Managing Tasks and Milestones

The Edit Task form provides several functions that will help you manage your project's tasks and milestones. You can modify task settings, delete tasks, create task associations and external dependencies and add link schedule milestones to benefits using this form.  

There are two ways in which you can access the Edit Task form.

• With the desired task/milestone row selected in the grid, right-click to display the context menu. Click on the Edit "pen" icon.
• Double-click on the taskbar or milestone on the chart.

This article discusses the following operations that you can perform to manage tasks and milestones:

• Modifying task settings
• Deleting tasks
• Connecting milestones to benefits 
• Linking milestones to a stage-gate
• Creating inter-task dependencies
• Removing inter-task dependencies
• Defining external dependencies

Modifying Task Settings

The General tab allows you to modify the basic task settings. 

• Rename tasks: Enter a new name for your task in the Name field.
• Modify start or end date:  Click in the field to display a calendar. Use the arrow buttons to scroll through the calendar and select the desired dates. When you choose a date outside the current project start or end date, that will overwrite the existing parent project dates.
• Change the task type: Click in this field to change the schedule item's type to 'task' or 'milestone'. If you want to change a task to a milestone, remember milestones have zero duration.
• Reassign task ownership: Click in this field and select a user as the owner. Please note that the user names displayed in this drop-down field depend upon which users have access privileges on the current project. Also, when you add a user as the owner of a task, it is recommended to add them as part of the project's team to ensure that the project reports show task owner names correctly. If a task owner's user account is locked, this field will show 'Amplify Owner'; if it is deleted, the ownership will be reassigned to the selected user. If you did not select a user to reassign, this field will show 'Amplify Owner'.
• Display task on the dashboard: Select this checkbox if you want the task to be displayed on the Project and Performance dashboards.
• Mark the task progress: Click and drag the handle on the progress bar to mark the progress. Milestones can have only 0 or 100% progress.
• Capture information via custom fields: The custom fields that are mapped to 'Schedule' will also display in this tab allowing you to capture additional data.

Deleting Tasks 

To delete a task:

1. Locate the task that you wish to delete.
2. Right-click on the task item to display the context menu.
   
3. Select the Delete task option.
   The task is removed along with the dependencies on it.

If your administrator has configured a delete confirmation threshold, you'll see a confirmation message on clicking Save.


This message displays only if you have deleted more tasks than the pre-configured threshold value. You will then get a chance to review the number of tasks that have been deleted and click any one of the options: 

• Save and Delete: Choose this option if you want to remove the tasks you've deleted and save all the other changes you've been making on the Gantt. 
• Save Only: Choose this option if you want to save all the other changes made, but want to reverse the delete operation. Once you select this option, you'll see all the tasks that you previously deleted, still on the Gantt. 
• Cancel: Choose this option if you are unsure about any changes you made. This will cancel all changes made before clicking Save and restore the Gantt to its previous state.

Linking Schedule Milestones to Benefits

You may want to associate benefits to specific project milestones as it would help the task owners, project management and other stakeholders keep track of the project's progress.

If your project has a benefit defined, it will display at the end of the Gantt chart after all tasks and milestones. A link can be created from a milestone to a benefit in the finish-to-start format.

To link a milestone and a benefit:

1. Locate the milestone that you want to link to the benefit. 
2. Select the milestone, drag the handle that appears at the right end and connect it to the start of benefit bar.
   
3. Click on the Save button to save the changes.

Once you have saved the connection, double-clicking on the milestone will display the linked benefit on the Benefits tab. 

• To navigate to the benefit dashboard, click on the benefit name.
• To remove the linked benefit, click on the delete "bin" icon.

Linking Milestones to a Stage-gate

To associate the task to a stage, click in the Stage column on the task grid and select the desired stage.

The Process tab of the Edit Task form allows you to achieve the same result.

Defining Inter-task Dependencies

 Dependencies display on the Gantt chart only if you enable the option from the Features menu.

You can create dependencies in two ways:

• Draw links between tasks on the chart to indicate the dependencies. 

• Access the Edit Task form. It has two tabs that allow you to manage the dependencies between various tasks and milestones within the project.
• The Predecessor and Successor tabs will allow you to define the following types of dependencies as per your requirements. 
  • Finish to Start
  • Start to Finish
  • Start to Start 
  • Finish to Finish

To create a start to finish dependency from task 1 to task 2:

1. Double-click the task1 bar on the chart.
2. This will display the Edit Task form.
3. Click on the  Successor tab.
4. Click in the field and select task 2.
5. In the adjacent field, select what type of dependency you want to use.
6. Click on the Save button.

When you close the Edit form, you will see the linking line from task 1 to task 2.  This dependency will also display in the Predecessor tab on the Edit form of task 2.

Removing Inter-task Dependencies

To remove a link between two tasks, you will need to use the Task Edit form.

To remove a link:

1. Double-click the task1 bar on the chart.
2. This will display the Edit Task form.
3. Click on the  Successor tab.
4. Locate the successor task and use the delete "bin" icon to delete it.
5. Similarly, delete the Predecessor link.

Creating Dependencies between Projects

You can link a task in one project with a task in another project quickly using the Edit Task form's Dependencies tab. Please note that the user who is creating the dependency should have access to both the projects involved. Amplify provides an inbuilt dependency manager role that you can assign to the user responsible for dependency creation.

To create a cross-project dependency:

1. Access the schedule of the dependent project.
2. Locate the task that you wish to link from.
3. From the context menu, select the Edit option.
4. The Edit Task form displays.
   
5. Select the Dependencies tab.
6. Fill out the fields on the form and click on the Create button.
   You have now linked the current task with the specified task in the project you chose from the Predecessor initiative drop-down list.  To access the dependency dashboard, click on its name link. Use the add "plus" button to create another dependency. Clicking on the edit "pen" icon will open the dependency in the edit mode.
   
   
   If you wish to remove or archive a dependency, you will need to use the RAID card view.