Project Task Planning

The project task plan (sometimes referred to as the ‘Work Breakdown Structure’ or WBS) defines the detailed tasks that need to be fulfilled to complete the project. This will typically involve planning the work in a hierarchical structure and include task constraints, predecessors, assignments, and milestones.

Organisations can choose whether a task plan is used in favour of or in parallel to a task board. The task board represents a more fluid form of task planning and may be used by projects operating an ‘agile’ methodology. Refer to the separate end-user guide for Task Boards for further details.

The task plan can be as detailed as is required by the organization or could, for example, just be used to track milestones.

When the task plan includes detailed tasks with allocated project resources, it represents the ‘bottom-up’ view of resource requirements. Separate to the task plan is the resourcing plan which defines the staffing requirements of the project or ‘demand’ as well as the assignment or ‘allocation’ of resources to that demand. The resourcing plan represents a ‘top-down’ view of resource requirements. It is possible to compare the resourcing plan and task plan to ensure they are broadly aligned. Refer to the separate end-user guide for Project Resourcing for further details.

Task plans can be integrated with Microsoft Project, if required.

• A projects task plan is accessible from multiple places:

  • 1. Project Overview Page . The task plan page is accessible by drilling-down from the ‘Project Timeline’ content are on the project overview page. This is the primary location for managing project task plans.

    2. Project Workbook provides a view of the project milestones only. The task plan cannot be edited from this location.

    3. Project Status Report. Provides a way to update project milestone estimated/actual completion date, RAG status and state of completion.

• Large projects are likely to have large plans that do not all fit on the page. Use the ‘Collapse/Expand All’ link to collapse the demand plan and make it easier to find demand.

• Use the browser search capabilities to search for a Task by name.

• The task plan can be shown in Days, Weeks, Months or Years

• Use the drop-down below the Save button to switch to a different time range.

• Navigate to the task plan page as described in the section How to access above.

• Click on ‘Add Task’ in the task bar (beneath the title) to add another line.

• Tasks are added to the bottom of the plan.

• Complete the editable fields and click on ‘Save’ when done.

• Navigate to the task plan page as described in the section How to access above.

• Highlight the task to be re-sequenced.

• Drag the task up or down to move it to its new location.

• Navigate to the task plan page as described in the section How to access above.=

• Highlight the task to be Outdented or Indented

• Click on ‘Outdent’ or ‘Indent’ on the task bar (beneath the title at the top of the page)

• When indenting a task, the one above will become a summary task (if it is not already)

• When outdenting a task and this is the last subtask, the one above will no longer be a summary task.

• A task becomes a summary task when another task is indented into it.

• A summary task takes the earliest start date and end date of its children.

• If a child has an MSO constraint and is the earliest start date of its siblings, the summary task takes the MSO constraint as well.

• If a child has an actual start or end date, it uses those dates.

• A summary task's percent complete is the average of all its children's percent complete.

• A summary task's effort is the sum of all its children's effort.

• A summary task cannot be a predecessor of any of its children but can be the predecessor for a task or summary task outside of its tree.

• If a milestone is turned into a summary task, it is automatically changed to a task.

• If a summary task is given a predecessor, all its children inherit the predecessor.

• External tasks are tasks that have been added to a task plan from another task plan.

• Navigate to the task plan page as described in the section How to access above.

• Click on ‘Add External Task on the task bar (beneath the title at the top of the page) to bring up a list of all tasks in all projects.

• Select an external task from the list and click on ‘Apply’.

• External tasks are not editable but can be reordered and deleted just like any other task.

• When a task plan is loaded, it checks all external tasks to see if they have been updated in their original plan. If an external task has been updated, a prompt will appear allowing you to update the task if needed.

• When an external task is updated, it triggers a timeline reflow. The reflow will not update any external tasks.

• Bi-directional Integration of task plans with Microsoft Project is supported. There are a number of possible approaches.

• Microsoft Project is used to build the initial plan which is then imported into a new project. All further updates are made in PPMAnywhere.

• Plans can be exported to Microsoft Project for use by someone without access to PPMAnywhere, for example a 3rd party.

• Microsoft Project is used to build the initial plan and make updates to existing plans. The plan in PPMAnywhere is used to communicate progress and/or to track actuals against from time sheets.

• During the integration process, PPMAnywhere will conduct integrity checks. Plans which fail these checks will not be imported from Microsoft Project. These scenarios are listed in the section Importing a task plan from Microsoft Project below.

• A task plan can be imported from Microsoft Project. The import process will overwrite the existing plan (if there is one) with the contents of the file.

• Only files of type XML can be imported. Be sure to use the ‘Save As’ feature and when providing a file name, select ‘XML Format’ for the ‘Save as type’ field.

• Navigate to the task plan page as described in the section How to access above.

• Click on ‘Import MSP’ in the task bar and then select the XML file with the project plan.

• Navigate to the task plan page as described in the section How to access above.

• To export a plan to Microsoft Project, click on ‘Export MSP’ in the task bar.

• The file will be exported in XML format to your download area.

• Navigate to the task plan page as described in the section How to access above.

• To baseline a project task plan, click on ‘Baselines’ in the task bar.

• Click on the ‘+’ icon in the right-hand pane to create a baseline.

• Provide a name for the baseline and click on ‘Create’.

• Navigate to the task plan page as described in the section How to access above.

• Click on ‘Baselines’ in the task bar.

• Click on the id of a previous baseline. The baseline is displayed in read-only mode.

• Navigate to the task plan page as described in the section How to access above.

• Click on ‘Critical Path’ in the task bar.

• The critical path will be highlighted.

• Navigate to the task plan page as described in the section How to access above.

• To export a plan to Microsoft Excel, click on ‘Export Excel’ in the task bar.

• The file will be exported in XLS format to your download area.

Q: Why am I getting the message ‘Not all required tasks or tasks that have time booked against them were present in the imported plan. Plan import was not attempted’?

A: This message means that time has been booked to a task in a task plan and that task cannot be found in the plan being imported from Microsoft Project. If the plan were imported it would result in a compromise to data integrity. The resolution is to first export the task plan to Microsoft Project, then make the updates and then re-import the plan with updates. Be sure not to delete any tasks from the plan where time has already been reported against that task.