Creating Grid Planning Views

Create Grid views to compare a group of planning elements by their metric values or types. A Grid view allows Planners to add or modify metric values in an element by dragging the element to a location in the grid, column, or row that corresponds to that value.

A Grid view can be either two-dimensional (rows and columns) or one-dimensional (either rows or columns). A two-dimensional grid shows the relationship of two metrics in a group of elements or the values of one metric across the element types. A one-dimensional grid shows the values of a single metric or the distribution of the elements across the element types. Each cell in the grid is associated with a selected metric value or element type or with a combination of two of these, and the grid shows what values the elements have, or what type they are, by their location.

After creating a Grid view, Process Designers and Administrators can create a global link to the view and add it to a menu or to a pod within a layout.

Planners can create and save views for their own use; however the Planning View Designer user role is required to save views for other Planners. Additionally, the Planning View Designer role is required to create new categories to group views.

To create a Grid planning view:

1. From the Planning menu, select Planning Board.

2. Navigate to the correct element and child board on which you want to create the view.

You can create a Grid view of elements that you see on the Canvas, or from an element's child board.

3. Click the Planning Views panel icon in the top left corner of the page and do one of the following:

• To create a new view - Click Add Grid at the top of the view list.
• To modify an existing view - Click the name of the saved view, and click next to the view name to open the Edit Grid Settings dialog.
• To create a new view based on an existing view - Click next to the view that you want to copy.

4. In the Add New Grid dialog, complete the following information to identify and describe the view:
   
   Required fields display with red text and an asterisk * if the field is empty.

Important! You must select an option in both the Columns and Rows fields to display the view. When the grid is rendered, all existing elements are displayed in the appropriate location depending on their content: element type, metric values, start date, or end date.

Field	Description
Name	Enter a name, up to 64 characters long, which identifies the Grid view when saved.
Category	Select the category to which this view belongs. Leave this field blank to add to the Default category. To define a new category, select New Category and enter the category name. To delete a category, remove every item from the category. Empty categories are deleted automatically. Views can exist in only one category. Views display within a category to users who have access to the view.
Description	Enter a description of the purpose or nature of the view.
Filters	Select one or more metrics in the Filters drop-down to narrow the view to include only elements that contain certain metric values. To filter by a single metric, select the metric from the list. To filter by more than one metric, click in the drop-down to add additional metrics. After selecting a metric, click to select the metric values within each metric to display. If you select more than one value, an element must match either value to display in the view. If you want to filter on elements that contain a multi-select metric with multiple values, you must add the metric multiple times to the filter list and select the values individually for each metric. Example For example, you have a metric called Market Impact Assessment assigned to elements that indicates the market impact of the initiative represented in an element. To create a view that focuses on the high market impact initiatives only, select the Market Impact Assessment metric in the Select Filters field, click and select High to include only elements that have a market impact of high in the view. However, if you have a metric called Action Item Assignments that is multi-select metric, and you want to display elements that have multiple selections for the metric, select the Action Item Assignments metric in the Select Filters field multiple times, and select a single value for each instance of the metric. To include a legend that shows the metrics and values that are applied to the view, select the Show Selected Filters check box when selecting filters and values. The legend displays in the top header of the view. Click to remove a metric from the filter. Elements that do not contain either axis value, but do contain the metric filter values, display in the None section.
Column	Select the type of information you want to display on the horizontal axis of the Grid. This selection determines the sections or columns within the Grid. None - Displays the grid view as a set of rows with no rows. Types - The grid contains a column for each element type listed in alphabetical order. A list metric or multi-select list - The grid contains a column for each item in the selected metric. Elements are grouped in the column that corresponds to the metric assigned in the element's details. Date - The grid contains rows for the selected date metric, element Start Date, or element End Date to define the Grid as periods of time. If you select a date, complete the additional information in the Configure Timeframe dialog as noted below. After selecting the type, click next to the field to select the values within the axis to display. You can select multiple filter values. For example, if you select to view by Types, use the filter icon to select which types to include in the display. Select the Hide empty columns check box to hide empty columns when generating the view.
Row	Select the type of information you want to display on the vertical axis of the Grid. This selection determines the sections or rows within the Grid. None - Displays the grid as a set of columns with no rows. Types - The grid contains a row for each element type listed in alphabetical order. A list metric or multi-select list - The grid contains a row for each item in the selected metric. Elements are grouped in the row that corresponds to the metric assigned in the element's details. Date - The grid contains rows for the selected date metric, element Start Date, or element End Date to define the Grid as periods of time. If you select a date, complete the additional information in the Configure Timeframe dialog as noted below. After selecting the type, click next to the field to select the values within the axis to display. You can select multiple filter values. For example, if you select to view by Types, use the filter icon to select which types to include in the display. Select the Hide empty rows check box to hide empty rows when generating the view.

5. Set additional display options to be applied to the view.

Field	Description
Border	Select an option to define and display a border color legend to identify elements within the Grid: [None] - The default border type for a Grid view, this selection does not apply any border colors to the displayed view. A list metric - Selecting a list metric applies a border color to the element based on the metric assigned to it. The list contains only list metrics that have colors defined for one or more of their list items. More... For example, as you are planning, you use a color-coded list metric to indicate the opportunity level for each element in the plan. Within a Grid view, you can display your elements with that color to visually see where your greatest opportunities are on the timeline. In the Show Legends section, select the Border check box to display an interactive legend that identifies what the border colors represent in the view.
Show Legends	Select the following option to display interactive legends within the Gantt view. Border - select this check box to display an interactive legend that identifies what the border colors represent in the view.

