Tasks

Tasks are the unit of everything in this module. The Tasks view is the list of them.

Each task with its dates, its trade and how far along it is.

The fields

Field	What it does
Name	What the work is
Parent	Groups it under a summary task
Duration	How long it takes
Start Date	When it is planned to start
Actual Start Date	When it actually started
Actual Finish Date	When it actually finished
Predecessor	What has to happen first
Link type	How the two are tied: finish to start, start to start, finish to finish or start to finish - see Link types
Lag	Waiting time added to the link
Status	Where it is up to
Cost Code	Which trade it belongs to
Supplier	Who is doing it
Contact	Who at that supplier
Cost / Select Cost Method	What it costs
Link to Order	The purchase order for this work
Call up (weeks)	How far ahead to call the trade
Note	Anything else
Sorting Index	Order among siblings

Structure

A dependency is what makes the finish date tell the truth.

Parent builds a hierarchy — a summary task with the real work underneath it.

Frame
  Frame — ground floor
  Frame — first floor
  Frame inspection
Roof
  Roof trusses
  Roof battens
  Roof tiles

Summary tasks roll up their children’s dates and costs, so you get a readable overview that still has real detail behind it.

Keep it two levels for a house. Deeper structures look organised and take longer to maintain than they save.

Naming

Name a task so that someone reading it in a call-up sheet knows what to bring.

Weak	Better
Concrete	Slab pour — 18.6 m³ N32
Plumber	Plumbing rough-in — ground floor
Fix out	Internal doors and architraves

The call-up sheet carries this name to the subcontractor. Concrete on a Tuesday tells them nothing about whether they are pouring or stripping formwork.

Notes

The task panel’s Details tab has a Notes box for anything that does not fit a field — the gate code, “pump booked with Metro”, “client wants to be there”. It saves when you click away. Notes also come out in the Export tasks to Excel report.

Deleting a task

Delete task asks before anything goes. For a group — a task with sub-tasks — it asks which you mean:

• Delete the group only - keep its tasks — only the heading goes; the tasks under it move up to the top level of the schedule and keep their dates and links.
• Delete the group and everything in it — the whole branch goes.

Deleted the wrong thing? Undo on the top toolbar brings it back — see Undo.

Tasks from purchase orders

Schedule › Add tasks from purchase orders… gives every purchase order on this job that has no task yet a task of its own. It skips orders that are deleted, voided or merged.

Each new task:

• is named after the order;
• is connected to the order at 100%, so its cost and trade come from the order;
• goes at the foot of the schedule, with the number of days you choose.

Nothing already in the schedule changes, and pressing it again adds nothing new — so it is safe to run whenever orders have been raised since. Link the new tasks into the programme afterwards. You need the See Orders permission to use it.

Actual dates

Actual Start Date and Actual Finish Date are what turn the schedule from a plan into a record.

Fill them in as the job runs. Two things follow: the schedule moves to where the job really is, so slippage shows against your baseline rather than being assumed; and at the end of the job you have real durations, which is the best source of estimates for the next one.

Actual dates are how you get better at scheduling

Most builders plan from memory and are consistently optimistic about the same trades. Recorded actuals turn that into a number — “the plasterer always takes eight days, not five” — which you can plan with.

Status

Status tracks where a task is. Combined with the view filters, it is what keeps a long schedule readable:

Filter	Shows
Hide Finished Tasks	Only what is left
Show Due Tasks	What is coming up
Show Finished Tasks	The record of what is done

Hide Finished Tasks is the one to leave on while running a job. Six months in, two-thirds of the schedule is history and it only gets in the way.

Keeping it current

A schedule nobody updates is worse than no schedule, because people rely on it.

The minimum that works:

1. Mark tasks finished as they finish.
2. Enter actual start dates when work begins.
3. When something slips, change it in the Schedule view so dependencies follow.
4. Add tasks for variation work as it is approved.

Ten minutes a week. Step three is the one that matters — updating a date in the Tasks list changes one task, while doing it in the Gantt moves everything that depends on it. See Building a schedule.