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Planning console tasks

You can perform several tasks on the planning console that you can perform on lists and forms, such as creating project tasks and copying projects. You can also perform several tasks unique to the console.

Table 1. Planning console tasks
Task	How to perform the task
General console settings
Display a project in the planning console	Select the project from the choice list in project workspace banner.
WBS hierarchy
Create a project task	Click an existing task to determine the insertion point for the new task, and then click the add task above icon () or the add task below icon ().
Move a task up or down in the hierarchy	Click an existing task, and then click the move up () or move down () icons.
Indent or unindent a task in the hierarchy	Click an existing task, and then click the indent () or unindent () icons.
Edit a task record	Right-click a task and select Edit. The Project Task form appears in the overlay. You can also edit a field directly in one of the columns in planning console. You can also edit project tasks that represent phases in the project workbench.
Edit the State field	Double-click the value in the State column to select a new state.
Add an agile phase or a test phase	Right-click a project and select Add Agile Phase or Add Test Phase. The agile phase icon or test phase icons appear next to the task in the Name column. See phase icons. Note: You can add multiple agile phases and multiple test phases to a project. You can add only one test phase for a test plan in a project. An agile phase cannot overlap another agile phase for an assignment group in a project. While creating a story, if a project has only one phase, then the story is tagged to the phase.
Open a test plan or story	Right-click a task (a task that represents a phase in the workbench) and then select Manage Test Plan or View Stories.
Cancel a resource plan for a Closed project	Right-click the project and select Cancel Resource Plans. All past and future allocations for the selected resource plan are canceled. The option is available only for a project in any of the Closed state.
Complete a resource plan for a Closed project	Right-click the project and select Complete Resource Plans. All the requested and resource allocations for the resource plan post the completion date are deleted. The option to complete resource plans is available only for a project in any of the Closed state.
Add an external dependency between tasks of different projects	Right-click a task and select Add External Dependency. Select the project and task to which the dependency is added.
View the project name of external dependency	Point to the link icon () beside the external dependency task to display a hint which shows the name of the project to which the external dependency is added.
Change time constraint for a task	Right-click a task and select Start on specific date or Start ASAP. When you change the time constraint for a task from Start on specific date to Start ASAP or vice versa, the planned start date and planned end date of the task are recalculated accordingly. The option is not available for a parent task. If a task has child tasks, the option is available only for the child tasks.
Allow task dates outside schedule	Right-click a project task and select Allow outside schedule. The selected task is allowed to start and end on a non-schedule day (outside regular project schedule) such as on a weekend. The Off schedule task icon () appears next to the task in the Short description column. For example, if you use the project schedule Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm and a project task of duration 2 days should start on Saturday, then an off-schedule task is allowed to be scheduled on Saturday and end on Sunday. Similarly, if a task of duration 3 days starts on Friday, then an off-schedule will end on Sunday as opposed to ending on Tuesday. The option is not available for a parent task. When a task is made off-schedule, its parent also becomes off-schedule. The project also behaves as out of schedule if any of the children is set to out of schedule. Once a task is allowed outside schedule, the right-click option Follow schedule is available for the task. Click Follow schedule to follow the schedule for the task. Note: There is no difference between an off-schedule and on-schedule task if there is no schedule defined at the project. 1 day is 8 hours for a task in regular schedule and 24 hours for a task outside schedule.
