The model is very simple. It is based on four notions :

• Collaborators : people who may contribute to the tasks defined in the task repository
• Tasks : repository containing all the tasks identified on your project
• Durations : possible values or a contribution's duration
• Contributions (see below)

• a contributor (choosen in the collaborator repository)
• a task (choosen in the task repository)
• a duration (choosen in the duration repository)
• a date

Activity Manager is based on three basic rules :

1. A task that has one or more subtasks :
   • can not accept any contribution (which means that when you update a collaborator's contributions through the contributions tab, you can only choose leaf tasks (if you consider that the task repository is a tree))
   • represents an aggregation of its subtasks (for example, its contributions consumption sum is the result of its subtasks contribution consumptions). For such a task, 'Initial fund', 'Initial consumption' and 'Todo' fields are not updatable.
2. A task that is associated to one or more contributions :
   • can not admit any subtask (which means that if you try to add a subtask to such a task through the tasks tab, you will get an error)
   • has updatable 'Initial fund', 'Initial consumption' and 'Todo' fields.
3. Sister tasks must have different codes (which means that two tasks may have the same code, but then, they cannot have the same parent task).

To start the application, double click on the file bin\activitymgr.bat

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In the database tab, choose one of the three different modes :

• Standalone mode (with an embeded HSQL database)
• MySQL Server mode
• Custom mode (user defined database for skilled users)

Standalone mode allows to start using Activity Manager quickly. In this mode, an embedded HSQLDB database is used. Just select a filename (in which the data will be stored) and click on 'Connect'. For the first connection, Activity Manager suggest to initialize the database (click Ok in the popup).

In MySQL server mode, you have to provide the connection settings (database host, database name, user id and password) before clicking on 'Connect'. As for standalone mode, Activity Manager suggests to initialize the database.

In Custom mode, you will have to provide a custom JDBC driver (just add the driver jars in the lib directory and restart the tool). You may also have to create the database tables by yourself (with the default MySQL script as a model for example). This mode is only for skilled users. If the tables are not installed when you click on 'Connect', Activity Manager will try to initialize it with the MySQL initialization script (which may not be compatible with your custom database; WARNING : this mode may not work properly as the tool's SQL requests may not be compatible with your database).

A duration is a percentage of a day.

Activity Manager has a default duration repository containing 4 values that you can optionnaly install if you want (when you connect for the first time to a database or when you reinstall the database) :

• 0.25 (=25% of a day)
• 0.50 (=50% of a day)
• 0.75 (=75% of a day)
• 1.00 (=100% of a day=one day)

The correspondant tab allows you to create, modify and remove durations from the repository.

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To add a new duration, simply click on the right mouse button and choose 'New duration' on the popup menu. A new popup windows displays in which you enter the new duration.

To modify a duration, double click on it and modify it.

To remove a duration, click on the right mouse button and choose 'Remove' on the popup menu after having selected the duration to remove.

To enable or disable a duration, use the checkbox on the left. A disabled duration will be hidden in the contributions tab.

WARNING: a duration which is used at least by one contribution cannot be modified or removed

To export the window table content, click on the right mous button, choose 'Export' and select a destination file.

A collaborator is characterized by :

• an identifier : a unique string that identifies the collaborator
• his first name
• his last name

The correspondant tab allows you to create, modify and remove collaborators from the repository.

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To add a new collaborator, simply click on the right mouse button and choose 'New collabortor' on the popup menu. A collaborator with default attributes is created. Modify these attributes by clicking on it and typing the new values.

To enable or disable a collaborator, use the checkbox on the left. A disabled collaborator will be hidden in the contributions tab.

You can click on the column headers to sort the collaborators.

The 'List contrib.' menu item opens a popup windows listing all the contributions associated to the selected user.

To export the window table content, click on the right mous button, choose 'Export' and select a destination file.

A task is characterized by :

• a name
• a code : unique for a given task path
• a budget
• an initially consumed sum : consumption for this task that is not traduced with contributions through the contributions tab.
• a consumed sum : this sum is the result of all the contributions that have been created through the contributions tab plus the initially consumed sum.
• a todo sum : represents the amount of work that still has to be done
• a delta sum : a positive value indicates that you are in advance, a negative value indicates that you are late (= 'budget' - 'initially consumed' - 'consummed' - 'todo')

The correspondant tab allows you to create, modify, remove and move tasks from the repository.

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To add a new task, simply click on the right mouse button and choose 'New task' or 'New subtask' on the popup menu. A task with default attributes is created. Modify these attributes by clicking on it and typing the new values.

Note :

• The 'Name' and 'Code' columns are always updatable
• The 'Budget', 'Initially consumed' and 'Todo' columns are updatable only for leaf tasks (see Basic rules for more details).
• The 'Consumed' and 'Delta' columns are read-only (calculated by the application)

The top search filter allows you to find a task by its name or its code.

The 'List contrib.' menu item opens a popup windows listing all the contributions associated to the selected task.

The 'Export' menu item allows you to generate an EXCEL file containing the task tree as it is represented on the screen.

To export the window table content, click on the right mous button, choose 'Export' and select a destination file (WARNING : only the tasks present on the screen will be exported, not the full tasks repository).

A contribution is characterized by :

• a contributor : the collaborator involved in this contribution
• a date
• a task

The correspondant tab allows you to create, modify and remove contributions from the repository.

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You can choose the contributor by using the list which is on the left.

For each day, a contribution sum is calculated and shown in italic. This allows to detect quickly any mistake.

To add a new contribution line, simply click on the right mouse button and choose 'New contribution' on the popup menu. A popup will appear in order to allow you to choose a task.

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When the task has been chosen, a new line appears in the contributions tab. Then, you can create a contribution by choosing a duration for one day.

Use the bottom buttons to go to the next or the previous week/month/year.

To export the window table content, click on the right mous button, choose 'Export' and select a destination file.

Activity Manager includes a report engine based on Jakarta Apache Velocity. This engine generates HTML output from templates files. The distribution includes 4 built in templates (located in templates dir):

• tasksReport.vm (see sample)
• tasksByMonthReport.vm (see sample)
• taskCollaboratorByMonthReport.vm (see sample)
• monthCollaboratorActivityByDayReport.vm (see sample)

The report engine is configured through the cfg\report.properties file. The report to his file to see how to configure the report facility.

Once the configuration is ready, use bin\reporting.bat to genrate the reports.

Ther is no specific documentation to help to create custom templates. Please report to Velocity reference guide, take a look at the built in templates and consult the model manager class javadoc to create custom templates. Velocity is simple to use. Creating custom templates may be within easy reach.

There is nothing to say about this feature! Just select an XML file and click on export and/or export ! If you have any problem with it, follow this link to contact me!