7.18.0657 |
  
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7.18.0657 |
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Released on July 15, 2019
Problem fixed in macro / function 'Create Gantt-Diagram structure according to WBS'. It failed when coming from the deepest level (8) to a lower level.
When you saved an estimate to an older format, an error could occur. This happened if the estimated contained an event that was fired during the downgrade process (e.g. On_Close_Estimate) and in that event ComputeAll verb was called.
QDV exposes an Excel worksheet where you can define up to 256 scenarios which can be applied to the WBS. These scenarios can be made of figures of formulas. This new feature is available for both ENTERPRISE EDITION and ULTIMATE EDITION.
It applies to the WBS and will replace free columns previously used for this purpose. However, this function is not suitable for scenarios at minute level. You can still use free columns if you need to handle scenarios at minute level.
To access the scenario features you have two new menus in the ‘Automation’ tab:
When you click ‘Edit Scenarios’, you get a worksheets based on your current WBS having 256 free columns where you can input scenarios:
By default, columns are set to receive values so when you input a formula, the resulting value is stored and the formula is lost. If you want to input formulas in a scenario column, change its type on the very first row:
When a column is set to receive formulas, these formulas must refer to their own row and they are propagated on all rows of the WBS. You cannot have a formula referring to another row because QDV would have to adjust such formulas when you arrange branches and tasks in the WBS and this could make the scenario inconsistent.
However, if you really need to have cross-rows formulas, you can still do it by setting the column type to ‘Anything’. But when you do this, you must keep in mind that QDV will have to adapt all formulas one by one when you arrange the tasks in the WBS. This can take time and lead unexpected results (for example if a formula of a task refers to a value in another branch which is moved).
You can copy / paste data, cancel operations, copy and paste entire columns… You will find this in the contextual menu:
When you save your changes, the worksheet is stored to the estimate and attached to current version. When you push a version, the scenario workbook is not pushed. Of course, you can apply scenarios only to current version. Pushed versions cannot be altered.
A scenario is defined by his name and his parent name. You have two rows to set those names on top of the worksheet:
You can merge header to use convenient parent names. This automatically create outlines so you can expand and collapse columns. To merge heading, just right click and select appropriate menu:
You may want to implement other columns coming from the WBS at the left side of the scenario window. You can easily do this by clicking the functions:
With this, you can build your own layout and see any column. E.g.: a column containing the quantity suggested by the customer. You also have access to some technical columns when can be useful for your formulas (Is chapter?, Is option?, Depth level, Is Total?):
Notice that, if you imposed quantities of 1 in the branches (using the options window), you won’t be able to enter different figures in the branches:
And, of course, it you tell QDV that your quantity column of the WBS is calculated in a free column, this free column will overwrite your scenarios making the feature useless:
Once saved, you can select the scenario to apply to your estimate using the ‘Apply Scenario’ menu.
These features will be soon exposed to the API so that you can automate scenarios easily and produce comparison reports exactly as you did with scenarios in WBS free columns (see Sample_With_Multiple_Scenarios.qdv for this old practice)