Manage Project Tasks

After you set up the initial project parameters, add tasks for the project members to perform to complete the project. The tasks that you create are displayed in the lanes on the project Taskboard. From the Taskboard, you perform all project management activities that are associated with the tasks for the project.

This article contains the following topics:

About the Taskboard

The Taskboard is a Kanban-inspired utility that lets you view, organize, and manage the tasks in your projects. The Taskboard contains task lanes. Task lanes are a collection of tasks. The tasks are grouped by a common theme. The task lanes contain all the tasks that are associated with the project.

How Task Lanes Work

The task lanes contain tasks that are related to a project that are grouped by a common theme. For example, lanes can contain tasks that are based on:

• Status of the task (for example, Unassigned, In Progress, Complete)
• Owner of the task (for example, Marketing, Engineering, Technical Support, Documentation)
• Any other common theme or categorization that you require.

By default, the Taskboard contains the following lanes:

• todo
• doing
• done

Using the lanes, you can perform the following tasks:

• Create as many lanes as you require, between the first lane and the last lane.
• Rename lanes.
• Delete lanes, except for the first lane (todo) and the last lane (done).
  Note: You cannot delete lanes that contain tasks.
• Move the lanes to a different location in the Taskboard using drag-and-drop.
  Note: You cannot move the first lane (todo) and the last lane (done).
• Add as many tasks as you require to each lane. At the top of each lane, you can view the number of tasks that are contained in the lane.
• Move tasks from one lane to another lane using drag-and-drop.
• Filter the tasks by clicking the relevant filter tabs at the top of the Taskboard.
• Search for tasks in the lanes (using the Search Tasks option) to find specific tasks.
  
  

Important! Your login credentials must support the Edit permissions capabilities in the project to modify the lanes.

Working with Task Tiles

Tasks display in the lanes as task tiles. Blue task tiles indicate that a ticket is associated with the task. White task tiles indicate that there is no ticket that is associated with the task.

With the task tiles, you can perform the following tasks:

• Move tasks from one lane to another by dragging and dropping the task tiles.
• Move task tiles up or down within the lane to reorder them.
• View and update the details of that task. You click the task tile to open the task.
  Note: When task tiles display in the Finish lane, they appear as inaccessible (dimmed). However, you can continue to edit such tasks by double-clicking the task tile.

Create Task Lanes

You create task lanes as you require. You name the lanes by task status (for example, Pending Verification) or by any other categorization that you require.

Follow these steps: 

1. Open the Taskboard by clicking WORKSPACES, PROJECT, Project Center.  
2. From the Taskboard, click the project tile to open the project in a new tab.
3. Click Add Lane.
4. Enter a name for the lane and press Enter (or click away from the lane) to create the lane.
5. (Optional) To move the lane to a different location on the Taskboard: Click the lane header and then drag-and-drop the lane to the desired location.
6. (Optional) To rename a lane: Click the pencil icon on the lane header, specify a new name for the lane, and then press Enter (or click away from the lane).

Note: To delete a lane, click the x icon that is at the top right corner of the lane header. The x icon does not display on lanes that contain tasks and on the first and last lanes.

Create Tasks

Tasks are the foundation of your projects. You can create as many tasks as you require to fill the objectives, budgets, and deadlines for your projects.

Follow these steps:

1. Open the Taskboard by clicking WORKSPACES, PROJECT, Project Center.  
2. From the Taskboard, click the project tile to open the project in a new tab.
3. To add a task to a lane, click the + icon at the top of that lane.
4. Fill in the task details on the Task Properties dialog and click Save.

The task is added to the lane as a tile.

Import Tickets as Tasks

You can import tickets into the Project Center. The imported tickets are displayed as tasks in the task lanes. To import tickets as tasks:

1. Open the Taskboard by clicking WORKSPACES, PROJECT, Project Center.  
2. From the Taskboard, click the project tile to open the project in a new tab.
3. Point at the Create Task icon on the task lane. The option to import tickets displays.
4. Click Import Ticket, select or search for the desired tickets, and click Import Selected Tickets.

Note: Tickets that are related to other tasks cannot be imported.

