AtTask User Guide

At
@task User’s Guide

Copyright © 2008 @task, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Introduction to @task
INTRODUCING @TASK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
About @task Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
@task Is Easier to Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
@task’s Web-Based Design Lets You Log In from Anywhere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
COLLABORATE WITH YOUR TEAM
Keep Track of Progress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Resolve Issues Quickly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Manage Schedules and Timesheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
MANAGE YOUR PROJECTS EFFECTIVELY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Create Projects and Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Build and Customize Projects to Meet Your Unique Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Create and Organize Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Manage Personnel Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Manage Calendar Schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Manage Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Manage Budgets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Utilize Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Distribute Management Burdens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ADMINISTER @TASK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Manage User Accounts and Set Up Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Manage System Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
GETTING ADDITIONAL HELP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Forums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Searching the Forums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Posting to the Forums. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Intra-Application Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Getting Started
LOGGING IN AND OUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
UNDERSTANDING AND CUSTOMIZING THE USER INTERFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Setting Default Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Changing Available Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Changing User Interface Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Changing Default Application Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
At
Changing the Style Sheet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

ACCESSING PERSONAL USER ACCOUNT INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Editing Personal Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Changing Your Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
FINDING THINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Using Standard Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Searching for Custom Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Using Inline Search Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
FAVORITES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
EXPORTING DATA FROM SEARCHES AND LISTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ON-SCREEN HELP TIPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2
FILTERING, GROUPING AND VIEWING LISTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating a Custom Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Using Wildcards in Filter Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Using Mods in Filter Criteria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Using a Custom Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Creating a Custom View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating a Custom Grouping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
LINKING CUSTOM FILTERS, VIEWS AND GROUPINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
DASHBOARDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
INTRA-APPLICATION MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
VIEWING @TASK REPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
HELPFUL HINTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
POWER SEARCHES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
How to Use the Power Search Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Query Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Query Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Examples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Simple Searches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Searching for Objects Related to Other Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Comparing Values Between Two Different Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Searching for Things that Fall on Specific Dates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Searching for Attributes that fall within a Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Searching for Custom Data Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Searching for Data Extension Values on a Related Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Data Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Object Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ACCESSING @TASK USING WIRELESS APPLICATION PROTOCOL . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating and Managing Projects
HOW TO PLAN A PROJECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Project Origins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Using @task to Set Project Dates and Perform Preliminary Planning . . . . . . . . .
Establishing a Project Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Set Objective Timelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
List Tasks for Project Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
At
Determine Work Breakdown Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Assign Task Durations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Determine Skill Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Manage Resources and Assign Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Do a Cost/Benefit Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Determine Review Points for the Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CREATING A PROJECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
About Creating Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Setting Project Management Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Project Details Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Related Information Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
3
Related Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Finance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Portfolio Values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Custom Data Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Queue Properties Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Editing a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Editing Multiple Projects Simultaneously . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Copying a Project to Create a New Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Using a Template to Create a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Deleting a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ASSIGN RESOURCES TO A PROJECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
About Adding Team Members to a Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Adding and Viewing Users Associated with a Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
User Utilization Searches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ADVANCED TEAM BUILDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Useful Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
GETTING PROJECT AND TASK STATUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Getting Project Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Project Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Using the Gantt Chart View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Interactive Gantt Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Printing an Interactive Gantt Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Using the Milestone View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Working with Project Timelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Viewing and Printing The Gantt Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
The Calendar View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Using the Resource Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Recalculating a Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
REPLANNING A PROJECT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PROJECT BASELINES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Baseline Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
IMPORTING AND EXPORTING MICROSOFT PROJECT FILES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Exporting Projects to Microsoft Project Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Importing Projects from Microsoft Project Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CREATING AND WORKING WITH MILESTONES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
At
Associating a Milestone with a Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Creating Tasks
CREATING AND EDITING TASKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Understanding Task Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tracking Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Durations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Task Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Duration Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Work Required . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Resource Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Recorded Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
4
Revenue Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Approvals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Predecessors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Lag Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Cross-Project Predecessors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Creating a Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Assigning Resources to a Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Editing a Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Editing Multiple Tasks Simultaneously . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Deleting a Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CREATING SUBTASKS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
MOVING A TASK TO ANOTHER PROJECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
USING THE TASK WORKSHEET. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating a Predecessor Relationship in the Task Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating and Resolving Issues
CREATING ISSUES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating Issues With the Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Editing Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tracking and Resolving Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Finding Your Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Viewing All Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Routing Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Reassigning Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Converting Issues Into Tasks and Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Updating Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Moving Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Deleting Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CREATING HELP DESK ISSUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Working with Tasks and Reporting Progress
HOW TO WORK WITH TASKS AND TIMESHEETS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
FINDING AND UPDATING YOUR TASKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Updating Multiple Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
APPROVING COMPLETED TASKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
At
Managing Your Timesheets and Scheduling Time Off

USING TIMESHEETS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating a Timesheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Entering Time on a Timesheet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Adding Hour Types to Timesheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Adding Tasks or Projects to the Timesheet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Removing Hour Types from Timesheets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating Hour Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
APPROVING TIMESHEETS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating Timesheets for Other Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
SCHEDULING PERSONAL TIME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5
Working with Attachments
ABOUT USING NOTES AND ATTACHMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ATTACHING DOCUMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Attaching Multiple Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Finding a Document. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
DOwnloading Multiple DOcuments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Deleting a Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CREATING AND MANAGING DIRECTORIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Enabling Directories in your Instance of @task. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Creating a directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Adding files to a directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Viewing Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Moving Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
USING CONTENT MANAGEMENT FEATURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
WORKING WITH NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Writing, Viewing, and Replying to Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Searching for Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Deleting Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Using Templates
CREATE PROJECT TEMPLATES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Saving a Project as a Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PROCESS IMPROVEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CREATE SCHEDULE TEMPLATES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
LIBRARY TASKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating a New Library Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Using Library Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Using Library Tasks in the Task Worksheet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Using Library Tasks in the New Task Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
When Library Tasks Are Enforced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating Custom Data
About Creating Custom Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating and Using Parameters for Custom Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating and Using Parameter Groups for Custom Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating and Setting Up Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
At
Calculated Custom Data Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

General Steps to Create A Calculated Custom Data Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1. Identify what data to include in a calculated custom data field and their mathe-
matical relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
2. Create a calculated custom data parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
3. Create other custom data parameterS, if necessary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
4. Create a custom data category that includes regular and calculated custom data
parameters, and indicate their mathematical relationship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
5. Apply the parameter category created in the Previous step to the target project
and input values in custom data field(s). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
6. @task automatically generates the result. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
6
Managing Budgets and Billing
Tracking Costs and Measuring Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tracking Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tracking Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Billing and Revenue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tracking Revenue Amounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating Billing Records. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Line Item Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating a Custom Expense Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating Line Item Expenses for Projects and Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Using Audit Trails
ABOUT AUDITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
SETTING UP AUDIT TRAILS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Custom Reports
CREATING A CUSTOM REPORT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
New Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Object Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Report Type: List vs. Aggregate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
List Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
New Report Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
New Report Wizard for List Reports Step 1: Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
New Report Wizard for List Reports Step 2: Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
View Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
New Report Wizard for List Reports Step 3: Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
New Report Wizard for List Reports Step 4: Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Aggregate Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
New Report Wizard for Aggregate Reports Step 1: Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
New Report Wizard for Aggregate Reports Step 2: Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Width/Stretch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Format/Aggregate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Sort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Smart Report Calculator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
New Report Wizard for Aggregate Reports Step 3: Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
At
Set Filter Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Field Source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Mod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Value/Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Wildcard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
New Report Wizard for Aggregate Reports Step 4: Prompts. . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Custom Filter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Prompt Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
New Report Wizard for Aggregate Reports Step 5: Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
New Report Wizard for Aggregate Reports Step 6: Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Chart Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
7
Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Smart Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Smart Reports in the Text Layout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Field Source/Field Name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Administering Users, Organizations, and Groups
ABOUT USERS, GROUPS, AND ORGANIZATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
SETTING UP JOB ROLES AND ACCESS LEVELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Setting Up Job Roles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Managing Access Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
About Default Access Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Setting Up New Access Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
CREATING AND SETTING UP GROUPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CREATING AND SETTING UP COMPANIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CREATING AND MANAGING USER ACCOUNTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Planning a New User Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating a New User Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Editing Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Resetting User Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Deleting Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Importing and Exporting User Accounts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
SETTING UP EVENT NOTIFICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Setting Up Application Events and Event Handlers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
EMAIL TEMPLATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
SETTING UP REMINDER NOTIFICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating A Reminder Notification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Attaching Reminder Notifications To Specific objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Using Kick-Starts
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CREATING SPREADSHEET TEMPLATES FOR THE IMPORTER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Using the @Task Template Generator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Manually Creating a KickStart Template Using the Java Docs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Spreadsheet Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Pseudo Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
USING KICK-STARTS
At
Enumerated Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Date Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Custom Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Predecessor Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Creating Related Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Attaching Documents to Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
IMporting Kick-Starts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Capacity Planning
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
UNDERSTANDING RESOURCE POOLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Total Available Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8
Resource Pools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating A resource Pool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
New Resource Pool Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Resource Estimate Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Budgeting Using the Resource Estimate Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
CAPACITY PLANNING USE CASE
Project Requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Converting Issues to Project Requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
Related Information Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Resource Estimates Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Budgeting with the Capacity Planner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Capacity Planner Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Resource Pool Section 301 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Projects Section 301. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Net Remaining Resources Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Adding Projects to A Resource Pool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Fixing Budgeting Conflicts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
RECONCILING PROJECT BUDGETS AND SCHEDULES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Reconciling Using the Capacity Planner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Reconciling Using the Resource Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PROJECT PLANNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
RESOURCE BUDGETS MANAGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
USING CAPACITY PLANNING SPREADSHEETS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Basic Functionality of the Spreadsheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
SpreadSheet Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Tab Drop-downs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Budgeting Resources using the Spreadsheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Drag and Double-Click Auto-fill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Drag and Drop Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
Unique Functionality of the Project Resource EstImates Spreadsheet . . . . . . . . .
Unique Functionality of the Capacity Planner Spreadsheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Unique Functionality of the Resource Budgets Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Managing System Environments
At
SETTING UP SYSTEM ENVIRONMENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

@task Language Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Changing Browser Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
Custom Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CREATING PORTALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating Portal Profiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Portal Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
SETTING GLOBAL INTERFACE PREFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
SYSTEM SETTINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Current Version. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Email COnfiguration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
9
Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Email Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
Password preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
At
10
At
Chapter 1
Introduction to @task
This chapter contains the following sections:
• Introducing @task
• Collaborate with Your Team
• Manage Your Projects Effectively
• Administer @task
• Getting Additional Help
INTRODUCING @TASK
@task is a comprehensive project management tool that lets you increase your team efficiency and be more
productive in your work place. Its powerful feature set provides you with all the tools that you need to get your
tasks done on time and under budget. @task puts all of your project information at your fingertips so that
you can spend less time managing small details and more time leading your team.
ABOUT @TASK FEATURES

@task provides a full range of features for organizing, implementing, staffing and accomplishing projects. It
also gives you a great many other features that you need to ensure the confidentiality, availability, and integrity
of your mission-critical data. A few of @task’s many capabilities include:
• Complete flexibility and control in creating projects, scheduling tasks, and ensuring accountability
for assignments.
• A full range of dependency structures for your tasks.
• Exhaustive auditing capability.
• Project budgeting features.
• Comprehensive control over user accounts and access.
• Automated notifications and updates.
• Integrated issue management.
@TASK IS EASIER TO USE

@task 4.0 has been completely redesigned to be more intuitive and easier to use than earlier versions. The
INTRODUCING @TASK
new design of @task groups related features and makes them accessible with a single click. For example, you
can access setup, project management, or help desk features from the Application Home page with a simple
click.
@task also enables you to find the information you need more easily and quickly. Its navigation menu keeps
track of lists, and links to the places in the interface where you work, so that you can quickly return to them. It
also lets you access your projects, find anything quickly, or create new objects by simply clicking a link in the
menu.
@task implements bread crumb links. As you drill down into @task, it keeps track of and displays bread
crumb links to each screen in the chain. With a single click, you can go back to any previous screen in the
At
chain so that you don’t need to spend time navigating up and down screens.
@TASK’S WEB-BASED DESIGN LETS YOU LOG IN FROM ANYWHERE

@task is Web-based, meaning that you can access your projects, check on progress, or update your
information from any computer in the world with Internet access any time. This gives you complete flexibility
to hire contractors or employees who can work anywhere and allow them to immediately have access to your
project management solution. They don’t have to purchase or install any new software and they can log on at
any time and from any place.
8
Using @task you can more effectively collaborate with your team and maintain up-to-date status on the work
of each team member. @task enables you to:
• Report your progress on your tasks.
• Track task status for each member of your team.
• View the status of predecessor tasks on which your tasks depend.
• Submit issues to your team members.
• Manage your schedule including timesheets, and personal time.
• Access @task account from anywhere, at any time.
• Store information with @task objects by attaching notes and documents and implement content
management for your attachments.
KEEP TRACK OF PROGRESS

@task keeps track of the progress that you make on your tasks as well as the progress of each member of
your team. You can quickly see when projects are going smoothly or if something needs some attention. If
you need another task done before starting yours, you can instantly see if things are progressing according to
schedule. Not only does @task’s robust functionality streamline project progress in the office, but in offices
connected around the globe.
In today’s globalized economy you may work on a team with members located in many different geographic
locations. Using the internet, @task allows you to connect with peers from anywhere in the world. By
simultaneously updating project status, @task makes it simple to manage the complexity of multinational
efforts. For example, two programmers could be assigned to work on a task mandating them to write a
program. One could work while the other was sleeping. Then at the end of the day the first programmer could
update the task status, check in code that is attached to the task, write a few notes outlining what was
accomplished, and then go home. When the other programmer arrives at his office about the time the first
one leaves, everything is in place and ready to go. He checks out the code, reads the notes, and picks up
where the first programmer left off. In this way, @task can let you work around the clock and around the
world.
RESOLVE ISSUES QUICKLY

When you run into roadblocks, @task provides multiple methods to handle issues and get things back on
At
track. You can set up notifications to instantly inform anyone in the event of a problem. You can also turn
issues into tasks, assign them to subordinates, and set deadlines for issues to be resolved. If the issue
requires additional information, you can attach notes or files to the issue to store relevant documents and
data. You can also set audit trails to keep records of how issues are resolved and improve process
management.
Continuing with the previous example, if one of the two programmers encountered an issue, he could create
an issue in @task, type a description of the problem with suggestions, and submit the problem. @task would
immediately recognize the issue as an event requiring notification and send an email to the manager or
another team member. This person could then look at the problem, decide on a solution, turn the issue into a
task, prioritize it, add notes or documents if necessary, assign a schedule to the new task, and assign it to
another team member to be resolved. @task would see the new task, and immediately adjust the schedule of
9
the person to whom the new task was assigned as well as the entire project. It could also send a notification
to the team member informing him of the new task and its priority.
MANAGE SCHEDULES AND TIMESHEETS

@task makes scheduling easy and gives you a variety of scheduling options. It eliminates the hassle of
keeping track of multiple schedules for different projects and employees. You can create a global schedule of
days off and holidays that @task can use for all your projects. You can also create additional schedules for
projects and individuals. @task allows for different schedules for different projects and even for different
users on the same project. When @task schedules tasks, it incorporates all schedules and sets out the
timeframe for the tasks accordingly.
@task also keeps track of employee vacations and time off. Users can schedule time off and @task
incorporates this information into project schedules so that you know exactly when things will get done.
At
10
MANAGE YOUR PROJECTS EFFECTIVELY
Managing projects, assigning tasks, and tracking progress are foremost among a manager’s greatest
responsibilities. @task lets you do each of these with ease. @task enables you to:
• Create projects
• Assign tasks to team members
• Track the progress of your tasks
• Create reports which graphically display the project status
• Manage issues
• Automate processes
CREATE PROJECTS AND TASKS

You can create projects and tasks with a few simple mouse clicks. If you have planned appropriately, @task
makes creating a project a simple process.
BUILD AND CUSTOMIZE PROJECTS TO MEET YOUR UNIQUE NEEDS

When you create a project, @task gives you several options. You can customize the start date and status,
select the events that you want @task to record, set the update type, assign the user group, and set up the
queue properties. You can even build your own custom forms to create, capture and store data related to your
unique tasks.
For example, a city government that uses @task can use it to plan a project to build a park. Bill, the city
planner, is in charge of the project. He logs into @task, creates the project, names it, and schedules it from
the start date (though he could have scheduled from the end.) He assigns a status to it to show that it is in
the planning stages. Later, he can change the project status to current, or to one of a variety of other status
options. Bill selects from among the types of events that he wants @task to record, and selects the group of
people to whom he will assign the tasks.
Next, he builds customized schedules for his projects. He selects holidays and sets the standard work
schedule according to city policy. He builds additional schedules for each of his contractors in which he
customizes the number of hours worked per day and the days worked per week. @task takes his custom
schedules into account when he plans his tasks.
Next, Bill sets his options for handling issues. Because he decides to handle issues using a help desk queue,
At
he constructs and sets the attributes for the help desk form.
Bill needs some custom data to go with this project, so he builds a form with specific fields to capture and
track data that is specific to his project. He makes forms to list and rate the contractors that have previously
worked with the city and to keep track of which contractors are reputable and have good work histories.
In just a few minutes Bill has created his project and can move on to creating the tasks.
CREATE AND ORGANIZE TASKS

When you create tasks, you have more options that let you specify priority, tracking mode, duration, user
assignments, dependencies, and custom data. These options give you complete flexibility in deciding on and
implementing a specific plan to complete your project.
11
Continuing from the previous example, Bill, the city planner, uses @task to manage his park construction
project by creating specific tasks efficiently and specifically. As he creates the tasks, he names them, gives
them a priority, sets the tracking mode to specify the way in which users update progress, and sets task
constraints to specify the timing and dates for each task. He plans the task durations and makes
assignments. He constructs dependencies for the tasks to ensure that the tasks that need to be done first get
scheduled and completed first and so that @task schedules the tasks in the correct chronological order.
The first task he creates involves cleaning debris from the lot that is about to become the park. Other tasks
involve removing some trees and shrubs and bringing in some top soil. Because he cannot bring in the
topsoil and level the ground before the debris and trees are gone, Bill sets up some dependencies so that the
first tasks are complete before the others start.
For each task Bill creates, he sets dates and durations. He decides which tasks should be closer to the
beginning of the project, and which will need to be near the end. Some of his tasks need to be done on a
specific date while others can be placed where ever they fit. Bill has complete flexibility to schedule tasks as
necessary. He considers seasonal temperatures, budget constraints, planned road closures and other
external factors as he plans and schedules each task.
For each task he creates, in addition to setting schedules and priorities, Bill needs to capture some additional
custom data. His state mandates that each city must keep track of the number of contracts that go to
minority-owned businesses. Bill adds a check box field to his task form so that when he assigns a task to a
contractor, he can check the box to keep track of this statistic.
MANAGE PERSONNEL RESOURCES

Managing teams is easily accomplished with @task. It has many features that are focused on helping you
manage users with maximum efficiency. You can look at time sheets and check status and progress for each
employee. With @task you can quickly see which of your people is most efficient and gets the most done.
@task’s web-based architecture also makes it simple to manage teams that are geographically dispersed or
that fluctuate. While building the city park, Bill can hire any contractor who places a bid and create a user
account for each contractor. The contractor can log in from anywhere and update the status of each assigned
task. This contractor does not have to purchase any software or do anything other than access a URL and log
in to @task. For security, the contractor is given permissions to see only information relating to his task
assignments.
MANAGE CALENDAR SCHEDULES

Because not all organizations can take the same holidays off, @task has a feature that allows you to set a
At
schedule of the days that you plan to take as holidays. When you apply one of these to a project, @task
automatically schedules around those days. For example, Canadian users can schedule Canada Day on July
1st as a holiday while users in the United States can schedule Independence Day on July 4th. If a task is
scheduled during a week that contains a holiday, @task automatically assumes that you do not work on a
holiday and adds an additional day to the schedule.
@task also lets you set different schedules for each user assigned to do tasks. If you use contractors or your
employees have different schedules, you can set up a schedule for each user and @task keeps track of all the
schedules when you assign tasks.
12
This not only applies to holidays, but to daily work hours. You can create schedules with a work week that is 10
hours a day, Wednesday through Saturday. @task keeps track of everyone’s schedule and applies them to a
project so you know exactly when each task will get done.
MANAGE ISSUES
Regardless of how carefully you plan a project, unforeseen problems arise. @task has many powerful features
that let you capture, communicate, track, and resolve issues to minimize the impact that they have on your
project. When you set up a project, you select the way that you want to handle issues. You can create
notification rules to alert people instantly as issues related to tasks arise. You can also create queues for
employees, customers or anyone else to submit bugs, change requests, feedback, or issues. You can create
forms to queue these requests and assign them to individuals specifically or to groups to be resolved by the
next available group member. When you create the forms, you can also create fields to capture any
information that you need, sort the issues, and prioritize them.
MANAGE BUDGETS
@task lets you manage your project budget. You can keep track of costs for employees and job roles. When
you create user accounts, you can enter a cost per hour. Then when you create projects, you can enter a
budget amount. @task keeps track of your resource expenditures and costs.
UTILIZE TEMPLATES
If you have the same type of project that recurs, you can set up a project template with its tasks and their
durations. Then when you need to create this type of project again, you can save time by using the template.
The tasks, time lines, and descriptions are already set up for you. You can even save the task assignments and
then choose whether or not to use them when you create a new project.
DISTRIBUTE MANAGEMENT BURDENS

When projects are too large for a single person to manage them, you can use @task’s distributed
management features. You can assign multiple managers the responsibility to oversee task sets, and make
them accountable to all project participants.
At
13
ADMINISTER @TASK
@task has an extensive set of system administration features that let you customize every aspect of a user
account. @task lets you:
• Fully customize permissions. You can create user permission sets that allow users to add, edit, view,
delete, or change the status of any @task object on multiple levels. @task access levels are designed
to meet your exact need.
• Create user job roles. @task comes with a predefined set of job roles designed to meet the needs of
many organizations. However, if your company has a unique job role not listed in the current set, you
can design and create a new job role and add it to the list.
• Organize users into companies and organizations and create organization charts. With @task, users
who need to log into your application may not all belong to your company. Or, you may have users
from your subsidiary companies who log in to @task. If you have users from different organizations,
you can organize them by company. Users in a company can be placed into organization charts and
linked with managers and subordinates.
• Create custom forms. You can create tailored forms to capture and store data in conjunction with
your projects, tasks, and issues. You can keep track of any statistic and capture information or get
feedback on any topic. With @task’s easy-to-use interface, you can do this without writing any com-
puter code.
• Manage event notifications. Any event in @task can trigger an event notification. Managers and
users can know immediately when something occurs that affects them, their projects, or their tasks.
• Manage schedules. You can build schedules for any circumstance and apply them globally, to proj-
ects and to individuals. @task keeps track of all your schedules and set the project time frames
accordingly.
ADMINISTER @TASK
• Create different types of hours for billing. If your employees work on different projects for different
clients at the same time, you need a way to keep track of how much time an employee spent on each
project so that you can bill clients properly. @task gives you this capability by letting you customize
your timesheets. You can keep track of hours spent on any activity including travel time, sick time,
holidays, or any other hour type.
• Manage system settings. @task has features to let you customize your system settings. You can
change everything from the way your lists look to the page that a user sees upon logging into @task.
You can even change the size of the application screens to optimize the look and functionality of
At
@task.
MANAGE USER ACCOUNTS AND SET UP ORGANIZATIONS

@task gives you several options in setting up users, groups, and organizations. A user can be a member of a
group, and have a specific job role assigned to him. You can assign specific permissions to users or job roles,
and then place them in groups. You can then assign the groups that you create to projects. The members of
the groups work in their projects in accordance with their assigned user permissions. This lets you assign
groups with some members that have read-only permissions, some with permissions to work only within
their assigned task sets, and some with management responsibilities who have full permissions within the
scope of their projects.
14
You can also create organization charts for all users with links to supervisors and subordinates. This can be
used within organizations to access names, phone numbers and other information about employees,
customers and contacts.
MANAGE SYSTEM ENVIRONMENTS

@task has tools to customize the default interface that your users see and several of the system settings that
they use. Some of the features include the following:
• You can create custom views to show users the exact information that they need.
• You can create new tabs on the application screens and populate the new screens with any data that
you choose.
• You can manipulate password settings to ensure that users create secure passwords.
• You can manipulate portal settings to customize the screens that users see when they log in.
• You can set email preferences.
There are many other settings that you can manipulate as well.
@task gives you broad control over your application settings and functions, letting you make @task into the
optimal project management tool for your organization.
ADMINISTER @TASK
At
15
GETTING ADDITIONAL HELP
@task features multiple help methods that you can use to get information about using @task. You can use
the forums to inquire about @task. The @task staff monitors and answers forum question each business
day. @task also features an intra-application help system that lets you access this manual and search other
@task help content.
FORUMS
In addition to this guide, you may want to consult the @task online forums at http://www.attask.com/
forums/.
Within the forums, you can post questions or you can search the forums to find answers to questions that
have been posted previously. The forums have the following areas:
• Using @task 4.0
• Installation & Setup
• Developer Community
• Previous @task Versions
As of the date of this publication, there are more than 1000 posts in the forums, so it is likely that you will find
the answers to almost any question. However, if you do not find the answer that you need, you can post
additional queries in the forums.
SEARCHING THE FORUMS

The forums are searchable and with the amount of information in them, you are more than likely to find the
information you need to answer your questions. To search the forums, simply click Search at the right of the
toolbar, then type your search term in the field. Optionally, you can click the advanced search option to refine
your search. Figure 1.1 displays the location of the search tool on the forum screen.
FIGURE 1.1: SEARCHING THE FORUMS
At
16
POSTING TO THE FORUMS
If you do not find the answer to your question within the existing threads in the forum, you can write a new
post and the @task staff will quickly answer your question (generally within two business hours.) Before you
can post to the forums, you must register as a forum user. To register, click register on the left of the toolbar.
FIGURE 1.2: REGISTER WITHIN THE FORUMS
When registering, be prepared to provide the following information:

• Screen Name
• Password
• Email Address
• Real Name
• Company or Organization Name
• Referrer Name (if any)
• Time Zone Information
Additionally, you have the option to receive an occasional email from @task. If you post to the forum, you will
receive emails that notify you when there is a reply to your post. In addition to replies from the @task staff,
At
your posts may also receive replies from other helpful forum members.
N O T E : AtTask will not divulge any personal information that you provide within the forums to third parties.
Additionally, the only public information will be your screen name. Other information (with the exception of
your password of course) is available to @task forum administrators.
Please read our Privacy Policy.
INTRA-APPLICATION HELP
You can access help from within @task. The Help icon ( ) in the upper-right corner of the application lets
you access a searchable HTML version of this manual. You can also access and search articles posted to the
forum and other @task help and training materials from this location.
17
FIGURE 1.3: SEARCH SCREEN
At
18
At
Chapter 2
Getting Started
• Logging In and Out
• Understanding and Customizing the User Interface
• Accessing Personal User Account Information
• Finding Things
• Favorites
• On-Screen Help Tips
• Filtering, Grouping and Viewing Lists
• Intra-Application Messages
• Viewing @task Reports
• Helpful Hints
• Power Searches
• Accessing @task Using Wireless Application Protocol
LOGGING IN AND OUT
To log on to @task, you need a user name and password. If you do not know your user name and password,
contact your system administrator. You can also user the forgot username or password function to recover
your password.
When you log on to @task for the first time after installing it, you log on to the administrator account that
@task automatically creates during the install process. The account uses a default user name and password:
User Name: admin
Password: user
You should change the password immediately upon logging in for the first time. See “Changing Your
Password” on page 25.
In order to open @task, you need to have an Internet browser installed on your computer. You need to point
your Web browser to the URL of your @task instance in order to log on. Your system administrator should
know this information. Figure 2.1 shows a login screen.
FIGURE 2.1: LOGIN SCREEN
LOGGING IN AND OUT
To log on to @task
1. In a Web browser, type the URL of your @task Web server. Example: www.my_attask_server.com/attask
2. Type your user name and password, and then click Submit.
To log out
1. Click the Logout icon ( )in the upper-right of your screen.
To recover your password
1. In the login screen, click where it says Click Here.
At
2. Type the email address for the user who needs to recover a forgotton user name or password and click
Submit.
N O T E: This is the email that is set up in the @task email preferences. See “Email Preferences” on
page 332.
20
FIGURE 2.2: RECOVER A FORGOTTON PASSWORD OR USER NAME
Administrators can also reset passwords for users who have forgotton them. See “Resetting User Passwords”
on page 270.
LOGGING IN AND OUT
At
21
UNDERSTANDING AND CUSTOMIZING THE USER INTERFACE
The user interface has several functional areas. These areas consist of the Application Menu, the Contextual
Menu, the navigation menu, the Context Locator, the tabs, and the Section Area.
Figure 2.3 shows the interface and displays the areas.
FIGURE 2.3: USER INTERFACE
Table 2.1 describes what each of these areas of the user interface does.
TABLE 2.1: USER INTERFACE AREAS
AREA DESCRIPTION
Application Menu Takes you to the main areas of the application.
Contextual Menu Links you to personalized areas of the application.
navigation menu Helps you find and create items, navigate to recent areas in the application, and go to
personalized areas of @task.
Tabs Takes you to related areas of the screen.
Context Locator Helps you navigate back up after you drill down into the application.
At
Section Area The main interface area. Click these sections to drill down into the application.
Favorites Provides quick access to your selected favorite objects.
SETTING DEFAULT TABS

You can customize the look of the @task screens. When you open the screens, each section area has tabs
that show associated information. You can set the default tab so that a specific tab opens when you access
that screen.
To set a default tab
1. Click the tab that you want to set as the default tab.
2. To the right of the tabs, click the Make this tab the default icon ( ).
22
CHANGING AVAILABLE TABS
In various areas of the application, such as in project and task views, you can add and remove the tabs that
display at the top of the application window. You can also preview the tabs that you may select. You can have
a total of six tabs on a screen. Figure 2.4 shows an example of the Tab Setup tool.
FIGURE 2.4: TAB SETUP
At
To set up the tabs

1. Open a project or task to view it.
2. Click the Tab Setup icon ( ).
3. Click the Add icon ( )to add a new tab.
4. Click the Delete icon ( ) to remove a tab.
5. Use the arrows to reorder the icons.
23
CHANGING USER INTERFACE PREFERENCES
@task lets you modify your stylesheet and your application size.
CHANGING DEFAULT APPLICATION SIZE

@task lets you change your pixel size to increase or decrease the size of the application in your browser. This
lets you optimize size for your monitor settings. If you are using a smaller monitor, you may need to use a
smaller application size.
To change the pixel size
1. On the Application Home screen, click My Profile Ω Interface Ω User Interface Preferences.
2. In the UI Content Width (pixels) field, select whether you want a large, medium, or small interface size.
CHANGING THE STYLE SHEET

Currently @task has a single stylesheet. Stylesheets will enable you to change the theme, look and feel of the
@task user interface. Future releases may provide additional options.
To access the stylesheet controls
1. On the Application Home screen, My Profile Ω Interface Ω User Interface Preferences.
At
24
ACCESSING PERSONAL USER ACCOUNT INFORMATION
All @task users can view and change their personal information such as their address and phone number.
These procedures show you how to access and edit your personal information.
EDITING PERSONAL INFORMATION

Your personal information area displays your name, user name, email, phone number, and address. You can
change any of these as needed.
To access the personal information screen
1. From the Application Home screen, click My Profile Ω Information.
2. In the contextual menu, click Edit User.
ACCESSING PERSONAL USER ACCOUNT INFORMATION
CHANGING YOUR PASSWORD

The first time that you log in, you should reset your password. You should also change your password
regularly to ensure that no one other than you can access your account. If @task is configured to use secure
passwords, then you will be required to change your password every 90 days, make it at least six characters
long, and use at least 3 of the following in your password:
• Upper-case letters
• Lower-case letters
• Numbers
• Special characters
To change your password
1. On the Application Home screen, click My Profile Ω Information.
2. In the contextual menu, click Reset Password.
3. Type and confirm your new password.
4. Click Submit.
At
25
FINDING THINGS
After you log in to @task, you need to be able to locate the information that you need. You have several
options to accomplish this. One of the best options that you have is to customize your interface so that the
information you use most appears when you log on to @task. See “Setting Default Tabs” on page 22.
Another way to easily access the most commonly used areas of @task is to use the navigation menu located
at the top of the @task interface. This feature has four drop-down menus that you can use to quickly navigate
around @task without having to drill down through the application. Table 2.2 lists and explains these menus.
TABLE 2.2: NAVIGATION MENU
MENU DESCRIPTION
My... This menu takes you to a listing of objects that you control or own. Either you have created them
or they are assigned to you. For example, if you select Tasks from this menu, you get a list of tasks
that are assigned to you. If you select Saved Searches, you see a list of searches that you have
saved.
Find... This menu displays screens that let you search for @task objects. The screens have fields that let
you customize and filter your searches based on the attributes of the object you select. For exam-
ple, when you search for documents, you can search by name, description or another field.
Optionally, you can use a quick search to look through all of the object attributes and get matches
from any field. If you type the string ’sha’ in the quick search, @task looks through all the object
fields and returns a list of all matches. See “Using Standard Searches” on page 26.
Create... If you have appropriate permissions to create a new object, you can click this menu to quickly cre-
ate new objects. System Administrators can create groups, projects, new user accounts, and
other objects. However, in this menu, you cannot create objects that must be associated with
another object such as a task, which must be associated with a project.
Recent... This menu lists areas of @task that you have recently visited. If you click on a selection in the
menu, @task returns you to that area instantly. This menu is organized by category for quick ref-
erence.
FINDING THINGS
Favorites Similar to the Recent menu, the icon to the right of the Recent menu ( ) lists all objects that
have been marked by the user as a “favorite”. An object is marked as “favorite” using the Add to
Favorites icon ( ) and refreshing the page. The favorite menu is organized by category for quick
reference.
USING STANDARD SEARCHES

@task has a powerful search feature that lets you quickly find any object. You can search all text, or you can
At
search by field to find the data you need. The Search selection in the navigation menu lets you access the
searches. For each search you do, you can use standard, advanced, or custom data fields for your search.
Fields in the standard, advanced, and custom data fields are combined when you search. When you have
finished your search, you can save it and quickly access it the next time you need it without having to set it up
again.
After you submit your search, the search results screen has tabs that let you access the search fields so that
you can easily modify and resubmit your searches.
SEARCHING FOR CUSTOM DATA

Custom Data search fields are unique. These search fields are set up from categories that you can create and
attach to objects. @task enables you to search your custom fields. For example, assume that you have set up
26
a category for projects that has a field to record client names. You use this field to record the name of the
client for whom you did the project. If you want to search for all projects associated with a specific client, in a
project search you can click the custom data tab, select the category, and search in the client field. Your
results include all projects for the specified client. See “Creating and Setting Up Categories” on page 224.
Additionally, you can use power searches to create searches for data that is not specified on the search
screens. See “Power Searches” on page 51.
To use searches
1. From the navigation menu, click Find Ω <object_name>.
2. Fill in the fields to narrow your search. Fields in separate tabs are combined when you search.
To save your search
1. In your search results screen, click Save Search in the contextual menu.
2. Name the search and click Submit.
3. Your Saved Search will be available in the My...Saved Searches area
USING INLINE SEARCH FEATURES

@task implements powerful search functions. Many of @task’s forms have inline search functions that let
you search for users, groups, job roles and other objects from within the forms you are filling out. When you
see a field in a form with a Binocular icon ( ), you can use an inline search to complete that field if the
object that you want to select is not in the menu. Figure 2.5 demonstrates a form with an inline search.
FIGURE 2.5: INLINE SEARCH
FINDING THINGS
At
When you use an inline search, you can use a quick search or you can search for specific terms or attributes.
N O T E: When using an inline search, after the results appear in the Search Results pane, you must
click on check box icon to select a user name. You cannot click on the object name to select an item.
The following procedure is an example of how to use an inline search. This example searches for templates
when creating a new project. Inline searches for other objects have varying fields.
27
To find a template via an inline search
1. Type the values to filter the search, then click Search.
FIGURE 2.6 :INLINE SEARCH STEP 1
2. Select the object that you want by clicking the Add icon ( )next to it.
FIGURE 2.7 :INLINE SEARCH STEP 2
FINDING THINGS
At
If there is only one possible value for the field that you are searching for, then click additional Add icons
to add additional values.
3. Your selections appear in the Current Values pane. Click the Red Minus icon ( )next to the user name to
remove a user. When the list contains the correct values, click Submit.
28
FAVORITES
You can mark projects, tasks, users, issues, even documents as your favorites. The marked items will show up
in your Favorites list, marked by the Favorites icon ( ) next to the Recent menu.
To add a project, task, user, issue, etc., to your favorites, simply click on the Add to My Favorites icon ( ) in
the upper left of the screen, then refresh the browser. The icon will change ( ) to indicate that the item has
been added to your Favorites list.
To access your favorites, click on the Favorites icon to open the Favorites list. Simply select, as in Figure 2.8,
the desired item from the list to open it.
FIGURE 2.8: FAVORITES MENU
To remove an item from your Favorites menu, open the item and click on the Delete from My Favorites icon
( ) The icon will change to the Add to My Favorites icon to indicate it has been removed from the Favorites
menu.
FAVORITES
At
29
EXPORTING DATA FROM SEARCHES AND LISTS
In @task you can export data from various searches, lists, and reports. For example, you could create a billing
record. After you have created billing records, you can export them to one of several formats. @task gives you
the option to export to a .tsv, Microsoft Excel, or .pdf format. This functionality is available for all lists in
@task.
To export lists
1. From the navigation menu, click Find Ω <Object> and fill in the search screens to access the object
report. Alternatively navigate to the list you want to export using @task’s navigation screens.
FIGURE 2.9 :FIND BILLING RECORD
2. In any list, click the left-most boxes in the list to select the list objects that you want to export. Use key-
EXPORTING DATA FROM SEARCHES AND LISTS
board controls to select multiple records.

FIGURE 2.10 :BILLING RECORD LIST
3. Click the Export icon ( ).

4. Select the format into which you want to export the data.
FIGURE 2.11 :SELECT EXPORT FORMAT
At
5. Depending on the operating system you use, you may have the option of opening or saving the file. Use
your operating system functionality to either save the file to your hard drive, or open it with the associ-
ated application.
30
At EXPORTING DATA FROM SEARCHES AND LISTS
FIGURE 2.12 :DATA IN AN APPLICATION
31
ON-SCREEN HELP TIPS
@task has been designed to be as simple as possible. Each of @task’s sections has a description that
describes its functions. Additionally, @task uses pop-up help in forms to explain how to fill in the fields
properly. To access these, let your cursor hover over any underlined item in a form. Figure 2.13 shows an
example of how this looks.
FIGURE 2.13: ON-SCREEN HELP
ON-SCREEN HELP TIPS
At
32
FILTERING, GROUPING AND VIEWING LISTS
@task features a wide range of filters that enable you to instantly narrow the objects in a list to only those that
you desire. For example, if you are viewing a task list and want to see only unassigned tasks, you could select
filter from the menu to show only unassigned tasks.
The majority filters that you can select are self-explanatory. For example, if you select “All Unassigned Tasks”
in a task list, you will see all of the tasks in a project that are not assigned to any user. The “Active Tasks”
warrants some explanation, however. This filter shows you tasks that are currently in progress. “Active Tasks”
do not include dependent tasks that cannot start until another task has met it’s predecessor requirement. You
can use the “Active Tasks” filter to find tasks that are currently in progress and tasks that are late and are
holding up other tasks.
“Active Tasks” are different than “Late Tasks”. If a predecessor task is late, all of its dependant tasks are late
as well. Therefore, all other the tasks show up as late tasks. “Active Tasks’ only shows tasks that are “At Risk”
or “Late Tasks”. Figure 2.13, demonstrates how to select one of the various filters available in @task.
FIGURE 2.14: FILTERS
Similarly, in many lists, you have the option to select various ways to group lists of objects. When you select a
grouping option, @task reorders the list according to your specifications. In Figure 2.15 the task list is being
grouped according to task status.
FIGURE 2.15: GROUPING
At
Frequently you will have the option to change the view of the object list. For example, you can change a
project task list to the Gantt Chart view. Figure 2.16 shows an example of changing views.
33
FIGURE 2.16: GANTT CHART VIEW
Another very useful view is the Risk/Benefit Chart that uses the Portfolio Values of a project, and the Budget
to create visual graph. A brief description of this chart is instructional, because it has special functionality. An
example Risk/Benefit chart is seen in Figure 2.17. The axes are Alignment versus Benefit. The size of the
project Budget determines the size of the sphere. If only a project name is visible, it has no Budget. The Risk
associated with the sphere determines the color. A corresponding color scale is found in the bottom left
corner. You can mouseover the project name to display the Risk, Benefit, Alignment and Budget fields of the
project. Clicking on the sphere will take you directly to the project landing page.
FIGURE 2.17: RISK/BENEFIT CHART
At
34
Any list of objects has a selection of these options. Some lists may not have options to filter or view. For
example, lists that are the result of a search do not have filter options because these lists can be filtered when
you set up the searches.
Custom Views can be setup at the Administration level to be made available to all users. See “Custom Views”
on page 324.
Additionally, @task can be configured to allow you to create your own filters, views and groupings. Each of
these functions is described here.
CREATING A CUSTOM FILTER

Filters determine which objects will be displayed in a results list. Any object not matching the filter criteria will
be ignored. For example, in a list of tasks, you may want to only view tasks that are assigned to you and are
less than 50% complete. You can specify a custom filter that will filter out all tasks not assigned to you, or that
have a completion percentage of 50% or more.
You can create custom filters from any list that has a filter drop-down.
To create a custom filter:
1. Open the Filter drop-down and click on the New Filter option, as seen in Figure 2.17, at the bottom of the
list.
FIGURE 2.18 :NEW FILTER OPTION
This will open the Add Filter screen to the Filter Details tab.
At
35
FIGURE 2.19 :ADD FILTER SCREEN
2. Enter a name for your filter. In this case, we are using the name ‘My Tasks < 50%’ to represent the filter of
“Tasks Assigned to Me that are Less Than 50% complete”
3. Notice that the Object Type is already set for you. In this case, the object type is Task since we were on the
Task list when we selected the New Filter option.
4. If you want this filter to be available to other users, click the checkbox labelled ‘Make available to other
users’.
N O T E: Checking this box will make it available for other users to link to their filter box, but will not link
it automatically. This means that it will not show up in their filter drop-downs until the filter has been
linked to their profile.
5. Click the Filter Parameters tab
FIGURE 2.20 :FILTER PARAMETERS TAB.
At
This is where you define the filter criteria.
36
6. Click the Blue Add icon ( ) to add another filter criteria. In this case, we are adding two filter criteria, so
we clicked the plus twice.
7. In the Field Source drop-down, select the object that you want to filter on. In most cases, this will be the
primary object and it will already be selected. In this case, Task is the Object Type of the filter and it is
selected by default.
8. In the field directly below the Field Source, select the field that you want to filter on.
9. If applicable, select the Mod for the filter (Equals, Less Than, Less Than or Equal To, etc.) This allows you
to set some comparison between the selected field value and the entered value.
10. Set the desired filter value in the Value/Range field.
Our example filter criteria are shown in the screenshot above. We will examine them in detail.
We start with the Task assignment piece of the filter. For the field we select Assigned To ID on the Task object.
The value should be the ID of the current user. We could find out the ID of the logged in user, however, if we
make this available to other users, we don’t want them to see our tasks, so we need to use wildcards to tell
the system to make the value dynamic and always get the ID of the user that is logged in.
USING WILDCARDS IN FILTER CRITERIA

In our example above, we want the filter to return only tasks assigned to the user that is currently logged in.
This is where Wildcards come in. You will find a short help section on wildcards at the bottom of the Filter
Parameters tab. See Figure 2.19 above.
Wildcards always begin with two dollar signs ($$). To get the current logged in user, we will use the wildcard
$$USER.ID, which tells the system, “get the current user and get the ID from that user.”
USING MODS IN FILTER CRITERIA

Continuing our filter example, we want only tasks that are less than 50% complete. For this, we will use the
Mod “Less Than”. So, we select Task as the object, Percent Complete as the Field, Less Than as the Mod and
we enter 50 in the Value to represent 50%. This tells the system that we want only tasks that are Less Than
fifty percent complete. We could easily change the Mod to Less Than Equal to return all tasks that are less
than 50% and all tasks that are exactly 50% complete.
Other Mods available are shown in the following table:
TABLE 2.3: FILTER MODS
MOD DESCRIPTION
Equal Only where the field value is exactly equal to the Value/Range value
At
Not Equal Only where the field value is NOT exactly equal to the Value/Range value
Null Only where the field has no value or is empty
Not Null Only where the field has ANY value
Allow Null Where the field is equal to the value or is null (empty)
Less Than Only where the field value is less than the Value/Range value
Less Than Equal Only where the field value is less than or equal to the Value/Range value.
Greater Than Only where the field value is greater than the Value/Range value
Greater Than Equal Only where the field value is greater than or equal to the Value/Range value
37
TABLE 2.3: FILTER MODS
MOD DESCRIPTION
Between Only where the field value is between the two values entered
In Only where the field value is one of the entered values. Separate the included values with a
comma.
Not Between Only where the field value is outside of the range specified by the two Value/Range values.
USING A CUSTOM FILTER

Once our filter has been created, it shows up in our Filter drop-down. If selected, it filters out all objects that
don’t fit the selection criteria. Figure 2.21 is an example of the filter we just created.
FIGURE 2.21: EXAMPLE FILTER
Notice the Blue Filter icon ( ) next to the filter drop-down, indicating that some results have been filtered
out.
CREATING A CUSTOM VIEW

In addition to the standard views in @task, you can create custom views that determine which columns of
information you want to display for each element in a particular type of list. For example, we can create a
custom view that displays the name of a project, the due date and several custom data fields that represent
key information for each of our projects.
We will walk through an example of creating a custom view for projects in a paper company.
To create the custom view:
1. Open any project list. You can run a project search or use the My Projects list.
2. In the View drop-down, select New View. This will open the Add View screen.
3. Enter a Name for the custom view. In our example, we will use the name “Paper Order Details”.
FIGURE 2.22 :ADD VIEW
At
4. If you want to make this view available to other users, you can check the box next to ‘Make available to
other users’.
38
NOTE: To link the view to another user, you will still need to edit the Interface preferences for that user.
5. Open the View Layout tab. This is where you will setup the columns that will be visible in the view
FIGURE 2.23 :
6. To add an additional column, click the Blue Add icon ( ).

