Plan View

Plan View presents a Gantt-style timeline for managing projects and tasks. This view provides insight into the overall project structure, task schedules, and dependency relationships among tasks. Not only is this view useful for seeing the full picture of the project plan, but it also provides the tools for managing more granular task-level details.

In this article, we provide an overview of the main functionality of Plan View and showcase how users can incorporate the view into their daily workflows.

Plan View | Guided Walkthrough

Plan View | Functionality Review

Organization

Project Structure & Visualization

Plan View provides a comprehensive view of project structure by visualizing the project plan on a timeline. Tasks, task groups, and projects are represented by bars on the timeline, where the left edges align with the records' start dates and the right edges align with their estimated end dates. The widths of the bars represent durations.

The bars on the timeline also provide a quick reference on progress. Project and task group bars display progress values, allowing you to have a quick point of reference when reviewing how the work is moving toward completion. Meanwhile, task bars are color-coded based on their status values and they automatically turn red when they become overdue.

You will also see arrows connecting tasks on the timeline. These are dependencies and they are used to prescribe the sequence in which the tasks should be worked on in a project. 

Along with the timeline, you can review the project structure in the Plan View left-hand sidebar. Within each task row, you will see profile pictures of task owners. Additionally, every row has a chevron icon, which can be used to navigate to the record on the Plan View timeline. The left sidebar also provides controls for expanding or collapsing sections of tasks.

You will also see certain tasks represented by diamond icons on the timeline, which are used to indicate milestones. Milestones are single-day tasks used to designate major events, goals, or key deliverables within a project. 

Filtering

Plan View incorporates a robust filtering mechanism, allowing you to stay organized and quickly refine visible projects and tasks. The filtering mechanism can help streamline your workflow by providing efficient ways to locate your work or view needed subsets of projects and tasks.

Project Management

Create Tasks

If you need to add a new task or build out an entire project, Plan View is the place to do so. Plan View visualizes both the project structure and the task schedules, making it easy to place new tasks exactly where they need to go within the project.

Follow the steps below to create a task in Plan View:

1. With the applicable project selected in Plan View, click on the plus icon either next to the project name or the task group name in the Plan View sidebar. 
   • If you select the plus next to the project, the new task will be created as ungrouped.
   • If you select the plus next to the task group, the new task will be added to that task group within the project. 
     
2. In the row that appears, type in the new task name and hit Enter on your keyboard.

The new task will be created as unscheduled. Review the sections below if you need to schedule it or set up dependencies with other tasks.

Manage Task Schedules

The Plan View interface is timeline-driven, making it the perfect place to manage task schedules using drag-and-drop actions. 

New / unscheduled tasks will have a pin icon next to their names in the Plan View sidebar. To schedule them, drag the pin onto the desired spot on the timeline.

To adjust a task's start date or estimated end date, click on either edge of the task's bar and drag it to the desired date.

To reschedule a task, click on the task bar and drag it onto the desired spot on the timeline.

It is important to note that tasks cannot be scheduled to start or end on non-working days (e.g. weekends or holidays, if configured). If a task falls on a non-working day, it will automatically adjust to the nearest working day. Non-working days appear shaded on the time for a visual indicator. For more information on this, see the Project Schedules article.

Manage Task Dependencies

Dependencies are used to prescribe the order in which the tasks should be worked on within a project. Typically, dependencies are set up at the time of creating projects, but there could be instances where you will need to create new relationships among tasks, such as when a new task is added to the project. For more information on how to do this, refer to the Create Dependencies article.

Dependencies also play a role in task scheduling. More specifically, if you reschedule a task that is part of a dependency chain, all related successor tasks will get rescheduled along with it.

TaskRay Pro Tip | Lock Dates on Tasks
If you need to exclude certain tasks from downstream scheduling updates, you can lock dates on those tasks. Tasks with locked dates will display a lock icon and will not be impacted by any scheduling changes made on related predecessor tasks. This can be useful if your project plan has critical tasks or events that must occur on specific dates regardless of any other scheduling changes. For more information, see the Lock Dates on Tasks and Milestones article.

Advanced Scheduler

If you are on the Premium Edition of TaskRay, you also have access to the Advanced Scheduler feature. The Advanced Scheduler is designed for managing scheduling changes in bulk. It allows shifting the entire project schedule, compressing and expanding timelines, and making changes in draft mode before applying them to live projects. For more information, see the Advanced Scheduler article.

Baselines

Baselining allows taking snapshots of the project plan at different points of its lifecycle. This presents the ability to compare how the projects progress toward completion by recording statuses, dates, and any other custom field values at different points in time. Baselines can be useful for identifying trends, such as common delays or scheduling changes.

In Plan View, you can set new baselines and review previously created baselines on projects using the Baselines menu at the top of the timeline.

When a baseline is selected, you will see lightly shaded bars on the timeline. These bars represent how the project, task group, and task records were scheduled and what their status was at the time of setting the baseline.

For more information, see Baselining.

Task Management

Manage Task Details (Plan View Columns)

Plan View presents a way to edit task details right from the board. Rather than clicking into individual tasks and updating information via the Detail modal, you can leverage the Plan View Column functionality.

Plan View Columns allow surfacing most task fields and making edits to field values. 

1. To add a column, click on the plus icon in the Plan View sidebar.
   
2. On the Configure Columns screen, locate the fields that you would like to add and move them over to the Selected Fields section. 
   
3. When you are done, close the Configure Columns modal.

Selected fields will be added as columns. From here, you can review field values and make edits as necessary.

1. To edit a field, click on the pencil icon within the applicable cell.
2. Enter the new value.
3. For some field types, you will need to hit Enter on your keyboard to save.

Manage / Complete Tasks

It is also possible to manage task statuses and mark them complete via Plan View columns. To update a task's status, add the List field as a column and then edit the task's List value as needed. To complete a task, update the List value to the one that represents the final stage (e.g. finished).

Export

Plan View also provides options for exporting projects in print and CSV formats. For more information, see Exporting and Printing.

Plan View | In-App & Lightning Component

Plan View is available as an in-app view and as a Lightning component. The Lightning component can be added to record pages in Salesforce, such as on Accounts and Opportunities. The component will function within the context of the record where it is viewed, displaying projects and tasks related to the record.