Tasks Tab

Tasks are often developed as a checklist of key deliverables that must be accomplished for the completion of a phase. The Project AnalyzerTasks tab is used to create and track these tasks.

Project managers have the flexibility to create many detailed tasks or a few larger tasks per phase as desired. Each task requires a name and can be associated with a phase and/or discipline. Tasks can be loaded from another project or template, as well as being created manually. The task list can also be used as a basis of the labor budget on the Labor Budget tab when utilizing a top down approach to planning. See Load/Import: Load Labor from Tasks for additional information.

Chart: Budget Detail

The total value of the pie chart represents all active fees on the Contract / Fees tab and shows how the total project gross fees break down to arrive at available labor and overhead. As assignments are populated in the grid, the chart is updated. The following pieces are included::

Effort. Estimate is calculated based on the amount of planned labor dollars remaining for the task from today through the end of the plan.

Estimate is calculated based on the amount of labor planned from today through the end of the plan from a schedule perspective. The amount displayed is the sum total of the Schedule ETC column in the Labor Budget tab grid. See below for additional information on Schedule ETC.

Effort Available. Calculated by subtracting non-reimbursable consultants and expenses, profit and any currently planned effort from the total active contract/fee amount.

Target Profit. Calculated based on the system configuration setting for target profit and the percent defined on the Contract / Fees tab. This can be gross or net profit depending on the configuration of the company's database.

Consultants. Cost of non-reimbursable consultants.

Expenses. Cost of non-reimbursable expenses.

JTD Labor. Calculated using actual timesheet postings from the accounting system with the Project Analyzer overhead multiplier applied.

Effort Exceeds Available. Appears when the total effort assigned exceeds the available budget. Shown as a piece of the Budget Detail chart pulled out from the rest of the chart. This may not show at the beginning of a plan, but may appear during project progression if JTD increases at a greater rate than what was originally planned, causing all the pieces of the pie to no longer fit within the budget.

Resize the chart to improve readability.

Chart: Tasks by Discipline

The pie chart is used to represent the percentage of the total effort assigned per discipline for the overall project.

Delete

Place a mark in the checkbox to mark a row for deletion. All rows marked to be deleted are permanently removed once the current tab is saved.

Details

Provides access to the Detailed Task Planning dialog box to enable project managers to assign an employee to a task and to plot out their time per week on the task. Once task planning details are set for a task, the icon appears in the Details column.

An employee must be part of the project team selected on the Team tab for the phase in order to be utilized in the detailed task planning for the phase.

Phase

The name of the phase which the project manager wants to associate with the task. Select the value from the drop-down list.

Discipline

The discipline which the project manager wants to associate with the task. Select the value from the drop-down list. Selecting a discipline is optional.

Due Date

The date the task is due. Click in the column to fill in the date manually, or click the drop-down to open a calendar and select the date.

Number | Task

The number and name for the task. The project manager can enter values here as needed. Numbers are often used to indicate a sheet number, bid set number, inspection number, etc.

Task Number is optional.

Effort | Effort Units

Together, these two columns define the level of effort required for the specific task.

Effort. The amount of effort required to complete the task as a unit of time. The unit of time represented by the number is defined by the Effort Units column.

Effort Units. The unit of time selected for the specific task. Options include:

Hours (Per Detail). The Effort displayed represents the effort required for the task as defined in the Detailed Task Planning dialog box.
Hours. The Effort displayed represents the total effort required for the specific task.
Days. The Effort displayed represents the number of days required for the specific task.
Weeks. The Effort displayed represents the number of weeks required for the specific task.
Months. The Effort displayed represents the number of months required for the specific task.
Years. The Effort displayed represents the number of years required for the specific task.

The Effort is used to weigh the percent complete values and to calculate the cost of the task in the Cost column.

Total Cost

The total labor cost for the task. This value is calculated by multiplying the total effort required (as defined by the Effort and Effort Units values) by the labor rate (role rate, discipline rate, employee cost rate or employee pay rate with the Project Analyzer overhead multiplier) as set in System Configuration.

If no specific employee assignments have been made for the task, Total Cost is calculated using a blended discipline labor rate. Once a named resource is assigned to the task, the rate associated with that employee is used for the hours assigned to them. Hours not assigned to a specific employee will continue to utilize the blended discipline rate.

The source of the labor rate is configured on the General Settings tab in System Configuration and one of the following labor rate options is selected: discipline, roles or a value from the Employees tab.

ETC Effort

The ETC Effort for tasks is calculated using the Total Cost for the task and the percent Complete value as entered on the Tasks tab. The percent Complete is manually entered by the project manager.

Complete

This column displays the percentage of completion for the specific task. The project manager enters the value manually on a regular basis in order to track the progression of the tasks. These values are used to create a weighted percentage complete for the selected phase as a whole, which appears on the Schedule tab.

Notes

Enter additional information for each task in the Notes column.

Additional Columns

The field chooser contains additional columns that may be added to the grid. For the Tasks tab these include:

Discipline Rate. The labor rate assigned to the discipline in Project Analyzer.

Deliverable. Mark this checkbox to identify a task as part of the project deliverables.

Phase End | Phase Start. The start and end dates for the selected phase from the Schedule tab.

Sequence. Use this column to allow a sort order to be applied to the tasks.

Start Date. The start date assigned to the task. Click in the column to fill in the date manually, or click the drop-down to open a calendar and select the date.

Total Effort. The calculated value of Effort times Effort Units expressed in hours.

To access this tab

Click the Tasks tab in the main Project Analyzer window.