Creating Projects and Related Tasks

234 Instead, you can use the Delegate button on a task. The system enables you to modify tasks at all levels in the chain of delegation, to add additional information. A task can therefore start as a global objective and become more detailed as it is delegated down in the hierarchy. The second tab on the task form gives you a complete history of the chain of delegation for each task. You can find a link to the parent task there, and the different tasks that have been delegated.

19.2 Long Term Project Planning

You can plan your projects with Long Term Planning. To do this, use the Reconfigure wizard and in the Project Application Configuration section, select Long Term Planning and click Configure. This installs the project_long_term module. By using this feature you can link tasks to your planning to have a great view of who will do what at a specific time. The traditional phased approach identifies the sequence of steps to be completed. Faces library is used for scheduling phases and tasks based on calendar resources. So resource availability or resource leaves are tracked using this tool. The Gantt chart allows you to easily manage your resources and plans by mere drag drop. The Calendar view also helps you map your deadlines and tasks needing attention.

19.2.1 Project Phases

You can subdivide your larger projects into several phases. To define a new phase, go to Project → Project → Project Phases and click New. You must link your phase to a project through the Project field. For each phase, you can define your resources allocation human or machine, describe the different tasks and link your phase to previous and following ones. You can also add constraints linked with dates and scheduling. A Gantt view of your project is available from this menu, which you may alternatively open through the Project → Long Term Planning → Project Phases menu. Figure 19.6: Form View of Project Phase

19.2.2 Scheduling

You need to define a working schedule and leaves since the project scheduler will use these to calculate the project dates. Ensure that you have entered a working schedule for your project in the Working Time field in the Administration tab of the Project form. This is useful to generate accurate Gantt charts for your project. 235 If you have tasks related to a phase, you can see them in the Tasks Details tab of your phase form. Schedule them by clicking the Schedule Tasks button. All the tasks which are in draft, pending and open state are scheduled and their dates are calculated based on the starting date of the phase. Figure 19.7: Schedule Related Unclosed Tasks You can similarly derive the Gantt charts for Project Phases and Resources Allocation in the following ways: Compute Phase Scheduling Obtain the Gantt chart for Project Phases through the menu Project → Scheduling → Compute Phase Scheduling . A dialog box will appear allowing you to select all projects or a single project. It will compute the start date and end date of the phases which are in draft, open and pending state of the given project. Click Compute to open Gantt view. Figure 19.8: Gantt Chart for Project Phases Compute Tasks Scheduling This feature has the same purpose as the previous one and is used only for projects that are not cut in phases, but only consist of a list of tasks. To access it, go to Project → Scheduling → Compute Task Scheduling. You must and can select only a single project for computation. It shows the Gantt chart for Resources Allocation.