Tasks and work sessions in a project

The Tasks & scheduling tab of a project holds two things that are easy to mix up: the task list and the scheduled work sessions.

In short: a task is a tick box without a time, a work session is a time slot without a tick box. The task list determines your progress percentage; work sessions determine who goes there and when.

The task list

Type what needs doing in the Add new task... field and click the +. Then click the circle in front of a task to tick it off (it gets struck through), or the bin icon to delete it. Everything applies straight away; the page doesn't reload.

The task list is deliberately simple. Per task there is no date, no description, no assignment to an engineer and no custom order — tasks appear in the order you add them and you can't drag them around. Editing a task's wording afterwards isn't possible either; delete it and type it again.

If you do want to assign a task to someone or add a note to it, you can do so via Planny (for example: "add the task 'order tiles' to project Bathroom Jansen and assign it to Ahmed"). See What Planny can do for your business.

How progress is calculated

The progress in the sidebar and the Tasks tile at the top are pure arithmetic:

tasks ticked off ÷ total number of tasks × 100

There is nothing more to it: no weighting by size, no hours, no materials. If a project has no tasks yet, progress sits at 0%. The percentage updates with every task you add, tick off or throw away.

Watch out: if you delete a task that was still open, your percentage goes up. Four of eight tasks done is 50%; throw away two open tasks and it suddenly reads 67% while you haven't done a thing.

If you ask Planny to set progress to a particular percentage, or you mark the project as Completed, the percentage is overwritten. From then on it no longer matches your task list, until you tick a task on or off again.

Scheduled work sessions

A work session is a real appointment in the calendar, linked to this project. What you schedule here appears immediately in Scheduling and in the engineer's My schedule; and conversely, a calendar appointment you link to this project shows up here in the timeline.

This is how you create one:

1. Click New session.
2. Choose an engineer / employee, or leave it empty and assign someone later.
3. Click a day in the calendar on the right. You'll see straight away what that employee already has booked.
4. Set the start time and end time.
5. Optionally fill in an internal note, for instance "bring the tall ladder". It's for your own team only.
6. Want to inform the customer? Tick Notify the customer by email. The question mark next to it shows you what that email looks like first.
7. Click Schedule.

The customer then gets an email with the date, time and a button to add the appointment to their own calendar. Your internal note is not included. If the customer has no email address, the tick box is disabled. The box is off by default — so an email never goes out unnoticed.

Moving a work session

On the project screen you can only delete a work session, not change it. To move it or hand it to someone else, do that in Scheduling (where you can simply drag the appointment) or ask Planny. See Scheduling appointments in the calendar.

Good to know

• The four tiles at the top of the project count your tasks (done/total), your work sessions, the sale value of your materials, and the deadline.
• Maintenance contracts have no task list and no progress percentage; they work with visits. See Setting up a maintenance contract.
• Your customer doesn't see your tasks and work sessions. What the customer can follow is the Bouwjournaal — see Keeping the Bouwjournaal for your customer.

Frequently asked questions

• Can I assign a task to an engineer? Not in the screen itself, but you can via Planny. In the task list that assignment isn't visible afterwards, by the way.
• My progress no longer adds up. The percentage was probably set by hand or via Planny at some point, or the project was set to Completed. Tick a task on or off and it recalculates itself.
• Why isn't my work session in the engineer's schedule? Then no employee is linked to it. Assign one via Scheduling.
• Can I link a task to a work session? No, the two are separate.