Using Project Scheduling Smart Assistant

Tour of the PSSA Interface

The PSSA Interface is comprised of many components.

Project Identifier – Identifies the Microsoft Project file the analysis is associated with.

Observed element – The Microsoft Project Element (Project, Task, Resource) the observation is related to. Double-click on the element to interact with Microsoft Project and make the appropriate changes.

Disable – Disables the observation rule from further analysis during the current session. The observation rule will be available if you close and open PSSA.

Analyze – Starts a project plan analysis. You can still interact with Microsoft Project during the analysis.

Observation – The PSSA best practice broken by one or many project plan elements.

Advice – A summary of the best practice and a proposed course of action to solve the situation.

PSSA Menu

PSSA has a drop-down menu located at the top of the application and also directly in MS Project (in its own ribbon section in MS Project 2010). The menu looks like this:

Analyze project: Start analysis on the current project.

Dock/Undock: This toggles the screen position of PSSA.

Go to Activity/Resource: The application context is passed to Microsoft Project. The analyzed element is selected and the appropriate column is shown to implement the proposed changes.

Open: Activate PSSA’s window if it was previously closed.

Get Help: Selecting this option will launch your default web browser, and load the PSSA Support FAQ. The FAQ has answers to typical user questions, and is a good starting point for finding information. If you don’t find the answer you are looking for, you can also contact our Support Team from that page via our online troubleshooter.

Product Demo: This will launch a short video that highlights the various features of PSSA.

Open on startup: This option controls the PPSA’s window state at MS Project’s startup.

Dock on startup: This option controls the PSSA’s window position at MS Project’s startup.

About PSSA: This window contains useful information about your PSSA version. If you ever need to contact our Support Team, the build number can be found in this window and indicates the revision of PSSA that you’re using. This window also contains clickable links to our Privacy Policy, End User License Agreement, as well as the PSSA homepage.

Keyboard Shortcuts

PSSA provides the following keyboard shortcuts:

• F1: Access online help
• F5: Start the analysis

Repair and Uninstall Options

If you are experiencing problems with PSSA, you can launch the Repair and Uninstall Wizard which can be found:

Windows XP: Start -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs -> Project Scheduling Smart Assistant

Vista: Start -> Control Panel -> Programs and Features -> Project Scheduling Smart Assistant

From here you can completely remove PSSA from your machine.

Periodically, the product automatically checks if updates are available. Alternatively, you can go in the Start menu under SmartBox Software.