A Plan means a single record in the Plans object. Each Plan record has its own details, items, chatter discussions, people (shared with ARCI-roles), tasks and history. You can assign a process on top of the plan which is similar to Decision’s lifecycle, but it is customizable. Main functionality in Plan records can be found below:
- The current active tab, Plans
- Plan’s title (can be edited using the pencil icon)
- Plan’s start and end time, and taxonomies
- Decoration image
- Process and phases
- Phase with a Stage Gate Approval (read more about Approvals here)
- Plan tabs
- Plan Items, a list of added records
- List View Switcher, selects which columns are shown
- Start and End time (only visible here when Duration column is selected)
- Prioritization popup for reordering items
- Add an Item to the Plan item list
- Expand or Collapse all items
- Summarize items together (works only with number or currency fields)
- List View menu, create new lists or edit existing ones
- View Switcher, visualize the items in different formats such as Gantt or Canvas
- Item’s Action Menu, edit, open or delete items
- Refresh the Plan record
- Action menu for all available actions inside the Plan record
- Progress and Trend indicator
- Follow or unfollow the record
Changing Item Display Format in the Plan Items tab
Item Views can be found on the top right corner of the Plan items tab. There are four different ways to visualize the list of Plan items: List, Tree, Gantt and Canvas:
List View
The main view for Plan items. With list views you get additional tools to customize the columns and fields shown with List views. List shows items one after another with custom details shown on the right side of the title. You can edit each item from the Item Action menu on the right side of the list. Add Sections to create groups and categorize your items.
Lists support advanced drilling into data and hierarchies that make accessing data easy. Click on the arrow left of an item to see items inside it. A plan inside another plan will show it’s items so you can create complex structures for strategy or project management. Decisions show the tasks inside so that you can get into smaller details of a decision.
Tree View
Open your Plan in a branching Tree format. Click on a Plan or a Decision to collapse or expand the items below it.
Gantt View
Every project manager’s favorite, Gantt chart, is also available for Plan items. This view displays your items as bar charts that illustrate your schedule. Items are visualized on the vertical axis and time interval on the horizontal axis. The length of a bar shows the duration of the activity.
Canvas View
Upload your own background image and drag the items on top of it. This feature can be used to create multiple different business charts such as SWOT or Business Model Canvas out of the items list. Press Upload Image to enter an image and align it using the arrows. You can zoom in using the scroll at the bottom and resize the image using the fields on top. Items can be freely moved by drag and dropping or resized using the rectangle appearing around them when selected.