7. Each Field, or Column, has 6 pieces of information that determines what data will be displayed in the col-
umn and how to display that information.
a. Link. Makes the data in the cell a link to the object. In the example above, the Project name will be a
link to the project details.
b. Field Source. The object from which to get the information. These are all related, fundamentally, to
the primary object of the View—in this case, Projects.
c. Field Name. The actual field that will be displayed. This will consist of the fields available on the Field
Source object as well as Custom Data parameters, such as the Paper Color and Quantity.
d. Width. The width, in pixels, of the column.
e. Stretch. The stretch is specified as a percentage and specifies which columns will be stretched when
the total column widths do not add up to the available screen space. For example, in the example
above, the total width is 150 + 80 + 100 + 100 + 75 = 505. If the available screen space is 600, then
100% of the available space, or 95 pixels, will be added to the Name field width.
At
f. Format. The format specifies the output format of the data. In most cases, you can leave this at the
default. The Format is most useful when dealing with Dates and allows you to display dates in sev-
eral different formats.
8. When you have set all the field values, click Submit to add the new view to your list View drop-down. The
following screenshot shows the Custom View that we just created.
39
FIGURE 2.24 :SEARCH RESULTS
CREATING A CUSTOM GROUPING

Grouping organizes your data list into manageable groups that make it easier to digest information and
provides useful aggregates and roll ups of data. For example, grouping a list of tasks by Due Date can be
useful to organize which tasks are upcoming and when. Another example would be to group Hours by
Company to get a total number of hours worked on projects for a particular company.
For our example, we will create a custom Project grouping to group by multiple levels. First by whether the
project is a local delivery or a shipment, specified by the custom data field “Local Delivery?”. Next, we will
group by whether the client is a new customer, specified by the custom data field “New Customer”. And,
finally, we will group by the due date by week, which means we will need to use the Planned Completion Date
(due date).
To create a custom grouping:
1. Open any list for the type of object you want to group. In our example, we want to group a project list, so
we will open a list of projects.
2. In the Group: drop-down, click New Grouping. This will open the Add Grouping screen.
FIGURE 2.25 :ADD GROUPING-DETAILS TAB
At
3. Enter a name for your grouping, keeping in mind that this is the name that will appear in the Group drop-
down. For our example, we called it “Local / New Customer / Due” to indicate what the grouping does.
4. If you want to make this grouping available to other users, you can check the box next to ‘Make available
to other users’.
NOTE: To link the grouping to another user, you will still need to edit the Interface preferences for that
user.
5. Open the Groups tab. This is where you setup the specific grouping fields.
40
FIGURE 2.26 :ADD GROUPING-GROUPS TAB
6. Similar to the Views setup, the Group by... field lists the primary object, in this case Project, and any
related objects which can be used to group the projects together.
7. The Field Name is where you select the field you want to group on. In the example, we want two Custom
Data Fields, “Local Delivery?” and “New Customer”, and then the due date, which is the “Planned Com-
pletion Date” field.
8. The Group Dates by field is used only when a date is selected in the Field Name. This allows us to group
by various date ranges. For our example, we want to group the due date by Week.
The table below explains each of the date range groupings:
TABLE 2.4: GROUP DATES BY VALUES
DATE RANGE DESCRIPTION
Day of Year Groups by single days of the year. This ignores the year in the grouping, so all dates that fall on
January 1 will be grouped together, regardless of the year.
Day Groups by a single day. This takes into account the year, so January 1, 2007 is different than
January 1, 2008, and the dates will be grouped separately.
Week of Year Groups by weeks of the year. This ignores the year in the grouping, so all dates that fall in the
first week of any year will be grouped together, regardless of the year.
Week Groups by a week. This takes into account the year, so the first week of 2007 will be grouped
separately from the first week of 2008.
Month of Year Groups by months of the year. This ignores the year in the grouping, so all dates that fall in the
month of August of any year will be grouped together, regardless of the year
At
Month Groups by month. This takes into account the year, so August 2007 will be grouped separately
from August 2008.
Quarter of Year Groups by quarters of the year. This ignores the year in the grouping, so all dates that fall in
Q4 of any year will be grouped together, regardless of the year
Quarter Groups by quarter. This takes into account the year, so Q4, 2007 will be grouped separately
from Q4, 2008.
Year Groups by year. Each year is a unique grouping.
9. Press the Submit button to save your new Grouping to your Group drop-down and return to the list with
your grouping active. Figure 2.25 shows the grouping we just created.
41
At FILTERING, GROUPING AND VIEWING LISTS
FIGURE 2.27 :GROUPING EXAMPLE LIST
42
LINKING CUSTOM FILTERS, VIEWS AND GROUPINGS
When custom filters, views and groupings are created, they can be set as public, meaning that other users
can utilize those filters, views and groupings. In order to take advantage of those, the filter, view or grouping
must be “linked” to the user. For example, let’s say Michael Scott creates a filter that only displays incomplete
tasks that belong to users that report to him and Bruce Dickinson wants the same filter. He can either create
a new filter just like the one the Michael created, or, better yet, he can just link Michael’s public filter to his
profile. This is done through the user’s Interface Preferences.
To link filters, views and groupings to your profile:
1. Open your interface preferences by clicking on My Profile Ω Interface Ω List Control Setup. This will open
the List Control Setup screen.
FIGURE 2.28 :LIST CONTROL SETUP
2. Select the type of list from the Object Type drop-down. This will correlate with the lists where you want
the filter, view or grouping to show up and the type of filter, view or grouping they are. For example, click-
ing on Project in the Object Type drop-down will display only Project-type filters, views and groupings for
me to link to my profile.
3. Next, you will see the page expand to include an area for each of Filters, Views and Groupings.
FIGURE 2.29 :LIST CONTROL ADD VIEW
At
4. To add a filter, view or grouping, click the Add icon ( ) and use the inline search to locate the corre-
sponding filter, view or grouping that you wish to add. If the one you want is not in the resulting list,
make sure it is public and that you have access to view it.
43
5. To remove a filter, view or grouping from your list drop-downs, click the Remove icon ( ). Notice that
you cannot remove the Read Only List Controls. These can be changed by the Administrator, but not by
individual users.
6. When you have finished, click ‘Submit’ to save the changes. These changes are immediately reflected in
the list views.
At
44
DASHBOARDS
There are several configurable dashboards in @task, the most commonly used being the Application Home
page, also called the Portal Page. Each configurable dashboard can have up to 4 admin-configured tabs and
up to 4 user-configured tabs, each with up to 3 Portal Sections, or reports. This section discusses setting up
the user-configurable tabs of a dashboard.
To configure a dashboard:
1. On a dashboard, like the Application Home page, click the Edit Dashboard icon ( ). Alternatively, you
can click My Profile Ω Dashboard. This will open the dashboard edit screen.
FIGURE 2.30 :EDIT DASHBOARD VIEW
2. To create a new tab, click the Add Tab icon ( ). This will create a new tab and allow you to add sections
or reports to it.
3. Name your new tab using the Tab Name field.
DASHBOARDS
4. Add new reports to the tab using the Link Report buttons ( ). You can add up to three reports per tab.
When a report is added, it appears in the top section as shown Figure 2.29 below.
At
45
FIGURE 2.31 :EDIT DASHBOARD VIEW—REPORTS
5. To remove a report from a tab, click the Remove icon ( )next to the report.
6. Tabs can be re-ordered using the blue arrows ( ) beneath the tabs at the top.
7. Tabs can be deleted by clicking the Delete Tab icon( )
8. When you have finished, click Submit. The changes to the dashboard are immediate.
DASHBOARDS
At
46
INTRA-APPLICATION MESSAGES
@task has a built-in messaging system. Any time that you edit a project, task, or issue, whether you update
the completion status or for any other reason, you can send a message to another team member who is
assigned to the project. For example, if you finish a task early, when you update the status you can send a
message to a coworker telling him that you have completed your task early and that he can now start on his
task. Figure 2.30 shows an example of a message.
FIGURE 2.32: CREATE AN INTRA-APPLICATION MESSAGE
INTRA-APPLICATION MESSAGES
The checkbox next to the E-mail icon ( ), if checked, will also cause the note entered to be e-mailed to the
selected users.
N O T E: If you do not select any recipients, the message is still saved with the object as a note. See
“Writing, Viewing, and Replying to Notes” on page 208.
When you have new messages, an the New Messages icon ( )appears in the top right corner. Click it to
open the messages. The messages are displayed in a notes list. When you view your messages, you can see
who sent the message and the object (project, task, etc.) to which it is attached. You can reply to messages
and create threads as you would for other notes. When you create replies, you can select users to whom you
want to send them as new messages.
You can remove messages from your personal inbox by selecting them using the Selection icon ( ) next to
each message to remove, and then clicking on the Mark As Read icon ( ). Doing this does NOT delete the
At
message, but merely removes if from your messages queue. New messages are automatically removed from
your list after 30 days.
47
VIEWING @TASK REPORTS
@task has an extensive list of built-in reports that you can access and view. Table 2.5 lists the reports with
brief descriptions for each.
TABLE 2.5: @TASK REPORTS
REPORT NAME DESCRIPTION REPORT TYPE
Actual Revenue by Company Actual Revenue by Company Chart
Actual Revenue by Group Actual Revenue by Group Chart
Billed Revenue by Company Billed Revenue by Company Chart
Billed Revenue by Group Billed Revenue by Group Chart
Billed Revenue by Month Billed Revenue by Month Chart
Budget and Actual Cost by Week Project budget and actual cost trends for the last 6 months by Chart
Chart actual week of completion of projects
Budget and EAC by Week Chart Project budget and EAC (estimated actual cost) trends for the Chart
next 8 weeks by projected week of completion of projects
Completed Issues By Week Completed issues grouped by week of completion displayed in a Chart
bar chart
Completed Issues By Week By Completed issues grouped by week of completion and by user Chart
User displayed in a bar chart
Current Projects Current projects list Project

Hours By User Chart Hours grouped by the user who submitted them displayed in a Chart
bar chart
Issue Calendar A calendar of open issues assigned to the viewer Task
Issues By Status Chart Issues grouped by status displayed in a pie chart Chart
My Approvals Approvals that are waiting to be approved Task
My Combined Calendar A calendar containing current tasks, issues, and projects of the Task
viewer's profile
My Documents A list of documents uploaded by the user Document
My Issues A list of issues assigned to the viewer Issue

At
My Project Open Issues Open issues in current projects that the viewer is a team mem- Issue
ber of
My Projects A list of current projects that the viewer is a team member of Project
My Submitted Issues A list of issues submitted by the viewer Issue
My Tasks Tasks assigned to the user viewing this list Task
My Timesheets A list of timesheets belonging to the viewer Timesheet
My Unassigned Issues A list of unassigned current issues that match a job role in the Issue
viewer's profile
48
TABLE 2.5: @TASK REPORTS
REPORT NAME DESCRIPTION REPORT TYPE
My Unassigned Tasks A list of unassigned current tasks that match a job role in the Task
viewer's profile
My Upcoming Tasks Tasks assigned to the viewer that have planned start dates before Task
two weeks from today
My Work Schedule A grid showing the viewer's currently scheduled work User
Open Timesheets A list of open timesheets Timesheet
Planned / Actual Work by Week Planned / actual work trends (in hours) for the last 6 months by Chart
Chart actual week of completion of projects
Project Calendar A calendar containing current projects that the viewer is a team Task
member of
Projects By Condition By Group Projects sorted by condition and group Chart

Chart
Projects By Condition Chart Projects sorted by condition Chart
Projects By Priority Chart Projects sorted by priority Chart
Revenue By Project Start Date Actual, planned and billed revenue trends for the last 12 months Chart
by actual project start date
Tasks By Condition Chart Current tasks grouped by Progress Status Chart
Tasks By Status Chart Tasks grouped by status displayed in a pie chart Chart
Trouble Tasks Active tasks whose status is either 'Late' or 'Behind Schedule Task
Work Required by Job Role Chart Work required for the next 12 weeks by job role Chart
N O T E: Portal sections that you create are added to this list of reports. You can only see the reports
that you have permissions to view.
At
49
HELPFUL HINTS
The following helpful hints will help you to navigate around @task:
• You can click on column headers to reorder object lists.
• If you click Submit and get an error that says that there is an improperly formatted entry, @task dis-
plays the improper field in red along with its related tab. One common reason for this is that the task
dates don’t match up, such as if you attempt to complete a task before it has started. Be sure to
check that the dates are in sync.
• Click the @task logo in the upper-left of the screen to return to your Application Home page.
• If you navigate away from a form without clicking the Submit button, your data is not saved.
HELPFUL HINTS
At
50
POWER SEARCHES
There are times when you want to search for data, but the filter isn’t supported by the search screen. For
example, it is easy to find tasks that have a a certain category or a certain value in a custom parameter,
however, you may want to find all tasks in projects that have a certain category or a certain value in a custom
parameter. The latter example just isn’t possible with the standard search fields. In these circumstances the
Power Search comes in handy.
@task power searches lets you find @task objects using any searchable attribute in the database. Power
search fields have been added to many of the search forms in @task. For searches with advanced search
screens, the power search is under the Advanced Search tab, otherwise it is under the Search Fields tab.
FIGURE 2.33: POWER SEARCHES
POWER SEARCHES
HOW TO USE THE POWER SEARCH FUNCTIONS

To do a power search you need to be able format the query commands correctly. You should read the Query
Structure section to understand how to do this. See “Query Structure” on page 52.
At
Several examples will be provided to show you how to format certain types of power searches.
The following procedure describes how to use this document to do power searches.
To use the power search feature:
1. Decide which type of @task object that you want to find, for example, projects, tasks, or users. Open the
related search screen and locate the power search field.
2. Decide which attributes of the object you want to search for. The attributes for each object are listed in
the tables that follow. If you are looking for attributes for projects, they are listed under the table entitled
Project.
See “Object Attributes” on page 57.
3. Look in the tables for the attribute and make note of the attribute type and the attribute ID. The attribute
ID is in the first column, the attribute type is in the second column, and the attribute name is in the last
51
column. If the attribute has data in a valid values column, then these are the only values that you can use
when searching for the attribute.
4. When you know the attribute type for the attribute you are using, consult in Table 2.7 on page 56 to see an
example of how to write a correctly formatted query for that attribute type.
5. When you create the query command, use the attribute ID exactly as it is shown in the table. Query com-
mands are case sensitive.
6. You can use power searches to do the following
• Simple searches
• Searches that look at related objects
• Searches that comparable values of different attributes
• Searches for specific dates
• Searches for values that fall within a specific range
• Searches for custom data fields.
There are examples of how to correctly compose each of these types of searches in the sections that follow
See “Examples” on page 53.
N O T E: The power search bean for issues is called Op Task rather than Issues.
QUERY STRUCTURE
To use power searches you need to type certain command structures into the Power Search field. The
command that you type depends on the type of search that you are doing. If you are doing a power search for
tasks, then you would open the search screen for tasks and build your searches.
To use a power search, you must know how to build the queries correctly. The basic structure is:
<attributeID>=<value>
POWER SEARCHES
For example, a user who is searching for projects by name should type a query similar to the following:
name='my project'
You should keep the following in mind when doing power searches:
• Use single quotes when the value has spaces. Without quotes, the command in the previous exam-
ple would return projects named ‘my’, ‘my proj’, and ‘my project’.
• Attribute IDs are case sensitive.
• All queries that you type return values that contain the string value you type. For example the com-
At
mand ‘name=my’ would return both of the values ‘my project’ and ‘army’ (assuming those values
exist) because they all have the string 'my' in them.
• You can also use multiple search commands at the same time. To do this, press Return after each
command.
percentComplete=100
name=philip
• Some attributes, such as priority, have a set of valid values that you must use. These values are listed
in the tables that follow. For example, in a task search to get the tasks with a priority of High, you
would type the following:
priority=3
52
QUERY MODIFIERS
You can use the following list of query modifiers with your commands. The correct structure for using
modifiers is:
name=smith
name_Mod=cicontains
In the preceding example, @task searches for all instances of the name attribute in an object that contains
the string “smith”. The the “ci” in the cicontains command represents case insensitive. Therefore, @task
would return Smith, smith, smitH, smithy, smithson, Jones-Smithson, or any other instance with the string
smith in it. You could use the contains modifier as well to retain case sensitivity. Table 2.6 shows the
complete set of modifier commands you can use.
TABLE 2.6: QUERY MODIFIERS
MODIFIER DESCRIPTION
between Falls within a certain range

See “Searching for Attributes that fall within a Range”
on page 55.
cicontains Case insensitive version of the attribute contains the string
contains The attribute contains the string
isnull The value is null
notbetween Falls outside of a certain range

See “Searching for Attributes that fall within a Range”
on page 55.
soundex Sounds like the string
Additional modifiers for comparisons are described in the associated example.

POWER SEARCHES
See “Comparing Values Between Two Different Attributes” on page 54.
EXAMPLES
The following sections give examples of different options you have when doing power searches.
SIMPLE SEARCHES
As an example of how to do a power search, assume that you want to look for tasks with specific attributes.
At
After opening a search window for tasks, the first thing you should do is check the Task table in this document
to find what task attributes are searchable.
Assuming that you want to search for all tasks that must be approved, you have a couple of options. You can
simply check the box in the standard search screen to find all approval tasks. But perhaps you need to do
more than that. You may need to find all approval tasks that are set to role-based approvals.
Reading the table, you see that the correct attribute ID is approvalRequired and the valid value for role based
is RB. In the power search you type:
approvalRequired=RB
53
SEARCHING FOR OBJECTS RELATED TO OTHER OBJECTS
The previous command returns role-based approval tasks for all projects, but perhaps you want to search for
tasks in a specific project. To do a search for role-based approval tasks in a project named Proj3, first you
should check the table to ensure that the task object is linked to the project object. A data type of Bean
indicates a linkage. Because the linkage exists, you can search for tasks associated with specific projects. Next
you search the table for the project bean to see the correct attribute ID for project names. The attribute ID is
'name'. To search for role-based tasks in the project Proj3, you type the following commands in the power
search field. The commands must be separated by hard returns.
approvalRequired=RB
project:name=Proj3
Another example of this would be if you wanted to search for all projects that have a task name of ‘task3’.
When you look in the Project attribute table, you see that the task attribute is a bean. This means that this
attribute references an object with its own set of attributes. You look at the task attribute list to find the
attribute ID for the name attribute. So you write a command that tells @task to search for projects that have
tasks where the name attribute of the task is ‘task3’ The command looks like this:
task:name=task3
This ability to search for objects related to other objects allow power searches to provide you with options to
search for objects in ways that you might not normally do. For example, in a task search screen you could
search for tasks assigned to people who earn $20 per hour. Task objects have an 'assigned to' attribute that
links to the user object, or the user bean. So while doing a power search for tasks, you could use the following
command:
assignedTo:costPerHour=20
You would get all tasks assigned to any user who earns $20 per hour.
A few more examples are:
• In a task search, to find tasks assigned to the engineer role, type the following command:
role:name=engineer
POWER SEARCHES
• In a user search to find all users who report to Janis Dunst:

manager:firstName=Janis
or
manager:lastName=Dunst
• In a project search, search for all projects that have a task with the word equipment in the task
description.
task:description=equipment
task:description_Mod=cicontains
At
COMPARING VALUES BETWEEN TWO DIFFERENT ATTRIBUTES

You can compare attribute values as well. If you want to compare the planned cost to the actual cost of tasks
in a project, you could use the following set of commands to see all tasks (or projects) where the planned
cost is less than the actual cost.
plannedCost=FIELD:actualCost
plannedCost_Mod=lt
When you compare values, you must use the FIELD delimiter and you must use the Mod command to modify
the search. In the preceding example, you could have used gt rather than lt to find tasks where the planned
cost is greater than the actual cost. Without the Mod command, the query finds tasks where the planned cost
is equal to the actual cost. The Mod command always modifies the first element in the command. Other
values that you can use with the Mod command are:
54
• lt—less than
• gt—greater than
• lte—less than or equal
• gte—greater than or equal
• ne—not equal.
If you are comparing strings, you can put a ci in front of the Mod value to make the search case insensitive.
For example, cigt equates to case insensitive, greater than.
SEARCHING FOR THINGS THAT FALL ON SPECIFIC DATES

Several of the attributes you can search for use dates. Use the following date formats:
plannedStartDate=03/22/2006
For a date range, use the following command set:
plannedStartDate=03/22/2006
plannedStartDate_Range=03/29/2006
You can also search for exact times of the day using the following format:
plannedStartDate=2006-03-22T17:30:00:000
The previous example is for tasks that start on 5:30 PM on March 22, 2006. You can use the format to find
times down to the thousandth of a second. The Range modifier also works with this format. The following
example finds dates between noon and 5:30 PM on March 22, 2006.
plannedStartDate=2006-03-22T12:00:00:000
plannedStartDate_Range=2006-03-22T17:30:00:000
All times are in the time zone where the server resides.
SEARCHING FOR ATTRIBUTES THAT FALL WITHIN A RANGE

You can also use the range modifier on strings, integers and doubles in addition to dates.
POWER SEARCHES
For example, if you do a project search and want projects with names between d and h, you can use the
following command set:
name=d
name_Range=h
Ranges also work for beans.
role:name=e
role:name_Range=t
You can also use a modifier command to find values that fall outside of a range.
name=d
At
name_Range=h
name_Mod=notbetween
SEARCHING FOR CUSTOM DATA FIELDS

For objects that have custom data, you can search the custom data fields associated with the objects. For
example, a painting company could have a project to paint a house. Painting the kitchen is one task and
painting each of the other rooms are also tasks. The company may have created custom data for the tasks
with fields for paint color, number of coats, and type of paint, such as flat or glossy. This company could
search for all tasks where they used red paint.
To search for custom data, you must use the names of the fields exactly as they appear in the custom data
forms. You can look at the forms to find the exact names of the fields. See “Custom Data Tab” on page 114.
55
You can also look directly at the parameters. See “Creating and Using Parameters for Custom Forms” on
page 221.
In the above example, the painting company could use the following command to find all tasks where the
paint color is red (assuming that the name of the custom data field is paint color”.)
DE:paint color=red
N O T E: ‘DE:’ must be used in queries when searching for custom data.
If the company wants to find all tasks where the color is green and the type of paint is glossy, they would use
the following set of query commands:
DE:paint color=green
DE:paint type=glossy
Possibly some of the users who typed the paint color used different capitalization when entering data or may
have misspelled the word. To find all instances where the paint color is orange and to find possible
misspellings, use the case-insensitive contains command:
DE:paint color=ora
DE:paint color_Mod=cicontains
This finds all instances where the string ‘ora’ is in the paint color field, regardless of capitalization and
whether it is part of a larger word.
SEARCHING FOR DATA EXTENSION VALUES ON A RELATED OBJECT

To add one more level of complexity, you may want to search for objects where a related object has a custom
parameter value of ‘x’. For example, you may want to find all tasks in projects that have a custom parameter
called Paper Color, with a value of Blue.
DE:project:Paper Color=Blue
Notice that the search option starts with DE, followed by a colon, then the related object, then another colon,
then the parameter name.
Another example: To find all tasks that are assigned to users with a custom parameter called Employee that is
POWER SEARCHES
set to true.
DE:assignedTo:Employee=true
DATA TYPES
The attributes come in several data types. You must format the value differently depending on the attribute
data type. The following table describes and gives examples for each attribute data type.
TABLE 2.7: DATA TYPES

At
ATTRIBUTE DATA TYPE DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES
Integer A whole number. maxUsers=53
Boolean A true of false value. isPrivate=true
String A word or phrase. name=’my task’
Double A number that can use decimals. costPerHour=33.75
Date A calendar date. Use the date format plannedCompletionDate=05/24/2007

shown here.
56
TABLE 2.7: DATA TYPES
ATTRIBUTE DATA TYPE DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES
Bean This references another searchable enteredBy:lastName=Smith

@task object with its own set of attri- In this case, you may be using a task search.
butes. The enteredBy attribute references the user
object. The lastName attribute of the user
object is Smith.
OBJECT ATTRIBUTES
For each searchable @task object the following tables list the attributes, the data type, the attribute ID, and
where applicable, valid values.
TABLE 2.8: ACCESS LEVEL
ATTRIBUTE ID DATA TYPE ATTRIBUTE NAME
description String Description
hasFinancialAccess Boolean Has Financial

Access
ID Integer ID
isAdmin Boolean Admin Access Level
licenseType String License Type
name String Name
rank Integer Rank

POWER SEARCHES
TABLE 2.9: ACCESS SCOPE ACTION
accessLevel Access Level Bean Access Level
accessLevelID Integer Access Level ID
accessScope Access Scope Bean Access Scope

At
accessScopeID Integer Access Scope ID
TABLE 2.10: ACCESS SCOPE
displayOrder Integer Display Order
ID Integer ID
57
TABLE 2.10: ACCESS SCOPE
name String Name
TABLE 2.11: ACCOUNT REP
ATTRIBUTE ID DATA TYPE ATTRIBUTE NAME VALID VALUES
adminLevel String Admin Level N—none

R—account rep
A—admin
country String Country
emailAddr String Email Address
firstName String First Name
ID Integer ID
isActive Boolean Is Active
lastName String Last Name
password String Password
reseller Reseller Bean Reseller
resellerID Integer Reseller ID
username String Username

POWER SEARCHES
TABLE 2.12: APP EVENT
eventType String Event Type A—add

D—delete
At
E—edit
H—hourly timed
T—daily timed
ID Integer ID
name String Name
queryExpression String Query Expression
scriptExpression String Script Expression
58
TABLE 2.13: APP INFO
attaskVersion String Attask Version
buildNumber Integer Build Number
hasUpgradeError Boolean Has Upgrade Error
ID Integer ID
lastUpdate Date Last Update
upgradeBuild Integer Upgrade Build

Number Number
upgradeStep Integer Upgrade Step
TABLE 2.14: APPROVAL
customer Customer Bean Customer
customerID Integer Customer ID
durationMinutes Integer Duration Minutes
durationUnit String Duration Unit M—minutes

H—hours
D—days
POWER SEARCHES
W—weeks
T—months
EM—elapsed
minutes
EH—elapsed hours
ED—elapsed days
EW—elapsed weeks
estStartDate Date Est Start Date
ID Integer ID
At
plannedStartDate Date Planned Start Date
projectedStart Date Projected Start Date

Date
TABLE 2.15: APPROVER
ID Integer ID
opTask Op Task (Issue) OpTask

Bean
59
TABLE 2.15: APPROVER
opTaskID Integer OpTask ID
project Project Bean Project
projectID Integer Project ID
role Role Bean Role
roleID Integer Role ID
status String Status
task Task Bean Task
taskID Integer Task ID
template Template Bean Template
templateID Integer Template ID
templateTask Template Task TemplateTask

Bean
templateTaskID Integer TemplateTask ID
user User Bean User
userID Integer User ID
TABLE 2.16: ASSIGNMENT

POWER SEARCHES
assignedTo User Bean Assigned To
assignedToCompa- Company Bean Assigned to Com-

nyMM pany
assignedToDirec- User Bean Assigned to Direct

tReportsOM Reports
assignedToHome- Group Bean Assigned to Home

At
GroupMM Group
assignedToID Integer Assigned To ID
assignedToMan- User Bean Assigned to Man-

agerMM ager
assignedToOther- Group Bean Assigned to Other

GroupsMM Groups
assignedToRolesMM Role Bean Assigned to Roles
assignmentPercent Double Assignment Percent
avgWorkPerDay Double Average Work Per

Day
60
TABLE 2.16: ASSIGNMENT
ID Integer ID
ID Integer ID
isPrimary Boolean Is Primary
opTask Op Task (Issue) opTask

Bean
role Role Bean Role
task Task Bean Task
workingDays Integer Working Days
workRequired Integer Work Required in

minutes
POWER SEARCHES
TABLE 2.17: BILLING RECORD
amount Double Amount
billingDate Date Billing Date

At
ID Integer ID
invoiceID String Invoice ID
PONumber String PO Number
projectCompanyMM Company Bean Project Company
projectGroupMM Group Bean Project Group
61
TABLE 2.17: BILLING RECORD
TABLE 2.18: CATEGORY
category Category Bean Category
categoryID Integer Category ID
ID Integer ID
name String Name
parameterValues Parameter Value Parameter Values

Bean
TABLE 2.19: CATEGORY PARAMETER

POWER SEARCHES
isRequired Boolean Is Required
parameter Parameter Bean Parameter
parameterGroup Parameter Group Parameter Group

Bean
At
parameterGroupID Integer Parameter Group ID
parameterID Integer Parameter ID
rowShared Boolean Row Shared
TABLE 2.20: COMPANY
62
TABLE 2.20: COMPANY
ID Integer ID
name String Name

Bean
TABLE 2.21: CUSTOMER
accessLevels Access Level Bean Access Level
accessScopes Access Scope Bean Access Scope
accountRep Account Rep Bean Account Rep
accountRepID Integer AccountRep ID
address String Address
adminAcctName String Admin Account

Name
appEvents App Event Bean App Event

POWER SEARCHES
categories Category Bean Categories
city String City
currency String Currency
docQuota Integer Uploaded Document

quota
At
documents Document Bean Documents
evalExpDate Date Evaluation Expira-

tion Date
eventHandlers Event Handler Event Handlers

Bean
firstname String First Name
fullUsers Integer Full Users
63
groupPreferences Integer Group Preference

Type Type
groups Group Bean Groups
hasDocuments Boolean Has Documents
hourTypes Hour Type Bean Hour Type
ID Integer ID
lastname String Last Name
licenseOrders License Order License Orders

Bean
limitedUsers Integer Limited Users
locale String Locale
milestonePaths Milestone Path Mile Stone Path

Bean
name String Name
notes Note Bean Notes
parameterGroups Parameter Group Parameter Groups

Bean
parameters Parameter Bean Parameters
phoneNumber String Phone Number

POWER SEARCHES
portalProfiles Portal Profile Bean Portal Profiles
portalSections Portal Section Portal Sections

Bean
postalCode String Postal Code
requestorUsers Integer Requestor Users
reseller Reseller Bean Reseller

At
resellerID Integer Reseller ID
roles Role Bean Roles
schedules Schedule Bean Schedules
state String State
status String Status E—Evaluation

A—Active
D—Deactivated
styleSheet String Style Sheet
timeZone String Time Zone
64
uiViews UI View Bean UIView
TABLE 2.22: DOCUMENT
checkedOutBy User Bean Checked Out By
checkedOutByID Integer Checked Out By ID
currentVersion Document Ver- Current Version

sion Bean
currentVersionID Integer Current Version ID
hasNotes Boolean Has Notes
ID Integer ID
POWER SEARCHES
isDir Boolean Is Dir
isPrivate Boolean Is Private
lastModDate Date Last Mod Date
name String Name
owner User Bean Owner

At
ownerID Integer Owner ID
releaseVersion Document Ver- Release Version

sion Bean
releaseVersionID Integer Release Version ID
subscribers User Bean Subscribers
versions Document Ver- Versions

sion Bean
65
TABLE 2.23: DOCUMENT VERSION
docSize Integer Doc Size
document Document Bean Document
documentID Integer Document ID
enteredBy User Bean Entered By
enteredByID Integer Entered By ID
entryDate Date Entry Date
ext String Ext
fileName String File Name
ID Integer ID
TABLE 2.24: EVENT HANDLER
appEvents App Event Bean AppEvents

POWER SEARCHES
handlerType String Event Handler Type E—email

L—Log
ID Integer ID
isSystemHandler Boolean Is System Handler

and uneditable
At
name String Name
TABLE 2.25: GROUP
66
TABLE 2.25: GROUP
name String Name
ID Integer ID
TABLE 2.26: HOUR
actualCost Double Actual Cost
dupID Integer Dup ID
hours Double Hours
hourType Hour Type Bean Hour Type
hourTypeID Integer Hour Type ID
ID Integer ID
opTask Op Task (Issue) OpTask

Bean
POWER SEARCHES
ownerCompanyMM Company Bean Owner Company
ownerHome- Group Bean owner Home Group

GroupMM

At
ownerManagerMM User Bean Owner Manager
ownerOther- Group Bean owner Other Groups

GroupsMM
projectCompanyMM Company Bean Project Company
projectGroupMM Group Bean project Group
projectOverhead Project Bean Project Overhead
projectOverheadID Integer Project Overhead ID
67
TABLE 2.26: HOUR
resourceRevenue Double Resource Revenue
role Role Bean Role
task Task Bean Task
timesheet Timesheet Bean Timesheet
timesheetID Integer Timesheet ID
TABLE 2.27: HOUR TYPE
ID Integer ID
name String Name
overheadType Integer OverheadType 0—task hours

1—project hours
2—general hours
3—non-work hours
POWER SEARCHES
TABLE 2.28: LICENSE ORDER

At
fullUsers Integer Full Users
ID Integer ID
limitedUsers Integer Limited Users
orderDate Date Evaluation Expira-

tion Date
requestorUsers Integer Requestor Users
68
TABLE 2.29: MASTER TASK
assign- Role Bean Assignment Roles

mentsRolesMM
auditTypes String Audit Types
billingAmount Double Billing Amount
costAmount Double Cost Amount
costType String Cost Type
durationType String Duration Type W—calculated_work

D—effort_driven
A—calculated_assignment
durationUnit String Duration Unit M—minutes

H—hours
POWER SEARCHES
D—days
W—weeks
T—months
EM—elapsed minutes
EH—elapsed hours
ED—elapsed days
EW—elapsed weeks

At
hasDocuments Boolean Has documents
ID Integer ID
milestone Milestone Bean Milestone
milestoneID Integer Milestone ID
name String Name

Bean
69
TABLE 2.29: MASTER TASK
plannedCost Double Planned Cost
plannedRevenue Double Planned Revenue
priority Integer Priority
revenueType String Revenue Type
role Role Bean Role
trackingMode String Task Tracking Mode USER

ONTM—assume on time
IGNR—ignore
AUTO—auto complete
PRED—predecessor
url String URL
workRequired Integer Work Required
TABLE 2.30: META RECORD
actions String Actions
classname String Class Name

POWER SEARCHES
limitedActions String Limited Actions
limitNonViewHD Boolean Limited Non View

HD
pkFieldName String Field Name
pkTableName String Table Name
requestorActions String Requestor Actions

At
TABLE 2.31: MILESTONE
color String Color
ID Integer ID
milestonePath Milestone Path MilestonePath

Bean
milestonePathID Integer MilestonePath ID
70
TABLE 2.31: MILESTONE
name String Name
sequence Integer Sequence
TABLE 2.32: MILESTONE PATH
groups Group Bean Group
ID Integer ID
milestones Milestone Bean Milestone
name String Name
TABLE 2.33: NON WORK DAY
ID Integer ID
POWER SEARCHES
nonWorkDate Date Non Work Date
scheduleDay String[] Schedule Day
TABLE 2.34: NOTE

At
attachment Note Bean Children

Reference
auditType String Audit Type
hasReplies Boolean Has Replies
ID Integer ID
71
TABLE 2.34: NOTE
indent Integer Indent
isArchived Boolean Is Archived
isMessage Boolean Is Message
isPrivate Boolean Is Private
isTopArchived Boolean Is Top Archived
noteText String Note Text
parentNote Note Bean Parent Note
parentNoteID Integer Parent Note ID
replies Note Bean Replies
subject String Subject
threadDate Date Thread Date
threadID Integer Thread ID
TABLE 2.35: OP TASK (ISSUE)

POWER SEARCHES
actualCompletion Date Actual Completion

Date DateTD>
actualStartDate Date Actual Start

DateTD>
actualWorkRequired Integer Actual Work

Required
At
allNotesOM Note Bean All Notes
assignments Assignment Bean Assignments
auditTypes String[] Audit Types
72
entryDate Date Entry DateTD>
groupMM Group Bean Groups
hasDocuments Boolean Has Documents
hasMessages Boolean Has Messages
hasResolvables Boolean Has Resolvables
hours Hour Bean Hours
ID Integer ID
name String Name
opTaskType String Op Task Type ISU—issue

BUG—bug
CHO—change order
REQ—request
POWER SEARCHES
plannedCompletion- Date Planned Completion

Date DateTD>
plannedStartDate Date Planned Start

DateTD>
At
priority Integer Timeline Priority 0—none

1—low
2—normal
3—high
4—urgent
queueDefOO Queue Def Bean Queue Def
queueTopic Queue Topic Bean QueueTop
queueTopicID Integer Queue Topic ID
73
resolvables Op Task (Issue) Notes

Bean
role Role Bean Role
severity Integer Severity 1—cosmetic

2—causes confusion
3—bug with workaround
4—bug with no workaround
5—fatal
status String Op Task Status NEW—new

INP—in progress
AWF—awaiting feedback
ONH—on hold
ROP—reopened
CND—cannot duplicate
WTR—wont resolve
RLV—resolved
VCP—verified complete
CLS—closed
URL String URL
TABLE 2.36: PARAMETER

POWER SEARCHES
dataType String Data Type

At
displaySize Integer Display Size
displayType String Display Type
formatConstraint String Format Constraint
ID Integer ID
name String Name
parameterOptions Parameter Option Parameter Options

Bean
74
TABLE 2.37: PARAMETER GROUP
ID Integer ID
isDefault Boolean Is Default
name String Name
TABLE 2.38: PARAMETER OPTION
displayOrder Integer Display Order ID
ID Integer ID
isHidden Boolean Is Hidden
label String Label

POWER SEARCHES
value String Value
TABLE 2.39: PARAMETER VALUE

At
dateVal Date Date Val
ID Integer ID
numberVal Double Number Val
parameterName String Parameter Name
textVal String Text Val
75
TABLE 2.40: POP ACCOUNT
ID Integer ID
popDisabled Boolean Pop Disabled
popPassword String Pop Password
popServer String Pop Server
popUser String Pop User
queueDefOO Queue DefBean Queue Def
TABLE 2.41: PORTAL PROFILE
ID Integer ID
POWER SEARCHES
name String Name
portalTabs Portal Tab Bean Portal Tabs
TABLE 2.42: PORTAL SECTION

At
controllerClass String Controller Class
filterControl Integer Filter Control
filterID Integer Filter ID
groupBy String Group By
groupControl Integer Group Control
ID Integer ID
isReport Boolean Is Report
maxResults Integer Max Results
76
TABLE 2.42: PORTAL SECTION
methodName String Method Name
name String Name
sortBy String Sort By
sortType String Sort Type
toolBar String Tool Bar
view UI View Bean View
viewControl Integer View Control
viewID Integer View ID
TABLE 2.43: PORTAL TAB
docID Integer Doc ID
ID Integer ID
name String Name
portalProfile Portal Profile Bean Portal Profile
portalProfileID Integer Portal Profile ID

POWER SEARCHES
portalTabSections Portal Tab Section Portal Tab Sections

Bean
TABLE 2.44: PORTAL TAB SECTION

At
portalSection Portal Section PortalSection

Bean
portalSectionID Integer Portal Section ID
portalTab Portal Tab Bean PortalTab
portalTabID Integer Portal Tab ID
77
TABLE 2.45: PREDECESSOR
isCP Boolean Is Cross Project
isEnforced Boolean Is Enforced
lagDays Double Lag Days
lagType String Lag Type d—days

c—Date days
p—percent
w—day of week
k—day of week nonzero
predecessor Predecessor Bean Predecessor
predecessorID Integer Predecessor ID
predecessorType String Predecessor sd—scheduled/start

Type fs—finish/start
ff—finish/finish
ss—start/start
sf—start/finish
successor Predecessor Bean Successor
successorID Integer Successor ID

POWER SEARCHES
TABLE 2.46: PROJECT
actualCompletion- Date Actual Completion

Date Date
actualDuration- Integer Actual Duration

At
Minutes Minutes
actualRevenue Double Actual Revenue
actualStartDate Date Actual Start Date

Required
billedRevenue Double Billed Revenue
budget Double Budget
78
TABLE 2.46: PROJECT
company Company Bean Company
companyID Integer CompanyID
cpi Double Cost Performance

Index
csi Double Cost Schedule Index
durationMinutes Integer Duration
eac Double Estimated Actual

Cost
estCompletionDate Date Est Completion Date
fixedCost Double Fixed Cost

POWER SEARCHES
fixedRevenue Double Fixed Revenue
group Group Bean Group
groupID Integer Group ID
hasCalcError Boolean Has Calc Error

At
hasResolvables Boolean Has Resolvables
ID Integer ID
lastCalcDate Date Last Calc Date
milestonePath Milestone Path Milestone Path

Bean
milestonePathID Integer Milestone Path ID
name String Name
79
TABLE 2.46: PROJECT
numberOpe- Integer Number of Open Op

nOpTasks Tasks
originalCompletion- Date Original Completion

Date Date
originalStartDate Date Original Start Date

Bean
percentComplete Double Percent Complete
performanceIndex- String Performance Index

Method Method

Date Date
plannedCost Double Actual Cost
popAccount Pop Account Bean Pop Account
popAccountID Integer Pop Account ID
priority Integer Priority
progressStatus String Progress Status LT—late

ON—on time
POWER SEARCHES
BH—behind
RK—risk
projected Date Projected Comple-

CompletionDate tion Date
projectedStartDate Date Projected Start Date
queueDef Queue Def Bean QueueDef
queueDefID Integer QueueDef ID

At
schedule Schedule Bean Schedule
scheduleID Integer Schedule ID
scheduleMode String Schedule Mode S—from start

c—from completion
spi Double Schedule Perfor-

mance Index
80
TABLE 2.46: PROJECT
status String Status CUR—current

ONH—on hold
PLN—planning
CPL—complete
DED—dead
tasks Task Bean Tasks
template Template Bean Template
templateID Integer Template ID
updateType String Update Type AUTO—auto and on change

EVNT—change only
ATYO—auto only
MANU—manual
version Integer Version
TABLE 2.47: QUEUE DEF
addOpTaskStyle String Add Op Task Style

POWER SEARCHES
allowedOpTaskTypes String Allowed Op Task

Types
defaulRouteID Integer Default Route ID
defaultCategory Category Bean Default Category
defaultCategoryID Integer Default Category ID

At
defaultDuration- Integer Duration Minutes

Minutes
defaultDurationUnit String Duration Unit M—minutes

H—hours
D—days
W—weeks
T—months
EH—elapsed hours
ED—elapsed days
EW—elapsed weeks
defaultRoute Routing Rule Bean Default Route
81
TABLE 2.47: QUEUE DEF
hasQueueTopics Boolean Has Queue Topics
ID Integer ID
isPublic Integer Queue visibility
queueTopics Queue Topic Bean Queue Topics

visibleOpTaskFields String Visible Op Task
Fields
TABLE 2.48: QUEUE TOPIC
allowedOpTask- String Allowed Op Task

Types Types
defaulRouteID Integer Default Route ID
defaultCategory Category Bean Default Category

POWER SEARCHES
defaultCategoryID Integer Default Category ID
defaultDuration- Integer Duration Minutes

Minutes
defaultDurationUnit String Duration Unit M—minutes

H—hours
D—days
W—weeks
T—months
At
EH—elapsed hours
ED—elapsed days
EW—elapsed weeks
defaultRoute Routing Rule Bean Default Route
Description description Description
ID Integer ID
name String Name
parentTopic Queue Topic Bean Parent Topic
parentTopicID Integer Parent Topic ID
82
TABLE 2.48: QUEUE TOPIC
queueDef Queue Def Bean Queue Def
queueDefID Integer Queue Def ID
TABLE 2.49: RESELLER
accountReps Account Rep Bean Account Reps
address2 String Address
city String City
ID Integer ID
name String Name
primaryAccountRep Account Rep Bean Account Rep
primaryAccount Integer AccountRep ID

POWER SEARCHES
RepID
state String State
TABLE 2.50: RESERVED TIME

At
endDate Date End Date
ID Integer ID
startDate Calendar Start Date
task Task Bean Task
user User Bean User
83
TABLE 2.51: ROLE
costPerHour Double Cost Per Hour
ID Integer ID
maxUsers Integer Max Users
name String Name
TABLE 2.52: ROUTING RULE
defaultAssignedTo User Bean Assigned To
defaultAssingedToID Integer Assigned To ID
defaultProject Project Bean Project

POWER SEARCHES
defaultProjectID Integer Project ID
defaultRole Role Bean Role
defaultRoleID Integer Role ID
ID Integer ID
name String Name

At
queueDef Queue Def Bean Queue Definition
queueDefID Integer Queue Def ID
84
TABLE 2.53: SCHEDULE
hasNonWorkDays Boolean Has Non Work Days
ID Integer ID
name String Name
nonWorkDays Non Work Day Non Working Day

Bean
TABLE 2.54: TASK
actualCompletion- Date Actual Completion

Date Date
actualDuration- Integer Actual Duration

Minutes Minutes
actualRevenue Double Actual Revenue

POWER SEARCHES
actualStartDate Date Actual Start Date

Required
allNotesOM Note Bean All Notes
approval Approval Bean Approval
approvalID Integer Approval ID

At
approvalRequired String Approval Required NO—none

RB—role based
ON—at least one user
AL—all users
approvers Approver Bean Approvers
assignments Assignment Bean Assignments
assign- Role Bean Assignments Roles

mentsRolesMM
85
TABLE 2.54: TASK
assignmentsUs- User Bean Assignments Users

ersMM
auditTypes String Audit Types ST—status change

AA—attachment action
SC—scope change
NO—note
children Task Bean Children
completionPending- Date Completion Pend-

Date ing Date
constraintDate Date Constraint Date
cpi Double Cost Performance

Index
csi Double Cost Schedule Index

POWER SEARCHES
durationType String Duration Type M—minutes

H—hours
D—days
W—weeks
T—months
At
EH—elapsed hours
ED—elapsed days
EW—elapsed weeks
durationUnit String Duration Unit W—calculated work

D—effort driven
A—calculated assignment
eac Double Estimated Actual

Cost
86
TABLE 2.54: TASK
estCompletionDate Date Est Completion Date
group Group Bean Group
groupID Integer Group ID
handoffDate Date Can Start Date
hasResolvables Boolean hasResolvables
ID Integer ID
isCritical Boolean Is Critical
masterTask Master Task Bean Master Task
masterTaskID Integer Master Task ID

POWER SEARCHES
name String Name
numberOfChildren Integer Number Of Children
numberOpe- Integer numberOpe-

nOpTasks nOpTasks
openOpTasks Op Task (Issue) Open Op Tasks

Bean
At
opTasks Op Task (Issue) Op Tasks

Bean
originalCompletion- Date Original Completion

Date Date
originalDuration Integer Original Duration
originalStartDate Date Original Start Date
originalWorkRe- Integer Original Work

quired Required

Bean
87
TABLE 2.54: TASK
parentID Integer Parent ID
parentLag Double Parent Lag Days.

This represents Lag
Time from the fixed
date of a Project (for
top-level Tasks) or
from a Parent Task.
Parent Lag must be
in the opposite
direction of the fixed
boundary date. For
example, for Projects
that are scheduled
from the start date,
Parent Lag must be
positive.
parentLagType String Lag Type d—days

c—caledar days
p—percent
w—day of week
percentComplete Double Percent Complete

Date Date

POWER SEARCHES
predecessors Predecessor Bean Predecessors
predecessorsMM Task Bean Predecessors
priority Integer Priority 0—none

1—low
2—normal
3—high
At
4—urgent
progressStatus String Progress Status LT—late

ON—on time
BH—behind
RK—at risk
projectedComple- Date Projected Comple-

tionDate tion Date
projectedStartDate Date Projected Start Date
88
TABLE 2.54: TASK
reservedTime Reserved Time Rreserved Time

Bean
reservedTimeID Integer Reserved Time ID
resourceScope String Resource Scope NONE—none

GLOB—global
role Role Bean Role
spi Double Schedule Perfor-

mance Index
status String Status NEW—new

INP—in progress
CPA—complete pending
approval
CPI—complete pending issues
CPL—complete
successors Predecessor Bean Successors
successorsMM Task Bean Successors
taskConstraint String Constraint Type ALAP—As Late as Possible.

ASAP—As Soon as Possible.
EAT—Earliest Available Time.
FIXT—Fixed Dates.
POWER SEARCHES
FNET—Finish No Earlier Than.

FNLT—Finish No Later Than.
LAT—Latest Available Time.
MFO—Must Finish On.
MSO—Must Start On.
SNET—Start No Earlier Than.
SNLT—Start No Later Than.
taskNumber Integer Task Number
taskType String Task Type TSK—task

At
REQ—request
templateTask Template Task Template Task

Bean
templateTaskID Integer Template Task ID
trackingMode String Task Tracking Mode USER—user

ONTM—assume on time
IGNR—ignore
AUTO—auto complete
PRED—predecessor
URL String URL
89
TABLE 2.55: TEMPLATE
completionDay Double Completion Day
fixedCost Double Fixed Cost
fixedRevenue Double Fixed Revenue

POWER SEARCHES
ID Integer ID
milestonePath Milestone Path- Milestone Path

Bean
milestonePathID Integer Milestone Path ID
name String Name
notes NoteBean Notes

At

Bean
performanceIndex- String Performance Index

Method Method
scheduleMode String Schedule Mode S—from start

C—from completion
startDay Double Start Day
90
TABLE 2.55: TEMPLATE
templateTasks Template Task Template Tasks

Bean
version Integer Version
TABLE 2.56: TEMPLATE TASK
approval Approval Bean Approval
approvalID Integer Approval ID
approvalRequired String Approval Required NO—none

RB—role based
ON—at least one user
AL—all users
approvers Approver Bean Approvers
assign- Role Bean Assignments Roles

mentsRolesMM
assignmentsUs- User Bean Assignments Users

POWER SEARCHES
ersMM
children Template Task Children

At
Bean
completionDay Double Completion Day
constraintDay Double Constraint Day ALAP—As Late as Possible.

ASAP—As Soon as Possible.
EAT—Earliest Available Time.
FIXT—Fixed Dates.
FNET—Finish No Earlier Than.
FNLT—Finish No Later Than.
LAT—Latest Available Time.
MFO—Must Finish On.
MSO—Must Start On.
SNET—Start No Earlier Than.
SNLT—Start No Later Than.
91
customer Customer Bean CustomerTask
durationType String Duration Type. M—minutes

H—hours
D—days
W—weeks
T—months
EH—elapsed hours
ED—elapsed days
EW—elapsed weeks
durationUnit String Duration Unit W—calculated work

D—effort driven
A—calculated assignment
groupsMM Group Bean Groups

POWER SEARCHES
ID Integer ID
isCritical Boolean Is Critical
masterTask Master Task Bean MasterTask

At
masterTaskID Integer Master Task ID
name String Name
numberOfChildren Integer Number Of Children
originalDuration Integer Original Duration
originalWorkRe- Double Completion Day

quired
92

Bean
parent Template Task Parent

Bean
parentID Integer Parent ID
parentLag Double Parent Lag Days.

This represents Lag
Time from the fixed
date of a Project (for
top-level Tasks) or
from a Parent Task.
Parent Lag must be
in the opposite
direction of the fixed
boundary date. For
example, for Projects
that are scheduled
from the start date,
Parent Lag must be
positive.
parentLagType String Lag Type d—days

c—caledar days
p—percent
w—day of week

POWER SEARCHES
predecessors Predecessor Bean Predecessors
predecessorsMM Template Task Predecessors

Bean
priority Integer Priority 0—none

1—low
2—normal
At
3—high
4—urgent
role Role Bean Role
93
TABLE 2.57: TIMESHEET
approver Integer Approver
endDate Date End Date
ID Integer ID
overtimeHours Double Overtime Hours
regularHours Double Regular Hours
startDate Date Start Date
status String Timeline Status O—open

C—closed
totalHours Double Total Hours
user User Bean User
userHome Group Bean User Home Group

GroupMM
userOther Group Bean User Other Groups

GroupsMM
POWER SEARCHES
TABLE 2.58: UI VIEW
ID Integer ID
At
isPublic Boolean Is Public
layoutType String Layout Type
modDate Date Mod Date
name String Name
prefType Integer Pref Type
prefTypeID Integer Pref Type ID
uiviewType String UI View Type
ID Integer ID
94
TABLE 2.58: UI VIEW
isPublic Boolean Is Public
layoutType String Layout Type
TABLE 2.59: USER
accessLevel Access Level Bean Access Level
accessLevelID Integer Access Level ID
address2 String Address 2
billingPerHour Double Billing Rate Per Hour
city String City
company Company Bean Company
companyID Integer Company ID
costPerHour Double Cost Per Hour

POWER SEARCHES
directReports User Bean Direct Reports

At
firstName String First Name
hasReservedTimes Boolean Has ReservedTimes
homeGroup Group Bean Home Group
homeGroupID Integer Home Group ID
ID Integer User ID
95
TABLE 2.59: USER
lastName String Last Name
locale String Locale
manager User Bean Manager
managerID Integer Manager ID
messages Note Bean Messages
otherGroups Group Bean Other Groups

Bean
password String password
passwordDate Date Password Date
portalProfile Portal Profile Bean Portal Profile
portalProfileID Integer Portal Profile ID
reservedTimes Reserved Time ReservedTimes

Bean
role Role Bean Default Role

POWER SEARCHES
schedule Schedule Bean Schedule
scheduleID Integer Schedule ID
state String State
timeZone String Time Zone

At
title String Title
tmpPass String Temporary Password
uiCode String UI Code
uiViews UI View Bean UI Views
username String username
96
ACCESSING @TASK USING WIRELESS APPLICATION PROTOCOL
You can access @task from your cell phone or PDA. @task lets you view and update your tasks and issues as
well as look up user contact information. To access @task using your wireless device, you simply need to
access the URL that you normally use to access @task. You can also access the wireless functionality from
your computer if you use whome.cmd rather than home.cmd in your address line. For example, instead of:
www.acme.com/attask/home.cmd
You can use:
www.acme.com/attask/whome.cmd.
If you have difficulty accessing @task from your wireless device using the normal URL, you may be able to
use the whome.cmd URL.

N O T E: @task cannot support WAP version earlier than 2.0.
To use @task on your wireless device
1. Open the @task URL and log in using your user name and password.
FIGURE 2.34 :WAP LOGIN
2. Select one of the following:

• My Tasks
• My Issues
• Search Users
At any time, you can Logout, or click Home to go up one level.
FIGURE 2.35 :WAP HOME
At
3. If you select My Tasks, select a task to open it.

FIGURE 2.36 :WAP TASK LIST
97
4. After you select a task, @task displays the task details. Select Edit to update your task.
FIGURE 2.37 :WAP TASK DETAILS
5. Enter the task status including the percent completed, the status, and the number of hours you spent
doing the task. Ensure that you submit your data.
FIGURE 2.38 :WAP TASK STATUS
6. If you select My Issues in step 2, then @task shows you a list of issues that are assigned to you.
FIGURE 2.39 :WAP ISSUE LIST
7. Select an issue to see its status and details.

At
FIGURE 2.40 :WAP ISSUE DETAILS
98
8. Select Edit to update the status of the issue, including the status and the number of hours you spent
completing the issue. Ensure that you submit your data.
FIGURE 2.41 :WAP UPDATE ISSUES
9. If you select Search Users in step 2, you can enter the user name or other user data in the quick search
field, or you can have @task display users who are members of one of the groups that are available in the
Quick Lists menu.
FIGURE 2.42 :WAP USER SEARCH
10. Select one of the users in the list to see the contact information. Use the Next and Previous functions to
see additional users.
FIGURE 2.43 :WAP USER LIST
At
99
11. After you select a user, @task displays the contact information for that person.
FIGURE 2.44 :WAP USER INFORMATION
At
10
At
Chapter 3
Creating and Managing
Projects
• How to Plan a Project
• Creating a Project
• Assign Resources to a Project
• Advanced Team Builder
• Replanning a Project
• Project Baselines
• Importing and Exporting Microsoft Project Files
• Creating and Working with Milestones
HOW TO PLAN A PROJECT
Whether you use the program evaluation and review technique, or the critical path method to assess and plan
projects, @task has the tools to let you plan, schedule, and execute projects in a way that is easy to
implement.
Though many organizations implement different methods to plan their projects, many of them share several
of the same steps to plan a project effectively. The following list outlines some of the processes that are
common among project planning philosophies:
• Determine what project opportunities are available.
• Set the dates for the project.
• Determine the scope of the project and outline the project phases and objectives.
• Identify the timeline for the project objectives.
• Create a work breakdown structure with all of the tasks for each project objective.
• Determine the order of the tasks and their dependencies.
• Estimate the length of each task.
• Determine the skill set necessary to accomplish each task.
• Determine which team members you will assign to each task.
• Examine project costs and do a cost-benefit analysis.
PROJECT ORIGINS
In the initial phases of a project, you have identified an opportunity, but have not yet determined whether you
should do the project. It may not be cost effective, or you may not have the resources. In this stage of
planning, you can create a project in @task without writing any tasks in it and set the status to planning. Then
you can determine whether you want to undertake the project.

