Project Planning Board - Overview

Use the Project Planning Board to schedule when staff will complete each of the project tasks. The project tasks shown for scheduling were created in the Work Breakdown tab. NEW 4.8

*Synergy Enterprise Feature* 

ClosedGetting Started

Setup required before use

 Who can use it? Where is it?

Rates

Staff

Timesheet Tasks

Sub Projects

Work Breakdown

Assistant Project Manager

Project Manager

Director

Administrator

System Administrator

 Projects > Project Plan > Schedule > Planning Board tab

Tips:

What is the Project Planning Board?

Schedule budget items created in the Work Breakdown. This is done by dragging and dropping an item onto a particular date and time using a day, week or month calendar view.

Assign a staff member to the planned item, and it will then appear in the users My Schedule panel on the My Synergy dashboard. Items assigned to staff will also appear as History rows in their staff timesheets.

Select the data to be shown for each appointment using the Sub Project, Task, Rate and Staff display options.

Why use the Project Planning Board?

Use the Project planning board to schedule what date each of the project tasks will be completed, and decide which staff member will complete the task.

How to use the Project Planning Board

Create your Project Plan within the Resource and Capacity Management module with the following workflow:

  1. Build your budget by entering the rate, tasks and staff in the Work Breakdown tab.
  2. Schedule the project tasks to be completed on a certain date in the Project Planning Board.
  3. Resource the project by determining which staff have available time to complete the project tasks using the Capacity board.

This topic will outline Step 2, how to schedule project tasks to be completed on a certain date.

Actions available

The following actions are available on the Project Planning Board tab, in the calendar style planning board view, or within the projects to schedule panel, or using the buttons in the toolbar.

ClosedPlanning Board Actions
ClosedSchedule tasks in the Planning Board

Tasks can be scheduled within the Planning Board to be completed at a selected date and time. To schedule the tasks drag and drop the task from the projects to schedule panel, and place the item into the planning board calendar view.

After the item is scheduled on the planning board, you can update the details by double clicking the appointment item and updating the details in the appointment window.

Tips:

ClosedSwitch between the Month, Week and Day views

Three views are available on the planning board: Month, Week and Day, with month view being the default.

Each scheduled item in the planning board displays:

  1. Start timeClosedThe time of day that the task work is scheduled to commence.
  2. Display OptionClosedEither Sub Project, Task, Rate, or Staff name will be shown. Toggle between which of these items is displayed, using the toolbar display buttons.
  3. Scheduled HoursClosedThe number of hours included in the scheduled appointment.

Tip: Hover the mouse over the item to view more details.

Examples for each of the planning board views

Month View example Week View example Day View example

Click the image above to see the month view, with the task details shown.

Click the image above to see the week view, with the task details shown.

Click the image above to see the day view, with the task details shown.
ClosedChange the date displayed using the calendar

Update the planning board to display a different date using the calendar buttons. These are shown in the top right of the planning board toolbar. Select the date to be shown on the Planning Board. Calendar options available are:

  1. Toggle the date using the Previous or Next buttons.
  2. Select a date from the drop down calendar using this button .

Click the image above to see where the calendar drop down button is located.

ClosedProjects to Schedule Panel Actions
ClosedExpand or Collapse the 'Projects to Schedule Panel' using or

Use the Expand Tree button to view the tasks for each Sub Project, or Collapse Tree button to view the Sub Projects only in the 'Projects to Schedule' panel.

ClosedAdjust the width of the Projects to Schedule panel

The width of the Projects to schedule panel can be adjusted, by clicking the bar of the panel and dragging it to the left/right. Adjust the size of the panel to view all the Sub Project, Task, Rate and Staff information of the Work Breakdown item before it is added to the Planning Board.

Click the image above to see how to resize the Projects to Schedule panel.

ClosedToolbar button actions
ClosedRefresh after Scheduling tasks

Use the Refresh button in the toolbar, to update the Scheduled Hours total shown on each of the items in the Planning Board.

Tip: The Scheduled hours on the planned items are not automatically updated after the item has been edited. Click refresh to see how many hours the item is planned across.

ClosedShow/Hide the Projects to Schedule Panel

Use the 'Show projects available for scheduling' button in the top toolbar, to toggle on/off if the 'Projects to Schedule' panel is shown.

Tip: Hide the 'Projects to Schedule' panel to make the Planning board larger on screen, and view more information.

