In Visual Mode, activities, milestones, and benchmarks that are ahead of or behind schedule can be made either smaller, larger, or lighter or darker, resulting in a visual comparison. The definition of ahead of schedule and behind schedule can be customized through a filter to include variances in start dates, durations, finish dates, floats, drifts, total floats, or any combination desired. And the criteria of the filter can be defined as “and”, in which case an activity must satisfy ALL of the criteria, or the criteria can be defined as “or”, in which case an activity can satisfy ANY of the criteria.
Once a filter has been applied and the Visual Target Mode icon selected, any activity which matches the filter will be formatted on the canvas. This formatting will have NO effect on colors or sizes specified outside of Visual Target Mode and the two will be stored separately. If an object is modified within Visual Target Mode such that it no longer matches filter (e.g. its duration is crashed and its variance reaches zero), its formatting will refresh dynamically, resulting in kinetic, real-time feedback. Visual Target Mode requires at least one target to have been captured by the user and a base and alternate designated.
Activities whose finish dates are at least 5 days behind schedule have been made darker and bigger; activities whose finish dates are at least 5 days ahead of schedule have been made lighter and smaller; activities which match neither are faded.
NOTE: Whereas the tabular comparison can be generated between any two targets, the visual comparison can ONLY be generated if one of the two targets is the Current State. If two targets have been selected but neither is the Current State, the formatting on the canvas will be cleared and the Apply button will be disabled.
In Visual Target Mode, selecting an activity, milestone, or benchmark on the canvas will trigger a light grey shadow to appear beneath its bar, indicating its position and dates from the base target. In addition, dates, durations, etc. will no longer reset or enlarge.
The Visual Target Mode Filters window can be left open and worked with side-by-side with the Targets Manager, if desired.
Field | Definition |
Base Target | The description of the target currently selected as the base. |
Alternate Target | The description of the target currently selected as the alternate. |
Match | Controls how to aggregate multiple criteria. The criteria can either be considered as “and”, in which case an activity must satisfy ALL of the criteria, or the criteria can be considered as “or”, in which case an activity can satisfy ANY of the criteria. |
Column | Definition |
Variance in | A field for determining what the given criteria is based on. Options include start date, duration, finish date, float, drift, and total float. |
Operator | A field for determining how the variance relates to the threshold. Options include at least, up to, and equals. For greater than, choose at least; for less than, choose up to. |
Threshold | A field for entering the degree of variance. |
Unit | A field for choosing the threshold’s unit. Options include in days (or time unit) or percent. |
Status | A field for choosing between positive or negative variance. Options include ahead of schedule, behind schedule, and on schedule. NOTE: When choosing On Schedule, the Operator will automatically be taken to be Equals and any value in the Threshold will be ignored. |
Size | A field for formatting the size of any matching activities. Options include no change, small, normal, and large. |
Color | A field for formatting the color of any matching activities. Options include no change, light green, green, and dark green. |
This formatting will have NO effect on colors or sizes specified outside of Visual Target Mode and the two will be stored separately.
Field | Definition |
Reset Sizes to Normal | Controls whether or not all objects not captured by the filter will be reset to their default normal size. |
Reset Colors to Green | Controls whether or not all objects not captured by the filter will be reset to their default green color. |
Fade | Controls whether or not all objects not captured by the filter will be faded on the canvas. |
Field | Definition |
Display Shadows | Displays the shadows for all objects matching the filter (activities, milestones, or benchmarks). When selected, selecting an object will no longer trigger the shadow. |
Color | The color for the shadow. Also used in the case where the checkbox is unchecked. |
Field | Definition |
Display Variances | When selected, variances will be displayed for all objects, but only if the parent field is displayed in the object’s property window. By default, variances will show up beneath the parent field for start date, finish date, and all float values, but to the right for the duration. Variances cannot be repositioned separately from their parents but are controlled by them. If the activity is sufficiently short, variances will be displayed to the right for all fields and repositioned with their parents according to NetPoint’s clashing algorithm (this does not occur if the positions have already been customized by the user). The user is reminded that the float block and duration cannot be displayed at the same time in these cases. If both are selected, only the float block will show up until the activity is stretched back out. Variance values are always calculated according to the object’s calendar. |