See “Creating a Project” on page 109.
USING @TASK TO SET PROJECT DATES AND PERFORM PRELIMINARY PLANNING

When you plan a project, one of the first things that you need to determine is when you need to do it. Is there
a set deadline when the project must be finished, or should you set a start point and work out from there?
@task gives you options to plan a project either way. You can schedule a project from a start date, or you can
schedule it from the completion date. You can set this attribute when you initially create the project, and you
can change it at any time by editing your project.
At
One other consideration is your work schedule. What holidays are coming up? Who will be taking vacations?
What hours of the day will your team or teams work? No matter how you need to schedule your project,
@task provides you with the tools you need to implement any scheduling requirements. In @task, you can
create multiple project schedules. You can apply a default schedule to the project and additional schedules to
different teams or individuals.
Another aspect of your project that you should decide right from the start is what changes and statistics you
need to track for your audit trail. Is there a regulation that mandates that you keep a record of events and
processes? If so, what are you required to track? @task lets you record edits, scope changes, status changes,
and actions so that you can comply with the regulations specific to your industry.
As you initially proceed through your planning process, you should open @task and create a project. You
should set the schedule mode, the project status, the default schedule, and select the recorded changes for
102
your audit trail. See “Creating a Project” on page 109, “Editing a Project” on page 116, “Create Schedule
Templates” on page 214, and “Setting Up Audit Trails” on page 245.
ESTABLISHING A PROJECT SCOPE

Another integral aspect of project planning is determining exactly what major objectives you need to
accomplish to complete the project. Which of these are mandatory? Which are optional? Do you have
sufficient time to put in all of the options or is there only sufficient time to do the core objectives?
As you look at this, you may consider using milestones or parent tasks in @task. You can use milestones to
organize your objectives if the individual tasks in one objective have dependencies on individual tasks in
other objectives. If tasks in the objective have dependencies only to other tasks within the same objective,
then you can organize the objectives as parent tasks.
For example, assume that your project is building an apartment building, and one of your objectives is the
plumbing and another is laying the foundation. One of your plumbing tasks is to hook up to the main city
water line and this must be done prior to laying the foundation. However most of your other plumbing tasks
can’t be done until after the foundation is laid. In this case, you should consider using milestones to plan
your project objectives because some tasks in one objective are dependant on tasks in other objectives.
However, now assume you are a contractor and your project is to lay the carpet for several apartment
buildings. Your major objectives are to lay the carpet for each building. You can do them in any order and they
are not dependant on each other. In this case, you can use parent tasks to organize your objectives.
When you organize objectives as milestones, you can schedule the tasks within each milestone anywhere in
the project and assign dependencies to any other task. However if you use this approach the tasks that are
part of an objective may not be grouped together in project lists and views.
If you use parent tasks to organize objectives, you can create one task for each major objective, and then you
can add subtasks when you get to the stage where you break down major objectives into their individual
tasks. This keeps the tasks that are part of the objective organized together within project views.
So, the next step is to record your major objectives in @task as either milestones or parent tasks. See
“Creating and Working with Milestones” on page 149 and “Creating a Task” on page 159.
SET OBJECTIVE TIMELINES

After you have determined what the major objectives of a project are, you should calculate the timeline for
each objective. This will help you to prioritize your objectives and plan your schedule accordingly. If you use
parent tasks to organize objectives, you can set the dates for them at this point, and if your objectives have
At
dependencies on other objectives, you can set up those dependencies as parent task attributes as well. See
“Assigning Resources to a Task” on page 160.
LIST TASKS FOR PROJECT OBJECTIVES

Once you have project objectives and a planned timeline, you need to determine the tasks required to
complete said objectives. Tasks can be very small or large and take from hours to weeks and months to
complete. Using subtasks helps breaking up much larger tasks into more manageable portions. Now you can
start to put each individual task into @task. You should create them as tasks within your milestones, or
subtasks within your parent tasks. For now you should just list all tasks and not worry about scheduling them.
@task will automatically set default schedules for the tasks but you can change the schedules later. For more
103
information on tasks and milestones, see “Creating and Editing Tasks” on page 153, “Creating Subtasks” on
page 163, and “Creating and Working with Milestones” on page 149.
DETERMINE WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE

Next you need to look at the task order and dependencies. For most projects, some tasks must be complete
before other tasks can start. See “Understanding Task Attributes” on page 153.
Furthermore, some tasks may be more effectively done during certain seasons of the year or at certain stages
of the project. For example, if you were remodeling a home, you could paint after you put in the carpet, but it
would probably be better to paint before you put in the new carpet so that you wouldn’t have to bother with
laying drop cloths. Whichever way you decided to do it, you could not do both together.
You should order the tasks to determine which tasks must be complete before others can start. There may be
special situations where it would be optimal for two tasks to start at the same time, or for one task to be
partially complete before another task starts. @task can handle these situations or any others that you may
need.
Therefore, your next step is to set the order and dependencies for the tasks within each objective. You may
want to set the task scheduling constraints—for example, complete as soon as possible, finish no later
than—at this step for tasks that have no dependencies if you want them to be done close to the beginning or
the end of the objective. For more information, see “Predecessors” on page 157 and “Assigning Resources to
a Task” on page 160.
ASSIGN TASK DURATIONS

With the ordering of tasks settled, you should estimate the time that it will take to complete the tasks. Being
that the duration is an estimate, you may want to set an optimistic value, and a value that accepts that
projects don’t always go as planned. You should consider factors that might affect your tasks, such as
weather, power outages, supplier difficulties, or other unforeseen events when you plan task times.
Assuming that something won’t go wrong for every task, you should estimate task schedules somewhere
between your optimistic value and your worst-case-scenario value. If you have done similar projects in the
past, you should have a good idea where to set this value. The type of project and the likelihood of unforeseen
events should also be taken into account.
For example, if your project can easily be delayed by natural disasters, then you should probably schedule task
times closer to your worst-case-scenario value. However, if your project is a collaboration of several authors
to write a textbook, then you could schedule tasks taking into account only a few factors like computer
At
crashes and sick days for the various authors.

You should put the task lengths into @task at this point. You do this by editing the duration times for the
tasks, or the fixed dates (depending on the task constraint). See “Assigning Resources to a Task” on
page 160.
Now is one place where @task’s Gantt chart becomes really valuable. You can open it and look at whether the
tasks for each objective fall into the time specified to complete the objectives. If they do not, you may need to
determine whether to add more people or resources to a task in order to accomplish it faster. You may also
learn that you can add some optional objectives, such as additional features to a computer program, or that
you need to remove some optional objectives. Using this technique over time, you may find that you should
add or remove projects from your long-term schedule. See “Viewing and Printing The Gantt Chart” on
page 137.
104
At this point, you may also want to consider saving the project as a template. If you will be doing several of
the same types of projects you can save your project as a template, which will save you many steps on your
next project. If your workforce has little turnover you may consider waiting until after you have made user
assignments to save your template. Regardless of when you save a project as a template, you can remove
user assignments or specific tasks when you import the templates into new projects. You could also save
project objectives as templates and then import only those that you need into your next project. See “Using a
Template to Create a Project” on page 120 and “Create Project Templates” on page 211.
DETERMINE SKILL SETS

With your project scheduled, evaluate your workforce and consider whether you have the personnel with the
proper skills to complete each task? If not, you will need to acquire those skills through a new hire or
contracting out. In this case, you might want to make this a task in your project and add an appropriate time
value to it. Will this affect your ability to complete your project? You will also have to look at the cost of adding
additional resources, but you can take care of that during the cost benefit analysis a little later in the planning
process.
MANAGE RESOURCES AND ASSIGN TASKS

Now you must determine who will accomplish each task. There are tasks that anyone can do, and some that
require people with specific talents. @task lets you assign tasks to individuals or to job roles. For example you
may have a task that requires you to write computer code for a feature of a program. If you have a team of
programmers, you could assign this task to a job role and any of your programmers can do it. Alternatively,
you can assign it to individual users.
At this point in the planning stage, you can determine whether you are adequately staffed to complete the
project. When you add users to a project, @task shows you the resource utilization of the user that you want
to add. You can see the total number of hours that the person is tasked on other projects during the time
frame of your project. You can also see the user utilization in terms of average hours and a total utilization
percentage for the duration of your project. That way you can see if a specific user has time to assist on your
project. See “Assign Resources to a Project” on page 122.
If the users that you want to do the specific tasks are not available @task gives you options to find users who
are. You can use a user utilization search to find a list of users who have not yet been assigned tasks during
the duration of your project. Upon completing the search, if you did not find a user who can accomplish the
tasks, you will know that you need to hire or contract for more people. See “User Utilization Searches” on
page 123.
At
After you have assigned out the tasks, you can use @task’s resource grid to look at the project and see how
many hours each day it will take each user to complete all assigned tasks. The resource grid displays this
information for both users and job roles. It shows you whether anyone has been over- or under-utilized. You
can make adjustments if task assignments are not optimal. See “Using the Resource Grid” on page 139.
N O T E: As long as your project has a status of Planning, tasks that you assign to users do not
appear in their task lists.
DO A COST/BENEFIT ANALYSIS
Now that you know when you can accomplish your project, and what resources you will need, you can do a
cost benefit analysis. While many organizations do this step prior to this point, if you do it here, after you
105
have listed and assigned tasks, you can see where you need to add resources to either get a task done more
quickly, or to get multiple tasks done at the same time. You need to determine whether the cost of adding
these resources makes financial sense. @task has budgeting tools that let you accomplish this easily. See
“Tracking Costs and Measuring Performance” on page 233.
DETERMINE REVIEW POINTS FOR THE PROJECT

Next, you need to determine what the review points will be for the project. For now, you need only set the
dates for the reviews. When the dates come to review the project, @task shows you all the information that
you need to see how your project is progressing. You can see what tasks were late and early, audit trails to see
who changed status on tasks and when, and histories of issues including how they were resolved and when
they were closed. On your review dates you can determine what steps to take and you can replan your project
if necessary. See “Replanning a Project” on page 141.
At
10
CREATING A PROJECT
This section contains the information that you need to know to create projects in @task. It explains the
information that you should know before you begin to create your first project, and then gives procedures for
creating, editing, and managing your projects.
ABOUT CREATING PROJECTS

A project is a larger goal that you need to complete. For example, a project might be to build a house. Projects
contain tasks. Tasks are components of the project that need to be completed before the project is finished.
For example, doing the plumbing in the house could be a task in the ‘build a house’ project. Tasks often have
subtasks. While doing the plumbing task, subtasks could include buying the supplies to installing the pipes in
the master bedroom. Each subtask is further level of detail in the overall project
Tasks generally have dependencies. Caulking the shower can’t be done until after the plumbing and the
shower are installed. The plumbing can’t be done until the frame is up and so forth.
Often, as in building a house, there are several contributors who work to complete the project. Each person
has assigned tasks. These tasks must be completed by specific dates and the people who do them must be
evaluated on their performance.
As a project manager, your responsibility is to ensure that projects are completed on time. @task helps you
track each task and evaluate the effort of each member on your team. Project managers need to know how to
do several functions in @task in addition to those that individual contributor users must do. They should be
able to
• Build projects,
• Create tasks,
• Assign task dependencies,
CREATING A PROJECT
• Manage budgets,
• Assign tasks to subordinates,
• Create groups, and
• Evaluate performance
SETTING PROJECT MANAGEMENT PREFERENCES

The Project Management Preferences screen displays the preferences that managers can set as default
project attributes. When you create projects, tasks, or issues, their attributes default to the settings that you
set here. This saves you time by eliminating the need to adjust attributes every time you create a new object.
At
These defaults can be changed when you create a new object. To access the Project Management Preferences
from the Application Home screen, click Project Management ► Project Management Preferences.
There are five panes in the Project Management Preferences screen; TimeLine Setup, Project Creation
Defaults, Task Creation Defaults, Recorded Change Defaults, and Approvals. Figure 3.1 shows an example of
the Project Management Preferences Screen.
107
FIGURE 3.1: PROJECT MANAGEMENT PREFERENCES
CREATING A PROJECT
At
In the TimeLine Setup pane, you can set the default number of hours per day, days per week, and weeks per
month that @task uses when calculating timelines for projects. These numbers should be set to the standard
work day for your organization. For example, if your organization works ten hours per day Monday through
Thursday, then you should set the Hours Per Day to ten hours per day, the Days per week to fours days per
week, and the Weeks Per Month to four weeks per month. This way, if you type a task duration of 1 day, @task
assumes ten hours rather than eight. This value should match your default schedule. See “Create Schedule
Templates” on page 214.
The Project Creation Defaults pane allows you to set the default attributes for all projects that you create. For
example, if most of your projects are scheduled from the completion date, you can set the Schedule Mode to
108
Schedule From Completion Date. Thus, when you create a project it defaults to this setting. You can do the
same for the Update Type, Status, Completion Mode and Condition Type attributes of your projects.
The Task Creation Defaults pane lets you set defaults for task attributes the same as the Project Creation Pane
lets you set them for your new projects. You can set priority, the default start date, the resource scope, the
tracking mode, and the duration type for your new tasks. One commonly changed setting is the default start
date. You can make unsubordinated tasks start on the day the project begins, or on the day that you create it.
For example, if you add a new task to a project that is in progress, you may want it to start on the day you
create the task rather than on the first day of the project.
N O T E: If the default start date field is set to Today, all created tasks will have a default constraint of
Start No Earlier Than.
For more information, see “Understanding Task Attributes” on page 153.

The Recorded Changes Defaults pane lets you select the types events that you want to record for your
projects, issues, and tasks. When you make a change to one of these @task objects, @task creates notes that
it attaches to the object. These notes outline who made the change and when. Table 3.1 lists and describes the
audit defaults that you can set.
TABLE 3.1: AUDIT OPTIONS
EVENT TYPE DESCRIPTION
Status Change Check this box to record a note when someone changes the status of the @task
object. Examples of status are current, on hold, planning, and so forth.
Attachment Action Check this box to record a note when a user creates or modifies an attachment,
other than a note.
CREATING A PROJECT
Scope Change Check this box to record a note when someone changes the scope of the @task
object. The scope includes dates and schedules.
General Edit Check this box to record a note when someone edits the @task object.
The Approval pane lets you set default durations for your approvals and lets you decide whether you want
approval authentication on or off by default. When approval authentication is enabled, approvers must
authenticate with a correct user name and password before they can approve tasks.
The Progress Status Defaults pane defines how late a task must be before @task marks it as behind or late.
The field is set in minutes. The default is 480 minutes, or eight hours late.
At
To access Project Management Preferences

1. On the Application Home screen, click Project Management ► Project Management Preferences.
2. From here you will set the defaults for your timelines, projects, tasks, and so forth.
CREATING A PROJECT
When you create a project, depending on your project status, you should plan several aspects of the project.
You need to plan out the project time frame, have a list of tasks and subtasks that need to be completed for
the project along with their dependencies, and know the team members who will work on the project. Each
team member should have an @task user account.
10
This chapter has an example of a process that you can use to plan a project using @task’s functions and
capabilities. See “How to Plan a Project” on page 102.
When you create a project, @task provides several project attributes that let you customize your projects to
fit your exact specifications. These attributes include options for:
• Scheduling
• Status
• Priority
• Template usage
• Update type
• Group assignments
• Milestone usage
• Audit trail settings
• Budgeting
• Help desk queues
PROJECT DETAILS TAB

The Project Details tab contains the first set of attributes that you can select. On it, you can schedule a project
from a start date or a completion date. If you schedule from the start date, the project defaults to as-soon-as-
possible scheduling. If you schedule it form completion date, the project defaults to as-late-as-possible
scheduling. The former puts tasks that you create as close to the beginning of a project as possible, while the
latter puts tasks close to the end of a project.
You can set the status too. This helps you track whether a project is current, in the planning stages, or one of
several other options. You can set the start date to whenever you want the project to begin, and you can set
the priority to show a project’s importance when compared to other projects.
CREATING A PROJECT
To save time writing tasks, you can also create your new project from a template when a template for a similar
project exists. When you do this, @task imports the tasks, schedules, user assignments, and other attributes
so you don’t have to re-create them. When you import a template, you can also choose to omit some
attributes or tasks that you don’t need for the current project. Alternatively, you can combine multiple
templates into one project. For more information, see “Create Project Templates” on page 211 and “Importing
and Exporting Microsoft Project Files” on page 145.
At
110
RELATED INFORMATION TAB
The Related Information tab lists the next set of attributes, as seen in Figure 3.2.
FIGURE 3.2: RELATED INFORMATION TAB

CREATING A PROJECT
Related Information
The first drop-down menu item on this tab is Completion Mode. This field has two options:
• Manual. This is the default. When all project tasks and issues are completed, the status of the project
must be manually updated in the Project Details tab.
• Automatic. When all of the project’s tasks are complete and all the issues have been resolved, @task
automatically sets the status of the project to complete. After this occurs, you cannot change the sta-
tus of the project unless you set this field back to Manual.
At
The next item is Update Type which determines how @task updates the project’s schedules for its tasks.
Table 3.2 lists and describes the update types that you can choose.
TABLE 3.2: UPDATE TYPES
UPDATE TYPE DESCRIPTION
Automatic Project schedules and costs update automatically at 12:59 A.M. each day. This can
be used for very large projects that require extensive system resources to update.
On Change Updates occur automatically as changes are made to project task schedules.
Automatic and On Change Updates both automatically and on change.
111
TABLE 3.2: UPDATE TYPES
UPDATE TYPE DESCRIPTION
Manual Updates only when you manually choose to update the schedules. See “Recalcu-
lating a Timeline” on page 140.
Next is Owner. If no users are assigned, the drop-down will be empty—it will only say Select User. If you know
that the user you want to assign already exists in the system, click the binocular icon ( ) to search for the
user; if the user does not exist, click the plus icon ( ) and you can add the user on the spot in the New User
view (see Figure 3.3). Of course, you can also add users before setting up the project—see “Creating and
Managing User Accounts” on page 269.
N O T E: When you click on the plus icon ( ) in this context, you are performing inline object
creation. For a quick overview of inline object creation, view a brief video at http://www.attask.com/
help/watch/180.
FIGURE 3.3: NEW USER VIEW

CREATING A PROJECT
Next select the group you want the project to fall under in the Group drop-down menu. If the group you want
At
is not in the list, learn how to add a group in “Creating and Setting Up Groups” on page 267.
Next select a company from the Company drop down. If you know that the company you want to assign
already exists in @task, click the binocular icon to search for the company. If the company does not exist,
click the plus icon and you can add it instantly in the New Company view (see Figure 3.4). For more detail on
how to set up a company in @task, go to “Creating and Setting Up Companies” on page 268.
112
FIGURE 3.4: NEW COMPANY VIEW
Schedule gives you the option of selecting a schedule that has been set up previously (N/A by default). To set
up a schedule on the fly, click the plus icon ( ) and you will see the New Schedule view (see Figure 3.5). For
detailed information on setting up a schedule, see “Create Schedule Templates” on page 214 in Chapter 9.
FIGURE 3.5: NEW SCHEDULE VIEW

CREATING A PROJECT
At
A milestone path is an ordered collection of milestones to which tasks can be applied. For information on
milestones, see “Creating and Working with Milestones” on page 149 later in this chapter. Recorded Changes
refer to changes that can be recorded to create an audit trail with @task. To learn how to manage an audit
trail, go to Chapter 12, Using Audit Trails, on page 243.
113
Finance
When you enter your budget, you can select a Performance Index Method. Table 3.3 describes the values that
you can pick. See “Tracking Costs and Measuring Performance” on page 233.
TABLE 3.3: PERFORMANCE INDEX METHOD
VALUE DESCRIPTION
Cost-Based Calculates your cost performance index value based on currency amounts.
Hour-Based Calculates your cost performance index value based on time amounts.
The Fixed Revenue field allows you to set a fixed billing amount for this project. The fixed cost lets you set a
fixed value for costs related to the project. For more information, see “Billing and Revenue” on page 235 and
“Tracking Costs” on page 233.
Portfolio Values
Portfolio Values are a new addition to the project object as of @task v4 R6. They include three fields that
allow you to set metrics for Risk, Benefit, and Alignment. These fields can be defined as:
• Risk. The potential negative impact to an organization that may arise from the present project.
• Benefit. The potential for financial or operational gain upon successful completion of a project.
• Alignment. The measure of how closely the project requirements fit within the organization’s busi-
ness model, goals, available skill set, and resources.
You can use these metrics to help determine whether to proceed with the project or place it on hold. These
values and the project budget are used in the Risk/Benefit Chart available in the View drop-down. For an
example of the Risk/Benefit Chart, see “Filtering, Grouping and Viewing Lists” on page 33 These values are
CREATING A PROJECT
also very useful for companies that are using the Capacity Planning feature. To learn more about Capacity
Planning, please contact your sales representative.
CUSTOM DATA TAB

The Custom Data tab lets you create your own forms and capture information that is unique to your project.
There is a chapter in this manual that addresses custom data specifically. For more information, see Chapter
10, About Creating Custom Data, on page 220.
QUEUE PROPERTIES TAB

At
The Queue Properties tab lets you set up the way that you want the project to handle issues and requests that
come in to the project via @task’s helpdesk screens. Figure 3.6 shows the Queue Properties tab.
114
FIGURE 3.6: QUEUE PROPERTIES TAB
See “Creating Help Desk Issues” on page 181.

CREATING A PROJECT
@tasks enables you to limit or grant the access to any Help Desk. Your selections are Public, Private, and
None. Depending on your selection, the following users can submit requests and issues to the project from
the Help Desk screen:
• Public. All users can publish issues to this project from the Help Desk screens.
• Private. Only assigned users to the project can publish issues from the Help Desk screens.
• None. Project is not visible in the Help Desk screen.
If you decide to let users submit issues from the help desk, then the rest of the fields in this screen let you set
the attributes for the forms that users see when they submit the issues. You can select the types of issues that
you want to let users submit. You can also set the default duration (which is the time that a person has to
At
resolve the issue), and a default category (which is a custom form that you can create to collect additional
information on top of the fields that @task already provides for you). See “Creating and Setting Up
Categories” on page 224.
Also in the Queue Properties tab under New Issue Fields, you can select from the set of standard fields that
you want users to be able to see when they submit a help desk request. Check the box to show the field on the
form.
At the bottom of the Queue Properties tab is a field labeled Show All Fields. The following list explains what
happens with each option that you can select:
• If you select No Users, @task captures the information that you selected in the New Issue Fields
check boxes and displays it to the user assigned to address the issue. Users who can submit issues
can name their new issues and fill in fields from the Default Category form that you selected earlier.
115
• If you select Members on the Project, project members can edit the New Issue Fields that you select.
Other users (assuming it is a public queue and they can access it) can only see the Default Category
form.
• If you select All Users, any user with access can edit all selected fields.
Under Email Settings, you can configure your project to accept issues via a POP email account. To use this
feature, the Publish as Help Desk field must be set to either public or private, and the email must be sent
from a user in @task that has at least a Help Desk Requestor license.
The POP account itself is one that you own outside of @task, and does not need to be associated with any
individual user. If activated, when an @task user sends an email to the POP email account, an issue is
created in the project. @task checks the account every 10 minutes, and the issue is created with the email
subject being converted to the issue name and the body of the email becoming the issue description. If a
document is attached to the email and the ability to attach documents is activated for the queue, the
document will also be attached to the newly created issue. The other issue settings will assume the default
issue settings (see “Routing Issues” on page 174).
To set up the pop email, account, you must enter the mail server and the username and password for the
email account, and obviously, the Disabled check box must be unchecked.
To create a project
1. From the Application Home screen, click Project Management ► Projects and then select New Project
from the contextual menu. You can also click Create ► Project from the navigation menu.
2. Fill in the fields on the Project Details tab. In addition to the required project name and optional descrip-
tion, this is where you set the schedule mode, the dates, the status, the priority, and optionally select a
template.
3. On the Related Information tab you can select the update type, the group, the schedule, a milestone path,
and the recorded changes for your audit trail.
CREATING A PROJECT
4. On the Custom Data tab, fill in all necessary fields. Custom data is data that is attached to projects or
other @task objects using forms that people in your organization have created. If you are unsure as to
how to fill in a custom data field, contact your system administrator or a member of your @task develop-
ment group. If you have not created any Custom Data forms, this screen remains blank.
5. On the Queue Properties tab, set up the process for handling issues that come in from the help desk. Set
it up as a public or private. Select the types of issues that the project accepts, the default duration (to
show how long people will have to resolve issues) and a category if you have created one. Set the fields
that users see when they create new issues and the set of users who can access those fields.
At
EDITING A PROJECT
@task lets you easily edit your projects. You can edit projects as often project attributes change. Some project
attributes can only be edited when projects are given specific status. Figure 3.4 lists the project status and
shows what attributes you can edit given specific status (X indicating editable, O indicating uneditable).
TABLE 3.4: EDITING PROJECTS WITH DIFFERENT STATUS
ATTRIBUTE CURRENT DEAD ON HOLD PLANNING COMPLETE
Edit the project X X X X X
Edit tasks in the project X O X X O
Add tasks to the project X O X X O
116
TABLE 3.4: EDITING PROJECTS WITH DIFFERENT STATUS
ATTRIBUTE CURRENT DEAD ON HOLD PLANNING COMPLETE
Delete tasks in the project X X X X O
Attach a template to the project X O X X O
Add issues to the project X O O X O
Edit issues in the project X O O X O
Delete issues in the project X X X X O
Approve and disapprove tasks X O O O O
Add hours to tasks X X X O X
Add hours to issues X X X X X
Add hours to the project X X X O X
Delete all types of hours from the project X X X X X
Update status of tasks in the project X O O O O
Update status for issues in the project X O O X O
Add documents to project X O X X O
Add documents to tasks in the project X O X X O
Add documents to issues in the project X O X X O
Add notes to the project X X X X X
Add notes to tasks in the project X X X X X

CREATING A PROJECT
Add notes to issues in the project X X X X X
Affects resource grid X O O O O
Sends notifications X O O O O
Project is listed in the "My Projects" view X O O O O
Project is listed in the "My Tasks" view X O O O O
Project is listed in the "My Issues" view X O O X O

At
Project can be searched and can have reports X X X X X

run against it
Generally, when you change the project status the current attribute values remain. For example, you can’t add
hours to projects with a status of Planning, however, any hours currently in a project that you change the
status to Planning remain in the project. Also, in order to change a project status to complete, all tasks and
issues must be complete or resolved.
To edit a project
1. You can get to your projects when you click My... ► Projects in the navigation menu; to see all projects,
click Find ► Projects fill in any fields, and submit the search.
2. Click a project name to open it.
117
3. In the contextual menu, click Project ► Edit Project.
4. Change the fields in each tab as necessary.
5. In the contextual menu you can select options for resetting timelines, adding team members, adding
attachments, importing or saving the project as a template, and setting up routing rules as issues come
in.
EDITING MULTIPLE PROJECTS SIMULTANEOUSLY

You can edit certain features of multiple projects simultaneously. These include the status, the milestone path
and the events that you audit. This feature lets you open and edit multiple projects at the same time rather
than individually editing these attributes.
Using Bulk Edit

1. In the navigation menu, click Find ► Projects.
2. Fill in the fields to filter your search as necessary.
3. In the project list, click the Select icon ( ) next to the project name to select the project. Use keyboard
controls to select multiple projects.
4. Click the Edit Projects icon( ).
5. Check the check boxes next to the attributes that you want to edit, then set the value(s) you want for all of
the selected projects. You can change the following information using this screen:
• Status
• Group
• Company
• Completion Mode
CREATING A PROJECT
• Milestone Path
• Recorded Changes
• Add Team Users
• Recalculate Costs and Revenues
• Recalculate Timelines
6. Click Submit when done
At
118
FIGURE 3.7: BULK EDIT VIEW
The project worksheet allows you to edit information for several projects on one screen. Unlike Bulk Edit, you
can set different values for each project.
Using the worksheet

1. From the list of projects, select the projects you want to include on the worksheet.
2. Click the Worksheet icon ( ) to open the project worksheet, pictured in Figure 3.8.
CREATING A PROJECT
FIGURE 3.8: PROJECT WORKSHEET VIEW

At
3. Edit the values you want and click Submit to save your changes.
COPYING A PROJECT TO CREATE A NEW PROJECT

You can copy a project to create a new project rather than creating a new one. This is similar to using a
template. When you copy a project, you have the same options that you do when you save a project as a
119
template or use a template to create a project. You can remove several task attributes and select any tasks
that you want to exclude from the original project. See “Using a Template to Create a Project” on page 120.
To copy a project
1. In the navigation menu, click My ► Projects or Find ► Projects.
2. From the project list, open a project.
3. In the contextual menu, click Import/Export ► Copy Project.
4. In the Copy Project tab, fill in the Name, the Status and the Planned Start Date fields. For more informa-
tion about these fields, see “Creating a Project” on page 109.
5. In the Options tab, select the task attributes that you want to exclude. See Table 3.5 for option explana-
tions.
6. On the Exclude tab, select any tasks that you want to remove when you copy the project. Click the check
box next to the task name to select it. Use keyboard controls to select multiple tasks.
7. Click Submit.
USING A TEMPLATE TO CREATE A PROJECT

If you have many similar projects, you can save one as a template and create several projects from your
template. This allows you to standardize your timelines and processes for all similar projects. See “Saving a
Project as a Template” on page 211.
For example, if you managed a landscaping business, you might have a template for projects where you
install sprinklers. This template may include tasks for digging the trenches, laying the PVC pipe, running wire
for the timer and so forth. Then every time your business lands a contract for installing a sprinkler system,
you simply import the template and edit it if necessary. This eliminates the need to create the same tasks
repetitively.
CREATING A PROJECT
Also, if you have a current project, you can attach a template to your project. If your project is currently in
progress, @task sets all the template tasks to start at the beginning project date. So if you are three weeks
into a project, and you attach a template with a task that should start on the first day of the project and take
only one week, that task will automatically be late the moment you attach the template. You can, of course,
edit the tasks or replan the project to remedy this.
When you create tasks using a template, @task gives you several options. You can select tasks that you want
to omit from your new project, you can clear constraints, assignments or one of several other options.
Table 3.5 lists and explains the options that you can use when you create a project from a template. These are
located on the Options tab.
At
TABLE 3.5: OPTIONS WHEN ATTACHING TEMPLATES
TEMPLATE OPTION DESCRIPTION
Clear constraint Select this to remove all task constraints such as ‘As late as possible’, or mandated
dates. All tasks will default to ‘As soon as possible’ if you select this option.
Clear All Predecessors This option removes all task dependencies.
Clear Assignment Removes any user who is assigned to complete a task.
Clear External Predecessors Removes dependencies on tasks outside of those imported into the project.
Clear Progress Removes any task progress that was saved as part of the template.
120
One other available option is the predecessor option. You can use this option when you are attaching a
template to a project that already has tasks. You can select one current task as a predecessor to the earliest of
the tasks that you import as part of your template.
To attach a template
1. In the navigation menu, click My ► Projects or Find ► Projects.
2. Click Import/Export ► Attach Template on the contextual menu.
3. Select the template name from the drop-down menu, and the click Submit.
4. On the Exclude tab, select any tasks that you want to remove when you attach the template. Click the
Selection icon ( ) next to the task name to select it. Use keyboard controls to select multiple tasks.
5. On the Options tab, check the options that you want to enable.
6. On the Predecessor tab, select the current task, if any that you want to precede the template and its tasks.
Set the dependencies, lag and type if necessary.
DELETING A PROJECT
You can delete a project if you no longer need it. However, if you delete a project, timesheet hours and other
information associated with the project may also be deleted. As an alternative to deleting a project, you can
edit it and change the status to Complete or Dead. This removes all current tasks related to the project out of
a users task list, but saves all data.
See “Editing a Project” on page 116.
To delete a project
1. In the navigation menu, click Find ► Projects.
2. Fill in the fields to filter the search results, or click Submit to see all projects.
CREATING A PROJECT
3. From the project list, click a project name to open it.

4. In the contextual menu click Project ► Delete Project.
5. Click Submit.
At
121
ASSIGN RESOURCES TO A PROJECT
When you organize a project, you must assign users to the project and to its tasks. This section will explain
how to assign team members to a project.
ABOUT ADDING TEAM MEMBERS TO A PROJECT

When you create a project you need to associate a team of people with the project so you can assign tasks to
members of that team. @task organizes teams of users into objects called groups. When you create a project,
you should associate one or more groups with a project. This allows member of the group to view the project.
In addition to assigning a group to a project, you need to assign users to accomplish the tasks. You can
search for users by name, group, job role, or other filters, and then add them to the project.
ADDING AND VIEWING USERS ASSOCIATED WITH A PROJECT

The following procedures show you how to associate users or job roles with a project or to view the users and
job roles that are currently associated with the project.
When you do a user search to add users to a project, you need to know each user’s current work level. That
way, you can determine if a user is being requested to do too many tasks. @task shows you the utilization
level of each user in the search results so you know if users are too busy to accept new tasks.
To view current users:

1. From a project list, click on a project name to access it.
2. In the contextual menu, click Team.
3. Click View Team to see a current list of available team members and user roles.
To associate users with a project:

2. In the contextual menu, click Team ► Search and Add Users.
3. Fill in the search fields to find the users that you want, and then click Submit.
4. Highlight the users that you want to add to the project by clicking the check box next to the user name.
You can use keyboard controls with your mouse to select multiple users.
5. Click the Add Team Users icon ( ) after you have highlighted the user names.
At
To associate job roles with a project

2. In the contextual menu, click Team ► Search and Add Roles.
3. Fill in the fields to search for specific roles, or leave them blank to search for all roles. See “User Utiliza-
tion Searches” on page 123.
4. Highlight the roles that you want to add to the project by clicking the check box next to the name. You can
use keyboard controls with your mouse to select multiple roles.
5. Click the Add Team Roles icon( ).
122
USER UTILIZATION SEARCHES
When you are organizing a team to associate with a project, you can easily check to see if a user is busy with
other projects. A user utilization search lets you search a date range to see if the user who you want to add to
a project is available, or to find users who are under-utilized to add to your projects.
A user utilization search lets you select a date range and then a utilization range. It also lets you search for the
entire date range or only a certain number of days in a date range.
Assume that a project manager needs to determine whether a person has time to help out on a project that
lasts for five weeks. He needs this person for at least half of a day for four of the five weeks of the project. So,
he types the dates of the project into the search fields along with utilization percentage values of between 50
and 100 percent. Because he needs this person for only 20 of the 25 days of the project, rather than setting
the search to look at the entire date range, he sets it to ‘for at least’ and types ‘20 days’. When he executes the
search, the person he needs appears on the list as being 85 percent utilized for that time frame. The manager
realizes that the person is too busy to help out on the new project.
Now the manager wants to see who is available, because the resource he wanted is allocated to other
projects. So he changes the search to look for user with a utilization of between 0 and 50 percent for the same
time frame. As he scans the list he sees another user who can do the tasks.
Another manager notices that one of his employees is frequently putting forth extra effort. He does a user
utilization search for previous months and sees that the person has been tasked to 110 percent of capacity, yet
still managed to accomplish everything on time. Now the manager has hard statistics to back up the request
for an award.
To access User Utilization Searches

1. From the Application Home screen, click Resource Management ► User Utilization Search. You can also
select User Utilization Search in the Find Navigational menu.
2. Select a date range or a set time frame.
3. Set the utilization range in terms of a percentage or in numbers of hours. Also set the number of days in
the date range that the users must be utilized at that percentage.
At
123
ADVANCED TEAM BUILDER
@task’s advanced Team Builder provides an intuitive, user-friendly interface for creating and managing a
project team. @task’s internal scheduling engine and matchmaking logic can determine the best match
between team members and tasks, helping you make smart decisions with limited resoures.
Team Builder helps you plan and assign users and tasks via a worksheet interface. The interface is divided
into two major areas: users in the upper panels (user and work schedule) and tasks in the lower panels (tasks
and task schedule).
For a quick introduction to Team Builder, view a brief video at http://www.attask.com/help/watch/181.
To access the Team Builder

1. Navigate to the project where you want to use the Team Builder.
2. From the left contextual menu, go Project Ω Team Builder. It brings up the Team Builder (see Figure 3.9).
FIGURE 3.9: ADVANCED TEAM BUILDER

At
To create a project team

1. Go to the User Panel.
2. If you have already assigned a group to the project, click on Group tab in the panel. Users in the group
are displayed in the panel. Decide which users who you want to include in the team, and click a check box
in the first column.
124
3. You can also click on the All tab, and all @task users will be displayed in the panel. Click a check box
again to add a user to the team.
4. Now click on Team tab, and all users who have been checked will be displayed under the tab.
5. To remove a user from project team, simple uncheck a check box.
6. Click Submit to save your changes.
To create a project team with Team Builder

1. In the Task panel, click on a task name.
2. All users who are available to perform the task will be highlighted in the User Panel.
3. Drag the task, and drop it onthe user who you would like to perform the task. This action automatically
(1) adds the user to the project team, and (2) assigns the task to the user.
4. To remove the task assignment, simply right click on task name in the User Panel, and select Unassign
Tasks.
5. Click Submit to save your changes.
You can also click on a user’s name in the User Panel, and all the tasks that the user can perform will be
highlighted in the Task panel. @task performs this match making highlight based on the following criteria:
• User’s job role assigned to the project (Team Role)
• User’s default job role found in user’s profile
• User’s Available Work Hours
This match-making only works if (1) you assign job roles to the project, and (2) users enter their work
schedule in @task.
Use either the Work Schedule and Task Schedule panels for reference when you are making decisions about
whom to include in the teams. In the Work Schedule panel, you can see the users’ available work hours. Any
cells in red indicate that the user is overworked for the particular time period. The Task Schedule panel lets
you view a Gantt view of tasks, the hours required for tasks, and the remaining hours needed to complete
tasks.
The drop down menu in the upper-right corner of the Team Builder ( ) gives you the option to change
how the Team Builder displays users’ work hours, either as Hour, FTE (Full Time Equivalent), or Percent.
Figure 3.6 shows you what each icon at the top of Team Builder does.
TABLE 3.6: TEAM BUILDER ICONS
At
ICON ICON NAME DESCRIPTION
Zoom In and Zoom Zoom into or out of the Work and Task Schedule panels.
Out
Undo and Redo Undo or Redo the most recent action.
Preferences When you click the Preferences icon, you can (1) control what information
to display in the columns in the User Panel; (2) control what information
to display in the columns in the Task Panel; (3) control what information
to display in the Gantt chart; and (4) customize matching-making condi-
tions.
125
ICON ICON NAME DESCRIPTION
Full Screen Toggle between full-screen and normal views of Team Builder.
Edit Job Role Edit team members’ job roles. You can only edit the job roles that are
assigned to the project. Before you click this icon, make sure that you
assign job roles to the project.
Legend Provide an explanation of the colors used inTeam Builder.
Filter Filter and search users or tasks based on different filtering options.
USEFUL SHORTCUTS
1. Hold down the mouse button (left mouse button on a two-button mouse) and moving cursor left and
right on the timeline. It will control zoom in and out of the Work and Task Schedule panel.
2. Right click on the timeline (Control-Click on the Mac). It will open up a menu from which you can choose
different zoom options.
3. Hold down a Shift key, select a part of the Work or Task Schedule panel with your mouse that you want to
zoom in to, and release the mouse button. It will zoom into the selected portion of the panel.
At
126
GETTING PROJECT AND TASK STATUS
A project manager always needs to know the status of the project. @task provides you with several tools to
get that information. and several ways to examine project timelines.
GETTING PROJECT STATUS

One of the easiest ways to look at project and task status is to look at the Current Projects tab of the Project
Management screen. This screen lists your projects and has a calendar view that shows you the dates of your
projects. You can click a project on either the calendar or the project list to view the project details and the
status of the project tasks.
When you click on a project, by default, you see the task list, however, there are several other tabs you can
click to see additional information about a project. Table 3.6 lists and describes these tabs.
TABLE 3.7: PROJECT INFORMATION TABS
TAB DESCRIPTION
Navigation Has navigation boxes to go to the following screens:

• Tasks
• Notes
• Reports
• Team
• Documents
Project Details This tab contains the following information:

• Project Information. Name, ID Number, Description
• Related Information. Entered By, Company, Group, Template, Category, Schedule,
Milestone Path
• Issues. Number of Open Issues, Issues Resolved Upon Completion
• Resources. Planned vs. Actual Duration, Planned vs. Actual Work
• Status. Percent Complete, Project Status, Progress, Priority, Timeline Type,
Schedule Mode, Completion Date
• Finance. Budget, Performance Index Method (PIM), Fixed Revenue, Billed Reve-
nue, Planned vs. Actual Revenue, Fixed Cost, Planned vs. Actual Cost, Cost Perfor-
mance Index (CPI), Schedule Performance Index (SPI), Cost Schedule Index (CSI),
Estimated Actual Cost (EAC)
• Planned Dates. Planned Start Date, Planned Completion Date
• Projected Dates. Projected Start Data, Projected Completion Date
• Actual Dates. Actual Start Date, Actual Completion Date
• Entry Date
At
Custom Data Custom fields and information that you create. See “Creating and Setting Up Cate-
gories” on page 224.
Notes All notes and changes that have been added to the project.
Tasks A list of tasks and their status.
Issues A list of issues and their status.
To access Current Projects

1. From the Application Home screen, click Project Management.
2. Click the Current Projects tab.
3. Click the Project Details tab.
127
PROJECT CONDITIONS
By default, the project condition is determined by the Progress Status, which is a relationship of between the
planned schedule and the actual and projected schedule. For example, if a project is behind schedule, it will
display a yellow condition indicator. The project conditions are described in Table 3.7 below.
TABLE 3.8: PROJECT CONDITIONS
CONDITION DESCRIPTION
On Time The project was completed on or before the planned due date, or it is projected to be
completed on or before the planned due date.
Behind Schedule The projected completion date is later than the planned completion date of the project,
but the project due date hasn’t yet passed. This condition indicates that there is still a
chance that the project could complete on time.
Late The project was completed late, or it is not completed and the due date has already
passed.
At Risk Indicates a compressed schedule, or a project date range that is too small for the total
duration specified in the plan. Usually only occurs when there are constraints on tasks in
the project that compress the schedule. For example, a ten-day task is given a Must Fin-
ish On constraint 5 days from now. This would indicate that 10-days of task duration
needs to fit in 5 days in order to complete on time.
You can change the project to use a manual condition indicator, instead of automatically using the progress
status, simply by changing the Condition Type on the project from Progress Status to Manual.
To change the Condition Type of the project:

1. Open the project for editing by clicking Edit Project in the contextual menu of the Project Details page
2. On the Project Details tab, change the Condition Type from Progress Status to Manual.
3. You can now change the Condition manually by changing the value in the Condition field.
USING THE GANTT CHART VIEW

@task can show your projects in a Gantt chart view (this is different from the Interactive Gantt Chart; see
“Interactive Gantt Charts” on page 130). With this view, you can see the timelines for multiple projects
together and how they overlap or line up. The view shows you whether you have multiple concurrent projects
and give you an idea of your total work load. You can view the Gantt chart by days, weeks, or months.
Figure 3.10 shows an example of a Gantt chart view.
At
128
You can change the date column ranges using the Zoom In ( ) and Zoom Out ( ) buttons. This changes
the scale between Day, Week, Month and Year.
You can collapse and expand all subtasks at once, using the Open All ( ) and Close All ( ) buttons.
The Print Gantt icon ( ) opens the options page for printing the Gantt to a multi-page PDF.
You can open the Gantt into a Full Screen view by clicking on the Full Screen icon ( ).
The fields displayed and the information displayed on the Gantt chart can be configured using the View
Preferences page. Click on the Preferences icon ( ) to open the Gantt chart View Preferences.
At
The Field Data checkboxes determine which columns will be displayed for each item in the Gantt chart. The
Chart Indicators checkboxes control the information that is displayed in the main body of the Gantt chart. If
you want to display only a portion of the tasks in the Project Gantt, you can put a range in the Display
Numbers fields. For example, if I just wanted the Gantt to display the first 25 tasks, I could put 1 in the first
box and 25 in the second box. After you click Ok, the Gantt chart will be refreshed with the new options.
N O T E: The Gantt chart can be accessed in two ways. In the Project List you can change the view to
Gantt view, which has a slightly different toolbar and look. It has all the same functionality with the
exception being
129
INTERACTIVE GANTT CHARTS
You already should have seen the Gantt chart view (“Using the Gantt Chart View” on page 128). Interactive
Gantt charts are different: They allow you to create, edit, and update tasks in a worksheet format, a format
similar to Microsoft Excel• worksheets. You’ll find that interactive Gantt charts can streamline your project
management.
For a quick introduction to interactive Gantt charts, see a brief video at http://www.attask.com/help/watch/
175.
To open an interactive Gantt chart

1. Open a project using My Projects or Recent, or create a new one (see “About Creating Projects” on
page 107).
2. On the project screen, click Interactive Gantt Chart on the left in the contextual menu. It is also availabe
under Timelines Ω Interactive Gantt Chart. The chart will appear as seen in Figure 3.11.
FIGURE 3.11: INTERACTIVE GANTT CHART

At
To edit items in the worksheet pane, do one or more of the following

1. The first column displays selection buttons ( ). Click a button in this column to select the project or one
of its tasks to the right.
2. The second column is an information column. Click on an icon (such as or )in this column to see
quick information about a task.
3. The third column lists the sequential number for each task. You can grab and drag a task to reorder it in
the list of tasks. If you do this, the numbering sequence is updated to reflect the move.
4. The Name column lists the project and its tasks by name. To hide the tasks for the project, click the icon
to the left of the name of the project ( ). Click the plus icon ( ) to show the tasks again. Click on the
arrow icon ( ) to the right of the project or task name to navigate to the task list for the project, or the
task view for the selected task. Click Submit to save changes before navigating away from the chart.
130
5. To edit a task name, select the task name from the Name column. Type in the new task name or edit the
current name, then press Enter.
6. To create a new task, click in an empty cell in the name column, and the first empty cell will open for edit-
ing. Type the name of the task, and then press Enter. The task is given default data, such as a task num-
ber, a Duration of 1 day, a Start date, Complete date, and Percent Complete. You can click in any cell and
then enter your actual information, either before creating a task (in a blank cell) or after creating the task.
7. In the worksheet pane, you can reorganize and resize columns. To move a column, grab the column in
the heading row and drag it where you want it. To resize a column, grab a border between the columns
and move it right or left to make the column wider or narrower.
8. After selecting a task, click the indent icon ( ) or the outdent icon ( ) to indent or outdent a task to
show parent/child relationships between predecessor tasks and subtasks.
9. Right click the mouse (Windows) or Control-Click (Mac) on a task, and a task menu appears.You can
select Edit Task, Start ASAP, and so forth
10. Click Submit to save your changes to the Gantt chart. Unsaved appears at the bottom-left of the chart if
you have changes to save.
To manipulate the worksheet and timeline panes, do one or more of the following
1. To change your view of this chart to a full-screen view, click the toggle icon ( ); click this icon again to
return to the original, compact view.
2. To view different part so the chart, drag one of the scroll bars ( ) at the bottom of the view panes
and move them left or right.
3. To make a pane larger or smaller, grab the border between the panes and drag it to the left or right.
4. You can manage columns by clicking the gear (Preferences) icon ( ). A dialog box will appear showing
you which fields are displayed or not.
At
Under the Field Data tab, the Unused column shows which fields are available but not shown in the
worksheet pane; the Used column shows you the ones that are displayed. You can grab names in either
column and drag them between columns or to a different order within the column. You can also highlight
131
a field name in either column (select multiple names with the Shift or Control buttons) and then click
either the right arrow ( ) or the left arrow ( ) to move it to the opposite column. Click the Restore
Defaults button to abandon your changes and return to the default settings. Click the Ok button to
accept changes, or Cancel to make no changes.
Click on the Chart Indicators tab, and you see a list of check boxes that indicate which indicators are used
in the Gantt chart timeline.
By default, you see Predecessor Lines between tasks and their predecessor tasks, Critical Paths, Percent
Complete for each task, Progress Bars, Show Bar Handles, and No Baseline (a milestone label). Check or
uncheck the boxes you desire. Click the Restore Defaults button to abandon any changes and return to
default settings. Click the Ok button to accept changes, or Cancel to make no changes.
5. To zoom in and zoom out of the timeline pane, click the zoom in icon ( ) or the zoom out icon ( ). You
can also grab the heading row in the timeline pane, moving left to zoom out to the year level, right to
zoom in to the hour level. You can also use the Shift button with the mouse to highlight part of the time-
line. When you release the most button, you zoom into the highlighted part of the timeline.
6. You can manipulate tasks directly in the timeline pane. As you hover over a task represented on the time-
line, an information box appears as well as handles around the task. You can drag the task triangle han-
dles to the left or right to change the duration of the task on the timeline (if it is not complete).
At
132
Create predecessor relationships by dragging a line (appears in red) from one round handle on one task
to another round handle on another task. When complete, a black arrow will show the relationship.
7. Click the print icon ( ) to print the Gantt charge as a multipage PDF. For more information, see “Print-
ing an Interactive Gantt Chart” on page 133.
8. Click Submit to save your changes to the Gantt chart. Unsaved appears at the bottom-left of the chart if
you have changes to save.
To use show additional project details, do the following

1. By default, a left arrow icon ( ) is seen in the upper-right corner of the chart. Click this icon.
2. When you click on this icon, a pane appears on the right side of the chart. In the pane are several small
panels labeled as : Users, Job Roles, Milestones, Map, and Legend.
• Users: A list of users associated with the project.
• Job Roles: A list of job roles associated with the project.
• Milestones: A listing of any milestones associated with the project.
• Map: A thumbnail of the Gantt chart.

