Schedule FAQ and Terminology

The Schedule is an optional feature available in Noosh 5 that helps project owners plan and track all user-specified ("personal") tasks for a particular project. Not all workgroups have the Schedule enabled.

There are two kinds of schedules:

• Project schedules: Use these to track specific projects.
• Schedule Templates: Use these to build project schedules and other templates.

Benefits of Using the Schedule

• A project schedule is a dashboard you can use to view and manage all user-specified -- or "personal" -- tasks on a particular project.
• The project schedule lets you create different versions of your overall timeline, so that you can compare your initial projections to your actual execution, as well as always keeping a current plan.
• Tools within the schedule help you with planning by helping you figure out a project's length and required resources.

Who Can Access the Schedule

A workgroup must have signed up to use the Schedule feature.

Within the workgroup, project owners and any project member with a custom role that has schedule-access permissions can view the project schedule. If you have access to a project's schedule, you will see a Schedule option in the Project Menu.

Similarly, within the workgroup, any member who has schedule template-access permissions can view the group's schedule templates.

Who can access schedule templates?

Access to schedule templates is governed by your role in your workgroup. If you have access to schedule templates, you will see the Schedule Templates link in the Collaboration Options section of the My Group sub-tab of the Admin tab.

What tasks are included in the schedule?

All user-specified ("personal") tasks for the project appear in the schedule. System tasks, such as Create RFE or Create Order, do not appear in the schedule.

Do tasks work differently inside the schedule than they do on other task management pages?

Tasks in a project schedule work the same way they do elsewhere. For example, re-assigning a task from within the schedule generates a notification to the new assignee, just as it would if you had re-assigned it from the Tasks page.

I see the schedule, but it's not editable. What's happening?

You need to turn on the "Allow editing individual tasks" setting. To turn it on, open the Advanced Controls, if they are not already visible (click the arrow next to Advanced Controls). In the Choose Display section, select Allow editing individual tasks. When the schedule refreshes, you will be able to edit it. If you want to always be able to edit the schedule whenever you return to it, click Save Control Settings.

I enter data in my schedule, but when I come back to it, it's not there anymore. What's happening?

Did you remember to click Save or Save and Exit? You must click either of these two buttons to save your changes when you leave the schedule.

What does the yellow highlighting in certain fields mean?

This means that there might be a discrepancy between the current plan dates of a task, its current plan days, and/or its dependencies.

Why are some task names red?

These are overdue tasks. An overdue task is a task whose End date in the Current Plan has passed but whose status is neither Completed nor Cancelled.

What are the Baseline Plan, the Current Plan, and the Actuals?

The Baseline Plan, Current Plan, and Actuals are three different ways of tracking your project schedule.

Baseline Plan

The Baseline Plan allows you to set your initial projections for start and end dates for each task and how long you think those tasks will take. Setting a baseline plan gives you the ability to compare the actual execution of the project (the Actuals) to your original expectations. You can create or reset your baseline plan at any time. However, Noosh will only ever save the latest baseline plan you set.

Current Plan

Schedules often change during execution. The Current Plan allows you to keep an updated schedule while preserving your original expectations in the baseline plan.

Actuals

The Actuals let you record how the project is actually unfolding, including when tasks actually start and end and how long they actually take. You can use the Actuals to assess your project's actual performance against its current operating assumptions (the Current Plan) and the original assumptions (the Baseline Plan).

When you're finished with your project, you can compare the Actuals to the Baseline Plan to improve your planning projections.