please note: For the Risks section, the configuration of fields is shared between Projects, Portfolios, and Programs. If the field is added to the Project Dashboard, these changes will also appear in Programs and Portfolios.
Action Items - this section allows tracking activities related to the successful delivery of the Program. It allows to assign an owner, the date assigned, closed date, and status, so those action items are properly recorded and action is taken to address and complete them. Use the New action item button to open the edit menu. Configure Columns button is used to show or hide specific columns from the list or to add a custom field or rearrange their order (by click and drag).
Please note: For the Action items section, the configuration of fields is shared between Projects, Portfolios, and Programs. If the field is added to the Project Dashboard, these changes will also appear in Programs and Portfolios.
Key Decisions - this section allows adding information for the key decisions, add people, date, descriptions of the key decisions on the Program. Use the New key decision button to open the edit menu. Configure Columns button is used to show or hide specific columns from the list or to add a custom field or rearrange their order (by click and drag).
Please note: It is possible to assign several managers for the same Program.
Please note: For the Key decisions section, the configuration of fields is shared between Projects, Portfolios, and Programs. If the field is added to the Project Dashboard, these changes will also appear in Programs and Portfolios.
Resource Plan - this section becomes available on the Programs dashboard if the Portfolio dashboard if the Program level is selected for Resource Planning on the Tenant settings page. The Resource Planning logic is the same for all levels.
This section helps managers organize their teams, manage resource utilization, and track resource capacity.
When the resources are added to the Resource plan, this information appears on the Resources page as well which makes it easy for the resource managers and resources to know exactly what programs they're working on.
Allocation is available in Hours, Percent, FTE, or Chart Views. You can review the Resources timeline by day, week, month, quarter, or year.
Please note: Only users with Manage Resources permission and permission to edit the program can add resources to the Resource plan section and allocate them. However, the Resource Plan section is available for all users with edit/view permission for the program in the 'View only' mode.
Please note: Two statuses are now available for resources: Active and Inactive. Only active resources can be assigned for key dates, etc. Inactive resources do not appear in the list of available resources when assigning them. However, if an active resource is assigned for key dates, as an example, all assignments will be preserved for this resource if it becomes inactive.
For more information about Resource Management in PPM Express, please refer to this article.
Embedded Content - this section allows embedding external links, videos, web pages, or documents to PPM Express dashboards. This section can also embed PPM Express Power BI Reports into the dashboards to access the required report easily. For more details, please refer to the "How to use the Embedded Content section" article.
