Deltek offer a strong start to 2018 with their latest Deltek Cobra 8.2 release.
Yes folks the rumors are true, Deltek released a new version of Cobra back in December of 2017, and it’s a point release meaning there are some terrific new toys under the hood. Deltek Cobra 8.2 offers over a dozen software enhancements that help keep this application in step with current technology and infrastructure advances, as well as offering some nice application capabilities.
While this may be old news to a few of you, many of our customers have not been made aware of the update. Deltek kind of snuck this one out at the end of last year without much fanfare, so we thought it would be a good idea to give you all a heads up about the new software and some of its more exciting enhancements.
Before I expand on this new version I’m going to suggest that, if you hadn’t heard about this update, you should subscribe to the Ten Six twitter feed. We stay on top of changes in the market including software updates, so you’ll get a heads up from us when new things are a foot.
Back to the point, here’s a list of the new features as listed in the Deltek Cobra 8.2 General Availability (GA) release with a couple of lines of explanation. We do recommend you download the Deltek Cobra 8.2 media pack using Deltek Software Manager (DSM) and read the details in the Release Notes.
Changes in the Cobra Installation
This includes changes to the storing of Data Sources information, moving away from the old ideablade.ibconfig file to a Config.dat and Datasources.dat files. Deltek have also added OLE (Object Link and Embedding) protocols for the Oracle ODP .NET and SQL Server .NET framework.
Ability to change ownership and access rights
If you have sufficient access such as system administrator, you can reallocate a wide range of objects using a new option found under the Management menu.
Enhanced spreading capabilities
A new column has been added to the spreadsheet that shows what spread is selected for a particular resource assignment. This will display manual if the resource was loaded via an IMS integration or has been manually altered in the Time-phase area.
Support for wInsight export in DCDE Format
You can now export data into the Deltek Cost Data Exchange (DCDE) format for integration with wInsight by using the Cost Data wizard (previously known as the Acumen wizard).
Support for non-milestone progress techniques
By allowing this option in the Project Preferences dialog, Cobra will enable the Milestone/Steps tab and support manual entry of milestones regardless of Progress Technique (EVT for us Cobra 5.0 alumni). This allows you to add ‘inert’ milestones to the work package for informational purposes only. They will not drive earned value on the work package when you calculate progress. That will be determined by the actual progress technique assigned.
Include forecast class in the Zero-out Data process
Well, this one doesn’t require much additional narrative from me. Suffice to say “Yay!” and look at the pretty picture.
Filtering by Costs Sets
Not much I need to add here either: other than to say this affects the filter dialog in the Classes column of the Spreadsheet area.
Find data in the Projects view without expanding the records
Again this one speaks for itself.
Using the Find function on numeric data
Deltek provided a useful table to explain how this one works. We reproduce it here for your convenience.
Oh and did I mention “Yay”?
Display Frozen Forecast Classes in the spreadsheet pane
See image for full explanation.
Limit memory usage during integration
This basically entails the use of a Deltek Customer Care provided .sql script to be run against the database to change a setting that limits the amount of memory Cobra consumes during an integration process.
Web Services
Web services has been augmented with the following items:
- Move Work Package
- About Cobra Web Services
- Verify Integrity
De-support of Microsoft Project 2007
Bon voyage Microsoft Project 2007 XML format – you no longer fit in the string for supported Microsoft Project versions that show up in the Integration Wizard’s ‘Where are you loading the data from?’ field.
Farewell Microsoft Project 2007.
There is also a number of software issues resolved and at the time of writing this article, two hotfix releases have also occurred. In fact if you download the release notes for the later hotfixes, they include all the software enhancements and issue resolutions for the entire 8.2 genre.
Summary
It will be well worth investigating a near future upgrade of your system to Deltek Cobra 8.2. You will find greater convenience and fewer technical issues with this new 8.2 point release. I have been running this since January and finding it to be very robust. In fact the Ten Six Cobra training is a natural end-to-end test of Cobra as we take students right through the entire project build, run, update and report cycle. If there are ever any issues, we normally find them during our training and so far this version has come up smiling through all the courses we’ve run.
The Cobra Guy’s Wish List
As always, I check the new software releases for enhancements or fixes that I have personally put in through Deltek support. Still on my wish list is the ability to map the relatively new ‘Elements of Cost’ resource values when importing resources from a spreadsheet. This still hasn’t been added to the Integration Wizard mapper and I know a few customers of mine who would love to see that working.
Meantime we will be tracking new releases for you and I will write some more articles as new and exciting things are added to the Deltek Cobra suite. Until then folks, happy Cobraing.