• Legend: Shows the colors that indicate the status of tasks on the timeline.
3. To control which of these are shown, click the drop-down icon ( ) on the upper-right of the pane.
Choose which panel you want to display (one at a time), an the panel will appear.
4. When you display the Users and Job Roles panels, you can drag and drop users and job roles from these
panels into the timeline pane to associate them with a task.
5. To hide the pane, click the right arrow icon ( ).
PRINTING AN INTERACTIVE GANTT CHART

To print your Gantt chart as a multipage PDF, click the printer icon ( ) on the toolbar or click Print Gantt
Chart on the left. This section first covers what you’ll see if you click the printer icon. When you click this icon,
a Print dialog box appears (see Figure 3.12).
For a quick introduction to printing interactive Gantt charts, see a brief video at http://www.attask.com/help/
watch/178.
At
The Zoom Level lets you select the zoom depth of the PDF. The default value is Week. This means that the
PDF will show a week of the project timeline. Other options are: Hour, Day, Week, Month, Year, or Fit to
Page(s). The Fit to Page(s) option will fit the Gantt chart to match the number of pages you print. For example,
if you print the chart in 4 pages, the chart will cover 4 pages in the PDF, not just one.
Paper Size refers to the paper size that you want the printer to use. The default is Letter. Paper sizes include
North American standards and ISO 216:1975 (AX):
• Letter (8.5” x 11”)
• Legal (8.5” x 14”)
• A4 (210 mm x 297 mm)
133
• A3 (297 mm x 420 mm)
• A2 (420 mm x 594 mm)
• A1 (594 mm x 841 mm)
• A0 (841 mm x 1189 mm)
• Custom. If you select a custom size, you can choose the height and width of the paper (default is a
width of 11” and a height of 8.5” for the default landscape orientation).
The default Units are Inches. You can also select Centimeters or Points (72 per inch).
You can also set the print Margins, that is, for the Top, Bottom, Right, and Left sides of the paper. The default
is .5” for all sides if the Units are set to Inches.
The page orientation can be either Portrait (short side on the bottom) or Landscape (long side on the bottom).
The default is Landscape.
Finally, you can set which tasks you want printed by selecting a range of task numbers. For example, if you
want the chart to display the first 5 tasks, put 1 in the first box and 5 in the second box. A range of 1–1 is legal
and will print only the first task.
FIGURE 3.12: PRINT GANTT CHART DIALOG

When you click the Advanced button, you will see two tabs: Field Data and Chart Indicators.
At
• The Field Data tab (Figure 3.13) lets you select the fields from the chart that you want to print, such
as the Name of the task or the Status. In the left column (Unused), select the fields you want (use the
Control key to select multiple fields or the Shift key to select a series of contiguous fields.) Click the
right arrow, and the selected fields are moved to the right column (Used). These are the fields that
will be printed. To unselect the fields, select them in the right column (if any), and then click the left
arrow. The possible fields are: Information, ID, #, Name, Duration, Duration Type, Status, Start, Com-
pletion, Task Constraint, Constraint Date, %, Predecessors, Assignments, and Work Required. Click
Restore Defaults if you want all the fields to move back to the Unused column.
134
FIGURE 3.13: ADVANCED GANTT PRINT, FIELD DATA
• The Chart Indicators tab determine what timeline indicators you want to show in the PDF. The indi-
cators are Predecessors, Assignments, Projected Dates, Percent Complete, Critical Paths, and Progress
Bars. To select the indicator, click the checkbox next to its name. For example, if you select Predeces-
sors, the lines showing the predecessor between tasks will appear in the PDF of the Gantt chart.
Figure 3.14 shows the Chart Indicator tab. It has the Critical Paths and Percent Complete. This means
that the Critical Paths are highlighted and the Percent Complete is indicated in the PDF.
FIGURE 3.14: ADVANCED GANTT PRINT, CHART INDICATORS

At
135
If you click Print Gantt Chart under Project or Timelines, you can enter all the print options at once in the Print
Gantt Chart tab, shown in Figure 3.15. Fill the fields out according to the instructions that appeared earlier in
this section.
FIGURE 3.15: PRINT GANTT CHART TAB

At
136
USING THE MILESTONE VIEW
Milestone paths are used to track a task over multiple projects to see trends in completing a task. The
milestone view displays the tasks that are associated with a milestone and shows which are late and which
are on time. You can use the milestone view to look at projects over time and detect trends.
The view shows all early tasks in green and late tasks in red. Tasks that are in progress are also shown with
their current status.
A complete explanation of milestones and how to use them is documented in “Creating and Working with
Milestones” on page 149, later in this chapter.
FIGURE 3.16: MILESTONE VIEW

To see alternate project views

1. Do one of the following:
• In the navigation menu, click Find ► Projects and submit the search.
• From the Application Home page, click Project Management ► Projects.
2. Click the View menu and select the view you want to see.
WORKING WITH PROJECT TIMELINES

When you view a project, @task gives you several timeline tools to view project plan and status information
from different formats and get several vantage points. In the contextual menu there are several tools that can
At
aid you in assessing your projects. These tools include:

• A Gantt chart
• A project calendar
• A resource grid
• A tool to recalculate the project timeline
• A project replanning tool
VIEWING AND PRINTING THE GANTT CHART

A Gantt chart shows a graphical representation of the progress of your project over time. It shows the
planned time allotment for each task and the actual time taken to complete each task and the project as well
as the critical path of the project. It can display in units of days, weeks, or months. Gantt charts also show you
137
dependencies and display the order in which the tasks should be completed and names of persons who are
assigned to the tasks. In the Gantt chart, tasks are stacked to show the number of concurrent project tasks
and they have a small black line that displays the current completion percentage for the tasks. Planned
durations appear as blue lines. Actual durations appear as red lines.
@task can also save your Gantt chants in a printable format. @task turns your Gantt chart into a.pdf file so
you can print it or use it in other ways. Figure 3.4 shows an example of a Gantt chart.
FIGURE 3.17: TASK GANTT CHART

To view the project Gantt chart

1. From a project list, click on a project to access it.
2. In the contextual menu, click Timelines ► Gantt Chart.
3. Select the zoom level from the drop-down menu.
4. Click the Plus icon (+) to expand tasks with subtasks.
To print the Gantt chart

1. In the contextual menu, click Timelines ► Print Gantt Chart.
2. Select the data that you want to print in your Gantt chart, then click Print.
At
THE CALENDAR VIEW

@task has a calendar view that shows all tasks and issues that are scheduled for work on a specific day. Tasks
and issues that take more than one day stretch across multiple days. The calendar displays task numbers and
a tasks current completion percentage.
To display the Calendar view

2. In the contextual menu, click Timelines ► Calendar.
138
USING THE RESOURCE GRID
The resource grid is a tool to show you tasks and workloads for users. It shows the task, the day that it is
scheduled to be worked, and the number of hours scheduled for each user who is assigned to the task. The
total number of hours scheduled for each day is displayed along with the total number of hours for each user.
If the total number of hours in scheduled tasks for a user is greater than the number of hours that the user
has available, then the total for the user is shown in red.
For example, assume a project has three tasks that are scheduled to be completed on a specific day and each
should take six hours. Assume that there are two people on the team assigned to complete the tasks. The
total number of hours scheduled for that day is 18. This number displays in the project totals row. If one of the
users is assigned two of the scheduled tasks then a 12 displays in red in the user total. The number is red
because the user has only eight hours of work for the day, and yet is assigned to complete 12 hours worth of
work. The other user has only one task assigned, and has a six for his total. This user is under-tasked by two
hours. You could use the resource grid to even out the tasks between the two current users and assign a third
user to assist in completing the tasks. However, if the two current users fulfilled the assignment and
completed the three tasks, then a record exists to support awards and commendations.
You can also see a Resource Grid view when you search for users. Assume that you want to see if a user is
available for a project that you are doing. You can search for that user using the user search feature (Find ►
Users from the navigation menu). Then in the View menu, if you select Resource Grid, you see a list of all
users that come up in the search. You can click on the ‘plus’ icon next to the user name to see the projects
and tasks for each user. This way, you can see if a user is tasked on other projects. Figure 3.8 shows an
example of a resource grid.
FIGURE 3.18: RESOURCE GRID

At
139
To display the Resource Grid
2. In the contextual menu, click Timelines ► Resource Grid.
RECALCULATING A TIMELINE
When you initially create a project, you must select an update type. This determines when @task updates
timelines and costs for the tasks in a project. By default, the plan updates anytime that the project changes
and at a set time each day. However, you may have chosen to only update manually.
When you update a timeline, @task examines the current project plan along with each task, its projected
completion date, its current progress, and its dependencies. With this information, @task updates the
project plan timeline to show you the current status of the project and each task, and the projected timeline
for the future.
To manually update a project timeline

2. In the contextual menu, click Timelines ► Recalculate Timeline to recalculate the timelines and Time-
lines ► Recalculate Finance to update the budget information.
At
140
REPLANNING A PROJECT
@task lets you replan your projects if you need to reschedule or replan tasks. When you use the replan feature
you can do either of two things:
• Update project status
• Reschedule tasks to start on other dates.
N O T E: The project replanner does not update tasks that have mandated start or finish dates.
When you use the replan feature to update project status, you can update all tasks to be on time as of the date
that you specify, or you can update only tasks that should have been completed on the date that you specify to
show a status of complete.
To use the project replanner to update task status you must select the radio button labeled Update Task
Progress as Complete Through and specify a target date. You can then select between setting task status to
between 0 and 100 percent complete or to only complete or incomplete. Table 3.9 shows examples of the
results depending on your selections.
TABLE 3.9: RESULTS OF UPDATE TASK AS COMPLETE THROUGH
SELECTION RESULTS
Set between 0% and 100% complete Tasks that were scheduled to be completed prior to the target date that you
specify but are marked as incomplete are marked as complete as of the target
date.
Tasks that are marked as behind on the target date are updated to be on time.
For example, you may have a task that takes two days to complete, was sched-
uled to be completed on the day after your target date, but is marked as not
having been started yet. This task would be marked at 50% complete after you
update task status.
Tasks marked as complete, currently have a status of early, or are due to start
at a future date remain unchanged.
Set 0% or 100% complete only Tasks that were scheduled to be completed prior to the target date that you
specify but are marked as incomplete are marked as complete as of the target
date.
Tasks that are in progress or are due to be completed after the target date
remain unchanged.
All other tasks remain unchanged.
At
In addition to updating your project, you can use the project replanner to create a new start date for your
tasks. You can do this for all uncompleted tasks in your project, or for selected tasks only. For example if you
have a task that takes five days and is 20% completed, but is currently late, if you select this task and select
reschedule uncompleted work to start after, then @task reschedules the uncompleted part of the task to start
after the date that you specify. Therefore, the new planned completion date for the task is four days after the
date that you specify.
To replan a project
1. From a project list, click on a project name to view it.
• In the contextual menu, click Timelines ► Replan Project.
141
• Select individual tasks on the project task list, and then click the Replan Project icon ( ).
3. To update project status, click Update Task Progress as Complete Through type a target date, and then do
one of the following:
• To update all tasks that are either late or behind, click Set Between 0% and 100% Complete.
• To update only late tasks, click Set 0% or 100% complete only.
4. To reschedule uncompleted tasks to start from a target date, click Reschedule uncompleted work to start
after, type a target date, and then do one of the following:
• Click Entire Project to reschedule all tasks.
• Click Only Selected Tasks to reschedule only specified tasks. To use this option, you must highlight
tasks from the project task list, then click the Replan Project icon.
At
142
PROJECT BASELINES
Often times it becomes necessary to adjust a project plan or replan a project entirely, whether because of
unforeseen issues or taking up a project that has been on hold. When this occurs, the plan is changed to
meet the new schedule. To preserve the initial project timeline, you can save a baseline. Project baselines
record the project schedule for comparison later.
You can also use project baselines to take snapshots for later comparison. For example, you may want to
track the progress of a project’s CPI every week or every month.
To save a project baseline:

1. Open the project you wish to baseline
2. Click Timelines ► New Baseline in the contextual menu
3. Enter a name for your baseline.

4. Press Enter or click Submit to save the baseline. The baseline details will be displayed.
PROJECT BASELINES
To view the saved baselines:

1. Open the project
2. Click Timelines ► View Baselines to open the list of baselines saved for this project
At
3. Click on a baseline name to open the details for that baseline.

4. You can view a baseline in a Gantt view by selecting the baseline in the list and clicking on the Gantt
Chart toolbar icon ( ).
143
BASELINE REPORTS
There are several reports that allow you to compare baselines and track the progress of a project from
baseline to baseline. The reports allow you to compare project performance (see Table 3.10), planned and
actual durations, planned and actual work, planned and actual costs and project completion percentages
across your baselines. These can be helpful in identifying positive and negative trends in your projects and
help to identify areas that need attention.
TABLE 3.10: PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
PERFORMANCE INDICATOR DESCRIPTION
EAC Estimated Actual Cost
CSI Cost Schedule Index
CPI Cost Performance Index
SPI Schedule Performance Index
To view the baseline reports:

1. Open the project with baselines to compare.
2. Open the baseline list by clicking Timelines ► View Baselines in the contextual menu.
3. Select the baselines to include in the reports
4. Click the Baseline Reports icon ( ) in the toolbar. This will open the View Baseline Reports screen, simi-
lar to the one shown here (percent complete across three baselines):
PROJECT BASELINES
At
5. Select the reports you would like to see. You can only select reports from a single group (Performance,
Duration, Costs, Percent) at a time
6. Click Submit to view the values from the baselines reflected in the graph.
144
IMPORTING AND EXPORTING MICROSOFT PROJECT FILES
@task lets you easily export and import project files (.mpx files) to and from Microsoft Project• . If you are
switching from Microsoft Project—or another tool that supports the .mpx file format—you can quickly import
your current projects into @task. Also, if you collaborate with organizations that use Microsoft Project, you
can export your projects into this format so they can open them.
For a quick introduction to importing Microsoft Project files, see a brief video at http://www.attask.com/help/
watch/179.
EXPORTING PROJECTS TO MICROSOFT PROJECT FORMAT

Use the following procedure to export an @task project into .mpx format.
To export files into .mpx format

1. From a project list in @task, open a project.
2. In the contextual menu (on the left), click Import/Export ► Export MS Project.
• Click Save, and then use your operating system tool to save the file where you want.
• If you have Microsoft Project installed on your computer, click Open to open the project file directly
into the application.
IMPORTING PROJECTS FROM MICROSOFT PROJECT FORMAT

Use the following procedure to import a Microsoft Project file (in .mpx format) into @task.When you import
a project, you see several screens. you must configure the import to tell @task exactly which settings you
want to use.Use the following procedure to import a project from .mpx format into @task.
To import .mpx files into @task

1. In the navigation menu, click Find ► Projects. Or, in the contextual menu, click Home until you see Proj-
ect Management, then click it.
2. In the contextual menu, click Import MS Project, or click Project Home and then click the Import MS Proj-
ect button on the Navigation tab.
3. Figure 3.10 shows you the first import screen (Step 1). Click the Browse button to locate the Microsoft
Project file you want to import.
At
145
FIGURE 3.19: IMPORTING A MICROSOFT PROJECT FILE INTO @TASK
4. Figure 3.11 displays the screen that you use to change the default project attributes. You can change the
project name, the project description, the project group and the project status (Current by default). For a
description of these fields, see “About Creating Projects” on page 107.
FIGURE 3.20: PROJECT ATTRIBUTES
At
5. Figure 3.12 lets you configure users that came in with the.mpx file. You can match an imported user with
an existing @task user, or match the imported user to a job role in @task. Tasks assigned to the user in
the .mpx file will be assigned to the user or job role that you select here.
146
FIGURE 3.21: MATCHING RESOURCES
6. Figure 3.13 is the summary screen. It lets you review your settings. You can click Back to revise any edits
you made.
FIGURE 3.22: IMPORT SUMMARY
At
7. Finally, click Finish, and you will see a Gantt chart view of the project you just imported. In the Gantt
chart, you can zoom in and out, create a PDF, and choose preferences, among other things. For more
information on Gantt views, see “Using the Gantt Chart View” on page 128.
147
At IMPORTING AND EXPORTING MICROSOFT PROJECT FILES
148
CREATING AND WORKING WITH MILESTONES
Milestones have many uses in @task. You can use them as a way of organizing tasks into larger objectives.
You can also use a milestone path to mark tasks or groups of tasks that are significant to your organization
and look at these types of tasks over a span of several projects.
When you create a project you can associate a milestone path with the project. The milestone path contains
multiple milestones. You can associate a milestone path with several projects or with only one project.
For example, if you want to use milestones as a way to organize projects into objectives, and your project is
building a house, then your milestones might consist of the tasks for plumbing, laying the foundation, and so
forth. If your project is to build software, then the milestones might contain all the tasks for planning the
methods that need to be written, then one for writing them. Later there might be a milestone for the tasks
associated with a beta release, and one for bug fixes prior to the final release. Each milestone in a project is
part of a milestone path.
Milestone paths are also excellent ways to look at a range of projects over time and assess efficiency of target
tasks or task sets that are significant to your organization. For example, the software company that uses a
milestone path to organize its tasks can use the same milestone path for every project. Then managers who
want to look at trends over a range of projects can do so. They can look at the planning tasks, the beta release
tasks and every other milestone task. They can see if certain tasks or task sets are consistently late and if so,
examine processes to determine why. If certain milestones are early, they can emulate processes for other
areas that do not perform quite as efficiently.
See “Interactive Gantt Charts” on page 130.
When you create a milestone path, you can name it, describe it, and associate groups with it. Then you can
create the milestones. A milestone path can have an unlimited number of milestones. Milestones have
names, descriptions, and are associated with a color that you can select. This color is displayed next to a task
in a task list so that you can quickly see which task is associated with a milestone.
When you create milestones, as you fill in the milestone names and descriptions, @task automatically
creates another new blank line. When you submit a new milestone path, the blank line remaining is ignored.
Also, you can adjust the order of the milestones in the list at any time using the arrow icons to the left of the
milestone names.
You can only associate one task in any project with a milestone. If you want to use milestones to group a large
number of tasks, then you should make a special milestone task. This task should be assigned to a project
manager. Make each task that you want to associate with a specific milestone a predecessor task to the
milestone task, and enforce the dependencies. When all the predecessor tasks are complete, the project
At
manager should look at the predecessor tasks, then edit the milestone task duration to show whether the
milestone tasks were on time or late, and update the milestone status to complete. In this way, you can use
the milestone view to look at groups of tasks over multiple projects to see the trends.
See “Interactive Gantt Charts” on page 130.
Figure 3.16 shows an example of a milestone creation screen.
149
FIGURE 3.24: CREATING A MILESTONE
To create a milestone path

1. From the Application Home page, click Project Management ► Milestone Paths, and then in the contex-
tual menu, click New Milestone Path.
2. On the Milestone Path Details tab, type a name and description, and associate the groups with the mile-
stone path. Other than administrators, members of the groups that you check are the only ones that can
access the milestone path that you create.

3. On the Milestones tab, Type a name and description for each milestone. As you type, a new blank mile-
stone line appears.
4. Click the color icon ( ) to set the color for each milestone. Click on a color from the palette to select it.
You can use the same color for multiple milestones if necessary.
To edit a milestone path

1. In the contextual menu, click Project Management ► Milestone Paths.
2. From the Milestone Path list, click the name of a milestone path to open it.
3. In the contextual menu, click Edit Milestone Path.
4. To delete an individual milestone, check the box in the Del column on the Milestones tab, and submit the
change.
5. To delete an entire milestone path, in the contextual menu click Delete Milestone Path.
ASSOCIATING A MILESTONE WITH A TASK

When you create or edit projects, you can select a milestone path to associate with it. Then you can associate
specific tasks with a milestone when you create or edit them. You can associate only one task with a single
milestone. See “Creating a Project” on page 109 and “Creating a Task” on page 159.
At
You can also use the Metric Worksheet to associate milestones with tasks. When using the Metric Worksheet,
you see a list of tasks that you select and associate with a list of milestones. The Metric Worksheet lets you
associate milestones all at once rather than having to open each task individually to associate it with a
milestone. Figure 3.17 shows an example of a Metric Worksheet.
150
FIGURE 3.25: METRIC WORKSHEET
N O T E: You must associate the project with a milestone path before you can associate tasks with
milestones.
To access the Metric Worksheet

1. From the Application Homepage open a project by clicking Project Management ► Projects, and then
clicking the project name.
2. Open the task list for the project.

3. Highlight the tasks that you want to display in the Metric Worksheet by clicking the check boxes next to
them. Use keyboard controls with your mouse to select multiple tasks.
4. Click the Metric Worksheet icon( ).

5. From the Milestone column, select a milestone for a task. A milestone can only be associated with one
task in any single project.
At
151
At
Chapter 4
Creating Tasks
• Creating and Editing Tasks
• Creating Subtasks
• Moving a Task to Another Project
• Using the Task Worksheet
CREATING AND EDITING TASKS
Projects are comprised of tasks. After you have created a new project you can create the tasks that are
associated with the project and add them to the project. To do this, you need to understand the task
attributes that you can select. Also, during the course of a project, you may need to modify or delete tasks.
This chapter contains procedures for doing these activities.
UNDERSTANDING TASK ATTRIBUTES

When you create a project and add tasks to the project, you must know what attributes that you want the task
to have, such as the priority of the task, the tracking mode that you plan to use, the duration of the task, and
the task constraints for start and completion dates. The following sections explain the task attributes and
describe how you can implement them when you create or edit a task.
TRACKING MODES
Tracking modes are methods that @task uses to update the status of tasks that are in a project. When you
create a task, you must assign a tracking mode to the task. Table 4.1 describes the Tracking Mode values that
you can select when you create a task.
TABLE 4.1: TRACKING MODE VALUES
VALUE DESCRIPTION
User Must Update The person who is assigned to complete the task must update the progress
of the task manually, supplying completion status percentages and hours

spent.
Assume On Time @task assumes that a task will complete on time regardless of the current
completion status. If it does not, then @task automatically assumes a
completion date of the next working day. The user must still update the
task when it is completed.
Ignore Late Warnings @task assumes that tasks will be completed on time. However, if a task
runs late, then @task projects its completion date depending on its com-
pletion percentage. For example, if a task is scheduled to take 10 days, and
on the day that it should be completed the task is reported to be only 60%
complete, then @task updates the projected finish date by adding four
days.
Auto Complete @task assumes that tasks will be completed as scheduled, and marks
them as complete on their due dates.
At
Predecessor @task schedules timelines for tasks with unenforced dependencies based
on its predecessors. For example, assume that a task is scheduled to com-
plete two days after its predecessor, which should take five days. Then, a
user updates the dependant task as being 50% complete but the predeces-
sor task has not been started. @task schedules the dependant task to be
completed six days after the start date of the predecessor task.
N O T E : Regardless of the tracking mode, users still must update the task status to enter their
hours for the timesheets.
153
DURATIONS
The duration of a task is the estimated time that it will take to complete it. When you create a task, you must
type a duration. When you fill in the Duration field, the time can be expressed in hours, days, weeks, or
months. You should fill in the field with a number followed by the word days, weeks, and so forth; for
example, 1 day or 3 weeks. You can use decimals.
You can change the way that @task interprets the values that you set in this field. Using @task’s Project
Management Preferences tool, you can change 1 day to mean 10 hours rather than the default of 8 hours. You
can also change the number of days in a week and so forth. See “Setting Project Management Preferences”
on page 107.
Regardless of how many man-hours a task takes, the duration should be set to the total estimated time that
will pass before the task is complete. For example, assume that you are creating a task to paint a machine
part. The part needs three coats. It only takes one hour to apply a coat of paint, but the paint must dry for 1
day after each coat. Even though it only takes three total man-hours to paint the part, the duration of the task
is three days.
TASK CONSTRAINTS
Task constraints determine the placement of tasks within the timeframe of a project. You may want certain
tasks done at the beginning of the project and you may want to reserve other tasks until the end of the
project. When you create a task, you must select a task constraint value so that @task can put the task in its
proper timeframe.
Table 4.2 describes the options that you can select in the Task Constraint field.
TABLE 4.2: TASK CONSTRAINT VALUES
VALUE DESCRIPTION
As Soon As Possible This places the start time of the task as close to the beginning of the proj-
ect as possible and may cause predecessor or dependant tasks to be
rescheduled. This is the default constraint if a project uses a schedule
mode of Schedule from Start Date.
As Late As Possible This places the start time of the task as close to the end of the project as
possible and may cause predecessor or dependant tasks to be resched-
uled. This is the default constraint if a project uses a schedule mode of
Schedule from Completion Date.
Earliest Available Time This places the start time of the task as close to the beginning of the proj-
At
ect as possible but does not require predecessor or dependant tasks to be

rescheduled. @task schedules them as soon as possible after taking into
account the schedules for the predecessor tasks.
Latest Available Time This places the start time of the task as close to the end of the project as
possible but does not require predecessor or dependant tasks to be
rescheduled. @task schedules them as late as possible after taking into
account the schedules for the dependant tasks.
Start No Earlier Than The task is scheduled to start at a time after the date that you specify. If
you select this value, then you must type a date in the Planned Start Date
field.
Start No Later Than The task is scheduled to start at a time before the date that you specify. If
you select this value, then you must type a date in the Planned Start Date
field.
154
TABLE 4.2: TASK CONSTRAINT VALUES
VALUE DESCRIPTION
Finish No Earlier Than The task is scheduled to be completed at a time after the date that you
specify. If you select this value, then you must type a date in the Planned
Completion Date field.
Finish No Later Than The task is scheduled to be completed at a time before the date that you
specify. If you select this value, then you must type a date in the Planned
Completion Date field.
Must Start On The task must start exactly at the time and date that you specify in the
Planned Start Date field.
Must Finish On The task must finish exactly at the time and date that you specify in the
Planned Completion Date field.
Fixed Dates You specify the exact start and end dates in the Planned Start Date and
Planned Completion Date fields.
Many factors may affect the task constraint that you select. For example, if you need a specific piece of
equipment, but you know that it is not available until a certain date, you would probably select ‘Start No
Earlier Than’ as your task constraint, and then type the date when the equipment is available.
Perhaps you are doing a project and the person who has the skills to do a certain task has been in an accident
and you are unsure when this person will return to work. Assuming that the task can be done at any point in
the project, you could set the constraint to ‘As Late As Possible’.
DURATION TYPE
A duration type is used to specify whether a task can be completed more quickly by adding additional
resources to the task, or whether additional resources would only increase the amount of effort. Figure 4.1
shows an example of the resources screen that you use to set the duration type.
FIGURE 4.1: SETTING THE DURATION TYPE
At
155
There are three duration types. Depending on the duration type you select and the number of people that you
assign to a task, @task calculates the total work time required and the resource percentage allocation values.
Table 4.3 lists, describes, and gives examples for the duration types that you can select.
TABLE 4.3: DURATION TYPES
VALUE DESCRIPTION
Calculated Work When you use this duration type, @task fills in the Work Required field using
the formula Work = Duration * Assignment Units.
This duration type is used for calendar-driven tasks, which are based on time
rather than effort. Assigning additional personnel resources to the task does
not decrease the time that it takes to complete the task, but causes the
amount of work to increase.
Delivering a letter to a specified address would be an example of this type of
task. If you assign three people to do it, then you have not accomplished the
task any more quickly, you have only increased the amount of effort expended
to accomplish the task.
When you set a task to this duration type, @task uses the percentage alloca-
tion values that you provide and the duration value to calculate the total work
required. Using the example above, if you assign two people to deliver a letter
and the duration of the task is one hour, then it takes two man-hours to com-
plete the task. Therefore @task would calculate the work required to be two
hours.
Calculated Assignment This duration type is for a type of task with a constant duration, but if you
assign more people to it, it reduces the amount of work that the people have
to do.
An example of this type of task is using a crane to build a structure. The crane
(assuming that you have only one crane) takes the same amount of time to
lift the materials to build the structure, but only one person can run it at a
time. The more people you have doing the task, the more available time each
person has to do something else.
In @task, when you select this duration type, @task changes the assignment
percentage value for each user. If a task set to this duration type takes two
days and you assign two people to the task, then for those two days each user
has an assignment percentage of 50%, meaning that half the time the user is
free to do something else.
Effort Driven When you use this duration type, @task fills in the Assignment Percentage
using the formula Work = Duration * Assignment Units.
This duration type is for optimizing resource effort when the task is con-
strained by time, and increasing the number of personnel resources can
decrease the time required to complete the task. Use this duration type when
At
you need to know the optimal number of people to assign to a task to get it
done on a specified date.
An example of this type of task would be shelling a barrel of nuts. Two people
can accomplish this faster than one.
When you use this duration type, @task changes the planned dates for the
task. For example if shelling a barrel of nuts takes one person two days, then
two people can get it done in one day. Therefore, if you set a task to this dura-
tion type, and assign it a duration of two days, when you assign two users to
accomplish it, @task sets the projected start and completion dates to a
length of one day.
156
WORK REQUIRED
The work required field is only available when you select Calculated Assignment as the duration type. If a task
must be done in one day but requires 16 hours of work, then you can assign 2 users to do it. This field records
the actual number of man-hours required to complete a task regardless of its duration.
RESOURCE SCOPE
If you select Fixed Dates as the Constraint Type, and set the Resource Scope to Global, then any user
assigned to do this task cannot be assigned to any other task during the time frame of this task. The resource
scope can only be changed if the Task Constraint is set to Fixed Dates.
RECORDED CHANGES
Check the recorded changes to select the types of changes that you want to save for your audit trail. See
“About Audits” on page 244.
REVENUE TYPE
This allows you to set a billable amount for your task. The amount cam be hourly, fixed, or a combination of
both. See “Billing and Revenue” on page 235.
ASSIGNMENTS
You use this pane to assign users to complete the task. See “Assigning Resources to a Task” on page 160.
APPROVALS
You can set up approvals for tasks based on user name or job role. If you use approvals with a task, then
when the user who is assigned to do the task marks it as complete, @task places the task in a queue to be
approved by the person or a person in the job role assigned to approve it. If it is assigned to an individual for
approval, then it appears in the user’s approval list. If it is assigned to a job role, then anyone in that job role
can access and approve or deny the task.
When you enable approvals, @task displays a field in which you must set a duration for your approval. The
approval duration time is added to the total estimated task time. For example, assume that you have just
created a task that takes three days. If you enable approvals and set the duration to one day, then @task adds
a day to the total estimated task duration. See “Approving Completed Tasks” on page 190.
You can also set up approvals so that the person doing the approving must authenticate with a user name
and password at the time of approval. This additional security step is set up in the Project Management
Preferences screen. See “Setting Project Management Preferences” on page 107.
At
PREDECESSORS
Predecessors are used to determine task dependencies. If a task is dependant on another task’s completion
status, then you should give it a predecessor task. For example, you can’t lay carpet if the floor boards haven’t
been placed yet. A task called “Lay Carpet” would have a predecessor task of “Lay Floor Boards”.
When you set predecessors, you have several options as to how you want the predecessor relationship
between the tasks to work. You can choose from among several dependency types and lag types and you can
determine whether you want to enforce the dependency within the project schedule. If a dependency is
enforced, then @task does not allow a user to update the completion status of the dependant task until the
predecessor task condition is fulfilled.
157
Table 4.5 lists and describes the dependency type options.
TABLE 4.4: DEPENDENCY TYPES
VALUE DESCRIPTION
Finish-Start The predecessor task must finish before the dependant task can start.
Finish-Finish The predecessor task must finish before the dependant task can finish.
Start-Start The predecessor task must start before the dependant task can start.
Start-Finish The predecessor task must start before the dependant task can finish.
Scheduled-Start This has similarities to both Finish-Start and Finish-Finish dependency types. This
schedules a task as a Finish-Start, but enforces it as a Finish-Finish. When you use
this, the dependant task is scheduled to start after the predecessor task is completed.
However, the enforcement makes it so that the dependant task can start anytime, but
can’t finish until the predecessor task is finished. Lag times are unavailable when you
use Scheduled-Start.
N O T E : Regardless of the predecessor that you select, if a task dependency conflicts with a task
constraint, the dates that you set for the constraint take precedence over any predecessor
relationship.
LAG TYPES
A lag is an amount of time that must pass after the completion of an enforced predecessor until the
dependant task can begin. For example if you used a Finish-Start dependency type and you wanted the
dependant task to start four days after the predecessor task has completed, then you set the lag time to four
days by putting a 4 in the lag field. You could also use a negative number, such as -4 days, to express that you
want the dependant task to start four days before the predecessor task ends.
An example of a task that would require a lag time might be sawing trees into lumber. If the freshly-cut wood
must dry for a time before it can be cut, then there would be a lag time between the cutting the trees, and
sawing them into lumber. Table 4.5 differentiates between the lag type options.
TABLE 4.5: LAG TYPES
VALUE DESCRIPTION
Days The lag time is expressed as work days.

At
Calendar Days The lag time is expressed as calendar days, including weekends and holidays.
Percent The lag time expressed as a percentage of estimated time to complete the predecessor task.
Day of Week The dependant task can start on the day of the week following the completion of the prede-
cessor task. Sunday = 1, Monday = 2,... Saturday = 7
In the Predecessors screen is a column labeled ‘Enforced’ which contains a check box per row. If you check
the box, then @task enforces the dependency. This means that the user who is assigned to do the dependant
task, depending on the dependency type, cannot update the task status or complete the task until the
predecessor task has fulfilled its requirement.
158
CROSS-PROJECT PREDECESSORS
In addition to making tasks dependent on other tasks within the project, @task lets you make tasks
dependant on tasks in other projects. For example a landscaping company with only one back hoe may have
two concurrent projects with tasks than require the use of the back hoe. In this case, the project manager may
make the task in the first project dependent on the task in the second project.
FIGURE 4.2: CROSS-PROJECT DEPENDENCIES
CREATING A TASK
After you have planned out your task and decided on its attributes, you need to add it to your project.
To add a task to a project
1. From the Application Home page, click Project Management Ω Projects Ω Search Projects.
2. Click a project name.
3. In the contextual menu, click New Task.
4. Fill in the fields on the Task Details tab taking into account the following:
At
• The URL must be absolute. If not, HTTP:// will be prepended.

• The Planned Start and Planned Finish date fields are only available if you select a task constraint that
requires them.
5. Fill in the fields on the Resources tab taking into account the following:
• The Work Required field is only available if you set the Duration Type to Calculated Assignment.
• If you set the Task Constraint to Fixed Dates in the Task Details tab, then you can set the Resource
scope to Global. If you set this value to Global, then no other tasks will be assigned to the person
who is completing this task during the dates that you set for the task.
159
• You can set your audit trail attributes by checking the Recorded Changes values. If you enable
recorded changes, changes made to the task are recorded as notes. See “Setting Up Audit Trails” on
page 245.
• You should assign one or more users to complete the task. “Manage Resources and Assign Tasks”
on page 105 and See “Assigning Resources to a Task” on page 160..
6. On the Approvals tab select the type of approval that you want for the task:
• None. No approval for this task.
• At Least One User. One person assigned as an approver must approve the task.
• All Users. Every person assigned as an approver must approve the task.
• Role-Based. A user in the selected role must approve the task.
7. On the Predecessors tab do the following:
• Select the check box next to the name of any task that is a predecessor task to the task that you are
creating. If you are adding the first task to a project, then you cannot assign any predecessor tasks.
• When you check a task as a predecessor task, the dependency type, lag and enforcement fields
appear.
• The check box in the E column enforces the dependency.
• To add cross-project dependencies, click the Blue Add icon ( ) to create a new cross-project
dependency.
• Click the Search icon ( ) to locate a task from another project, then use the inline search feature to
locate the task in the other project. See “Using Inline Search Features” on page 27.
• Use the Remove icon ( ) to delete a cross-project dependency.
8. On the Custom Data tab, fill in all necessary fields. Custom data is data that is attached to tasks or other
@task items using forms that people in your organization have created. If you are unsure as to how to fill
in a custom data field, contact your system administrator or a member of your @task development
group. See “About Creating Custom Data” on page 220.
ASSIGNING RESOURCES TO A TASK

You can assign resources to a task when you create the task or when you edit the task. The functionality for
making user assignments is located under the Resources tab. In order to assign tasks to users, the users
must first be added to the project that the task is associated with. See “Adding and Viewing Users Associated
with a Project” on page 122.
At
In addition to assigning users to a task, you can assign a Job Role. When you assign tasks to a Job Role, any
user in that Job Role can update the task status.
To assign tasks to users
1. Create or edit a task.
2. Click the Resources tab.
3. In the Assignments pane, click the Blue Add icon ( ) to add a row for each user or Job Role that you
want to assign to the task.
4. Select a user or Job Role from the drop-down menu for each row.
5. Type a percentage amount to show the percentage of the task that each user will complete.
16
6. Check the Default check box for the primary user responsible for the task. @task associates the task with
the schedule of the primary user and uses the primary user for reporting.
7. Click the Remove icon ( ) to remove rows from the Assignment pane.
EDITING A TASK
During the course of a project, the scope of the project may change or something else may happen that
requires you to edit a task. Use the following procedure to edit a task.
To edit a task
1. Open a project and view its tasks.
2. From the task list, click on the name of the task to open it.
3. In the contextual menu, click Edit Task.
4. Click on each tab and modify any field. For information about the fields, see “Creating a Task” on
page 159.
N O T E : When you update tasks, you can update the status of the task. See “Finding and Updating
Your Tasks” on page 188.
EDITING MULTIPLE TASKS SIMULTANEOUSLY

There may be times that you want to edit many tasks at the same time. For example, perhaps you have made
a personnel change, and you need to change the name of the approver for all tasks assigned to a certain user.
You can edit the approver for all tasks at one time so that you don’t have to open each task individually to edit
it. @task allows you to edit the following attributes of multiple tasks simultaneously:
• Task status
• Completion percentage
• Job role assignments
• User assignments
• Task constraints and dates, with the exception of the Fixed Dates constraint
• Approvers (see “Understanding Task Attributes” on page 153).
Figure 4.3 displays an example of the edit screen for multiple tasks.
At
161
FIGURE 4.3: MULTIPLE TASK EDIT SCREEN
Use the following procedure to edit multiple tasks.

To edit multiple tasks
1. From the Application Home page, click Project Management Ω Projects Ω Search Projects and click the
name of the project with tasks that you want to edit.
2. From the task list, click the check box next to the task names. Use keyboard controls to select multiple
tasks.
3. Click the Edit icon ( ) in the toolbar.
4. Check the check boxes next to the attributes that you want to change, and fill in the fields. To find addi-
tional job roles and users, you can use the Inline Search tool ( ). See “Using Inline Search Features” on
page 27.
DELETING A TASK
If tasks that you have previously added to a project become obsolete, you can delete them.
To delete a task from a project
1. Open a project and view its tasks.
At
2. From a task list, click on the name of the task to open it.
3. In the contextual menu, click Delete Task.
4. Confirm that you want to delete the task.
162
CREATING SUBTASKS
Sometimes tasks are large enough that they need to be split into subtasks. Subtasks are identical to tasks in
many respects. However, the largest difference between the two is that instead of having a project as the
parent object, Subtasks have a task as the parent object. Subtasks can additionally be split up into further
subtasks, but you should remember that too many levels of subtasks can create confusion.
When using subtasks, you cannot directly update the completion status of the parent task. As you update the
status of the subtasks, the status of the parent task is updated automatically. Also, when you create subtasks,
you can use dependencies only within peer subtasks. You cannot make a subtask dependant on a task that is
directly associated with a project or with other subtasks that are associated with different tasks.
When you create subtasks, the screens and fields that you see are identical to screens and fields for creating
parent tasks.
See “Creating a Task” on page 159.
To create a subtask
1. From a task list, click on a task name to open the task.
2. In the contextual menu, click New Subtask.
3. Fill in the fields as you would for creating any task.
After you have created subtasks, you can view them. When you view a subtask, the contextual menu displays
an additional choice, View Parent Task. When you click this menu item, @task takes you to the task details
screen of the parent task.
To view a subtask
1. Open the parent task.
2. Click the Subtasks tab.
CREATING SUBTASKS
3. Click the name of the subtask that you want to view.

Editing, moving, and deleting subtasks is identical to parent tasks. To do these, open the subtask, then in the
contextual menu, click Edit Task, Delete Task, or Move Task.
You can also attach issues, documents, and notes to subtasks as you would to a task. See “About Using
Notes an d Attachments” on page 200.
At
163
MOVING A TASK TO ANOTHER PROJECT
You can move a task to a different project. When you move a task from one project to another, @task
removes the task from the original project completely and places it in the new project.
When you move projects, you have the option of removing several of the task attributes. Table 4.6 lists and
describes the attributes that you can remove from the task.
TABLE 4.6: REMOVABLE TASK ATTRIBUTES
ATTRIBUTE DESCRIPTION
Clear Constraint This removes all constraints dealing with start and completion dates for tasks.
Clear Assignment This removes all user assignments so that after you move the task, it will not be
assigned to any user.
Clear Progress This removes the current completion status of the task to zero percent com-
plete.
Clear All Predecessors This removes any predecessor relationship to any task.
Clear External Predecessors If you move multiple tasks, this keeps any predecessor relationships among the
tasks that you move, but removes predecessor relationships to tasks that
MOVING A TASK TO ANOTHER PROJECT
remain in the original project.
N O T E : When you move a parent task, its subtasks automatically move with it.
To move tasks
1. Open a project to view its tasks.
• In the task list, click the Select icon ( ) next to the task name for one or more tasks, then click the
Move Task icon ( ).
• Click on the task name to open it, and then in the contextual menu click Move Tasks.
3. In the Project ID field, select the project to which you want to move the task from the drop down menu. If
the project isn’t listed click the Inline Search icon( ) and use the inline search tool to locate the project.
See “Using Inline Search Features” on page 27.
4. Check the boxes next to the task attributes that you want to remove from the task when you move it.
At
164
USING THE TASK WORKSHEET
@task features another tool to manage tasks in a project. The task worksheet lets you add tasks, assign
users, set durations, specify predecessors, create subtasks, and nearly every other function related to tasks.
Figure 4.4 shows an example of a task worksheet.
FIGURE 4.4: TASK WORKSHEET
The task worksheet is set up in columns that you can manipulate and fill in. Table 4.7 lists and describes each
column and icon used in the task worksheet.
TABLE 4.7: TASK WORKSHEET OBJECTS

TASK WORKSHEET OBJECT DESCRIPTION
Use this icon to add new tasks to your project in the task worksheet.
Add Icon
Use this icon to create subtasks.

Indent Icon
Use this icon to take subtasks and make them peers with their former parent tasks.
Outdent Icon
Arrow Column (far left) Use this column to reorder and organize the task rows.
S Column (check boxes) Use this column to select tasks. It is used in conjunction with the arrow column to
organize tasks, or with the indent and outdent icons to subordinate tasks into sub-
tasks or promote subtasks into peers with their former parent tasks.
# Column Displays the task number. Task numbers change when you reorganize the tasks.
At
Name Column Type or change task names in this column.
Duration Column Set duration times for the tasks in this column. Duration times can be set as min-
utes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years. You can use decimals.
Pln (Planned) Start Column This column displays the planned start date of the task. @task calculates this date
depending on the duration and constraint values that you set.
Pln Comp (Planned Completion) This column displays the planned completion date of the task. @task calculates
Column this date depending on the duration and constraint values that you set.
165
TABLE 4.7: TASK WORKSHEET OBJECTS
TASK WORKSHEET OBJECT DESCRIPTION
Pred (Predecessor) Column Set predecessor tasks in this column. This column uses abbreviations to display
the attributes of the predecessor. For a discussion of String formatting predeces-
sor relationships,See “Creating a Predecessor Relationship in the Task
Worksheet” on page 168. The following is a list of the abbreviations that you
may encounter:
Dependency Types
• sd—scheduled-start
• fs—finish-start
• ss—start-start
• ff—finish-finish
• sf—start finish
Lag Types
• d—days
• c—calendar days
• p—percent
• w—day of week
For a more detailed explanation of Dependency Types, See “Dependency types”
on page 158. or Lag Types, See “Lag types” on page 158..
Cnst. (Constraint type) Column You set the task constraints in this column. This column uses abbreviations. The
following list shows you the abbreviations that you can use:
• ASAP—as soon as possible
• ASLP—as late as possible
• EAT—earliest available time
• LAT—latest available time

• SNET—start no earlier than
• SNLT- start no later than
• FNET- finish no earlier than
• FNLT—finish no later than
• MSO—must start on
• MFO—must finish on
• FIXT—fixed dates
See “Task Constraints” on page 154.
Constraint (Constraint value) Set the task dates in this column. Depending on the constraint type you select you
Column may need to set a start date or a finish date. If you do not select constraints that
require fixed dates, then @task calculates the date in this column depending on
the other attributes that you provide.
See “Task Constraints” on page 154.
At
Assigned Column Choose the user to whom you want to assign the task in this column. When you
click the column, a drop-down list lets you select the user you want.
Submit Button Click this button to submit any changes that you have made to the tasks.
Adjust Button Click this button to update the task numbering and other columns. This does not
save the changes.
Cancel Button Use this to discard all changes that you have made.
NOTE: It is recommended that you limit importing more than 50 tasks into the worksheet. With more than 50
tasks the interface becomes overloaded and runs extremely slow.
The following set of procedures explains how to use the task worksheet and its several features.
To open the task worksheet
166
1. From a project list, click on a project name and open the task list.
2. From the toolbar, click the Task List icon ( ). From this screen, you can edit any task. Click Submit when
you finish your edits.
To create a task
1. Open the Task Worksheet.
2. Click the Add Task icon ( ).
3. Type the name of the new task in the name column, and then type information in each of the other col-
umns as necessary. Refer to Table 4.7 for information on filling in each of the fields.
4. Click Submit. You may reorder or do other functions to the new task prior to submitting it.
To organize tasks
1. Click the Select icon ( ) next to the task that you want to move. Use keyboard controls to select multiple
tasks.
2. Click the Red Arrow icon ( ) in the arrow column of the task beneath which you want to place the tasks
that you selected.
To create a subtask
1. Create one or more tasks as outlined previously.
2. In the task worksheet, organize the tasks so that the tasks that you want to subordinate to another task
are immediately beneath the parent task.
3. After organizing the tasks, ensure that you select the task or tasks that you want to subordinate. Click the
Select icon ( ) in the S column to select each task.
4. Click the Indent icon ( ). The task worksheet now displays the name of each new subtask as indented.
For each level of subtasks, the task name is indented further. Figure 4.5 displays Task 1.1 and Task 1.2 as
indented. These tasks are subtasks to Task 1.
FIGURE 4.5: INDENTED SUBTASKS
At
167
To promote a task
1. Select the tasks that you want to promote by clicking the Select icon ( ) in the S column.
2. Click the Outdent icon ( ). If you promote a task with subtasks, the subtasks remain immediately sub-
ordinate to the parent task. You may not be able to promote or subordinate disparate tasks on multiple
levels at the same time.
To delete tasks
1. Click the Delete icon ( ) in the D column next to the task that you want to delete. In the worksheet, you
can only delete tasks that you have created but have not submitted. Use the standard method to delete
submitted tasks.
See “Deleting a Task” on page 162..
CREATING A PREDECESSOR RELATIONSHIP IN THE TASK WORKSHEET

String expressions are used to set predecessor relationships in the task worksheet, because it is a more
compact from of information and saves display area in the worksheet. As described before, the string values
are abbreviations of the dependency types and lag types. They include:
Dependency Types
• fs—finish-start
Lag Types
• d—days
• p—percent
• w—day of week
Finish-start is the default dependency type and as such is not displayed in the worksheet. If you enter “fs” on
the worksheet and submit, it will be invisible to you.
Expressions enclosed with parentheses are cross-project predecessors, and those with an “e” at the end have
At
an enforced predecessor relationship.

The syntax of a valid expression starts with the task ID of the predecessor task, the dependency type, the
duration of the lag type and followed by the lag type. A visual description would be: <task ID><dependency
type>+<duration><lag type>. You can also have multiple dependencies for a task. This is accomplished by
separating the predecessor statements by a comma.
The following is a set of example expressions and the associated explanation:
“3fs+10de” = Task 3 is the predecessor task. The dependency type is finish-start. There is a positive lag of 10
days and the dependency is enforced. Note: This statement will appear as “3+10de” in the worksheet.
“5ss -1c” = Task 5 is the predecessor task. The dependency type is start-start. There is a negative lag of 1
calendar day. No enforcement is indicated because there is no e.
168
“(34sd + 3w), 13fse” = Task 34 is the cross project predecessor. The dependency is scheduled start with a day
of week lag of 3 that indicates Tuesday, because Tuesday is the third day of the week. Task 13 is an additional
predecessor, with a finish-start dependency type and it is enforced.
At
169
At
Chapter 5
Creating and Resolving
Issues
• Creating Issues
• Editing Issues
• Tracking and Resolving Issues
• Creating Help Desk Issues
CREATING ISSUES
If you encounter a problem that requires input from a manager or another team member, or an issue that you
need to record, @task lets you create issues and attach them to your tasks. You can document the issue and
then assign it to the user to address. This lets you resolve problems without tracking people down by phone
or calling a meeting.
There are lots of reasons why you might want to create issues. Maybe you are a contractor who has run into
complications with some local city ordinances. Or perhaps you discover that a critical part for a broken piece
of equipment in your manufacturing plant is on back order. Any task of any project could have an issue that
you need to record or that needs to be addressed at a higher level.
When you create an issue, @task lets you write a name and a description for the issue, and assign it to your
manager or another team member. You may also need to set the priority and status, set work dates and
estimate the required work time, or select audit trail settings (for information on audit trails, see Chapter 12,
Using Audit Trails, on page 243). Optionally, if you have reference materials that you need to store with the
issue you can attach documents and files to the issues (see Chapter 8, Working with Attachments, on
page 199).
To create an issue
1. In the navigation menu, click My... Ω Tasks.
2. In a task list, open the task by clicking the task name.
3. In the contextual menu, click New Issue.
4. Select the issue type.
5. Type the name that you want to give to the issue.
6. Type a description.
7. Fill in the remaining fields.
CREATING ISSUES
• URL. An associated Web site.

• Priority. Urgent, High, Normal, Low, or On Hold.
• Originator. You can change the originating user name if necessary.
• Job Role. The type of job role that is responsible for resolving the issue.
• Assigned To. The user responsible for resolving the issue.
• Work Required. The time it will take to resolve the issue.
At
• Planned Start Date. The date that a user should start to resolve the issue.
• Planned Completion Date. The date that the issue should be resolved.
• Status. New, In Progress, Awaiting Feedback, On Hold, Reopened, Closed, or Resolved.
171
CREATING ISSUES WITH THE WORKSHEET
@task has an issue worksheet that can display all issues in a project or task. If you have appropriate
permissions, you can easily see all issues, the dates, the user to whom they are assigned, and other data in
the worksheet. You can also edit most attributes in the worksheet without having to open each issue
individually. However, you must open issues individually to set or edit the audit trail attributes.
Figure 5.1 displays the issue worksheet.
FIGURE 5.1: ISSUE WORKSHEET
To open the Issues Worksheet

CREATING ISSUES
2. In the contextual menu, click View Open Issues or View All Issues.
3. Select each issue that you want to appear in the worksheet by clicking the check box next the issue. If you
select no issues, @task displays a blank worksheet.
4. Click the Issues Worksheet icon ( ).
5. Click the Add icon ( ) to create a new issue.
6. Edit the fields as necessary.
N O T E : When using the Assigned column, users must be part of the team that is assigned to the
At
project in order to appear in the drop-down menu.
EDITING ISSUES
When you edit issues, you can change all the original data, plus there are a number of new attributes that you
can set. When you edit issues, you can add custom data, update the issue status or attach the issue to a
resolving object.
When you update issue status, in addition to changing the status, you can set the actual start and finish dates
as well as adding hours and applying them to a user.
172
In the Issue Resolution screen, you can assign the issue to a resolving object. A resolving object is another
object which, when resolved will also resolve the issue. Resolving objects can be tasks, projects, or other
issues. You can also change the audit options from this screen.
To edit issues
1. Open a project or task to view it, and then in the contextual menu, click View All Issues or View Open
Issues. Alternatively, you can use the navigation menu and click Find Ω Issues.
2. Open an issue to view it.
3. In the contextual menu, click Edit Issue. The Edit Issue screen appears (shown in Figure 5.2).
FIGURE 5.2: EDIT ISSUE SCREEN

CREATING ISSUES
4. Choose an issue type. The Issue Type drop-down menu offers eitherIssue or Change Order. (This is a
required field.)
5. The Issue field holds the name of the issue. (This is also a required field.)
At
6. Enter a description if you want one.

