1. Navigating The PD² Desktop and Using PD² Advisor
SPS Spotlight Series
August 2015

2. Overview Desktop Layout PD2 Desktop Containers Tool Bar Menu Access
NOTE: This information was originally created for The SPS Spotlight Series project, which ran from November 2013 through November 2015.  Updates to the original content may be incorporated to ensure accuracy. If you have any questions about this information, please contact the SPS Help Desk at
Overview
Desktop Layout PD2
Desktop Containers
Tool Bar
Menu Access
Using PD2 Advisor
Accessing PD² Advisor
Contents
Navigation
Searching

3. Desktop Layout in PD2
PD² is similar to any Windows environment and incorporates basic Windows capabilities. However, since PD² was developed to assist with contracting functions, it has its own unique desktop structure.
The PD² Desktop is designed to recreate an office environment electronically. PD² uses cabinets, file folders, envelopes, an inbox, an outbox, and documents to accomplish this.
All of the desktop objects are placed into two categories: Containers and Documents.

4. The PD² containers include:
Cabinets
Folders
Inbox
Outbox
Envelopes

5. Desktop Configuration
Typically, all cabinets are located at the bottom of the PD² screen. Occasionally, cabinets may disappear from sight. Select Window  Arrange Icons to display them.

6. Desktop Containers
There are two types of cabinets, “personal” and “team.” The personal cabinets are yellow, while the team cabinets are gray.

7. Desktop Containers
When opened, the personal cabinet shows the contents, i.e. folders or documents within it.

8. Desktop Containers
The cabinet name is shown in the title bar of the cabinet so that it is always known which cabinet is being accessed.

9. Desktop Containers
Two or more cabinets may be open at the same time. Just like in a “Windows” environment, folders and documents may be dragged from one container to another.

10. Desktop Containers
Team cabinets operate similarly to personal cabinets except that you cannot use, or even “see” a team cabinet unless you are a member of that particular team.

11. Desktop Containers
Folders are containers that are kept within the cabinets. They are usually yellow, unless they have been “workload assigned,” in which case they will be blue.

12. Desktop Containers
Documents are items that are stored within a folder i.e. Standard Forms, DD Forms, Attachments, etc.

13. Desktop Containers
When a folder is open, a representation of this is seen inside the cabinet that contains the folder.

14. Desktop Containers
The actual open folder will be opened for viewing of the contents within it.

15. Desktop Containers
Unlike the “Windows” environment, you may not drag an item onto a folder. You must open the folder and drag the item from window to window.

16. Desktop Containers
Another type of container is the “Envelope.” Envelopes function just like folders but are typically used to send (route) documents from one user to another.

17. Desktop Containers
Finally, two other very important containers are the “Inbox” and the “Outbox.” While a user can have multiple cabinets and folders, each user account will have a single Inbox and a single Outbox.

18. Desktop Containers
The Inbox is used to receive documents sent from other users. Note: You may NOT work on items while they are in your Inbox. You must first drag the document or folder to another location on your desktop.

19. Desktop Containers
The Outbox is used to send or “route” documents or folders to other users. Simply drag the item to the Outbox, select a user, then the system will send the item to that user.

20. Inbox with stack of papers
Desktop Containers
Inbox with stack of papers
Empty Outbox
A quick way to know if there are documents in your Inbox or Outbox is to look at the icon. If there are documents within them, the icon will display a stack of papers.

21. Tool Bar
Now that we have viewed the Desktop and various methods of storage, let’s take a look at getting around in PD2. We use “Menus” and “Tools” to do the day to day functions in the system. We will first take a look at the Tool Bar.

22. Tool Bar
The “Tool Bar” is not a complete path to all items within PD2, but is a “quick access” method for some of the most commonly used items.

23. Tool Bar
If you “mouse over” an item, without clicking it, you will be given the name of that particular item or its function.

24. Menu Access
Now let’s look at menu access. All users will not have all menu options available. Menu access is controlled by your System Administrator based on the needs of your specific position.

25. Menu Access
Using a particular menu will give access to the various documents, actions, and areas that are needed to perform specific functions within PD2.

26. Menu Access
First there is the “File” menu. Here you can do general items that are common to most File menus. Notice that there are also “hot keys” or shortcuts that give you another way to access these menu options.

27. Menu Access
The “Edit” menu has only three items. Notice once again, that the normal windows shortcuts are available to be used.

28. Menu Access
The “Procurement” menu will house the majority of the normal day to day contracting functionality. Here it is possible to create forms and attachments, perform Pre-Award and Post-Award functions, and even access reporting functionality.

29. Menu Access
The “Reference” menu allows access to regulations such as the FAR and DFARS.
Note: Other regulations specific to your branch of service or organization may be added here by your System Administrator. Only the FAR and DFARS are standard to the system.

