Projects · Daily operations · 9 min read

Plan phases, tasks, the Gantt schedule and milestones

Build the schedule, link tasks, find the critical path, save a baseline and record daily progress.

Before you begin

The project must exist and not be closed. You need project.task.edit to change the schedule. Approving a baseline needs project.budget.approve.

Steps: phases and tasks

1. Open the project in Projects > Projects > All Projects, then the Tasks tab. The sub-tabs are Task list, Kanban, Milestones, Phases / WBS and Daily progress.
2. Open Phases / WBS. Type a phase code and name in the new row and press Enter. A blank code takes the next number. Rename a phase by editing its cell.
3. Back in Task list, press New Task.
4. Enter the Task name and choose the Phase and Assignee (a team member).
5. Enter the Start and the Duration (days). The finish is start plus duration minus one, with a minimum of one day.
6. Enter Planned hours, a Cost code and, for cost-controlled work, a Budget cost. Tick Milestone task to show a diamond on the Gantt.
7. Press Save. The task code is the phase code plus a number, for example 3.4.

Drag a card between Kanban columns to change its status. Moving to Completed sets progress to 100 and the actual finish to today.

How progress rolls up

Phase and project progress are weighted by planned hours. Phase with task A (40 hours, 50%) and task B (10 hours, 100%): (50 x 40 + 100 x 10) / 50 = 60%. Tasks with no hours count equally. In Edit Project, choose Entered manually under Progress from to type the project percentage yourself.

Steps: dependencies and critical path

1. Open Planning > Gantt Schedule and choose the project, or the Gantt tab on Project 360.
2. In Dependencies, press Link. Choose the Predecessor, the Successor, the Type (FS, SS, FF or SF) and the Lag days. A negative lag is a lead.
3. Tick Critical path only to see the tasks with zero float. The note 'Critical path finishes' shows the date; it turns red when it is after the planned finish.

A link between a task and itself is refused ('Choose two different tasks.'), and so is a link that would create a loop ('That link would make a loop in the schedule.').

Steps: baseline

1. On Project 360 choose Actions > Save schedule baseline, or use Save baseline on the Gantt. The project needs dated tasks: 'Plan some tasks before taking a baseline.'
2. The baseline is a Draft. Someone with project.budget.approve presses Approve. A newer approved baseline replaces the older one.
3. Switch on Show baseline to see the approved dates beside the bars. The Baseline variance table shows start, finish and progress variance.

Steps: milestones

1. Open the Milestones sub-tab and press Add Milestone.
2. Enter the Name, Type (internal, contractual, billing, customer approval, delivery, inspection or handover), Due date and, for billing milestones, the Billing %.
3. Set the status to Completed when it is done. A billing milestone's billing step then becomes Ready to invoice.

Steps: daily progress

For tasks that have a Planned quantity (for example 250 m2), open Daily progress, choose the task, the date and the Quantity done, then press Record. Progress is cumulative quantity divided by planned quantity. A negative quantity corrects an earlier entry. A task with 250 m2 planned, 100 done yesterday and 50 today shows cumulative 150, balance 100, progress 60%.

Good to know

• A task with time logged cannot be deleted: 'Time is logged on this task. Cancel it instead of deleting it.' A task with sub-tasks cannot either.
• A phase that still has tasks cannot be deleted: 'Move or delete the phase's tasks first.'
• A milestone whose billing step is invoiced cannot be deleted.
• If someone else saved the task first you see 'Somebody else changed this task. Reload it.'