7. Enter a related URL if you have one.
8. Enter the Priority: None, Low, Normal (default), High, or Urgent.
9. Enter a Severity: Cosmetic (default), Causes Confusion, Bug with work around, Bug with no workaround, and
Fatal Error.
10. Name an Originator. To search for an originator (or user), click the binocular icon ( ); if the user does
not exist in the system, click the plus icon ( ) and you can add the user on the spot.
11. Select a Job Role. Any available role has been entered in @task at an earlier time. For information, see
“Setting Up Job Roles” on page 262.
173
12. Set who the issue is assigned to with the Assigned To drop-down menu. To search for a user to assign
this task to, click the binocular icon ( ); if the user is not in the system yet, click the plus icon ( ) and
you can add the user on the fly.
13. Enter the Work Required as an amount of time—in minutes (m or minute), hours (h or hour), days (d or
day or eday), weeks (wk or week), or months (month).
14. Enter the Planned Start Date. You can enter the date in the field directly or by clicking the calendar icon
( ) and selecting the date dynamically.
15. Enter the Planned Completion Date. You can also enter the date in the field directly or by clicking the cal-
endar icon ( ) and selecting the date dynamically.
16. Enter the Status, one of New, In Progress, Awaiting Feedback, On Hold, Won’t Resolve, Closed, or Resolved.
TRACKING AND RESOLVING ISSUES

Unresolved issues can hold up an entire project if not resolved quickly. @task implements many powerful
features to resolve issues and get you back on track.
FINDING YOUR ISSUES

Any issue that is assigned to you appears in your issues list. You can access your issues list from the
navigation menu.
To access your issues
1. In the navigation menu, click My... Ω Issues.
VIEWING ALL ISSUES

You can display all issues that are attached to a project or task if you have appropriate permissions. When you
view them, you can see the source, the dates, the status, the priority, and much more data about each issue.
You can filter or group issues as needed. See “Filtering, Grouping and Viewing Lists” on page 33.
CREATING ISSUES
When you view issue lists, @task gives you the option of attaching notes and documents. For more
information, see “About Using Notes an d Attachments” on page 200
To view all issues
2. In the contextual menu, click View All Issues.
N O T E : You can click View Open Issues to see open issues. Issues with a status of Closed or
At
Resolved are not considered open issues.
ROUTING ISSUES
You can create routing rules to route issues to individuals or job roles based on the issue type or other criteria
that you can define. You can send bugs to one user and issues to another user. Bugs of different types can be
routed differently as well.
Routing involves writing routing rules, then associating them with a queue topic. The routing rules define the
users or job roles to which an issue is sent. Queue topics define the conditions that must exist for a routing
rule to be implemented.
Routing rules and queue topics are associated with a single project.
174
For example, Jill wants to use routing rules to send different types of issues to different users automatically.
The first thing she needs to do is write the routing rules. Jim Halpert manages the project team and usually
handles the project issues, so Jill writes a rule that, when implemented, will send issues to Jim Halpert.
Figure 5.3 shows an example of Jill’s screen where she creates the new routing rule for Jim.
FIGURE 5.3: CREATE ROUTING RULE
This routing rule does not define when an issue is routed to Jim, it only says, in effect, “route this to Jim.” In
order to define when an issue should be routed to Jim, Jill creates a Queue Topic, as shown in Figure 5.4.
FIGURE 5.4: NEW QUEUE TOPIC

CREATING ISSUES
At
When Jill creates the Queue Topic, she selects Issue from the Issue Types (as opposed to Bug Report or
Request) and in the Default Route field, she selects the “Send to Jim” routing rule that she just created. Now,
when anyone on this project creates a new issue with an issue type of “Issue”, it will be added to Jim’s issue
queue.
Next Jill wants to make routing rules for the bug reports. These should go to the engineers, because they are
the ones who fix the problems. Jill makes a routing rule to send things to Kevin Malone. Kevin handles the
product ease-of-use bugs, so when Jill creates this rule, she selects Kevin as the Default Assignee.
175
Kevin’s company has set up an entirely different project for handling ease-of-use issues. Because there is a
completely different project set up to address ease-of-use bugs, Jill selects the Customer Service project from
the Route to Project field. Figure 5.5 shows an example of the screen that Jill sees when she creates this new
routing rule.
FIGURE 5.5: ADDITIONAL ROUTING RULE
As with the previous routing rule, this rule says what to do, but does not outline when to do it. Jill creates
another Queue Topic to define when to use this routing rule, as shown in Figure 5.6.
FIGURE 5.6: ADDITIONAL QUEUE TOPIC

CREATING ISSUES
At
Jill selects Bug Report as the issue type, and “Send to Kevin” as the routing rule in the Default Route field.
This ensures that if a user submits a bug report and selects ease-of-use bugs as the topic that the bug is
routed to Kevin.
Jill has also set a default category. This is a category that she created specifically for keeping track of the type
of ease-of-use bug. This category appears when a user creates a new issue and selects ease-of-use bugs as the
topic. See “Creating and Setting Up Categories” on page 224.
Jill wants to route other types of bugs to other users, so she creates additional routing rules and queue topics
for each type of bug. The routing rule defines who the issue should be sent to, and the queue topic defines
when it should happen. The last routing rule for bugs that Jill creates is for uncategorized bugs. For this rule,
176
rather than assigning it to an individual, she assigns it to the Engineers job role. She creates a queue topic for
this rule as well. When users create new issues and select Uncategorized Bugs as the topic, then @task
places the issue in the Engineer job role. Any engineer can access and resolve these bugs.
For requests and change orders, Jill creates a default routing rule that she assigns to the project. This can be
done when editing a project. When you edit a project, the field to set the default route for a project is the
Default Route field under the Queue Properties tab. This field is hidden if there is no queue topic yet created.
For information about setting up projects, see Chapter 3, Creating and Managing Projects, on page 101.
Jill has finished setting up the routing rules. These rules are implemented when a user creates an issue.
Figure 5.7 shows an example of what a user sees when creating an issue.
FIGURE 5.7: CREATING A NEW ISSUE

CREATING ISSUES
Bob, one of the users, needs to report a bug. He creates a new issue and selects an issue type of Bug Report.
At
Because Jill created more then one queue topic related to bug reports, Bob has a selection of queue topics in
the Topic field. He selects ease-of-use bugs as the topic, therefore he sees the category that Jill created. When
he submits the issue, it will be put in Kevin’s queue in the Customer Service project.
If Bob selects an issue type of “Issue”, then the Topic field is automatically be set to “Issues for Project”,
which is the queue topic that Jill created for Jim Halpert. Because Jill only created one topic queue for this
issue type, no other selections will be available in the Topic field.
If Bob selects “Change Order” or “Request” as the issue type, the Topic field disappears completely and these
issues are routed to the default queue topic that Jill set up for the project. If Jill had not set up any routing
rules for the project at all, then the issues would be placed in the project queue for issues.
177
N O T E : If you set up the Queue Properties to allow the submitter to select the person to whom to
assign the issue, this assignment takes precedence over routing rules.
To create routing rules

1. Open a project to view it.
2. In the contextual menu, click Issues Setup Ω New Routing Rule.
3. Give the routing rule a name.
4. Give it a description, if you want.
5. Select a default assignee (user). You can create a new user on the fly by clicking the plus icon ( ) next to
the Default Assignee drop-down menu.
6. Select a default job role. You can create a new job role on the fly by clicking the plus icon ( ) next to the
Default Job Role drop-down menu.
7. Optionally select a project to which you will route new issues. Create multiple rules if necessary.
FIGURE 5.8: NEW ROUTING RULE

CREATING ISSUES
To create a new Queue Topic

1. In the contextual menu, click View Project.
2. In the contextual menu, click Issues Setup... Ω New Queue Topic.
3. Name the new queue topic, select a routing rule, and check the issue types to be associated with this
At
queue topic. Optionally, select a category and change the default duration. The default duration displays
the amount of time that the user has to resolve the issue.
4. Edit the project and select a default routing rule in the Queue Properties tab.
To edit routing rules
2. In the contextual menu, click Issues Setup... Ω View Routing Rules.
3. Click the name of a routing rule to open it.
4. In the contextual menu, click Edit Routing Rule.
To edit queue topics
178
2. In the contextual menu, click Issues Setup... Ω View Queue Topics.
3. Click the name of a queue topic to open it.
4. In the contextual menu, click Edit Queue Topic.
N O T E : When you edit queue topics, there is a field named “Parent Topic”. You can use this field to
group queue topics together under a parent topic for easier searching. This does not change the
functionality of any queue topic.
REASSIGNING ISSUES
You can reassign issues to users on your team or to another @task user. You can do this in the Edit Issues
screen. See “Editing Issues” on page 172.
You may need to do this if you have a development team that fixes issues and a quality assurance team that
tests the issues.
To reassign an issue
1. Open and issue, and click Edit Issues in the contextual menu.
2. Select a new user from the Assigned To field. If the user is not in menu, you can use the inline search tool
to select the correct user. See “Using Inline Search Features” on page 27.
CONVERTING ISSUES INTO TASKS AND PROJECTS

If a type of issue lends itself to being more effectively resolved as a task, or if it needs to be calculated in the
project timeline, you can turn it into a task and assign it to a user. When an issue becomes a task, @task then
calculates it in the project timeline. As an issue, it does not affect the project timeline.
When you turn an issue into a task, you can assign dependencies, and integrate it into a project as you would
CREATING ISSUES
any other task, however, may need to replan a project if you turn it into a task. When you create the new task,
you must fill in fields as you would to create any new task. See also “Replanning a Project” on page 141 and
“Creating and Editing Tasks” on page 153.
You can also make an issue into a project if it is large enough that it needs its own set of tasks. You may want
to do this if you want to assign the issue to a different group of users to resolve. When creating a new project
from an issue, you must fill in the fields as you would to create any new project. See “Creating a Project” on
page 107.
At
When you convert an issue, you have options to preserve the issue and the originator. When you preserve the
issue, it is retained as an issue in addition to being turned into a project or task. When you preserve the
originator, @task automatically adds the user who created the issue to the list of users who are assigned to
the project.
To turn an issue into a project or task
1. Open a project or task, and in the contextual menu, click View All Issues.
2. Click on an issue name to open it.
3. In the contextual menu, do one of the following:
• Click Convert to Task.
• Click Convert to Project.
179
4. Check the appropriate boxes to preserve the originator or the issue. Fill in the remaining fields as neces-
sary.
UPDATING ISSUES
If you have been assigned to resolve an issue, you can use the Update Issue Status screen at any time to
reflect the current state of the issue. You can also set start and completion dates, and apply your work hours
in this screen.
To update issue status
1. In the navigation menu, click My... Ω Issues.
2. Click on an issue name to open it.
3. Click the Update Issue Status tab.
4. Fill in the fields.
N O T E : Updating issues does not affect your project schedule.
MOVING ISSUES
You can move an issue to another project if it fits better there.
To move an issue
1. From an Issues list, open an issue to view it.
2. In the contextual menu, click Move Issue.
3. From the menu, select the project to which you want to move the issue. If the project is not in the list, you
can use the inline search tool to find it. See “Using Inline Search Features” on page 27.
DELETING ISSUES
CREATING ISSUES
You can delete issues that are no longer valid.

To delete an issue
1. From an issue list, open an issue.
2. In the contextual menu, click Delete Issue.
To delete multiple issues
1. Open an issue list.
2. Click the Select icon ( ) next to the issue to select it. Use the Shift or Control keys to select multiple
At
issues.
3. Click the Delete icon( ).
180
CREATING HELP DESK ISSUES
A help desk queue is ideal for accepting requests, issues, bug reports, or requests from people or
organizations outside of your immediate team. Help desk queues have many applications. A city that is
planning to widen a road can set up a help desk queue to accept comments from the public, or a software
company can use a help desk queue to log bugs or gather feedback from its customers. An Information
Technology department can use it to accept service requests from employees, or a mechanic shop can use it
to survey customers about their service experience.
@task’s help desk functions are very versatile. You can set them up so that they go to a group queue where a
team of users can take the next issue, or you can automatically assign specific types of issues to certain
individuals. You can create customized forms to gather targeted information or you can give users who use
the help desk the freedom to do things such as select the person to whom they want to assign the issue or set
the date by which the issue must be resolved. For more information, see “Creating and Setting Up
Categories” on page 224 and “Creating Issues” on page 171.
When you create a project, you set up the help desk properties. You can make help desk queues available to
all users, or just to specific teams. You can set up the types of issues or requests that you want to accept, and
you can select the forms that you want to use. You can also determine exactly what privileges the user
receives when entering issues or requests. See “Creating a Project” on page 109.
@task has a special designation for creating user accounts specifically designed to be help desk requestors.
When they log in, they are taken directly to the help desk list, where they can create requests. See “Creating
and Managing User Accounts” on page 269.
CREATING HELP DESK ISSUES
Other users can also easily access the help desk area to submit bugs, issues or requests. @task displays each
user’s previously submitted issues in the My Submitted Issues pane when you access the help desk screen.
To set up a help desk queue
1. Create or edit a project and set it up to use help desk queues. This function is on the Queue Properties
tab.
2. Create categories to use in your help desk queue if necessary.
3. Create user accounts for users to access the help desk queues.
To access the help desk
1. From the Application Home page, click Help Desk.
2. Click the project name for which you want to submit an issue or request.
3. Fill in the fields. Fields in bold are required.
At
181
At
Chapter 6
Working with Tasks and
Reporting Progress
• How to Work with Tasks and Timesheets
• Finding and Updating Your Tasks
• Approving Completed Tasks
HOW TO WORK WITH TASKS AND TIMESHEETS
When you are assigned a task, there are a few procedures that you need to do in @task to keep your team
informed as to your progress and status. For example, typical users may often need to update their task
status, submit issues, and fill out timesheets. The following example explains how and when a typical user
might perform there functions in @task.
Bob Bobson is a purchasing agent for a company that sells paper products. He has been put on a project to
purchase stock for the office. Bob’s manager has planned and assigned him tasks and a schedule is in place.
Initially, Bob receives an email that tells him that he has some new tasks. He opens @task and in the
navigation menu, he clicks My... Ω Tasks to see his tasks. @task shows him the tasks that he has. The tasks
that are in bold are parent tasks and have subtasks. Bob’s task list is displayed in Figure 6.1.
FIGURE 6.1: BOB’S TASK LIST
From his task list, Bob sees his new tasks. He looks at the planned start dates to see which one his manager
wants him to do first. It is ‘Buy the Copy Paper’. At the far right he looks and sees that the bar icon ( ) is
colored in, so he knows that this task is in the critical path. He also sees that the approval icon ( ) is colored
for this task. This tells him that another user must approve this task before it is totally complete.
Bob clicks the name of the first task to view it. Figure 6.3 shows Bob’s task details screen.
At
183
FIGURE 6.2: BOB’S TASK DETAILS
Bob sees from the task details that he is supposed to contact wholesalers to get product quotes. He also sees
the dates and times when the task should be complete.
Bob contacts the wholesalers, and unfortunately learns that their usual provider is going out of business this
month, and will be unable to fill any more orders for them. He decides to create an issue for his manager,
Michael Scott. From his task details screen, Bob clicks New Issue in the contextual menu. Figure 6.3 displays
this.
FIGURE 6.3: NEW ISSUE
At
In the New Issue screen, Bob describes the issue and assigns it to Michael. Figure 6.4 shows the New Issue
screen.
184
FIGURE 6.4: NEW ISSUE ASSIGNMENT
Bob has assigned the issue a priority of Urgent because this task is in the critical path. Therefore, any delay
will delay the entire project. When Bob submits the issue, @task sends an email to Michael. Michael gets the
email telling him that he has a new issue. He logs on to @task, opens his issues, (My Ω Issues in the
navigation menu) sees the problem, and immediately obtains a new provider that is cleared through the
corporate office. An hour later, Bob has a new provider and can continue with the task.
At
Despite the delay, Bob is able to complete the task in the allotted time. Bob goes back into @task to update
the status of his task. He navigates to his task, then clicks the Update Task Status tab to see the update
screen. Because Bob was assigned to complete 100% of the task, he can set the completion status to
Complete-Pending Approval. If he had worked on the task with another colleague he would have to wait untill
his colleague was also able to update the task before setting the status to complete. He types the number of
hours that he spent doing the task in the Hours field. Figure 6.5 shows Bob’s update screen.
185
FIGURE 6.5: UPDATE TASK STATUS
After this, Michael reviews the work, and approves the task. Bob goes through the rest of his task list for the
week and completes all of his remaining assigned tasks.
On Friday, Bob finishes his last task two hours early. Being a proactive employee, he looks at all the tasks in
his project to see if there are others that need to be done. In the navigation menu, he clicks My... Ω Projects
and clicks the name of his current project. He clicks Tasks to see all tasks in his project. He filters the task list
to see all unassigned projects assigned to his job role. His job role is Sales Representative, so @task displays
all tasks that are assigned to the Sales Representative job role, but are not assigned to a specific individual.
Bob can select a task without having to track down his manager and ask about assignment priorities. Michael
has planned all this and @task displays the information that Bob needs. Figure 6.6 shows the list of
unassigned tasks for the Sales Representative job role.
FIGURE 6.6: FILTER FOR UNASSIGNED TASKS
At
186
Bob decides to use the rest his week attempting to contact Access Unlimited and open a business
relationship. He makes a couple of contacts within Access Unlimited, but learns that person he needs to talk
to is out until Monday. He finishes only 50 percent of the task. Because Bob has been granted privileges to
update these tasks (even though they aren’t directly assigned to him), he updates the Call Access Unlimited
to 50 percent finished. On the task update screen, he types “2 hrs” for the contact job, and 6 hours for the
other job so that he can record them on his timesheet.
At the end of the week, Bob needs to fill out his time sheet. In the navigation menu, he clicks My... Ω
Timesheets and then in the contextual menu, he clicks New Timesheet. Bob fills in his timesheet and submits
it. Later Michael reviews and approves Bob’s timesheet.
Figure 6.7 shows Bob’s timesheet.
FIGURE 6.7: TIMESHEET
At
The following week, Bob logs in to @task and finishes his remaining tasks and records them on his
timesheet. At anytime, Michael can open @task and review the progress of this project. Both Bob and anyone
assigned to the same project can see each other’s progress and lend a hand when necessary. Everyone on
Bob’s team knows exactly how the project is progressing and what remains to be done. Issues are handled
quickly, and things function smoothly.
Additionally, when Bob’s annual review comes up, both he and Michael have an exact record of Bob’s
accomplishments, and Michael has solid evidence to support Bob’s raises and bonuses. In this way, @task
helps everyone on Bob’s team keep in the loop, stay productive, and get things done smoothly.
187
FINDING AND UPDATING YOUR TASKS
You can access your task list in multiple ways. The easiest way is to click My... Ω Tasks in the navigation
menu. When you click this, @task shows you a list of the tasks that are assigned to you. When you access
tasks, you can look at them, update their status, see the predecessor tasks, or see the subtasks. Figure 6.8
displays a sample task list.
FIGURE 6.8: TASK LIST
Your task list gives you all the information that you need about the tasks that you are assigned to complete.
Along with the task names and the associated projects, you can see the planned start and completion dates.
The % column shows you the current task status (a 25 indicates that the task is 25% complete). The last
column in the task list has a number indicating the task priority (4 is the highest) and a colored circle that
indicates whether the task is on schedule (green), behind (yellow), or late (red). Finally if any of the Flag icons
are colored, this indicates that the task has attached notes ( ), documents ( ), or unresolved issues ( ).
When you complete or make progress towards completing your tasks, you need to update them so your team
has a complete and accurate picture of the project status. If you have 30 percent of the task complete, you
should update the completion status to reflect that. You can also put in your actual start and completion
dates and the number of hours that you spent doing the project. Accurately recording the start and
completion times for your tasks gives your manager a record to judge by when he or she plans out tasks for
the next project. Also, you should update the number of hours that you spent on a task because this number
goes on your timesheet.
To view your task list and update tasks
• From the Application Home window, click the Tasks tab.
• In the navigation menu, click the My... Ω Tasks.
At
2. Click the task name in the task list.

3. Click the Update Task Status tab.
4. Type the Completion Status percentage, and select In Progress from the drop-down menu. If you select
complete from the drop-down menu, the Completion Status percentage is automatically set to 100%.
5. Type the number of hours that you spent on the task. You can use decimals. The number affects
timesheets and reporting in @task and may be necessary for billing or salary.
6. Type any notes about the task.
7. Click Submit.
188
N O T E : When you complete a task that needs to be approved, you may not be able to subsequently
access and change the completion status of the task, unless you have been granted specific rights to
do so.
UPDATING MULTIPLE TASKS

You can use the Completion Status Worksheet to update the completion status of multiple tasks. The
worksheet works the same way that the task worksheet does. It lets you see a list of the tasks that you select in
a tabular format. You can update any or all of the tasks listed in the screen, enter the number of hours, and
change start and completion dates. Figure 6.9 shows an example of a Completion Status Worksheet.
FIGURE 6.9: COMPLETION STATUS WORKSHEET
N O T E : You cannot apply the hours that you enter to users other than yourself in the Completion
Status Worksheet.
To access the Completion Status Worksheet

1. Open a task list from a project, a search, or your task list.
2. Select the tasks for which you want to change the status by clicking the Select icon ( ) next to each task
that you want to select. Use keyboard controls with your mouse to select multiple tasks.
3. Click the Completion Status Worksheet icon( ).
4. Fill in or change the status, percentage, hours, or dates for any task. You cannot edit status for rows that
are dimmed in grey.
At
189
APPROVING COMPLETED TASKS
Managers or users may be assigned to approve tasks that other users have completed. When you are
assigned to approve a task, it appears in your approval list. In the approval screen you can approve or reject a
task. You can also record hours that you spent in reviewing the task work for approval to add to your
timesheet. When you select an approval option, a comment field appears. You can write an option comment
there.
If you reject an approval, @task creates an issue and assigns the issue to the person who was assigned to do
the task. When the user resolves the issue, @task changes the task status back to Awaiting Approval and you
can again review and approve or reject the task.
A specific approval status for a task invokes a set approval structure for updating the status of the tasks.
Table 6.1 lists the structure that is present for each approval status possibility.
TABLE 6.1: APPROVAL STATUS RULES
APPROVAL STATUS STRUCTURE FOR UPDATING TASK STATUS
New/In Progress • Users can update status and enter hours.

• Approvers have no access.
• Administrators can edit the task.
Complete—Awaiting Approval • Users cannot update status, but can enter

hours. When a task is assigned to multiple
users, no user can access the task after any
user has set the status to complete.

• Approvers can approve/reject and enter
hours.
• Administrators must change task status.
from complete to New or In progress in
order to edit the task. they cannot edit them
in bulk edits.
Approved • Users cannot update status, but can enter

hours.
• Approvers can enter hours and can edit the
task to change the approval status. If the
approval is role based, then only the user
who initially approved the task can change
the approval status.
• Administrators must edit the task and
change approval status to from approved to
At
complete—pending approval. Then they

must change the task status from Complete
to New or In Progress in order to edit the
task. They can add hours.
Rejected • Users can change the task completion sta-

tus, but are not required to do so. They need
to update the status of the issue that is cre-
ated when the task is rejected. The issue is
assigned to the user.
• Approvers cannot change the approval sta-
tus of the task until the issue is resolved.
• Administrators must change task status
from complete to New or In progress in
order to edit the task.
19
To access your approval list
1. On the Application Home screen, click the Tasks tab.
2. Click on the name of the task to open and approve it.
At
191
At
Chapter 7
Managing Your
Timesheets and
Scheduling Time Off
• Using Timesheets
• Scheduling Personal Time
USING TIMESHEETS
Timesheets provide users with a simple and easy way to track their time each week. It also gives project
teams a way to keep track of hours for billing purposes. For example, one user may be working on separate
projects for different clients during the same week. The user can record the hours spent on each project in a
time sheet, and your company can bill the clients accordingly.
In addition to showing the number of hours that a user spends at each task, timesheets can show hours
spent doing work or non-work functions that may not directly relate to a project or task. For example,
timesheets can show time-off hours, sick hours, hours spent in transit, hours spent repairing or maintaining
equipment, or other functions. You can create hour types and apply them to a timesheet to record hours that
fall into functions that are not related to a project or task.
CREATING A TIMESHEET
When you create an initial timesheet, you need to select the dates that the timesheet will cover.
To create a time sheet
1. In the navigation menu, click My... Ω Timesheets.
2. In the contextual menu, click New Timesheet. You can also use the Create menu and select Timesheet.
3. Type the date range that the timesheet covers. You can click the Calendar Tool icon ( ) to select a date.
Figure 7.1 shows an example of a timesheet.
FIGURE 7.1: TIMESHEET CREATION
USING TIMESHEETS
At
ENTERING TIME ON A TIMESHEET

To add time to a timesheet, you simply enter the number of hours you spent on tasks for each day in the
appropriate column. If hours were entered in the task directly, either through the completion status worksheet
193
or from the Update Task Status tab on the Task Detail page, these hours will be displayed in a section titled
Unapplied Hours. See ”Finding and Updating Your Tasks” on page 188.
You can apply these by selecting the checkbox in the Apply column, then entering the hours in the appropriate
day columns. @task deducts the number from the unallocated hours figure as you fill in the hours. Figure 7.2
shows an example of a timesheet in the process of being completed.
FIGURE 7.2: FILLING IN THE TIMESHEET
When time is entered into one of the hour fields, a note box appears.
FIGURE 7.3: TIMESHEET NOTE BOX
USING TIMESHEETS
The text you enter into this note field will become the description on the hour entry you are creating for that
task on that day. If a note already exists for that task on that day, the upper-right corner of the hour field will
contain an orange triangle.
Timesheets may also need other entries in them for other types of hours. Administrators can create these
types of hours. Paid time off or sick hours are examples of other types of hours to which you may need to
allocate time. See ”Adding Hour Types to Timesheets” on page 194.
ADDING HOUR TYPES TO TIMESHEETS

At
You may need to add hour types that are not related to your tasks. For example, you may need to show sick
hours or hours spent in transit. Administrators can create types of hours that you can add to a timesheet.
You can also add hours for tasks and projects that are not assigned to you or that may not appear in the
timesheet for some other reason.
When you add additional hour types, they become a template and are automatically added to every new
timesheet that you create. For example, if you add a row for time-off hours to a timesheet, that row is available
for each new timesheet that you create, though you don’t have to fill it in. You can delete these hour types
from your timesheets at any time.
194
N O T E : Hour types that appear as templates do not require that you check a box to add hours to
them in their fields. See ”Removing Hour Types from Timesheets” on page 195.
To add additional hour types

1. From the Application Home page click Setup Ω Schedules and Hours Ω Hour Types.
2. In the contextual menu, click New Hour Type.
3. Type the name and description for the hour type.
4. In the contextual menu, click Add Hour Types.
5. Type the name and description for the new hour type.
ADDING TASKS OR PROJECTS TO THE TIMESHEET

To add additional tasks or projects
2. Click create a new timesheet or open and edit a timesheet.
3. In the contextual menu, click Setup Timesheets.
4. Click Add Projects or Add Tasks.
5. Fill in the search fields to locate the tasks that you want to add to your timesheet. You cannot add tasks or
projects that you do not have permissions to see.
6. Click the Select icon ( ) next to the task that you want to add. Use keyboard controls to select multiple
selections.
7. Click the Add icon ( ).
REMOVING HOUR TYPES FROM TIMESHEETS

USING TIMESHEETS
If you no longer want an hour type added automatically to your timesheets, you can remove it.
To remove hour types from your timesheets
2. Click Timesheet Settings.
3. Click the hour type that you want to remove.
4. In the contextual menu, click Delete Hour Type.
At
CREATING HOUR TYPES

Administrators may need to create hour types for activities that do not directly relate to accomplishing a task.
For example, paid time off or transit time may need to be put on a timesheet. When you create new hour
types, they become available to users to add to their timesheets.
To create new hour types
1. From the Application Home page, click Setup Ω Schedules and Hours Ω Hour Types Ω New Hour Types.
2. Type the name and a description for each hour type.
195
APPROVING TIMESHEETS
@task provides timesheet approval functionality that can be used to validate timesheet entries and provide
more accurate data on time actually spent on tasks and projects.
Timesheet approvals begin at the timesheet creation stage. When a timesheet it created, an approver is
selected for the timesheet. On the Create Timesheet page, you can select an Approver from the list, or, if the
correct user is not in the list, you can use the inline search ( ) to locate and select the appropriate approver.
FIGURE 7.4: TIMESHEET DETAILS
The example above shows Michael Scott as the approver for the timesheet being created.
The timesheet approval process then follows two steps:
1. The user entering the time submits the timesheet for approval.
2. The approver approves or rejects the timesheet.
Once the timesheet is approved, it is no longer editable.
To submit a timesheet for approval, a user needs only to click the Submit For Approval button at the bottom
of the timesheet.
Once the timesheet is submitted, the timesheet will be displayed on the Approvers list of Timesheets to
Review found on the My Approvals page (My... Ω Approvals Ω Timesheets to Review).
FIGURE 7.5: MY APPROVALS
At
To approve a timesheet:
1. As an approver, select the timesheet from the Timesheets to Review list. This will open the timesheet for
editing.
2. Review the timesheet for accuracy.
3. Click Approve.
If the timesheet is inaccurate, or needs to be changed for some reason, the approver can reject the timesheet.
To reject a timesheet:
196
1. As an approver, select the timesheet from the Timesheets to Review list. This will open the timesheet for
editing.
2. Review the timesheet for accuracy.
3. Click Reject.
4. You may also want to enter a reason for the rejection in the Optional Comment box that appears at the
bottom of the timesheet when the status is changed. This can be sent to the user as an email notification.
5. Click Submit
A rejected timesheet can then be corrected by the user and re-submitted for approval.
CREATING TIMESHEETS FOR OTHER USERS

@task provides tools to create or edit your subordinates’ timesheets, which can be useful if an employee falls
ill or quits without filling out necessary timesheets.
To create a timesheet for a subordinate
1. From the Application Home screen, click Resource Management Ω Timesheet Management Ω Add User
Timesheets.
2. Enter the dates for the new timesheet or user the Calendar Tool ( ) to select dates.
3. Select a User from the User list or use the inline search feature to find the correct user for whom you
want to create a timesheet.
4. Click Submit.
When you create a timesheet for another user, @task produces an empty timesheet that spans the dates you
specify. You will need to edit them to add hours.
At
197
SCHEDULING PERSONAL TIME
You can set your personal time in @task. @task takes your personal time into account when scheduling your
tasks. For example, if you have a task that is scheduled to take two weeks, and you have three days of time off
scheduled in the middle, @task adds three days to the schedule to account for your time off.Figure 7.6 shows
an example of the scheduling tool for personal time.
FIGURE 7.6: PERSONAL TIME SCHEDULING TOOL
SCHEDULING PERSONAL TIME
To set personal time

1. On the Application Home screen, click My Profile Ω Information.
2. In the contextual menu, click Set Personal Time.
3. Click the right or left arrow to scroll to the correct year.
4. Click the days on the calendar that you are taking for your personal time. The day turns red when you
select it. Do not use keyboard controls to select adjacent days, simply click each day.
At
198
At
Chapter 8
Working with
Attachments
• About Using Notes an d Attachments
• Attaching Documents
• Creating and Managing Directories
• Using Content Management Features
• Working with Notes
ABOUT USING NOTES AND ATTACHMENTS
For many projects, you may need to have access to plans, charts, or other documentation in order to
complete the tasks. You may also need to create documents as part of a task and store them with the task.
@task lets you attach documents, notes, and directories to tasks, projects and issues, enabling you to easily
access the documents that you need or create as you work in @task. For example an architect may store
blueprints with his projects, or a graphics designer may need to store image deliverables with his tasks when
he completes them.
You can also write notes and store them with your tasks, projects, users, issues and other objects. There are
many reasons why you would want to store notes. Examples include explaining a unique method that was
used to accomplish a task, making a note of special project details, or a log information associated with an
issue. Whatever the reason, @task makes it easy for you to write and store notes.
@task makes use of notes for auditing purposes as well. If you enable Recorded Changes, @task uses notes
to record changes that you make to projects, tasks, and issues. You can search and review recorded changes
with any user-created notes.
N O T E : Billing records may be added as attachments to projects, but they are not documented in
ABOUT USING NOTES AN D ATTACHMENTS
this chapter. For more information on billing records, see Chapter 11, Managing Budgets and Billing
on page 232.
At
20
ATTACHING DOCUMENTS
As part of a task, you may need to create documents, or store them as reference information. For example,
you may need to store blueprints with building tasks. You can attach documents to many @task objects,
including projects, tasks, issues, and users. NOTE: There is no restriction to the file formats that you can
attach to your instance of @task. Additionally, there is no limit to the file size except any normal restriction
placed on you by lack of bandwidth.
To attach a document
1. Open the object to which you would like to attach the document. For example, if you want to attach the
document to a task, you can open the task detail page, or task documents page.
2. In the contextual menu click Attachments Ω New Document. For issues, tasks, and projects, you can
view already attached documents by clicking the Document icon ( ), on the list.
3. Click New Document in the contextual menu.
FIGURE 8.1: NEW DOCUMENT
ATTACHING DOCUMENTS
4. Type the path to the location of the document on your computer, or click Browse to search for the docu-
ment.
5. Type an optional description of the document in the Description field.
6. If you have updated a preexisting document, type the version number of the document.
7. Click Is Private to ensure that only subscribers can view the document.
8. Click the Add icon ( ) to add additional documents to the object.

9. Click Submit.
At
ATTACHING MULTIPLE DOCUMENTS

@task allows you to upload up to five documents at once by clicking the Add icon on the New Document
screen. You can create even more documents by uploading a zip file containing the documents you wish to
upload. Any time a zip file is selected as the upload file, @task provides the option to Unzip on Upload, which
will unzip the file and create a new document for every file in the .zip file.
201
FIGURE 8.2: NEW DOCUMENT PREFERENCES
Simply select the checkbox next to Unzip on Upload, and @task will do the rest.
FINDING A DOCUMENT
You can easily find documents in @task. Documents can be attached to tasks, projects, users, or issues. The
documents attached to these objects will have their own pages on the object. For example, while viewing a
Task, you can click Attachments Ω View Documents, or the Documents icon ( ) to list all of the documents
attached to the task.
N O T E : The Project Documents List will display all documents attached to the project AND all
documents attached to any of the tasks in the project. This provides a single repository for all project
documents.
ATTACHING DOCUMENTS
Another way to find documents is through the Document Search. When you search for documents, @task
also displays directories. You can select up to 100 results per page in the search screen.
To find documents
1. In the navigation menu, click Find Ω Documents.
2. Fill in the fields to filter the results, or click Submit to see all documents.
Once you have a list of the documents, you can view or download the documents by clicking the icons next to
the document.
Click the View Document icon ( )to view the document in your browser, if possible.
At
Click the Download Document icon ( ) to download the document to your local computer.
DOWNLOADING MULTIPLE DOCUMENTS

You can easily download multiple documents at once by using the zip feature on the document list views.
Simply select the documents you want to download and click the Zip icon ( ). @task will zip the files
together and send one zip file, which you can save to your hard drive.
DELETING A DOCUMENT
You can delete documents from an object if they are no longer needed.
20
To delete a document
1. In the navigation menu, click Find Ω <object type>.
2. Fill in the search fields for your search.
3. Click the name of the object that contains the document you want to delete.
4. On the contextual menu click Attachments Ω View Documents.
5. Click the Select icon ( ) next to the name of the documents that you want to delete. Use keyboard con-
trols with your mouse to select multiple documents.
6. Click the Delete icon ( ).
ATTACHING DOCUMENTS
At
203
CREATING AND MANAGING DIRECTORIES
A directory holds a number of documents that are related to a task or other @task object. If you had a
number of images that you wanted to associate with a task or another @task object, you could create a
directory and then place the image files in the directory. Or, if you had a number of text files, you could create
another directory and place the text files in it.
Directories have a number functions that you can use, including content management features such as
checking directories in or out. It should be noted however that directories are not enabled by default. The
System Admin must enable the use of this file management tool.
ENABLING DIRECTORIES IN YOUR INSTANCE OF @TASK

Enabling directories can be done by going to Setup Ω System Settings Ω Preferences Ω General Preferences.
Find the Allow Uploaded Directories field, and mark Yes.
Now when you expand the Attachments submenu in the contextual menu there is the additional option to
create a directory, and upload files to that directory. Keep in mind that you lose version control and
subscribership to the individual files within the directory. Also, there is no nesting of directories. Client
Services recommends to not use directories at all; instead, use custom data to create labels for each
document. Custom Data labels enable you to filter, search, and group directories according to your desires.
This is similar in fashion to the labels that Google uses instead of folders for GMail.
The following is a list of functions that you can perform using directories:
• View directory
• Edit directory
• Move directory
• Add file to directory
• Delete directory
• See all directory versions
• Create new version of a directory
• Check Directories in and out
When you list and search for directories, @task treats then exactly as if they were documents. To search for
directories, you should search for documents.
At
CREATING A DIRECTORY
You can create directories and attach them to projects, tasks, subtasks, template tasks, issues, and templates.
When you create a directory, you must fill in five fields. Table 8.2 lists these fields and describes them.
TABLE 8.2: DIRECTORY FIELDS
DIRECTORY FIELD DESCRIPTION
Directory Name This field names the directory.
Description This field is where, optionally, you can type a description for the directory.
Auto Subscribe If you select this check box, team members and other subscribers are automatically
added to the list of subscribing users.
20
TABLE 8.2: DIRECTORY FIELDS
DIRECTORY FIELD DESCRIPTION
Version This field lets you type a version number if you want to add a later version of the direc-
tory.
Is Private This field makes the directory private so that only subscribing users can view it.
To create a directory
1. From a task list, or other @task object, click on a task name to open it.
2. In the contextual menu, click Attachments Ω New Directory.
3. Fill in the five fields as necessary.
4. Click Submit.
ADDING FILES TO A DIRECTORY

After you create a directory, you need to add your files to it. Files in directories should all have a common
topic or be related, otherwise, you should create and attach them as documents.
VIEWING DIRECTORIES
Because @tasks treats directories exactly as if they were documents, when you view documents, it also lists
the directories that are attached to the object. To quickly tell if the object is a directory or a document, look in
the Type column in the far right Directories display an icon that resembles a folder.
When you list a directory, you have several options for how you want to display or filter the directory list. You
can filter them to see only your documents and directories or the ones to which you subscribe. You can view
the documents as icons or as thumbnails, and you can group them by category or owner.
The lists also have icons that you can use. Table 8.3 shows you the icons available in the toolbar.
TABLE 8.3: TOOL BAR ICONS
ICON DESCRIPTION
When you select one or more documents or directories using the check box
next to the name, use this icon to move them to another @task object.
See “Moving Directories” on page 206.
Use this icon to delete files that you select from the list with the check
At
boxes.
To view a list of directories associated with an object

1. Open the object by clicking on its name in a list.
2. In the contextual menu, click Attachments Ω View Documents.
To view all directories
1. Click Find Ω Documents in the navigation menu.
2. Optionally, fill in the fields to filter the search.
3. In the list of documents, look or folder icons in the Type column.
205
MOVING DIRECTORIES
You can move a directory to another object. When you move them, they are removed from the original
directory.
To move a directory
1. Open the directory, then in the contextual menu, click Move Directory.
2. In the Move To field, select the type of object in which you want to put the directory.
3. Select the name of the object from the second drop-down menu. If you selected Tasks, this menu con-
tains a list of tasks.
4. You can use the inline search icon to find an object that is not listed. See “Using Inline Search Features”
on page 27.
At
20
USING CONTENT MANAGEMENT FEATURES
After you attach a document or a directory to an @task object, you may need to edit the document. @task
gives you the option to save multiple versions of a document together in an object using @task’s versioning
tools. You simply download the document from @task, edit it, save it to a directory, then upload it to @task
as a new version.
@task also prevents edit conflicts with its check in and check out capabilities. When you check a document
out @task locks the document so others cannot make changes while you are.
To save multiple versions of a document
1. From the navigation menu, click Find Ω Documents.
2. From the document list, locate the document that you want. You can see the name of the object to which
the document is attached in the Source column.
3. Click the name of the document that you want to edit to open it.
4. Click the Check Out icon ( ).
USING CONTENT MANAGEMENT FEATURES
• To open the most recent version of the document only, click the Download Document icon ( ).
• To view all versions and open any previous version, in the contextual menu, click All Versions, then
click the Download icon ( ) for the version that you want.
6. Edit the file and save it to your hard drive.
7. In @task, click the Check In icon ( ).
8. In the contextual menu, click New Version.
9. Type the path to the file you just edited, or click Browse to locate it, and then submit it. The version num-
ber is automatically incremented to the correct number.
N O T E : If you are working with an object, you can access the version control features by clicking the
Document icon ( ) in the object details screen.
At
20
WORKING WITH NOTES
Notes give you free text to be able to write reminders or information related to tasks and many other objects.
You can add, delete or view notes associated with @task objects. You can also post replies to notes that
others have created to show note threads and record running discussions.
WRITING, VIEWING, AND REPLYING TO NOTES

You can attach notes to many @task objects to remind yourself or others about details or other information.
@task lets you attach multiple notes to an object. When you write a note, you can select one or more users to
whom you want to send the note as an intra-application message. Additionally, you can send the contents of
the note as an email to any @task user who is associated with the object to which the note is attached. See
“Intra-Application Messages” on page 47.
You can change the email preferences to make the email check box selected by default. See “Email
Preferences” on page 332.
@task also creates notes automatically to record changes if someone edits the object attributes. You can
enable and disable recorded changes. See “Setting Up Audit Trails” on page 245.
To view and write a notes
1. From an object list, open the object. Use the find function in the navigation menu to search for a specific
object.
2. In the contextual menu, click Attachments Ω View Notes. You can also access notes by clicking the Notes
icon ( ) in the status pane of the details screen for the object. The icon is dimmed in grey if there are
currently no notes attached to the object.
3. When you view notes, @task displays the current list of notes and a box for composing new notes.
WORKING WITH NOTES
Figure 8.3 displays a notes screen.

FIGURE 8.3 :NOTES SCREEN
At
To write a new note, type the subject and the text of the new note in the tool on the right of the screen.
20
4. After you author the note, check Is Private if you only want members of your group and subscribed users
to be able to view the note.
5. Check the box next to the names of the users to whom you want to send this note as an inter-application
message. Check the box next to the Email icon ( ) to additionally send the massage as an email the
selected recipients.
6. To reply to a note, click the Reply icon ( ) and type your reply.
7. To view all note threads, click the threaded Notes icon ( ).
N O T E : When you view notes that are associated with a project, @task also shows you notes that
are associated with the project’s tasks.
SEARCHING FOR NOTES

If a task has many notes, you can search for a specific note. When you search for a note from the task screen,
you can search by subject, text, or author. @task returns results from only notes attached to that specific
object.
To search for notes
1. From an object list, open the object. Use the find function in the navigation menu to search for a specific
object.
2. In the contextual menu, click Attachments Ω Search Notes.
3. Fill in the fields to search for specific notes, or just click Submit to search for all notes.
DELETING NOTES
Because notes are used as the audit trail for @task, there is no method to delete notes from within the user
WORKING WITH NOTES
interface.
At
20
At
Chapter 9
Using Templates
• Create Project Templates
• Create Schedule Templates
• Library Tasks
CREATE PROJECT TEMPLATES
While you can save a project as a template, you can also create stand-alone templates for your projects. When
you create project templates, initially you create the template shell. When this is complete, you can add
template tasks, users and set other template attributes. When you create template tasks, you fill in fields that
are identical to those that you fill in when you create tasks, with a few exceptions.
The most obvious exception is that there is no Update Task Status tab when you create template tasks. You
can’t update a task that has not been attached to a project.
Another difference is that rather than Planned Start Date and Planned Completion Date fields, template tasks
use Start Day and Completion Day fields. In these fields, rather than specifying actual dates, you type
numbers that represent the day of the project that you want to use. For example, type a 1 to start the task on
the first day of the project, an 11 for the 11th day, and so forth. For more information, see Chapter 4, Creating
and Editing Tasks, starting on page 153.
To create a template
1. From the Application Home screen, click Project Management Ω Templates Ω New Template.
2. Type the name of the template and the template description in the appropriate fields
SAVING A PROJECT AS A TEMPLATE

If you have created a project that you want to save as a template, you can save it easily. When you save a
project as a template, by default, the template stores all project data, including dependencies, mandated
dates, user assignments, and so forth. However, when you create the template, you can select options to
remove these attributes. Table 9.1 describes these options.
TABLE 9.1: OPTIONS WHEN ATTACHING TEMPLATES
TEMPLATE OPTION DESCRIPTION
Clear constraint Select this to remove all task constraints such as ‘As late as possible’, or mandated
dates. All tasks will default to ‘As soon as possible’ if you select this option.
Clear All Predecessors This option removes all task dependencies.
Clear Assignment Removes any user who is assigned to complete a task.
Clear External Predecessors Remove all cross-project dependencies
Clear Progress Removes any task progress that was saved as part of the template.
At
Also, you must fill in a number of fields. Table 9.2 lists and describes the fields on the Save as Template tab
that must be filled in.
TABLE 9.2: SAVE PROJECT AS TEMPLATE
FIELD NAME DESCRIPTION
Template Type the name of the template as you want to save it in this field. This name is the
name you use when you select a template.
Description Optionally type a description of the template in this field.
211
TABLE 9.2: SAVE PROJECT AS TEMPLATE
FIELD NAME DESCRIPTION
Group Select the group of users that you want to use for projects that use this template. See
“About Users, Groups, and Organizations” on page 261.
Category If you have created categories to use with templates, you can select on of them from
the drop-down menu. See “Creating and Setting Up Categories” on page 224.
If you prefer, @task lets you create a template rather than saving a project as a template. See “Create Project
Templates” on page 211.
To save a project as a template
1. From a project list, click on a project name to open it.
2. In the contextual menu, click Import/Export Ω Save as Template.
3. On the Save as Template tab, fill in the required and optional fields as described in Table 9.2.
4. On the Options tab select the options that you want in order to remove task attributes.
5. On the Exclude tab, select the tasks that you want to exclude when you save the template. Use keyboard
controls to select multiple tasks.
6. Click Submit.
At
212
PROCESS IMPROVEMENT
When templates are first created, they are, at best, an estimation of future event durations. As the template is
used to create projects and those projects are completed, the estimations may need to be modified to reflect
reality. @task provides a worksheet to assist you in improving your templates by comparing to empirical data
and making the necessary changes. This worksheet is called the Process Improvement worksheet and is
found from the Template Details screen.
To open the Process Improvement worksheet for a template:
1. Open the template you would like to improve
2. Open the Template Tasks tab
3. Click the Process Improvement Worksheet icon ( ) in the toolbar. An example of the Process Improve-
ment worksheet is shown in Figure 9.1 below.
FIGURE 9.1: PROCESS IMPROVEMENT WORKSHEET
PROCESS IMPROVEMENT
The Filter section at the top allows you to filter out certain tasks, e.g., you may want to only compare the
template to projects from the last 3 months, or just completed projects, etc. Simply select the criteria in the
form and click Submit.
At
There are three columns that display averages from the project tasks (Actual Duration, Actual Work and
Actual Cost). The rest of the fields are editable, just like the other worksheets. This allows you to compare the
actual averages with the template estimates and make adjustments right here. When you have finished
making changes, click the Submit button to save your changes to the template.
213
CREATE SCHEDULE TEMPLATES
Because not all organizations can take the same holidays off, @task has a feature that allows you to set a
schedule of the days that you plan to take as holidays. When you apply one of these to a project, @task
automatically schedules around those days. For example, Canadian users can schedule Canada Day on July
1st as a holiday while users in the United States can schedule Independence Day on July 4th. If a task is
scheduled during a week that contains a holiday, @task automatically assumes that you do not work on a
holiday and adds an additional day to the schedule.
@task also lets you set different schedules for each user assigned to do tasks. If you use contractors or your
employees have different schedules, you can set up a schedule for each user and @task keeps track of all the
schedules when you assign tasks.
This not only applies to holidays, but to daily work hours. You can create schedules with a work week that is 10
hours a day, Wednesday through Saturday. @task keeps track of everyone’s schedule and applies them to a
project so you know exactly when each task will get done.
You can set a schedule to have the entire day off, or only selected hours in the day. For example, you can set
for a half day off on the day before Thanksgiving.
Schedules that are assigned to users override those assigned to projects. Schedules assigned to projects
override global default schedules. If you do create set a schedule, than @task assumes that you work Monday
through Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. If you have created schedule templates, then a field displays when you
create users and projects that lets select the schedule that you want for that object.
To create a schedule template

1. From the Application Home page, click Setup Ω Schedules and Hours Ω Schedules Ω New Schedule.
2. Name the schedule. If you want to use the schedule as a default global schedule, check the Is Default
box. In the group box, select the groups to which you want the schedule to apply.
3. On the Schedule tab, select the hours each day that are worked. Do not select lunch hours or other non-
work time. Click the Edit icon ( ) to set partial hours. See Figure 9.2.
At
214
FIGURE 9.2 :SET SCHEDULE HOURS
4. On the Schedule Exceptions tab, click the days that you take as holidays. You do not need to select week-
ends unless you set some hours for those days in the Schedule tab.
5. To set for only a partial day off, click the Edit icon ( ).
FIGURE 9.3 :SET SCHEDULE DAYS
At
215
LIBRARY TASKS
Library tasks are a collection of tasks that can be used when creating a template or a project. They are
generally used in environments where tasks are created by several different people and business
requirements exist that demand that task names be consistent. For example, a clothing manufacturer may
want to report on the actual durations of tasks that involve coloring the fabric. Due to the fact that the
company makes several different types of clothing and that different managers exist for each clothing type,
some tasks are called “Check Color Dye” and others named “Dye Color Check” and still others called “Check
the Color” though all of these tasks represent the same task.
To resolve this issue, the clothing manufacturing company can use Library Tasks, which will enforce the
naming of the tasks to a set of tasks contained in the library, ensuring that all of the tasks that represent the
same thing, have the same name.
To configure @task to use Library Tasks
To utilize the Library Tasks functionality, you must first enable it in the Project Management Preferences
(Project Management Ω Project Management Preferences).
You can change the configuration Library Task Mode to one of the following:
1. Disabled. Don’t use library tasks and remove all visible links to library task functionality on projects and
templates
2. Optional. Allow users to use library tasks when creating new tasks or template tasks, but also allow them
to create tasks not in the library.
3. Enforced. Force users to select a library task when creating new tasks and template tasks.
CREATING A NEW LIBRARY TASK

Library tasks are found in the Project Management section, under the heading Library Tasks. This will list all
of the library tasks currently in the system.
To create a new Library Task
LIBRARY TASKS
1. Open the Library Tasks screen (Project Management Ω Library Tasks)

2. Click the New Library Task menu item. This will open the New Library Task screen. The fields on this
screen and the subsequent tabs, are the same as the equivalent fields on the New Task or New Template
Task screen.
3. Fill in the form, keeping in mind that the values you put here will be used to fill in the Template Task or
Task form when the library task is used.
4. Click Submit.
At
USING LIBRARY TASKS

N O T E: To use the library tasks, the library task functionality must be enabled. (See “To configure
@task to use Library Tasks” on page 216.)
Library tasks are used when you are creating a new template task for a template or a new task for a project.
There are two ways to create these, so this section will describe the use of library tasks in both methods.
USING LIBRARY TASKS IN THE TASK WORKSHEET

You can create new tasks from library tasks using the Task Worksheet. To do this:
1. Open the Task Worksheet for the project or template to which you want to add a library task.
216
2. Click on the Insert Library Task icon ( ) to open the inline library task search. Figure 9.4 is an example of
the Library Task inline search.
FIGURE 9.4 :INLINE SEARCH FOR LIBRARY TASKS
3. Enter part of the name of the desired library task in the Quick Search field and click Submit. This will
change the view to the search results view.
4. Select the desired library task by clicking the Green Add icon ( ) next the name of the library task. This
will put that library task name in the Current Values column. An example is shown in Figure 9.5.
FIGURE 9.5 :ADDING A LIBRARY TASK
LIBRARY TASKS
At
5. Click Submit. This will add the library task to the worksheet, along with the defaulted values from the
library task itself.
217
USING LIBRARY TASKS IN THE NEW TASK SCREEN
When you have library tasks enabled, a new section appears at the top of the first tab of the New Task screen.
It contains the inline search binoculars icon and a brief description of what to do with it. Figure 9.6 depicts a
New Task screen when the Library Tasks option in the Project Management Preferences is set to Optional.
FIGURE 9.6: NEW TASK SCREEN WITH LIBRARY TASKS ENABLED
To use the library tasks on the new task screen:

1. Click on the Inline Search Tool ( ) to open the library task inline search
2. Enter part of the name of the desired library task in the Quick Search field and click Submit. This will
change the view to the search results view.
LIBRARY TASKS
3. Select the desired library task by clicking the green plus next the name of the library task. This will put that
library task name in the Current Values column.
4. Click Submit. This will return to the New Task page with the form values from the Library Task filled in.
WHEN LIBRARY TASKS ARE ENFORCED

When the Library Tasks setting is Enforced, it is a requirement to use library tasks any time you create a new
At
task or template task. The new task screen will not allow directly editing the Task Name. You must select from
the Library Task list.
After the task or template task is created, you will still be able to edit all fields on the task, except for the task
name, which will be locked to the Library Task. This ensures consistent naming of the tasks across the
system.
218
At
Chapter 10
Creating Custom Data
This chapter contains the following topics:
• About Creating Custom Data
• Creating and Using Parameters for Custom Forms
• Creating and Using Parameter Groups for Custom Forms
• Creating and Setting Up Categories
• Calculated Custom Data Fields
ABOUT CREATING CUSTOM DATA
When you work with tasks, projects, and issues, you may need to create custom forms to capture data
specific to your situation. For example, an engineering company that makes turbine engines may have a
project to develop a new engine. Tasks that must be accomplished include building components for the
engine. A company using @task can build forms to record data such a tolerances or metallic composition of
specific parts.
Another company might be creating a certification test. Tasks for this project include writing and evaluating
questions for the test. Custom forms could include areas for recording the type of question. The percentage
of people who missed a question on an evaluation exam could be useful.
When you build custom forms, you use parameters, parameter groups, and categories. A category is the
entire form, a parameter group is a group of related parameters, and a parameter is a single field. For
example, when you create a project, you set the help desk attributes using a form shown in Figure 10.1.
FIGURE 10.1: QUEUE PROPERTIES FORM
At
Using this form as example of how categories, parameter groups and parameters are related is very
instructional. In this example the entire form would be the Queue Properties category. The Queue Properties
category contains four parameter groups: Publish as Help Desk, Queue Properties, New Issue Fields, and
Email Settings. Each of the parameter groups in turn are populated by individual parameters such as the Type
of Issues. Thus, when you build categories, you create parameters, group the parameters into parameter
groups, and then place either individual parameters or parameter groups into categories.
22
CREATING AND USING PARAMETERS FOR CUSTOM FORMS
As you begin to create a custom form, you need to decide how many and what types of custom fields that you
need. You should make some notes and have a rough idea of how you want each field to look.
@task lets you create six types of parameters that are outlined in Table 10.1. When creating a parameter, you
need to name a parameter, provide a description, choose the type of parameter from the Display Type menu,
set the display size, and select the data type. Figure 10.2 shows the screen you use to enter this information.
FIGURE 10.2: PARAMETER DETAILS
Table 10.1 lists the parameter display types and explains the characteristics of each parameter type.
TABLE 10.1: PARAMETER DISPLAY TYPE CHARACTERISTICS
PARAMETER DISPLAY TYPE DISPLAY SIZE INFORMATION PARAMETER OPTIONS
Multi-Select Drop-Down Menus Display size is in pixels You must fill in the parameter options
Drop-Down Menus Display size is in pixels You must fill in the parameter options
Text Fields Display size is in characters No parameter options
Check Boxes Display size is in pixels You must fill in the parameter options
Radio Buttons Display size is in pixels You must fill in the parameter options
Text Areas Display size is in characters No parameter options
N O T E: Depending on the size of your screen resolution settings, browser type, and other variables,
one display size value may display differently between users. A display size that looks correct to one
user may cascade over the edge of a screen for another user. You should test your parameters and
adjust your display sizes as necessary before fully distributing them.
At
For some of the parameter display types, you must set the parameter options. Parameter options let you
create labels for radio buttons, check boxes, and menus. They also set the field values for the tables in the
database. Further, you can use them to hide selected values or set default selections for values. Figure 10.3
shows an example of the Parameter Options screen.
221
FIGURE 10.3: PARAMETER OPTIONS
N O T E: Values for the database must be unique.

