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Glossary of Terms

Glossary of Terms

This section describes AdaptiveWork terminology.

  • Activities Today — An icon in the masthead notifying which items require attention today, in which the user has a role .
  • Alerts — Automatically generated messages informing of work items that are past their due date, pose a scheduling conflict, have no resources assigned, or are displayed as Resolved if so, and other similar notifications.
  • All Company Group — See Discussion Group
  • Billable Work Item — A billable work item is one where hours reported against it would be used when calculating the amount due by a customer.
    A non-billable work item is one where hours reported against it would not be used when calculating the amount due by a customer.
  • Bug — A case item type , generally used internally or by customers to report a software issue.
  • Business Rules — Business rules help to automate a business workflow and unify business methodologies by setting up automatically-run triggers and rules.
    Business rules can be created for every item type within the organization and include both workflow rules and validation rules .
  • Case — A general name describing items such as bug , issue , risk and request .
  • Chat — Online chat between two users connected to AdaptiveWork's remote host system. Also, an icon in the masthead showing online users
  • Child — In context to projects , any item below a parent item or work item in hierarchy.
  • Collaboration Item — Any additional project information item related to a work item in the project's structure, such as a note , post, email or file that is accessible to designated project team members.
  • Conflict — Conflicts represents a contradiction indication between due dates of at least two project work items.
    A contradiction can occur when the due date of a certain work item 'X' is manually set (and thus represents a constraint)
    while another work item 'Y' that is linked to 'X' (and is affecting 'X' due date) has a due date which is later than 'X'’s.
    In such a case, the system does not move due date of 'X' accordingly, but rather raises an indication for a conflict.
  • Cost & Billing Rates — AdaptiveWork calculations incorporate two types of rates:
    Overtime rates can be defined for each of the two rate types.
    Billing rates are used for calculations of the project prices based on the timesheet reports.
    • Cost rate – Defines how much one hour of working resource costs the company
    • Billing rate – Defines the price paid to the company (by the customer ) for one hour of working resource.
  • Currency Fields — For organizations working with multi-currency support AdaptiveWork enables entering currency values accompanied by the three-letter currency code in all fields of monetary types managed by AdaptiveWork.
    For example:
    A user is not required to enter currency code for the organization currency. All monetary values for the currencies other than organization currency will be displayed and reported accompanied by the currency code.
    Examples of monetary data fields:
    • 50 USD
    • 17.9 EUR
    • 23.33 ILS
      (see ISO 4217 for currency codes)
    • Budgeted Cost
    • Fixed Price
    • Actual Cost
    • Cost and Billing User Rates
  • Custom Action Alteration to the AdaptiveWork user environment made either at the organizational level or modular level by an admin .
  • Custom Fields — The Custom Fields feature, is a powerful tool that enables you to define any type of custom field within any class including; textual, pick list, dates, currencies, numeric, time effort, reference to other items and more.
    Each field type, can be set to be manually entered by the user , or based on a simple or advanced formula enabling building appropriate connections between fields, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and more.
    Once configured, custom fields can be accessed via the Custom tab within the Class Profile Card, or by creating custom column views.
  • Custom Panels — The Custom Panels feature allows you to create customized widgets to be used integrally within AdaptiveWork, the associated Custom Pages feature allows you to create organizational widgets that behave like modules.
  • Dependencies — According to standard methodology, a dependency is a logical schedule link between two project work items that defines the sequence of work between them, for example, launch can be performed only after a product is developed.
    AdaptiveWork dependencies refer to which work items are predecessors or ‘dependent’ upon others.
    There are four kinds of dependencies with respect to ordering work items:
    • ​Finish to Start (FS)
    • ​Finish to Finish (FF)
    • ​Start to Start (SS)
    • ​Start to Finish (SF)
      All four may be used within a project to determine the project’s workflow.
      Click here for information on adding dependencies.
  • Direct Manager — Each user can be specifically assigned to a direct manager.
    An administrator ( Admin user ) can set the direct manager for each user in the user’s properties located in the Settings -> Users page by selecting an appropriate user in the Manager field.
    This can also be done directly from the AdaptiveWork Team Panel .
    A direct manager can view the user’s personal Timesheet, edit it, approve it and, if necessary, reopen it for further editing.
  • Direct Report — A resource or team member you manage directly.
  • Discussion — A text post , or series of text posts between users .
  • Discussion Group — A group of users related to a discussion on a specific item.
    Discussion groups can be: ​
    • an ad-hoc group of users
    • non hierarchical
    • used to discuss a specific subject
      Every user group is also considered a discussion group.
  • Email Subscription — When a user is included to a discussion (or similar item ), notification of new posts relevant for that discussion or item arrive in the user's mailbox as email notifications which can be replyed directly (via InterAct ).
    Notifications are only sent for discussions that the user is following.
