Pre-Construction Schedule Templates

Pre-Construction Schedule Templates contain a list of pre-defined tasks that can be grouped around the composite task. You can further add tasks into them, manage dependencies of tasks, and see the visual distribution of tasks on the timeline of the Gantt chart.

Managing Tasks in Pre-Construction Schedule Templates

While editing tasks and sub-tasks in the Pre-Construction Schedule Template, you can perform the following actions:

• select resources for fulfiling tasks
• manage notes for Tasks
• manage quick To Do tasks

1. In the table with tasks, locate the one you want to edit.
2. Hover over the task until the action icons appear.
3. Click the Edit  icon. The Preconstruction Schedule Template Task page opens, as follows:

This page is comprised of the three tabs, as follows:

General	Shows the block with general information about the task and two lists with resources:   CC Resources Users Resources Current Tasks List
Notes	Shows the list of optional notes about the task.
ToDo’s	Shows the list of smaller ToDo tasks that attribute to this parent task.

The general information about the task shows the following:

Task Name	Name of the task. You can update the name of the task if needed.
Duration	Duration of the task in days. You can update it on the Gantt Chart only.
Description	Description of the task.
Resource	Resource (supplier or user) who can complete the task.
Exclude from Gantt Chart	Check the box to exclude the task from the Gantt Chart.

The CC Resources List shows the list of Cost Centers that relate to Suppliers that provide a specific service. For each entry, the following information is displayed:

Number	Number of the Cost Center which the Supplier relates to.
Description	Description of the Cost Center.
Name	Name of the Supplier who will execute the task.
Phone	Phone number of the Supplier.
Contact	Name of the contact on the Supplier’s side.
Preferred	Flag that the Supplier is marked as preferred.

To locate the Supplier by a specific Cost Center number, click the Go To  icon, then enter or select the appropriate Cost Center number from the list.

The Users Resources list shows the list of users who you can view the list of tasks that relate to the current Schedule Task. To locate the user by his or her name, click the Go To  icon, then enter or select the appropriate user from the list.

Selecting Resources for Task Execution

To select a supplier/sub-contractor:

1. Select the CC Resources tab.
2. On the list with suppliers and sub-contractors, select the appropriate one that can execute the current task.
3. The selected supplier or sub-contractor will appear in the Resource box.

To locate the appropriate supplier or sub-contractor, click the Go to  icon. Select the Cost Center which the supplier or sub-contractor attributes to.

To select a user:

1. Select the User Resources tab.
2. On the list with users, select the appropriate one that can execute the current task.
3. The selected user will appear in the Resource box.
4. When complete, click Process.

Managing Task Notes

You can add task notes for a specific task within the Schedule Template..

1. Switch to the Notes tab.
2. Click the Add  icon.
3. In the Add Note form, enter a note.
4. Click Add.
5. When complete, click Process.

To edit the existing note:

1. On the list with task notes, locate the one you want to edit.
2. Hover over the note until the action icons appear.
3. Click the Edit  icon.
4. In the Edit Note form, update the note.
5. Click Save.
6. When complete, click Process.

 To delete the existing note:

1. On the list with task notes, locate the one you want to delete.
2. Hover over the note until the action icons appear.
3. Click the Delete  icon.
4. Confirm the removal of the note.
5. When complete, click Process.

Managing ToDo Tasks

You can add To Do tasks for a specific Task within the Schedule Template.

1. Switch to the ToDo’s tab.
2. Click the Add  icon.
3. In the Add ToDo form, enter information for a ToDo task:
   

   Role	Select the Role which this ToDo task relates to.
   User	Select the User who this ToDo task is assigned to.
   Days	Enter the number of days.
   Event	Select the option for event:   Before Start After Start Before End After End After Complete
   Note	Enter a note for a ToDo task.

   

4. Click Add.
5. When complete, click Process.

To edit the existing ToDo task:

1. On the list with ToDo tasks, locate the one you want to edit.
2. Hover over the ToDo task until the action icons appear.
3. Click the Edit  icon.
4. In the Edit ToDo form, update the ToDo task.
5. Click Edit.
6. When complete, click Process.

 To delete the existing ToDo task:

1. On the list with ToDo tasks, locate the one you want to delete.
2. Hover over the ToDo task until the action icons appear.
3. Click the Delete  icon.
4. Confirm the removal of the ToDo task.
5. When complete, click Process.

Excluding Tasks on the Gantt Chart

1. On the list with Tasks, locate the task you want to exclude from showing on the Gantt chart.
2. In the Excl column, check the box for the Task.
3. When complete, click Process.