The following is an illustration of how and when a user might need to create a parameter.
Lisa owns an independent medical lab and her clients include many hospitals and clinics. Often hospitals
send her patient samples and request a standard set of tests. Lisa uses @task to track her work and assign
tests to her technicians. She has created several projects and tasks for each set of tests, however, Lisa needs
some custom data to attach to her projects. She needs to capture information about which client a request
came from and what set of tests was requested.
Lisa begins by creating two parameters, one to track clients and one to track requests. For the parameter to
track clients, Lisa creates a new parameter, names it, and describes it. Because she has many clients and each
request comes from a single client, she selects a drop-down menu as the display type. Hospital names can be
long, so she selects a display size 0f 200, and a data type of text.
In the Parameter options screen, she types the name of every hospital she has as a client, and uses the Move
arrows to organize them with her best clients at the top of the menu. Figure 10.4 displays Lisa’s parameter
options.
FIGURE 10.4: LISA’S PARAMETER OPTIONS
At
She also creates a parameter for the set of requested tests. She uses a multi-select drop-down menu for this
parameter because some clients request multiple sets of tests, and she fills in the other fields as she did for
the first parameter. In the Label fields of the parameter options screen, she types the names of all the test sets
that she can do.
Lisa also wants to keep track of whether her clients are up to date on their payments, so she creates two
parameters to keep track of their status and how much is owed. She creates radio buttons to show the status,
and a text field for a balance amount.
222
One of the test sets Lisa does is related to impaired drivers. When she receives a request for one of these
tests, she creates a project for it. In this project she has a task to test for blood alcohol, and a different task to
test for each kind of illegal drug that can impair judgment and ability. However, for her tasks, she needs
custom data to record whether test results are positive or negative. She creates a parameter for this using two
radio buttons. For this parameter, most of the time results are negative, so she selects negative as the default
parameter.
Now that Lisa has created all of her parameters, she wants to group them in her forms using parameter
groups.
To create a parameter
1. From the Application Home page, click Setup Ω Custom Data Ω Parameters Ω New Parameter.
2. On the Parameter Details tab, do the following:
• Type a name and description.
• Select the display type. This determines what type of field will be in your forms.
• Select the display size. For text display types, the number represents characters, for others, it repre-
sents the number of columns in the form.
• Select the data type. You can select text, numbers or dates. If you select dates, @task automatically
inserts the date tool for you.
3. If you selected a non-text display type, do the following on the Parameter Options tab:
• Type a label and value for each selection option that you want to appear in the form. A new line
appears when you put information in the blank line.
• Check the Hide box to hide specific selections.
• Check the Default box to make the selection automatically selected in the form. Users can change
the selection.
• Use the Move arrows to reorder your selections.
• Use the Sort Labels button to put the labels in alphabetical order.
• Check the Del box to remove a label.
To view and delete parameters
1. From the Application Home page, click Setup Ω Custom Data Ω Parameters Ω Search Parameters.
2. Fill in the search fields or click Submit to see all parameters.
At
3. Click on a parameter name to view its details.

4. To delete a parameter, in the contextual menu, click Delete Parameter. If the parameter is being used in
forms and has data stored in the database, you can force delete the parameter and delete the database
information, or you can move the database information to another parameter of the same type. If you do
this, the information is not removed from the database.
CREATING AND USING PARAMETER GROUPS FOR CUSTOM FORMS

Parameter groups are objects that let you place parameters together in your custom forms. When creating
parameter groups, you need only create a group, name it, and describe it. When you create categories, you
can sort your parameters into parameter groups.
223
Lisa needs two parameter groups; one to group the parameters for client names and tests, and one to group
the financial status parameters. She creates these in @task.
Lisa creates the first parameter group. She names it Client Test Requests, as is shown in Figure 10.5.
FIGURE 10.5: CREATING A PARAMETER GROUP
N O T E: The “Is Default” box indicates that you want this parameter group to be used as the default
group whenever you create a Category. Parameter names must be unique.
Lisa also needs a group for the financial data, so she creates that one next.
To create a parameter group
1. From the Application Home page, click Setup Ω Custom Data Ω Parameter Groups Ω
New Parameter Group.
2. Type a name and description, and select whether you want this to be the default parameter group.
To view and delete parameter groups
1. From the Application Home page, click Setup Ω Custom Data Ω Parameter Groups Ω
Search Parameter Groups.
2. Fill in the search fields or click Submit to see all parameter groups.
3. To delete a parameter group, in the contextual menu, click Delete Parameter Group. If the parameter
group is being used in forms and is linked to other objects, you can force delete the parameter group and
delete the database information, or you can move the information to another parameter group. If you do
this, the new parameter group replaces the other one within the objects to which the group is attached.
CREATING AND SETTING UP CATEGORIES

When you have created the parameters that you need and have created the parameter groups, you can create
a category. When you create a category, you select the parameter groups that you want to use and place the
parameters within your parameter groups. If you do not select a parameter group in which to place your
parameters, @task automatically places your parameters in the default parameter group.
At
When you create a category, you need to select the object type that @task associates with your new category.
If you select Users, for example, you will be able to select the new category when you create a new user.
Likewise, if you select Issue, then the category is available for both standard issues and help desk issues.
Continuing with the previous example, Lisa has created five parameters and two parameter groups. Now she
must create two categories; one to associate with projects and one to associate with tasks. Four of the
parameters will go in the category for her projects, and one will go in the category for tasks.
First she creates the category for the projects. She names it Client Requests and gives it a description.
Because this category is for projects, she selects Project as the category type. She wants it visible to all users
so she leaves the Group field set to Default Group. Her screen is shown in Figure 10.6.
22
FIGURE 10.6: CATEGORY DETAILS
Now Lisa needs to set the parameters, which she does in the Parameters tab. First she selects her parameter
group for the first two parameters, the client Test Requests Parameter group. Then she puts in the two
parameters for that group.
Next, she selects the second parameters group and places the two parameters for that group in it. The
Medical Clients and the Test Sets parameters should be required, so she checks the Req’d box for each. She
doesn’t want any parameters to share a row so she leaves the SR box unchecked. Figure 10.7 displays her
selections.
FIGURE 10.7: SETTING UP PARAMETERS INTO CATEGORIES
With that category complete, Lisa creates the category for her tasks. She names it Test Results, and she sets
At
the category type to Task. She doesn’t need parameter groups for this category, so when she just selects the
pos/neg parameter. When selects the parameter, @task automatically places it in the default parameter
group, Custom Data as shown in Figure 10.8.
225
FIGURE 10.8: SETTING UP CATEGORIES WITHOUT PARAMETER GROUPS
Now when Lisa creates a new project, she has a category available to her in the Custom Data tab. (See
“Creating a Project” on page 109.)
When she selects the category, she has a form that she can fill out. The information that she selects is saved
with each project that she creates. Figure 10.9 shows an example of the form.
FIGURE 10.9: CUSTOM DATA FOR PROJECT
She also has one for her tasks as shown in Figure 10.10.
FIGURE 10.10: CUSTOM DATA FOR TASKS
At
N O T E: When you create categories, you can only use any parameter one time. You cannot use
more than one category with any object, so ensure that you make parameter groups for all
information that you want to cover with a custom form. If you change the category that is associated
with any object, you lose the information that you saved in that category. The exception to this is that
you retain the information for any parameters that are common to both the initial and new
categories.
22
To create a new category
1. From the Application Home page, click Setup Ω Custom Data Ω Categories Ω New Category.
2. In the Category Details tab, type a name and a description for the category.
3. Select the type of object that you want to associate with the category. If you select Document, then the
category is available in the custom data tab when you create a new document.
4. Set a group value to make the category visible only to members of the group you select.
5. In the Parameters tab select the parameter group that you want to use, and then add the parameters that
you want to use. Use the Add icon ( ) to add parameter groups and parameters.
6. Add additional parameter groups and parameters as needed.
7. Click the Delete icon ( ) to remove a parameter from a parameter group. Parameter groups with no
parameters in them are automatically removed when you submit the category.
To view and delete categories
1. From the Application Home page, click Setup Ω Custom Data Ω Categories Ω Search Categories.
2. Fill in the search fields to search for a specific category or just submit the form to see all categories.
3. Click a category name to open and view it.
4. To delete the category, in the contextual menu, click Delete Category. If the category is being used in an
object, you can force delete the category and delete the database information, or you can move the infor-
mation to another category. If you do this, the new category replaces the other one within the objects to
which it is attached.
CALCULATED CUSTOM DATA FIELDS

When managing projects, there are lots of data and information that come from other data sources. For
example, actual project revenue is the result of the total revenue subtracted by the total project expenses.
@task lets you calculate mathematical data and automatically display the result using calculated Custom
Data fields.
For a quick introduction to calculated Custom Data fields, see a brief video at http://attask.com/help/watch/
182.
GENERAL STEPS TO CREATE A CALCULATED CUSTOM DATA FIELD

Here are six basic steps for using calculated custom data fields:
1. Identify what data to include in a calculated custom data field and their mathematical relationship.
At
2. Create a calculated custom data parameter.

3. Create other custom data parameter(s), if necessary.
4. Create a custom data category that includes regular and calculated custom data parameters, and indicate
their mathematical relationship.
5. Apply the parameter category created in step 4 to the target project and input values in custom data
field(s).
6. @task automatically generates the result.
Each of these discussed in the following sections.
227
1. IDENTIFY WHAT DATA TO INCLUDE IN A CALCULATED CUSTOM DATA FIELD AND THEIR MATHE-
MATICAL RELATIONSHIPS
Let’s say that you own a small movie company. And each movie that you make, your goal is to make at least
revenues that at least twice size of the film budget. So, data and its mathematical relationship can be
summarized with an equation:
Movie Budget * 2 (Multiplication Value) = Expected Minimum Revenue
2. CREATE A CALCULATED CUSTOM DATA PARAMETER

Now we know what data and what math formula we want, the next thing that we need to do is to create
custom data parameters in @task. In this example, you need three custom data parameters. One for
Expected Minimum Revenue, one for movie budget, and the last one for multiplication value. As you already
guessed, Expected Minimum Revenue is calculated custom data parameter in this example.
To create calculated custom data field
1. From Home menu, go to Setup Ω Custom Data Ω Parameters.
2. Then from the left contextual menu, click New Parameter. This will take you to new parameter creation
page (see Figure 10.11).
3. Name parameter Expected Minimum Revenue, and add a description if you want one.
4. From the Display Type drop-down menu, select Calculated, and indicate the desired display or field size
(units are pixels).
5. From the Data Type drop-down menu, select Number.
6. Click the Submit button.
FIGURE 10.11: NEW PARAMETER CREATION PAGE
At
3. CREATE OTHER CUSTOM DATA PARAMETERS, IF NECESSARY

Now, you need two more custom data parameters. However, there is a default project budget parameter in
@task, so you don’t need to create a movie budget parameter if you don’t want. Just use the default project
budget parameter here. But you still need to create parameter for multiplication value. To do that, you
basically do the same thing that you did in step 2.
To create a parameter for the multiplication value
1. From Home menu, go to Setup Ω Custom Data Ω Parameters.
2. Then from the left contextual menu, click New Parameter. This will take you to new parameter creation
228
3. Name parameter Multiplication Value, and give it a description, if you need one.
4. From the Display Type drop-down menu, select Text Field and indicate the desired display or field size
(units are in pixels).
5. From the Data Type drop-down menu, select Number.
6. Click Submit.
4. CREATE A CUSTOM DATA CATEGORY THAT INCLUDES REGULAR AND CALCULATED CUSTOM DATA
PARAMETERS, AND INDICATE THEIR MATHEMATICAL RELATIONSHIP.
Now we have all necessary custom data parameters, we are ready to set their mathematical relationship.
1. From Home menu, go to Setup Ω Custom Data Ω Categories.
2. From the contextual menu on the left, click New Categories. This will take you to new category creation
FIGURE 10.12: NEW CATEGORY CREATIONPAGE
3. Name the Category Category for Minimum Revenue, and give it a description if you want.
4. Because we are applying this parameter category to a project (not tasks or issues), select Project from the
Category Type drop-down menu.
5. If you want to apply this category only to a particular organization group, you can selectthe desired group
from the Group drop-down menu.
6. Click Continue. This will take to you the New Category Parameter Assignment Page (see Figure
Figure 10.13).
At
22
FIGURE 10.13: NEW CATEGORY PARAMETER ASSIGNMENT
7. Under Available Parameters, find Expected Minimum Revenue and Multiplication Value and click the add
icon ( ). This will move those parameters into Selected Parameter Groups and Parameters. If you want
to remove selected parameters, simply click delete icon ( ).
8. Now under Selected Parameter Groups and Parameters, click on this add icon ( ). This will pop up Cal-
culated Parameter Value Window (see Figure 10.14).
FIGURE 10.14: CALCULATED PARAMETER VALUE WINDOW
At
9. In the Calculated Parameter Values dialog box, go to the box called Field, then find and double click Bud-
get under Additional Fields. Next, click multiply (*) from calculator and go back to Field box, find and
double click Multiplication Value under Custom Data.
10. Click Submit.
N O T E: Under Expression, there are other mathematical expressions available for more complex
computations.
5. APPLY THE PARAMETER CATEGORY CREATED IN THE PREVIOUS STEP TO THE TARGET PROJECT
AND INPUT VALUES IN CUSTOM DATA FIELD(S)
Now go to the project page where you want to apply the calculated custom data, and do the following:
1. Click Edit Project from left contextual menu.
230
2. Click Custom Data tab, and from Category drop-down menu, select Expected Minimum Revenue.
3. Enter the value in the Multiplication Value field (in this case, the value is 2).
4. Now go to Related Information tab, and under Finance section, enter movie budget value.
5. Click Submit.
6. @TASK AUTOMATICALLY GENERATES THE RESULT.

Now that you entered values in appropriate data fields, @task automatically generates the result. There are
two ways to view the result:
1. From the Custom Data tab: If you already have Custom Data tab on the View Project page, you can click
the tab to see the result.
2. From a custom view: You can also create your personalized custom view and include the calculated cus-
tom data. When you apply the view to the project list, you can see the result. To learn more about how to
create custom view, see “Creating a Custom View” on page 38.
At
231
At
Chapter 11s
Managing Budgets and
Billing
• Tracking Costs and Measuring Performance
• Billing and Revenue
• Line Item Expenses
TRACKING COSTS AND MEASURING PERFORMANCE
@task lets you track project costs and expenditures using its budgeting functions. You can see estimated
costs and actual costs for each task in a project and for the entire project. It also computes a cost
performance index (CPI) and a schedule performance index (SPI) for your projects and tasks so that you can
see whether your projects are on time and under budget.
TRACKING COSTS
@task gives you several options for tracking costs. Costs for tasks can be based on amounts paid to users or
you can use fixed or hourly costs in amounts that you set.
When you create a project, you can set up planned expenses for the entire project. Additionally, when you
create tasks, you can associate expenses with them. Depending on the expenses you choose for tasks,
expenses may be calculated based on the costs that you assign to users and roles when you create them, or
may be calculated based on values that you provide when you create the tasks. See “Line Item Expenses” on
page 238.
To illustrate this, Jack, a project manager is planning a project. His resource, Kevin, makes $20 per hour. Jack
assigns Kevin a task and schedules one day (8 hours) to complete the task. If Jack sets the cost type of the
task to User hourly, then the cost for the task is based on the cost of Kevin, the resource. Therefore, the
planned cost for the task is $160. Kevin completes the task in seven hours. When he updates his task, if he
enters that figure in the Hours field that go onto his timesheet, then @task computes the actual cost for the
task to be $140.
Jack could, however, set the cost type for the task to a fixed hourly cost of $10 per hour. In this case, the
planned cost for the task is $80. When Kevin enters 7 hours on his time sheet, the actual cost is calculated to
be $70.
Jack has several other options that he can select for cost type. Each of these affect the planned and actual cost
values that appear in the details screens for tasks and projects. Table 11.1 displays the cost types that you can
use and describes them.
TABLE 11.1: BILLING RATE TYPES
BILLING RATE TYPE DESCRIPTION
Fixed Cost This can be placed on projects and tasks. Any amounts from hours placed on
child tasks are added to the fixed task amount placed on the project or parent
task.
At
User Hourly This can be used with tasks. The rate that you set for a specific user multi-
plied by the number of hours a specific user enters against the task is the
cost. For example, if you create a user, ‘user x’, and you set $50 for his or her
hourly cost when you create the user, then if the user submits 5 hours for a
task on a time sheet, then the actual cost is $250 for that task. Costs values
are calculated based on the amount set for the user to whom timesheet
hours are applied, regardless of who is assigned to complete the task. If you
assign multiple resources to a task, then @task adjusts its calcula-
tions based on the percentage of the task assigned to each resource.
Role Hourly This is similar to User Hourly, but uses costs for job roles rather than users.
User Hourly Plus Fixed This can be used with tasks. Tasks are billed hourly as in User Hourly, but
have an additional fixed amount that you can set. This can be useful if you
accrue additional costs to complete a task, such as renting tools.
233
TABLE 11.1: BILLING RATE TYPES
Role Hourly Plus Fixed This is similar to User Hourly Plus Fixed, but uses costs for job roles rather
than users.
Fixed Hourly This can be used with tasks. The rate that you set for the task multiplied by
the amount of hours entered against the task (regardless of user) is the cost.
No Cost Has no effect on cost. If a parent object has this setting, child tasks with a
billing type will still apply normally.
TRACKING PERFORMANCE
@task also calculates your cost performance index (CPI) and your schedule performance index (SPI). For the
cost performance index, if the planned cost of your project tasks exactly matches your actual costs, then your
cost performance index calculation is 1. If you spend less than you planned to complete your tasks, then your
cost performance index rises above 1. For example, a value of 2 means that you spent half as much as
planned in completing tasks. If your cost performance index drops below 1, then you spent more time than
planned to complete your tasks. A value of 0.5 means that you spent twice as much as expected in completing
your tasks. In the example above, the CPI for Kevin’s task is 1.14.
@task can also calculate your CPI based on hourly rates rather than currency values. If you select Hour-Based
when you create a project, @task uses the planned verses actual hours entered as the basis of the calculation
rather than the planned verses actual costs. (See “Creating a Project” on page 109.)
The schedule performance index is similar to the cost performance index. A value of 1 means that the
duration required to complete a task exactly equates to the planned duration. A value higher than 1 means
that tasks are ahead of schedule, and a value of less than 1 means that duration is longer than the planned
times. SPI value differs from CPI in that it uses total elapsed time to calculate the value rather than only time
spent on the task.
For example, assume that Kevin’s task has a planned duration of one day and should start on day eight of the
project. However, Kevin doesn’t actually start the task until after lunch on day nine of the project. Kevin gets
the work completed in four hours, and at the end of day nine updates the status of his task. He enters four
hours as the time he spent accomplishing the task. The CPI for Kevin’s task is 2 because Kevin did the task in
four hours when eight hours was planned. However, the SPI for his task is 0.5 because twice as much total
time has elapsed than was planned in completing the task.
At
To view CPI and SPI values

1. Ensure that you fill in the correct fields for your users and projects when you create them. For users you
need a cost per hour and for projects you need to type the budget information.
2. Ensure that when users update their task status that they fill in the actual number of hours spent com-
pleting the task.
3. To see CPI and SPI for a project, open the project and click the Project Details tab. (From the application
home page, click Project Management Ω Projects, and click the Project Details tab.)
4. To see CPI and SPI for individual tasks, open a project and click on the task name.
234
BILLING AND REVENUE
You can track your billing and revenue and you can create billing records to record what has been billed and
what remains to be billed.
TRACKING REVENUE AMOUNTS

@task lets you track your revenue and billing automatically when you create tasks and projects. As users
enter hours in their timesheets, @task keeps track of the hours spent on specific tasks so that you can bill
your clients for these hours. You can bill a flat rate for tasks or projects, or you can bill by the hour. You can
even set a cap to the maximum amount that you charge for hourly billing.
Additionally, you can set a flat rate for a project, then set hourly rates for the tasks within the project. @task
adds the hourly rates for the tasks to the flat rate for the project. For example, a mechanic using @task could
enter his fixed cost for the parts as a fixed revenue for the project, then bill hourly for the time spent fixing the
car.
Table 11.2 displays the types of billing that you can use and describes them.
TABLE 11.2: REVENUE TYPES
Fixed Revenue This can be placed on projects and tasks. Any amounts from hours placed on
child tasks are added to the fixed task amount placed on the project or parent
task.
User Hourly This can be used with tasks. The rate that you set for a specific user multi-
plied by the number of hours a specific user enters against the task is the bill-
ing amount. For example, if you create a user, ‘user x’, and you set $50 for his
or her billing amount when you create the user, then if the user submits 5
hours for a task on the time sheet, then the actual billing amount is $250 for
that task.
Role Hourly This is similar to User Hourly but uses job roles rather than users.
User Hourly with Cap This can be used with tasks. Tasks are billed hourly as in User Hourly, but
have a fixed maximum amount that you can set.
Role Hourly with Cap This is similar to User Hourly with Cap but uses job roles rather than users.
User Hourly Plus Fixed This can be used with tasks. Tasks are billed hourly as in User Hourly, but
have an additional fixed amount that you can set.
At
Role Hourly Plus Fixed This can be used with tasks. Tasks are billed hourly as in Role Hourly, but
have an additional fixed amount that you can set.
Fixed Hourly This can be used with tasks. The rate that you set for the task multiplied by
the amount of hours entered against the task (regardless of user) is the bill-
ing amount.
Not Billable Has no effect on revenue. If a parent object has this setting, child tasks with
a billing type will still apply normally.
When you create a project or task, and you use an hourly billing type, you see two billing amounts. They are
the actual amount and the planned amount. The actual amount is calculated as users submit hours in their
timesheets, or is taken from fixed amounts. The planned amount is based on the number of hours planned
for tasks when you create them. For example, if a task is planned to take 2 hours at $30 an hour, then the
235
planned revenue is $60. When the task is complete, if the user enters just 1.5 hours as the actual time
necessary to finish the task, then the actual amount is $45. If you have tasks with flat revenue, then these will
be added to both the planned and the actual revenue values as soon as you enter them.
You set revenue types and amounts when you create projects and tasks. See “Creating a Project” on page 109
and “Creating and Editing Tasks” on page 153.
For user and role hourly billing, you set the amounts when you create the users and roles. See “Setting Up Job
Roles” on page 262 and “Creating a New User Account” on page 269.
If you turn a lowest-level task with an assigned revenue type into a parent task, parent tasks still retain any
billing state that you have previously applied along with the hours previously applied. All child tasks inherit
the parent’s revenue type with amounts set at $0 for revenue types in which you set the type in the task. For
example, if task 1 has a fixed revenue of $100. and you add subtasks to task 1, each of the subtasks inherits
the fixed revenue type but is set at $0. The parent task, task 1, retains the fixed amount of $100. You can edit
the subtasks at anytime to change the default settings. If Task 1 is set to user hourly, then the subtasks will
also have the user hourly revenue type and will show billable amounts based on the users assigned to
complete the tasks.
N O T E: Revenue tracking does not apply to hours entered against issues. You must turn issues into
tasks before entering hours against them to bill for issues. See “Converting Issues Into Tasks and
Projects” on page 179.
CREATING BILLING RECORDS

In addition to setting up revenue and tracking billing amounts, you can create billing records to record what
has already been billed. Billing records are created as attachments to a project and contain data for all tasks in
a project. When you create a billing record, you can see amounts for previously billed revenue, and billable
revenue. Billable revenue is determined by the number of hours of billable work completed and entered
against tasks in the project. Figure 11.1 shows an example of a billing record being created.
For a quick introduction to Billing Records, watch a brief video at http://www.attask.com/help/watch/184.
To create a new billing record

2. In the contextual menu, click Attachments Ω New Billing Record.
At
236
FIGURE 11.1: NEW BILLING RECORD
N O T E: You can see previously created billing records using the same menu.
N O T E: Your access level must have financial privileges enabled in order to create and view Billing
Records. If you do not have this permission, please contact your system administrator. They can edit
the Field Access Privileges of your access level to grant you permissions to Billing Records.
3. Enter a description (required).

4. Enter the billing date in the Billing Date field. The default is today’s date, but you can select a new date by
clicking the calendar icon ( ).
5. The Billed Revenue To Date field shows you the total revenue and billable expenses that have been billed
to a third-party for this project.
6. Available Expenses are the total project expenses that can be billed to a third party.
7. Available Fixed Revenue is the total amount of revenue that you plan to obtain from this project.
8. Included Expenses are the expenses that are billable.
9. Excluded Fixed Revenue is the portion of fixed revenue that is not billable.
10. Total Included Amount is the total amount of billed expenses.
At
11. The Billing Status drop-down menu has two options: Billed and Not Billed (default).
12. Invoice ID and PO Number are fields that allow you to track invoices and purchase orders with your bill-
ing record.
13. If you click the Billable Expenses tab, you can indicate what expenses you would like to include in this
record. The Available Expenses here are the expenses you set as billable when you created them (see the
following section “Creating Line Item Expenses for Projects and Tasks” on page 240). When you click on
the plus icon ( ) next to an available expense, it moves the expense up to Included Expenses, marking it
as billed. If you click the red minus icon ( ) next to an expense under Included Expenses, it moves the
expense back down to Available Expenses.
14. If you click the Fixed Revenue tab, you see Included Fixed Revenue Tasks and Available Fixed Revenue
Tasks. The tasks with available fixed revenue are managed when you click the Resources tab when editing
237
the task (Project Ω View Tasks Ω Edit Task). In this task’s Resource tab, for example, the Revenue Type
field is Fixed Revenue, and the Billing Amount is$5,900.00.
FIGURE 11.2: TASK RESOURCE TAB
15. Click Submit. You will then see the View Billing Record page.
16. To edit a billing record, choose Project Ω Attatchments Ω View Billing Records Ω Edit Billing Record.
LINE ITEM EXPENSES

@task helps you keep track of your keep track of expenses that are directly related to projects or tasks. These
are call line item expenses.
N O T E: You must have the appropriate access levels to perform these actions. For more
information, see “Managing Access Levels” on page 263.
But first, you must create custom expense types.
CREATING A CUSTOM EXPENSE TYPE

Before you can use line item expenses, you need to create one or more expense types.
For a quick introduction to custom expense types, see a brief video at http://www.attask.com/help/watch/
177.
To create a custom expense type

At
1. From Home, choose Resource Management, then Timesheet Management, then Expense Type Manager.
The Expense Type Home screen appears, as shown in Figure 11.3.
238
FIGURE 11.3: EXPENSE TYPE HOME
2. Click New Expense Type in the contextual menu on the left.

FIGURE 11.4: NEW EXPENSE TYPE
3. Enter a Name (required) and, if you like, a description (optional).

4. Click Submit. You will then see a view of the new expense type.
5. Navigate to a project via My Projects, Recent, Favorites—however you prefer.
6. Click Attachments, then Manage Expenses.
7. Click the Expense Type drop-down menu under Project Expenses, and you’ll see the new expense type
show up there (see Figure 11.5).
FIGURE 11.5: NEW EXPENSE ON THE EXPENSE TYPE MENU
At
239
CREATING LINE ITEM EXPENSES FOR PROJECTS AND TASKS
The following instructions show you how to create overall project-related tasks, and then how to do the same
for tasks.
For a quick introduction to line item expenses, view a brief video at http://www.attask.com/help/watch/183.
To enter line item expenses for projects

1. While in a project view, click Attachments, then Manage Expenses (see Figure 11.6). In the following
steps, the provided values (shown in italics) are just examples; you should enter values that are meaning-
ful to you.
FIGURE 11.6: MANAGE EXPENSES
2. Under Project Expenses, the name is the name of the current project (New brochure).
3. Choose an expense type from the Expense Type drop-down menu (Consulting).
4. If you’d like one, enter a description (All consulting fees).
5. Enter the planned, budgeted amount in the Planned Amount field (750.00).
6. Enter the actual cost in the Actual Amount field (668.00).
N O T E: You can enter only the planned amount or only the actual amount. You can also leave both
fields blank; however, it may not make much sense later, unless the expense is a placeholder.
7. Enter the date that the expense was paid (7/31/08). You can enter the date in field directly (mm/dd/yy) or
by clicking the calendar icon ( ) and selecting the date dynamically.
8. Click Billable if you intend to bill this expense. Categorizing an expense as billable will be important when
you create billing records later (see “Creating Billing Records” on page 236).
At
9. When you began creating the expense, a new, blank expense is created for you to use. To delete a project
expense, click the delete icon ( ) next to it.
10. When you are done, click the Submit button.
To enter line item expenses for tasks

1. Under Task Expenses, click the plus icon ( ) to add an expense associated with a task. In the steps that
follow, the values shown in italics are examples; you are expected to enter values that are meaningful to
you and your organization.
2. Under Name, select a task from the drop-down menu (Printing). The tasks in this menu are ones that
were already created with the project.
24
3. Enter an Expense Type from the drop-down menu (Publishing). These types were created in an earlier step
(see “Creating a Custom Expense Type” on page 238).
4. Enter a description in the Description field, if desired (from Terranova).
5. Enter the planned amount you have budgeted in the Planned Amount field (220.00).
6. Enter the actual cost you expended in the Actual Amount field (224.00).
N O T E: If you prefer, you can enter only the planned amount or only the actual amount. You can
also leave both fields blank; however, it may not make much sense later, unless this expense is a
placeholder.
7. Enter the date that the expense was paid (9/7/08). You can enter the date in field directly (mm/dd/yy) or
by clicking the calendar icon ( ) and selecting the date dynamically.
8. Click Billable if you intend to bill this expense. Categorizing an expense as billable will be important when
you create billing records (see “Creating Billing Records” on page 236).
9. If you decide you do not need an expense, you can delete it. To delete a task expense, click the delete icon
( ) next to to the expense you want to delete.
10. When you are done, click Submit and the View Expenses screen is shown (Figure 11.7). Any amounts
shown in red are amounts where actual costs are actually over planned costs.
FIGURE 11.7: VIEW EXPENSES
11. On the View Expenses screen, with the Group menu, you can group the view by Billable expenses, by
Effective Date by Month, Effective Date by Week, Expense Type, Project by Task, and Task.
N O T E: No filters and only the default Expense List view are available on this screen. You can create
new filters and views by choosing New Filter or New View from the respective menus.
At
12. To see the expenses associated with a task, in the left contextual menu, go to Project, View Project, View
Tasks, then select the task. In the task view, click Attachment, then Manage Expenses. The screen here
will show the expenses related to the task (Figure 11.8).
241
FIGURE 11.8: TASK VIEW OF EXPENSES
At
24
At
Chapter 12
Using Audit Trails
• About Audits
• Setting Up Audit Trails
ABOUT AUDITS
Many organizations must adhere to regulations and standards in the course of business. These regulations
mandate that certain records be maintained for review and that company officers are aware of business
processes and are responsible to ensure compliance to applicable laws.
@task lets you easily set up auditing functions to track business processes and record data about your
project management processes. You can enable the Record Changes functions for your projects, tasks, and
other objects in any or all of the four available areas. Table 12.1 lists and describes these areas.
TABLE 12.1: AUDITING AREAS
RECORDED CHANGES AREA DESCRIPTION
Status Change Records changes relating to status changes of an object. For

tasks, this includes items such as changing a completion sta-
tus to Complete from In Progress. For projects, this includes
changing status from Planning to Current.
Attachment Action Records changes to documents or directories that are

attached to the object.
Scope Change Records changes relating to the scope of the object. This
includes changes to durations, dates, and user assignments.
General Edit Records all changes not covered in the other areas.
These recorded changes are toggled in the Related Information tab when creating a new project and in the
Resources tab when creating a new task. Figure 12.1 demonstrates where the Recorded Changes options are
located as seen from a project’s Related Information tab.
FIGURE 12.1: RECORDED CHANGES AREA
ABOUT AUDITS
At
24
SETTING UP AUDIT TRAILS
When you create projects or tasks, @task provides you with a set of check boxes that you can use to select
which changes you want to record. When a change happens, @task creates a note and attaches it to the
object that changed. You can view these records when you look at the notes attached to the object (see
“Searching for Notes” on page 209).
Figure 12.2 displays an example of a note produced by the recorded changes feature. Notes display the
change type, the user who made the change, and the time of the change. Notes are color coded by type so
that you can quickly distinguish them in a list.
FIGURE 12.2: RECORDED CHANGE
SETTING UP AUDIT TRAILS
To set up audit trails

1. You must set up audit trails when you create an object in @task. You can edit the objects to alter the set-
tings for your recorded changes. For information on how to create an project, see “Creating a Project” on
page 107. See “Creating and Editing Tasks” on page 153 to learn how to create and edit task, and see “Cre-
ating Issues” on page 171 to learn about creating issues.
To view recorded changes
At
1. From a project or task list, click the Notes icon ( ).
245
At
Chapter 13
Custom Reports
• Creating a Custom Report
• List Reports
• Aggregate Reports
• Smart Reports
CREATING A CUSTOM REPORT
In addition to the extensive selection of predefined reports packaged with the application, @task also
provides the option to easily create custom reports through the New Reports Wizard.
In the simplest of terms, a report within @task is an elaborate search that uses predefined criteria. Unlike a
normal search where the details of a query must be specified each time it is run, a report saves the
parameters used to identify the desired data so that it can easily be run again at any point in the future.
Reports are most effectively used in situations where you find that you will need to perform the same search
on a regular basis.
For example, if you were a manager and needed periodic updates on which tasks members of your team had
completed, you could find this data by performing a search, however, you would need to reselect the
parameters of the search each time. On the other hand, if you were to build a report to find the same results,
you would define the details of the search only once, and thereafter you could run report with a single click.
A report includes three basic components: a filter, a view, and a grouping. The filter defines which results will
be returned when the database is queried. The view determines which details are displayed for the objects
that are returned, and the grouping allows you to arrange objects based on certain criteria. Reports can be
created using any of the Filters, Views and Groups packaged with @task, or Users can create their own
reports.
NEW REPORTS
To build a custom report, access the New Report Wizard by either clicking on the Create… drop-down in the
navigation menu and selecting Report from the list, or by selecting Reports in the Application Menu and then
New Report from the contextual menu. A screen like that found in Figure 13.1 will appear.
FIGURE 13.1: NEW REPORT VIEW
At
OBJECT TYPE
The first step in creating a new report is to identify the Object Type of the query. The Object Type is the kind of
data (i.e. Task, Project, Issue, User, etc.) that will be the focus of your report. The option you select from the
Object Type drop-down will determine which variables are presented as you step through the New Reports
Wizard by presenting options that are only relevant to the Object Type you selected.
247
REPORT TYPE: LIST VS. AGGREGATE
@task supports the creation of two types of custom reports: List and Aggregate. List reports are simple
queries that utilize predefined Views, Filters and Groups and organize the results into multiple rows and
columns based upon the criteria selected when the report is created.
An Aggregate report is more complex to create than a list report, but allows greater flexibility to define the
criteria of the report. Aggregate reports can generate a graph of the returned data in addition to a list format
report, or it can generate a report that includes both.
Unlike a list report an aggregate will allow you far greater flexibility to define the specific details of what data is
returned to specify multiple comparisons.
It is required to select either List or Aggregate before proceeding.
LIST REPORTS
NEW REPORT WIZARD

The New Reports Wizard contains four steps and walks you through the creation of a custom report.
NEW REPORT WIZARD FOR LIST REPORTS STEP 1: SETUP

The Setup step requires that the new report be given a name. Once the report has been created, the name
entered here will appear in the list of available reports. You can also provide an optional description to further
identify the purpose of the report. You may also specify to store the configuration details of the report in a
location other than the default folder. Figure 13.2 is a view of the Setup page for a list report.
FIGURE 13.2: SETUP

At
NEW REPORT WIZARD FOR LIST REPORTS STEP 2: VIEWS

View Controls
The New Reports Wizard gives you the ability to set the default behavior for the Filter, View and Group
options that appear when the report is run.
The options include:
• None. This option places no restrictions on the default behavior.
• Not Sticky. This will reset all options to the default each time the report is viewed.
• Disabled. This option will not allow the user to access any alternate view of the report data.
24
It is required to select a View for the report. This can either be one of the predefined Views packaged within
@task or a Custom View that you have created. The View defines what data about the Object is presented in
the report. For example, the All Dates view presents different information about the Task Object than the
Revenue view.
FIGURE 13.3: COLUMNS
The Views step also allows you to define the default Sort for the report by selecting an object and an attribute
as well as identifying whether the data should be sorted in ascending or descending order. For example, if we
wanted to sort the results alphabetically by the name of the task we would choose Task as the Object and
Name as the Attribute while if we wanted to sort the data chronologically by when it was finished we would
choose the Object Task and the Attribute of Actual Completion Date.
NEW REPORT WIZARD FOR LIST REPORTS STEP 3: FILTERS

Applying a Filter to the report excludes all data except that which meets the criteria of the filter. For example,
the My Tasks filter only displays Tasks assigned to the User viewing the report. Custom Filters created by
Users can also be used to filter data in reports
FIGURE 13.4: FILTERS.

At
NEW REPORT WIZARD FOR LIST REPORTS STEP 4: GROUPS

The final step of the New Report Wizard allows you to group the results by specific criteria, so that you can
readily identify results with common traits. For example, you could choose to group a list of tasks by the
person they are assigned to, or by the project to which they belong, etc.
24
FIGURE 13.5: GROUPINGS
AGGREGATE REPORTS
When creating an aggregate report it is recommended that you begin with a rough outline of the structure
and contents of the report you wish to build. This will help you select the correct criteria from all of the
possible combinations of variables available to return the data you desire.
The new report Wizard for Aggregate reports comprises six phases: Setup, Views, Filters, Prompts, Groups,
and Charts.
NEW REPORT WIZARD FOR AGGREGATE REPORTS STEP 1: SETUP

This step is identical to the setup step for list reports. A name for the report is required.
NEW REPORT WIZARD FOR AGGREGATE REPORTS STEP 2: VIEWS

Unlike the view step when creating a list report in which you specify a preexisting view to use, an aggregate
report requires that you define which attributes of object you wish to include in the output for your report. For
example, if you are creating a report to track the status of current tasks on the projects you manage you could
include details that you would find useful such as task name, the name of the project the task belongs under,
the name of the person the task is assigned to, the date the task is due, the status, etc.
FIGURE 13.6: COLUMNS

At
250
To identify an attribute you would like listed in the report click the Add Field button. In the Field Source drop-
down select the object type of the attribute you would like to add and then select the attribute from the Field
Name drop-down.
For example if you want to include the name of the task you would select Task in the Field Source drop-down
and then select Name from the Filed Name drop-down. This also allows you the flexibility to include the
Project name the task is associated with by adding another field and then selecting Project in the Field Source
drop-down and Name from the Field Name list.
Fields can be removed by clicking the Remove Field icon ( ); also the order of the fields can be adjusted by
clicking the up and down arrows.
Link
Checking the Link box will set headings within the report to open to the specified object. For example, if you
were to check the Link box next to the field where you included a task name, after running the report you
could then open the task directly by clicking on its name within the report.
Width/Stretch
The width box allows you to set the width in pixels that an entry will occupy in the report. The stretch box
below is a percentage of the remaining screen “real estate” that the report element will stretch to occupy. For
example, if you have 1000 pixels in screen width available and you have 2 elements that occupy 300 pixels
each, one of which has been assigned 50% stretch. You also have one more field that occupies 200 pixels and
has also been assigned 50% of the available stretch. The total assigned with equals 800 pixels leaving the
remaining 200 pixels of screen width to be allocated according to the percentages assigned in the stretch
field, so 100 pixels (50% of the remaining 200 pixels) will be assigned to each of the appropriate fields
growing them to 400 and 300 pixels respectively.
Format/Aggregate
These fields define the format of the data returned in the report. Typically it is best to leave the default results
but you could, for example, change the format of the date to include the time or day of the week.
Sort
Sort allows you to specify if you would like to sort the results for that field in either ascending or descending
order. Only one sort can be applied to the report.
Smart Report Calculator
This icon opens up the Smart Report form that allows you to apply additional highlighting and formatting
conditions to the field. To learn more about Smart Reports, see “Smart Reports” on page 255.
At
251
NEW REPORT WIZARD FOR AGGREGATE REPORTS STEP 3: FILTERS
FIGURE 13.7: FILTERS
Set Filter Criteria

Aggregate reports differ from List reports in that you can apply multiple filter options to refine the returned
values to a far greater degree. For example, with an aggregate report using a combination of filters you could
create a report that would show all tasks completed last week by people who report to you.
Field Source
First you must identify an object that will be examined to determine whether it meets the criteria of the filter.
Select the appropriate Field Source and Field Name from the drop-down lists.
Continuing with the example above, you want to return results of completed tasks only for people who report
to you, so you would select the Assigned To Field Source and then select the Manager ID field.
Mod
This describes the comparison against the Field Source and the Value/Range. The list of comparisons
includes Greater Than, less Than, Equal, etc.
In our example we would select Equal because we want only results where the data in the Manager ID field
equals User ID of the user viewing the report.
At
Value/Range
This is what the attribute identified in the Fields Source will be compared against. This can be either a
specified value or a wildcard. For example, in the report we are creating above you could enter either your
@task User ID, which will show anybody viewing the report tasks belonging to users that reports to a specific
person, or you could enter the wildcard of $$USER.ID, which displays tasks for users that report to the person
viewing the report. The difference between the two options being that using the wildcard would compare the
value specified in the Field Source against the ID of the User currently logged in, rather than against your ID.
This becomes a very significant distinction should you choose to make the report public and share it with
other users. Another Manager would likely be more interested in the tasks completed by member of their
team than those completed by members of your team.
252
Wildcard
Refer to the Wild Card Help below the Value/Range section or the Power Search section in the @task Users
Guide for additional information on wildcards.
NEW REPORT WIZARD FOR AGGREGATE REPORTS STEP 4: PROMPTS

Prompts are essentially queries for input that may act as filter overrides. Figure 13.8 demonstrates the Set
Prompt Worksheet.
FIGURE 13.8: PROMPTS
For example, continuing with the scenario described above you decide that rather than making the report
return a list of tasks that were completed by your team last week, you would rather have the report return a list
of tasks that were completed for any week you specified.

To create a prompt you must specify the data field for which users will be entering a value. This is
accomplished utilizing the drop-down lists similar to creating a Filter.
Custom Filter
As of @task v4 R6, there is an additional feature that allows you to create a custom filter for your prompt. Add
a prompt and select Custom Filter from the Field Source drop down. This will display a new row underneath
the Prompt Security row, as seen in Figure 13.9 below. Please note that all Custom Filters have a display type
of Drop Down.
FIGURE 13.9: CUSTOM FILTER

At
253
The filter has a label, condition, and default tag. The label is what the user sees when selecting the filter type
from the drop-down. The condition is the filter you want to impose. These conditions can follow the rules of a
Power Search query with a single exception, queries are combined using the &. Figure 13.9 demonstrates how
two queries are joined together in the row labeled Stablex. For more info on writing condition statements, see
“Query Structure” on page 52. You can use the default check box to set one of the fields as the default label in
the drop down. As you add more custom filters additional rows will appear automatically to accommodate
your needs.
Prompt Security
In addition to the above mentioned fields, the Prompt step also includes Prompt Security option. When
toggled, users will be given access to only those fields that their specific access level allows. Thus, if your
company deals with sensitive information, enforcing Prompt Security will limit what users can access. For
example, if you wanted to create a report that returns project information for companies within the database,
but only wanted users to run reports on the companies that they have security access to, then the Prompt
Security would enforce that. Please note, that it is the responsibility of the System Administrator to ensure
that proper access levels are assigned to users in the system. If close attention is not paid to this detail,
company defined security breaches are possible.
NEW REPORT WIZARD FOR AGGREGATE REPORTS STEP 5: GROUPS

The aggregate New Report Wizard allows you to specify how the returned data will be presented in the report.
Up to three layers of grouping can be used to organize the data. Figure 13.10 is illustrates how the Set Groups
Worksheet is configured.
FIGURE 13.10: GROUPS

At
While not a requirement, it is most effective to group date by fields included in the View.
NEW REPORT WIZARD FOR AGGREGATE REPORTS STEP 6: CHARTS

@task also supports the creation of charts to visually represent the results of the report, as seen in
Figure 13.11.
254
FIGURE 13.11: CHARTS
Chart Type
Select a Chart Type from the drop-down list that best suits the data you wish to display. A sample preview of
the chart selected will appear to the right. The data presented in the chart is organized according to the
groupings created in step 5.
Fields
The field options change depending on the Chart Type selected.
The first field is the Value field that defines what is being measured. The Value filed can be any of the
calculations included in the group summaries.
The remaining fields are groupings fields and coincide with the groupings created earlier in the New Report
Wizard.
For example, if you have a report that shows the number of tasks completed by people who report to you, and
you have that report grouped by the individual to whom the task is assigned, you can create one of several
types of graphs that will show a comparison of the number of tasks completed by the people who report to
you.
SMART REPORTS
@task’s January 2008 Update (version 4, release 7) offers a new feature called Smart Reports. Smart Reports
let you creates views whose formats change depending on an interpretation of a value in the view. For
example, if a task’s percent complete is less than 20 percent, you could highlight the field showing that
At
percentage with a red text color and a yellow background color, among many other options.
For a quick introduction to Smart Reports, see a brief video at http://www.attask.com/help/watch/176.
You can create a Smart Report for a view of projects, tasks, issues, hours, and even other reports. To learn
Smart Reports, we’ll create a Smart Report for tasks, though the principles could be applied to any viewable
object in @task.
To create a Smart Report with the Builder layout tool
1. While viewing a list of tasks (or other object), choose New View from the View drop-down menu (it’s
near the bottom of the menu).
255
FIGURE 13.12: ADD VIEW SCREEN
2. Under View Details, give the view a name, select a type (List or Chart), and make it public if you want by
clicking Make available to other users (public views are available to other users in @task).
3. Under View Layout, click the plus icon ( ). A dialog for formatting a row is dynamically added under the-
layout. This is what’s known as the Builder. Figure 13.13 shows a view layout with five fields in the Builder.
If you click on the Convert to Text icon ( ), you will see the text layout view, as shown in Figure 13.15. To
return to the Builder view, click the Convert to Builder icon ( ).
FIGURE 13.13: VIEW LAYOUT (BUILDER)

At
In Builder, click on the minus icon ( ) on the left to delete a field definition. To move a field up or down,
click click on either an up or a down arrow ( ) at the field’s left. If you check the Link checkbox, also on
the left, the finished view will link the field to the actual object—in other words, if you click the Link
256
checkbox next to the first field in Figure 13.13, final view will show the name of the task with as a link to
the task.
Notice the banner above the fields in Figure 13.13. The Field Source is the object from which the field is
task, and the Field Name is the name of the field from the object, such as Name, Duration, Percent
Complete, and so forth. Width and Stretch set the desired width of the field in the report, and how much
the field will stretch in relation to other fields in the row. Format refers to what format the field will have,
such as a Label, an HTML formatted string, or a number. Finally, the Aggregate is how information in the
field will be aggregate, as a Count, Minimum, Maximum, and so on.
4. Now click the calculator icon ( ) on the right. This brings up the Advanced Settings dialog box.
Here you can enter a condition for the field.

• A string, such as the Name of the task, can be identified with the following criteria: Contains,
Does Not Contain, Equal, Not Equal, Null, Not Null, Like, In, Not In, Blank, Not Blank, Sounds Like,
Contains (Case Insensitive), Does Not Contain (Case Insensitive), Equal (Case Insensitive), Not Equal
(Case Insensitive), and Like (Case Insensitive).
• For a number, such as Percent Complete, the criteria are: Equal, Not Equal, Null, Not Null, In, Not
In, Between, Not Between, Less Than, Less Than Equal, Greater Than, and Greater Than Equal.
Now complete the expression with a value in the empty text field. When completed, the condition may be
something like Task Percent Complete Less Than 50 or Task Name Equals Moving Day. There are many
possibilities available.
5. Under Style, you can select four settings for the resulting field, and you can see the result of your settings
instantly under Display. Click the text color icon ( ) and you can choose a color for the text (see
Figure 13.14). Click the background color icon ( ) and you can choose the background color for the text
(once again, see Figure 13.14). In the first drop-down menu under Style, select the face of the text: Normal
(default), Bold, Italic, or Bold Italic; in the second drop-down, select the justification for the text: Left
(default), Right, or Center.
FIGURE 13.14: COLOR CHOOSER

At
6. Now that you have selected your condition and style, click Submit.
7. Click Submit again to create the new Smart Report.
257
SMART REPORTS IN THE TEXT LAYOUT
Laying out a report with the text layout tools is a technique for advanced users, and is not for the novice.
To create a Smart Report with the text layout tool
1. While viewing a list of tasks (or some other object), choose New View from the View drop-down menu
(near the bottom of that menu).
2. Under View Layout, click on the Convert to Text icon ( ), you will see the text layout view, as shown in
Figure 13.15
FIGURE 13.15: VIEW LAYOUT (TEXT)

3. To return to the Builder view, click the Convert to Builder icon ( ).

At
Under View Defintion, you see a list of properties. In this list, keys are on the left and values are on the right.
For example, in column.0.width=45, column.0.width is the key and 45 is the value. You can edit each of these
key-value pairs directly in the text area.
N O T E : An aggregator is a set of values over which a group function may be performed such as,
SUM, COUNT, MIN, MAX, and AVG.
The drop-down menus above the View Definition may be used to paste values into the View Definition area.
They are their for convenience to help you remember the correct The following describes each of the drop-
down menus in the text layout view.
258
FIELD SOURCE/FIELD NAME
Field Source and Field Name change depending on values. For example, if you Field Source contains
Approval, the values available in Field Name are: Duration, Planned Start Date, Estimated Start Date, Planned
Start Date, and Start Day. Of if Field Source is Billing Record, the values available in Field Name are: Amount,
Billing Date, Company, Description, External Reference ID, ID, Invoice ID, PO Number, and Status.
The following tables (Table 13.2 and Table 13.3) list the values associated with each attribute.
TABLE 13.2: DATA
ATTRIBUTE VALUE
Row Row, Style Definition, Cell Style, Text

Style, and Font Color.
Column Type, Width, Max Length, Stretch,

Align, Enumeration Class, Share Col,
Span Col, Delimiter, List Delimiter,
Style Definition, Cell Style, Test Style,
Font Color, Image, Query Sort, List
Sort, Aggregator, Link, Event, Compari-
sion, Case
Column Type Text, Image, Enum, Iterate, Tile
Values Name, Name Value, Name Value Key,

Name Field, Name Format, Descrip-
tion, Value, Value Message, Value Field,
ID Method.
Formats 10/17/60, 10/17/60 11:00, Wed, Oct 17,

1860, Wed, Oct 17, 1860 11:00 AM, Oct
17, 1860, Wednesday, October 17, 1860,
HTML formatted string, Integer, True/
False, Custom Data Field, Object Type,
Alias, Label, 1234, 1,234, 1,234.56,
(1,234), (1,234.56), $1,234.56, 12%,
12.34%
TABLE 13.3: ADDITIONAL DATA
ATTRIBUTE VALUE
Aggregator Function, Display Format, Sum, Avg,

At
Min, Max, Count, Int, String
Comparison Operator, Left Method, Right Method,

Right Text, True Method, True Text,
Operatortype
Link Command, Linkproperty, Lookup, Pro-

tocol, Page, Url, Action Wrapper
Image Width, Height, Vspace, Hspace, Alter-

nate Method
Alignment Left, Right, Center
Operator Gt, Lt, Lq, Not Equal, Null, Not Null
259
At
Chapter 14
Administering Users,
Organizations, and
Groups
• About Users, Groups, and Organizations
• Setting up Job Roles and Access levels
• Creating and Setting Up Groups
• Creating and Setting Up Companies
• Creating and Managing User Accounts
• Setting Up Event Notifications
• Email Templates
• Setting Up Reminder Notifications
ABOUT USERS, GROUPS, AND ORGANIZATIONS
System administrators have the responsibility to create and set up user accounts. User accounts need to be
organized into groups and companies in order to be useful and function correctly. When setting up user
accounts, you must supply the following information and attributes:
• User information (name, address, email, user name, password, etc.) Fields in bold are required
fields.
• Access levels
• Group assignments
• Job roles
• Organization chart information
• Custom data
• Schedules
ABOUT USERS, GROUPS, AND ORGANIZATIONS
In order to supply user accounts with these attributes, you need to set up many of them before you assign
them to the user accounts. For example, you need to have created an access level in order to assign it to a
user.
At
261
SETTING UP JOB ROLES AND ACCESS LEVELS
The first things that you should set up are the access levels and the job roles. Access levels determine what
information users can see and what actions they can take in @task. Job roles are also necessary because in
@task, tasks and other action items can be assigned to a job role, rather than an individual.
SETTING UP JOB ROLES

Each user should be assigned a job role. This allows users to access tasks and other action items that are
assigned to a job role rather than an individual user. @task has eight default job roles that you can use, or you
can create your own. The default job roles are:
• Consultant
• Customer Support Representative
• Designer
• Engineer
• Project Manager
• Quality Assurance Engineer

• Sales Representative
• Support Engineer
You can edit or delete the default job roles if you wish. However, if you delete all of the job roles, @task
restores the default job roles the next time that the server starts.
If you have previously created several job roles in an earlier version of @task, you can export the list from the
previous version to a tab-separated values file, then import it into this version of @task.
See the @task Users Reference for version 3.5 for information on exporting job roles from previous versions.
To create a job role
1. From the Application Home screen, click Resource Management Ω Job Roles Ω New Job Role.
2. Type the name of the job role and a description for it.
3. Type the maximum number of users allowed to have the new job role. Type 0 (zero) for unlimited users.
4. Set the cost per hour for the job role. See “Tracking Costs and Measuring Performance” on page 233.
5. Set the billing amount for the job role. See “Billing and Revenue” on page 235.
At
To edit a Job role

1. From the Application Home screen, click Resource Management Ω Job Roles Ω Search Job Roles.
2. Fill in the search fields to filter the search, or simply click Submit to see all job roles.
3. Click the name of the job role to view it.
4. In the contextual menu, click Edit Job Role.
5. Edit the name of the job role and its description.
6. Edit the maximum number of users allowed to have the new job role. Type 0 for unlimited users.
262
To delete a job role
3. Click the Select icon ( ) next to the name of the job role that you want to delete. Use keyboard controls
to select multiple job roles.
4. Click the Delete icon ( ).

