NAME
opensched - automatically schedule resources for a project
SYNOPSIS
opensched [-d] [-v] [-h] [file...]
DESCRIPTION
The opensched program accepts a project description file, assigns tasks
to resources, schedules tasks to time periods, and prints various
reports.
The user creates a project description file, which describes what has
to be done, who can do it, etc.
The user runs the opensched program (perhaps using a Makefile). The
program will schedule any tasks that have not been assigned to people
and time periods by the user. It then prints various reports, as text
files, LaTeX documents and EPS diagrams.
The user presumably will incorporate the LaTeX and EPS files into a
large LaTeX document, run the works through LaTeX, and print a nicely
formatted report.
OPTIONS
-d Enable debug mode.
-v Show version informations and terminate.
-h Show help (usage) and terminate.
PROJECT FILE FORMAT
The project file contains a list of command lines. Each line may be
one of:
- blank
- a comment, which begins with a # mark
- a command
Commands are written as a keyword followed by zero or more
arguments. Arguments are either words or quoted strings.
The first command processed by opensched, e.g., the first in the root
document must be a startdate command. This specifies the project start
date. The second command must be a dateformat command. This specifies
the date format used in the input files, and the date format to be used
in the output files.
General commands
include filename
Load more commands from the indicated file before proceeding
startdate CCYY MM DD
Define the first day of the project, as CCYY MM DD. All dates
are calculated relative to this start date.
textreport filename
Print an ASCII report about scheduled tasks to the file.
texreport filename
Print a LaTeX report about scheduled tasks to the file.
htmlreport filename
Print a HTML report about scheduled tasks to the file.
xmlreport filename
Print a XML report about scheduled tasks to the file.
show_resource_notes
Print notes about resources in the report.
show_task_notes
Print notes about tasks in the report.
show_task_ids
Print task ids as well as task names in the output.
show_milestone_ids
Print milestone ids as well as milestone names in the output.
show_dependencies
Print task dependency information in the report.
show_vacations
Print vacation information in the report.
weekly_tex filename
Print a LaTeX report about who has to do what work on what week
to the file.
monthly_tex filename
Print a LaTeX report about who has to do what work on what month
to the file.
slippage_tex filename
Print a LaTeX report about slippage in the schedule.
weekly_txt filename
Print a text report about who has to do what work on what week
to the file.
monthly_txt filename
Print a text report about who has to do what work on what month
to the file.
slippage_txt filename
Print a text report about slippage in the schedule.
weekly_html filename
Print a HTML report about who has to do what work on what week
to the file.
monthly_html filename
Print a HTML report about who has to do what work on what month
to the file.
slippage_html filename
Print a HTML report about slippage in the schedule.
cost_html filename
Print a HTML report about the cost of the project.
printtaskdays
Modifies the reports to print exactly what days a task is worked
on. This is useful if a task is split over time, to straddle
other tasks. If that happens, its start and finish dates are
far apart, but work is not ongoing throughout its duration.
utilgraph filename
Print an EPS file which shows when each resource is busy. This
file is ugly but can be useful to determine the efficiency with
which the resources have been scheduled.
hardschedule filename
Print start and finish statements to a new scheduler input file,
that fix the schedule of this project.
taskgraph startdate finishdate filename
Print an EPS GANTT chart for the given date range in the file.
network startcolumn finishcolumn filename
Print an EPS network diagram containing the given column range
in the file. In the network diagram, the tasks are arranged in
columns numbered from the left starting at 0. The column range
restricts those in the chart to a subset of them.
dateformat calendar
Dates will be entered and printed as CCYY.Mon.DD. Examples:
1999.Jan.05 or 2000.Jun.30
dateformat iso
Dates will be entered and printed in ISO-8601 CCYY-MM-DD format.
Examples: 1999-01-05 or 2000-06-30
dateformat count
Dates will be entered and printed as a 3-digit (zero-padded)
integer number counting number of days since the project began.
Weekends are counted.
dateformat raw
Dates will be entered and printed as a 3-digit (zero-padded)
integer number counting number of working days since the project
began. This differs from "dateformat count" above since it
ignores weekends.
