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After seeing several questions posted all around, and noting the lack of a comprehensive HFM guide (in one location) on a quick Google search, or here at [H], I have decided to make one for us. I'm starting with just a general/initial guide, and will continue to grow the guide as I have time.
Here is the Initial Setup/Overview Guide:
Initial Setup:
1) Open up HFM.NET
2) This next step is optional, I recommend it to “declutter” the HFM.NET interface to make the information you actually care about (as a typical user) all that you see.
2a) Right click any column, and mimic what you see below. This is just a guideline; tweak it to your personal preference
3) Let’s go over all the options tabs
3a) The scheduled Tasks tab has two areas, the Refresh Client Data and the Web Generation. For the Client Data section I find it best to have it set to refresh every 5 minutes, with “Allow Asynchronous Clocks”. The web generation section is for putting HFM.net up on a website so the world can see your farm. More on the web generation later, you can see my basic setup for uploading to my site, along with base settings for FTP server (not local).
3b) The startup and External tab is next. Most of this is self-explanatory, and preference. Under startup I would suggest having it Auto run on startup, and minimized with looking for updates. For the Configuration File, you will point HFM at where your configuration file is saved (more in-depth later with the actual configuration) Leave the rest at default.
3c) The options tab has plenty of options, all of which are up to your opinion. Below is a brief explanation of them all, along with my personal setting/suggestion, I suggest leaving the “Messages” and “Docking Style” to default.
-List Offline Client Last – I prefer to see my active clients at the top, up to you though
-Color the Log Viewer Text – Again preference, I just leave it checked
-Auto Save Configuration when Changed – Highly suggest making sure this is checked, so if you make any changes you don’t lose them on restart
-Duplicate Project Check – Just leave this alone, it will just check if you’re having duplicate units (self-explanatory huh?)
-Duplicate User/Machine ID Check – Again, just leave it, title is self-explanatory
-Calculate PPD Based on – I prefer this at the last three frames to know what PPD I am getting as I look, however this is all preference, and all the options are pretty self-explanatory.
-Calculate Bonus based on – I have this at Download Time, since that will give the more accurate bonus points.
-Show ETA value as a Date and Time – I make sure this is checked so I know when the unit will drop, rather than how long till it drops
-Retrieve and show EOC Stats – Self-explanatory, and I leave it checked.
3d) Here are the options for having HFM e-mail you reports. I don’t use it, however setup is the same as any other e-mail reporting program. Use it with settings similar to your Outlook options. If you’re considering this, you should know how to set it up.
3e) Web settings have some important stuff.
-For the web Statistics fields, these options will pull data from EOC, and Stanford, I plan on making a quick guide later on finding these numbers. Fill them out, in the picture you see my settings, they will be different (other than the team) for you.
-Project Download URL – By default it only has /psummary.html, change this to /psummaryC.html, this will ensure you have all projects
-Web Proxy Settings – If you need this, you know how to set it up, just fill in the fields.
3f) The final tab is the Web Visual Styles tab. Later I will be going more in-depth into this. For now just note that this is where you can change how the HFM you upload online (See in the scheduled tasks tab) will appear.
4) There are plenty of client’s options.
4a) v7 Client – For client Name, put this to whatever you want to call the client. Followed by the address. This is the location on the network where the machine is, in this example I am doing just a local v7 install, so the Address of “127.0.0.1” is used, leave Port the same.
4b) At this point when HFM will ask you to save it, call the file whatever you want, and save it wherever you want. (This is assuming you told HFM to save after changes)
4c) v6 (Legacy) Client – Set Client Name to what you want, the Log Folder is found wherever you have set it up, either locally or on the network. In my case it is located on my server (called SAINT-5), if you have followed musky’s guide, your Log folder should be the same, replace *** with the actual machine on your network. Leave other options setup on defaults, unless you need to change them, their defaults are fine
5) Now the clients are all setup
6) View Options – All of these are up to preference, about the only one I tweak on a daily basis is the “auto Size Grid Columns” to get the columns as small as possible.
7) Here are all the HFM Tools
7a) Benchmark Viewer – The benchmark viewer will let you go and see the past performance of your clients.
7b) Work Unit History – This simply does what it sounds like, it shows you the history of your work units, all of them.
7c) Points Calculator – Just fill in the fields, and it will work the same as the online points calculators, even looks the same.
7d) Download Projects From Stanford – This forces an update of the /psummaryC.html that was setup above. This gives you the most updated list of projects.