6. (Optional) Set the Sharing, Viewing and Ownership settings for the view. More...

    

   Field	Description
   Default View for Users	Click to select users who open this view immediately when they open the Planning Board. To filter the list of users, enter one or more search criteria to filter by name, login name, email address, function, or extended field. More... Clicking Select current user will assign the role to the current user (if they have the appropriate rights). Selecting a Function in the drop-down will display available users that are assigned to the function. The current selection defaults to the function to which you are assigning a user, however depending on the project configuration, you can assign any user. Clicking the Show advanced filters check box displays or hides the additional filter options. Clicking Clear removes the current user assignment and displays [None] to indicate that no user is assigned. A user can have only one default view. If a user currently has a default view, its name displays after the user's name.
   Make public	Select this check box to allow all Planners to see this view in the list of saved views, and to allow the view to be set as a global link. A view must have a defined owner in order to be made public. Only Planning View Designers can create public views.

7. (Optional) Set the Additional Settings to further establish what displays within the view. More...

    

   Field	Description
   Include parents	Select this check box to include the parent elements in the view, if they meet filter criteria within the current branch of the planning hierarchy that the view displays. The default is unchecked and leaves the parent elements out of the view.
   Restrict to current hierarchy	Select this check box to limit the view to only the elements that match the filter criteria within the current branch of the planning hierarchy that the view displays. Clear the check box to display all elements that match the view and filter criteria across the system, regardless of their place in the planning hierarchy.
   Save level	If the view displays a child level, select this check box to make the current level of the hierarchy the top level that any user can access in the view. Clear the check box to include the top (root) level in this view, regardless of the current level displayed.
   Auto fit in rows and columns	Leave the Auto fit in rows and columns check box selected for a default row height of one element and a default column width of two elements wide. If relationship lines are shown in the grid, the check box is selected and the grid rows expand so that all elements within each row are visible. To manually set the row height and column width, clear this check box and set values in the fields below.
   Column width	Enter the number of elements that you want to fit horizontally in each column. Note:  If the Auto fit in rows and columns check box is selected, the value in this field is ignored.
   Row height	Enter the number of elements that you want to fit vertically in each row. Note:  If the Auto fit in rows and columns check box is selected, the value in this field is ignored.
   Show column/row list color	Select this check box to use the color assigned to list or multi-list item metrics as the row and column header colors of the vertical and horizontal axes.
   Background color	Select this check box and use the color picker to select a background color to apply to the view.
   Alternate color	Select this check box and use the color picker to select a color if you want alternate rows or columns to display in a different color. Select the Columns and/or Rows check boxes to turn the alternating row and column colors on and off. If Types is selected for rows or columns, an alternate color is not displayed.

8. Click Create to display a new view, or Refresh View to apply the changes and refresh an existing view.

9. (Optional) Apply additional view settings to the view.

• Click to edit the current settings for the view.
• Click to add annotations to the view.
• Click to display element relationships within the view.
• Click to download an image of the view.

10. Click Save in the top right corner of the view to save your changes to the view.

Configure Grids to Organize the Elements by Dates

When you select either a date metric, Start Date, or End Date for a grid axis, the Configure Timeframe dialog displays. You can select multiple time periods in months, quarters, or years. You can select all the same type of time periods or different types.

If you select one row of Period and Quantity in the dialog, the grid displays all columns or rows as the period you select. If you enter two or more rows of Period and Quantity, the grid displays its first columns or rows as the top period and its next columns or rows as the next period, and so on.

To change these settings:

1. Click next to the view name to display the additional view settings dialog, then click next to the axis field you want to change.
2. Enter the following information:

• Period - Select the period of time (month, quarter, and so on) to define the time range in the corresponding columns or rows.

Each period starts the month after the previous period ended. Quarters are groups of four months, not calendar quarters, and single years are groups of 12 months, not calendar years. So a period of 5 Years would be 60 months long.

• Quantity - Enter the number of columns or rows of the selected period to add.

To add more periods of a different length, click , select a period, and enter its quantity.

Click to remove a set of periods.

3. In the Start Date field, select a starting month.

The first period begins with this month.

4. Click OK to close the Configure Timeframe dialog.

5. Click Refresh View to save your changes to the view settings.

6. Click Save in the top right corner of the view to save your changes to the view.

Notes:    To make this view available for display within a global link, click next to the view name to open the Edit Planning Grid Settings dialog and ensure that the Make public check box is selected. Click Create Global Link, and enter the settings to finish creating the global link for the view. Unless metric filtering is used, planning elements must match at least one of the axis values to display in the view. When a list metric is selected for either the vertical or horizontal axis values, None is the first column or row in the view. Planning elements are placed in this None column or row when they do not have the metric filter value selected for the axis. Innovation Planning and Roadmapping are optional Accolade components that you may not have access to. To implement these solutions, contact Sopheon Customer Support.