    Email subscription is configurable to all users:
    • At the global level – for all discussions
    • At the discussion group level – for all posted group discussions
    • At the discussion level — can unsubscribe from the email message
  • Expense — A specific item within the expense sheet. A singular expense can be linked to a specific work item, if relevant.
  • Expense Sheet — AdaptiveWork Expense Sheets allows you to keep track of project-related expenses or general company expenses.
  • Favorite — AdaptiveWork users and reports can be designated by individual users as preferred, or 'favorite' items to be added to their own pool of reusable Resources or work items (such as other users or reports).
    Such items appear with an 202065838_can_be_fav.png icon located adjacent.
    Once clicked, the icon becomes 202022927_fav.png and is designated and added, for easy reference and access, to the Navigation panel's Favorites menu.
  • File — AdaptiveWork-supported document, spreadsheet or image type files.
    • Supported file types: See Digital Proofing File type list for a more complete list of available files with Digital Proofing
      • Office files (.doc, .ppt, .xls, .docx, .pptx, .xlsx, etc.)
      • .Pdf
      • Image files (.jpg, .png, .gif)
    • Unsupported file types:
      • .exe
      • .scr
      • .bat
      • .com
      • .vbs
      • .js
      • .vb
      • .cmd
      • .reg
      • .hta
    • Storage capacity: per paid seat by Edition
      • Enterprise - 1000MB
      • Unlimited - Unlimited
    • Maximum file upload size:
      • 100 MB per file depending on available storage capacity
  • Filter — AdaptiveWork utilizes filters in two scenarios: Filters can be set on the column level or via the global filter. Subsequently, any changes made to one filter automatically syncs to the other.
    Regardless of the display option, filters are saved per session. Filters can also be saved per view by the user 'on top of' a system or organization-customized view (using the 'Save as default' option).
    • Search Filters - Enables users to define search criteria and provide more efficient and effective searches
    • Display Filters - Enables users to set filters for the data displayed
  • Follow/Unfollow — Action by a user to receive (or discontinue reception of) any new discussions on a specific item (work item, user, group, case, expense sheet, etc.) to their News Feed, Activities Today and email.
  • Gear Icon — The 'Gear' icon 202065848_white_gear-2-.jpg is common to most AdaptiveWork modules and views. When clicked, the icon reveals a Settings menu for managing the grid columns and wrapping grid field titles, and includes other setting options (determined by the current module).
  • Group — A group of users. Typical AdaptiveWork groups consist of users assigned as a team for a task (or set of tasks), and appear on the Team panel .
  • Hammock — Any work items that have sub-items.
  • iCal — Personal calendar application made by Apple Inc.
  • InterAct — InterAct feature is a powerful tool enabling the definition of any type of workflow rule triggered by sending an email, enabling the creation of actions directly from email messages.
  • Internal User — A licensed user who is a member of your organization.
  • Issue — A case is an item type that can be used to report any issue related to a project or otherwise.
  • Item — Can be any one of the following entities: a work item, a user, a group, a case, an expense sheet, a timesheet, etc.
  • Item Type — Can be a work item or a AdaptiveWork object type.
    Item types have their own fields, relations and customization abilities.
    AdaptiveWork modules usually include one or more item types.
  • Job Title — Job titles are allocated to Resources from a list of job descriptions that can be related to one or more users.
    Generally used to filter users, load calculations (by skill in the organization) or for assigning tasks (based on a skill instead of based on the specific user).
  • Layout — A collection of user environment definitions that define how a screen or set of screens appear and behave.
  • Leaf Item/Task — A work item with no sub-items. Can be reported on per individual resource or shared reporting amongst the task resource pool.
    Set on a global level, it can also be individually set in the work item Properties Card for individual tasks .
  • Like/Unlike — Users can Like or Unlike a post or other items (such as: case , work item , group etc.) in order to show appreciation (or lack of) for that item.
    The number of likes and people who liked the item can then be viewed by other people and used for customization.
  • Masthead — The Top Panel of the AdaptiveWork work screen.
  • Milestone — Milestones are typically used as containers of tasks to be completed in order to achieve the milestone’s goals (in terms of content and dates).
  • Navigation Panel — Located on the left of the clarizon window the extractale navigation panel includes a list of all available modules and features as well as a search line and various action and Favourite Menus.
  • News Feed — A list of the discussions a user is following. Accessible as the default page in the Social module.
  • Notes — Adding notes is a method of adding important information to items , for example, detailed information necessary for the completion of a task or pertinent information on a risk.
    Notes can be defined as 'public' or 'private'. Public notes can be viewed by group or team members, followers and users with permissions to the item the note is attached to, whereas notes defined as private are only visible to you.
  • Parent — In context to projects, any project structure item that comes hierarchically above a child project structure item or work item.
