PLANTA project 27

PowerPoint export

4138

If a table spans multiple slides and the template slide contains objects with their own tags, such as think-cell objects, the exported presentation now opens in PowerPoint without a repair prompt.

4139

If a project has no data for a section of the template, such as milestones or risks, the table now shows only its header row instead of a row with unfilled placeholders such as €project.milestone.name. Text placeholders such as $project.total_cost.act are left empty.

4140

A placeholder directly before a manual line break (SHIFT+ENTER) is now replaced. The text after the line break stays on the next line.

General

2371

2745

Jira Cloud is now supported

PLANTA Project can now also be connected to Jira Cloud. In addition to the existing connection to Jira Server, a standard interface is available for this purpose. Worklogs recorded in Jira Cloud are transferred to PLANTA Project as hours worked via a nightly import.

The setup is described under PLANTA project and Jira. All new features are listed in the release notes for PLANTA link 27.

3574

The PowerPoint templates for the project status, the status report, and the portfolio roadmap have been changed to the new PLANTA corporate design.

3370

3371

In the new design, the user pop-up in the navigation now contains the User Settings entry for all users. There, each user can set, change, and remove their avatar, change their password, and, if configured, control the display of status messages.

The Change Password menu item is no longer displayed in the Web Client.

Server 39.2.3

Web 4.2.5

Administration

3342

LDAP configuration: person groups

The mappings AD group → Person group (old) and Person group (old) → Role (old) have been moved from the existing Configuration module to a separate Configuration (Old) module. This module is only available in the customizer, i.e., only to users with customizer rights. For the new rights concept, the AD group is stored directly on the person group (LDAP group field).

3346

3349

3488

3575

3341

Menu items via person groups (new design)

In the new design, a user's menu items are assigned via their person groups instead of via a menu item role (user menu items / all menu items). Each person group is assigned a menu item work area and a menu item priority. If a user belongs to several such person groups, the person group with the higher priority applies.

Each user thus receives exactly one set of menu items. The standard person groups are preset: customizers receive all menu items, all other global person groups receive the user menu items. For more information, see the description of the Person Groups module.

During the update, a global person group is created for each customer-specific menu item work area that users receive via a menu item role, and these users are assigned to it. Priority and LDAP group are taken over from the old person groups, if available. If a user does not receive their customer-specific menu afterwards, the WI3575_02_check_custom_menu_item_work_areas migration package fails. The log lists the priorities that need to be adjusted.

See also the release notes for PLANTA customizer 27.

LDAP import: menu items via person groups

Users from Active Directory also receive their menu items via their person groups.

3364

3372

Startup module/macro

The Change Startup Modules menu item is no longer available in the Web Client. The administrator assigns the startup module/macro to the user in the Users module. Role-specific Home Dashboards are planned for this purpose.

LDAP import: startup module/macro

For the LDAP import, the startup module/macro and its priority are assigned per person group in the LDAP configuration. The LDAP import then assigns the startup module to the corresponding users. The startup macro of the person group with the highest priority (1 is the highest) applies. The standard person groups are preset with the startup macros of the new design.

Note: This applies only to new users. The startup module of existing users remains unchanged and may have to be switched manually to the startup modules of the new design.

3437

The avatar is now stored on the person instead of on the resource. The resource data sheet shows the avatar, and the tooltip shows the business card, only for resources with a person. See also the release notes for PLANTA customizer 27.

Project

2710

In the My Objects module, the displayed objects can now be filtered. The filter can be saved as a view.

3509

In the Budget module (old and new design) of a structured project, you can now select into which project (main project or subproject) yearly tranches are inserted. Once the project is selected, the years that can still be inserted are displayed.

3368

2929

3495

2453

2096

LDAP

For persons imported from Active Directory via LDAP, the last name, first name, and e-mail addresses of the person, user, and stakeholder are now also locked, since the import overwrites them with every run. Changes must be made in Active Directory. In addition, the Fast Creation of Employee Data module now generates the full name correctly even if only a first name is entered.

The issue where changes to person groups (e.g., the LDAP group) were reset to the standard during an update has been resolved.