8) Web Tab – All of these are self-explanatory links for what they are
9) Help – All self-explanatory
Here is the Initial Setup/Overview Guide:
Initial Setup:
1) Open up HFM.NET
2) This next step is optional, I recommend it to “declutter” the HFM.NET interface to make the information you actually care about (as a typical user) all that you see.
2a) Right click any column, and mimic what you see below. This is just a guideline; tweak it to your personal preference
3) Let’s go over all the options tabs
3a) The scheduled Tasks tab has two areas, the Refresh Client Data and the Web Generation. For the Client Data section I find it best to have it set to refresh every 5 minutes, with “Allow Asynchronous Clocks”. The web generation section is for putting HFM.net up on a website so the world can see your farm. More on the web generation later, you can see my basic setup for uploading to my site, along with base settings for FTP server (not local).
3b) The startup and External tab is next. Most of this is self-explanatory, and preference. Under startup I would suggest having it Auto run on startup, and minimized with looking for updates. For the Configuration File, you will point HFM at where your configuration file is saved (more in-depth later with the actual configuration) Leave the rest at default.
3c) The options tab has plenty of options, all of which are up to your opinion. Below is a brief explanation of them all, along with my personal setting/suggestion, I suggest leaving the “Messages” and “Docking Style” to default.
-List Offline Client Last – I prefer to see my active clients at the top, up to you though
-Color the Log Viewer Text – Again preference, I just leave it checked
-Auto Save Configuration when Changed – Highly suggest making sure this is checked, so if you make any changes you don’t lose them on restart
-Duplicate Project Check – Just leave this alone, it will just check if you’re having duplicate units (self-explanatory huh?)
-Duplicate User/Machine ID Check – Again, just leave it, title is self-explanatory
-Calculate PPD Based on – I prefer this at the last three frames to know what PPD I am getting as I look, however this is all preference, and all the options are pretty self-explanatory.
-Calculate Bonus based on – I have this at Download Time, since that will give the more accurate bonus points.
-Show ETA value as a Date and Time – I make sure this is checked so I know when the unit will drop, rather than how long till it drops
-Retrieve and show EOC Stats – Self-explanatory, and I leave it checked.
3d) Here are the options for having HFM e-mail you reports. I don’t use it, however setup is the same as any other e-mail reporting program. Use it with settings similar to your Outlook options. If you’re considering this, you should know how to set it up.
3e) Web settings have some important stuff.
-For the web Statistics fields, these options will pull data from EOC, and Stanford, I plan on making a quick guide later on finding these numbers. Fill them out, in the picture you see my settings, they will be different (other than the team) for you.
-Project Download URL – By default it only has /psummary.html, change this to /psummaryC.html, this will ensure you have all projects
-Web Proxy Settings – If you need this, you know how to set it up, just fill in the fields.
3f) The final tab is the Web Visual Styles tab. Later I will be going more in-depth into this. For now just note that this is where you can change how the HFM you upload online (See in the scheduled tasks tab) will appear.
4) There are plenty of client’s options.
4a) v7 Client – For client Name, put this to whatever you want to call the client. Followed by the address. This is the location on the network where the machine is, in this example I am doing just a local v7 install, so the Address of “127.0.0.1” is used, leave Port the same.
4b) At this point when HFM will ask you to save it, call the file whatever you want, and save it wherever you want. (This is assuming you told HFM to save after changes)
4c) v6 (Legacy) Client – Set Client Name to what you want, the Log Folder is found wherever you have set it up, either locally or on the network. In my case it is located on my server (called SAINT-5), if you have followed musky’s guide, your Log folder should be the same, replace *** with the actual machine on your network. Leave other options setup on defaults, unless you need to change them, their defaults are fine
5) Now the clients are all setup
6) View Options – All of these are up to preference, about the only one I tweak on a daily basis is the “auto Size Grid Columns” to get the columns as small as possible.
7) Here are all the HFM Tools
7a) Benchmark Viewer – The benchmark viewer will let you go and see the past performance of your clients.
7b) Work Unit History – This simply does what it sounds like, it shows you the history of your work units, all of them.
7c) Points Calculator – Just fill in the fields, and it will work the same as the online points calculators, even looks the same.
7d) Download Projects From Stanford – This forces an update of the /psummaryC.html that was setup above. This gives you the most updated list of projects.
8) Web Tab – All of these are self-explanatory links for what they are
9) Help – All self-explanatory
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