Choosing or building a calculation profile

Choosing or building a calculation profile

Goal: decide which calculation rules a project uses. You choose a built-in profile, or you make a custom profile with your own conventions.

When you need this

You open a project that must calculate as Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project, or you want to set one convention differently from what the profile does. What a profile is and why the dates can shift is in Calculation profiles and conventions.

Steps

Choosing a profile for a new project

1. Choose Home › File › New. The New project window opens.
2. In the drop-down list Calculation profile, choose the profile: Open Planner Studio, Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project.
3. Create the project. The app replaces the calculation options you had already filled in with the defaults of the profile.

Switching the profile of an existing project

1. Choose Settings › Project › Project settings. You can also choose File › Project settings.
2. In the block Calculation profile and options, open the drop-down list Calculation profile and choose another profile.
3. Click Apply. The app recalculates the schedule straight away, even if Calculate automatically is off. If tasks moved, the app says how many.

Until you click Apply, the change exists only in the form. The whole switch is one step for Undo. Switching only changes the conventions; your calculation options stay as they are.

Building a custom profile

1. In the block Calculation profile and options, click New profile, next to the drop-down list.
2. Enter a name. The app suggests Copy of the chosen profile, for example Copy of Open Planner Studio.
3. Click Create. The part Conventions of this profile expands.
4. Switch the conventions on or off with the checkboxes. The i icon after a line shows the explanation of that convention. A convention that differs from the base gets the label back to base.
5. Click Apply. Only then does the project calculate with the new profile.

The three built-in profiles cannot be changed. Their conventions are shown for information only.

Keeping a custom profile as a template

1. If needed, give the custom profile another name in the field Name of this custom profile.
2. Click Save as template. The app reports that the template was saved, or why that failed.
3. In another project in the same app, the template is in the drop-down list Calculation profile.

If the profile later differs from the template, a yellow block says so. Then choose Update template from this project or Update from template.

You delete a template with Delete template. The app asks for confirmation first.

Checking the result

• The block Calculation profile and options shows the chosen profile.
• After Apply the app reports moved tasks, for example After applying, 4 tasks moved.
• An orange block above the calculation options says that your calculation options differ from the default of the profile. That is often on purpose. If you want the default anyway, click Use the … default settings.

Pitfalls and what the app does

The dates shift. Another profile can change real dates. Check the result. If you do not like it, choose Undo: profile and dates go back together.

A yellow block after Undo. If you press Undo or Redo while Project settings is open, the block follows the state of the project. If you had already changed something in the block yourself, your choice stays. A yellow block then says that Apply puts that choice back.

There can be at most 100 templates. If there are already 100, the app does not save the template and reports that. Delete a template first. A full or missing app storage also gives a message.

Templates belong to the app, the profile to the project. The project always carries its own copy of the profile. If you change the template later, the project does not change with it.

Settings from a source file. If you choose Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project for a project that comes from another file, the settings from the source file stay. You cannot change them here.

See also

• Calculation profiles and conventions: what a profile is and what it does to dates.
• Calculation options and conventions: all conventions and calculation options at a glance.
• Choosing the progress mode: Retained Logic or Progress Override, separate from the profile.