An introduction to projects

This topic focuses on working with projects. A project is analogous to a file that stores your analytical settings and data. You can create any number of projects. Generally, while you can perform several analyses within a single project, you will want to create a project for each particular objective.

Internally, a project is stored as a folder of files managed by PolyAnalyst Server. You should not attempt to access such files directly using Microsoft Windows Explorer. Instead, use the manage projects feature accessible from PolyAnalyst’s main menu to interact with projects.

You own the projects you create and, thus, have all the access rights to them. You can explicitly share your work by granting access to other users, or relinquish ownership to another user. Administrative users always have access to all projects.

Creating a new project

When you create a project, it is immediately opened within the Analytical client. You can then proceed to make changes, save changes, and close the project. For this tutorial, let us create a new project. At this point, you should have the PolyAnalyst Analytical client open.

Multiple users can interact with the server concurrently. If someone is completing this tutorial on the same server at the same time as you, someone may have already completed the create project step for their own project. Ensure you are creating your own unique project in the following steps.

  1. Close the Startup window if it is visible.

  2. Select New…​ from the menu of the program. The Create project window appears. The Create project window is similar to Windows Explorer. A hierarchy of folders appears on the left. A table of projects within the currently selected folder appears on the right. By default, PolyAnalyst has created some folders for you (such as Examples).

  3. Select the root folder (the top-most folder) if it is not already selected. Left click a folder’s name to select it. The root folder is named automatically based on how you are connected to PolyAnalyst Server. When running on your own computer, you may see the name `localhost'. When connecting to a different computer, you may see that computer’s network name, domain name, or IP address.

  4. Click the Create…​ button in the lower right corner of the Create project window. The window containing the intended project name and project physical location will appear.

  5. Enter a name for your project by changing the suggested name to a custom name such as `My first project'. Do not worry about making a mistake; you can rename or delete the project later.

  6. Choose the physical location of the new project from the drop-down menu. The Projects and reports folder is selected by default. Another available folder in the menu is Archived projects and reports. The choice depends on user preferences, amount of available disc space, etc. Later on you will be able to create your own folder for all your projects and choose the appropriate location for it. To do this, you will have to open the Administrative Tool in PolyAnalyst and select Project spaces in the left panel. The right panel will display two folders - Projects and reports and Archived projects and reports, both of which can be used as physical locations for new projects. Right click anywhere in the panel and select New. Using the Browse button in the dialog choose the location of the new folder. Then click OK. After you have created your own folder to save your projects in, it will become available in the Physical location drop-down menu in the Analytical Client every time you create a new project. You will also be able to move the projects from one physical location to another using the manage projects window. For now you can safely ignore this feature and save your new project in the default folder Projects and reports.

  7. Click OK. PolyAnalyst then closes the Create project window, creates the new project, and then opens the new project.

As an alternative, users can create a project from the Open project start window. To do this, select the folder where you plan to create the project and use the + New project button on the toolbar located in the upper part of the window.

Your new project can now be edited, saved, and closed. You should see a large, white, empty window that occupies the majority of the right side of the PolyAnalyst Analytical client window. This window is referred to as the flowchart. The flowchart represents the contents of the currently open project. Generally, you will add items to the flowchart to carry out your analysis.