New Spider Project Functionalities

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Dear All,

May i know how can i get teh trail version of Spider?

if some one can help thanks in adcance and can send information on my e-mail too. (maqeel2008@hotmail.com)

Hi Muhammad,

full functional Demo with 40 activities per project restriction may be downloaded from http://www.spiderproject.ru/demo_e.php

In Demo you can try everything except Export/Import capabilities, there are no time restrictions.

But remember that new versions of Spider Project are launched frequently and the version downloaded in a month will be even more functional than the version downloaded today.

Best Regards,

Vladimir

Muhammad

The following link can be of help for the new Spider Project user.

http://www.spiderproject.ro/pdf/first_project__project_planning.pdf

Regards,

Rafael

Export/Import to/from Primavera xer included in new release.

Hello,

in version of Spider Project 10.02 Release 60 - released 12/13/2010 there are two new usefull buttons: "Display and Hide materials" and "Hide", they work like the assignment ones.

mpossi

Marcus,

This is even better, we now are able to display Actual, Baseline Early and Baseline Late plus Current Early and Curren late Diagrams, no need to use Excel and with the ability to display multiple Diagrams.

The following functionality, I am still wondering how it is to evolve, is as novel as other resource loading functionalities unique of Spider Project. The software will be able to toggle on/off links based on formula values that might change as the schedule is updated.

Best regards,

Rafael

Yes, now you can create any banana curves.

We plan further improve this soon and to add what you expected - switch activities will follow the rules like if switch happens before Christmas we will celebrate, in other case keep working day and night. This may be called Conditional scheduling.

Best Regards,

Vladimir

Now in case you have an owner who insists in using his Excel template it is very easy to create the required tabular report with Early and Late values for Cumulative, Per Period or both although it is no longer needed, it would be a caprice. Why wasting a few valuable minutes when it is already there? Yes, now very easy but for these purposes the Excel icon is not needed anymore, the Graph as generated by Spider Project is perfect, even the table of values can be displayed.

As a matter of fact I would trust more on the projected values by the software than those by an Excel spreadsheet that can be manipulated, it makes validation easier, easier for the contractor and easier for the owner's rep who has to certify the projected curve is correct.

Note: The above graph is from a sample job that was updated by delaying the start of the job, therefore no activity show actual start or finish, this is only for a fast illustration of the S Curves. The sample current schedule S-Curve values were obtained by creating a second graph using monthly periods while the graph per se was generated using daily periods. The sample below my posting before DD displays a single line that splits into two just after the DD as expected.

From http://cmaanet.org/files/pentagon.pdf you will see the term Banana Curve refers to the combination of Early and Late S-Curves. The following illustration, from the above reference shows the concept but Spider Project in a similar way P3 was able to do, will display a split for the current schedule progress curves, one split representing projected early and the other representing projected late while before the data date the curves converge to the actuals. Spider representation as well as P3 are the most adequate representations.

Because the progress line is almost always below the early finish line, the contractor almost always appears to be “behind schedule. ” This can be an unfair assessment—or it could be a valid assessment. There is insufficient information to judge! A better method of graphing the status is to plot both the early finish curve and the late finish curve together. As shown in Figure 5, this forms the so-called “banana curve. ”

 About Conditional Scheduling, to my understanding this is novel functionality but not a novel need, in fact I believe it to be old and common. It is not unusual to make plans with options that will depend upon the occurrence of some events whose timing is unknown at the initial stages of planning. For the moment we have to make the assumptions and manually change the schedule as these events do happen, even when ahead of time we know the rules for the moment we do not have the tools to embed them into our model. To my view this will be a very welcomed functionality not only because it will prevent omissions but because it will make it transparent as everyone will be informed and aware of these.

About the new functions I believe they are still on the works and a few more are to be released, therefore the English language documentation of these is perhaps on hold for a while, same as the syntax for specific table cell references in formulas. They will be welcomed as I cannot live without the formula functionality as is.

I think that banana curve term is not new.

Conditional scheduling may be new. It means that the schedule includes switches and conditions for selecting the ways the project will proceed.

What is your question about new commands?

They are used in scenarios and report templates. For an example if you will want to get the report template for the period of one month since the data date in the current version.

Hi !

Now, and after researching on Google, I got the Banana Idea. In fact I worked with a team, years ago, when we discussed based on CPM doctrine about delays and "buffers". But we did not call it banana :). 

Using EVM curves we use the expression ... "boca do jacaré" or "alligator 's mouth" (we are always inside it) :D

mpossi

Links to something in between start and finish of predecessor and successor.

We have a new functionality for "double links" to fix links to other than activity start or activity finish, it can be based on time or volume of work and can be expressed as percentage. Perhaps a betterment on a functionality I have seen requested by many.

