Task Templates

Key Concepts

Task Templates are reusable sets of tasks for your projects. Each job that uses a template starts from the same set of tasks.

• Sub-tasks: You can break a large task into sub-tasks, like a to-do list where a main item has several steps. For example, Field Work is a main task, and all the items below it are its sub-tasks. When all the sub-tasks are finished, the main task is considered complete.
• Dependencies: You can link tasks together so that work is done in the correct order. A task that is not schedulable becomes available only after the tasks it depends on are finished. A task that is already scheduled to an employee can be started regardless of its dependencies.
• Schedulable Tasks: Marking a task as schedulable bundles it and all of its sub-tasks together. The bundle is then placed on the Schedule Calendar as a single, continuous block of work.
• Active Status: The Active checkbox sets whether the template is available for use in new Task Plans.

Exploring Task Templates

On the dashboard, in the Tasks / Scheduling card, click Explore Task Templates.

That link opens the Task Templates list. Every template is one card showing its Name:; click the chevron at the right of a card to open the template.

The controls above the list are:

• Active and All: the two saved views. The list opens on Active, which hides any template whose Active checkbox has been cleared. Click All to see every template, active or not.
• The search box: type what you are looking for and press Enter, or click the Search button beside it.
• Create: start a new, empty template.
• Export to Excel: download the list as a spreadsheet.

A record count (“Showing records 1 to 1 of 1”) sits above and below the list and tells you how many templates the current view and search have left.

Viewing a Task Template

Opening a template from the list takes you to its display view, headed Display. This view is read-only.

Five buttons run across the top of the display view, and the same five repeat at the bottom of the page:

• Edit: opens the template for changes.
• Export to PDF: downloads the template as a PDF.
• Clone: makes a complete copy of the template, which you can then edit independently.
• Delete: removes the template.
• Back: returns you to the Task Templates list.

Creating a Task Template

On the Task Templates list, click Create. The form, headed Create, has two fields of its own, Name: and an Active checkbox, ticked to start with, and below them the same task editor the edit view uses, empty until you add a task. Give the template a name that says what kind of job it fits, add its tasks as described under Adding and Organizing Tasks, then click Save. Cancel throws the new template away.

Editing a Task Template

To change a template, click Edit on its display view. Save and Cancel sit at the top of the page and again at the bottom.

Adding and Organizing Tasks

These are the tools of the task editor. The same editor, with the same buttons, builds a job’s Task Plan.

• To add a task:
  • With no task selected, click the + Add Task button to add a new top-level task.
  • If you have an existing task selected, clicking the + Add Task button will open a menu:
    • Add Child: Adds a new task one level down, underneath the selected task.
    • Add Above: Adds a new task on the same level, directly above the selected task.
    • Add Below: Adds a new task on the same level, directly below the selected task.
• To create a sub-task:
  1. Select the task that will be the main task.
  2. Click the + Add Task button.
  3. Choose Add Child. Alternatively, you can drag and drop an existing task onto another to make it a sub-task.
• To create dependencies between tasks:
  1. Select the tasks you want to link. To select more than one task:
     • Click and drag your mouse to draw a selection box around the tasks.
     • Hold the Ctrl key and click each task you want to select.
     • Click the first task in a sequence, then hold the Shift key and click the last task to select all tasks in between.
  2. Click the Link button.
  • If you selected two tasks, a dependency is created between them.
  • If you selected more than two tasks, they are linked in sequence (Task 1 -> Task 2 -> Task 3).
• To remove a dependency:
  1. Select the link between two tasks.
  2. Click the Delete Link button.
• To make a task schedulable:
  1. Select the task.
  2. Click the Toggle Schedulable button.
• To delete a task:
  1. Select the task.
  2. Click the Delete Task button.