Increase or decrease duration in Task Master

Increase or decrease duration in Task Master

Return to Configuration Overview

Use the Increase or decrease the duration so the task ends sooner or later but requires the same total work option when you are adding or removing resources, but want to keep total work the same.

Use Case:

  • JeffOwner has an assigned task – Define Corporate Goals and Objectives.
  • The task has a Start Date of 10/12/2012
  • The task has a Due Date of 10/14/2012
  • The task has a Duration of 2 days and Work of 16 hours.
  • Richard will assign a resource to the existing task and the End Date and Duration will change.
  • Work will remain the same.

hw45-2010-taskmodeuc7.jpg

* Richard updates the task as shown below. John QA has been assigned to the task at 100%.
hw45-2010-taskmodeuc8.jpg

* Richard clicks the Recalculate button from the toolbar.

hw45-2010-taskmodeuc9.jpg

The task now shows Due Date of 11/13/2012 and Duration of 1 day. Work remains the same at 16 hours.

The following table defines which items are recalculated based on the type of task.

Task Type If Duration is modified If Work is modified If Assignment Units is modified
Fixed Work Task Assignment Units is recalculated Duration is recalculated Duration is recalculated
Fixed Duration Task Work is recalculated Assignment Units is recalculated Work is recalculated

Return to Task Master Dependency Settings

Increase or decrease the total work in Task Master

Increase or decrease the total work in Task Master

Return to Configuration Overview

Use the Assign tasks using increase or decrease the total work because the task requires less or more work hours. Keep duration constant option when you are adding or removing resources, but want to keep the due date and duration the same.

Use Case:

  • JeffDesign has an assigned task – Write Requirements Documentation.
  • The task has a Start Date of 10/1/2012
  • The task has a Due Date of 10/11/2012
  • The task has a Duration of 9.0 days and Work of 72 hours.
  • The task has a Richard will assign a resource to the existing task
  • The Work per resource will increase, but Due Date and Duration will remain the same.

hw45-2010-taskmodeuc1.jpg

  • Richard updates the task as shown below. QA One has been assigned to the task at 100%.
    hw45-2010-taskmodeuc2.jpg

  • Richard clicks the Recalculate button on the Task Master toolbar.

    hw45-2010-taskmodeuc3.jpg

The task now shows Work updated to reflect the work of both JeffDesign and QA One. Due Date and Duration remain constant.

The following table defines which items are recalculated based on the type of task.

Task Type If Duration is modified If Work is modified If Assignment Units is modified
Fixed Work Task Assignment Units is recalculated Duration is recalculated Duration is recalculated
Fixed Duration Task Work is recalculated Assignment Units is recalculated Work is recalculated

Return to Task Master Dependency Settings

Increase or decrease working hours in Task Master

Increase or decrease working hours in Task Master

Return to Configuration Overview

Use the Increase or decrease the hours that resources work per day. Keep duration and work the same option when you are adding or removing resources, but you want to keep work and duration the same.

Use Case:

  • Jeff Test has an assigned task – Review Proposal.
  • The task has a Start Date of 10/4/2012
  • The task has a Due Date of 10/4/2012
  • The task has a Duration of 1 day and Work of 8 hours.
  • Richard will assign a resource to the existing task and the Hours will decrease.
  • Duration and Work will remain the same.

hw45-2010-taskmodeuc4.jpg

Richard updates the task as shown below. John QA has been assigned to the task at 100%.

hw45-2010-taskmodeuc5.jpg

Richard clicks Recalculate from the toolbar.
Recalc.jpg

The task now shows Hours decreased by 50% to reflect the work of both Jeff Test and John QA. Duration and Work remain the same.

hw45-2010-taskmodeuc6.jpg

The following table defines which items are recalculated based on the type of task.

Task Type If Duration is modified If Work is modified If Assignment Units is modified
Fixed Work Task Assignment Units is recalculated Duration is recalculated Duration is recalculated
Fixed Duration Task Work is recalculated Assignment Units is recalculated Work is recalculated

Return to Task Master Dependency Settings

How to View the Task List In SharePoint List View

How to View the Task List In SharePoint List View

HW45_GoToTasklist_001.png To view the task list in SharePoint list view instead of in Task Master, click the Go to List option in the Task Master toolbar menu.

