About tasks and milestones Differences between tasks and milestones Network view Accessing projects Create a milestone Create a task Update tasks and milestones Find task assignments Marking tasks complete Marking milestones complete

 

About tasks and milestones

Tasks and milestones in each workspace allow teams to build a project plan, track progress on it, and link plan items to relevant documents. Users can see all their workspace assignments on their network dashboard, drill into individual items, post updates, add links to relevant workspace pages, or mark them done. Members of the workspace can review the project plan and progress at a glance, drill down for more detail, post an update, reassign tasks, or add tasks incrementally as the project progresses and gains more detail.

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Differences between tasks and milestones

 

• Milestones

  Milestones are the main objectives required to complete a project.  There should only be a few milestones for any one project to prevent confusion or anything major being lost or overlooked.  Milestones should not give specific instructions, but guide the group toward a general goal or purpose.

• Tasks

  Tasks are the individual assignments which are required to complete a given milestone.  Tasks should be as specific as possible to make sure everything is completed correctly.  Tasks are only listed inside milestones, so every member knows what the task accomplishes in the general scope of the project.

 

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Network view

The home area of a network will allow network users to see, at a glance, upcoming tasks and milestones. Just click the Tasks tab and the user will see a list of all assigned tasks across all workspaces in the network.

 

 

Using the filters along the top, users can filter their tasks by workspace and by how far in the future the deadline is.

 

 

You can also use the Add to Outlook, iCal, or Google Calendar link to automatically import your tasks into your external calendar applications.  Click here for more information on Calendar Sync.

 

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Accessing projects

 

Projects can be accessed from the "Projects" link in the upper right corner of a workspace, or by clicking on the "Project" link when viewing all your workspaces in the network home.

 

 

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Create a milestone

Creating milestones allows small tasks to be grouped into larger goals, or milestones. To create a milestone, follow the below instructions:

 

1. To create a milestone, click the "Projects" link on a workspace.

   

    

2. You can see from the Projects interface that there are no milestones or tasks yet.  Click the "New Milestone" button to create your milestone.

   

    

3. Click the "New Milestones" button to start creating a milestone. Type in the milestone title, choose a person to assign the milestone to, and then set a due date. To easily set the date, click the calendar icon next to the due date field and click on the date in the calendar that appears.  Click "Save" to finalize your milestone creation.

   

    

4. Congratulations - you have now created a milestone! Now it's time to start adding tasks to this milestone.

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Create a task

Now that a milestone has been created, tasks can be added to that milestone. Follow the instructions below to add tasks:

 

1. From within your milestone, click the "New Task" button to start creating your task.

   

    

2. Just as with milestones, give your task a name, assign it to a workspace user, and select a due date. You can also assign it to a milestone.

   

    

3. Click "Save & Close" to see the task added to the milestone.

    

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Update tasks and milestones

At some point a task or milestone may need to be changed.  To accomplish this, just click "Edit" on the task or milestone, and you'll be able to change the information.

 

Click "Edit" on the milestone bar to edit the content of the milestone.

 

 

Click "Edit" on the task to edit any one of the tasks.

 

 

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Find task assignments

Sorting tasks based on assignee can help users know who the "go-to" person on a project is, it can also help managers track their employee's progress on an item. Users on a workspace can visit the projects task and then select their view from the "Show tasks assigned to" drop down menu.

 

 

 

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Marking tasks complete

When a task has been finished, a user can mark it complete. The task below, "Prepare whitepapers for distribution," was completed and so the user who completed it checked the box next to the task, marking the task complete.

 

 

This action was recorded in the activity listing at the network home, and in the workspace's Recent Activity list.

 

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Marking milestones complete

When all the tasks within a milestone have been completed, the milestone itself can be marked as complete. Just check the "Milestone is complete" checkbox in the lower right corner of the Projects interface. If any tasks are left open, completing the milestone will complete any open tasks as well.

 

 

This action was recorded in the activity listing at the network home, and in the workspace's Recent Activity list.