Convert a task to milestone	Right-click a task and select Convert to milestone. You can convert a task to a milestone only until it is not in Work in Progress state. Once work in progress, the option appears as greyed out for the task. The option is not available for a parent task. If a task has child tasks, the option is available only for the child tasks.
Show or hide external dependencies	Click the more options icon (), and then click the Hide External Dependencies switch. When this option is enabled, the external dependencies are not displayed when you add an external dependency between two projects. However, the Dependency column in WBS section of the successor project still shows the value of external dependency.
Show external dependency notifications	Click the notification bell icon to display the notifications raised in the successor project. The notifications are triggered as a result of changes made in the predecessor project. For a soft dependency, click Accept or Reject to accept or reject the changes in the notification. For a hard dependency, view the displayed notification to review the changes in the notification.
Save changes to the server	Click the save icon to commit changes made in planning console. The option is available only when Client Side Planning Console is enabled.
Expand or contract column width	Click the side of the column and drag it right or left.
Show or hide columns in the planning console	Click the filter icon (), and then select or clear the check boxes for the columns available. Admin can customize which columns appear in this list. The selection is saved in the user preference. The next time you open the planning console, the same columns you selected will appear.
Select WBS levels to show	Click the filter icon (), and then select the level from the WBS Depth choice list.
Expand or collapse sublevels for any level	Click the arrow to expand or collapse any task that has one or more subtasks.
Gantt chart
View a summary of a task	Hover over a task.
Change the planned start or end dates of a task	Click the task, and then drag the left or right edge of the task bar.
Move a task to a new date	Click the task, and then drag the whole task bar to a new location.
Create a dependency between tasks	Find the successor task in the relationship and double-click the value in the Predecessor column and enter a value that specifies the relationship. See Predecessor dependencies in the planning console for examples. Alternatively, you can create a relationship between two tasks by connecting the ends of the corresponding task bars in the timeline view.
Select a baseline	Click the more options icon (), and then select a baseline from the baselines choice list.
Create a baseline	Click the more options icon (), and then click Create new baseline. See Create baseline of a project for more information.
Display the critical path	Click the critical path icon (). See Gantt chart for more information on the critical path.
Show date change	Click the more options icon (), and then click the Show Date Change switch. When this option is enabled, the start and end dates of the task are displayed when you drag the task bar.
Show duration change	Click the more options icon (), and then click the Show Duration Change switch. When this option is enabled, the duration of the task is displayed when you drag either end of the task bar.
Show weekends on the calendar	Click the more options icon (), and then click the Show Weekends switch. The weekends appear as light-blue vertical bars in the Gantt chart.
Zoom the calendar in or out	On the top of the calendar, click one of the time periods, such as the month, or day, and so on. Then select a Zoom Level from the calendar. When the zoom level in calender is selected as Auto Fit, the Gantt view fits in one page to view entire timeline for the project in one go without using the scrollbar.
Open the tutorial	Click the more options icon (), and then click Walkthrough.
Open list of keyboard shortcuts	Click the more options icon (), and then click Keyboard Shortcuts.
Other features or applications
Open the project workbench	Click the Planning Console selection arrow on the banner and select Project Workbench.
Open live feed	Click the more options icon (), and then click Show live feed.
Print the gantt timeline	Click the () icon, and then click Print. Note: Printing on a smaller paper size may result in the gantt chart image being cut off. You may either zoom out using the gantt chart calender, or increase paper size to print the gantt timeline for projects and tasks. If the colored bars in gantt chart area are not visible in Print preview, then select the option for background graphics in the Print dialog.

