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Frequently Asked Questions

1. How can you change the initial data entered into a plan such as Estimated value?
2. How do I edit my plan?
3. How do I make changes to a plan that has been approved?
4. How do I save my plan as an MS Word Document?
5. How do I submit my plan for approval?
6. How do I view the notes my concurrors and coordinators have left on my plan?
7. I have plans on the dashboard that say 'Available for Preview'. What does this mean?
8. I need to update the Actual Milestone dates for my plan after it has already been approved. Can I do this without rolling my completed plan back to draft status?
9. The current FAR requires approval for some plans from external agencies, in particular the Small Business Administration. How can these personnel at these agencies be added as concurrors to a plan? For example Joe.Smith@sba.gov.
10. The plan section menu items are covering up the text boxes where I am trying to put in my plan information. How do I fix this?
11. There are too many plans listed on my plan dashboard. Is there any way I can limit the number of plans I see at one time?
12. What is a Previewer?
13. When are email notifications sent?
14. When is it appropriate to create a Mod of an approved Plan?

1. How can you change the initial data entered into a plan such as Estimated value?

When you edit your plan, the first page to appear will be the plan life cycle screen. This screen will have several boxes across the top of the page to let you know where your plan is in the process. In the first box you will have access to the 'Redetermine Plan Type' link. Using this link will allow you to go back to the first pages of the wizard and edit any information that may have changed. During this process there will be no loss of any data you have already entered into your plan.

2. How do I edit my plan?

To edit a plan, click on the plan title bar, this will open up more information about the plan. You will also now have access to action links such as View Plan, Print Plan as PDF and Edit Plan.

3. How do I make changes to a plan that has been approved?

1. Ask your Approval Authority (if you have more than one, this would be the person that Approved the plan first) to log in and find the plan. To locate the plan, use the Show Only drop down list and select Completed Plans.
2. Once the approval authority has located the plan on the completed plan list, click the plan title to open up the plan details. Click the Approve Plan link.
3. Change the approval status from Approved to Pending. Click Save.
4. The planner can now log in and the plan should be on their plan dashboard (The plan status will say 'Awaiting Approval')
5. The planner can edit the plan and go to the Approval section and change the status of the plan from 'Submit for Concurrence and Coordination / Approval' to 'Draft'. Click the Save button and you will now be able to make edits to your plan
6. When the plan is ready to be re-submitted, change the status back to 'Submit for Concurrence and Coordination / Approval' and it will be re-submitted to your approval authority. Your coordinators and concurrors will not have to mark their acceptance again.

4. How do I save my plan as an MS Word Document?

In APW 4.0, plans can be saved as a word document using the blue box above the Plan Section menu. To find this box, click the project title on the plan dashboard to open the plan. Click the Edit Plan link. The blue box containing the View Plan as MS Word document will be at the top right hand side of the screen. Click this link to save your plan as an MS Word Document. Once your plan has been submitted to your approval authority, this feature will no longer be available. This is to ensure that the plan contents are locked down. However, you can still print your plans as PDF documents at this time.

5. How do I submit my plan for approval?

Submitting your plan for approval is now a very simple process. When you are done filling in your plan and adding all the required participants, move the plan status from Draft to Submit for Concurrence and Coordination/Approval. This will notify your concurrors and coordinators that the plan is ready for them. When they have all marked their concurrence and coordination, the plan will be automatically submitted for approval. Your Approval Authority will be notified that the plan is ready for them to review.

6. How do I view the notes my concurrors and coordinators have left on my plan?

Planners can view notes in two places. Click on the project title to open the plan. You will now have access to the View Plan and Edit Plan links.

Using the View Plan link, if notes are available a small yellow piece of paper will appear in the top left corner of each section. To view the notes, click on this yellow piece of paper icon.

Using the Edit Plan link, if notes are available, a small yellow piece of paper will appear next to the plan section name in the right hand menu navigation. Click the plan section to jump navigate to that page in the wizard. The yellow piece of paper icon containing the notes will be in the top left hand corner. Click this icon to view the notes.

7. I have plans on the dashboard that say 'Available for Preview'. What does this mean?

A planner has added you to their plan as a concurror or coordinator and made the plan available to you for your review before the plan has been officially submitted for concurrence/coordination.

8. I need to update the Actual Milestone dates for my plan after it has already been approved. Can I do this without rolling my completed plan back to draft status?

Yes. The actual milestone dates on the Aquisition Milestone section of your plan can be edited once your plan has been approved. To do this, you will need to change your plan dashboard to 'Show Only: Completed Plans'. Once you have located your plan, click the Edit Plan link and use the menu navigation on the right hand side of the screen to jump down to the Acquisition Milestone section. The only actual milestone date that you will not have the ability to edit is the 'Approval Date' milestone. This date is the date that your plan was approved and cannot be changed.

9. The current FAR requires approval for some plans from external agencies, in particular the Small Business Administration. How can these personnel at these agencies be added as concurrors to a plan? For example Joe.Smith@sba.gov.

Outside agencies can be granted access to the APW. These individuals can participate in the planning process as concurrors and coordinators. To add participants to the application from outside agencies please contact Michael Jackson (michaelo.jackson@gsa.gov) and copy the APW help desk inbox on your requests.

10. The plan section menu items are covering up the text boxes where I am trying to put in my plan information. How do I fix this?

The short answer is this: In internet explorer, go to View/Text Size using the menu items at the top of your browser. Change the Text Size to medium. This should correct the possitioning of the menu. The APW development team is looking into a permanent solution to this issue.

11. There are too many plans listed on my plan dashboard. Is there any way I can limit the number of plans I see at one time?

If you are a planner and have a large number of plans, you can archive older plans that you are not currently working on. Click the project title and select Archive Plan from the available action items. This will move the plan from the active plan dashboard to the archive plan dashboard. To view your archived plans, use the Show Only list at the top of the page and select Archive.

12. What is a Previewer?

As a Planner you can grant specific Plan Participants or Approvers that ability to 'Preview' your plan even if they plan is still in Draft status. It is intended as a tool for you to incrementally share your plan with certain team members before the whole team sees it. We've noticed, for instance, that many offices have a contracting specialist review the plan before it is submitted to the Contracting Officer for final Concurrence. In that case you could add the contracting specialist as an Additional Concurror and check the 'Preview' box next to their email address while leaving the plan in Draft. They could then see the plan, review it, and mark their concurrence. You could then change the status to Submit for Concurrence for the rest of the team to review.

13. When are email notifications sent?

Emails are only sent when: a) a Planner has added a user to a plan and that user can now see the plan for the first time; b) when a user can see the plan and the status of the plan changes; c) when the comment section is updated - notes created in different sections do not automatically generate email notifications to Plan Participants. d) when the plan is approved/disapproved. Under normal circumstances no emails will go out to Plan Participants or Approvers while a plan is in Draft status (unless a Planner has designated a Plan Participant or an Approver as a 'Previewer').

14. When is it appropriate to create a Mod of an approved Plan?

It is appropriate to create a Mod of a plan in the APW when you need to make substantive changes to a plan that has already been approved. You would not Mod a plan to update milestones. Instead, edit the approved plan and enter the revised or actual milestones.

Making a Mod of a plan effectively creates a new, duplicate plan that is linked to the original, approved plan. This preserves the content and history of the original plan, but allows the planner to make necessary substantive changes and seek concurrence/coordination and approval of the changes. The link between the original and the Mod maintains their relationship and allows the APW to highlight the changes that have been made.

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