To import job roles
1. From the Application Home screen, click Resource Management Ω Job Roles Ω Import Job Roles.
2. Type the path to the location of the .tsv file, or click Browse to locate it on your computer. Click Next.
3. Match the columns in the .tsv file to the Name, Description, and Max Users fields in the job roles
objects. Name and Description should be text columns and Max Users should be a number column. If
the first row is a column heading, ensure that you check First Row is Header. Click Next.
4. Optionally, click the check box to save the imported job roles as a template.
5. Click Finish.
N O T E : You cannot import job role names that are currently in the database.
To export job roles

3. Click the Select icon ( ) next to the name of each job role that you want to export to the file. Use key-
board controls to select multiple job roles.
4. Click the Export icon ( ).

5. Use your operating system tool to select the location where you want to save the file.
MANAGING ACCESS LEVELS

When you assign an access level to a new user, you must decide whether you can use one that is already in
@task or if you need to create a new access level. This section defines @task’s default set of access levels
and explains how to create a new access level.
ABOUT DEFAULT ACCESS LEVELS

At
@task has a set of seven access levels that have been predefined for you. They are listed and described in
Table 14.1.
TABLE 14.1: DEFAULT ACCESS LEVELS
NAME RANK PRIVILEGE SET
System administrator 99 User can has administrative access to @task and can access all functions and
information. Very few users should have this set of permissions.
Group Administrator 80 User can access all @task information and functions within this user’s home
group.
263
TABLE 14.1: DEFAULT ACCESS LEVELS
NAME RANK PRIVILEGE SET
Executive 60 User can view everything, but can only edit his or her own tasks, documents and
issues.
Project Manager 50 User can access and edit information and functions within this person's own proj-
ects.
Individual Contributor 25 User can access and edit information and objects that are directly assigned to this
person.
Read-Only Client 10 User can view only limited project information. This access level requires only a
Limited-Use license and may be appropriate for clients that require an ability to
review project status.
Help Desk Requestor 5 User can only submit help desk requests, and requires only a help desk requestor
license.
To see a complete list of all privileges for an existing access level

In the Application Home page, click Setup Ω Organizational Setup Ω Access Levels.
1.
2. In the contextual menu, click Search Access Levels.
3. Fill in the fields to filter the access levels, or click Submit to see all access levels.
4. Click the name of the access level to open it.
5. Click the Access Level Action Details tab.
SETTING UP NEW ACCESS LEVELS

Access levels, or permissions, regulate the information that users can access and the actions that they can
take within @task. Access levels have several attributes including ranks, license types, and access area
permissions.
As indicated by Table 14.1, standard Access Levels have an associated rank. Ranks range from 1 to 99. By
default, a system administrator access level has a rank of 99, while a user who can only make help desk
requests has a rank of 5. Some access privileges are based on rank and new access levels should not be
ranked above access levels with greater privileges, i.e., a new custom level similar to Project Manager should
not have a rank of 65.
There are three license types; Full, Limited Use, and Requestor Only. A full license allows for access to all
application objects. A limited license allows for basic viewing and minimal interaction with the application. A
At
requestor license type allows a user to only submit issues to help desk queues. Any of these license types can
be further limited from its original permissions set.
The Access Area attribute is the attribute that lets you assign specific permissions to an access level. You can
select whether a user assigned to the access level can add, view, edit, or delete @task objects. Figure 14.1
shows an example of the permissions that you set for the access area for projects.
264
FIGURE 14.1: SETTING ACCESS LEVELS
You can set up an access levels for each object type @task supports. You can let users add, delete, view, edit,
and for some objects, change status of the object. You can also limit the objects that the user can access by
selecting a lower level of privileges. For example, you can use Assigned To Me Projects, rather than All
Projects.
N O T E : Access levels are used to determine what fields and objects are accessible by users when
generating and running reports. This is of particular interest to those looking to enable Prompt
Security on reports. For more information, see “Prompt Security” on page 254.
To create access levels

1. In the Application Home page, click Setup Ω Organizational Setup Ω Access Levels Ω New Access Level.
2. Type a name, a description and select a rank for the new access level.
3. Click True to give this access level full privileges. This essentially makes the user an System Administra-
tor, therefore, if you toggle True you do not have to set up access scopes.
4. If you need to set up access scopes, click the Access Scopes tab.
5. Select a license type.
6. Select one or more access areas and click the check boxes to allow the correct access levels. You can click
Show All to see all access areas at the same time.
To find access levels
At
1. In the Application Home page, click Setup Ω Organizational Setup Ω Access Levels Ω
Search Access Levels.
To edit an access level
4. In the contextual menu, click Edit Access Level.
265
To delete an access level
4. In the contextual menu, click Delete Access Level.
At
266
CREATING AND SETTING UP GROUPS
Groups are a convenient way to organize users for searches and when assigning access rights and
permissions. When you create a user, you should add that person to the appropriate group. This gives the
user abilities to access objects that are associated with the group. For example, if you associate a new project
with a group, then users who are in the group can access that project. Users belong to a home group, but can
belong to multiple groups as well.
When you create a group, you select a name for the group and a description for the group only. This creates a
shell to which you can add users. You add users to groups when you create the user accounts. As you set up
the users, you can choose the groups to which the users belong. If you want to add a user that already exists
to a new group, simply edit the user account to add the new group.
See “Creating and Managing User Accounts” on page 269.
When you create group names, you should select names that are descriptive such as ‘Accounting Team’ or
‘Ben Jones’s crew’. If you use simplistic labels such as ‘Group 1’, when you or someone else creates a project,
if you have several groups, you may not be able to remember which users belong to a specific group.
N O T E : @task creates a group named Default Group during the install process.
To create a group
CREATING AND SETTING UP GROUPS
1. In the Application Home page, click Setup Ω Organizational Setup Ω Groups Ω New Group.
2. Type a name and a description for the group.
To find groups
1. In the Application Home page, click Setup Ω Organizational Setup Ω Groups Ω Search Groups.
2. Fill in the fields to filter the search results, or click Submit to see all groups.
To edit groups
3. Click the name of the group to open it.
4. In the contextual menu, click Edit Group.
To delete groups
At
4. In the contextual menu, click Delete Group.
267
CREATING AND SETTING UP COMPANIES
Like groups, when you create companies, you are creating an object into which you must insert users when
you create or edit user accounts. Companies are linked to the organization charts that you can create for
users. The name of each company that you create represents an organization chart into which you can place
users.
See “Creating and Managing User Accounts” on page 269.
If you have clients that need to log into @task and review project status, or you use contractors to perform
tasks, then you may need to set up additional companies and organization charts.
To create a company
1. In the Application Home page, click Setup Ω Organizational Setup Ω Companies Ω New Company.
2. Type a name for the company.
To find companies
1. In the Application Home page, click Setup Ω Organizational Setup Ω Companies Ω Search Companies.
2. Fill in the fields to filter the search results, or click Submit to see all companies.
To edit companies
CREATING AND SETTING UP COMPANIES
1. In the Application Home page, click Setup Ω Organizational Setup Ω Companies.

2. Click the name of the company to open it.
3. In the contextual menu, click Edit Company.
To delete companies
1. In the Application Home page, click Setup Ω Organizational Setup Ω Companies.
3. In the contextual menu, click Delete Company.
At
268
CREATING AND MANAGING USER ACCOUNTS
This section explains how to manage your @task user accounts. It shows you how to plan, create, edit, and
manage user accounts.
PLANNING A NEW USER ACCOUNT

Before you can create a user you should gather all necessary information about the user and plan which
attributes you want to give the user. The following checklist will help you to gather all information that you
need before you create a new user:
• Do you have all necessary personal information about the user? At a minimum you will need a full
name, a user name, a default password, and an email address for the user.
• What is the position of the new user within the company? Does this person have any direct reports?
Who does this person report to? Where does this person fit in the organizational chart?
• What job role does the person fill? Does this job role exist in @task? Is there a limit to number of
people who can fill this job role?
• What should the access level of the user be? Does it already exist or do you need to create a new one?
• What group should this user be in? Should the person be in more than one group?
CREATING A NEW USER ACCOUNT

When you create users, in addition to filling in personal information and creating a user name and password,
you also assign access levels, job roles, groups, schedules, and assign the new user a place in the
organization. After you have gathered all of the necessary information, you can create the new user.
N O T E : When you create a new user you should have created all objects that you want to associate
with the user. If you have not created certain objects prior to creating users, then the fields to
associate the user to the object may not appear when you create a new user. For example, if you have
not created a schedule, you cannot assign a schedule to the new user and the field that you use to
associate a schedule with the new user does not appear in the New User screen.
To create a new user account

1. In the navigation menu, click Create Ω User.
2. Fill in the fields in the Contact Information screen. Fields in bold are required.
At
3. On the Related Information tab, select the access level that you want to assign to the new user. If it does
not exist, then you can create a new one. See “Managing Access Levels” on page 263.
4. Select the home group for the user, and check any additional groups to which the user should belong. If
the group does not exist, then you can create a new one. See “Creating and Setting Up Groups” on
page 267.
5. Select a schedule. Create one if necessary. See “Create Schedule Templates” on page 214.
6. Select the default job role for the new user and any additional job roles that the user fills. If the job roles
do not exist, then you can create new ones. See “Setting Up Job Roles” on page 262.
7. Set the cost per hour for the user. See “Tracking Costs and Measuring Performance” on page 233.
8. Set the billing amount for the user. See “Billing and Revenue” on page 235.
269
9. Set the Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) value. This value is of crucial importance to Capacity Planning, which
is accessible by Enterprise clients only.
10. On the Org Chart tab, select the company to which the user belongs. If it does not exist, you can create it.
See “Creating and Setting Up Companies” on page 268.
11. If not listed in the menus, use the Inline Search tool ( ) to select the user’s supervisor and direct
reports. If these users have not yet been created, you can set up the organizational relationships when
you create the subsequent user accounts. The inline search feature for companies only displays users
who are assigned to the company that you select. See “Using Inline Search Features” on page 27.
N O T E : If you have set up fields in the Custom Data tab, you may need to fill these in as well when
you create a new user. See “Creating and Setting Up Categories” on page 224.
EDITING USERS
Editing user accounts is nearly identical to creating them and is used to modify user accounts as user
positions change within your organization. Also, if you create new groups, job roles, schedules, or access
levels, and want to associate an existing user with them, you do this by editing the user account. You can
select more than one user account and edit all of the accounts at once to avoid having to open several user
accounts and edit them individually. For example, if you created a new group, you could select all of the users
that you want to associate with the new group and add them all simultaneously.
To edit individual user accounts
1. In the navigation menu, click Find Ω Users.
2. Fill in the fields to filter the search results, or click Submit to see all users.
3. Click the user name to view the user.
4. In the contextual menu, click Edit User. Edit the fields as necessary. See “Creating a New User Account”
on page 269.
To edit multiple users
3. Click the check box icon next to each user name. Use the keyboard controls to select multiple users.
4. Click the Edit icon ( ).
5. Check the box next to each user attribute that you want to edit.
At
6. Select the value or values that you want to attach to each user that you selected.
RESETTING USER PASSWORDS

If a user forgets a password, you can reset it.
To reset a user password
4. In the contextual menu, click Reset Password.
5. Type and confirm the new password.
270
DELETING USERS
If you have a personnel change, you can delete @task user accounts. When you delete users, you can transfer
their timesheet hours, documents and other objects to another user or you can force delete the user and all
their objects.
To delete users
4. In the contextual menu, click Delete User.
IMPORTING AND EXPORTING USER ACCOUNTS

@task lets you import and export user accounts using .tsv files. You can use these to transfer user lists to
other applications.
When you import user lists, there are five required fields. These are first name, last name, email address, user
name, and password. To successfully import user set, the .tsv file must contain a column with unique values
for the user name. It must also have a column for passwords. Most applications do not export passwords for
security reasons so you may need to manually edit the .tsv file to add a password column, or you can use an
existing column, and then either have the users change the passwords or reset them for each user using the
administrator account.
When you export user lists, you export the list of users currently available in the view. If you filter a user list,
you export only the set of user you can see in the view.
To export users
1. From the navigation menu, click Find Ω Users, and use the search tool to find the set of users that you
want to export.
2. In the contextual menu, click Export to Tab-Delimited File.
3. Use your operating system tools to save the .tsv file to the correct location.
To import users
1. Open a user list. The easiest way to do this is to click Find Ω Users in the navigation menu, and then click
Submit to see the list of users.
2. In the contextual menu, click Import Users.
At
3. Click Browse to locate the .tsv file on your computer, then click Next.
4. You see the values of the columns together with the column name at the bottom of the screen. Check
First Row is Header to remove a heading row from the values that you import.
5. Use the drop-down menus to associate the columns of the .tsv file to the @task values. Bold values are
required.
6. Click Next.
7. Look at the review screen to ensure the import is correct. To save the import as a user template, check
the box and type a name for the template.
8. Click Finish.
271
SETTING UP EVENT NOTIFICATIONS
@task lets you set up event notifications that send email messages to people when tasks are overdue. You
can specify whether to notify people when tasks are overdue, and if you choose to send notifications, you can
specify the number of days before a notification goes out. Figure 14.2 shows the screen you use to set up
event notifications.
FIGURE 14.2: SET UP EVENT NOTIFICATIONS
Late notifications send emails after the task is late. Reminder notifications send emails before the task due
date. When configured as shown in Figure 14.2, @task sends a reminder 1 day before the task is due to be
complete.
To configure event notifications
1. From the Application Home page, click Setup Ω Event Notifications Ω Time Notifications.
2. Enable late notifications for the assigned user, the supervisor, and the second level supervisor. For each
enabled late notification set the number of days that must pass before a notification is sent.
3. Enable reminder notifications and set the number of days before the task is due to send out the reminder.
N O T E : For late notices, emails are sent to the supervisors as defined in the organization chart that
you can set up when you create a new user.
See “Creating a New User Account” on page 269.

At
SETTING UP APPLICATION EVENTS AND EVENT HANDLERS

Application Events define triggers that @task executes when a specific operation occurs in the application.
Event Handlers define the rules and commands that @task issues when Application Event requirements are
met. POP email accounts are used to automatically send requests and collaboration messages. Each of these
features requires knowledge of scripting languages to implement. Contact Attask Customer Services for
information in configuring these settings.
However, @task provides you with several default event handlers that you can enable and disable as you
need. Figure 14.3 displays the list of event handlers and shows descriptions for each of them.
272
FIGURE 14.3: EVENT HANDLERS
When you enable these event handlers, they send an email to a user under the circumstances described in the
screen. All event handlers are disabled by default.

To enable and disable event handlers
1. From the Application Homepage, click Setup Ω Event Notifications Ω Event Handlers.
2. Click the check box icons next to the event handler name to highlight the event handlers. Use keyboard
controls with your mouse to select multiple event handlers.
3. Click the ‘Light Bulb On’ icon to enable the event handlers; click the ‘Light Bulb Off’ icon to disable the
event handlers. A red check mark appears in the ‘A’ column for enabled event handlers.
At
273
EMAIL TEMPLATES
A new feature in @task is the ability to create customized email templates. This is the ideal solution for users
that send out multiple emails with similar content. An event notification is an example of an email template
native to @task.
To create an email template go to Setup Ω Event Notifications Ω Email Templates. This opens up the list of
available email templates to the user. From here you can create a new email template, or edit an existing
email template. NOTE: Email templates are not the same as standard templates and cannot be created from
the template creation page.
Figure 14.4 captures the Email Temple Details page. A new email template requires a Name and an Object
Type. The Name is a unique identifier that is user selected, while the Object Type is selected from a system
defined drop-down. The current options are project, task and issue. The Object Type will limit what object this
template can be associated with via a reminder notification, which will be discussed in more detail below.
Enter a Description as desired.
The Content section is of special note, as this truly defines how the email will appear to recipient. HTML tags
can be incorporated into the content to format fonts, style and placement. A short list of useful tags has been
included. There are multiple internet sources that can provide a more comprehensive treatment of HTML
tabs. One source that includes examples is: http://www.web-source.net/html_codes_chart.htm
TABLE 14.2: HTML TAG TABLE
TAG DESCRIPTION
 Bold font
 Italic font
 Underlined
font
EMAIL TEMPLATES
 Paragraph
The Content can also include fields specific to the associated Object. Thus, if the template is attached to a
task, then @task can automatically insert the task name or any other field that is contained within the task.
This is done by using the same syntax and language of the power search delimited by two dollar symbols. For
example, if you wanted to include the task name, you would write $$task:name$$. For a more detailed
description of Power Search syntax, see “Power Searches” on page 51. Once the email template has been
At
created it can be attached to a reminder notification.
274
FIGURE 14.4: CREATING AN EMAIL TEMPLATE
To create an email template

1. Open the Email Template Details page by selecting the following Setup Ω Event Notifications Ω Email
Templates.
2. Select New Email Template from the contextual menu.
3. Enter the appropriate information.
4. Click Submit.
EMAIL TEMPLATES
At
275
SETTING UP REMINDER NOTIFICATIONS
Reminder notifications are very similar to event notifications. With a few notable distinctions such as the
ability to attach notifications to specific objects, to associate email templates, and to send it at anytime in the
cycle of a project. Reminder notifications can be reached by going to Setup Ω Event Notifications. The Event
Notifications landing page appears as seen in Figure 14.5. From here you can select Reminder Notifications,
that opens up a list of all the available notifications. You can create a new notification by clicking in the
contextual menu to the left, or view an existing notification.
FIGURE 14.5: EVENT NOTIFICATIONS LANDING PAGE
CREATING A REMINDER NOTIFICATION
N O T E : All reminder notifications require an associated email template. If you have not created an
email template already, please refer to “Email Templates” on page 274
Figure 14.6 demonstrates the form used to create a new reminder notification. A Name is required for all
notifications. You can also select what Object Type it will be associated with from the drop-down menu. The
available objects are Projects, Tasks, and Issues. The Duration field is used in conjunction with the Timing
and Date fields to determine when the notifications will be sent. For example, you could set the notification to
At
be sent 5 hours before the Planned Completion Date of a task. Thus, the notification acts as a reminder of an
impending deadline. The criteria field is a filter that depends on the Object Type selected. In the case of a
Project the criteria available are Incomplete in Current Projects or All in Current Projects. After a Criteria is
selected, you may choose who the recipients of the notification will be. The options available are: Assigned To,
Entered By, Project Team, and Dependent Task Assignees. Additionally, an email template must be attached
to the notification. The template must be of the same Object Type as the notification. Once attached, the
reminder notification will be able to send out emails with the content as set forth by the email template. Once
you have finished setting up the notification, click Submit.
276
FIGURE 14.6: CREATING A NEW REMINDER NOTIFICATION
To create a reminder notification:

1. From the Application Home page, click Setup Ω Event Notifications Ω Reminder Notifications.
2. Name and edit the time notification according to your needs.
3. Identify the Object Type that it will be associated with.

4. Attach an email template to the notification.
5. Identify the recipients of the notification.
6. Click Submit.
ATTACHING REMINDER NOTIFICATIONS TO SPECIFIC OBJECTS

Once a reminder notification has been created it can be attached to an object of the type selected when the
notification was created. Thus, if the Object Type was set as task, the notification will only be available to
tasks. To attach the notification to a task, simply access the desired task. From the contextual menu select
Attachments Ω Reminder Notifications. The reminder notifications page appears like that found in
Figure 14.7. From this page you can search for a reminder notification using the Search Reminder
Notifications icon ( ), or delete one using the Delete Reminder Notifications icon ( ). The Search
Reminder Notifications icon will open up a search window that allows you to search for all of the available
reminder notifications in the system. This search allows you to query based on the Timing, Criteria, and
Recipients fields of notifications. You may also use the advanced search capabilities of @task to search for a
specific reminder notifications. Once the results are returned you can add one or more of the results using
At
the Add Reminder Notifications icon ( ).
277
FIGURE 14.7: REMINDER NOTIFICATIONS
To attach a reminder notification

1. Open up the desired Object.
2. Access the reminder notifications page by selecting it in the contextual menu Attachments Ω Reminder
Notifications.
3. Click the Search Reminder Notifications icon.
4. Select the search criteria, and click Submit.
5. Select from the list of results and click the Add Reminder Notifications icon.
To delete a reminder notification
1. Open up the desired Object.
At
278
At
Chapter 15
Using Kick-Starts
This chapter contains instructions, visuals, and tips for using Kick-Starts in your
instance of @task.
• Creating Spreadsheet Templates For the Importer
• Using Kick-Starts
INTRODUCTION
Kick-Starts are the latest interfacing tool offered to our clients. They allow organizations to use spreadsheets
to easily accomplish tasks such as information migrations to @task and remotely creating @task objects.
The following document is broken up into two sections: setting up a data template for importing, and the
second explains how to fill in and import a Kick-Start.
N O T E : Although anyone can create a spreadsheet and fill it in, only users with the System Administrator
access level can access the importer utility in @task.
INTRODUCTION
At
28
CREATING SPREADSHEET TEMPLATES FOR THE IMPORTER
Setting up a spreadsheet for Kick-Starts can be quite complex and tedious. It requires familiarity of importing
rules, @task objects, and experience with Java Docs. Creating spreadsheet templates is one way of limiting
how many configurations you have to create for your organization or personal use. Templates can be created
in two ways: @task generated template and manually.
USING THE @TASK TEMPLATE GENERATOR

You can access the @task template generator from the Setup landing page. Go to Setup Ω System Settings.
Please note that a System Administrator access level is required to access this feature. To the left in the
contextual menu, please select the Kick-Starts option. A landing page similar to that found in Figure 15.8 will
appear.
FIGURE 15.8: KICK-STARTS LANDING PAGE
There are two sections displayed in this page: the importer and the template generator. Obviously the first
section is used to import a data file, and its use is described in a later section of this document. Instead, we
will focus on the second section. As can be seen from the figure, there is a list of checkboxes and each
checkbox corresponds to available @task objects. Marking the checkboxes instructs @task to generate an
.xls file with one sheet for each object selected. For example, select from the list Access Level, Issue, Project,
and Task, then download the file that appears. Figure 15.9 demonstrates that you now have an .xls file with
At
four sheets: ACSLVL Access level, OPTASK Issue, PROJ Project, and TASK task.
FIGURE 15.9: DOWNLOADED SPREADSHEET TEMPLATE
You might be wondering what the capitalized names come from. These are the object codes for the selectable
objects in the system. Table 15.3 lists all of the object codes used by the importer. It should also be noted that
281
by selecting the Access Level you only get a reference list of available levels in the system. You cannot edit
them or create new ones from the spreadsheet.
TABLE 15.3: OBJECT CODES FOR THE KICK-STARTS
OBJCODE OBJECT NAME
ACSLVL Access Level
ASSGN Assignment
CTGY Category
CTGYPA Category Parameter
DOCU Document
EMLTPL Email Templates
GROUP Group
HOUR* Hour
MTSK Library Task
NOTE Note
OPTASK Issue
PARAM Parameter
PGRP Parameter Group
POPT Parameter Option
PROJ Project
QUED Queue
QUET Queue Topic
ROLE Job Role
RRUL Routing Rule
TASK Task
TEAM Team
TASSGN Template Assignment

At
TMNOT Reminder Notification
TMNR Notification Record
TMPL Template
TTSK Template Task
USER User
* Hours can only be added to project

objects when using Kick-Starts
282
There are a few @task objects that have different names in the database than those seen in the user interface.
They are (user interface (database)): Issue (OpTask), Library Task (Master Task), Custom Data (Data
Extension), Reminder Notification (Timed Notification).
Once you have downloaded the template, you can use any program that reads .xls files to view it. Looking
through the file you will see all of your selected objects on separate sheets. The first row of every generated
template is left blank. The importer ignores this row, and thus you can place any information that you desire
in these cells. The second row of each object will have an alphabetically ordered set of fields associated with
that object (as seen Figure 15.10). These columns can be rearranged without affecting the importer, with the
exception of the first two columns isNew and ID. These two fields are used by the importer to determine new
objects and what the object ID will be during an import. These fields are discussed in greater detail below.
From here you can begin to fill in the desired values for the fields. Please note that the template is essentially
raw data indicating that an object has certain fields, but it does not show which fields need to be set or any
enumerated values. To do this you will need to use the provided Java Docs for the @task API, which will be
explained in conjunction with a manual set up below.
FIGURE 15.10: OBJECT FIELDS IN THE SPREADSHEET
MANUALLY CREATING A KICKSTART TEMPLATE USING THE JAVA DOCS

An alternate method of creating a template is to manually create a template by selecting the desired fields,
and including the @task required fields. This requires more effort to setup, but allows you to selectively
include those fields that you want to set.
First determine which objects you will include in your template. Using Table 15.3 as a reference entitle your
sheets accordingly. Remember to place one object per sheet, and use caps on the object code. If you fail to
respect these two requirements you will have an error when importing the file into @task. These restrictions
do not limit how many sheets you can add to your .xls file. In fact you can have multiple sheets with the same
object type, e.g., project.
Once the object sheets have been named and configured, open up the Java Docs and begin to add fields to
the object. The Java Docs contain nearly all of the information needed to properly set up your selected objects
in the spreadsheet. As mentioned before, each object has a set of required values, and most have fields that
take enumerated (predefined) values. We will illustrate this process by setting up a spreadsheet that creates
projects.
At
N O T E : Every sheet must include the isNew and ID values. isNew is a boolean value that @task uses to
identify a new object to create. Acceptable values are TRUE or FALSE. ID refers to the object ID. This number
can be any numeric value that you choose that is unique to the current sheet. When the object is created in
@task, it will be assigned a system ID. When @task creates the template these two fields are automatically
included.
SPREADSHEET EXAMPLE
First, open up a new spreadsheet, and rename the first sheet as PROJ projects. Include the isNew and ID
fields. Next, find the index of the Java Docs and search for ProjectBean. @task uses Java Enterprise Beans to
encapsulate objects. Given any object that you are creating it will be contained in a similar Bean class. Once
the ProjectBean has been located you will notice that to create or add a project you have to use the methods
283
contained in AddProjectMessage. Click on the link to access the method detail of the interface. Notice there is
a large number of methods used to set and get the fields of a project. Concern yourself with those fields that
are required first. After searching through the list you will note that required methods are:
• setPlannedStartDate or setPlannedCompletionDate (Depending on the scheduling mode. The
default is setPlannedStartDate)
• setGroupID
• setCondition
• setConditionType
• setName
Frequently used optional methods include:
• setDescription
• setScheduleMode
• setPriority
• setUpdateType
• setBudget
• setCompletionType
• setStatus
• setTemplateID.
With these methods now identified you can begin to place these as the titles of columns. Remember that
Kick-Starts will ignore the first row of any sheet. Thus, feel free to place more descriptive titles above each
column. In the second row you must place the method name. Under this row you are free to enter in values as
needed, paying heed to those values that are enumerated. For example, setConditionType is enumerated as
seen in the docs. In many cases it would be useful to include the enumerated values used in the first row of
the spreadsheet so that future users will not have to refer to the Java Docs to create their objects.
PSEUDO METHODS
There are circumstances where the importer can be commanded to execute a pseudo method. This
functionality is useful when the object calls for a specific value, like an ID number, and a user would be
familiar with a name instead. Thus, instead of requiring the user to find the ID number you could have a
At
pseudo method in the column head that accepts the object name. Pseudo methods use the # delimiter at the
beginning of the method name, and a second object code after the method call. An exemplary pseudo
method appears like this: #setGroupID GROUP name. This pseudo method will enter the specific groupID
associated with the submitted group name.
N O T E : This only works for objects that are already found in the @task database. If the object is being
created in the current template, you must use the ID that is assigned to the object in the specified
spreadsheet. For example, you have a column named #setGroupID GROUP name. If the desired group,
Development, is already found in @task, you can just enter Development into the column. On the other
hand, if you are adding a project to the not yet created Marketing group with an ID of 4, you must place this in
a column named groupID. This is demonstrated in Figure 15.11. To learn more about relating object in the
template, See “Creating Related Objects” on page 287.
28
FIGURE 15.11: DEALING WITH PSEUDO METHODS
After you have set your required and desired optional fields, the template is ready to be saved and distributed.
The example template could look similar to the one found in Figure 15.12.
FIGURE 15.12: EXEMPLARY KICK-START TEMPLATE
At
285
USING KICK-STARTS
With a template set up, you can easily use it to fill in the information that you need. As mentioned before, the
first row of any sheet is not recognized by the importer, and the second row is for field/method names only.
The third row is the where you may begin entering information. Special heed must be given to the following
types of data: enumerated and date values, custom data, and predecessor strings.
ENUMERATED VALUES
@task has enumerated values that must be used to set a field that requires them. In the example above
setConditionType was a field requiring enumerated values. If the enumerated values have not been included
in the first row of the spreadsheet, you will have to use the Java Docs to identify them. In the
AddProjectMessage under the setCondition method there is a link to an enumerated class called
ProjectConditionTypeEnum (as seen in Figure 15.13). Clicking on this link opens a new class that lists the field
detail. The detail indicates that the condition can be set to Progress_Status, Manual, and Last Update that
have enumerated values of PG, MN, and LU respectively. For every field with enumerated values you will have
to repeat this process. If you attempt to import a file that does not have proper enumerated values, then the
system will throw an error.
FIGURE 15.13: SETCONDITIONTYPE IN THE JAVA DOCS
DATE VALUES
USING KICK-STARTS
@task reads dates and times in a very specific format that must be adhered to. The format places the four
digit year first, followed by the two digit month, two digit day, and a 24 hour clock time stamp. For example,
5:00 PM June 30, 2007 would be formatted as 2007-06-30T17:00:00:000.
CUSTOM DATA
Most customers have some form of custom data in their system. Frequently these fields need to set, or
accessed from the template. As mentioned before, what is known as custom data in the user interface is
actually called data extensions in the database. Since the importer is communicating directly with the
database, you will have introduce any custom data fields with a DE: prefix.
At
PREDECESSOR STRINGS
@task supports string arguments that set up predecessor relationships. They are used predominantly in the
task worksheet, because it is a more compact from of information and saves display area in the worksheet.
Similarly these strings can be used in the Kick-Start template by creating a column entitled
setPredecessorString. Please note that only Task and Library Task objects can make this method call. As
described before, the string values are abbreviations of the dependency types and lag types. They include:
Dependency Types
• fs—finish-start (default type)
28
Lag Types
• d—days
• p—percent
• w—day of week
N O T E : For more information on dependency and lag types please refer to the @task User’s Guide.
Expressions enclosed with parentheses are cross-project predecessors, and those with an “e” at the end have
an enforced predecessor relationship.
The syntax of a valid expression starts with the task ID of the predecessor task, the dependency type, the
duration of the lag type and followed by the lag type. A visual description would be: <task ID><dependency
type>+<duration><lag type>. You can also have multiple dependencies for a task. This is accomplished by
separating the predecessor statements by a comma.
The following is a set of example expressions and the associated explanations:
“3fs+10de” = Task 3 is the predecessor task. The dependency type is finish-start. There is a positive lag of 10
days and the dependency is enforced.
“5ss -1c” = Task 5 is the predecessor task. The dependency type is start-start. There is a negative lag of 1
calendar day. No enforcement is indicated because there is no e.
“(34sd + 3w), 13fse” = Task 34 is the cross project predecessor. The dependency is scheduled start with a day
USING KICK-STARTS
of week lag of 3 that indicates Tuesday, because Tuesday is the third day of the week. Task 13 is an additional
predecessor, with a finish-start dependency type and it is enforced.
Using these strings you can effectively set up predecessor relationships between tasks in the spreadsheet,
and task already found in the @task data base.
CREATING RELATED OBJECTS

Often you will be creating objects that will be associated or dependent on other objects in the .xls file. An
example of this would be creating a set of tasks that are part of a project. As mentioned before, each sheet
At
requires an ID field. IDs are unique to each sheet. If there are multiple sheets with the same object, i.e.,
multiple project sheets, the IDs must be unique to that object. Objects can also be referenced in another
object’s sheet. This is accomplished by entitling a column with the object set function. For example, you have
a task that you want to assign to a project with an ID value of 1. In the TASK object sheet include a column
titled setProjectID, and place a 1 in the task’s row. During the data import, @task will reference all of the
objects to be created using the IDs used in the spreadsheet, and then replace them all with system IDs.
ATTACHING DOCUMENTS TO OBJECTS

You can also attach documents to objects via Kick-Starts. Start by creating your .xls file. With this created you
can add a new sheet called DOCU Documents. Remember you need to create an isNew, ID, and setName
column. Also, set up columns with the objects you are attaching the documents to. These are named
287
setDocObjCode and setObjID. If attaching to pre-existing objects only, you could just use a Pseudo Method.
In general, a minimum of five columns are used to attach documents. setName is the exact name of the
document, including file type. setDocObjCode is the object code that you are attaching the document to, e.g.,
PROJ for project. Figure 15.14 demonstrates how this will look in your spreadsheet. The figure indicates that
the document, “testphp.php”, is attached to project object with an ID of 1.
FIGURE 15.14: ATTACHING A DOCUMENT
You can attach documents to the following objects:

• Users
• Tasks
• Library Tasks
• Template Tasks
• Projects
• Templates
• Issues
You can also append versions of the same document to an object. Create a new sheet called DOCV Document
Versions. This is used to change the versions of documents currently found in the same .xls file, i.e., you can’t
add a new document in this sheet. Thus, you must have an document object code to perform a version
update. The required columns are isNew, ID, setFileName, setDocumentID, and setVersion. setFilename is
the exact same name of the previous document version. setDocumentID is the ID found in the DOCU sheet
USING KICK-STARTS
for the desired document. setVersion is what ever version you are on. Figure 15.15 demonstrates what the
DOCV sheet would look like if you attached a fourth version of the same document discussed above.
FIGURE 15.15: ATTACHING A VERSION
Once you have finished attaching documents, you need to .zip the .xls file and all of the attached documents
in a file that has the same name as the .xls file. For example, if you have an .xls file named ProjectPlanning.xls,
At
then you will name the .zip file, ProjectPlanning.zip. The .zip file will be imported into the Kick-Starts
importer.
N O T E : Placing your .xls file in a .zip file is only necessary if you are attaching documents.
IMPORTING KICK-STARTS
A complete data file can be imported into @task using Kick-Starts found in the Setup Ω System Diagnostics
page. In the contextual menu select Kick-Starts. Select the file that you want to import from your computer. In
this example the exemplary spreadsheet from above is being imported. After submitting the file a new project
called Spreadsheet Project should be created.
288
Occasionally, the importer will fail with an error message. The error message will point to the first occurrence
of an error, indicating the row and column. An exemplary error message is seen in Figure 15.16. To rectify the
error simply find the cell and using the message as a guide to adjust the value or formatting.
FIGURE 15.16: ERROR MESSAGE
USING KICK-STARTS
At
28
At
Chapter 16
Capacity Planning
• Understanding Resource Pools
• Capacity Planning Use Case
• Reconciling Project Budgets and Schedules
• Project Planning
• Resource Budgets Manager
• Using Capacity Planning Spreadsheets
INTRODUCTION
Companies are frequently faced with a dynamic environment of growth, evolving business practices, and
developing products. These dynamics require constant analysis of available resources and project
management for effective completion of company goals.
This chapter outlines Capacity Planning, a powerful new feature set available to Enterprise Customers of
INTRODUCTION
@task. Capacity Planning was designed to analyze resource flow and optimize project management at a
marcoscopic and microscopic level. This new feature set helps answer questions like, “How would a new
project that required X people and Y dollars to complete affect my current production schedule and budget?”,
and “How many projects can my development division finish in the next two months?” As you will soon see,
Capacity Planning can be applied to multiple use cases. For the sake of simplicity, this chapter will focus on a
couple broad use cases to describe the functionality of Capacity Planning, namely creating a proposed project
schedule, and modifying a current project schedule.
Capacity Planning truly incorporates multiple features found all through @task.
UNDERSTANDING RESOURCE POOLS

One of the basic concepts and building blocks of Capacity Planning is how to group company resources. The
fundamental grouping object is the Resource Pool.
TOTAL AVAILABLE RESOURCES

Organizations are collections of employees or volunteers. The sum total of these employees and volunteers is
considered the human resources of the organization. In @task, every licensed user is associated with a user
account and a default job role. In capacity planning terminology, the sum of all user resources in the @task
database is the Total Available Resources. When displayed in the feature, this total number is further broken
down and grouped by job role. Only default job roles are taken into account. Thus, a user that has three job
roles will only count as one resource in the default job role category. The Total Available Resources appear in
@task as seen in Figure 16.17. Along the top is the sum total, and below, on each row, are individual job roles
with a total for users with that default role.
N O T E : The totals section is included in various features of the tool under different names. These names
reflect the a different level of working detail, e.g., when looking at system wide resources the totals section is
called Total Available Resources.
FIGURE 16.17: TOTAL AVAILABLE RESOURCES
tA
RESOURCE POOLS
Resource Pools are sub-sets of the Total Available Resources. These pools generally represent divisions or
teams within a company. For example, your company could have development, support, and sales divisions.
Creating a separate Resource Pool for each division would be a logical choice. That is not to say that all
291
companies need multiple pools; a Resource Pool can include all the human resources of a company. In fact,
all new users are initially placed in the default resource pool.
Each pool is allocated to a given set of projects within a company. Figure 16.18 shows an exemplary grouping
chart for resource management. Notice that there are three pools, the Development Pool, Support Pool, and
Sales Pool. Each of these pools has a resource budget drawn from the Total Available Resources. Each pool
has projects assigned to it, and, thus, project resources are drawn from the pool it is assigned to. In @task,
projects are only aware of their parent pool’s resources and not the Total Available Resources.
FIGURE 16.18: RESOURCE POOL GROUPING CHART

CREATING A RESOURCE POOL

Resource Pool creation and management is done using the Capacity Planning 0ption from the Resource
Management landing page, as seen in Figure 16.19.
FIGURE 16.19: RESOURCE MANAGEMENT LANDING PAGE

At
29
Selecting Capacity Planning displays the landing page depicted in Figure 16.20 that contains all of the major
tools used in a capacity planning life cycle, namely Resource Budget Manager, Capacity Planner, Resource
Pools, and Project Planning.
FIGURE 16.20: CAPACITY PLANNING LANDING PAGE

In the contextual menu, select New Resource Pool to create a new Resource Pool. The New Resource Pool
form will appear as seen in Figure 16.21. It has two tabs displayed: New Resource Pool, and Resource
Estimate.
NEW RESOURCE POOL TAB

The Resource Pool tab is used to input a name and description for the pool. Note that the Name is the only
required field to create the pool, but a description can also be included.
FIGURE 16.21: RESOURCE POOL CREATION FORM
tA
RESOURCE ESTIMATE TAB
When you create a Resource Pool, you will often have a good idea of what Job Roles will be allocated to the
pool. An initial allocation is done using the Resource Estimate Tab. Upon further evaluation, revisions can be
made here or in the Resource Budget Manager that is described later in the chapter. Figure 16.53 depicts an
exemplary Resource Estimate tab with data.
293
FIGURE 16.22: RESOURCE ESTIMATE TAB
To create a new Resource Pool

1. Got to the Resource Management Ω Capacity Planner
2. Select New Resource Pool in the contextual menu
OR
1. Select Resource Pool from the Create... drop-down
BUDGETING USING THE RESOURCE ESTIMATE TAB

At first, a pool will not have any Job Roles allocated. To add a role, simply click on the Action icon ( )
immediately to the left of the pool name. This will open up a menu with one option, Add Role. Once you have
clicked this option, a Job Role window similar to the one found in Figure 16.23 will appear. Select the desired
role and click OK. The selected Job Role will appear in a new row below the Resource Pool name. Please note
that the selection window supports multi-selecting using standard keyboard options.
FIGURE 16.23: JOB ROLE SELECTION WINDOW

At
Continue adding as many roles as needed. Once this has been done, you can enumerate how many of each
role are budgeted to the pool. Simply input a number into the first adjacent month available. Note that if this
number exceeds the total number of that resource available to a company it will appear as an overage in
Resource Pool Budgets form. If this value is not expected to change in the near future, you can copy that value
into each adjacent cell for two years into the future. Repeat the above process to add more Job Roles to the
Resource Pool. See “Basic Functionality of the Spreadsheet” on page 312 if you want to know more about the
spreadsheet capabilities that are available.
Another available option is to add roles according to those found in the Total Available Resources or add roles
according to net remaining. These options automatically populate your selected roles with an estimate based
29
on either of the above listed criteria. The limitation being that you must add the roles to the pool before you
perform this action, because @task does not add roles to Resource Pools automatically.
For example, you have a new pool with the Engineer, Designer, and Developer role added having 5, 5, and 10
total resources, respectively. If you select Set Budget to Total from the Action icon list, @task will fill in the
total number of resources with those job roles, i.e., 5, 5, and 10 respectively. On the other hand, if you select

Set Budget to Net Remaining, @task will fill in the number of resources with that job role that are not
currently in a Resource Pool, e.g., 2 Engineers, 3 Designers, and 1 Developer. These auto-populate options
allow for a quick start when dealing with Resource Pools.
After submitting, the Resource Details page is displayed which includes the name, description and ID
number of the object. An exemplary view of this page can be seen in Figure 16.24.
FIGURE 16.24: RESOURCE POOL DETAILS

N O T E : For the sake of simplicity, it is assumed that you are familiar with how the spreadsheet works and
and have read “Using Capacity Planning Spreadsheets” section on page 312.
Capacity Planning is a complex process that requires some practice before it true worth is achievable. It is
instructional at this time to follow some very basic use cases from beginning to end. The first use case will
introduce and demonstrate most of the tools available in the Capacity Planning feature.It starts with an issue
submitted to a Help Desk queue that is converted to a request and assigned to Resource Pool. Once
assigned, budgeting and schedule reconciliation can be accomplished.
PROJECT REQUESTS
tA
Many organizations have a method or way for employees to submit suggestions for future projects like
product enhancements, new product ideas, marketing strategies, etc. @task simple queue framework
enables employees to do just this, and Capacity Planning make use of these queues. Our use case will show
how AtTask, Inc., (AtTask) uses Capacity Planning to adjust for new project requests.
N O T E : AtTask refers to the exemplary company, and @task refers to the Project Management Software.
AtTask, like many organizations, encourages project suggestions to be made to a special help desk queue. A
request was submitted to the queue for an @task widget for the Apple iPhone. The example request form is
seen below in Figure 16.25.
295
FIGURE 16.25: ISSUE REQUEST FORM
CONVERTING ISSUES TO PROJECT REQUESTS

As a product manager you are reviewing the submitted requests, and decide that a new widget is an
innovative idea. After reviewing any of the attached document, you decide to convert this issue into a Project
Request. You can do this from the Issue Details page by selecting Convert to Project Request to start a project
review phase. This is a new conversion option was added to @task for Capacity Planning purposes. It will
convert the issue into a Project Request.
The Convert to Project Request form is depicted in Figure 16.26. At the top of the form are two check boxes
that are standard when converting an issue to a project or task. The first, Preserve Issue, allows you to create
a project from the issue, but maintains the issue in the help desk queue. The second, Preserve Originator,
records the name of the user that originated the issue. The lower section of the form contains fields that
indicate Scheduling Mode, Planned Start Date, Group name, or Template ID. Once this form and any other
pertinent information like a specifications document, or a budget request has been submitted, a Project
Request will be created with a status of Requested.
FIGURE 16.26: CONVERT TO PROJECT REQUEST FORM

At
29
With a submitted Project Request, you can now begin reviewing the attached information and estimating
potential costs and resource needs. A typical company would probably have a Project Management office that
is in charge of assessing these need and estimates. For our purposes, let’s suppose that you are the Project
Manager for the development team and can review the request. Additionally, we assume that this request
looks like a standard project in @task and attach a template with a series of tasks and assigned roles to the
project request.

