Working with Tasks in PPM

For many users of PPM, the Tasks application is a key feature. You can work with tasks in several different areas of PPM, but ultimately tasks are used for tracking work in projects and workspaces. How you use tasks in PPM will depend on your workflow, how your enterprise has been set up by your administrator, and your particular PPM roles.

Working with Tasks in the Global Tasks Application

The global Tasks application is a cross-workspace applications that displays all the tasks you have permission to see, from all your workspaces. Access to the global Tasks application is through the global tabs at the top of the PPM screen. To open the global Tasks application, click the Tasks tab.

In the global Tasks application, you can work with tasks based on your permissions, including:

Adding Tasks—Add tasks to any of the workspaces you are a member of.
Updating Tasks—Update tasks you are assigned to.
Editing Tasks (managers)—Updated or change aspects of tasks in any of your workspaces, including assignments, start or finish dates and work.
Exporting Tasks—Export tasks in PDF or Excel format.

Working with Tasks in the Context of a Workspace

Many workspaces in PPM include a workspace-level Tasks application which displays tasks specific to that workspace. If you are a manager, this is where you would view and work with the schedule for the workspace. If you are a team member, this is where you can go to see and update those tasks for which you have the appropriate permissions.

Adding Tasks—Add tasks to the current workspace.
Updating Tasks—Update your tasks in the current workspace based on your work.
Editing Tasks (managers)—Updated or change aspects of tasks in the current workspace, including assignments, start or finish dates and work.
Exporting Tasks—Export tasks in Excel format.
Print Tasks—Create a PDF so you can print tasks from the current workspace with an option of including a Gantt chart.

Working with Tasks in Timesheets

Some enterprises and organizations work directly with timesheets, rather than with tasks. If this is the case, log your work in timesheets:

Adding Tasks to Your Timesheet—With timesheets, you can add an existing task to your timesheet.
Updating Tasks—When working with timesheets, updating a task means adding work (hours) to the task on your timesheet. You may also change ETC (if enable din your enterprsie) or % Complete.
Exporting Tasks—You can export data from a timesheet.

Working with Tasks in the Calendar

PPM has two Calendar applications, one global and one at the workspace-level. In both you can work with your tasks:

Updating Tasks—From either calendar you can click a task name and update the tasks to which you are assigned.
Editing Tasks—From either calendar you can click a task name and edit the tasks you have permission to edit.

Other Significant Aspects that Impact Tasks in PPM

There are features and aspects of tasks that have an effect on the PPM task applications. Some of these are specific to PPM while others are characteristics of tasks.

Task Type—The task type you select has a significant impact on how schedule calculations are done, including what happens when you assign team members to the task.
Task Update and Task Edit—In PPM, updating a task is a different action than editing a task. Task assignees update tasks with their work, while project managers edit tasks to change their characteristics.
ETC and % Complete—PPM supports 2 methods for tracking how much work is left on tasks. Your PPM administrator configures your enterprise for the method that works best in your organization.
Billable and Non-Billable Tasks—Billable tasks include external rate fields and are assumed to represent work that will be billed to an external customer. Your PPM administrator determines whether or not a workspace type has external billing enabled.