About Activity Connections

Different types of objects can be connected to an activity, for example Tasks, Work Orders, Purchase Requisition Lines, Purchase Order Lines, Shop Orders, DOP Headers etc. The connected objects report cost, hours, revenue and progress information to the activity. The type of information reported depends on the connected object as described in About Cost, Hours and Revenue Reported to Activity.

Activity Monitoring - Project Connections page displays the connection between the selected activity and other objects in IFS Cloud. The information about the connected object could include for example, object type, description, status, date created, date modified as well as estimated, planned, baseline, planned committed, committed, used and actual values for both cost and hours. Revenue information for planned, preliminary, posted and actual can also be included for the connected object. Select a connected object and click on the Object Details action command to go to the main page of the object.

The cost and revenue values will always be reported from the connected objects in base and transaction currency. If multi-currency and/or project currency have been enabled for Budgeting and Forecasting purposes for the project, then cost and revenue will also be reported in base currency using the fixed Budgeting and Forecasting rate and/or the project currency. The values are displayed in base currency in all pages where cost and revenue are available, while the other currencies are displayed only in the Project Connections page.

Types of Connections

There are two types of activity connections: manual connections and system connections. Manual connections are created by using the Connect Object action command in Activity Monitoring - Project Connections, or by manually connecting the object to the activity using the Connect to Activity action command on the object itself.

System connections will occur in following situations:

The System Connection field indicates the type of connection for an object. Some object types can be connected both manually and by the system. Only manual connections are removable..

IFS Business Analytics can be used to create and analyze information based on the activity connection data available in IFS Cloud. For more information refer About Information Sources in IFS Business Analytics.


Objects that can be connected to Activities

The object types that can be connected to an activity are as follows:

Object Type Connection Type
Activity Estimate System
Activity Resource System
Change Order Manual
Compatible Unit Execution Item Manual
Compatible Unit Procurement Activity Manual
Customer Order Invoice Line System
Customer Order Line System
Manual
Customer Order Line Revenue System
Design Object Manual
Document Package Manual
DOP Header System
Manual
External Invoice Posting Row System
Forecast Demand System
General Ledger Voucher Row System
Invoice Posting Row System
Invoicing Plan System
Material Requisition Line Manual
Project Inventory Transfer System
Project Miscellaneous Demand System
Project Transaction System
Project Transaction Revenue System
Purchase Order Change Order No Part System
Manual
Purchase Order Change Order Part System
Manual
Purchase Order Line No Part System
Manual
Purchase Order Line Part System
Manual
Purchase Requisition Line No Part System
Manual
Purchase Requisition Line Part System
Manual
Requirement Activity System
Sales Contract Project System
Shop Order System
Manual
Shop Order Requisition System
Sub Contract Project System
Task System
Manual
Voucher Row System
Work Order Manual

 

Workflow

Creating: You can create an object connection either in Activity Monitoring - Project Connections page or in the page for the object you want to connect. i.e., to connect an activity to a document package in IFS/Document Management, you can do so in the Activity Monitoring - Project Connections page or in the Document Package page by the Connect to Activity action command and selecting the required activity. Although it is recommended that you connect the object to an activity from the main page of the object, this can only be done if the particular object type is allowed for manual connections in the Project Setup Parameters/Manual Connections tab. An object can have only one activity connected.

Click on the Connect Object action command in the Project Activity Monitoring - Project Connections page and select the required object type from the drop down menu. Objects related to the selected Object Type will appear in the below section. Select the object to be connected and click OK to save the changes. The objects are from components that are allowed for manual connection with the project. When an object is selected the Description and Status fields are updated with the next save. The values of these fields are retrieved from the object itself.

Modifying: Activity connections cannot be modified.

Removing: Only manual connections are removable. This can be done in the Activity Monitoring - Project Connections page by using the Disconnect Object action command or by using the Disconnect from Activity action command from the object itself.

Refresh Project Connections: In case there is a need to update the cost/revenue element on a project connection (e.g. if it has an incorrect cost/revenue element due to incorrect posting control), it is possible to run the Refresh Project Connections action command found in the Project Connections page. This will allow you to refresh the connections for a given company, project and or object type and will update the cost/revenue element on the relevant connections based on the current basic data. This function is also used to update cost/revenue elements in case the code part used as Base for cost/revenue Elements has been changed (for more information on the process for changing the Base, please see the Release Notes).

NOTE: Refreshing connections can be a heavy process (depending on data volumes) and should typically be scheduled to be run outside normal working hours, e.g. over a weekend.