The list view will open in a new window.

How to Use the Task Context Menu

How to Use the Task Context Menu

Right-click on a task item directly from the Web Part interface to open the edit form or to delete the task item.

HW45_TaskContextMenu_001A.png

How to Use the Find Search Function

How to Use the Find Search Function

hw45-2010-Find.jpgIn Task Master Release 3.5 for SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013, there is a new Find search function in the toolbar menu. This is helpful if you have a lot of tasks and want to quickly see a subset of tasks that are related.

Enter a word in the Find field and click Enter.

All of the tasks that contain the word will be highlighted as shown below.

hw45-2010-Find2.jpg

How to Use Inline Editing

How to Use Inline Editing

With Task Master, you can edit task items directly in the grid view, called inline editing. This feature allows you to save time while you manage your tasks because you can quickly edit task items directly from the Web Part interface without having to click to access the edit form.

hw45-2010-inline_editing1.jpg

To use inline editing:

Step Action Result
1. Double-click to place your cursor in the desired field in the grid view. The field displays a red border and the background is pink. hw45-2010-inline_editing2.jpg
2. Enter your changes. If you are using the Save and Refresh options, click Save. hw45-2010-inline_editing3.jpg
3. To edit a task item using the edit form, click the hw45-2010-edit_icon.jpg under the Edit column. Or, right-click on the task item to view the item context menu. hw45-2010-rightclick.jpg
hw45-2010-editform.jpg
4. When using inline editing in a filtered view, such as My Tasks, the tasks may not line up correctly. Refresh the browser using CTRL + F5 to resolve this issue. Doing so will refresh the page to the All Tasks view. Select the desired filtered view again.

hw45-2010-edit_issue.jpg

Note: If you use inline editing to modify a task item, click Save before editing another task item using the edit form. Otherwise, Task Master will reload the page without the changes that you made using inline editing.

See Also:

How to Show the Critical Path

How to Show the Critical Path

Return to Configuration Overview

hw45-2010-showcriticalpathoption.jpgThe Show Critical Path feature highlights all tasks in the critical path in red in the task grid and the Gantt chart. Tasks in the critical path are those tasks that cannot be delayed without affecting the project finish date: tasks in the critical path have zero slack. To return to the standard grid/Gantt view, uncheck the Show Critical Path option.

Note: To use this feature, the Show Critical Path option must be checked in the Task Master properties. See Task Master Preferences for more information.

hw45-2010-criticalpath.jpg

Bamboo Solutions

HW03

How to Undo Changes

How to Undo Changes

hw45-2010-refresh1.jpg You can undo recent changes that you have made to your task items using the Save and Refresh options located on the Task Master toolbar. Clicking Refresh will undo changes you have made since the last time you saved. The Refresh option saves you time because you do not have to manually edit one or multiple task items in order to undo changes that you no longer want or need.

To use Save and Refresh, you need to set the tool pane settings so that you can manually save changes that you make. To do this, do NOT select Save changes to my Task List every time a change is made in the Gantt chart in the Task Master tool pane under Dependency Settings as shown below:

hw45-2010-saverefresh.jpg

Now the Save and Refresh buttons are displayed on the Task Master toolbar menu. (To disable the warning message that appears after you click Save, select Do not show warning message when users click the Save button in the tool pane under Dependency Settings.)

hw45-2010-saverefresh2.jpg

To use the Refresh option, read the following use case:

Richard Kimble is a project manager. His team member, Jessica Andrews, is assigned the Review Risk Analysis task, which is scheduled to take 16 days to complete.

hw45-2010-undo1.jpg

Jessica has to miss work one day, so Richard changes the task’s duration to 17 days instead of 16 days using Task Master inline editing feature. (Read How to Use Inline Editing for more information on this feature.)

hw45-2010-undo2.jpg

However, Jessica no longer has to miss work, so Richard needs to change the task back to the original duration:

Step Action Result
1. Richard clicks Refresh on the Task Master toolbar to undo the change. hw45-2010-refresh1.jpg
2. Task Master reloads the page with the original duration of 12 days displayed. hw45-2010-undo1.jpg

How To Save And Refresh

How To Save And Refresh

The SAVE option will not display on the web part toolbar if the Dependency Setting – “Save changes to my task list every time a change is made in the Gantt chart” has been selected.
HW45_UC_SaveRefresh_001.png

Create a New Task

HW45_UC_SaveRefresh_001A.png When creating a new task, Task Master will save only the data in fields that were completed and saved using the SAVE button in the new item form.

