Overview
The Shaper is where you work things out, allocate roles, people and hours. It's the heart of the active project and we have a lot of great information to make the best use of the shaper tool along saving you time!
Video:
Individual Cell Loading
Historically, the Shaper, Assignments View and Advanced Search pages within Parallax would not display until the full dataset was loaded. This meant that once all cells were loaded, you could move to anywhere within the Project, but it also meant waiting for all cells to have populated before being able to see or update any of your shapes. This meant more waiting - particularly when viewing a larger Project in the Shaper, filtering by a wide dataset in the Assignments View, or using the comparatively larger Day View in either place.
We believed there was a better way! As of this update, when you visit the Shaper, Assignments View, or Advanced Search pages, the page will load faster than ever, populating cells gradually. This allows you to start reviewing shapes, making determinations, and begin making changes right away, instead of waiting to see the whole project. We believe that reducing unnecessary wait time between opening a project and making changes will make for a better Parallax experience!
Adjustable left-side bar
Historically the left-side bar containing Offering Names, Roles and Projects has been static, but we've now added the ability to adjust the width. While there will still be size limits in place, this will help you easily maximize space with Offerings that have a short name or adjust visibilty for Offerings that have longer names!
Copy/Paste supported
We believe in the power of saving shapes as 'Templates' within Settings > Service Offerings, but what about Project plans that haven't made it into Parallax yet?
You may have spreadsheets with existing resource plans that you haven't had the time to shape out in Parallax. To make it easier and streamline the process of getting what you already have in spreadsheets directly into Parallax, we've added support for copying and pasting from several different formats:
- CSV or TSV Files
- Google Sheets
- Excel Documents
- Within the Shaper itself
When copying from the Shaper itself, just click on the first cell you want copy, then use your Shift+Arrow Keys to grab the cells you want!
Parallax Tip - Single Rows
Currently, cells a can be copied/pasted from one row at a time - so if the copy or paste doesn't appear to be working, make sure to check that you haven't selected multiple rows!
Note: The capacity red bar in the Project shaper captures capacity at the time the person was assigned and does not look at current capacity at a whole overall in the moment. This view can be found in the Assignments View. To update in Project Shaper, remove them from the role then re-add to the role and this will update the view.
Cell navigation
One of our goals is to make the way you move around in the Shaper as close to a spreadsheet as possible. While using your Arrow Keys to move from cell-to-cell isn't new, we have added support for combining them with your Shift Key to highlight groups of cells. AdditionallyAd, you can now use your keyboard's Tab key (as well as Shift + Tab) to move your cursor from cell to cell. Once you've started moving your cursor, you can copy single cells (with Ctrl + C), paste (using Ctrl + V), begin editing a cell (Spacebar), delete a cell's contents (Delete or Backspace), or jump vertically to the next cell down (Enter key).
With these new supported functions, we hope the Shaper feels a little more comfortable and easy to use!
Overview of new keyboard shortcuts:
- Select groups of cells using Shift + Arrow Keys.
- Copy selected cells with Ctrl + C.
- Paste copied cells using Ctrl + V.
- Begin editing a cell (Spacebar).
- Delete cell contents (Delete or Backspace).
- Jump vertically to the next cell down (Enter key).
Automated Project End Date changes associated with Offerings
Prior to this update, when you drag a cell past the edge of your Offering, Parallax would ask you whether you wanted to extend the end of the Project to fit your new Offering.
Above example depicts previous example.
With the latest update, the Project End Date will automatically extend anytime you drag cells past the current Project End Date (see below example). However, you can still have an Offering that extends beyond the end of the Project End Date - to do this, use the "Change Start Date" (found by right-clicking on the Offering header) to update the date accordingly.
Project Role Association/Splitting
While each change we've made with Role Association may not be too complicated on it's own, they build on each other for a greater whole. To that end, we've created an entire article on how they work and how to use them, but as a quick summary, you can now:
- Group (or Associate) separate Project Roles of the same name together as a unit.
- Split a single Project Role into multiple Associated Project Roles.
In practice, this allows you to indicate that multiple People are essentially sharing a single Role or are swapping in and out to replace one another. If you need to swap someone out of a Project, it's as easy as picking a date, splitting their Project Role, then adding someone new to fill it!
Shaper Undo
With the new Undo function, you can quickly reverse changes that you made within your current browsing session. Seeing unexpected changes based on a Project Start Date? Undo to the rescue! Accidentally clear an entire row of Allocations? Undo has your back! With this new feature, we hope you'll feel more confident about the changes you're making and your ability to quickly fix any errors.
Currently, you can Undo/Redo:
- Allocations added to/removed from a single Cell.
- Allocations added/removed by dragging from a Cell.
- Project Start/End Date changes made from Date Picker.
- Offering Start/End Date changes made from Date Picker.
- Project/Offering End Date changes made by dragging Cells.
- Allocations cleared using Right-Click options to Clear All, Clear Left, Clear Right or Clear Column.
- Allocations moved using Right Click option for Push Out.
Currently, you would not be able to Undo/Redo:
- Changes made prior to navigating to the Assignments View/Shaper.
- Employee Assignment to or removal from a Project Role.
- Addition, duplication or removal of a Project Role.
How does it work?
At the bottom of the Shaper and edit Mode of the Assignments View, next to the cell view options (Denominator, View, Data), you'll see Undo and Redo Buttons – using them is as simple as you'd expect!
Just click make a change to Shaper cells...
...then click "Undo" to reverse changes you've made within this shaping session or "Redo" to re-create changes you've undone!
Offering Splitting
This one comes on the heels of Project Role Splitting; it takes the same concept, but applies it to an Offering, instead of a Project Role. This will be useful for instances where an Offering has grown too large, and needs to be scoped/sold separately to the Client.
To do this, simply:
- Right-click on the cell for the Date you want the New Offering to Start in the Offering Header.
- Select the option "Split Offering" from the menu that appears.
- The Row you've selected and all future Rows will be moved to a new Offering*.
The new Offering will inherit the name of the old one, with the addition of the identifier "[Split]", but once created, you can rename the Offering right within the Shaper!
*Parallax Tip - Don't forget about your Sold Snapshot!
Anytime you create a new Offering while a Project is In Progress, that Offering was not a part of the original sale - so it will appear as $0 and 0h on the Sold Snapshot. However, you can manually update each Role from the "Sold" section of your Sold Snapshot, as needed.