Quick-Start Guide
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Conventions Used in This Manual
Full-Size Italics:
The name of a form or a report.
Example: New Project
Small-Size Bold:
The name of a label or a field on a form.
Example: Project Name
SMALL CAPS ITALICS:
The name of a button on a form.
Example: ADD TO PROGRAM
Other Notes:
PROTIP:
These tips spread throughout the manual will either help you use the advanced features of
the program, or give you ideas for organizing and running your project like a pro.
NOTE:
These notes will explain details about how the program works. They will help you use
EnCompass to the greatest advantage.
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The Basics
Main Menu
Since this is a quick-start guide, we won’t go through all the options on this
screen. You’ll have to pull out the User’s Manual for that.
To start a new project,
click on
START NEW PROJECT
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New Project
When you first open the New Project form, you will see this blank page. You
must enter a project name before you can enter any of the other fields:
Type the name of the new
project here.
If you haven’t entered any
employees, you can click
ADD EMPLOYEES.
These fields are optional.
You can fill them now or
later when you do the
project charter
Once you have entered information in these fields, it will look like this:
Check this box to add a
charter to the project. The
Project Charter form will
open next.
Once you are satisfied, click on SAVE PROJECT to open the following:
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Project Charter
If you did not add a charter, you will see the Project Status form instead,
which is addressed in the next section.
Why are we doing
this project?
What are we
doing?
What’s IN?
What’s OUT?
Boundaries?
When these things are done
the project is complete
The project charter is an important part of the project, since it records the
specifications up front. Written definition of the project helps keep
expectations under control and defends against scope creep.
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A completed charter:
Once one of the approvals has been obtained, the
charter is frozen and must be revised to be changed.
Close this form to go back to the Main Menu:
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Main Menu
Moving on to the Project Status Report.
Click on
PROJECT STATUS UPDATE
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Project Status
The next step is to put together the milestones, or top-level schedule. These
are the items that get reported to management.
Next, click on
EDIT MILESTONES to put
together the top-level
schedule
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Project Milestones
Blank form before entering any milestones:
Click on
ADD NEW MILESTONE or
EDIT MILESTONES to open
the Edit Milestone form.
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Edit Milestone
Enter the milestone description here
Dates are not entered in
the Current Due Date field.
If you TAB or click here,
the cursor automatically
goes to the Due Date field
under Due Date Revision
History.
All dates are entered in the Due Date Revision History section of the form. This
way a history of date changes and reasons is always available. The due date
entered most recently always appears in reports.
See below for a filled-in milestone detail page:
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Use CHANGE DATE when
you want to change a
previously-entered date.
The cursor will
automatically move to
the Due Date field below
on a new line in Due Date
Revision History.
Keep adding milestones
until the schedule is
complete.
When all milestones have been entered, click on SAVE AND EXIT to see the
completed Milestone list as shown below:
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Completed Milestone List:
You are almost ready to generate a Project Status Report, or a Monthly
Project Report for management.
Close the Project Milestones form to return to the Project Status:
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Project Status
Now your newlyentered milestones
show up here.
Click on
EDIT COMMENTS
Comments make up the last important part of the Project Status Report and
Monthly Report. They provide a way for project team members to report on
the progress of the project. The comments also become an integral part of
the project history, so use them to record as much as possible.
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Edit Comments
Blank form before adding any comments:
Click on
ADD NEW COMMENT
After entering a comment:
Click on
SAVE AND EXIT
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Project Status
You are now ready to generate reports.
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Click on
GENERATE REPORT
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Project Status Report Builder
Use these filters to
narrow your
project list when it
gets long.
Select the project or projects
to report from the list.
(If no projects are selected, all
projects on the list will print)
Click on
GENERATE REPORT
To create the following report, an important tool for reporting project
progress:
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Action Items
Now let’s look at some of the everyday uses for EnCompass. Your most-used
feature will probably be Action Items. Have this open during your project
meetings to quickly and accurately record who should do what.
On the Main Menu:
Click on
ACTION ITEMS
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Action Item Entry
Assign responsible
person
Date Entered is filled
in automatically, but
you can change it.
Comments and
important details
about the item.
Describe the work
to be done.
Date complete,
NOT due date.
These are “To-Do”
items, not longterm tasks.
Notice that
completed items are
sorted to the top.
Use this form at your project meetings not only to record action items, but
other details and decisions as well. These items will become integral parts of
your project history.
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Double-click in any
field to open the
detailed view.
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Action Item Detail
Provides more room
to read and write
lengthy action item
descriptions and
comments.
Note that you can
assign action items
to multiple projects
from this form.
Probably not used
often, but it can
come in handy.
Once you start using the action items, you will want a quick way to see who
needs to finish what. For that you will use the Action Item Report.
Close Action Item Detail and Action Item Entry to return to the Main Menu.
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Action Item Report
Click on
ACTION ITEM REPORT
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Action Item Report Builder
You will notice that most of the “report builders” have a similar format:
Use these filters to
narrow your
project list when it
gets long.
Select the project or projects
to report from the list.
(If no projects are selected, all
projects on the list will print)
Click on
GENERATE REPORT
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This report shows all the Action Items for one project because “Very
Important Project” was selected in the report builder above.
If no projects had been selected, the generator would have included all
projects on the displayed list.
It would have looked like this…
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Action Item Report with no projects selected from the list:
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You can use the Filter By Assignee drop-box to generate specific individual
reports for all of your team members.
Note that a name selected
in the filter…
…changes the project list.
Click on
GENERATE REPORT
Using the filter will generate a report for that individual only.
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Action Item Report with “Smith” selected as assignee:
Encourage your team members to generate these reports often, or distribute
them yourself on a regular basis.
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Purchase Orders
EnCompass can also track your purchase orders.
From the Main Menu:
Click on
PURCHASE ORDERS
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Purchase Order List
Use filters to
narrow the list of
Purchase Orders
Click here to enter a
new Purchase Order
If you select a single project, the list will show only purchase orders for that
project and update the total at the bottom.
Clicking on ENTER NEW PURCHASE ORDER will open the following form:
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Purchase Order Detail
If you have not
entered any
vendors, simply
type the name
here and
EnCompass will
prompt you for
the details.
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After completion, the Purchase Order Detail looks like this:
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Project History
The Project History report can be very helpful in recreating the “what” and
“when” on your projects.
From the Main Menu:
Click on
PROJECT HISTORY
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Project History Report Builder
Look familiar?
Select “Very
Important Project”
for this example
Delete the prefilled
date range to show
all dates
Select all three options:
action items, milestones, and comments
for the most comprehensive report.
This report shows only completed action items and milestones—it is a history
report after all.
The more data you record throughout the life of the project, the more
helpful the Project History Report will become. Be sure to enter all action
items and encourage your team members to comment often. You can cut
and paste e-mail directly into the Edit Comments form.
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Two-Month Look Ahead
This is the last item in the Quick-Start Guide. There are many other features
hiding in the program, but you’ll need to look at the User’s Manual for all the
details.
From the Main Menu:
Click on
TWO-MONTH LOOK AHEAD
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This report shows all of the open milestones either past due or coming due
in the next two months. It can really help by making sure nothing takes you
by surprise.
Run it once a week, and make sure Gate Review meetings are scheduled,
and upcoming milestones are on track. Now would be the time to reschedule
if you are seeing problems ahead.
That’s it for the Quick-Start Guide. If you have any questions, please refer to
the User’s Manual. You can also contact me if you still need help at
[email protected].
Thank you!
Version 1.0
September 10, 2013
© 2013 by Knucklehead Computers
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