30. Menu Access
Next we find the “Utilities” menu. These are the various utilities that are helpful to users and System Administrators for daily use. Note: If a menu item is “grayed out” that means that you do not have access to it, per your System Administrator.

31. Menu Access
Next there is the “Window” menu. Change the layout of your open containers, or gain quick access to them from here.

32. Menu Access
A very valuable, yet underused item, is the “Help” menu. Within Help, there are many resources to guide you through the system. There is PD² Advisor, which we are going to discuss in detail as we continue.

33. Using PD2 Advisor Accessing PD² Advisor Contents of PD2 Advisor
Functional User
System Administrator
FPDS Reporting Guide
How to and How do I
Glossary
Release Notes
Navigating in PD2 Advisor
Using the PD2 Advisor Search Option

34. Accessing PD² Advisor in the Army Altess Enclave
If you are an Army user, accessing PD² through Citrix, you cannot access PD² Advisor from the PD² Desktop.
Your path to PD² Advisor is from your Citrix Dashboard:
Click the PD2 Advisor folder on your Citrix Dashboard.

35. Accessing PD² Advisor in the Army Altess Enclave
The links to PD² Advisor will appear:
Click any one of the links. The first time you click one of these, it opens a Citrix window which we will see on the next slide.

36. Accessing PD² Advisor in the Army Altess Enclave
Click [OK] in the Citrix window shown here. It will then go through the normal Windows login process, but this window will close when the PD² Advisor window opens.
This will take a few minutes to process, but, for me, this only happened once and then when I clicked on other PD² Advisor links, they opened quickly.

37. Accessing PD² Advisor in the Army Altess Enclave
The Windows Logon screen will disappear and the selected section of PD² Advisor will display. If you return to the Citrix Dashboard and click another section of PD² Advisor, such as the Glossary, it will open promptly.

38. Accessing PD² Advisor from PD²
As we saw earlier in the presentation, PD² Advisor can be accessed from the Help menu.
PD² Advisor can also be accessed by clicking the question mark “Help” icon in the Tool bar:

39. Accessing PD² Advisor from your Start Menu
PD2 Advisor can also be launched from your workstation’s Start menu without logging into PD2:
Go to Start  All Programs and expand the Procurement Desktop - Defense menu. Choose PD2 On-line Help.

40. PD² Advisor When you launch PD² Advisor, a browser window will open:
Each of these items is a link to an area of content within PD2 Advisor.
Note: If you receive javascript messages or warnings you should be able to click through them to display this page.

41. PD² Advisor – Functional User
When you click any of the links (I chose Functional User), you will likely get this box at the bottom of your screen:
Click [Open] to proceed. PD2 Advisor: Functional User opens:

42. PD² Advisor – Functional User
From this window, you can click to expand any of the displayed topics.

43. PD² Advisor – Functional User
Once you expand a topic, you can use the Back and Forward icons to navigate. You can Hide the Contents/Search panel, or print a topic if you wish.

44. PD² Advisor – Functional User
If you hide the Search/Content panel, ‘Hide’ will change to ‘Show’. Click ‘Show’ to reverse the ‘Hide’ action.

45. PD² Advisor – Functional User
The left pane has 3 tabs: Contents, Index and Search.

46. PD² Advisor – Contents Tab
The Contents tab displays the topics and allows you to navigate from one to another quickly. Here I have used the contents pane to navigate to Approving Preapproval Check.

47. PD² Advisor – Contents Tab
In this window, I can click [Yes] or [No] and further information will appear, telling me how to proceed.

48. PD² Advisor – Index Tab
From the Index tab, navigate by double clicking an item. Here I have selected Delivery Date from the Index and the Entering Delivery Information topic appears in the right panel.

49. PD² Advisor – Index Tab
If a selected Index topic has more than one entry, you will be prompted to select a topic:
Select the desired topic and click [Display]. Information for the selected topic will display in the right panel.

50. PD² Advisor – Index Tab
As referenced on the previous slide, the selected topic displays:
Click the [Base CLIN] or [Option CLIN] button to display additional information.

51. PD² Advisor – Search Tab
Click the Search Tab. Enter search criteria. Here I entered ‘BPA’. Click List Topics. All related topics display.
I double clicked ‘Create New BPA Master Agreement’ in the Topic List to display the topic in the right pane.

52. PD² Advisor – Search Tab
At the bottom of the Topic List in the search result is a [Display] button. You can highlight the topic and click [Display] as an alternative to double clicking the topic in the list.
Note that, when the article displays, the search criteria entered is highlighted in the article text.