The following link is an example of how this is applied as a percentage of a SS "double link" plus a standard FF link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpHuVC_Dicg

The following example shows how two different SS links type behave, one SS+5 days, another SS after 50% duration of activity 1. Activity 2 will start after 50% of duration of activity 1 or after 5 days, the larger of these two will govern, in no case SS will be less than 5 days based on link calendar which can be equal or different to successor or predecessor calendars. As duration of activity changes as result of skills substitution with different productivity or any other reason the start of activity two will at times be driven by the first link while at times the second link will be the driver.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PbJmy1kiLo

My questions are;

1. Recently I have seen in other forums how out-of-sequence mask CPM logic, the recommended good practice to correct out-of-sequence logic is very relevant. Will broken "double links" that generate out-of-sequence occurrences be duly identified so I can filter for out-of-sequence events?
2. Will I be able to identify driving "double links"?
3. There are many ways by which the duration of an activity might be adjusted, at times by changes in skills productivity, at times as result of actual progress an perhaps others. In the case of partial progress how the duration or volume for link computations is calculated, as actual(s) + remaining?

Regards,

Rafael

Rafael,

like for other links in the Links table you will see if double link is broken and if it is driving.

Link will not be shown as driving if you will select Ignore preceding activity links if activity is in progress.

Lags are calculated as the sum of actual duration or volume and remaining duration or volume.

Regards,

Vladimir

Vladimir,

Thanks for this functionality, it will keep true planning intent when predecessor duration varies and lag is a function of the duration instead of a fixed value. This satisfies my modeling needs for continuous PDM activities (99%) as well for those duly splitted, the one percent I split on case by case and not by an across the board unpredictable rule.

Best Regards,

Rafael

Vladimir,

About "Link will not be shown as driving if you will select Ignore preceding activity links if activity is in progress." is there a way to make this option not the default when creating new jobs. I do not like it, though I am tolerant to those who plan with it. I believe the planner shall keep the options and others shall be able to identify it, Spider Provides for both, it is just an issue with the default, at times I miss overriding such settings.

Perhaps not only to expand the selection of options but to make it an option to keep the settings when updating the software.

Of course this shall not be a substitute to job templates nor to Reference Books. I would like to have access to a table with those single value fields I can edit given the access rights and I can transfer with Standard Reference Books plus I can report on them.

Regards,

Rafael

Hi Planners !

There is a new feature (to increase the operator productivity): the EXCEL into "Spider Project" copy and paste.

THe Spider TEam said it not completed yet, but the soundtrack I used is The sound track represents really where we are going to. :)

 http://www.ecthos.com/dpg/019 - Spider Space

marcus possi

Hi Planners !

There is a new feature (to increase the operator productivity): the EXCEL into "Spider Project" copy and paste.

THe Spider TEam said it not completed yet, but the soundtrack I used represents really where we are going to. :)

 http://www.ecthos.com/dpg/019 - Spider Space

marcus possi

You know that Spider can store norms, prices, etc. in the Reference-books and use them in all projects.

Sometimes these norms change and now you can compare versions of Reference-books the same way as project versions.

This way it is easy to find what norms changed at any time period.

Handy but my favorite new functionality is;

When a new user defined field is created it can be shown in all the project tables by default.

This makes it easir to transfer and combine values of different tables into my formulas, there was a way but this is so much easier.

Regards,

Rafael

Spider Project version 10.03 release 70 - from 24.11.2011

Wow

In fact, from november 18th to date Spider Project has been heavy on updates.

I just remembered to update today and entered the "What's New" page, then I saw this particular feature that was updated yesterday - but there are many, many useful new things, here are some that I have found handy:
 

-New fields in the Activity Gantt diagram "Preceding Activities" and "Succeeding Activities" just like in MS Project. (Very useful when coordinated with the taskbar, more when it will becomes editable)
-The main window menu item "Options / Parameters" is renamed to "Options / Workplace Options". < I did not know this window! Now I changed [Remaining] for [Remanente] 

-New menu item "Options / Options of Newly Created Projects and Documents".

-Column properties allow to adjust cell Date-time format

I would like for the resource overloads bar to roll up the red highlight whenever there is a resource overload, in this way even if I cannot see overloads on my histograms of one among hundreds of resources I would know the times/dates some resource is overloaded and by merely clicking on the appropriate spot I would get the requested information. Maybe black for overloads of any resource(s) of my selection and red for any other overloaded resource.

Maybe the bar shall turn back to completely green after you make any changes to resource loading as a reminder a schedule run must be performed for it to be correct.

Also would like some other options so that when you right click the resource overloads bar you can have the option to select date/time not by clicking but by entering the date/time of interest.

Perhaps an option [as a sticky option] for the selection to jump to nearest overload occurrence if the selection yields no overload at the specific time might make it easier to look for overloads without need to expand the time scale.

Right click in Spider Project is context sensitive and easy to use, better than adding hundreds of menu items that can get on your way.

Resource Overload Report is invaluable for reporting but when solving resource overallocations the overloads bar becomes handy, so much the report is no effective substitute for this function.