Task Master will compute calculated fields and display them in the grid and Gantt views, but those fields will not be populated in the display form until you click the Save button on the web part toolbar.

If you modify the Due Date field using inline editing, Task Master will calculate and display the Duration and Work in the grid and Gantt views, but it will not save those fields. For example, if you modify the Due Date from 9/12/2013 to 9/13/2013 and immediately view the task in the display form without saving the change, the Due Date value will still reflect the original date – 9/12/2013.

HW45_UC_SaveRefresh_002.png For example, if you create a new task item and enter values for Start Date, Due Date and Assigned To, the data will be saved when the SAVE button on the form is clicked. Task Master then calculates Duration and Work and displays them in the grid and Gantt views.

HW45_UC_SaveRefresh_004.png
HW45_UC_SaveRefresh_007.png

How to See Project Start and Finish Dates In the Gantt Chart

How to See Project Start and Finish Dates In the Gantt Chart

hw45-2010-orangeline1.jpg The Task Master Gantt view automatically displays an orange line to show the minimum start date of all tasks (the project start date) and the maximum end date of all tasks (the project finish date).

hw45-2010-orangeline2.jpg

How to Insert a Task in Task Master

How to Insert a Task in Task Master

You can insert tasks directly in Task Master.

Step Action Result
1. To insert a blank task directly above or below an existing task, click the Insert Task icon hw45-2010-inserttaskicon.jpg in front of the existing task.
2. Choose to insert the task above or below the existing one.
3 Complete required task information fields using the inline editing features of Task Master.
4. When you are finished, click Recalculate and Save in the toolbar menu.

hw45-2010-inserttask.jpg

Note: To use this feature, the Allow Insert Task option must be checked in Task Master properties, and Task Master must be in Save and Refresh mode (the option Save changes to my task list every time a change is made must be unchecked). See Task Master Preferences for more information.

How to Display the Grid and Gantt Chart

How to Display the Grid and Gantt Chart

hw45-2010-gridonly.jpgIn Task Master, you can display tasks in grid view, Gantt view, or both. Change the Show Grid and/or Show Gantt options in the Display Settings section of the Web Part properties.

hw45-2010-ganttonly.jpg

How to Edit Tasks

How to Edit Tasks

hw45-2010-editform.jpg Edit tasks by clicking the Edit icon next to a task, right-clicking on a task and choosing Edit Item, or change a value by editing it directly in Task Master.

hw45-2010-rightclick.jpg

hw45-2010-inline_editing1.jpg

See also: How to Use Inline Editing

How to Delete a Task

How to Delete a Task

NOTE: The option Show Delete Items is not part of the default configuration and must be checked in Task Master properties. See the Display Settings section of Configuring Task Master for more information.

Step Action Result
1. To delete one or more tasks, select the radio button next to the task(s) and click Delete in the toolbar menu. hw45-2010-deletetask.jpg
> NOTE: If you do not see the Delete button on the toolbar, you are using an earlier version of Task Master and you need to delete tasks directly from the toolbar menu
2. Click OK in the prompt to delete the selected task(s) and its subtasks.

How to Change The Default Time Scale for Task Master Gantt Chart

How to Change The Default Time Scale for Task Master Gantt Chart

HW45_GanttScale_001.png The Task Master Gantt view defaults to the current day, week, month, quarter or year view, depending on what is configured in the tool pane under Gantt View Display Settings > Scale for Gantt View.

For example, if you configured the Gantt view to display the month view, then the Default view is the Month view.

How To Adjust Task Master Column Width

How To Adjust Task Master Column Width

hw45-2010-columnwidth.jpg The columns displayed in the grid view of Task Master can be adjusted to the desired width.

  • Hover the mouse cursor over the column until you see the double-sided arrow.

  • Then drag the column to the desired width.

