Inspire Planner Projects - Task Lists

    What are Task Lists?

    Task List type Projects in Inspire Planner provide you with a more simplified model of managing a set of Tasks. For example, perhaps as part of your sales or onboarding process, there are a set of tasks that need to be completed but you may not necessarily need or want to define dependencies, dates or duration. 

     

    Tasks can be viewed, created and managed within the Gantt or using a Kanban board. For example, you may have a simple to-do list. You can choose to manage Tasks within the Gantt and mark Tasks as done as you complete them.

     

    Please note the following:

    • Since Task List Projects are meant to provide users with a simpler model of managing Tasks, the Gantt Chart is hidden by default.
       
    • Although users can still enjoy the same range of features on the Gantt as Waterfall Projects, some features have been disabled for Task Lists such as ability to define predecessors, see critical tasks/path, free & total slack, ability to add constraints & constraint dates.
       
    • Task Duration, Start Date and Finish Dates default to NULL when you create tasks in a task list project. This means that you can choose to leave them blank or populate them.
       
    • At present, Project % Complete is designed to work only with waterfall projects. This means that it will not update according to % complete of project tasks.

     

     

    You can also manage Tasks within a Kanban board, allowing you to easily update Tasks by moving them on the board.

     

    How to Create Task List Projects

    You create Task List Projects similar to how Waterfall Projects are created, except that you are setting the Project Type to "Task List".

     

    1. In the Projects Tab, click on New.


       
    2. Set the Project Type to "Task List" and click on Next.


       
    3. Populate the Project Name. You may also choose to populate additional details of the Project. Then, click on Save.

     

    How to Add Tasks to the Project

    For Task List Projects, you can see, create and manage Tasks within the simplified Gantt or in a Kanban Board. 

     

    Add Tasks in Gantt

    To create Tasks within the simplified Gantt, simply double click on a row and type in your Task. Pressing the return (enter) key on your keyboard moves you to the next row. 

     


     

    Click on the Save icon when finished. You may also press CTRL+S on your keyboard to invoke a save.
     

     

    Add Tasks in Kanban

    To create Tasks in the Kanban board, click on Create New Task

     

    Populate the details of the Task. Start and Finish Dates/Times are optional. Click on Save when finished.

     

    Please Note:

    When switching between Tabs, the page does not auto refresh. It is therefore recommended that you refresh the page to see the most recent updates in both Gantt and Kanban.

     

    How to Assign Tasks

    Tasks can be assigned to Resources from either the Project Gantt or from the Kanban Board.

     

    Assign Tasks in Gantt

    Similar to Waterfall Projects, you can still manually assign Tasks one at a time or you can auto-assign Tasks using Project Teams & Roles. When Task are assigned, it also still creates an equivalent Salesforce Task. Assigned resources can complete their Tasks from Salesforce Tasks or directly from the Project (if given editing permissions to the Project).

     

    You can refer to these help articles that walk you through how to assign Tasks:

     

    Assign Tasks in Kanban

    To be able to assign Tasks in Kanban, you will need to create Project Team members first.

     

    1. Click on Team and then click on New.


       
    2. Search for the user/contact/queue. Click on Save. Repeat this process until you've added all your Project Team members.

      If you have populated the Role for a Task and you populate the Role of a Project Team member, then Inspire Planner will auto-assign Tasks.

    3. Once you've created Project Team members, to assign Tasks in Kanban, simply click on the Assignment Icon.


       
    4. This will display your Project Team members. Select the resource you would like to assign the Task to.

     

     

    How to Manage Tasks

    Tasks can be managed from either the Project Gantt or the Kanban board.

     

    Manage Tasks in Gantt

    Since Task Lists are meant to be simpler, the Gantt only displays a few columns as a default. 

     

     

    Like Waterfall Projects, you can still continue to enjoy the range of features available within the Project Gantt such as:

    • Ability to copy and paste Tasks within the same Project
    • Ability to re-order Tasks by dragging and dropping
    • Ability to apply Tasks from a Template
    • Ability to customize your view by re-ordering columns or by selecting columns to display or hide

     

    To mark Tasks as complete, simply double-click on the checkbox for "Done" and check the box. When you click out of the checkbox, you will notice that Inspire Planner crosses out the Task.

     

    When Tasks are marked as "Done", it automatically set % Complete to 100% and Status to "Completed. Although you do not see the Task Status or % Complete fields, you can still add them to the Gantt and use them. 

     

    This also means that although you do not need to populate Start/Finish Dates, Planned Effort, Budgeted/Actual Cost, etc. You can still choose to do so. You can also still utilize the Project Task Chatter & File Attachment option for Tasks.

     

    Manage Tasks in Kanban

    You can also manage and update Tasks via the Kanban board.

     

    The Kanban board references your Project Task Status picklist and displays each status as a column.

     

    To update the status of a Task, simply drag and drop it under the appropriate Status column.

     

    At the bottom of each Task card are icons that perform different actions.

     

    On top of the Kanban board, you will find different options for filtering. 

    Please Note:

    If you would like to be able to search for Tasks using Task Keys, you will need to populate a Project Key in the Project Detail page. The Project Key needs to be unique. Task Keys are used as an easy way to reference Tasks instead of using Task IDs or Task Subject.

     

    You may also choose to group Tasks by assignment.

     

    Task List Projects and Salesforce Tasks

    When Tasks in a Task List Project are assigned to a resource, an equivalent Salesforce Task is still created. Resources can therefore still continue to update their Salesforce Tasks instead of going directly to the Project. 

     

    For more information on how Inspire Project Tasks and Salesforce Tasks integrate and synchronize, please see 

    Inspire Planner Project Tasks and Salesforce Tasks

     

    From the Salesforce Task, resources update the Task Status using the Status picklist. When the Salesforce Task is set to "Complete", then the Inspire Project Task will also update to "Complete" (unless there are multiple resources assigned, in which case it will wait until all related Salesforce Task are completed). When the Inspire Project Task is complete, then "Done" will automatically be set to TRUE.

     

     


    Tags

    Task List Projects

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