Concepts
The words TeamSync uses, what they mean and how they relate: Organizations, Projects, Zones, Issues, Roles and how an Issue moves from raised to closed.
#How things are organised
- Organization
- Your company and everything it owns: its people, Departments, Disciplines, Roles and Projects. Nothing in one Organization is visible to people acting in another. The add-in calls an Organization a hub.
- Project
- One piece of work your Organization coordinates, such as Riverside Tower. A Project has a name, an optional number, Zones, Members, Labels and Phases.
- Zone
- A part of a Project whose Issues are numbered together. In Riverside Tower the Zones might be Basement, Podium and Tower. An Issue in Tower is called Tower #1, Tower #2 and so on. Moving an Issue to another Zone gives it the next number there.
- Issue
- One problem to be resolved, raised from a model, with a status, an owner and a discussion.
#What an Issue holds
| Field | What it is |
|---|---|
| Title and description | What is wrong, and where. The title is required. |
| Status | Where the Issue is in its life. The defaults are Open, In Progress, In Review, Resolved and Closed. |
| Priority | How urgent it is. The defaults are Critical, High, Medium and Low. |
| Type | What kind it is. The defaults are Clash, Issue, RFI and Observation. |
| Discipline | The trade it belongs to, such as HVAC or Plumbing. |
| Zone | The part of the Project it is in. Gives the Issue its number. |
| Due date | When it should be done. Past the due date, an open Issue is Overdue. |
| Assigned to | The people who must act on it. Assigning someone notifies them. |
| Also notify | People kept informed who are not answerable for it. |
| Labels | Tags with an optional colour, set per Project. |
| Phase | A stage of the work, set per Project. |
| Viewpoints | Saved views of the model: camera, section box, hidden elements, selected elements and a snapshot. Show in model brings you back to one. |
| Comments | The discussion, with @mentions of people and # references to other Issues or to model elements. |
| Files | Attachments. Each Issue holds a limited amount of files; the limit shows on your Organization settings Overview. |
| Activity | The history of every change, with who made it. |
| Source | Where it was raised: Revit or Navisworks, with the model's file name. |
#Departments and Disciplines
They sound alike, and they do different jobs. A Department describes a person. A Discipline describes an Issue.
| Department | Discipline | |
|---|---|---|
| Describes | A group of people by trade, such as Structure or Electrical. | The trade an Issue belongs to, such as HVAC or Plumbing. |
| Used for | Tidiness, notifying people together and, where a Project Member is set to see their Department's Issues, deciding what they see. | Filtering and counting Issues. The Dashboard breaks Issues down by Discipline. |
| Grants permissions | No. | No. |
In the add-in, a new Issue starts with the Discipline that matches your Department. See Departments and Disciplines.
#Roles and Issue Visibility
A Role is a named set of permissions. A General Manager holds their place at Organization level. The other Roles are held on a Project, so one person can be a Project Manager on one Project and an Engineer on another.
| Role | Held | By default |
|---|---|---|
| General Manager | On the Organization | Sees every Project. Manages people, Roles, Departments, Disciplines, Projects and Support Access. |
| Project Manager | On a Project | Edits Project settings, adds and removes Project Members, creates, edits and deletes Issues, comments. Sees all Issues. |
| Team Leader | On a Project | Adds and removes Project Members, creates, edits and deletes Issues, comments. Sees all Issues or their Department's. |
| Engineer | On a Project | Creates Issues, edits their own, comments. Starts out seeing their Department's Issues. On a Project's Team tab Engineers appear as Members. |
Issue Visibility decides which of a Project's Issues a Project Member sees. It is set per person on each Project.
| Issue Visibility | What the person sees |
|---|---|
| All Issues | Every Issue of the Project. |
| Own Department | Their own Issues, plus those authored by anyone in their Department. |
| Own Issues | Only Issues they authored, are assigned to, or were named on (mentioned or on the notify list). |
TeamSync applies Issue Visibility everywhere: lists, search, # references, notifications, viewpoints, attachments and Dashboard numbers. An Issue someone cannot see is never counted for them. Assigning or mentioning a person makes the Issue visible to them. See Roles.
#Open Projects
An Open Project can be worked on by everyone in the Organization without being added to it. Anyone with no Role on an Open Project counts as an Engineer who sees all its Issues. A General Manager turns this on or off in the Project's settings. A new Project starts closed, for its Members only.
#Archived and deleted
| Archived | Deleted | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Set aside as finished or no longer relevant. | Removed from every view. |
| Still readable | Yes. | No, until restored. |
| How long it is kept | Indefinitely. | It can be restored for 90 days. After that it is gone for good. |
| Applies to | Issues and Projects. | Issues (on the web) and Projects. |
Archived is not closed. Closed is a status of the Issue; archiving takes it out of the list while keeping its record. The add-in can archive Issues but not delete them.
Project Limit
An archived or deleted Project still counts against your Project Limit until it is permanently deleted. A General Manager who deletes a Project can instead choose Delete permanently and type the Project's name to confirm, which frees the slot at once. See Projects.
#How an Issue moves
The default workflow has four parts. In the add-in, How the workflow works shows them.
The author raises it
Whoever spots the problem raises the Issue and assigns it.
The assignee works on it
The assignee does the work, adds viewpoints and files, and moves the status along.
The assignee marks it Resolved
Resolved means the work is done, not that the Issue is finished.
The author verifies and closes it
The author checks the fix in the model and moves the Issue to Closed, or reopens it. Everyone else on the Project comments.
Tip
Resolved counts as open. An Issue waiting to be verified still shows in the Dashboard's Open total, and it appears under Waiting for you to verify for its author until they close it.
#Health and Overdue
An Overdue Issue is an open Issue whose due date is before today. Health says how a Project is doing, judged from its open Issues as they are now.
| Health | When |
|---|---|
| Critical | A quarter or more of the open Issues are Overdue. |
| At risk | A tenth or more are Overdue, or a quarter or more have nobody assigned. |
| On track | Otherwise. |
Your Dashboard judges Health only from the Issues you can see, so two people can see different Health for the same Project. See The Dashboard.
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