Logframer view modes, toolbars, windows and panes

The Logframer user interface has toolbars, windows and panes, as well as a number of dialogues that will pop-up to do certain tasks.

To make finding your way in all these different elements, Logframer uses different view modes: Basic; Advanced; IATI activity and IATI organisation.

Logframer interface with toolbars, windows and panes

The toolbars can be found on top. There are six different toolbars, some of which will always be available while others will only appear in certain circumstances.

The main working area is split into four different windows:

  1. The Project Information Window
  2. The Logical framework window
  3. The Planning window
  4. The Budget window
  5. The Expenses window

Additionally, you can show or hide panes:

  • The Details pane appears at the bottom and enables you to manipulate detailed settings of various items (outputs, activities, indicators, budget items, etc.)
  • The Clipboard pane appears at the left and allows you to select the items or bits of text you want to copy
  • The Exchange Rates pane is only available for the budget and appears at the right.
     

View modes

View modes available in the File toolbar

In the File toolbar you can find the Mode section. You can select between four view modes:

  • Basic view mode: this focuses on the main elements: the logframe, planning and budget along with the short description of your project; the identification of your target groups and partners; and the planning of your monitoring. By default the detail panes are hidden but you can show them by pressing <Ctrl><D>.
  • Advanced view mode: in this mode you can include all kinds of detailed information about your project, including the location of intervention zones and the funding sources for your project. Some dialog windows and panes also offer more information. IATI-specific information is not shown.
  • IATI activity: in addition to all the options of the advanced view mode, this mode adds fields and lists to include information that you may need to make a report compliant to International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) standards.
  • IATI organisation: this mode allows you to create the (yearly) IATI organisation report. It focuses on the expenses of your organisation during the past (three) years and your budgetary forecast for the next (three) years.

No information is lost if you switch between view modes. So you can include detailed information in Advanced mode, but hide it by switching to Basic mode if you want to introduce the project to someone for instance.

Basic view mode

In the File toolbar, click on the Basic button in the Mode section.

Use the Basic view mode:

  • if you don't have a lot of experience with project design and management;
  • if you have a relatively simple or small project;
  • if you are not yet familiar with Logframer.

This view mode:

  • Limits the tabs in the bottom part of the Project Information window
    • Description of the project
    • The identification of your target groups
    • The identification of your partners
    • The planning of your monitoring and risk monitoring deadlines
  • Hides detail panes at the bottom of the logframe, planning and budget. You can still show the detail panes using the Lay-out toolbar or by pressing <Ctrl><D>
  • Hides certain fields, options and lists that are used to include more detailed information

Basic view mode

Advanced view mode

In the File toolbar, click on the Advanced button in the Mode section.

Use the Advanced view mode:

  • if you already have experience with project design and management;
  • if you're working on a more complex project or programme;
  • if you are already familiar with Logframer.

This view mode:

Advanced view mode

IATI activity view mode

In the File toolbar, click on the IATI activity button in the Mode section.

Use the 'IATI activity' view mode:

This view mode:

  • Shows all tabs in the bottom part of the Project Information window
  • Adds some IATI specific fields and lists to Project Information tabs
  • Shows detail panes at the bottom of the logframe, planning and budget. You can still hide the detail panes using the Lay-out toolbar or by pressing <Ctrl><D>

IATI activity view mode

IATI organisation view mode

In the File toolbar, click on the IATI organisation button in the Mode section.

Use the 'IATI organisation' view mode:

This view mode:

  • Shows only the following tabs in the Project Information window:
    • The Project description tab
    • The IATI specific tab
  • Hides the Logical framework window
  • Hides the Planning window
  • Shows the Budget window where you can register the main budget lines of your organisation's budget for the next (three) years, in accordance with IATI guidelines
  • Shows the Expenses window where you can register the main expenses of your organisation of the previous (three) years, in accordance with IATI guidelines

IATI organisation view mode

Toolbars

Logframe lay-out toolbar

There are six different toolbars:

  1. The File toolbar
  2. The Text toolbar
  3. The Items toolbar
  4. The Lay-out toolbar
  5. The Collaboration toolbar
  6. The Reports toolbar

Depending on where you click (text box, list view, logframe, planning, budget) one of these toolbars will be selected, while others may be hidden for view. The text toolbar for instance is only visible when you work in a text field. The Collaboration toolbar is only visible when you click on a (partner) organisation or on a contact.
 

