FAQs

This section provides a few useful pointers and answers to frequently asked questions.

How to maintain users and roles in iteraplan and iTURM?

iTURM is an authentication tool which can be used to map users and roles. Please refer to the illustration on this page: Background

As a minimum requirement you need:

• A equal role in both applications (iteraplan and iTURM).
• A user in iTURM, who is associated with such a role.

After that, the user can log in to iteraplan with his password. The iteraplan user instance will be created at login time automatically.

Optionally, the iteraplan user instance can be created manually to previously define custom properties. In this case, the user's login name must match the respective iTURM user.

Currently there is no replication/synchronization mechanism for roles between iteraplan and iTURM, or for additional user informations such a email-adresses.

Why are there no connectors shown in an information flow diagram (Visio format)?

iteraplan uses Visio macros to layout information flow diagrams in Microsoft Visio. By default, the macro security level is too high for that macro to be executed. Depending on your version of Visio, you see a macro warning or macros are silently disabled. Microsoft Visio Viewer is not capable of executing macros, i.e. it cannot be used to display information flow diagrams.

To display the diagram in Microsoft Visio correctly, you have to adjust your macro security setting. To do so, download the iteraplan certificate from the graphical report overview page (link Download Visio certificate) and double-click the downloaded file to import it into the Windows certificate store. When you open the next Visio report from iteraplan, you should see a macro warning that allows you to trust the macro issuer. Once you have added the certificate to the list of trusted issuers, all information flow diagram should be displayed correctly and without further warnings.

The certificate is issued by iteratec GmbH to iteratec GmbH and is valid till 2099-01-01, its cryptographic fingerprint is A1 E7 DA F7 5A BF 00 D2 4E 0C 97 F4 F5 D2 40 C4 A8 05 7C 9A.

Also, verify that you are running Microsoft Visio with the latest service pack (currently Service Pack 3 for MS Visio 2003, or Service Pack 2 for MS Visio 2007).

Why can't I open any of the Visio diagrams generated by iteraplan?

Most probably your Visio version is too old. You must have at least Visio 2003 with Service Pack 3 running. Generally speaking, make sure that you have the latest service pack for your version of MS Visio installed. If your Visio Version is too old or you do not have the latest Service Pack installed, you see an error message similar the shown below.

An error message appears if your Visio version is too old to open generated Visio diagrams.

Make sure that you are running Microsoft Visio with the latest service pack (currently Service Pack 3 for MS Visio 2003 , or Service Pack 2 for MS Visio 2007 ).

Browser problems

Being a web application, iteraplan is subject to certain constraints. Therefore, be sure to observe the following points:

• Do not abort queries in progress by clicking Cancel in your browser;
• Do not click links or buttons several times in succession without waiting for the response;
• Some links are only valid within your current session. If you logged out in the meantime, you may need to repeat some steps that were not saved during the last session.

Failure to observe these points can lead to this error message.

General error message

In addition, using Internet Explorer Version 6 or later with a very high resolution (>96 dpi) can lead to poor-quality screen presentation. This is because Internet Explorer scales the diagrams when your screen has high resolution.
To resolve this problem, make the following entry in the registry to disable scaling for Internet Explorer:

[iteraplanDocumentation303:HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]

"UseHR"=dword:00000000

Concurrent use

When iteraplan is used concurrently by multiple users, problems can arise in the event users make incompatible changes. The following error messages are issued:

• This element cannot be saved successfully anymore. This may be due to the following reasons:# The element has been modified by another user.

1. Attributes have been modified by another user or in the dialog Attributes.
2. Explicit permissions have been modified by another user or in the dialog Object-related Permissions.
3. Associated elements have been deleted by another user or in the corresponding dialog.
   To continue, please click cancel or clear the session

• A chosen entity was not found in the database. It is possible that it was deleted by another user. To continue, please click cancel or clear the session. This transaction cannot be successfully completed anymore.
• The chosen entity was not found. Another user may have deleted it in the meantime or it may be not visible due to a filter. Please select another building block.

In the event you see one of these messages, please follow the instructions as indicated. Failure to do so can cause data inconsistency. If in doubt, you can return the application to a consistent state using Clear Session.

Running iteraplan on an Ubuntu-Server (Version 9.10 and higher)

Standard installation of Tomcat 6 on ubuntu activates Java Security per default. In this case iteraplan can write its log files only within Tomcat's directories without running into access problems. If you require iteraplan's log files outside of Tomcat's directories, please de-activate Java Security.

Why are the links of a report in a Microsoft Office format not working?

Offhand it is not possible to link directly to a building block although the hyperlink is correct. Instead of forwarding the call directly to a browser Microsoft Office applications (Excel, Visio) seem to communicate with the iteraplan-server first. The server redirects the call to the login-page (due to the fact that the Office application has no valid session) which is then forwarded by the Office application to the browser. After login only the standard overview is presented. Due to the same communication issue the hyperlinks in the OpenSource-Version (where no login is required) work only after the second click. The only solution seems to be a change to a Registry Key which forces Office application to omit this internal communication.

Attention: this change concerns the behaviour of all Microsoft Office products running on your system. The required procedure is (Source ---> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/218153/) :

1. Quit any programs that are running.
2. Click Start, and then click Run. Type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
3. In Registry Editor, browse to the following subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Common\Internet
Note: This registry key is the same for all versions that listed in the "Applies To" section. This registry key will not be different for the different versions.

1. Make sure the Internet subkey is selected. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value. Add the following registry value:

Value Name: ForceShellExecute

1. Double-click ForceShellExecute, and then set the Value data to 1. Click OK.
2. On the Registry menu, click Exit.

Alternatively, download and run this .reg file to apply the above changes to your registry.

Moving or scaling a diagram in Visio format

When editing a diagram export in Microsoft Visio format, the user might want to move or scale the entire content of a graphic. In the case of the Landscape and Masterplan diagrams, this is not directly possible, since the intuitive selection does not include the background grid, used to highlight the diagram cells. To select the entire content in those two diagrams, either use the Ctrl + A keyboard shortcut, or make sure to include the bottom left corner of the page in your selection scope.

Why is my generated PDF diagram empty?

When using Microsoft Windows and the PDF Reader provided from Adobe, it may sometimes happen that a generated PDF diagram seems empty. This is because the generated diagram is larger than the page size supported by Acrobat Reader (approximately 5 meters). Using a different PDF reader, for example the Foxit Reader, should allow the user to see the contents of the diagram. For Mac OS and Ubuntu Linux the built-in PDF readers are known to have no problems with large diagrams.