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 The Plan On The Net .com User Guide 
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| Adding Tasks To Projects | |
Adding a task to a project is a key function of the site.
 Add a task
Update task name
Add task assignments
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| Some Terminology | |
| Tasks | |
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A task is the core element for putting together a project plan.
A task can optionally have a task duration (business days).
The duration will be used to create the schedule.
One or more resource assignments and dependencies can also be added to a task. A task does not have to have assignments; however, if a task does have assignments and the duration of the assignments exceed the duration of the task, then the duration of the task will be extended to that of the assignments. | |
| Assignments | |
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An assignment within a task, specifies the name of a resource that will
expend some amount of effort to complete either the full task or a portion
of a task.
An assignment has a duration, resource and creates project effort and costs. A task may have multiple resource assignments. | |
| Task Folders | |
| A task folder is a grouping of related tasks (i.e. sub-tasks). A task folder can also contain other task folders. You can use task folders to organize your project plan and make a large project more manageable. | |
| Dependencies | |
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Dependencies are added to tasks and a way of way of stating:
"Do not start this task until another
task has been completed". A task can have multiple dependencies.
A task can also depend on a task folder. This is another way of stating: "Do not start this task until another whole group of tasks has completed. | |
| Adding A Task | |
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A task without assignments will not generate any project effort or cost;
for example, no dollar costs will be created in the analysis page.
Tasks are always added to the "Task" section of a project plan: To add a task, select the "T" icon of a task folder. The system will create a new task called "New Task". Select the "pen" icon to modify the task name. | |
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| Start Date | |
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Normally, you should let the system calculate the start date of a task;
the system will schedule a task to start as early as possible, but allowing
for task dependencies.
You can set the "earliest start" to override the system calculated date. In effect, you can specify "do not start this task before this date". The software allows you to change the task name and set an earliest start date: | |
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| Adding A Task Assignment | |
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Each assignment assigns a resource (for example, a person or department) to
work on a task.
Add as many assignments to task as you need to.
To add an assignment, select the "resource" icon of the task: | |
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| Modify A Task Assignment | |
| Once you have added an assignment, select the "pen" icon of the assignment. This will take you to the assignment screen: | |
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| Resource | |
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Use the drop down to select a resource for this assignment.
In order to select a resource, it must have been previously defined.
If you want to define the resource later on, select the closest department
that is currently defined.
You can select a specific resource or if that has not been decided yet, you can select the department of the resource. | |
| Percent Utilization | |
| For the duration of this assignment, select the utilization of the resource. You can overload a resource by using a utilization of more than 100% (for example, 150%). | |
| Quantity | |
| Enter the number of resources that will be on his assignment. For example, if you had selected a resource of "sales person", you could indicate that the assignment needed 4 sales people. | |
| Duration | |
| Each assignment has a duration of a number of business (work) days. | |
| Actual Start | |
| Once the assignment has started, enter the actual start date of the assignment here. You would not normally add this field when initially planning a project. | |
| Percent Complete | |
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Once the project has started, you can periodically update the actual progress
made. Each update will be remembered by the software so that trend data
can be produced.
Percent complete should reflect your assessment of how complete an assignment is. This usually is independent of how much effort has been expended on an assignment. | |
| Actual Effort Spent | |
| This field reflects how much actual effort has been spent on the assignment. | |
| As Of Date | |
| This field is used to enter the date for the above actuals. | |
