When things happen in a running project or process, myCommunigram generates messages that tell you that your attention or input is needed. Simply click on "Messages" on the left of the toolbar to open a window of all available messages (the number in parentheses indicates how many new messages are available).
On the left hand side of the window you see various message categories (each of these categories is described in detail below). The number in parentheses indicates how many new messages are available.
On the right hand side, you can select the individual messages, consult them, and react to them.
Incoming Deliverables
This is where all deliverables of which you are the designated recipient ("client") come in. Whenever somebody working "upstream" in the project or process (a "supplier") finishes work on a deliverable and clicks on "Send to Clients", a message will appear in this category.
When you click on one of the messages, details concerning the deliverable appear, such as the supplier's comment and all related documentation.
You must now assess this information and either accept or refuse each incoming deliverable. If you accept the deliverable, and all other clients (if any) accept, the supplier's traffic light will turn blue, thus indicating that the deliverable has been accepted and is therefore finished. If you refuse, you are asked to state why. The supplier is informed of this via a yellow traffic light and your comment.
Feedback from Clients
This is where all responses from your clients concerning the deliverables you elaborated and sent are collected. Particularly important are any refused deliverables, as these need to be redone quickly. If a deliverable is refused, this is also indicated via a yellow traffic light.
Note: As long as not all clients have accepted your deliverable, the corresponding task is not finished.
Milestones
When you are responsible for a milestone, you need to decide how the project will go on. If you click in the list on one of the listed milestones (only the currently pending milestones are listed), you are shown the alternative cases (if available) and in which case they should be used. There are two types of cases: milestone cases (alternatives) and loops. Alternatives designate several possible paths the project or process will continue, depending on what you decide in the milestone. Loops mean that the project or process will repeat previous steps and then come back to this milestone.
In the simplest instance of a milestone, there are no milestone cases to choose from. You simply need to decide whether all deliverables that should have been created for this milestone are indeed available and sufficient for the project to go on. This information is available in the milestone checklist ("target" icon).
If you decide the project may go on, simply select the blue traffic light from the pull-down menu. This sets the milestone to blue (finished) and triggers all subsequent tasks (makes them "pending" via myCommunigram).
If you find that the project has not produced all needed deliverables, select the yellow traffic light from the pull-down menu. This stops the project at this point and does not let any subsequent tasks begin.
- List of Milestones within the Message Box: by double-clicking on the "target" of the milestone, you access its milestone checklist (deliverable of the milestone)
Milestones can also have several different cases to choose from, depending on the current situation in the project.
If you click in the list on one of the listed decisions to be taken, you are shown the alternative cases and under which circumstance they should be used. There are two types of cases: milestone cases (alternatives) and loops. Milestone cases designate an alternative path the project or process would follow if you so decide in the milestone. Loops mean that the project or process will repeat previous steps and then come back to this milestone.
If you decide to use one of the available cases, the corresponding deliverables are copied into the current project. In case of a loop, all deliverables from where the loop jumps to, all the way back to the milestone are copied to the existing project. After these deliverables are produced once more, the same decision needs to be taken in the milestone, i.e. all cases, including the loop, are available.
- Milestone with available alternatives: two cases, and a default case. In some milestones, a loop is available: this would be shown by the case type "Loop".
Select the case you find appropriate and click on "Select this case". This command will add the corresponding deliverables to the current project. Because this cannot be undone, you will then be asked to confirm, and you will be asked whether you want to schedule the project to take these new deliverables into account.
Durations to Confirm
From CommunigramPlanner, planners can send you a request to confirm duration estimations they made when putting together the current project. You need to confirm or reject these estimations by clicking on the corresponding buttons. If you reject, you also need to suggest a different duration that the planner will either accept (thus entering your duration suggestion into the project plan) or refuse (in that case, you will receive a new message here).
Note: The estimations are to be considered "average" estimations - neither worst nor best case. In particular, this means that you should not pad your own time estimation with a personal "time buffer", but rather give a realistic estimation of how long it will take to elaborate the deliverable assuming resources are available and the elaboration does not cause any particular difficulties. Remember that you will use the traffic lights if difficulties occur during the elaboration of the deliverable, so there is no need to add additional "security".
Delivery Dates to Confirm
From CommunigramPlanner, planners can request you to confirm delivery dates that have been calculated using Critical Path methodology, i.e. based on the individual durations of all deliverables and the dependencies between them, the earliest possible delivery dates have been determined.
Because planners cannot possibly know your entire agenda, you need to confirm whether you can in principle deliver on the date that has been calculated, or reject the date stating why this is not possible. If you reject, you also need to suggest a different date that the planner will either accept (thus entering your date into the project plan) or refuse (in that case, you will receive a new message here).
Pending Tasks
In this list, you receive a message whenever one of the deliverables you are scheduled to elaborate can (and therefore should) be done now, i.e. all previous deliverables (if any) have been delivered. These messages are intended as additional reminders in case you are involved in many running projects and processes and therefore may not have noticed that work on one of your deliverables should have started.