Project reviews

A review is a periodic assessment of a group of projects on a chosen day. Each project in the review has its own review card, built from a template (see Review templates), and the whole review has a project table and a summary in charts. Reviews are in the main menu, under Reviews, provided the Reviews module is switched on for your organization (System settings, Reviews tab). The item is visible to users with the global Reviews permission (see Users and permissions). It has two tabs: Reviews and Templates.

The review list is laid out as a tree: review groups and the reviews in them. The columns are Date, Name and Status (Open or Archived with a date). The Filter by name box and the Status filter narrow the list, and the Range selector limits it to reviews from a chosen period. The browser remembers the filters and the range.

A project’s team also sees the project’s reviews, on the project’s Reviews tab (users with the Reviews project permission; the tab must be ticked in the project menu, Functionalities, see Project functionalities). The tab shows the reviews the project has been added to, with the Date, Name and Status columns. If the project is not in any review, the tab says so with the message Project has not been assigned to any review.

Review groups

Groups organize reviews in a tree, for example by year or department. A group can sit inside another group.

1. Click the arrow next to the New review button and choose New group.
2. In the Add group window, enter the name and, optionally, choose a parent group in the Group field.
3. Click Add.

Click a group name in the list to open the Edit group window, where you change the name and the parent group, or delete the group. Deleting a group also deletes all reviews and subgroups inside it (Deleting an review group will delete all reviews assigned to the group. Are you sure you want to delete the group?). Review groups are expanded and collapsed in the tree.

Creating a review

1. Click New review in the review list.
2. In the Add review window, enter the name (required), choose the Template (required) and the Date of the review, and optionally the Group and a Description.
3. Click Add. The review appears in the list with the Open status.

If the organization has no review template, the window shows the message Lack of defined review templates in the system. The review gets a copy of the template fields from the moment of creation; later template changes do not change existing reviews, and the review template can no longer be changed.

Changing review data

In an open review, the review menu (the menu icon next to the name) has the Edit option. The Edit review window lets you change the name, date, group and description. In an archived review the date cannot be changed. The description is visible after clicking the info icon next to the review name.

Adding projects to a review

1. Open the review (click the name in the list) and its Projects tab.
2. Click Add project. The Add projects to the review window opens with a filterable list of projects.
3. Tick the projects and click Add.

Projects can be added only to an open review; an archived review has no such button. One project can be in many reviews. While a review has no projects yet, the tab shows the hint No items. Click Add project to add projects to the review.

Note: the managers of added projects get a notification in the application and, if their New project review notification is on, an email with the review name, description and date. The notification is not sent for an archived project or when the Reviews module is switched off.

Remove a project from a review with Delete in the row menu. Removal deletes the review fields entered for that project and the attachments.

Filling in a review in a project

1. Open the review and click a project name in the table, or the Show details option in the row menu. You can also open the review on the project’s own Reviews tab.
2. Fill in the fields of the review card. The card follows the template layout.

The card header shows the review date and name, the project (a link to its schedule) and the status. The history icon in the header opens the list of all reviews of the project (the Pick review window), and the x icon returns to the project table.

• You can edit text, number and date fields, choice lists, tables, attachments, links, lists of tasks, milestones, risks, products and budget items, and the Selected… fields. Entered values are saved at once, when you leave the field.
• Project data (name, description, status, manager, roles, attributes, dates, budget) and calculated fields are read-only in a review; change them in the project.
• Under the card is a comments section with mentions (Leave a comment. Use @ to mention a user…).

Editing is possible in an open review. From the Reviews item in the main menu, users with the global Reviews permission edit, and from the project’s Reviews tab, users with the Reviews project permission at the Admin level. Others see the card read-only. In an archived review the card is only viewed.

Cloning a review

1. Open the review and choose Clone in its menu.
2. In the Add review window, filled in with the original’s data, adjust the name (a suffix is added to it), date, group and description.
3. Click Add. The new review opens.

The copy has the same projects, table column layout and summary layout (charts) as the original, but empty review fields and no comments, and its fields come from the current template. Managers of the projects added to the copy are notified, as when adding projects (see Adding projects to a review). You can clone a review whose template still exists.

Exporting a review

All projects of a review

1. Open the review, the Projects tab.
2. Optionally narrow the list with the filter.
3. Click Export.

A new browser tab opens with the review cards of all projects visible in the list, one after another, and the print window where you choose to save as PDF. The export covers the projects after the filter is applied.

One project

On the project’s Reviews tab, open the review and click Export. The printout contains the card of that project only.

Archiving a review

1. Open the review, the Projects tab.
2. Click Archive.
3. Confirm in the Archiving of the review window (Archiving of the review will freeze the project review data for the moment of archiving and will block its editing. Archiving is an irreversible operation.).

The review gets the Archived status with a date. The data of every project in the review is saved at the moment of archiving, so the project table and charts show the values from that day, also after later changes to the projects. An archived review cannot be edited, projects cannot be added to it or removed from it, and archiving cannot be undone. It can still be exported, cloned and deleted.

Deleting a review

1. Open the review.
2. Choose Delete in the review menu (or the delete button in the Edit review window).
3. Confirm in the Deletion of review window (Deletion of a review is irreversible. Are you sure you want to delete the review?).

Deleting removes the review together with the review fields entered in the projects and the data saved at archiving. An archived review can be deleted too. Deletion cannot be undone.

Graphical summary

The Overview tab of a review is a dashboard of charts built from the data of the review’s projects. Charts are added, edited and arranged the same way as in the graphical summary of reports and portfolios (see Graphical summary in a project report).

1. Click Add chart. The Add chart window opens.
2. Choose the Data Range (for example Projects, Task progress, Milestones progress or the risk Matrix) and the Chart type (Pie, Bar, Counter, Percent, List). For pie and bar charts, the Group by field offers for example Project status, Project health, Project progress, Budget overrun, Project manager or a project attribute (see Data range and chart types).
3. Give the chart a name (optional), set filters and click Save.

The chart menu (three dots) has the Edit, Clone and Delete options. Charts are calculated from the review’s projects (in an archived review, from the data of the archiving moment). The chart layout is copied together with the review when it is cloned.

Project list in a review

The Projects tab of a review shows the review’s projects in a table. The default columns are name, workspaces, project manager, status, health, progress, milestones and end date.

• The Columns button opens the Column settings window: choose columns from the list and set their order by dragging. The groups to choose from are Project, Schedule (dates, duration, differences from the current and initial baseline), Budget (costs, revenue, baseline and differences), Project attributes, Project roles and Review fields. The column setup is saved in the review, so everyone sees it.
• The Total row at the bottom adds up numeric columns, including attributes and review fields of the number type.
• The filter narrows the list by name, project status, health, project manager and workspace. Click a column header to sort.
• The row menu has Show details (the project’s review card, see Filling in a review in a project) and Delete (removing the project from the review). The same card opens when you click the project name.

The Add project button adds projects (see Adding projects to a review), Export prints the cards (see Exporting a review), and Archive closes the review (see Archiving a review). The review status tag is on the right of the bar.

In an archived review the table shows data saved at the moment of archiving, without the add, delete and archive buttons.