The Request Details page can be seen in Figure 16.27. Project Requests are very similar to standard Projects
in @task. Most of the differences are cosmetic, and are observed in the edit details page. Since a request is
not an official project, dates are proposed only. Also, concepts like Priority and Condition Type are not
considered for a request.
Project Requests also have a different set of status. These status include: Requested, Reviewed, Approved,
Rejected, Planning, and Current. Glancing the names and meanings of the status, indicate that requests are
meant to be reviewed and either approved or rejected. Once a project has been approved, the way to convert
it into a Project is set the status to Current. After the request is set to Current it will become a regular project
with standard fields, status, and functionality.
N O T E : Unless modified by your System Administrator, access levels of Individual Contributors and above
have the right to create an actual Project Request, not just an issue. Although, these users can create a Project
Request they are limited from changing the status of the request. This is done from the Create... drop-down.
FIGURE 16.27: PROJECT REQUEST DETAILS PAGE
At this point you have the chance to look over the request, and ask a few questions like:
• Which Resource Pool is qualified to deal with this project?
tA
• How will this project affect current project schedules?
• How many people will it probably take?
• What is the expected cost?
• How long will the project last?
• How risky is this project?
• Does it align well with our current company goals?
• What are proposed benefits?
29
Obviously, those who are involved in the review process should have a realistic and knowledgeable idea of
how to estimate proposed projects. @task helps reviewers consider these options by collecting as much
information as possible from the originator and reviewer.
RELATED INFORMATION TAB

When editing Project Requests, there are two tabs that are used to collect the answers to the questions stated
above. The Related Information tab has fields for estimated budget and Portfolio Values. For the present
example, the project manager is assuming that the development costs for the widgets will be around
$10,000. As for Portfolio values, the project is fairly straightfoward development, they have internal resources
to accomplish it, and it could be a great sales lead generator for the company. All these assumptions combine
to give provide Portfolio values of a low cost, medium risk, medium benefit, and high alignment project.
Figure 16.28 demonstrates what the Related Information tab looks like prior to submission. For more
information on Portfolio Values, see Project Management (UPDATE THIS LINK).
FIGURE 16.28: RELATED INFORMATION TAB

At
RESOURCE ESTIMATES TAB

The Resource Estimates tab incorporates a Flash movie to display a spreadsheet user interface, as seen in
Figure 16.29. This is where the project manager can set an educated estimate on how long the project will
last, and how many resources are required based on the tasks that have been scheduled.
Recall that when this request was created, a template was attached. Thus, you are not surprised that the initial
view shows that the request already has added the consultant, designer, and developer roles to the resource
estimate. You note that along the top of the spreadsheet there is a dark blue line that indicates the scheduled
range of the request. A scheduled range is computed by @task, based on the tasks that have already been
29
added to the project. Thus, this line shows that the estimated duration of the project is about one month. You
will also notice, that no human resources have actually been budgeted.
FIGURE 16.29: RESOURCE ESTIMATES TAB

Although resources have not been budgeted, this does not mean none have been scheduled. To see if any of
the job roles have been scheduled click on the Display Scheduled Data icon ( ), and toggle the Show Role
and Summary Schedules. This appears as seen in Figure 16.30.
FIGURE 16.30: TOGGLING SCHEDULED DATA
You can easily see that there are scheduled overages. A scheduled overage occurs when the scheduled
resources exceeds those budgeted. This is expected since no resources have been budgeted. To solve this
issue, simply budget values.
tA
Budgeting can be done either manually or automatically. Manual budgeting is necessary if you do not have
any scheduled values. This requires you to use the spreadsheet to enter in values using the standard
commands, and shortcuts available.
Automatic budgeting occurs if you already have scheduled values in place. Click on the Action icon that will
display the Set Budget to Schedule option. This will replicate the scheduled values in the budget value cells.
As you can imagine this is a very useful tool for requests that have been mostly planned out. You can also
modify any of the budgets by clicking on the desired cell and changing the values.
The scheduled values look like a decent estimate so you set the budget estimate to the scheduled values. Your
resource estimate should now look like that found in Figure 16.31.
29
FIGURE 16.31: UPDATED RESOURCE ESTIMATE
Note how all the scheduled totals are now in line, and the budgeted to scheduled is balanced, i.e., there are
no red highlighted cells. If you change the units to Cost you can do a quick check to see how close you are to
the estimated budget. The total estimated cost seems to be $10,600, which is very close to the cost budgeted
in the Related Information tab. Adjustments could be made to fit the budget, but this is a review process and
does not require exactness.
BUDGETING WITH THE CAPACITY PLANNER

With a project request ready, you can add it to the Capacity Planner to forecast its effects on current projects.
The Capacity Planner is more robust version of the Resource Estimates tab. It allows you to see all the
resources available to a specific Resource Pool, the projects that are assigned to the pool, and the net
remaining resources after the projects have been budgeted. In this way the Capacity Planner is like an
interactive check book that shows you total assets at the top, bills (projects) that are being paid in the middle,
and the balance remaining at the bottom. This tool is an incredibly powerful and useful tool for project
managers that are trying to organize a groups efforts.
Go to Resource Management Ω Capacity Planning Ω Capacity Planner. This will open a list of available
Resource Pools to view. Selecting a Resource Pool will open the Capacity Planning view similar to the one
found in Figure 16.32.
At
30
FIGURE 16.32: CAPACITY PLANNER VIEW

CAPACITY PLANNER OVERVIEW
Before continuing with the example use case, let’s take a moment to describe the various sections of the
Capacity Planner.
RESOURCE POOL SECTION

The Resource Pool section, as seen in, is found at the very top of the Capacity Planner and displays all of the
roles and their allocations in a table format. You cannot directly edit this information. To change any of these
values you would need to edit the Resource Pool by accessing the object directly, or in the Resource Budgets
Manager, which will be discussed later in the chapter. The top row of the section contains the sum of all the
resources in the pool. You can hide this section from view by clicking the Hide icon ( ). This is true for all
the sections discussed here.
tA
FIGURE 16.33: RESOURCE POOL SECTION
PROJECTS SECTION
The Projects section, as seen in Figure 16.34, is the main section in the Capacity Planner. It displays all the
projects assigned to a Resource Pool and is used to adjust allocations in spreadsheet format. Each project is
represented by a row that can be expanded to show budgeted resources. When a project is expanded, the
301
roles assigned that project are displayed in separate row. Scheduled data is displayed beneath budgeted data
role using the Display Scheduled Data icon ( ). The budgeted amounts can be edited in the Capacity
Planner while the scheduled amounts are calculated based on the assignments made to tasks within the
project and therefore are read-only.
The left partition also contains the visible project fields as defined by the Preferences form, e.g., start and
finish dates, project ID, etc. There are a few special icons to the left of each project name. To learn more about
the icons found in the Projects Section, See “Using Capacity Planning Spreadsheets” on page 312.
FIGURE 16.34: PROJECTS SECTION
NET REMAINING RESOURCES SECTION

The Net Remaining Resources Section is the balance sheet of the Capacity Planner. In this table you can see
what weeks are over or under budgeted and by how much. Deficits and surpluses can be seen both on a totals
level and a job role level, as can be seen in Figure 16.35. This section is useful in identifying if you are using
you resources well, or are severely under budgeted in certain roles.
FIGURE 16.35: NET REMAINING RESOURCES SECTION
Another viewing option for this section is the Chart option, as seen in Figure 16.36. The bar chart is separated
by weeks or months, with each bar being the sum of all current allocations of each role. Each role has its own
color. For example in Figure 16.36, the Consultant role is blue, and can be seen in the left most columns of the
chart. To remove a roll from the chart, click on the checkbox next to the role name. When roles have been over
budgeted a little gray marker will appear to the left of column like that seen in Figure 16.37. You also notice
At
that if you mouse over any section of the bar column, a mouse over appears with the role name, and
allocation values. Over budgeting appears in red.
A last feature is the Resource Pool Threshold. In Figure 16.37, there is a pink section at the top of the chart.
This area indicates that the budgeted resources amount to more that the total resources in the pool. It has
two purposes. First, to immediately alert you to budgeted overages. Second, it is a good benchmark that
displays how close a pool is to full utilization, assuming no overages on viewed rows. The chart and the table
both scroll when scrolling the spreadsheet.
302
FIGURE 16.36: NET REMAINING RESOURCES CHART

FIGURE 16.37: CHART OVER BUDGETING AND MOUSEOVERS
ADDING PROJECTS TO A RESOURCE POOL

There are two ways to add projects to a Resource Pool, using the Add Project icon or the Search and Add
Projects contextual menu option. We will focus on using the Add Projects icon. To learn more about using the
Search and Add Projects option, See “Project Planning” on page 309.
Returning to the example use case, you want to add the widget request to the list of considered projects in the
Capacity Planner. Click on the Add Projects icon ( ). This opens up the Add Project Form, which contains a
dynamically filtered list. You know that your project request has a requested status, i.e., Requested, Approved,
Reviewed, and Rejected, so filter for projects with those status only. With these filters put in place, you notice
that the widget project is available for selection. If the project you are looking for does not appear, check your
date range. Your desired project must be active during the specified date range to be displayed. The date
range can be any time up to three years in the past or future of the current calendar year. Figure 16.38
demonstrates how the Add Project Form should look after you have selected the widget request.
FIGURE 16.38: ADD PROJECT FORM EXAMPLE
tA
303
After clicking OK this project appears in the list of considered projects. Note from Figure 16.39, the name of
the widget request is yellow as opposed to black. Project names that are yellow indicate a requested phase. As
mention before, requested status are: Requested, Reviewed, Rejected, and Approved.
FIGURE 16.39: PROJECT REQUESTS IN THE CAPACITY PLANNER
With the widget request added to the project list, a new icon is displayed. The Budgeted Overage icon ( )
appears in the left partition and indicates that more resources are budgeted than available resources. The
widget request had a high chance of having at least one conflict. Contributing factors are a low project priority,
and the multiple projects scheduled in the same time frame. Cells in the spreadsheet with red numbers
indicate where an overage has occurred. You can expand the project request to see the specific role(s) having
a conflict, or you can look in the same interval of the Net Remaining Resources section for a negative red
value. Figure 16.40 demonstrates how this appears in the Capacity Planner. Note that the overage icon is
duplicated on the developer’s row. A quick way to find the overage is to click on the Budgeted Overage icon,
this will take you directly to the first occurrence of an overage.
FIGURE 16.40: BUDGETED OVERAGE
FIXING BUDGETING CONFLICTS

The Capacity Planner allows for over-budgeting and over-scheduling of organizational resources, so you can
make informed decisions based on observable need. As seen above, you will have frequent scheduling
conflicts between projects. You can solve conflicts by adjusting project priority, project dates, and resource
allocation. If you carefully analyze the conflicts that you are getting, it is usually easy to determine what kind
of method you should use. You need to ask questions like:
At
1. Is the project priority correctly reflected and should you modify it?
2. Does this project have a hard deadline, or flexible?
3. Does it have scheduled data?
4. Does this project have a rigid task timeline, i.e., predecessor tasks?
Whenever a project is added to the Capacity Planner it will be added to the bottom of the list, with the lowest
or low priority. It is possible, that this default priority does not reflect reality, and should be modified.
Changing the project priority is a two edged sword, because the conflicts that are fixed in the higher priority
project will show up in the lower priority project. This may not fix the budgeting problem, but it helps you
focus on the right project or projects. In our use case, the widget request should have the lowest priority.
30
Now consider whether the project has a hard deadline or not. For example, if you add a customization project
for a company that was due in a month, this would be a hard deadline. This would probably cause you to
move it up in priority, and remove it from budgeting changes. On the other hand, the widget request doesn’t
have a fixed deadline. It is true that a project timeline with tasks has been scheduled, but that timeline can be
modified. If this is the case, an easy fix that always works is to delay project until it is not competing with
other projects for company resources. For the widget project, this would require us to only delay the project a
RECONCILING PROJECT BUDGETS AND SCHEDULES

few weeks. This solution is quick and easy, but may not always be practical for your organization. A project
that spans multiple months, and has more than a handful of resources could have multiple conflicts at
different times. Projects such as these require more effort to make it fit in the project schedule.
Using the widget request example, you notice the conflict is only with developers. Instead of moving the
whole project you can just delay when the developers are budgeted. This is done by highlighting the cells in
the developer’s row and dragging them over until the conflict is resolved. Figure 16.41 demonstrates how this
could look. In this case, rearranging the budget of the developers extends the project two extra weeks. In
some cases this is a tolerable delay.
FIGURE 16.41: BUDGETING CONFLICT FIX
Another method, would be to adjust the numeric allocation. If the task timeline allows, you could reduce the
amount of resources working on a given project. Of course reducing resources generally means that the
project will take longer to finish. For example, the widget request has two developers budgeted for two weeks.
If you educe the allocation to one developer each week, then the same tasks should take twice as long to
complete, i.e., four weeks instead of two. Figure 16.42 demonstrates what the project budget would look like
now (budgeted values highlighted green).
FIGURE 16.42: ANOTHER BUDGETING CONFLICT FIX
tA
Although there are no budgeted overages, please note that Figure 16.42 has two red highlighted cells in the
scheduled row for developers. Red cells indicate that there is a scheduled overage. Your budget fix, created a
scheduled overage.
Scheduled overages occur when @task identifies that a project has more scheduled work for a Job Role then
there are resources to accomplish it. As you can see, the widget request has enough scheduled work to
occupy two full-time developers. The process of fixing scheduled overages is called reconciliation.

After a project has been budgeted in the Capacity Planner, the new budget may not balance with the
scheduled data. You have a scheduled overage when a cell is highlighted red as seen in Figure 16.42.
305
Reconciliation is the process of making scheduled data align with budgeted data. This can be done in a
couple different ways that depend on the severity of the conflict.
RECONCILING USING THE CAPACITY PLANNER

Reconciliation in the Capacity Planner is very limited. To be effective, you should be dealing with projects that
have had simple timeline changes. A simple timeline change would be selecting the whole project, and
moving it to a later time. An example of how this would look is found in Figure 16.43. You can see that budget,
highlighted in green, has been moved over leaving scheduled overages, highlighted in red. This is easily fixed,
because the budget still matches the schedule, but are easily reconciled.
FIGURE 16.43: TIMELINE CHANGE

To reconcile using the Capacity Planner

1. Select Edit Project from the Action icon ( ) menu
2. Changed the Planned Start or Completion Date to the beginning of the budgeted timeline
3. Click Save
RECONCILING USING THE RESOURCE WORKSHEET

The most common way of reconciling scheduling conflicts is to use the Resource Worksheet. This worksheet
is available at the project level. If you are in the Capacity Planner, you can click on the project name and you
will be taken to the project navigation page. From here you can go to the Task Tab. You will find the Resource
Worksheet icon ( ) along the top. Opening this worksheet will import your tasks into an HTML table, and
worksheet similar to that found in any worksheet currently found in @task. Figure 16.44 demonstrates what
this page looks like.
FIGURE 16.44: RESOURCE WORKSHEET

At
30
At the top you have the Resource Estimates section. Its purpose is to give you similar information that is
found in the Resource Estimates tab that has already been described. Looking closely you see that the left of
the table lists the job roles assigned to the project. To the right are cells with two sets of numbers. Numbers
outside parentheses show scheduled hours for that job role, while numbers inside parentheses show
budgeted hours for that job role. If the scheduled value is red, it indicates the same scheduled overage that is
visible in the Capacity Planner. When you click on the values found in the cells, you will notice that a row in the

Resource Worksheet will be highlighted, red, if conflicted, blue, if balanced. Figure 16.44 demonstrates what a
conflicted task looks like, while Figure 16.45 demonstrates a task that is balanced.
FIGURE 16.45: RESOURCE WORKSHEET EXAMPLE
Also part of the Resource Estimates section is the Project Planned Dates sub-section. You can use these fields
to change the date fields and scheduling mode of a project. This will help you reconcile many of your
scheduling conflicts.
The Resource Worksheet section looks very similar to the Task Worksheet, with one noticeable difference,
tasks are assigned to a role not a user. This follows the concept of budgeting for job roles found through out
the Capacity Planning. These rows enable you to easily have a task reflect the budgeted values.
Returning to the widget request, you recall that we decided start the first two tasks earlier. You can see this
reflected in Figure 16.44, the later dates are balanced, but the budgeted and scheduled values for the
Designer and Consultant roles need to be reconciled.
Editing the Planned Start Date is usually a good first step. You notice from the figure, that the first budgeted
tA
values for the Consultant row appear in the week of July 29, 2007, and the scheduled values appear in the
week of August 12, 2007. If you click on the cell with the scheduled values, the task associated with those
hours is highlighted. To fix this issue, you change the Planned Start Date of the project to be July 29, 2007,
and click Submit. This will update the project timeline accordingly, as seen in Figure 16.46.
N O T E : If you would like to make tentative changes, but not permanently save them, you can click Adjust
instead. By using the Adjust option you are not saving any of the current changes, you must use Submit to
save changes to the object.
307
FIGURE 16.46: UPDATING THE PROJECT TIMELINE
Now that the project start date has been changed, you see that the Consultant and Designer roles have been
balanced, but the Developer role has a couple of conflicts during the period of August 12-26, 2007.
Interestingly, the week of August 26, 2007 displays no scheduling conflict. This is because during that week
40 hours have been scheduled, but 80 hours have been budgeted. To balance the Developer schedule out
click on the first cell with a scheduled overage. This will highlight task 3, Code the widget.
We have a couple ways of balancing this schedule. You can see in Figure 16.46 that task 3, has task 2 as a
predecessor. If you add a lag or delay on to the predecessor relationship you can force task 3 to be scheduled
later in the month. Thus, you can click in the Predecessor cell of task 3, as in Figure 16.47, and add a lag. In
this case, you can add a delay of 10 days, and the whole schedule will be properly balanced. Of course this
solution depends completely on predecessor relationships.
FIGURE 16.47: SETTING A PREDECESSOR LAG
A second method of balancing the schedule, is to change the task constraint type, and modifying the date. For
example, task 3 needs to start on August 27, 2007 to be balanced, so you Start No Earlier Than (SNET) from
the Cnst. column and make August 27, 2007 the Constraint column. Task 3 is now displayed as seen in
Figure 16.48.
FIGURE 16.48: AN UPDATED TASK

At
After the reconciliation, the Resource Estimates section appears like that found in Figure 16.49.
FIGURE 16.49: BALANCED RESOURCE ESTIMATES
308
These three modifications to the project and timeline are not meant to be the solution to all of the
reconciliation activities you could encounter. They are meant to be simple illustrations of what you can and
should do to reconcile scheduling conflicts. Other situations, will require you to use standard task
manipulation skills, such as changing the duration type, start dates, predecessor relationships, etc., to
reconcile your project schedule.
PROJECT PLANNING
PROJECT PLANNING
For a second imagine what the Capacity Planner will look like after two or three years of use. If you made the
viewable range include all of the projects done in that time frame, then it would quickly become cluttered with
distracting amounts of information. The main purpose of Project Planning is to view a manageable set of
projects and requests in a given time frame using standard @task list functionality. It can also be used as a
staging ground for Capacity Planning, because the additional view capabilities are suited for identifying the
best projects and requests to consider in the Capacity Planner.
A common way to add projects in the Capacity Planner is to use the Add Project icon ( ). This method is
limited to seeing projects based on Status and Date Ranges. Project Planning removes those limitations with
the ability to apply filters, views, and group settings. Figure 16.50 demonstrates what the planning tool looks
like.
FIGURE 16.50: PROJECT PLANNING
tA
The initial view looks very similar to a standard list in @task. One notable difference is the Date Range
section found at the top. The date range is an added filter for the list of projects below. Using the Date Range
you can set the view of the Capacity Planner to focus in a specific time frame, a quarter for example. This will
immediately filter out any projects that are outside that time frame. Please note that setting a Date Range
here will also set the viewable range in the Capacity Planner. The projects listed will be viewable in the
Capacity Planner.
30
To add projects to a Resource Pool
1. Select Search and Add Projects from the Contextual menu or click the Search and Add Projects icon ( )
2. Enter search criteria into the form
3. Select one or more of the returned projects
4. Add projects to the Resource Pool using the Add Projects icon ( ).
N O T E : Added projects are viewable from the Projects Tab of a Resource Pool, and in the Capacity Planner.
To remove projects from a Resource Pool
1. Select the project(s) you want to remove
2. Click on the Remove Project icon ( )
N O T E : Removing a project from the Capacity Planner and Resource Pool does not delete the project from
the system.
PROJECT PLANNING
At
310
RESOURCE BUDGETS MANAGER
The Resource Budgets Manager (RBM) is another tool available from the Capacity Planning landing page. It is
used to manage the Resource Pools in the system. The RBM appears as seen in Figure 16.51.
FIGURE 16.51: RESOURCE BUDGETS MANAGER
RESOURCE BUDGETS MANAGER

The format of the RBM is very similar to the Capacity Planner. You can see that the zoom and unit options
remain the same. You have the table and chart views available in the Net Remaining Resources section.The
Display Scheduled Data, Add Projects, and Remove From Calculation icons are unavailable, because they
have no purpose in the tool.
Total Available Resources is the first section. This displays all the resources in the system as defined by the
number of users in the system. These values are read-only, and the only way to modify the number is to edit
specific user profiles.
tA
The Resource Pool section lists all of the Resource Pools in the system, and their current allocations. These
values can be edited in the standard way, using spreadsheet functionality. There are a couple of useful options
available in the Action menu, as seen in Figure 16.52.
FIGURE 16.52: RESOURCE BUDGETS MANAGER ACTION MENU
The first is Set to Total Available. When you have a Resource Pool with Job Roles already allocated, this option
will set the budget to include every resource in the system with those Job Roles. For example, if the Resource
Pool has the developer Job Role with the total available being 5, the Resource Pool will have 5 developers.
311
The second is Set to Net Remaining. This will set all the job roles to the net remaining resources. This can be
tricky deal with, because if you use this on a previously defined pool, then it will change all of you budgets to
reflect the remaining. For example, if you have three developers in a pool, and there are zero remaining, your
pool will show that zero developers are budgeted to your pool. If you set the pool to net remaining again, you
will then have three developers budgeted. We recommend that you use this option when creating a Resource
Pool, and use caution at all other times.
USING CAPACITY PLANNING SPREADSHEETS

Capacity Planning incorporates a set of Flash spreadsheets in various components of the feature. Each time a
spreadsheet appears its shares some basic functionality with all other forms. This section will describe what
functionality is common to the Flash spreadsheets, and then describe any unique functionality.
The Flash spreadsheet is seen in the Resource Budgets Manager, Capacity Planner, and Resource Estimates
Tab of Resource Pools and Projects. The simplest form of the spreadsheet is found in the Resource Estimates
Tab, and will be used to highlight the basic functionality of the tool.
BASIC FUNCTIONALITY OF THE SPREADSHEET

Figure 16.53 depicts the spreadsheet as seen in the Resource Estimates Tab when editing a new Resource
Pool. Viewing the spreadsheet you will immediately notice the two gray rows that run along the top and the
bisecting vertical dark blue line. The rows on the left of the bisecting line list column headers, while on the
right they contain date information for the current view. You can move the vertical bisector to the left or right
to display more information on a desired side. This feature becomes particularly useful when in the Capacity
Planner where these columns contain portfolio values, and project fields.
FIGURE 16.53: RESOURCE ESTIMATES TAB

At
FIGURE 16.54: MOVING THE VERTICAL BISECTOR
312
The Allocations section is situated beneath these two rows. This section also has the bisecting line as found
above. To the left are the icons and names for each row in the Allocation section. The right side is used to
enter budgeted values for each Job Role that is added to the Resource Pool.
SPREADSHEET ICONS
In between the Allocations section and informational rows you will see a series of icons, as seen in

Figure 16.55. Each of these icons offers you a helpful tool while using the spreadsheet. The Legend icon ( )
displays a concise list of colors used in the current view and what they indicate. This feature becomes
increasingly useful as the complexity of the view goes up. The contents of the legend also changes with the
tool that you are currently using. Figure 16.56 depicts the legend as found in the Resource Estimates tab.
FIGURE 16.55: SPREADSHEET ICONS
FIGURE 16.56: EXAMPLE LEGEND
The Fullscreen icon ( ) allows you to toggle fullscreen viewing. This option is especially useful when dealing
with vast amounts of information that make the standard browser format appear cluttered. The fullscreen
option overcomes this problem by expanding the grid to utilize all of the browser space and maximizing the
amount of information that you can view. Please note that when fullscreen viewing is toggled contextual and
navigational menus, the home button, breadcrumbs, and page titles are hidden from view. To un-toggle
fullscreen viewing click on the icon again.
The Preferences icon ( ) displays a window similar to that found in Figure 16.58. This window allows you to
select which columns you want to display on the left of the spreadsheet. These fields are all attached to a
project object, and, therefore, are only truly useful when in an area associated with projects. The Range Start
and Range End fields are used to limit the number of project budgets that are focused on. When a range is
selected, all projects with a end date before the Range Start date, and a completion date after the Range End
tA
date are included in the spreadsheet. The range can extend a total of four years.
N O T E : If the project timeline is not completely contained within the date range it is an intersected project.
Intersected projects are highlighted yellow instead of blue, as seen in Figure 16.57, and the budget cannot be
shifted in time. The Intersection icon ( ) also indicated an intersected project. If you mouse over the icon it
will display the conflicting date.
313
FIGURE 16.57: INTERSECTED PROJECT
Although the preferences are available on the Resource Estimates Tab of a Resource Pool, there is no
information to populate these fields. In addition, the Range Start and Range End fields are only available
when using the spreadsheet in the Resource Budgets Manager and Capacity Planner tools.
FIGURE 16.58: PREFERENCES WINDOW

Tab Drop-downs
To the far right there are two drop-down menus, as seen in Figure 16.59. The drop-down on the left is called
the Zoom Level. The current version of @task supports week and month zoom levels with week being the
higher detail and zoom level. To describe zoom level in another way, it allows you to display the standard
interval of time that you want to schedule for. Figure 16.60 demonstrates how the month zoom level appears,
Figure 16.53 above demonstrates a week zoom level.
FIGURE 16.59: SPREADSHEET DROP-DOWNS

At
FIGURE 16.60: MONTH ZOOM LEVEL
The second drop-down shows the different units that can be displayed in the spreadsheet. They are Full-Time
Equivalents (FTE), Hours, and Cost. FTE is the default unit setting, and is generally the easiest to use when
budgeting resource estimates. A value of “1” indicates that one full-time user has been scheduled for the
represented time interval of the column. This translates into 40 hours per week, or around 160-184 hours per
month.
314
Each user in @task has an FTE value associated with their user profile. This value is used to calculate the
Total Available Resources. Users can have FTE values of less than one, thereby enabling your organization to
accommodate for part-time employees. For example, an FTE of 0.5 is an employee that works half-time or 20
hours per week.
To set or edit the FTE value of a user

1. Go to Resource Management Ω User Management
2. Search for a specific user or group of users
3. Select the desired users from the returned list
4. Click on the Bulk Edit icon ( )
5. Set the FTE values accordingly
Units of hours are a standard unit of time found in most any company, and should be self-explanatory in their
use.
Units of cost are determined by the cost per hour associated with the listed Job Role. For example, a
developer in your company could have a listed cost of $25 per hour. The cost per hour translates into $1000
per week, and roughly $4000 per month for a full-time employee. If you have already budgeted your resource
pool, and then change the units to cost, all of your FTEs or hours will convert into a dollar amount for each
week or month. Potentially, you could even put dollar amounts into your grid as a set budget, e.g., you have
$1000 per week for developers. This would then indicate that you have enough for one full-time developer at
$25 per hour, two half-time developers, and so on. Regardless of what units are input, @task will
automatically do the unit conversion.
N O T E : Users with the same Job Role frequently have differing salaries, but Capacity Planning does not take
into account the cost per hour of a specific user. Thus, if you have multiple users with varying salaries, we
suggest that the cost per hour of a Job Role reflects the average cost per hour for current users, rather than a
base pay.
To set or edit the cost per hour of Job Role
1. Go to Resource Management Ω Job Roles
2. Select the Job Role or Roles that you want to edit
3. Click on the Role Worksheet icon ( )
4. Edit the cost per hour accordingly
BUDGETING RESOURCES USING THE SPREADSHEET
tA
Using the above information, you are now ready to budget resources. The spreadsheet was built with the
intent to replicate standard spreadsheet functionality found in popular desktop programs. When entering
information you can click directly in the desired cell. The highlighted cell will appear in a light green color as
seen in Figure 16.61. Once a cell has been highlighted you can input a value by typing the number on the
keyboard. You can only enter numeric values into the cells, symbols and letters will not appear. You will notice
when you are entering the information that the cell changes color to white outlined in blue. This response is
depicted in Figure 16.62.
315
FIGURE 16.61: HIGHLIGHTING CELLS IN THE SPREADSHEET
FIGURE 16.62: ENTERING VALUES

Navigation
After you have entered a value into the cell you have a few of options for navigating from that cell. If you would
like to save the value and move to the right one cell hit the Tab key. On the other hand if you would like to save
the value and move down a row you can hit the Enter or Arrow Down keys. Conversely, if you would like to
move up from that row you hit the Arrow Up key. You cannot go left a cell from the entering stage. You can
also click away from the cell using your mouse.
When a cell is highlighted green you can use the standard arrow keys to move within the spreadsheet. The
blue totals row at the top cannot be highlighted, nor can you move to a row that does not have a Job Role.
Cells that are colored a light tan or gray can be highlighted.
Drag and Double-Click Auto-fill
When dealing with large groups of data it can be tedious to have to enter a value into every cell of the
spreadsheet. This process can be simplified if you want to enter the same value into every cell of a certain row.
You can click the little black box in the cell with the value and the drag auto-fill tool allows you to copy the
same value into adjacent cells. This will cause a thin black outline to appear, as seen in Figure 16.63. From
here you can drag the outline in any direction to copy the value of the cell into adjacent cells, as seen in
Figure 16.64 and Figure 16.65. You can drag this value to the very end of your date range, but when you
release the mouse button you must have the cursor icon inside the spreadsheet. If you release the mouse
At
outside of the spreadsheet, then the values will not be copied into the selected cells.
FIGURE 16.63: AUTO-FILL OUTLINE
316
FIGURE 16.64: AUTO-FILL BEFORE

FIGURE 16.65: AUTO-FILL AFTER
You can also select more than one cell to drag and auto-fill. You can select part or all of column and drag it
horizontally. Alternatively, you can select part or all of a row and auto-fill it up or down. If you select a set of
cells that have different values and auto-fill, it will copy the value in direction of the drag. For example, you
pick two cells in a row, the left has a 1 in it, and the right a 2. If you auto-fill down it will copy both in their
proper columns. If you drag left, all the cells except the far right will be filled with a 1. Conversely, dragging
right will fill all the cells with a 2 except the far left column.
To drag and auto-fill
1. Highlight the cell you would like to copy
2. Click and hold on the black square in the lower right corner of the cell
3. Drag over the cells you would like to auto fill (left, right, up or down, not diagonally)
4. Release the mouse button to fill the selected cells
An additional feature is the ability to double-click and auto-fill. The limiting requirement is that the row above
has already been filled in. Usually you will have already auto-filled the first row in the spreadsheet. Now you
want to fill the row below for the same time range as the above. To do this highlight the desired cell, enter a
value, and then double click on the black square in the lower right corner of the cell. This will cause the whole
row to be filled with the same value, up to the end of the above row. Figure 16.66 and Figure 16.67
demonstrate how the auto-fill will appear with exemplary data.
FIGURE 16.66: DOUBLE-CLICK BEFORE
tA
FIGURE 16.67: DOUBLE-CLICK AFTER
To double-click and auto-fill

1. Click on a cell under a filled in row
2. Enter the desired value
317
3. Double-click on the black square in the lower right corner of the cell
DRAG AND DROP EDITING

All of the Capacity Planning spreadsheets further support drag and drop editing of budgeted values. You can
highlight one or more cells and move them to another section in the spreadsheet. This movement is
restricted to horizontal movement only. Figure 16.68 and Figure 16.69 demonstrate a simple drag and drop
procedure.
FIGURE 16.68: DRAG AND DROP EDITING
FIGURE 16.69: DRAG AND DROP EDITING AFTER

@task also supports drag and drop editing for entire projects. To do this click on the blue bar in the totals row
of a project. This will highlight every cell under the blue bar, and allow you to move the project back and forth
along the date range. Figure 16.70 demonstrates a project drag and drop.
FIGURE 16.70: PROJECT DRAG AND DROP
To drag and drop edit

1. Select the cells or project you would like to move.
2. Click and hold on the dark outline surrounding the cells (anywhere on the blue project totals row)
At
3. Horizontally drag the cells to the desired spot

4. Release the mouse button
UNIQUE FUNCTIONALITY OF THE PROJECT RESOURCE ESTIMATES SPREADSHEET

This spreadsheets works exactly the same as the spreadsheet found in Resource Pools. The only difference
being that the Display Schedule Data icon ( ) is included. This is a multi-state button that enables you to
display any resources that have actually been scheduled. A scheduled resource is a job role that is specifically
assigned to a task of a specified duration. The key concept is scheduled data reflects actual resources
allocated to an existing project, whereas budgeted data is hypothetical. Thus, to change scheduled data you
must edit the tasks and projects themselves.
318
There are four states to the icon, and they are as follows:
• No Scheduled Data Displayed ( )
• Show Role Schedules ( )- Displays the scheduled values for each role are displayed beneath each
row
• Show Summary Schedules ( )- Displays the sum of all scheduled values is beneath the totals row

• Show Both Schedules ( )
UNIQUE FUNCTIONALITY OF THE CAPACITY PLANNER SPREADSHEET

All the above features are also used in the Capacity Planner spreadsheet, with a few notable distinctions. The
Capacity Planner has three separate sections for information, these are Resource Pool, Projects and Net
Remaining Resources. The editable spreadsheet is contained in the Projects section only. In the Projects
section of the Capacity Planner there are four icons to the left of each project name, as seen in Figure 16.71.
FIGURE 16.71: PROJECTS SECTION
The Exclude icon ( ) allows you to exclude the budget of a project from the Net Remaining Resources
calculation without actually removing the project from the capacity planner. You can use this functionality to
focus on specific projects, or visualize the effects of a project(s) on the net remaining resources. A project
that has been excluded will be grayed out, as seen in Figure 16.72.
FIGURE 16.72: EXCLUDED PROJECT
The Priority icon ( ) enables you to change the priority of a project in the Capacity Planner, the highest
priority being the highest on the list. Projects that have a higher priority are budgeted before those of lower
tA
priority. For example, if there is one designer left to budget in a given week, and two projects need one
designer, the project with higher priority will receive the designer, while the lower priority project will indicate
a budgeting conflict. To change a projects priority simply click and hold the Priority icon and drag up or down
the list, releasing the mouse to finalize the decision. Changing the project priority is visible in Figure 16.73.
FIGURE 16.73: CHANGING PRIORITY
319
The Action icon ( ) has the same function as it does elsewhere in the application, with a few Capacity
Planning specific options. The menu is seen in Figure 16.74. Note that you are able to add roles to the project
budget, remove the project from the capacity planner, and set the current budget to the schedule. The Edit
Project option will open up a new form that allows you to edit some of the fields associated with the project.
Any edit done and saved in this form will change the project everywhere else in @task. The editable fields and
form can be seen in Figure 16.75.
FIGURE 16.74: ACTION MENU
FIGURE 16.75: EDIT PROJECT PROPERTIES FORM

N O T E : There is a known issue with changing the planned start date of the project using Edit Project
Properties form. If you change the start date, the scheduled values will not reflect that change, until you have
navigated away from the Capacity Planner and then returned. Thus, if attempting to change the project start
dates with the intent to set the budgeted values to the new scheduled values, then you will have to save the
Capacity Planner state, leave the Capacity Planner, and return before setting the budget.
At
The Expand icon ( ) allows you to display or hide the job roles that have been added to the project budget
and/or schedule.
In addition to these new icons you also have the Add Project icon ( ) in the toolbar. This opens up the Add
Project Form, as seen in Figure 16.76. The form allows you to search and filter for projects to add to the
capacity planner. You can see that the filters section has options to filter based on project status. To toggle
anyone of the filter options, click on the check box to the left of the option name. The date range lets you limit
your options to those projects that fall in part or completely within the specified date range. To modify the
date values, click on the drop-down fields and select the appropriate month and year. Changes to the date
range or the filters automatically updates the list of available projects. You can select one or more projects
from the list, and click OK to add them to the current Capacity Planner view.
320
FIGURE 16.76: ADD PROJECT FORM

N O T E : The Budgeted Outside Current Range icon ( ) found in the Add Project Form indicate that the
project timeline is not completely included in the date range set in the Preference icon form.
UNIQUE FUNCTIONALITY OF THE RESOURCE BUDGETS MANAGER

The Resource Budgets Manager works in the exact same way as the Capacity Planner, without many of the
icons and options. See “Unique Functionality of the Capacity Planner Spreadsheet” on page 319.
tA
321
At
Chapter 17
Managing System
Environments
• Setting up System Environments
• Creating Portals
• Setting Global Interface Preferences
• System Settings
SETTING UP SYSTEM ENVIRONMENTS
@task has several user interface features that let you select and view the information that you use most and
put it in the format that you want.
@TASK LANGUAGE SETTINGS

In the international release of @task various language and locale settings are offered to allow you and your
company to get the most out your project management software. Different locale settings will enable @task
to display information in formats specific to a country, region and/or language. For example, in the United
States the name John Baker would appear as John Baker in the upper right corner of @task. In certain Asian
countries it is the common practice to list the last name first, i.e., John Baker would appear as Baker John in
@task.
When setting up @task the System Administrator has the ability to set the Customer Locale, and Currency.
The Customer Locale setting will affect how components in @task such as the language of Audit Trails,
Default Roles, and User Name are displayed. All other language dependent changes default to the language
and locale set in your browser. Due to various browser and customer preferences, different @task
components will be affected. Table 17.1 indicates which @task components are affected by the Locale setting,
and who can effect those changes.
TABLE 17.1: LANGUAGE SETTINGS
@TASK HONORING
DESCRIPTION
COMPONENT ORDER
Default Roles, All the drop-down options, and pre popu- Customer
Groups, lated fields such as Job Roles will be dis- Locale
Reports played in the language of the locale
Audit Trails A record that tracks business processes and Customer

records data about your project management Locale
processes
Automated All Event Notifications sent from @task Customer

Messages Locale
User Name The appearance of a User’s Name in drop- Customer

downs and system records Locale
Email Emails generated from within @task Browser Ω Cus-

tomer Locale
At
Customer The corporate address of the customer Customer

Address Locale
User Address The personal address of the user Browser Ω Cus-

tomer Locale
NOTE: If the User Locale is set to Null, i.e., no option is selected, @task will default to the Customer Locale.
When setting a Customer Locale care must me taken to ensure that your preferred browser can support the
language/locale that you have selected. @task will use the following rules in determining the language
displayed in @task:
323
a. If the Customer Locale set in @task matches a locale setting in your web browser, @task will honor
the Customer Locale. For example, the Customer Locale is set to Japanese, and the web browser is
set up to display in Japanese, then @task will display in Japanese
b. If the Customer Locale set in @task does not match a locale setting in your web browser, @task will
honor the highest preferred locale in your web browser. For example, the Customer Locale is set to
Japanese, but the web browser only is set to display French, @task will display in French.
CHANGING BROWSER SETTINGS

The following lists describe the steps to changing your browser settings for IE users and Firefox.
Internet Explorer Users
1. Open up a browser
2. Open the Tools menu and select Internet Options
3. In the General tab, click Languages...
4. Click Add...
5. Add the desired English language locale
6. Highlight the recently added locale, and click Move Up to make it the default language setting.
Firefox Users
1. Open up a browser
2. Open the Tools menu and select Options... (Mac users: Firefox menu and select Preferences)
3. In the Advanced tab, go to the Languages section and click Choose
4. Add the desired English language locale
5. Highlight the recently added locale, and click Move Up to make it the default language setting
For more information on setting your browser language setting please see “Translator’s Guide”.
N O T E : While American English is generally acceptable for English speaking users outside of the United
States, date and time formats differ greatly. To set the proper date and time settings simply change your
browser settings to the proper locale, and ensure that the @task Customer Info has a corresponding locale.
CUSTOM VIEWS
Custom views let you create your own displays of the information you need. You can select the type of object
that you want to see and the information about that object that you want @task to display. You then choose
the format that you want @task to use when it displays the data.
At
@task version 4, provides a couple of innovative ways to create new views. This first is by accessing your user
profile. In the Application Menu select My Profile Ω Interface Ω My Views. Now in the contextual menu select
Add View. From this screen you can title and select the object type of this view. For this exercise, name the
view Task View, select Task from the drop-down, and check Make available to other users check box.
Figure 17.1 displays what your screen should look like. Once you are ready click Submit.
324
FIGURE 17.1: CUSTOM VIEW DETAILS SCREEN
A new screen will appear which allows you to set the columns and fields that you want to display in those
columns. At this point you need to determin what you want this view to dispaly. In this case, you want to see
the:
• Name of the task.
• Name of the person who is assigned to do the task.
• Name of the person who created the task.
• Completion percentage of the task.
• The planned completion date of the task.
• Name of the project that the task belongs to.

• The planned completion date of the project that the task belongs to.
Click the Add icon ( ) to add a column, and populate the fields according the list you just made. You can
use the icons to the left of the screen to reposition or remove this column. Additionally if you want to create a
link to the project view or user view, you can check the checkbox in the Links column. You can further set the
column width and the stretch percentages.
The width is the size of the column in pixels. The stretch percentage is the percent of unused space in the
view that the column stretches to fill. You have your view set up so that the Task Name column stretches to fill
100% of the unused space. However, you could have set 2 columns to each stretch to take up 50% of the
unused space. Click Submit when you are ready. Figure 17.2 shows how the View Layout screen should look
when you are done.
At
325
FIGURE 17.2: VIEW LAYOUT SCREEN
Now you can look at your new view. Since the object type selected was Task, the new view is in the view menu
for Tasks. Open a project and looks at the tasks. In the View menu, select the Task View. Figure 17.3 shows
what your new view looks like.
FIGURE 17.3: SELECT VIEWS
At
As you can see, this view represents what you wanted. It has the task name, the names of the person assigned
to complete the task and of the person who created each task. The completion percentage is there, as are the
planned completion dates for both the task and the project. Additionally, the Project name is also found on
the list. If you ever realize that you want to modify this Task View at any time you can go back and edit the
custom view.
You can also create New View by selecting New View in the view drop-down menu, as seen in Figure 17.4.
326
FIGURE 17.4: VIEW DROP-DOWN
To create a custom view

1. From the Application Home page, click My Profile Ω Interface Ω My Views, or select New View from the
View drop-down menu.

2. In the contextual menu, click Add View.
3. Type a name for the view and select an object type. If you choose Task, the view will be available in task
lists.
4. After you click Continue, click the Add icon ( ) to add a column.
5. Set the fields and column widths.
At
327
CREATING PORTALS
Portals are default views that you can assign to a user. You can create a portal so that when a user logs in,
rather than seeing the standard application home page, he sees any information that you select. He can see
issues, tasks, approvals, or any other information you choose. With portals, you can customize @task
screens to show any user the exact information necessary to optimize efficiency and productivity. You can use
portals tho change the user home page and other landing pages that you select.
Additionally, you can create as many portals as you need and assign each user a different profile, or assign
many users the same profile. However, to save you time, @task has created five built-in profiles that are
optimized for the most common users. Table 17.2 lists the default profiles and describes them.
TABLE 17.2: BUILT-IN PORTAL PROFILES
PROFILE DESCRIPTION
Executive Profile Presents portal components common to managers interested in organizational

dashboards and general project health.
Individual Contributor Profile Presents portal components most common to individuals that routinely work on
tasks and issues.
Limited License Limited License default profile.
Full License Full License default profile.
Requestor License Requestor License default profile presents help desk queues and submitted issues
only.
CREATING PORTAL PROFILES

When you create portal profiles, you define the custom views that the user sees when accessing various areas
CREATING PORTALS
of @task. You can define what a user sees when accessing the Application Home page, the Project
Management home page, the Projects Home page, the Issues Home page, and what appears when a user
opens a project to view it.
For example, you can place a task status chart or links to time sheets below the navigation links on the
application home page. A manager might want his approvals on his home page, or an executive might want a
chart that lists projects by priority.
For each page that you define, you can create up to four tabs, each of which can have at up to three profile
sections. One useful combination for the application Home page is to have a navigation pane, a task list and
At
a calendar on the first tab; issues, unassigned issues, and approvals on another tab; and timesheets and a
work week overview on a third tab. However, you can put any section in any order on any tab.
Also, you can define sections for only the pages that you want. You can create a portal profile and only define
sections for the Project Management home page. Any pages without defined sections revert to the default
views.
N O T E : You should always have a navigation section on the first tab, so that the users can easily navigate in
@task. The only exception is when you want to limit what users can view.
Figure 17.5 shows an example of the screen that you use to create a portal profile.
328
FIGURE 17.5: CREATING A PORTAL PROFILE
To create portal profiles

1. From the application home page, click Setup Ω Interface Setup Ω Portal Profiles Ω New Portal Profile.
2. On the Portal Profile Details tab, name and describe the portal profile.
3. Define the portal sections for the Home Page, the Landing Pages, and the Object Pages in the associated
tabs. The Landing Pages tab contains the definitions for the Project Management, the Projects Home,
CREATING PORTALS
and the Issues Home pages. The object pages have options for defining project, task, and issue list views
4. To define a section for a page, click the Add icon ( ) to add a new tab for the page.
5. In the Tab Name field, type a name for your new tab. This name appears on the tab in the user view. If you
do not type a name in this tab, the name defaults to the name of the first section that you add to the tab.
6. From the Available Sections menu, click the Add Section icon ( ) to make the section viewable on the
new tab. Ensure that you add a navigation tab unless there is a special reason to leave it off.
7. Use the remove icon and the move arrows to further edit the profile view and arrange the sections.
8. Add additional tabs as necessary by clicking the Add icon again, and add sections to these tabs.
At
9. You can arrange or delete tabs using the Portal Profile toolbar ( ). Use the red delete icon to
delete them and the arrows to move them.
PORTAL SECTIONS
In addition to the many built-in portal sections that @task provides, you can create your own custom portal
sections and add them to your portal profiles. This gives you complete control over the profiles that you
assign to users.
When you create portal sections, you can customize the View, Filter, and Group menus. You can disable the
menus for your portal section views, enable them in ‘not sticky’ mode, or enable them. If a view is ‘sticky’,
then when you select it, @task remembers what view, grouping, or filter you had selected when you left the
screen, and opens to that view when you next look at the screen.
329
You also select the filter and the UI view. The filter is the object or area in @task that this portal section relates
to and the UI view specifies the way that @task presents the information. For example, if you select Current
Projects as the filter and Project Gantt as the UI view, then in the new section that you create, @task displays
information about current projects in a Gantt chart view. You could also select My Documents as the filter
and Thumbnail List as the UI view. In the new section you create, you would see all the documents that you
own in a thumbnail view.
You can also create your own custom views that you can use as the UI view. If you make a custom view for
projects, then you can select it as your UI view for your portal section.
See “Custom Views” on page 324.
To create a portal section
1. From the Application Home screen, click Setup Ω Interface Setup Ω Portal Sections Ω New Portal Sec-
tion.
2. Type the name and description for the section.
3. Set the controls for the view, filter and grouping menus to Disabled, Not Sticky, or None. A setting of
None indicates that the menus are enabled in ‘sticky mode’.
4. Select the filter and UI view.
5. To use your new section, add it to a portal profile, and then assign the profile to a user or set of users.
CREATING PORTALS
At
330
SETTING GLOBAL INTERFACE PREFERENCES
You can set the default global interface preferences. The settings are identical to the ones that users can
select for their own accounts, however, these adjust the default settings globally. A user’s individual settings
take precedence over the global settings. See “Changing User Interface Preferences” on page 24.
To access the Interface Preferences
1. From the Application Home screen, click Setup Ω Interface Setup Ω Interface Preferences.
2. Set the default content width and the stylesheet for all users.
SETTING GLOBAL INTERFACE PREFERENCES
At
331
SYSTEM SETTINGS
@task gives you some basic tools in the system settings menu. These tools let you configure your server, set
your email preferences, check your current version of @task, and run basic diagnostics.
CURRENT VERSION
This screen tells you the build and version numbers for your installation of @task.
To access the current version screen
1. From the Application Home page, click Setup Ω System Settings Ω Current Version.
CONFIGURATION
This tool lets you manage the connections to your database server, as well as setting the email server settings.
If you do not understand the fields and settings, contact Attask customer services for information.
EMAIL CONFIGURATION
Configuration of the email server settings in the Email Generation section found at the bottom of the
Configurations Edit view. @task uses them to determine where to send an HTTP request addressed to itself.
The hostname can be set to localhost, but the port and context need to match the URL that you use to access
@task. For example, if you use http://attask.number1corp.com/attask to open @task, then the first three
fields should be:
• @task local hostname: localhost
• @task HTTP Port: 80 (80 is the default web address port)
• @task Servlet Context: /attask
N O T E : If you run on port 8080 (i.e. http://attask.number1corp.com:8080/attask), then you need to change
SYSTEM SETTINGS
the port field to 8080.

The other two fields are for generating correct links back to the application. So, in the example above, the two
fields would be:
• @task External Hostname: attask.number1corp.com
• @task External HTTP Port: 80
The Use https for all generated emails option is for servers that are SSL enabled.
At
To setup the email server settings

1. From the Application Home page, click Setup Ω System Settings Ω ConfigurationΩ Configuration Edit.
PREFERENCES
This tool lets you configure your email server (SMTP server) and password preferences.
EMAIL PREFERENCES
This tool lets you configure your email server preferences. You can configure hostnames, ports, and default
email addresses. You can also send a test email from this page.
332
FIGURE 17.6: EMAIL PREFERENCES
In the first two fields under Mail Setup, you type the name of your email server and a default address for
system emails. In the next field, you can write a message that will override the default test email message.
SYSTEM SETTINGS
The fields under Email Generation enable generic addressing. Generic Form Addressing forces all emails that
are sent from @task to have a generic email address. This is useful for hosted users with secure mail servers
that prohibit mail relay.
Under Notes and Messaging Options, set the Default Message Email setting to Yes if you want the email
check box marked by default when you add notes to @task objects. Set the Default Comment Visibility to
Automatic if you only want the comment box to appear when you make changes to projects, tasks and other
objects with comment functions. The Reminder Notifications drop-down allows you to specify the interval
At
between the delivery of the notifications.

In Configuration Setup, type the email address where you want to send a test email and click Send Test Email.
Click Send Notification to send a test email to the currently logged in user.
To access the email preferences screen
1. From the Application Home page, click Setup Ω System Settings Ω Preferences Ω Email Preferences.
PASSWORD PREFERENCES
This tool lets you determine whether you will force users to use secure passwords. If enabled, passwords
must be six characters in length, and include a character from three of the four character sets:
• Capital letters
333
• Lower-case letters
• Numbers
• Special characters
To access the password preferences screen
1. From the Application Home page, click Setup Ω System Settings Ω Preferences Ω
Password Preferences.
DIAGNOSTICS
If you experience difficulties with @task or your databases, @task provides you with a set of tools that you
can use to remedy many problems. This tool set also allows you to send reminders and late notices to all
users and projects. Table 17.3 lists and describes this tool set.
TABLE 17.3: DIAGNOSTICS TOOLS
TOOL DESCRIPTION
Clear Database Cache Clears all objects stored in memory
Clear Menus Forces a reload of all menu files
Clear Properties Forces reload of all properties files
Repopulate Default Data Executes the Default Data algorithm run at startup that guarantees a minimal set
of data
Send Overdue Notifications Checks for overdue tasks and issues in the system and notifies the responsible
people accordingly
Send Reminder Notifications Checks for tasks and issues approaching their due dates in the system and noti-
fies the responsible people accordingly
SYSTEM SETTINGS
To access the diagnostics tool set

1. From the Application Home page, click Setup Ω System Settings Ω Diagnostics.
At
334
Symbols
@task features 8
A
access levels
user permissions 263
actual revenue 235
advanced searches 51
approvals 157
task 190
timesheets 196
assigning users
to projects 122
assigning users to tasks 160
attachments
documents 201
auditing 157
audits 244
B
billing 235
billing records 236
budgets
managing 233
C
calendar
project 138
categories
creating 224
changing tabs 23
collaboration 9
At
companies 268
configure
email server 332
constraints
task 154
content management 207
copy projects 119
CPI 233
create parameters for custom data 221
create tasks 159
creating access levels 263
335
creating categories 224
creating companies 268
creating custom data 220
creating groups 267
creating help desk issues 181
creating issues 171
with worksheet 172
creating job roles 262
creating notes 208
creating parameter groups 223
creating portals 328
creating projects 107
creating schedules 214
creating subtasks 163
creating tasks 153
with worksheet 165
creating timesheets 193
creating user accounts 269
creating views 324
custom data 220
categories 224
parameter groups 223
parameters 221
custom forms 220
custom views 324
D
deleting documents 202
deleting issues 180
deleting projects 121
deleting tasks 162
dependencies 157
diagnostics 334
documents
At
attaching 201
deleting 202
searching 202
durations
task 154, 155
E
edit multiple projects 118
edit personal information 25
edit projects 116
edit projects of varying statuses 116
336
edit tasks
with worksheet 165
editing issues 172
editing multiple tasks 161
editing tasks 161
editing user accounts 270
email preferences
configuring email 332
emails
event notifications 272
Event Handlers 272
event notifications 272
export projects 145
F
filtering lists 33
forms
creating 220
G
Gantt chart 137
grouping lists 33
groups 267
H
help desk issues 181
help tips 32
hour types
adding to timesheets 194
creating 195
hours
billable hours 235
I
At
import projects 145

inline searches 27
interface 22
interface preferences 24, 331
setting globally 328
issues
assigning 179
create with worksheet 172
creating 171
deleting 180
337
editing 172
finding your 174
help desk 181
moving 180
routing 174
tracking 174
updating 180
viewing 174
J
job roles
creating 262
L
lists 33
log in 20
M
milestones 149
associating with tasks 150
moving issues 180
moving tasks 164
N
navigation menu 26
notes 208
creating 208
searching 209
P
parameter groups 223
parameters
At
custom data 221

passwords
changing 25
enforcing secure 332
resetting 270
permissions 263
personal user information 25
planned revenue 235
portals 328
power searches 51
predecessors 157
338
project calendar 138
project management preferences 107
project performance 233
project status
effects to edits 116
project timelines 137
projects
assigning users 122
copying 119
creating 107
creating with a template 120
deleting 121
editing 116
editing multiple 118
import and export 145
moving tasks 164
replanning 141
templates 211
R
reassigning issues 179
recorded changes field 157
replanning a project 141
reports 48
resetting passwords 270
resource grid 139
resource scope 157
resources
assigning 122
revenue
planned vs. actual 235
routing rules
issues 174
S
At
schedule templates 214

schedules
creating 214
scheduling time off 198
scope
resource 157
searches 26, 27
power 51
user utilization 123
searching
339
documents 202
notes 209
setting globally 331
setting tabs 22
SMTP server settings 332
SPI 233
status
project and task 127
subtasks
creating 163
system diagnostics 334
T
task approvals 157, 190
task attributes 153
task constraints 154
task durations 154, 155
task worksheet 165
tasks
assigning users 160
creating 153, 159
deleting 162
editing 161
editing multiple 161
moving 164
updating 188
templates
creating projects with 120
project 211
schedule 214
timelines
project 137
recalculating 140
timesheets 183, 193
At
adding hour types 194

approving 196
creating 193
creating hour types 195
U
updating issues 180
updating multiple tasks 189
updating tasks 183, 188
user accounts 269
deleting 271
34
editing 270
user utilization searches 123
users
assign to projects 122
create new 269
V
vacation time
scheduling 198
viewing lists 33
viewing reports 48
views
creating 324
W
work required field 157
worksheet
creating issues 172
tasks 165
At
341

AtTask User Guide

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

AtTask User Guide

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

AtTask User Guide

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

At

@task User’s Guide

Changing the Style Sheet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Determine Work Breakdown Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Associating a Milestone with a Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Managing Your Timesheets and Scheduling Time Off

Calculated Custom Data Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Set Filter Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Enumerated Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

SETTING UP SYSTEM ENVIRONMENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ABOUT @TASK FEATURES

@TASK IS EASIER TO USE

@TASK’S WEB-BASED DESIGN LETS YOU LOG IN FROM ANYWHERE

KEEP TRACK OF PROGRESS

RESOLVE ISSUES QUICKLY

MANAGE SCHEDULES AND TIMESHEETS

CREATE PROJECTS AND TASKS

BUILD AND CUSTOMIZE PROJECTS TO MEET YOUR UNIQUE NEEDS

CREATE AND ORGANIZE TASKS

contractor, he can check the box to keep track of this statistic.

MANAGE PERSONNEL RESOURCES

MANAGE CALENDAR SCHEDULES

DISTRIBUTE MANAGEMENT BURDENS

MANAGE USER ACCOUNTS AND SET UP ORGANIZATIONS

MANAGE SYSTEM ENVIRONMENTS

SEARCHING THE FORUMS

When registering, be prepared to provide the following information:

TABLE 2.1: USER INTERFACE AREAS

Application Menu Takes you to the main areas of the application.

Contextual Menu Links you to personalized areas of the application.

Tabs Takes you to related areas of the screen.

Favorites Provides quick access to your selected favorite objects.

SETTING DEFAULT TABS

To set up the tabs

CHANGING DEFAULT APPLICATION SIZE

CHANGING THE STYLE SHEET

EDITING PERSONAL INFORMATION

CHANGING YOUR PASSWORD

TABLE 2.2: NAVIGATION MENU

USING STANDARD SEARCHES

SEARCHING FOR CUSTOM DATA

USING INLINE SEARCH FEATURES

board controls to select multiple records.

3. Click the Export icon ( ).

FIGURE 2.12 :DATA IN AN APPLICATION

CREATING A CUSTOM FILTER

This is where you define the filter criteria.

USING WILDCARDS IN FILTER CRITERIA

USING MODS IN FILTER CRITERIA

TABLE 2.3: FILTER MODS

Null Only where the field has no value or is empty

Not Null Only where the field has ANY value

USING A CUSTOM FILTER

CREATING A CUSTOM VIEW

6. To add an additional column, click the Blue Add icon ( ).

CREATING A CUSTOM GROUPING

TABLE 2.4: GROUP DATES BY VALUES

DATE RANGE DESCRIPTION

Year Groups by year. Each year is a unique grouping.

FIGURE 2.27 :GROUPING EXAMPLE LIST