  • Percentage Complete (%Complete) the amount of work completed for a task or work item. For example, if a task involves 10 hours of work and only 5 hours have been completed, the value for the %Complete field is 50. Changing value in the %Complete field auto-calculates fields such as Actual Effort and Remaining Effort unless manually overridden.
  • Permissions — Permissions in AdaptiveWork allow an organization to compartmentalize work items , issues and other items to be available only to users who have a relevant role related to that item.
    A user who creates a new work item or issue has control of who has authorization to see and/or edit the item by controlling the item roles.
    Basic permissions are built-in to AdaptiveWork, so some basic restrictions cannot be overridden.
    It is possible for the organization to choose working in Enhanced Permissions mode to apply more access restriction and add additional layers of compartmentalization.
  • Planned Effort — The total labor time (measured in man-hours) required to complete a task .
  • Post — Posts in AdaptiveWork are another way to input additional knowledge into your work items and are added in a similar fashion to files.
    Posts work like an off-line chat, which remains fully threaded and has a time and date stamp to inform exactly when conversations occur.
  • Progress Impact — Progress impact is a link between two work items where the completeness of one work item impacts the completeness of the other.
    When you create a sub-item under a specific work item, the progress impact link is automatically created.
    The progress of the sub-item will automatically impact the ' parent ' item's progress.
    You can manually create progress impact links between two items that do not have a hierarchical relationship.
  • Project — In AdaptiveWork a project is assigned to a project manager and can also be assigned to other team members
  • Portfolio A portfolio can be either a collection of active projects or a collection of shortcuts creating a portfolio overview
    • The portfolio parent (if any) can only be another portfolio and not a project
    • Portfolios can only have projects directly under it, it cannot be the direct parent of Tasks and Milestones
    • Dependencies cannot be linked to Portfolios
  • Properties Card — The Properties Card displays item-dependent related information. In other words, the properties for the item type to which the Properties Card is associated.
    ​Click any item's icon to open its contextual menu and select More Info.
    Properties cards can be accessed via modules by selecting an item in the grid and clicking 202022937_more_info_link.jpg located in the Relations Panel.
    Additionally, the first panel in an Item Detail view is the Properties Card of an item currently in view.
  • Quick Peek — ​The 202022947_eye_pick-4-.jpg icon, exposed when hovering the mouse pointer over items, enables previewing an item’s data.
    This is available in several locations in AdaptiveWork, including:
  • Recurring Task — ​Recurring tasks are regular tasks that are scheduled as ongoing and intermittent.
    For example, a recurring task could be the submission of a weekly status report or attending a regularly scheduled webinar .
  • Report — AdaptiveWork Reports are used to provide work item or resource -related information to management and approvers, as well as for tracking work item progress.
  • Reportable Work Item — ​ A reportable work item is a work item that enables Resources to report work performed on in their timesheets .
    Only reportable work items are included in timesheets.
  • Request — A case item type that can be used as an enhancement request, either internally or externally by customers or as a change request in regards to projects or similar work items .
  • Resource — According to standard terminology, "a human resource is a skilled person (specific disciplines either individually or in crews or teams) that is required to carry out a project’s tasks ."
    A AdaptiveWork resource is a system user assigned to a work item . A project manager or any member of the project management team can assign resources to their relevant work item(s).
  • Resource Load — Sometimes known as 'workload', the total amount of assigned work to a resource within a specific timeframe.
  • Reviewer — Users without an active project role with the ability to supervise and/or assure correct infrastructure is in place for successful execution of a project.
  • Risk — A case item type that can be used to log potential risks, hence create a risk register for a project or work item .
  • Roadmap — The AdaptiveWork Roadmap is a unique interactive color-coded timeline chart with start and finish dates provided to reflect real-time visibility of deliverables across all levels of the organization,
    allowing teams to execute work more effectively by being more responsive to events as they occur in real-time.
    The Roadmap is a high level view of a project, sub-projects and milestones in progress.
  • Role (or User Type) — A role or user type in AdaptiveWork that allows you to define the permissions level​ of a team member for each project.
    A team member may lead a certain project as the project manager and be assigned as a resource on others.
    The team member's permissions level for any project or task is dependent on their role on that specific project or task .
    There are two general user role category allocations:
  • Scheduled Workflow Rules — Workflow rules that are triggered to run according to a schedule.
    Scheduled workflow rule runtime options include:
    The total number of items that can be processed during a given hour of a rule run is 10,000.
    Deleted item, Disabled users/job titles/customers, Canceled work items, and Items that have not been updated in over 8 weeks are not included in a scheduled run.
    Notes:

    Scheduled workflow rules are only supported in AdaptiveWork Enterprise and Unlimited Editions.

    • Run on – enables selecting a specific date or set a formula for a specific date.
      For example: Three days prior to a project due date.
