Manage Projects › Update Task Data › Define Task General Properties

Define Task General Properties

Use the General tab on the Task Properties dialog box to define the basic attributes of a task, such as the task name, ID, and type, and to identify the task as a key task on the project. You can also use this tab to apply properties to more than one task.

The following task schedules are displayed on this tab:

• Current. The values displayed are the current values when calculating the critical path.
• Baseline. The values displayed are automatically generated during project baselining and are read-only.
• Early. The values displayed are automatically generated when you autoschedule your project and are read-only. An early schedule indicates the earliest a task can be completed, based on all the dependencies and constraints.
• Late. The values displayed are automatically generated when you autoschedule your project and are read-only. A late schedule indicates the latest a task can be completed, based on all the dependencies and constraints.

To define task general properties

1. From a view that displays the task detail pane, right-click the task you want to define, and select Modify from the shortcut menu.

   The General tab on the Task Properties dialog box opens.

2. Complete the following fields, and click OK:

   Name

   Defines the name of the task.

   Category

   Defines the name of the group or class to which this task belongs.

   ID

   Defines the unique identification code for this task.

   Type

   Defines the task type.

   Values: Milestone, Task, Phase, or Activity

   Default: Task

   Key Task (Type)

   Specifies whether the task is essential to the project and is a key task.

   Duration

   If this task is fixed, defines the length of time, in number of business days, that this task takes to complete.

   Values: 1 through 20,863.

   Fixed (Duration)

   Specifies whether the task duration is fixed or variable.

   Default: Cleared (Variable)

   Priority

   Defines the task priority or priority inheritance if the task does not inherit the priority from parent or any higher WBS level.

   Default: 10 if the parent task priority (or any higher WBS level) has not been set.

   Values: 0 through 36. The lower the number, the higher the priority.

   Example: If the task has a priority of 0 through 9, it is given the highest priority during scheduling. If the task has a priority of 11 through 36, it is given the lowest priority during scheduling.

   Inherited (Priority)

   Specifies whether you want this task to assume the priority of its parent task, or the next highest WBS level. When selected, the Priority field is not available.

   Default: Selected

3. In the Schedule grid, define the following fields and click OK.

   Start

   Defines the task start date for the current schedule.

   Default: Today's date or the next business date after today's date

   Finish

   Defines the task finish date for the current schedule.

   Note: If you do not enter a finish date, Open Workbench calculates the date based on the tasks duration and start date.

   Status

   Defines the task completion status.

   Values: Not Started, Started, or Completed

   Default: Started

   % Complete

   Defines the progress of the task as a percentage. Regardless of the setting for the percent complete calculation method (on the Description tab of the Project Properties dialog box), you can always edit the percent complete value for milestone tasks. This value can also be used in earned value calculations.

   • If the percent complete calculation method is set to Manual, you can edit this field for the project and for all summary and detail tasks.
   • If the percent complete calculation method is set to Effort, the value in this field is automatically calculated for the project and all summary and detail tasks.
   • If the percent complete calculation method is set to Duration, the value in this field is automatically calculated for the project and summary tasks based on the values manually entered for the detail tasks.

   Values: 0 through 100.

More information:

Define Tasks as Key Tasks

Define Task Duration

Baselines and Earned Value Computations

Define Resource Actual Usage on Tasks