Using GroveSite Project Plans

GroveSite Project Plan pages are an excellent way to keep members of your project team or group up-to-date on what is expected and when.

How to add a Project Plan Page

• Click 'Turn on edit.'
• Click [new page]
• Select page type = project plan
• Click the Next button at the bottom of the form.
• Enter navigation text
• Enter Page Heading (often the same as the navigation text), sub heading (optional), page text (optional) and select the default page view.
• Click the Next button at the bottom of the form.
• Select page security = 'participants can see this page' OR 'participants can see and update this page.' Note: you may also want to set up a project plan for Moderators. If so, select page security = 'only moderators/administrators can see this page'
• Click the Next button at the bottom of the form.
• Position the page within the list of current pages in your site.
• Click the Finish button to save the new page.

How to add a Project Plan Task

On the Project Plan page, click on [Add Task]

Enter the following:

• Task number: Enter a task number of your choosing. Any format is acceptable - GroveSite's default for displaying tasks in 'ascending task number' order. This field is required.
• Priority: Enter priority of task, if desired. Any alpha or numeric format is accepted. This field may be left blank.
• Task name: Enter name of task. This field is required.
• Member responsible: This field indicates which person on the team is responsible for this task. It must be an enrolled member of the team. Use the pull down menu to select one of the enrolled members.
• Start date: Enter the start date of the task in a MM/DD/YYYY format. The field may be left blank.
• Due date: Enter the due date of the task in a MM/DD/YYYY format. The field may be left blank.
• Status: Choose one of the selections (including 'blank'). When this field is used for the sorting order, the tasks will sort in the order that the status options are listed, e.g. blank, on schedule, in progress, waiting, late, complete, approved.
• Hide: You may use this field to hide tasks from display. This may be because they are finished, and you no longer wish to view them on the web page. If you click the 'Turn on Edit' menu button, hidden tasks will be displayed at the bottom of the task list, and can be edited.
• Task notes: Task notes is an optional field, with a maximum of 4000 characters. It will be displayed in the 'Expanded' view; in 'Summary' view, a music note icon will be displayed to show that task notes are present.
• Deliverables: This field is intended to specify the deliverables of the task e.g. " 20+ pp.PowerPoint presentation with 'xyz' analysis and recommendations."
• Upload picture or other file: A file can be attached to a task, if needed. It may be part of the input required to perform a task. It may also be the output of a task, though this would normally be posted on a Documents page or other file repository page.

Click Save to add the task.

Sort Order

You can reorder the Project Plan by clicking on any column title. Click once for descending; click again for ascending.

Filter Tasks

You can display only the data that is pertinent to you by using the drop down arrows or the white boxes in the grid. Either type in the first few characters of the task number, name etc., or click on the drop down arrow and select the data you are looking for.

Edit Task

To edit a task, simply click on the task name. If you are the member responsible for that task, or a Moderator or Site Administrator, you will get an Edit Task form.

Quick Edit

Click on the [Quick Edit] link to edit several tasks at one time.

Summary vs. Expanded View

Click on Expanded View to see Notes, Deliverables and Attached Files. If you click on Summary View, you will see only icons for these three fields.

Project Management Advanced Options

Import Tasks

• Click on [Import Tasks]
• Click on Download Task Template
• Open or save the template
• Update the template with task information
• Save the file
• Click on the [Import Tasks] link again
• Click on Choose File to browse and select the file.
• Click the Upload Task Data button
• The file will be uploaded and a status of the imported records will be displayed.

Export Tasks

• Click on [Export Tasks].
• Click open or save to download the file.
• File can be opened or saved with Excel.

Reset Dates

• Click on [Reset Dates]
• Select the task you would like to reset by checking the individual box to the left of the task or check the top box to select all tasks.

• Click Next
  
  
• Reset dates by start or due date

• Or Reset dates by days or weeks

• Click Next
  
  
• Date wizard will show task(s) in green that have been updated with an Old Start Date and a New Start Date.

• Click Finish and changes will be updated in the project plan page.

Delete Tasks

Select the task(s) that you wish to delete by checking the individual box to the left of the task or check the top box to select all tasks.

Note: This can not be undone so be sure to double check the selected tasks before clicking the Delete button.

Run Reports

• Click on the [Reports] link just below the page heading in the middle section towards the top of the page.
• This will open up a window with several report options.
• Click on the report that you want and enter information required such as date range, days tasks due, or person responsible.

• Reports: Participants, Moderators, Admin and Org Admin have access to these reports.
• Administrative Reports: Only Admin have access to these reports.
• Org Administrative Reports: Only Org Admin have access to these reports.

Check Plan

• Click on the [Check Plan] link and this feature will evaluate your tasks and report any task errors.
• Errors that will be reported are task with no start date, no due date, or tasks where the start date of the task is before the due date of the predecessor assigned to the task.
• These reports can be opened in Excel, PDF or Word.
• Simply click on the icon of the format in which you would like to open the report.