53. PD² Advisor – System Administrator
Thus far, this presentation has demonstrated the Functional User section of PD2 Advisor. The System Administrator section functions in a similar manner, but we will take a brief look at what it contains.

54. PD² Advisor – System Administrator
When you click the System Administrator link, you will get the same prompt as before:
Click [Open]. PD² Advisor System Administration opens:

55. PD² Advisor – System Administration
The following will demonstrate 3 ways to access the same information. First, from the Contents tab:

56. PD² Advisor – System Administration – Index Tab
Next, from the Index Tab, when I choose Team from the list, I am prompted to choose a topic.
Choose Creating Teams and click [Display].

57. PD² Advisor – System Administration – Index Tab
Creating Teams displays:
Click the links: Team, Users and Cabinets to display instructions for each tab of the team in the Team Task.

58. PD² Advisor – System Administration – Search Tab
Click the Search tab and enter ‘Team’ in the Search criteria.
Select Creating Teams from the Topic List.

59. PD² Advisor – FPDS Reports
Now let’s take a look at the FPDS Reports section in PD² Advisor. Click the FPDS Reports link.

60. PD² Advisor – FPDS Reports
The FPDS Reports window opens.

61. PD² Advisor – FPDS Reports
The navigation works just the same as in the user guides.
Here I expanded CARs and selected Creating CARs.

62. PD² Advisor – FPDS Reports
Here you can see there is a complete section for FPDS System Administration functions:

63. PD² Advisor – FPDS Reports
Here you can view Release Notes for all FPDS Engine versions. I have highlighted v3.7. Each link on the right will take you to the full Release Note.

64. PD² Advisor – How to use PD² Advisor
The next link is How to use PD² Advisor:

65. PD² Advisor – How to use PD² Advisor
Remember, each time you click a link from the main page, this message will likely appear at the bottom of your screen:
Click [Open] to proceed.

66. PD² Advisor – How to use PD² Advisor
Clicking each link will take you to instructions for using each section. In addition, there is a link to the SPS Knowledge Base at the bottom.

67. PD² Advisor – How Do I?
“How Do I...?” is a quick reference guide to the most frequently used functions in PD². It contains both functional items, like creating a purchase request or creating funding, and sysadmin common items like adding a new user.

68. PD² Advisor – How Do I?
Click on a topic for detailed instructions.

69. PD² Advisor – How Do I?
Here I clicked on Approve Documents:

70. PD² Advisor – How Do I?
In addition to the detailed discussion of approval sheets, there are links to related topics at the bottom of the entry shown in the previous slide:

71. PD² Advisor – Glossary
Click the Glossary link to launch the Glossary.

72. PD² Advisor – Glossary
You can navigate the Glossary similarly to the user guides we discussed previously, using the Contents, Index and Search Tabs. In addition, you can click on the letters, or groups of letters, to navigate to that section of the Glossary.

73. PD² Advisor – Glossary
Here I clicked on the letter ‘G’:

74. PD² Advisor – Glossary
When you click on an entry, a pop-up window displays the definition.

75. PD² Advisor – Glossary
One of the best uses for the Glossary is to find acronyms. How many times a week—or a day—do you come across an acronym you cannot immediately define? The PD² Advisor Glossary is your answer!

76. PD² Advisor – Glossary Acronym Fun!

77. PD² Advisor – Release Notes
Click the Release Notes link.

78. PD² Advisor – Release Notes
Here you can access Release Notes for every PD² version since 4.2 Increment 1:

79. PD² Advisor – Release Notes
You can do more than just display the Release Notes for a particular version. Using the navigation features already discussed, you can search the entire archive of Release Notes for specific things. For instance:
If you want to know which version of PD² made changes to certain functionality
If you run across an SCR number and you want to know if it has been addressed in any version of PD²

80. PD² Advisor – Release Notes
Here I searched ‘quantity required’ and clicked the Quantity and Unit of Measure Updates topic:

81. PD² Advisor – Release Notes
Here I searched CCR Functionality. We can see that the System Administration CCR Task was added in v4.2 Increment 2 SR08.

82. PD² Advisor – Release Notes
This entry, also from the CCR Functionality search result, shows when the CCR began the transition to SAM in PD² v4.2 Increment 2 SR13a:

83. PD² Advisor – Release Notes
Here I have searched for SCR# SR. We can see that the referenced issue was addressed in PD² v4.2 Increment 2 SR14a:

84. In Conclusion
Sometimes, things seem more difficult than they have to be because we do not make use of the tools we have, or we do not know what tools are available.
I hope that you found something in this presentation that will make your day to day tasks a bit easier to accomplish. PD² Advisor is a wonderful tool and I have discovered, while preparing this presentation, that the possibilities are endless.