The flag will be automatically applied to the composite task and its sub-tasks.

Managing Tasks on the Gantt Chart

You can manage Tasks of the Pre-Construction Schedule Template on the Gantt Chart.

Below the list with Tasks, locate the Gantt Chart button and click it.

The page with the Gantt Chart opens, as follows:

Here you can see that the page is divided into two parts. The left part accommodates the list of Tasks, the right part accommodates the Gantt Chart for planning the sales activities and their distribution across the timeline.

The Tasks list shows the list of tasks grouped within the composite tasks (having sub-tasks). To view sub-tasks within a specific Task, you can expand it by clicking the  icon.

For each task on the list, the following information is displayed:

Number	Ordinal number of the Task on the list. The system assigns it automatically.
Task Name	Name of the Task.
Resource	Supplier or Contractor who can provide a specific service for Task completion.
Type	Type of the task:   SUM – composite Task with sub-tasks. Empty – a generic Task.
Pred.	Number of the task which is a predecessor for the current task.   The parameter in the Pred. column can take one or a combination of the following values: FS (Finish to Start) – a predecessor task must finish before a successor task can start. SS (Start to Start) – a predecessor task must start before a successor task can start. FF (Finish to Finish) – a predecessor task must finish before a successor task can finish. SF (Start to Finish) – a predecessor task must start before a successor task can finish.
Duration	Planned duration of the task in days.
Notes	Notes about the task.

Managing Tasks in the Pre-Construction Schedule Template

The Tasks list shows the hierarchy of all pre-construction tasks that should be completed prior to start of work on the Job.

To add a new Task:

1. Above the list with Tasks, click the Add Task  icon. Alternatively, you can click this icon when you hover over a Task on the list.
2. A new row with the generic task name appears on the list.
3. Double-click the row and enter the task name.
4. When complete, click Process.

To add a new Sub-Task:

You can add sub-tasks for generic tasks.

1. On the list with tasks, locate the Task, which you want to add a sub-task for.
2. Hover over it until the action icons appear.
3. Hover over this task until the action icons appear.
4. Click the Add Sub-task  icon.
5. Enter the name for a new sub-task.
6. When complete, click Process.

Note

You cannot create a sub-task for the Task labeled as ‘Start’.

To edit the Task:

The editing of Tasks allows you to update the name of generic Tasks and Sub-tasks that appear in the Template and in Job Schedules created on its basis. Additionally, you can modify ancestors and predecessors of Tasks, as well as their duration.

1. On the list with tasks, locate the one you want to edit.
2. Hover over it until the action icons appear.
3. Click the Edit  icon. The Preconstruction Schedule Template Task page opens.

For the details on editing task in the Pre-Construction Schedule Template, please see this page.

To delete Tasks and Sub-tasks:

You can delete the Tasks and Sub-Tasks that you added into the Sales Schedule Template.

1. On the list with tasks, locate the task or sub-task you want to delete.
2. Hover over it until the action icons appear.
3. Click the Delete  icon.
4. Confirm the removal of the task or sub-task.
5. When complete, click Process.

Note

You cannot delete the first task labeled as ‘Start’.

To convert the sub-task into the task:

You can convert the existing sub-task into a generic task.

1. On the list with tasks, locate the sub-task you want to convert into a task.
2. Hover over the sub-task until the action icons appear.
3. Click the Not sub-task  icon.
4. When complete, click Process.

The sub-task will be moved one level up. If you were using the multi-level hierarchy of tasks, you may need to repeat the same procedure once more.

To manage order of tasks on the Tasks list:

You can change the order of elements on the Tasks list. You can change the order of all task types that you have. Please consider the following while re-ordering tasks:

• You can re-order generic Tasks and place them under the composite Tasks (making them a Sub-Task).
• You can re-order Sub-Tasks within the same composite Task and move them to another composite Task.

1. On the list with tasks, locate the task which position on the list you want to change.
2. Drag the  part of the row to the appropriate position on the list.
3. When complete, click Process.

Note

You cannot change the position of the first task labeled as ‘Start’. It should be always at the top of the list of tasks.

To expand all Tasks on the Tasks list:

Above the Tasks list, locate the Expand all button and click it. All the Tasks within the Pre-Construction Schedule Template will be expanded.

To collapse all Tasks on the Tasks list:

Above the Tasks list, locate the Collapse all button and click it. All the Tasks within the Pre-Construction Schedule Template will be collapsed.