View and Modify Task Details

After you create the task, the Task Properties dialog lets you perform the following tasks:

• Block or unblock a task. You can mark a task as blocked when an action is pending on it. Such a task is known as a blocker task. Your project or task cannot be completed until you unblock the task. For example, consider a task that requires an approval. You can mark that task as blocked until the approval is complete.
• Assign task owner. You can assign the task to any of the team members that appear on the Team tab.
  Note: You can unassign the task owner by clicking the drop-down and selecting Unassign.
• Set the priority of the task. The available options are Low, Medium, High, and Critical.
• Set a due date for completing the task.
• Enter the estimated number of hours that are required to complete the task.
• Select the lane for the task. This field is automatically populated with the name of the lane where you clicked the add task (plus) icon. You can modify this field to assign the task to a different tile.
• Enter the hours that were spent on the task. Update the number of hours that are already spent on the task.
• Relate the task to a ticket. You can relate a task to either an open ticket, or a new ticket.

Follow these steps:

1. Open the Taskboard by clicking WORKSPACES, PROJECT, Project Center.  
2. From the Taskboard, click the project tile to open the project in a new tab.
3. Click a task tile to open the Task Properties dialog.
   On the dialog, you can view the task details and also modify them.
4. Click Save, or Save and Close.  

Calculate the Total Time Spent on Task

You can monitor the progress that is made on a task in terms of the time spent on it. As a task owner, you can log the number of hours that you spend on tasks in the following manner:

1. Open the task.
2. Enter the number of hours that are spent in the Time Log field and click Add Time Log.

The Total Time field under the Time Log field is updated. This field displays the cumulative total of all the time log entries that you make for that task. If your task is associated to a ticket, the time log entries for that ticket are added to your task.

Examples: 

The following table contains examples of how to calculate the total time that is spent on a task.

Assign an Owner to the Task

You can assign the task to only the users who are members of the project.

Follow these steps:

1. Open the Taskboard by clicking WORKSPACES, PROJECT, Project Center.  
2. From the Taskboard, click the project tile to open the project in a new tab.
3. Click a task tile to open the Task Properties dialog.
4. In the Owner field, type a name and select a team member from the suggested search results.

Create Check List for a Task

To complete a task, a project member requires to complete certain activities. You can record such activities as checklist items within a task.

To add a checklist to a task:

1. Open the desired task.
   The Task Properties window is displayed.
2. Click Checklist in the anchor links or expand the Checklist section.
3. Enter the check list item and click Add. You can add multiple items to the list.

Note: Select the check box next to the check list item once it is complete. You can view a list of the completed items by expanding the Completed section. 

Manage a Check List Item

You can edit a checklist item, delete an item, or move the position of an item.

To edit, click the check list item, enter your updates, and press Enter.

To delete, point at the check list item and click the delete icon.

To reposition a check list item, select the item, and drag-and-drop it at the desired location.

Relate Tasks and Tickets

You can relate tasks and tickets to each other using the following methods.

• Relate tasks to tickets from the Project Center.
• Relate tickets to tasks from the Ticket Center.

Relate Tasks to Tickets from the Project Center

You can relate a task to either an open ticket or a new ticket.

To relate the task to an existing ticket:

1. Double-click the task to open the Task Properties dialog.
2. Click RELATE TICKET.
3. Search for the existing ticket, select it and click Relate.

To relate the task to a new ticket:

1. Double-click the task to open the Task Properties dialog.
2. Click NEW TICKET, the ScratchPad is displayed in a new tab.
3. Specify the Ticket Information and click Submit.
4. Verify that task on the task board is updated with ticket details.

Relate Tickets to Tasks from the Ticket Center

You can relate an open or new ticket to a task from the Related Projects/Project Task section of a ticket.

Follow these steps:

1. Open your ticket, scroll down to the section named Related Projects/Project Task  and click Project Task.
2. Click Relate Project Task.
3. Search and select a project to view the tasks inside that project.
4. Select the task.

Unrelate Tickets from Tasks

You can unrelate tickets and tasks using the Project Center and the Ticket Center.

From Project Center:

1. Double-click the task to open the Task Properties dialog.
2. Click UNRELATE THIS TICKET.

From Ticket Center:

1. Navigate to the Related Projects/Project Task section of the relevant ticket.
2. Point at the task row, click the arrow button to the left, and select Unrelate Project Task.