Set Task Weighting Mode

Task weighting modes allow you to be more flexible with how completed tasks contribute to a task group or project's completion. There are three task weighting modes from which you can choose, depending on your edition:

• Standard: available in all editions
• Time-based: available in Standard and Premium editions
• Custom: available in Premium edition

Defining the Task Weighting Modes

Standard mode treats all tasks equally in terms of weight in a project or task group. In other words, a task to send an email counts the same amount towards completion as a task that takes much more effort and time, like a task to design a custom implementation plan. 

Time-based mode utilizes the Estimated Time (hrs) field on tasks to represent their weight. The calculation of completion in this mode is:

(sum of completed tasks' estimated hours/sum of all tasks' estimated hours)*100.

So for example, if you have 7 tasks in an implementation project your time-based weighting may look like this:

• Kickoff Call: 1.0 hrs
• Kickoff call summary and next steps email: 1.0 hrs
• Implementation plan design: 3.0 hrs
• Design review: 1.0 hrs
• Design iterations: 2.0 hrs
• Finalize design and review: 2.0 hrs
• Implement and feedback: 10.0 hrs

This project's weight is a total of 20 hours. If the kickoff call task is the first completed, then the project completion calculation is (1 /20)*100 = 5%. 

Custom mode allows you to customize each tasks' weight with an integer. We recommend populating this on the template tasks, so it can carry through automatically to cloned or stitched projects, but it can be populated directly on live projects as well. 

The calculation of completion in this mode is:

(sum of completed tasks' custom weight/sum of all tasks' custom weight)*100.

A use case for this mode might be to weight your tasks based on the number of checklist items related to them. A task with more checklist items likely requires more time and effort, so it should contribute more to the completion of the project and task group.

So, for example, the same 7 tasks in an implementation project with custom task weighting may look like this:

• Kickoff Call: 1 checklist item
• Kickoff call summary and next steps email: 2 checklist item
• Implementation plan design: 3 checklist items
• Design review: 2 checklist item
• Design iterations: 2 checklist items
• Finalize design and review: 10 checklist items
• Implement and feedback: 10 checklist items

This project's weight is a total of 30. If the kickoff call task is the first completed, then the project completion calculation is (1 /30)*100 = 3%. 

In Standard edition, a task weighting mode is applied org-wide. In order to override the org-wide mode on a project level, you will need to be on Premium edition. 

Setting Up Task Weighting Modes in the Admin Console

To access the admin section for Task Weighting, navigate to the TaskRay settings gear and then click on Task Weighting. 

Using the Task Weighting Type drop down, select the weighting type you would like to set up. 

Once you make a selection from the drop down, you will click on the Save button. If on the Premium edition and you decide to use Custom, you will see another option display to the right.  This is the Default Task Weight. What this means is that if you do not set a custom task weight on a task, it will be treated as the default value when calculating the progress percentage.  

Below the Task Weight Type section, you will see a section to Recalculate In-Flight Projects. After setting the Task Weight mode and then making sure that the estimated hours (for time-based mode) or custom task weight (for custom mode) are populated, you will click on this button to recalculate all of the task group and project completion percentages on in-flight projects. 

Add Relevant Fields to Page Layouts

Depending on how you will be using Task Weighting, you can optionally add the related fields to the TaskRay Task page layout. To do that,

1. From Setup, navigate to:
   • Lightning: Objects and Fields | Object Manager
   • Classic: Create | Objects
2. Select TaskRay Task object
3. Navigate to the Page Layouts section and select the applicable page layout(s)
4. For Custom Task Weighting, drag the Custom Task Weight onto the page layout(s).
5. For Time-Based Task Weighting, drag the Estimated Time (hrs) field onto the page layout(s). 
6. Click Save

For Premium Edition users who need to override the org-wide Task Weighting type, 

1. From Setup, navigate to:
   • Lightning: Objects and Fields | Object Manager
   • Classic: Create | Objects
2. Select TaskRay Project object
3. Navigate to the Page Layouts section and select the applicable page layout(s)
4. Drag the Task Weighting Type field onto the page layout(s). 
5. Click Save

Once you have those fields on the page layout, you can start using them!

Automating Custom Task Weighting

For more information on automating your custom task weighting check out this article Automating Custom Task Weighting by Checklist Items.