analysis-engine 0.0.26

Analysis for the UK Department for Transport's major projects portfolio

analysis_engine

Software for portfolio management reporting and analysis in the UK Department for Transport, operated via command line interface (CLI) prompts.

Installing

Python must be installed on your computer. If not already installed, it can be installed via the python website here. IMPORTANT ensure that Add Python to PATH is ticked when provided with the option as part of the installation wizard.

Open the command line terminal (Windows) or bash shell and install via pip install analysis_engine.

Directories and file paths

The following directories must be set up on your computer. analysis_engine is able to handle different operating systems.

Create the following directories in your My Documents directory:

|-- analysis_engine
    |--core_data
        |--data_mgmt
        |--pickle
    |--input
    |--output

All excel master data files must be saved in core_data using the correct format e.g. master_1_2020.xlsx

The project_info.xlsx document must be saved in core_data/data_mgmt.

The following documents should be saved in input. summary_temp.docx summary_temp_landscape.docx and dashboards_master.xlsx

All outputs from analysis_engine will be saved into the output directory.

The pickle folder is where analysis_engine saves an easily accessible master data set and after setup can be ignored by the user.

Operating analysis_engine (ae)

analysis_engine (ae) is operated via the initial command analysis followed by the relevant subcommand. Subcommands compile the user's desired outputs. All subcommands can be seen via analysis --help and are as follows:

initiate The user must enter this command every time excel master workbook data, saved in the core_data directory, is updated. Not doing so means ae will continue to use data from the last time initiate was used. Ae checks and validates the data in a number of ways, as part of the initiate process . See below.

dashboards populates the IPDC PfM report dashboard. A blank template dashboard must be saved in the analysis/input directory.

dandelion produces the portfolio dandelion infographic. Note early version/release.

costs produces a cost profile trend graph and data.

milestones produces milestone schedule graphs and data.

vfm produces vfm data. (Note currently no graphs.)

summaries produces project summary reports.

risks produces risk data. (Note currently no graphs.)

dcas produces dca data. (Note currently no graphs.)

speedial prints out changes in project dca ratings.

matrix produces the cost/schedule matrix chart and data.

query returns (from master data) specific data required by the user.

The default for each subcommand is to return outputs with current and last quarter data.

Further to each subcommand the user has several optional arguments available. The optional argument available for each subcommand will be shown by analysis [subcommand] --help. In general the following optional arguments are available for each subcommand:

--group returns output for the project(s) in the specified group. The user can input either one or a combination of DfT Group name ("HSMRPG", "AMIS", "Rail", "RPE") or any number (including one) of the project acronyms e.g. "SARH2".

--stage returns output for the project(s) at the specified planning stage(s). The user can input either one or a combination of stages ("FBC", "OBC", "SOBC", "pre-SOBC").

--quarters returns output for specified quarter(s). Must be in correct format e.g. "Q3 20/21".

--baselines returns output for specified baseline(s). Options here are ( "current", "last", "bl_one", "bl_two", "bl_three", "standard", "all"). "current" and "last" refer to the current and last quarter, so are not true baselines. The first baseline is therefore "bl_one". The "standard" option will return "current" "last" and "bl_one". "all" returns all up to "bl_three".

--chart where subcommands automate chart production the user can specify whether to "show" or "save" the chart.

--title where subcommands automate chart production in some instances the user will be required to or can chose to provide a title for the chart e.g. "chart title".

###milestone analysis

For the milestones subcommand there are also the following optional arguments.

--dates enables the user to specify dates of interest in the format "start date" "end date" e.g. "15/6/2015" "24/3/2020".

--dl means date line and enables the user to include in the graph output a blue line to denote a reference date of interest e.g. "1/9/2020". "today" can also be entered.