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Planning console tasks

Table 1. Planning console tasks
Task	How to perform the task
General console settings
Display a project in the planning console	Select the project from the choice list in project workspace banner.
WBS hierarchy
Create a project task	Click an existing task to determine the insertion point for the new task, and then click the add task above icon () or the add task below icon ().
Move a task up or down in the hierarchy	Click an existing task, and then click the move up () or move down () icons.
Indent or unindent a task in the hierarchy	Click an existing task, and then click the indent () or unindent () icons.
Edit a task record	Right-click a task and select Edit. The Project Task form appears in the overlay. You can also edit a field directly in one of the columns in planning console. You can also edit project tasks that represent phases in the project workbench.
Edit the State field	Double-click the value in the State column to select a new state.
Add an agile phase or a test phase	Right-click a project and select Add Agile Phase or Add Test Phase. The agile phase icon or test phase icons appear next to the task in the Name column. See phase icons. Note: You can add multiple agile phases and multiple test phases to a project. You can add only one test phase for a test plan in a project. An agile phase cannot overlap another agile phase for an assignment group in a project. While creating a story, if a project has only one phase, then the story is tagged to the phase.
Open a test plan or story	Right-click a task (a task that represents a phase in the workbench) and then select Manage Test Plan or View Stories.
Cancel a resource plan for a Closed project	Right-click the project and select Cancel Resource Plans. All past and future allocations for the selected resource plan are canceled. The option is available only for a project in any of the Closed state.
Complete a resource plan for a Closed project	Right-click the project and select Complete Resource Plans. All the requested and resource allocations for the resource plan post the completion date are deleted. The option to complete resource plans is available only for a project in any of the Closed state.
Add an external dependency between tasks of different projects	Right-click a task and select Add External Dependency. Select the project and task to which the dependency is added.
View the project name of external dependency	Point to the link icon () beside the external dependency task to display a hint which shows the name of the project to which the external dependency is added.
Change time constraint for a task	Right-click a task and select Start on specific date or Start ASAP. When you change the time constraint for a task from Start on specific date to Start ASAP or vice versa, the planned start date and planned end date of the task are recalculated accordingly. The option is not available for a parent task. If a task has child tasks, the option is available only for the child tasks.
Allow task dates outside schedule	Right-click a project task and select Allow outside schedule. The selected task is allowed to start and end on a non-schedule day (outside regular project schedule) such as on a weekend. The Off schedule task icon () appears next to the task in the Short description column. For example, if you use the project schedule Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm and a project task of duration 2 days should start on Saturday, then an off-schedule task is allowed to be scheduled on Saturday and end on Sunday. Similarly, if a task of duration 3 days starts on Friday, then an off-schedule will end on Sunday as opposed to ending on Tuesday. The option is not available for a parent task. When a task is made off-schedule, its parent also becomes off-schedule. The project also behaves as out of schedule if any of the children is set to out of schedule. Once a task is allowed outside schedule, the right-click option Follow schedule is available for the task. Click Follow schedule to follow the schedule for the task. Note: There is no difference between an off-schedule and on-schedule task if there is no schedule defined at the project. 1 day is 8 hours for a task in regular schedule and 24 hours for a task outside schedule.
Convert a task to milestone	Right-click a task and select Convert to milestone. You can convert a task to a milestone only until it is not in Work in Progress state. Once work in progress, the option appears as greyed out for the task. The option is not available for a parent task. If a task has child tasks, the option is available only for the child tasks.
Show or hide external dependencies	Click the more options icon (), and then click the Hide External Dependencies switch. When this option is enabled, the external dependencies are not displayed when you add an external dependency between two projects. However, the Dependency column in WBS section of the successor project still shows the value of external dependency.
Show external dependency notifications	Click the notification bell icon to display the notifications raised in the successor project. The notifications are triggered as a result of changes made in the predecessor project. For a soft dependency, click Accept or Reject to accept or reject the changes in the notification. For a hard dependency, view the displayed notification to review the changes in the notification.
Save changes to the server	Click the save icon to commit changes made in planning console. The option is available only when Client Side Planning Console is enabled.
Expand or contract column width	Click the side of the column and drag it right or left.
Show or hide columns in the planning console	Click the filter icon (), and then select or clear the check boxes for the columns available. Admin can customize which columns appear in this list. The selection is saved in the user preference. The next time you open the planning console, the same columns you selected will appear.
Select WBS levels to show	Click the filter icon (), and then select the level from the WBS Depth choice list.
Expand or collapse sublevels for any level	Click the arrow to expand or collapse any task that has one or more subtasks.
Gantt chart
View a summary of a task	Hover over a task.
Change the planned start or end dates of a task	Click the task, and then drag the left or right edge of the task bar.
Move a task to a new date	Click the task, and then drag the whole task bar to a new location.
Create a dependency between tasks	Find the successor task in the relationship and double-click the value in the Predecessor column and enter a value that specifies the relationship. See Predecessor dependencies in the planning console for examples. Alternatively, you can create a relationship between two tasks by connecting the ends of the corresponding task bars in the timeline view.
Select a baseline	Click the more options icon (), and then select a baseline from the baselines choice list.
Create a baseline	Click the more options icon (), and then click Create new baseline. See Create baseline of a project for more information.
Display the critical path	Click the critical path icon (). See Gantt chart for more information on the critical path.
Show date change	Click the more options icon (), and then click the Show Date Change switch. When this option is enabled, the start and end dates of the task are displayed when you drag the task bar.
Show duration change	Click the more options icon (), and then click the Show Duration Change switch. When this option is enabled, the duration of the task is displayed when you drag either end of the task bar.
Show weekends on the calendar	Click the more options icon (), and then click the Show Weekends switch. The weekends appear as light-blue vertical bars in the Gantt chart.
Zoom the calendar in or out	On the top of the calendar, click one of the time periods, such as the month, or day, and so on. Then select a Zoom Level from the calendar. When the zoom level in calender is selected as Auto Fit, the Gantt view fits in one page to view entire timeline for the project in one go without using the scrollbar.
Open the tutorial	Click the more options icon (), and then click Walkthrough.
Open list of keyboard shortcuts	Click the more options icon (), and then click Keyboard Shortcuts.
Other features or applications
Open the project workbench	Click the Planning Console selection arrow on the banner and select Project Workbench.
Open live feed	Click the more options icon (), and then click Show live feed.
Print the gantt timeline	Click the () icon, and then click Print. Note: Printing on a smaller paper size may result in the gantt chart image being cut off. You may either zoom out using the gantt chart calender, or increase paper size to print the gantt timeline for projects and tasks. If the colored bars in gantt chart area are not visible in Print preview, then select the option for background graphics in the Print dialog.

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