Tasks

In project management, a Task is an actionable, defined piece of work that needs to be accomplished to meet a project goal or milestone. Tasks enable decomposition of a project into smaller chunks so that work can be assigned, followed up, and completed efficiently.

Accessing Tasks

To view Tasks in ERPNext:

This page enables users to view, create, edit, and manage all tasks related to various projects in the organization.

1. Creating a Task

Two methods for creating a task in ERPNext:

Method 1:: Via the Task List

1. Go to the Task List.
2. Click the New button to add a new task entry.
3. Fill in the Subject of the task, which is the task title.
4. Click Save to save and store the new task.

This is the most straightforward approach and comes in handy for independent tasks or tasks designed prior to linking them with a project.

Alternatively, a task can also be created from a Project in the following way:

1. Navigate to the individual Project on which the task is being created.
2. In the Project Dashboard, find the Task section. Tap on the '+' (plus) icon to reveal the form for creating the task directly associated with that project.
3. Enter the Subject and any other information needed.
4. Tap Save.

1.1 Extra Options When Creating a Task

When editing or creating a ‘Task’, ERPNext has some fields to capture detailed data. These enable very fine-grained control and tracking of tasks in projects.

Status:: You can change or adjust the task Status to reflect the current task progress. Standard status values are:

• Open
• Working
• Overdue
• Pending Review
• Completed
• Cancelled

Status values are visible in reports and dashboards, allowing for effective workflow tracking.

Project: When it is a task created independently, you can manually identify that task with a specific project through this field. When the task is created by clicking on a dashboard on a project, the Project field fills out with the project.

Priority, Set the task priority level as:

• Low
• Medium
• High
• Urgent

This facilitates stakeholders in prioritizing work and allocating resources as well.

Issue: You can set the related Issue document in case the task is a continuation of a customer issue. This association facilitates traceability and allows the support or development staff to visualize how problems are closed with project tasks.

Weight: Enter a weight as a figure to reflect the proportion of significance or effort that the task requires. ERPNext uses weight to compute project progress in Percentage Task Completion by weight.

Heavier task will have more contribution to total project completion compared to lighter ones.

Type: Select a Task Type, such as User Training, Documentation, Development or Implementation. You are able to sort tasks by type and prepare type based reports to analyze them.

Color: Take a visualization identification color label. Colors particularly come in handy when looking at Gantt Charts, Kanban Boards or task trees to enable faster recognition.

Is Group: Indicate this box in case the task is a parent task. Group tasks are non-tracked containers and do not have a direct time or cost correlation. It is possible to use several sub-tasks on top of a group task to create task hierarchies.

Is Template: Mark this checkbox if the task is a template task, meant to be part of a Project Template. Template tasks are reusable pieces for standardized project routines.

Parent Task: If the task belongs to a group task or an overarching activity, you can define the Parent Task here. This field makes it possible to create nested task structures, which is particularly helpful with intricate projects.

2. Features

2.1 Timeline and Details

This is utilized to outline the time and map outlines of an activity. It assists in the sketching of timelines, estimating work and the general execution plan.

Expected Start Date * You can enter the planned date on which the activity is expected to start by using this field. * It is needed in timeline planning and is done in project displays such as Gantt Charts, which rely on this date to locate the task.

Expected End Date

• You may enter here the target completion date of the task.
• It is a milestone to track progress and for calculating delays or early finishes.

Expected Time

• You can enter the number of hours or effort which needs to be put in order to complete the task.
• This number is utilized for calculating utilization of time, productivity reports, and project costing on the basis of completed timesheets.

Progress

• You can enter the percentage of progress of the task directly (e.g., 0%, 50%, 100%).
• This proves to be helpful for tasks not monitored automatically by means of timesheets.
• It assists in determining which tasks are behind or progressing in reports.

Begin

• Only for template tasks, this field enables you to mark on which day (e.g., Day 2, Day 5) after the project begins this task ought to be initiated.
• Handy with project templates when tasks are defined in relation to the project start date.