Commands to define and relate resources and tasks
resource id name
Define a resource (i.e., a person who can do some work)
resource_note resourceid text
Add a note to a variable length list of such notes attached to
the named resource.
efficiency resourceid N
Set the relative efficiency with which the identified resource
does work. Efficiency is a number greater than 0. If a
resource has an efficiency of 0.5, then it takes twice as long
to do work as someone with an efficiency of 1.0, and if a
resource has an efficiency of 2.0, then it takes half the time
to do the work as someone with an efficiency of 1.0 (perhaps
because the resource actually represents 3 programmers). By
default, efficiency is 1.0.
task id name N
Define a task that must be completed. It will take some
resource N days to complete.
task_note taskid text
Add a note to a variable length list of such notes attached to
the named task.
block taskid
Indicate that a given task must be completed in a single time
block, and may not be split around other tasks. This is not
true by default.
describe taskid description
Add a more verbose description to the task.
group id resourceid1 resourceid2 ...
Define a virtual resource, which represents every listed
resource working together in a group.
candidate taskid resourceid1 resourceid2 ..
Indicate that the resources indicated are candidates to work on
the indicated task.
depends taskid0 taskid1 taskid2 ...
Indicate that taskid0 cannot be started until all of taskid1,
taskid2, ... are completed.
complete taskid
Indicate that the task is finished.
complete taskid N
Indicate what fraction of the work for the indicated is done, as
a percentage from 0 to 100.
done taskid N
Indicate the number of days spent so far on the task.
start taskid date
Indicate that the task should start on the given date. Use with
care... it is possible, by using it, to put constraints on a
schedule such that there is no solution.
finish taskid date
Indicate that the task should be finished on the given date.
Use with care... it is possible, by using it, to put constraints
on a schedule such that there is no solution.
bstart taskid date
Indicate that the task Baseline starts on the given date.
bfinish taskid date
Indicate that the task Baseline finished on the given date.
astart taskid date
Indicate that the task Actual start is on the given date.
afinish taskid date
Indicate that the task Actual finish is on the given date.
future taskid resourceid startdate finishdate
Indicate that the indicated resource will definitely work on the
given task on the given dates. This will automatically assign
the task to this resource. It will will also fix the start
date, and may fix the finish date (if enough days are included).
past taskid resourceid startdate finishdate
Indicate that the indicated resource has already worked on the
given task on the given dates. This will automatically assign
the task to this resource. It will will also fix the start
date, and may fix the finish date (if enough days are included).
vacation resid startdate finishdate
Indicate that the given resource has a vacation, and may not
work on scheduled tasks, on the given date range. Note that
resid may include ? and * wildcard characters, which is
convenient for defining group or statutory holidays for
everyone.
vacation resid date
Define a one day holiday. Otherwise the same as above.
Commands that modify the display of GANTT charts
tg_tasklabel N
In GANTT charts, sets the offset (in points) of task labels from
the left edge of the chart.
tg_left N
In GANTT charts, sets the offset (in points) of the left edge of
GANTT charts from the left edge of the page.
tg_top N
In GANTT charts, sets the offset (in points) of the top edge of
GANTT charts from the top edge of the page.
tg_width N
In GANTT charts, sets the width (in points) of a single day.
tg_height N
In GANTT charts, sets the height (in points) of a single task.
tg_space N
In GANTT charts, sets the vertical space (in points) between
consecutive tasks on the chart.
tg_gray N
In GANTT charts, sets the PostScript gray level (0-1) of
scheduled tasks.
tg_lightgray N
In GANTT charts, sets the PostScript gray level (0-1) of
weekends embedded in the middle of scheduled tasks.
tg_white N
In GANTT charts, sets the PostScript gray level (0-1) of marks
that show work already done on a task.
tg_fontname1 name
In GANTT charts, sets the PostScript name of the medium font.
tg_fontsize1 N
In GANTT charts, sets the size (in points) of the medium font.
tg_fontname2 name
In GANTT charts, sets the PostScript name of the smallest font.
tg_fontsize2 N
In GANTT charts, sets the size (in points) of the smallest font.
tg_fontname3 name
In GANTT charts, sets the PostScript name of the largest font.
tg_fontsize3 N
In GANTT charts, sets the size (in points) of the largest font.
tg_textup N
In GANTT charts, sets the vertical offset from the base of a
task line to the base of the text that describes it, in points.