If the user name of an Active Directory account changes (e.g., due to a changed e-mail address from which the user name is derived), the LDAP import adopts the new user name: The ID of the assigned person is changed to the new user name with the Change Person ID function. Previously, the import was aborted for all users in this case. If the new user name is already in use in PLANTA, the assigned person no longer exists, or a leaving date is set, only this record is skipped and logged as an error.

The LDAP import is no longer aborted if a directory entry does not contain the userAccountControl attribute, e.g., in non-AD directories. The account is then treated as active (not locked).

For more information, see Import Data with LDAP.

2956

3608

3410

PowerPoint export

In the PowerPoint export of a project, the task bars in the schedule are now colored correctly. Completed, critical, and non-critical tasks each have their own color.

The text of the project objectives no longer runs out of the text field during export.

In addition to the existing text formatting (bold, italic, strikethrough, code, links), headings, bulleted lists, numbered lists, and multiple paragraphs are now supported.

3820

3727

Change Person ID

The issue where error ORA-02298 occurred when changing the person ID under Oracle has been resolved. For the configuration of individual tables, see the release notes for PLANTA customizer 27.

Changing the person ID (including preview and anonymization) is now significantly faster.

3292

The issue where persons responsible for a task could not edit fields in the Task module (description, documents, open items, checklist items) has been resolved.

3466

The My Agile Views module is now always displayed, even if no agile views exist yet. In this case, a corresponding message appears.

2779

Functions that save a file on the client (e.g., Create logfile in the interface logging or the schema export in the Data Dictionary) are now also available in the Web Client. The file is delivered as a browser download. Prerequisite: Server 39.1.6 or later. In addition, the error message when saving the log file in the desktop client has been fixed.

2689

2730

The performance of scheduling has been improved, especially under Oracle. Repeated rescheduling of large portfolios now takes up to 74% less time.

2751

Rescheduling now only writes back the aggregation of the cost type groups and the budget if a value has changed. This reduces the redo and undo volume of the database. The calculated values remain unchanged.

3530

Under MSSQL, creating, updating, and releasing reports no longer wait for each other and are no longer aborted with a deadlock when several users edit reports of different projects at the same time. Recalculating existing reports is also significantly faster.

2811

The listbox for the startup module in the Users module now displays the modules grouped by old and new design. Previously, only modules of the old design appeared there.

3279

The issue where copying a schedule was aborted with an error and the copy remained incomplete has been resolved.

3383

The issue where an internal error message was displayed to users with customizing rights when hovering over a risk in the status report (Risks & Opportunities) has been resolved. The tooltip itself was already displayed correctly.

3660

Deleting resources and tasks with synchronized loads in the schedule is now significantly faster.

3695

In the DIN 69901/1-5 process model (DE and EN), the project no longer remains locked after the Planning phase has been approved.

2299

1863

2746

PowerPoint export in the web client

PowerPoint export is now also available in the web client. Module content is filled into a PowerPoint template (.pptx) created on the customizing side. The PowerPoint export is implemented into the Project Status, Project Status Report, and Portfolio Simulation modules by default. The export and the templates can be adjusted individually via customizing.

The export procedure itself and the corresponding modules have changed in the new release. If you have made individual changes to the PowerPoint export and are updating your system to 27.1.0, please contact your PLANTA consultant.

Server 39.2.1

Web 4.2.0

2240

New Home dashboard for the project manager (R8)

The project manager is now provided with a Home dashboard containing an overview of the most important information, upon login.

2386

System Information (CTRL + B) is now opened as an individual panel rather than a submodule, in the panel that is currently opened.

2278

The global search performance has been improved.

2383

The problem where creating projects failed when the title of a process model template was entered instead of its ID in the global setting for the default process model (e.g. default project process model) has been fixed.

If the name contained special characters such as / or -, the creation process was aborted. Without special characters, the project was created without a process model. The global settings Default Idea Process Model, Default Proposal Process Model, and Default Project Process Model expect the ID of the template. The ID is now displayed for this purpose in the Process Model Templates module, and the descriptions of the settings explicitly point this out.

