WebSphere Lombardi Edition 7.2 > Use Process Portal > Use Critical Path Management features


Change process instance settings

After analyzing the projections for a process instance, you may want to change specific setting such as the due date for the overall instance or the due date for individual activities. The following topics describe the changes you can make to your process instances using the Critical Path Management features in Lombardi Process Portal.

Before you begin the following tasks:


Change a process instance due date

In the Instance Details section of the Critical Path interface, you can change the due date of the process instance (the end date for the entire process)

  1. Enter the new date and time in the Update Due Date field. You can either type the date and time or click the calendar icon to the right of the Update Due Date field and select a date and time from the calendar.

  2. Review the pending changes to the values in the Critical Path Management section.

  3. Click the Save button to commit the change.


Change settings for activities

In the Critical Path Management interface in Lombardi Process Portal, you can change the individual values (priority, duration, due date) of activities and tasks in a process instance

  1. Type the new value directly into each field that you want to update. When you change a value (such as the duration or the due date) in the Updates section, the field is shaded yellow to indicate that it has been changed but not yet saved (it can still be reverted).

    You can change the priority, duration, and due date of an activity or a task. For the due date, you can either type the date and time or click on the calendar icon to the right of the Due Date field and select a date and time from the calendar. If you need to refer back to the current values, click the indicator at the top right of the Critical Path Management section to show (or hide) the current values :

  2. In the Changes section, review the pending changes to the values. When you change the duration or due date of an activity or active task, WebSphere Lombardi Edition updates the durations and due dates of all subsequent activities and tasks that are affected by the change.

  3. Click the Save button to commit the changes.


Making bulk changes to process instance values

To change several values simultaneously when performing critical path analysis for a process instance, you can do so quickly using the settings in Mass Updates.

  1. Choose the settings from the drop-down lists in the Mass Updates field to implement the changes that you want. The following table describes the available settings:

    If you select... Then you need to specify... And then apply the update to... For...
    Reset to Current Which of the following values you want to reset to the current value:

    • Duration

    • Due Date

    • Priority
    		Changed values or only critical path values. Activities, Active Tasks, or Activities and Active Tasks
    Decrease Duration by % The numerical percentage by which you want to decrease the duration All values, changed values, unchanged values, or only critical path values Activities and Active Tasks
    Decrease Amount The setting that you want to decrease (duration or due date) and the value for the amount. For the value that you specify, the duration or due date is decreased by that number of days. For example, if you specify 10, the duration or due date is decreased by 10 days. All values, changed values, unchanged values, or only critical path values Activities, Active Tasks, or Activities and Active Tasks
    Increase Duration by % The numerical percentage by which you want to increase the duration All values, changed values, unchanged values, or only critical path values Activities and Active Tasks
    Increase Amount The setting that you want to increase (duration or due date) and the value for the amount. For the value that you specify, the duration or due date is increased by that number of days. For example, if you specify 10, the duration or due date is increased by 10 days. All values, changed values, unchanged values, or only critical path values Activities, Active Tasks, or Activities and Active Tasks
    Set Value The setting that you want to change (duration, due date, or priority), and the value for that setting.

    For duration and due date, you can specify days. If you specify only a value, the duration or due date is set to that number of days. For example, if you specify only 10, the duration or due date is set to 10 days.

    For priority, you can choose the new priority from the drop-down list.

    		All values, changed values, unchanged values, or only critical path values Activities, Active Tasks, or Activities and Active Tasks

  2. Click the Update Values button. Changes are applied per the chosen settings. You can see the changes in the Critical Path Management section of the interface.

  3. Review the pending changes to the values in the Critical Path Management section. The field for each updated value is shaded yellow to indicate that it has been changed, but not yet saved. When you change the duration or due date of an activity or a task, WebSphere Lombardi Edition accordingly updates the durations and due dates of all subsequent activities and tasks that are affected by the change.

  4. Click Save to commit the changes.


Saving or reverting changes to process instance values

When you change a value (such as the priority, duration, or the due date), each affected field is shaded yellow to indicate that it has been changed but not yet saved. While a pending change is highlighted in yellow, you can choose to either save it or revert it.

If you have pending changes, they will be reverted if you change the critical path projection. If you need to change the projection, do so either before you make changes to process instance values or after you have already saved your changes.

You can revert (undo) pending changes by clicking the Revert button. When you click the Save button, all pending changes are committed and cannot be reverted.


View milestones, activities, and tasks

The Critical Path Management interface displays the values (priority, duration, and due date) of activities and tasks for the selected process instance. You can click the question mark icon next to the Critical Path Management section of the interface to view or hide the legend, which provides a key for identifying items in the current instance, as shown in the following image. Each milestone may contain one or more activities, and each activity may show one or more generated tasks.

In the preceding image, you can see that the activities are organized per milestone. You can click the indicator next to the name of each milestone to view or hide the activities and tasks in the milestone. Similarly, you can click the indicator next to the name of an activity to view or hide the tasks generated by the activity. (Activities in the BPD generate tasks in running instances of that BPD.) Non-critical activities are grayed out and are hidden by default, whereas critical activities appear in boldface type and are displayed by default. To show (or hide) non-critical activities, click the page icon at the top right of the Critical Path Management section, as shown in the following image:

When editing the durations and due dates of activities and tasks in the Critical Path Management section, the current values for durations and due dates of activities and tasks are hidden by default. If you are making changes to values and you need to refer back to the current values, click the indicator at the top right of the Critical Path Management section to show (or hide) the current values, :

Parent topic: Use Critical Path Management features

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