Managing Tasks on the Gantt Chart

You can manage tasks within the Schedule Template on the Gantt Chart. This is a quick and efficient way to estimate the overall duration of all tasks in the Schedule Template and trace dependencies between tasks. So that you can see how the increase in duration of one task impacts other tasks and the overall duration in general.

Each task and sub-task represents an activity which is shown on the Gantt Chart as an activity bar. By default, duration of each activity equals one day and all activities start from the same day. A composite task is shown as progress activity bar on the Gantt Chart. Its length is determined automatically from the scope of all tasks within it,

All the activities are distributed through the timescale. You can regulate positions of activity bars on the timescale and adjust duration of tasks.

To adjust the position of the activity bar on the timescale:

1. Hover over the activity bar which position on the timescale you want to adjust.
2. Drag the activity bar across the timescale.
3. When complete, click Process.

You can also adjust the position of the composite task on the timescale. When you change the position of the composite tasks, all the sub-tasks within it are also moved.

To adjust the duration of the Task:

1. Hover over the activity bar which duration you want to increase or decrease. Once you hover, close to the left and right edges of the activity bar the circles appear.
2. Drag the left-side or right-side circle to adjust the duration of the Task. When you drag the circle, you can see how duration of the activity is changing in the tooltip.
3. When complete, click Process.

Duration of the composite task is calculated automatically by the system on the basis of all sub-tasks within it. You cannot adjust duration of the composite task.

To manage dependencies between Tasks or Stages:

You can manage dependencies between tasks and sub-tasks and in this way indicate that some task can be started only when a specific task is completed or starts.

1. Hover over the activity bar which you want to set the dependency for. Once you hover, close to the left and right edges of the activity bar the circles appear.
2. Drag the line from the one activity bar to the circle of the other activity bar. The dependency line appears between the two activity bars.
3. When complete, click Process.

You can also set dependencies between composite tasks in the way similar to setting dependencies between generic tasks. You can set dependencies between sub-tasks from different composite tasks too.

Consider the following relationship types between the two activities (tasks / sub-tasks):

FS (Finish to Start)	A predecessor task must finish before a successor task can start.   To define this relationship type: Drag the arrow from the right edge of a predecessor task to the left edge of a successor task. When FS type is set, a successor task starts from the finish point of a predecessor task.
SS (Start to Start)	A predecessor task must start before a successor task can start.   To define this relationship type: Drag the arrow from the left edge of a predecessor task to the left edge of a successor task. When SS type is set, a successor task starts from the start point of a predecessor task.
FF (Finish to Finish)	A predecessor task must finish before a successor task can finish.   To define this relationship type: Drag the arrow from the right edge of a predecessor task to the right edge of a successor task. When FF type is set, a successor task finishes at the finish point of a predecessor task.
SF (Start to Finish)	A predecessor task must start before a successor task can finish.   To define this relationship type: Drag the arrow from the left edge of a predecessor task to the right edge of a successor task. When SF type is set, a successor task finishes at the start point of a predecessor task.

Instead of dragging lines from one activity bar to the other, you can just enter the appropriate number of the task and relationship type into the field.

You can add multiple relationships between activity bars, in this case several values will be displayed in the field labeled as ∑.

To delete the no longer needed relationship between activity bars, clear the value in the field labeled as ∑ for a specific task.

To manually enter a predecessor task and its connection type:

1. Double-click the text field (with the ∑ label) and enter the number of a predecessor task and a connection type (for example, 16SS where 16 is a number of a predecessor task and SS is a Start to Start connection type).
2. When complete, press Enter.

You can add multiple predecessor tasks and define delays between a specific task and other tasks on the timeline.

1. On the list with Tasks, locate the one which you want to add predecessor tasks for.
2. Click the Add predecessors  icon.
3. In the Predecessor Kit for a Task Name form, define the following information about a predecessor task:
   

   Predecessor	Select a predecessor task from the ones registered in the current schedule template.
   Relationship	Select the relationship type from the following ones:   Finish to Start Start to Start Finish to Finish Start to Finish
   Delay	Select the delay or overlap in the relationship between tasks, as follows:   ‘+’ = Delay A successor task starts some days after the end of a predecessor task. ‘-‘ = Overlap A successor task starts some days prior to the end of a predecessor task. In this case, a successor task overlaps a predecessor task.
   Days	The number of days a successor task starts before/after the end of a predecessor task.

   

4.  When complete, click Apply.
5. Click Process.

The specified delay and overlap values will be shown as lags when you hover over a relationship arrow on the Gantt Chart.