Tutorial

Welcome to JXCirrus Project!

If you have just started up JXCirrus Project for the first time, then this tutorial should be able to help you get started... It will help you around the main screen, let you create a small project and have a look at the plans that the computer makes.

What is JXCirrus Project?

JXCirrus Project is a project planning and monitoring tool.   It focuses on making it easy to create a work breakdown structure, and once you have the structure in place, tracking how the project is going.

To help you get started, we have pre-loaded the system with a number of example to see the different ways you can set up projects.

JXCirrus Project has several features that make it different from most of the other project management tools out there.

Doing the planning for you

With conventional project management systems, once you have created the work breakdown structure, you then build up a plan.   JXCirrus Project does the planning for you!

As long as it knows the priorities, due dates and dependencies, it will juggle the tasks around until they fit.   Once it has done this planning, it can tell you if it thinks you can finish the project by its due date.

This gives you some key advantages:

Changing the way the system works

The premium version of JXCirrus Project gives lets you tinker with the whole way the system works.  JXCirrus Project uses a sophisticated object database to store project information - It is easy to add standard templates for project structure, add extra queries, and write macros to automate tasks.

The Main Display

If you move this manual out of the way, you can have a quick look at the main screen of JXCirrus Project. The screen is split into 2 parts.

The Tree View Tree

The tree view is the large area on the right of the screen with the different columns. It lets you browse through all of the entries in the system. Many of the entries are hidden away underneath the top level ones.

To expand the entries, click on the triangle symbol on the left side of the entry. You should see it expand to show you a whole lot of entries underneath it.

Now, try clicking on the title of the entry towards the right-hand side of the list.  The contents of the entry will be shown in the Item View on the right of the screen (or if you are on a mobile app, the view will take over the whole screen).

The Item View Details

The item view is the area on the right of the screen. You should have noticed that when you clicked on the title of an entry in the tree view, the item view changed and showed a lot more detail about that entry.

The item view always shows the details of the entry that you clicked on most recently.

The Examples

To help you get started, we have added a bunch of examples into your project database. Here is what they are

In all of these examples, the Task symbol represents a task.   If the task has a triangle next to it, then that means it has been broken down into smaller tasks.   To expand it and see what it underneath, click on the triangle symbol.

What we will do over the next couple of pages is help you set up a very basic project.

Next: Adding People