File toolbar

The file toolbar

This toolbar is always available and allows you to:

Text toolbar

Text toolbar

When you type or edit text you can:

  • copy or paste text;
  • change the typeface (font) or size of the text; make the text bold, italic; change the (background) colour of the text etc.;
  • change the alignment of the text
  • find and/or replace text
  • select text of a certain type to change it all at once
  • translate text

The Text toolbar is only visible when you're working in a text box. There is also a difference between ordinary text boxes for data entry and for instance the cells of the logical framework. In the case of ordinary data entry, you can't change the font of the text or make it bold for instance. You will see that certain options in the text toolbar are not enabled.
 

Items toolbar

Items toolbar

The items toolbar is available when you work in the logical framework, the planning, the budget and a number of list views. This toolbar allows you to:

  • Cut, copy or paste items;
  • Add, insert or remove items;
  • Insert parent or child items: these options are only enabled when you work with activities (processes) and indicators
  • Move items up or down
  • Level up or level down (sub-)activities and (sub-)indicators (not enabled for other items)
  • Translate items

Lay-out toolbar

The lay-out toolbar allows you to modify the appearance of the logical framework, the planning or the budget. The options that are available in the toolbar will vary according to the window you work in.

Logframe lay-out toolbar

The Logical framework lay-out toolbar allows you to:

  • Hide or unhide columns. Click on the Project Logic column button to make all the other columns disappear or reappear
  • Hide or unhide sections: the logframe has four sections (goals, purposes, outputs and activities) which you can show or hide
  • Show the entire logframe: click this button to make all hidden columns and sections visible
  • Show purpose(s) only: click this button to hide all information except the main purposes of your project
  • Show/hide the Details pane at the bottom of the logframe: in this pane you can see and add more detailed information about the project, its target groups, key moments and the planning of processes and activities. It also allows you to select different options for your indicators and set targets. You can also include detailed information about your verification sources and the risks, assumptions and dependencies of the project.
  • Show/hide empty cells: make the logframe more compact by hiding the empty cells that allow you to add new objectives, indicators, assumptions, etc.
  • Determine the structure of the logframe: in the Activities section (bottom section), you can choose between viewing indicators (process indicators) or the resources and (approx.) amount needed for each resource. You can complete both types of information in your logframe and switch views between the two.

Planning lay-out toolbar

The Planning lay-out toolbar allows you to:

  • Hide or unhide the Dates column.
  • Hide or unhide the key moments and/or the activities (processes)
  • Show the planning by years, months, weeks or days
  • Show or hide the links between key moments and other key moments or activities
  • Show or hide the links between activities
  • Show/hide the Details pane at the bottom of the planning: in this pane you can see and add more detailed information about key moments and processes or activities.
  • Show/hide empty cells: make the planning more compact by hiding the empty cells that allow you to add new key moments or activities.

Budget lay-out toolbar

The Budget lay-out toolbar allows you to:

  • Hide or unhide the Duration and Local Currency columns.
  • Show or hide the Exchange Rates pane
  • Show/hide the Details pane at the bottom of the budget: in this pane you can see the list of activities and resources that refer to a budget item. You can also turn a budget item into a ratio item and change its settings.
  • Show/hide empty cells: make the budget more compact by hiding the empty cells that allow you to add new items.
  • Choose between a simple one-page budget and a more advanced multi-year budget
  • Select one of the budget templates

Collaboration toolbar

Collaboration toolbar

The Collaboration toolbar only appears when you click on a project partner or a contact. It allows you to:

  • Send an e-mail to your contact (opens your e-mail application and fills out e-mail address)
  • Send a letter to your contact (opens MS Word and inserts the address, title and name of your contact)
  • View the website of your contact (opens your browser and navigates to the contact's website)
  • Start a conversation over Skype

Reports toolbar

The Reports toolbar

The Reports toolbar is always available and allows you to:

 

Windows

There are five main windows. Use the tab headers to switch from one window to the next.

  1. The Project Information window: allows you to complete basic information about your project such as the project's title, when it will start and its duration. You can also identify the target group(s) and manage information about organisations that will assist you in the project (partners, donors, suppliers…) and the people you are in contact with. Finally, you can determine when and how often monitoring of results and risks should happen.
  2. The Logical framework window: this is where you design the structure of your project. Determine the outputs, the main purpose and the long-term goals of the project. List the activities and processes you need to do to achieve your objectives. Assess risks, assumptions and dependencies and create the tools to follow them up. Design your monitoring and evaluation system to track your project and assess its success and impact.
  3. The Planning window: create a clear planning of your project's main activities and processes using a drag-and-drop enabled Gantt chart
  4. The Budget window: create your project's budget. Select a simple (single) or multi-year budget or choose one of the templates and modify it to your needs.
  5. The Expenses window: create the overview of your organisation's yearly expenses. Select a simple (single) or multi-year overview.

Logical framework window showing a project's logframe
 

Project Information Window

The Project Information window allows you to complete basic information about your project such as the project's title, when it will start and its duration.