tg_mlgray N
In GANTT charts, sets the gray level (0-1) used to draw vertical
month lines.
tg_xborder N
In GANTT charts, the border on the left and right edge of the
chart.
tg_yborder N
In GANTT charts, the border on the top and bottom edge of the
chart.
tg_nodays
In GANTT charts, don’t print days and months along bottom.
tg_daysofmonth
In GANTT charts, print day of month below day of the week.
tg_sortbyresource
In GANNT charts, group tasks by resource instead of by order of
execution.
tg_showpast
In GANNT charts, show past days with a progression bar.
tg_pastgray N
In GANNT charts, sets the gray level (0-1) used to draw
progression bar on past days (used only with tg_showpast )
tg_showvacation
In GANNT charts, show vacation days.
tg_vacationgray N
In GANNT charts, sets the gray level (0-1) used to draw vacation
days (used only with tg_showvacation )
Commands that modify the display of network diagrams
netx taskid N
Fixes the box for the specified task to be in column N. Columns
are numbered left to right starting at 0.
nety taskid N
Fixes the box for the specified task to be in row N. Rows are
numbered top to bottom starting at 0.
start_nety N
Fixes the box for the start milestone to be in row N. Rows are
numbered left to right starting at 0.
finish_nety N
Fixes the box for the finish milestone to be in row N. Rows are
numbered left to right starting at 0.
pc_width N
In network diagrams, sets the width (in points) of the boxes.
The default is 190.
pc_height N
In network diagrams, sets the height (in points) of the boxes.
The default is 72.
pc_space N
In network diagrams, sets the horizontal and vertical spacing
(in points) between boxes. The default is 72.
pc_textin N
In network diagrams, sets the distance (in points) from the left
edge of the box to the start of text. The default is 6.
pc_textup N
In network diagrams, sets the distance (in points) from the
bottom of the box to the baseline of text. The default is 6.
pc_fontname1 name
In network diagrams, sets the name of the font. The default is
Helvetica.
pc_fontsize1 N
In network diagrams, sets the size of the font. The default is
10 (point).
Commands related to milestones
milestone id name
Define a milestone. A milestone marks a special event in the
life of a project. A milestone is reached when all of the tasks
it depends on are completed.
after id taskid2 taskid2 ...
The milestone id is reached after all of the dependent tasks
have finished.
Commands related to project costing
rate resid amount
Define the daily charge out rate for the specified resource.
item taskid amount text
Associate an item costing the given amount with the given task.
Text is a variable length field describing the item.
prate amount
Define a default daily charge out rate for resources to be used
for Resources which have not had an individual charge out rate
set.
pitem amount text
Define an item costing the given amount for the project (i.e.,
not associated with any particular task). Text is a variable
length field describing the item.
Dates and date ranges
Dates are internally represented as an integer number of days, with
zero being the first working day. There are five days per working week,
but the internal representation does not count weekends. Accordingly,
a project that starts on a Monday has:
Day number DoW Week
------------------------------
0 Monday 1
1 Tuesday 1
2 Wednesday 1
3 Thursday 1
4 Friday 1
5 Monday 2
6 Tuesday 2
7 Wednesday 2
This is useful for programs, but a pain for humans. Accordingly, the
program uses an aliasing system for dates. You select an aliasing
system (probably calendar), and enter all dates using this system. The
program also prints all of its dates in the same system.
To do this, you should start your project file with the statements:
startdate 1998 10 28
dateformat calendar
You can then refer to dates as 1998.Nov.02
NOTE
You will soon discover that there are no aliases for weekend dates.
This is the most common bug -- don’t enter any dates for weekends, as
the system will just reject them!!
In several places in the project file, and in various output formats,
the program prints date ranges. You should be aware that these ranges
are inclusive.
SEE ALSO
latex(1), make(1)
AUTHOR
This program was originally developed by Idan Shoham at M-Tech Mercury
Information Technology, Inc. It is currently maintained by Alan Mcivor.
See opensched.sourceforge.net for the latest version. Any
correspondence relating to this program should be directed to:
Alan McIvor <alan@mcivor.gen.nz>
COPYING
Copyright (c) 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
permission notice identical to this one.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified
versions, except that this permission notice may be included in
translations approved by the Free Software Foundation instead of in the
original English.
0.4.4 opensched(1)