Duration

• Also unique to template tasks, this determines the amount of days allocated to complete the task.
• ERPNext calculates Expected Start and End Dates automatically from Begin and Duration.

Is Milestone

• Checkbox to make a task a milestone.
• Milestone tasks are employed to mark major milestones or key points of delivery during the life cycle of a project.
• Milestones are marked in project reports and Gantt views for instant visibility.

Description

• A rich-text field to enter long description of the task.
• This may be instructions, expectations, document links, or anything reference to help the assignee.

ERPNext v15 Note

• ERPNext v15 now bypasses company holidays (based on the assigned Holiday List) while determining Expected Start and End Dates of tasks in a Project Template from Begin and Duration.
• No structural change to these fields in v14, but UI enhancements facilitate easier tracking of date changes in real-time.

2.2 Dependencies and Actual Time

This subsection assists in defining logical order among activities and actual time taken.

Dependent Tasks

• You can make this task dependent on some other task, i.e., it should not be initiated until the specified task is finished.
• This enables you to specify task dependencies, which are very crucial while creating realistic workflows and timelines.

Types of Dependencies Supported

• Setting dependency type (Finish-to-Start, Start-to-Start, etc.) is not supported in ERPNext as of now, but by default it's Finish-to-Start.

• It is up to you to schedule dependent tasks manually in sequence.

  Requirement Dependency Visualization Using Gantt Charts

• All dependency set are shown in the Gantt Chart, where:

• Linked tasks are shown with arrows.
• Overlaps or delays are clearly visible visually.
• ERPNext v15 also has a better interactive Gantt Chart in which you can slide and move timelines but still have dependencies.

Real Time Tracking

Although not particularly stated in previous versions, ERPNext v15 improves real time tracking by associating it with Timesheets. As soon as a Timesheet has been entered for a task, the system tracks:

• Total hours worked
• User breakdown
• Notes on time entry

All of this information can be accessed immediately within the Task or within Timesheet Reports.

Actual Start Date

• This will automatically record the actual date and time of beginning the task, from the very first entered Timesheet entry that pertains to this task.
• You don't have to fill in this as well. ERPNext takes it from the very first recorded work in Timesheets.
• This helps to monitor task drift between Expected Start Date and Actual Start Date, which gives a measure of project planning accuracy.

Actual End Date

• It is the most recent activity timestamp for the task, automatically taken from the most recent Timesheet entry submitted on the task.
• It enables you to track if the task is on time, and how much behind it is from the Expected Start Date.
• This also assists in total task duration calculation to cost and report efficiency.

Change in ERPNext v15: Drag-and-drop dependencies can now be edited directly in the Gantt view.

2.3 Costing

All information pertinent to cost data of the task is recorded here. All the values are auto-calculated based on Timesheets and Expense Claims.

Total Costing Amount

• Computed automatically from the hourly cost rates of the resources or workers employed on the task, as inputs in the Timesheets.
• The company cost incurred internally to finish the task.
• Helpful in profitability analysis and calculation of gross margin at the project and task levels.

Total Billing Amount

• The Total Amount with which the Customer is to be billed via this task gets recorded here from the Timesheets.
• The system adds the amount to the Sales Invoice if billing is to be created from Timesheets.

Total Expense Claim

• If an employee has raised an Expense Claim (e.g., travel, tools, materials) and attached this task, the total appears here.
• They are totaled and accumulated here to be used as indirect costs incurred on the task.
• They are not Timesheet hours but are part of total project cost.

2.4 More Info

Metadata for the task for organization and structural classification is provided here.

Department

• You can allocate the task to a department, although the project as a whole may belong to some other department.
• It facilitates planning of resources whenever inter-departmental cooperation is involved.
• Departmental allocation is presented in the form of department-wise task reports and is appropriate for internal budgeting.

Company

• You can define the Company on which the activity is being performed.
• It comes in handy in multi-company setups, e.g., when a parent company acts on behalf of its subsidiary, sister concern, or another internal business unit.
• ERPNext utilizes this field to track financial accounting entries, cost centers, and permissions based on company hierarchy.

3. Related Topics

• Project
• Timesheets

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