Highlights of Task Master

Highlights of Task Master

TaskMaster.pngNo more guessing when your projects will deliver.

Managing multiple projects and the resources spread across these projects is challenging, especially when the project is complex and contains tasks that depend on the successful completion of other tasks or projects. Project managers need to monitor the impact on the schedule when the due date of any task changes. Bamboo’s Task Master offers effective schedule and resource management based on task status, priority, milestones, dependencies, and other essential project management tools.

Product Overview and Benefits

  • Create tasks based on Start Date & Due Date, Start Date & Duration, or Start Date & Work
  • With Inline editing, edit task items directly in the Web Part interface
  • Use the Assignment Units feature to allocate a percentage of a resource to a task
  • Select specific task items to focus on in the Gantt view.
  • Use the Save and Refresh options to save and undo recent changes
  • Filter tasks to display specific criteria by selecting a different view
  • Color code tasks and milestones by priority or status.
  • Set up task dependencies
  • Configure columns to display in the task details grid.
  • Identify task information to display with the Gantt bar.
  • Insert a task directly in the Web Part
  • Show Critical Path
  • Assign Multiple Predecessors
  • Exclude weekends and holidays
  • Show the status of task schedules using customizable indicators
  • Show the task grid, the Gantt chart, or both.
  • Use Task Master with a task list from any site in the site collection

Configure Task Master Workdays

Configure Task Master Workdays

Return to Working Hours Configuration

Task Master uses a 7-day workweek. Saturdays and Sundays are not excluded from task schedules by default. In Task Master R3.0 and higher, you can define the workdays for your project. To configure workdays, edit the Task Master web part settings to select the days of the week your project should include:

Step Action
1. On the page where the web part resides, open the configuration tool pane. Click the arrow to the right of the Task Master title bar and select Edit Web Part (or Modify Shared Web Part in SharePoint 2007).
2. In the Working Hours Settings, select the days of the week that should be considered Workdays.
3. Click Apply and then OK to save your settings.
4. Click the Recalculate button in the toolbar menu. Your task schedule will be updated to only include the days you specified as workdays.

The example below shows how a task is scheduled to exclude weekends.

Task Master is configured with Workdays of Monday through Friday. Task Duration is calculated based on Start Date and Due Date.

hw45-2010-workhours9-5.jpg

Create a new task with a Start Date and Due Date as shown below. Notice that the Due Date falls on a day that is not a workday.

  • Start Date and Time: September 26, 2011 at 9 AM (Monday)
  • Due Date and Time: October 1, 2011 at 5 PM (Saturday)
    hw45-2010-exampleworkday.jpg

Click Recalculate. The Start and Due dates and times of the task become:

  • Start Date and Time: September 27, 2011 at 9 AM (Monday)
  • Due Date and Time: September 30, 2011 at 5 PM (Friday)

hw45-2010-exampleworkday2.jpg

Since the workdays are Monday through Friday, Task Master ensures that your tasks are scheduled only on these days. In this example, the task Due Date is moved to the previous workday.

Return to Task Master Working Hours Settings

Configure Task Master Working Hours

Configure Task Master Working Hours

Return to Working Hours Configuration

By default, Task Master uses a 24-hour workday. This means that task Start and Due Dates can fall anytime of the day. To designate certain hours of the day as working hours and exclude all other hours from task scheduling, you must configure Task Master to enforce working hours.

Step Action
1. On the page where you’ve placed Task Master, open the configuration tool pane. Click the arrow to the right of the title bar and select Edit Web Part (or Modify Shared Web Part on SharePoint 2007).
2. In the Working Hours Settings, select Enforce these working hours.
3. Enter the Start and End times for your workday. Tasks will only be scheduled during these hours.
4. If you want to exclude lunch breaks from your working hours, select Exclude lunch time and enter the Start and End times for your lunch break.
5. Click Apply and then OK to save your settings.
6. In the Task Master web part, click the Recalculate button in the toolbar menu. Your task schedule will be updated to only include the hours you specified as working hours.

Icon-Warning Your task list Start and Due Date column format must be configured as Date & Time to support working hours. The Start and Due Date column format in the Bamboo Project Task List included with Task Master is already configured as Date and Time. To check the configuration of your task list (and to update it, if necessary), see Configure a Task List to Support Working Hours.

