Asta Powerproject - Create a new project

Launch Asta Powerproject from the Windows Start menu.
Click the File tab, then click New. The New tab of the Backstage view appears.
In this case, you will base your new project on the Tutorial Template, so click Tutorial Template in the Available Templates field.
Enter Tutorial.pp in the File name field.
Enter Tutorial Project in the Title field.
Enter the date on which you want the project to start in the Start field. This field defaults to today's date.
Click Create to create your project.

The Backstage view disappears and you see the new blank project. The window is currently divided into five main areas: the project view, the spreadsheet, the bar chart, the Ribbon and the properties view. Note that certain elements of the Asta Powerproject window - for example the properties view - may not be visible initially. Which elements are visible is partly dependent on the template that you use to create a project and partly dependent on whether you have previously 'turned off' certain elements.

Project view

The project view provides a view onto the whole project, or programme of projects. As well as displaying the natural order hierarchy of a project, the project view also displays various libraries of objects, including resources, cost centres, code libraries and calendars. You can change the proportion of the screen that is taken up by the project view by dragging the vertical bar that separates it from the spreadsheet.

Spreadsheet

The spreadsheet displays information about bars, tasks and allocations. A simple spreadsheet might display Name, Duration and Start columns. You can display as many columns as you like in the spreadsheet, and choose the information that each column displays.

Bar chart

The bar chart is where you draw and link tasks to create your project schedule. Most projects comprise a number of different charts. Each chart has a series of numbered bars – also known as lines or rows – each one containing one or more tasks. You can change the width of the bar chart to make it wider or narrower. To do this, drag the vertical divider that separates the bar chart from the spreadsheet.

At the top of the bar chart is the date zone. The date zone shows the time plan of projects – in other words when tasks are scheduled to take place.

Ribbon

The Ribbon contains many of the commands that you will need as you work with your projects. The commands are organised in logical groups, which are collected together under tabs. Each tab relates to a type of activity, such as displaying different items in a view or working with allocations. Click the Ribbon tabs to move between them and access the commands that they contain.

The File tab is slightly different to the other Ribbon tabs: you click this to display the Backstage view, which contains the commands that you use to do things to a project, rather than within a project. You will come across the Backstage view a number of times as you work through this tutorial.

Properties view

You can use the properties view to maintain the properties of the selected task and bar, and to view properties of the selected task's allocations and links. The properties view appears in the lower portion of the screen. It is divided into a number of tabs, each of which displays a different type of information about the selected task or bar. The information in some tabs - for example the Task tab - is further subdivided. You use the left pane of the properties view to select the type of information you want to view within such tabs.