2703

The Python error message when sending resource requests from the Resource Requests module has been fixed.

2034

The list box for SAP WBS elements in the schedule now shows the values of the respective project, even when several projects are open at the same time.

1141

The list boxes for stakeholders in the Risks/Opportunities, Risk, and Opportunity modules now show the stakeholders of the respective project, even when several projects are open at the same time.

2392

When opening a portfolio without data, the Portfolio Core Data module is now focused instead of the Dashboard, as is already the case when creating a new portfolio.

2692

The LDAP import now compares the LDAP group stored for a person group with the group from Active Directory independently of case sensitivity and spaces. Previously, the person group, along with the modules assigned via it, was removed from the user on the next import if the spelling differed.
Further changes:

• If several person groups contain the same LDAP group, all of them are assigned.

• The LDAP group field now holds 512 characters instead of 100. Values that were already saved cut off need to be corrected once.

• Every assignment and every removal of an LDAP-controlled person group is logged.

2845

For users from Active Directory, person groups for which an LDAP group is stored can no longer be assigned or withdrawn manually in the Assign Person Groups to Users module. As with all other values managed by Active Directory, such an attempt is rejected with the message Changes to values for which Active Directory is authoritative are not allowed. Person groups without a stored LDAP group as well as person groups with an LDAP group for users who do not come from Active Directory can still be maintained manually.

General

1306

New Modules

As part of the transition of PLANTA project to the new design, new modules were created, each representing a functional counterpart to the modules in the old design. They are also grouped into thematically related functional areas/work areas and accessible through these. Functionally, the modules are partly unchanged and partly already optimized.

The modules in the new design are available exclusively in the web client.

1369

New Rights Concept and New Navigation

As part of the adjustment of the PLANTA project design, the navigation structure and rights control were clearly separated from each other.

The navigation structure is now two-tiered and fixed. It is organized into functional areas/work areas, which in turn comprise module panels/modules.

Which navigation areas and modules a user sees in their user menu, as well as which system-wide rights they have, is now determined by the assignment to one or more person groups. This is now configured clearly on a matrix basis in the corresponding administration modules. For more on this, see under Rights Control.

1071

1653

1648

User Menu

In combination with the new navigation structure, the user menu was newly organized.

• The menu items are accessible through the PLANTA logo in the header area. Planning objects and portfolios can be created directly via the plus button.

• The Quick Access area contains the new Home Dashboard module (see the entry below), the My Objects module, and Favorites. The most recently viewed planning objects are now displayed in a widget in the Home dashboard.

• Below, functional areas/work areas with thematically related module panels/modules appear.

• The Settings entry leads to the so-called secondary user menu, which brings together all administrative modules. Both the Settings entry and the secondary user menu are visible only to authorized users.

• Under the user avatar, the options Change Password and Log Out are available.

Web 4.0.0

1671

Action Bar

As part of the new PLANTA Project design, a new action bar was introduced that provides context-specific actions (menu items) above each module, in the form of buttons for, e.g., particularly frequent actions such as Save, New Task, Delete Selected, or control elements for adjusting the views (module views). For further information, see here.

1605

1298

Badges and Overflow Menus

The module panel title bar displays context-specific badges that make important status information visible at a glance, without the need to open specific modules, as well as overflow menus with the most important actions, for example:

• Project Panel: In the title bar, badges with the project ID, project status, and a lock indicator are displayed.

• Projects Panel (Project Lists): The date of the last replanning is shown.

For further information, see here.

Web 4.0.0

1082

2191

Home Dashboard

A Home Dashboard has been implemented as a central entry point with the most important information and overviews on projects, activities, etc., individually configurable from flexible widgets depending on the user role (multi-project manager, project manager, portfolio manager, department manager).

A Home Dashboard for the multi-project manager is already available by default, containing widgets such as a critical project note, widgets with project evaluations by various project parameters such as code or manager, as well as widgets with personal overviews.

Web 4.0.0

1806

All continuous text fields in the modules of the project panel were changed to Markdown behavior.