The example below, using working hours configured for 9 AM to 5 PM, shows how a task is scheduled when working hours are enforced.

NOTE: Task Duration is calculated based on Start Date and Due Date.

In the Task Master Web Part, create a new task with a Start Date and Due Date as shown below. Notice that the Start time falls outside the configured working hours.
HW45_Config_WorkHours_004.png

  • Start Date and Time: May 21, 2013 at 7 AM
  • Due Date and Time: May 21, 2013 at 9 PM

HW45_Config_WorkHours_005A.png

Click the Recalculate button in the toolbar. The Start and Due dates and times of the task become:

  • Start Date and Time: May 21, 2013 at 9 AM
  • Due Date and Time: May 21, 2013 at 5 PM

HW45_Config_WorkHours_005B.png

Since the working hours are 9 AM to 5 PM, Task Master ensures that your tasks are scheduled only during these hours. In this example, the task is moved to the start of working hours the same day.

Return to: Task Master Working Hours Settings

Configure Task Master Holiday List

Configure Task Master Holiday List

Return to Working Hours Configuration

HW45-SP2010holiday.jpg In Task Master R3.0 and higher, holidays can be excluded from task scheduling. To exclude holidays, first configure a SharePoint Calendar list with the holidays observed by your project team. Holidays must be configured as Yearly events; Task Master will ignore any other events on the Calendar.

After your holiday list is created, reference the list in Task Master:

Step Action Result
1. On the page where you’ve placed Task Master, open the configuration tool pane. HW45_Config_WorkHours_006B.png
2. In the Holiday List Settings, select the Calendar list that includes your holidays. You can select a holiday list in the same site as the Task Master web part, or you can enter the URL of a different site that contains the holiday list.
3. Click Apply and then OK to save your settings.
4. In Task Master, click the Recalculate button in the toolbar menu. Your task schedule will be updated to exclude holidays. The example below shows how a task is scheduled when a holiday list is configured.

Task Master is configured with a holiday list that includes a 2-day Bank Holiday on July 22nd and July 23rd. Task Duration is calculated based on Start Date and Due Date.

Create a new task with a Start Date and Due Date as shown below. Notice that the Due Date falls on the holiday.

  • Start Date and Time: July 8, 2013 at 8 AM
  • Due Date and Time: July 22, 2013 at 5 PM

HolidayTask.jpg

Click the Recalculate button on the toolbar. The Start and Due dates and times of the task become:

  • Start Date and Time: July 8, 2013 at 9 AM
  • Due Date and Time: July 19, 2013 at 5 PM

HW45_Config_WorkHours_008.png

Since Monday, July 22nd and Tuesday, July 23rd are holidays in this example, Task Master ensures that your tasks are not scheduled on those days. The task Due Date is moved to the previous workday which is not a holiday.

Return to: Task Master Working Hours Settings

Configure Bamboo List Rollup Settings

Configure Bamboo List Rollup Settings

Return to Configuration Overview

hw45R35-2010-listrollup.jpg Task Master only works with version 6.0 of List Rollup and List Rollup Schema Designer. For more information about creating Data Views and Schemas, see the List Rollup documentation. Please refer to the Release Notes for more information.

To connect to List Rollup, first select its type in the Data Source Settings page and then click the data source name in the left menu to configure connection details.

List Rollup Settings

  • List Rollup URL: Enter the URL of the page that contains the List Rollup Data View or Schema and click the Load List Rollup Schemas button.
  • List Rollup Schema: Select the List Rollup Schema that contains the data you want to display.

NOTE: List Rollup is useful when you want to show multiple project schedules in one view. List Rollup is “read-only” mode. Task Master will display List Rollup views, but will not update or recalculate.

hw45R35-2010-listrollup.jpg Under Project Schedule Settings, everything will be disabled, as shown below, except for mapping columns such as Parent Task, Predecessor Task, Assigned To, Start Date and Due Date.

Under View Settings, you can configure all of the settings (Display Columns, Color Coding, Progress Bar, Milestone and Gantt) as normal. See View Settings for more information.

Below is an example of a List Rollup view in Task Master.
hw45-2010-rollupview.jpg