Use project tasks in Business Contact Manager

To help you complete a business project, you can divide it into a series of project tasks that you can organize in the order that they need to be done and you can assign them to your team members.

To each task, you assign a start date and a due date. As you make progress on a task, you can update the level of completion. With this information, you can view the Business Project as a bar chart laid out across a timeline. This gives you a helpful visual of where you are in the process and how much further you have to go.

This article explains how to create, assign, update, and track project tasks.

For information about how to delete records, including project tasks, see Delete Business Contact Manager records.

What do you want to do?

Create and assign a project task

Update a project task that is assigned to you

Track project tasks that are linked to your Business Project

Chart project tasks on a timeline

Create and assign a project task

When you create a Business Project, such as a sales presentation, it can include several project tasks. For example:

• Arrange for a presentation space

• Provide catered refreshments

• Create, produce, and deliver sales materials.

You can assign these tasks to anyone with whom you've shared your Business Contact Manager database.

Note: You cannot link files or e-mail messages to project tasks, but you can attach items such as files and e-mail messages in the Comments section of a Project Task record.

Create a new project task

1. In the Navigation Pane, under Business Contact Manager, click Project Management.

2. On the Ribbon, in the New group, click New Project Task.

Complete the project task form

The Project Task form includes General and Details pages. The General page is displayed by default.

General page

You can use this view to record information about your project task, including to whom the project task is assigned, the linked Business Project, and the due date, the status.

Project task information section

1. In the Subject box, type a name for the project task (required).

2. Assign the project task to a team member or employee    Click the person's name in the Assigned to list.
   

   Note:  The names in the Assigned to list are the employees with whom you have shared your Business Contact Manager database. For information about how to share your database, see Share your Business Contact Manager data with other users.

Linked project section

1. Click the Link To button to select the Business Project that this project task is linked to (required).

   Note:  A project task can be linked to only one Business Project. If you created this project task from a Business Project form, this information has already been entered.

Project task settings section

1. In the Start date and Due date boxes, enter the start and due dates for the task.

   Information about the start date is added to the top of the record, underneath the Ribbon.

2. Click a description of the status of the project task in the Status box.

3. In the % Complete box, enter a number between 0 and 100.

4. Select the Attention Required check box if this project task requires attention from the person it is assigned to.

The task is added to the person's Task List in the Outlook To-Do Bar.

1. In the Priority box, select a priority level, Low, Normal or High, for the project task.

To customize the list, click Edit this list. For information about how to customize a list, see the "Create or edit lists" section in the Create and customize record types and lists article.

1. Select the Reminder check box to set a reminder for the owner of this project task, and then click the arrow and select a date and time.

Comments section

1. Type or paste comments or attach files or other Outlook items, such as e-mail messages, into the Comments field.
   

   Note:  Attached files and Outlook items are listed in the Comments field. The items are not listed on the History page of the linked Business Project.

2. Click the Add Time Stamp button to add the date and time to your comments.

3. If you're done entering information about the project task, click Save & Close. Otherwise, continue to the next section of this article.

Details page

You can use this page to record the completion date, hours of work completed, and any mileage that can be reimbursed or that needs to be tracked.

1. To display the Details page, on the Ribbon, in the Show group, click Details.

2. Enter the date that the project task was completed in the Date completed box.

3. Enter the number of hours of total work estimated for this task in the Total work box.

4. Enter the number of hours of actual work in the Actual work box.

5. In the Mileage box, enter the billable mileage for this project task.

6. Click Save & Close.

Tip:  After you have saved the project task, the details of that task display in the Project tasks information section of the linked Business Project.

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Assign a project task

Note:  You can only assign a project task to another person if your Business Contact Manager database is shared with other users. For more information about how to your database, see Share your Business Contact Manager data with other users.

1. In the Navigation Pane, under Business Contact Manager, click Project Management.

2. In the list pane, click the Project Tasks tab, and then double-click the project task to open it.

3. On the project task record, in the Assigned to list, click a name.
   

   Note:  You will see names in the Assigned to list only if you have shared your database with other users.

4. Click Save & Close.

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Update a project task that is assigned to you

To keep the progress of the Business Project up-to-date, project tasks need to be updated as you and your co-workers perform the work on those tasks. When a project task is assigned to you, you can see it in the Outlook To-Do bar.

How?

1. In Outlook, on the Ribbon, click the View tab.

2. In the Layout group, click To-Do Bar, and then do the following:

3. If the To-Do Bar is not displayed, click Normal.

4. If the Task List is not included in the To-Do bar, repeat the preceding steps, and then click Task List.

Update a project task

1. In the Navigation Pane, under Business Contact Manager, click Project Management.

2. In the list pane, on the Project Tasks tab, double-click the project task to open it.

3. In the Project task settings section, update the current status, percentage complete, and whether the task needs attention from the Business Project owner.

4. In the Comments section, you can paste comments from other files or type comments directly into this field. Click the Add Time Stamp button to add a date and time to your comments.

5. Click Save & Close.

Note:  After you have saved the project task record, the latest information from this task displays in the Project tasks information section of the linked Business Project record.

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Track project tasks that are linked to your Business Project

If you are the Business Project owner, you can track the progress of project tasks by viewing the project task gadgets, such as Project Tasks-Due Next, or by viewing the project tasks in the Project tasks information section of a Business Project record.

The project tasks gadgets display information about all projects tasks for all of your business projects.

For information about how to display gadgets in the Project Management workspace, see Use gadgets in Business Contact Manager.

View the project tasks in an individual Business Project

1. In the Navigation Pane, under Business Contact Manager, click Project Management.

2. In the list pane, on the Business Projects tab, double-click the Business Project that you want to review.

   In the Project tasks information section, information about each project task is displayed. You can double-click any project task to open it and see more detailed information.

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Chart project tasks on a timeline

1. In the Navigation Pane, under Business Contact Manager, click Project Management.

2. On the Ribbon, click the Reports tab.

3. In the Project Management group, click Project Tasks, and then select Project Tasks - All.

4. In the report window, on the Ribbon, in the Sort and Filter group, click Filter.

5. In the Filter Project Tasks dialog box, click the Advanced Filter tab.

6. From the Field Name list, click Linked To. From the Comparison list, click Equals, and then in the Compare to box, type the name of the Business Project you are tracking.

7. Click OK.

8. On the Ribbon, in the Show group, click Chart.

   The project tasks of the Business Project display as green task bars on a timeline. A black line within a task bar indicates the percentage of the task that is complete.

Tip:  You can display additional chart elements. On the Ribbon, in the Chart group, click Labels, and then select the labels you want to display.

For more information about reports and filters, see Use reports and charts in Business Contact Manager and Filter records in Business Contact Manager.

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