Best Regards,

Rafael

P.S. ....  so much functionality in such dumb looking bar it took me some time to notice

Found it, it allows me to highlight all or any combination overloaded resources as per my request. By the way the filter for selected resource overloaded activities is very handy.

In the following figure I selected to highlights overloads for resource B only [on the overloads bar], now I see when the overloads occur and can filter for activities at a specific occurrence. As you can see I selected 12/02/2011.

It is perfect just I was not aware.

Perhaps adding to the right click options the <<Resource Peak Work Load Options>> and the <<Resource Peak Work Load>> Calculation menu items will make it even easier.

Among the new Spider functionalities I am exploring are:

1. the display of Start/Finish Flex,
2. the display of a difference flag when comparing text fields and
3. the display of activities from the compared project that are absent in the current + place them into separate phase.

Items 1 and 2 are awesome and work as expected, they work on the Gantt as well as on the other tables such as the Calendars Table and Calendars Exceptions Tables.  

Now I will be able to visually see Flex on activities durations, great to determine if, when and how to split activities with Flex. On average about 10% of my activities display Flex, 10% of 600 activities on my typical schedule is 60 activities, and this is a significant number. This is something I have been looking for years, once again many thanks. 

Now I will be able to filter for "Different" and then compare difference in text on changed text only, great for checking changes on calendar details, of most value to those on the other side checking different file versions. 

I am having problems with item 3, another new functionality of great value I cannot wait to use, here I need your help as probably I am doing something wrong with this new functionality fresh from the oven. This functionality is going to be a killer as never before I have been able to do so, great for when you are submitting an update as when submitting a revised baseline schedule, of most value to those on the other side checking the new schedule.  

Best Regards,

Rafael

Vladimir,

Got it, it is a Gantt Option you got to setup, it works as expected, it is great. Now I can see in the same Gantt the activities in compared schedule missing on current.

DIFFERENCE fields on absent activities is empty, some value shall be considered for purpose of filtering, maybe an asterisk. 

This reminds me of a minor request for functionality to save and load Gantt Options in a way similar to Layout.

Maybe saved Layout in Project and saved Gantt Options in Project shall be stored on Report Template upon creation. In this way even the time scale zoom size and range on the report will be remembered. 

Best Regards

Rafael

Rafael,

• This reminds me of a minor request for functionality to save and load Gantt Options in a way similar to Layout.

I think this minor functionality would be very helpful.

Best Regards,

Bogdan

Greetings Vladimir,

I was looking over the new functionalities added since release 27 when I got stuck on this one:

• The user defined period can be in any units: hours, days, weeks, months, quarters, years.

I presumed that the Boundary field refers to the unit of measure (hours, day, weeks, etc.), but I haven't figured out what values should the user enter in order to define the unit?

Best regards,

Bogdan

Hi Bogdan,

imagine that you want to get some report by months but not from the beginning to the end of the month but from 25 of the previous month to 24 of the next month.

In the boundary field you may enter 25.05.2005 (actually any month and any year, Spider will look at both durations) and 1 as the  measure of the report period in months (if you will enter 2 your reports will become bi-monthly).

The unit of measure is defined by the report that you selected (by hours, days, weeks, etc.).

This way you can get flexible reports (weekly but from Tuesday to Monday for example, for each two weeks, etc.).

Regards,

Vladimir

Greetings Vladimir,

I have a minor fuctionality request regarding the Gantt Chart drawing.

Even though the "Detailed Information" option is great for viewing working and non working periods it can be a bit overwhelming, especially when printing the schedule.

I think it would be very useful to have a second option which will display only non working periods of time from calendar exceptions and the posibility for the user to select which calendar exceptions to display.

What do you think?

Best Regards,

Bogdan

Hi Bogdan,

this functionality is in our plans, we will move ahead its priority.

We plan to show exceptions and periods of delays but selecting exceptions to show looks impractical.

Regards,

Vladimir 

Thank you for the new functionality regarding detailed information and calendar exceptions. Works great!!!

Regards,

Bogdan

Vladimir,

The new formula modifier dialog is awesome, finally not only specific cell references are easy but the conditional selection adds even more power. This improved functionality adds power while simplifying the interface, it is a double bonus. So easy and intuitive no instructions are needed. 

Best Regards,

Rafael

Rafael,

also look at drag and drop option for moving activities and phases.

It does not add much but our users wanted it and sometimes it is more convenient than cut and paste.

Regards,

Vladimir

Vladimir,

even though it is not exactly new exactly new could you explain what does the "Select most likely shedule" do and where it is applied? Does it have anythig to do with Triggers and MC analysis?

Thank you!

Regards,

Bogdan

Bogdan,

yes it is for Monte Carlo simulation. Though activity durations in each simulation iteration are different the logic of resource assignments simulates what people do. They can make decisions on activity priorities basing on most likely or optimistic schedules and Spider suggests to define this.