In the top part you can include:

  • The project's title
  • The project's short title: often a project's official title is too long to be used in daily conversation, so organisations tend to use a shorter and more technical indication
  • The code that your organisation uses as a unique identifier of the project. You can also use this field to register the identifying code provided by the main donor
  • The financial code: sometimes the accountancy department uses a specific accountancy code for the project
  • The duration of the project, in days, weeks, months or years
  • The start date and the end date of the project

You can use the various tab pages below to include additional information:

Note that certain tabs may not be visible in some view modes.

The tabs of the Project Information window

Logical framework window

The Logical framework window allows you to design the structure of your project:

Logical framework with all columns visible
 

Planning window

Budget window

The Budget window allows you to create your project's budget.

You can choose between making a simple (one page) budget or a multi-year budget.

To make things easier, you can choose one of the budget templates and modify it to your needs.

Budget window showing budget headers with their budget items
 

Expenses window

The Expenses window is only visible when you work in IATI organisation view mode. It allows you to register your organisation's overall expenses.

As with the budget you can choose between listing your expenses as a simple (one page) overview or a multi-year overview.

The Expenses window

Panes

There are three different panes that you can make appear:

  1. The Details pane: when you select an item (goal, indicator, assumption, budget item...) in the main window, you can see and modify the detailed options of this item in the Details pane. You can find the Details pane at the bottom of the window and show/hide it using the button in the Views section of the Lay-out toolbar
  2. The Clipboard pane: there are two different clipboards, one for items - meaning that you can copy an entire item such as an indicator with all its options, targets, etc. - and one for text only. The clipboard pane appears on the left of your screen.
  3. The Exchange Rates pane: this is only available for the Budget window and allows you to manage the different currencies and exchange rates that you may need for your financial calculations.
     

Details pane

In the Lay-out toolbar, click on the Show Details button in the View section to show the Details pane on the bottom of your screen.

The details pane at the bottom of the window

The content of the Details pane depends on which item you've selected

Logframe:

  • Goal: project information (title, duration…)
  • Purpose: add, edit and remove target groups. Double click on a target group to edit its name and the number of women/men you expect to reach. You can also determine which fields you want to include on the Target Group Information Form
  • Output: add, edit and remove key moments or milestones on your planning
  • Activity: set the activity's starting date and duration, who will organise it and where, the preparation and follow-up period and optionally when and how often it will be repeated
  • Indicator: choose the type of indicator (value, multiple choice, yes/no…), the unit (items, kg, persons…), how it will be scored etc. You can also set the baseline and identify targets to be achieved over the course of the project. If you measure at the level of each beneficiary you can also determine how these data should be aggregated (sum, average…). Finally if the indicator has sub-indicators you can see how their values or scores add up and set the way the scores of the sub-indicators should be totalled.
  • Verification source: describe who will collect information, how often and from what information sources
  • Risks, assumptions and dependencies: manage the information from the fourth column and specify them according to the RAID principle. Describe how they can influence your project, how you will monitor them and what your strategy is should things go wrong.
  • Resources and estimated budget: once your budget is established, you can select different items from you budget and indicate the percentage that you will need as a resource for a particular activity (and output). Alternatively, you can just enter a ballpark figure as an estimated total for a particular resource.

Planning

  • Activity: set the activity's starting date and duration, who will organise it and where, the preparation and follow-up period and optionally when and how often it will be repeated

Budget

  • Budget item: get an overview of which activities/outputs will make use of this item and to what degree (percentage). If the budget item's total is a percentage of another item or total, you can set the ratio (percentage) here.

Clipboard pane

You can access the Clipboard pane either from the Text Toolbar or from the Items Toolbar. Both have a Clipboard section on the left. Click on the More… icon in the bottom right corner of the section to show the respective clipboard.

  • Text clipboard: If you cut or copy pieces of text, they will be listed here.
  • When you cut or copy an item (goal, purpose, output, activity, indicator, assumption, budget item…) it will be added to this list.

When you paste (using the Paste button or by pressing Ctrl+V), the top item from the list will be pasted. Alternatively, you can select an item from the list and then press Paste or Ctrl+V.

The text clipboard

The items clipboard
    
 

Exchange rates pane

It is possible you have to work with many different currencies and you want to calculate prices in the original currency and then get a total in your project's main currency.

The exchange rates pane allows you to set the exchange rate for every currency you use that is different from your project's main currency. Once you've set the exchange rate, the totals will be calculated automatically.

Also, if you have to update this exchange rate you don't have to change each individual budget item. Instead you change the rate in the Exchange pane, and then all the items that use this currency will be updated automatically.