    • Run repetitively – enables selecting a time frame for a repeating workflow rule, either by selecting daily, weekly, monthly or early.
      For example: Running a rule on every Monday and Wednesday.
  • Skill — A user skill. Generally used to filter users, load calculations (by skill in the organization) or for assigning charge rates (based on a skill instead of based on the specific user).
  • Standard Fields — Out of the box fields provided by AdaptiveWork.
  • State — AdaptiveWork projects and work items have five defined states which can be set by project managers and work item managers (but not by resources or reviewers).
    • ​​ 202022957_draft_icon.gif Draft – The planning stage. Scoping out project work, budget and resourcing.
    • 202022967_active_icon.jpg Active - When your project is ready to start. It is fully scoped, fully resourced and is ready to begin execution, it does not matter if it has not reached its targeted start date. Tasks and milestones may have dependencies on predecessor tasks and milestones, so whilst a task may be active it may not yet be executable.
    • 202022977_on_hold_icon.jpg On Hold - if a project or individual work item has stalled for some reason, such as the customer postpones a decision, budget is exhausted, project sponsor drops support.
    • 202022987_cncld_icon.jpg Canceled – the project or individual work item will not be executed.
    • 202022997_complete.jpg Completed – No further work is planned.
  • Sub-group — A user group directly connected hierarchically below another user group.
  • Sub-Task — A task within a task.
  • Supported Time Unit Format — Formats used by the AdaptiveWork to display or enter time units include Durations, Actual Effort, Remaining Effort, Lag or other properties that describe 'time units', and are displayed in the application using the shortest possible suffixes:
    • Minutes: 'min' (5min)
    • Hours: 'h' (3h) Other available syntax - 'hrs', 'hour', 'hours'
    • Days: 'd' (6d) Other available syntax - 'day', 'days'
    • Weeks: 'w' (7w) Other available syntax - 'week', 'weeks'
    • Months: 'mo' (2mo) Other available syntax - 'mo', 'month', 'months'
  • Task — According to standard terminology "A task is a discrete scheduled component of work performed during the course of a project. Normally, a task has an estimated duration, start and due dates as well as resources . A task can be dependent on other tasks."
    A project manager or other managers may create tasks under any work item of a project . A task can be further detailed into other sub-tasks .
    At this point, the parent task becomes a container, also known as a hammock , and behaves like a milestone , summing up effort, duration and financial values from the sub-tasks.
    You can add recurring tasks to your work plan.
  • Team — A group of resources assigned to collaborate on activities contributing to a specific project or achieving a common task-related goal.
  • Team-centric Views — Module views that include the Team Panel, creating views centered around a team, and enable users to view items directly related to the user selected in the Team Panel.
  • Team Panel — The Team panel, which can be viewed in any module with a defined role, such as a work item , case , expense report or a timesheet , enables team centric views of your group , a group of users (including user groups and discussion groups )
    or a project team (including all work items and issues related to each user).
  • Time Tracking — Time Tracking is used to keep track of the effort worked on projects.
    Time Tracking enables each resource to report the effort (in hours, minutes or proportion of days) worked on specific work items on specific days.
  • Timesheet — A timesheet is a set of reportable work items within a one week period on which resources are required to report their working hours.
    A timesheet is personal, that is, each resource sees only work items relevant to them.
  • To Do List Tasks — To Do List tasks are tasks unrelated to any project and are therefore ‘stand alone’ tasks.
  • User — A person included as a AdaptiveWork user in your organization.
  • User Group — Group of users .​
  • Validation Rules — Validation rules enable specifying whether data is valid, by defining a custom set of predefined rules that provide the ability to block insertion, modification or deletion of an item when they meet specified criteria.
  • View Sharing — Custom views that can be set to be visible as public, private, or financial.
  • View Types — There are two types of views:
  • Widget — AdaptiveWork generates html code for a small application with functionality which can be embedded in your company's intranet or portal from where it can executed to play the role of a transient or auxiliary application, meaning the widget item occupies a portion of the screen and enables managing data fetched from AdaptiveWork.
  • Work Item — In AdaptiveWork, 'work item' is a generic term that encompasses projects , milestones and tasks .
  • Work Policy — Work policy defines the relationship and behaviors between the three task and resource related characteristics:
    Consecutive Duration
    There can be cases when a user wants to indicate that the system should not take into account non-working days while planning specific work item .
    Users can enter the values of such properties using following suffixes:
    • Consecutive Days: 'cd'
    • Consecutive Weeks: 'cw'

      Click here for more on Work Policy
    • Duration (The timeframe a task must be performed in)
    • Work (Planned effort)
    • Resource Units (Human resources including percentage of their availability)
  • Workflow Rules — Workflow Rules enable defining a list of rules that can be triggered at every addition, modification or deletion of items of that type for each item type .