1461

In table layouts, the context menu and insert actions are now also available via buttons that appear when hovering over a row, therefore enabling quick access: "…" opens the context menu, "+" triggers the insert action.

Web 4.0.0

Project/Portfolio

2117

2359

1705

2283

2492

The functions of the Department Manager have been restructured and optimized:

• The Distribute Effort function was integrated into the My Department module, and the Resource Planning module was dissolved.

• The Resource Manager/Department Manager can now record/edit absences for the department's employees via the context menu in the Department module in their personal area.

• The recording of hours worked for the department's employees now takes place in the new Time Recording for Others module, in the new Hours Worked module panel.

2360

Vacation and absences can now be recorded in the calendar module of the same name not only per day, but for entire periods at once.

2418

The tooltip of a milestone now also displays the milestone's name in addition to the date.

1363

The creation procedure for planning objects has been changed. When creating an idea, a proposal, a project, a program, or a portfolio, a short dialog opens first, in which the most important details are entered. Only by clicking Create is the object actually created. Clicking Cancel ends the process at any time without consequences. The creation of the planning objects themselves now takes place at a central location in the user menu via a plus button.

Web 4.1.0

1591

1616

1618

1769

Costs panel (formerly Cost Overview panel) merged

The analyses of budget, costs, and revenues are now bundled in the Costs panel, displayed across four modules. The various perspectives on costs are available as module views within a single module.

• Budget Cost Comparison: Budget, costs, and revenues grouped by a criterion. The With Delta View view additionally shows the deviations between the current plan and the selected status report.

• Costs and Budget per Month: monthly cost trend, by cost type or by cost type group, now with budget reference.

• Costs and Revenues per Month: Costs and revenues per month from the current planning and from all existing status reports.

• Cost Allocation: Distribution of budget and costs by project group, by customer/group/manager, by cost center, or by cost type group.

Agile / Hybrid Planning

1730

2037

2042

1928

Integrated agile functionality replaces PLANTA pulse

The agile component has been seamlessly integrated into PLANTA project. This enables hybrid planning within a single tool, eliminating the previous need to switch between tools and accounts.

• The new Agile module forms the foundation for the hybrid integration. Here, agile activities are bundled into project tasks and made available in various views.

• New agile activities can be recorded both from the Schedule module and in the Agile module. In the schedule module, tasks with an existing agile view now also display agile statistics (completed/all activities), which lead to the Kanban view with a click.

• In the project core data, or already in a dialog when creating a new project, the planning method "hybrid" or "traditional" can be selected.

• The My Work panel was extended with the new My Agile Views module.

• Rights control in Agile has been aligned with PLANTA project.

Server 39.2.0

Web 4.0.0

1498

In addition to OpenAI, other OpenAI-compatible AI providers and models can now also be configured (URL and model name freely selectable).

2444

Search queries in the User Menu's search bar now search across multiple fields and are significantly faster.

1828

The issue where, in the program report, the comment fields Measure and Decision were loaded from live data instead of from the saved report record has been fixed.

2362

The home icon in the breadcrumb navigation is now clickable and opens the start page directly.

Web 4.0.2

1817

The cause of the error message that appeared in the web client after creating a status report has been fixed.

1775

The issue where the Favorite attribute of a planning object was deleted when switching status between Active and Inactive has been fixed.

1614

The cause of the error message that was displayed after successfully approving a project phase has been fixed. The approval was saved correctly in all cases.

1530

The issue where configuration values 3 and 4 of the parameter p_project_budget_edit caused an SQL error when calculating the budget and creating a baseline has been fixed.

1588

The issue where, after AI-assisted creation of a schedule, the bars were only displayed correctly after a manual refresh (F7) has been fixed.

1556

Manual entry of load records is now possible in the Task module.

1903

1902

In the matrix charts of the Risks and Opportunities modules, the links now reliably lead to the correct list. Clicking on a number in the matrix now displays only the list of risks or opportunities for the clicked field.

The links now work for all planning object types.

2349

Risks and opportunities can only be recorded, edited, and deleted by users with modification rights.

2300

When a password is reset and sending via SMTP fails, a misleading success message is no longer displayed. The actual error is reported instead.