ClosedSplit the appointment using the office calendar

Split a long appointment and assign different staff to the task or move one day of the scheduled work to the following week/month.

The split appointment button is located in the top toolbar. Use this button when you have scheduled an item across several days in the planning board, and you want to break-up the appointment to show as a separate item for each day it is scheduled. The split process will place one appointment onto each day the office is open, or create an appointment for each day the staff member works on. The working days are setup in the office and staff calendars.

To use this feature:

  1. Select the item to split in the planning board.
  2. Click the split appointment button.
  3. A separate appointment item is now shown for each day the item was scheduled.

Tips:

  • The split appointment button is also available in the edit appointment window.
  • Calendars are available in Office settings and Staff maintenance.
  • Ensure you have assigned relevant Staff and Tasks to the appointment before you split it.
ClosedExample

The 'Drafting' task has been scheduled across four days in the planning board. One appointment for drafting is shown across Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The weekend hours from Saturday are not included in the total number of scheduled hours for the appointment, and the office calendar is setup stating the office is closed on Saturdays.

Click the image to view the 'drafting' task schedule across the three days, from the 14th to the 17th of November.

Select the appointment for the item that is to be split in the planning board. Then click the Split Appointment button. A separate item is shown for each of the three working days, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. No appointment is created for the weekend days, as the office calendar is set to only work weekdays.

Click the image above to see the 'drafting' task split into three separate appointments.

ClosedChange the Display option

Use the display buttons shown in the top toolbar of the planning board. The display options change what information is shown on the items in the planning board. The following display options are available:

  1. By Sub ProjectClosedThe name of the Sub Project is shown on each item in the planning board. The colour shown for each item, is the colour selected for the Sub Project on the Project Plan > Sub Project tab. This is the default view upon opening the planning board.
  2. By TaskClosedThe name of the task selected is shown. The task is entered on the Project Plan > Work Breakdown structure tab. The colour shown for the item, is the colour selected on the Project Plan >Work Breakdown tab.
  3. By RateClosedThe name of the rate selected is shown. The rate is entered on the Project Plan > Work Breakdown structure tab. The colour shown for the item, is the colour selected in Practice > Rates List.
  4. By StaffClosedThe name of the staff member assigned to the task is shown. The staff member is entered on the Project Plan > Work Breakdown structure tab, or by editing the item on the Planning Board. The colour shown for the item, is the colour selected in Practice > Staff and Application Security List.

Tip: Hover your mouse over an item in the planning board, to view all the details for the item in the hover pop-up box.

Columns available

ClosedProjects to Schedule Panel columns

The Projects to schedule panel is displayed on the left side of the Planning Board tab.

  1. Sub Project NameClosedThe Sub Project name and assigned colour from the Project Plan > Sub Project tab.
  2. TaskClosedThe Sub Project task entered on the Project Plan > Work Breakdown tab. If no task has been assigned to the work breakdown item, the text 'any task' is shown.
  3. RateClosedThe charge-out rate for the work breakdown item, which was selected on the Project Plan > Work breakdown tab. The text 'any rate' is shown, if there is no charge-out rate assigned to the work breakdown budget item.
  4. StaffClosedThe staff member assigned to complete the item. A staff member can also be assigned to complete the work once the item is in the planning board. If no staff member has been assigned the text 'Any staff' is shown, to indicate that any staff member can complete the work if they are setup to use the selected rate.
  5. Complete ClosedIf the work breakdown item has been marked as completed , then the complete indicator is shown within the budgeted column. This indicator advises that all the work for this work breakdown budget item has been completed, and is a visual queue to not schedule any further work for this task on the planning board.
  6. BudgetedClosedThe number of 'Units' included in the budget for this work breakdown item. For staff rate type items this is the number of hours in the budget that the task will take to complete. For inspection rate items this is the number of days that require site visits. The budgeted value is defined in the Project Plan > Work Breakdown tab.
  7. Scheduled HoursClosedThe number of hours that the item is scheduled for in the planning board. Staff and inspection rates both display a number of hours in this column. If 0 hours is displayed, then the task has not yet been scheduled. Use this column to check if the scheduled hours is greater than the budgeted value, to monitor if the by scheduling additional work the work breakdown item will be over/under delivered.

Tip: Drag and drop the items from this panel onto the Planning Board, to schedule the work to be completed on a set date/time.

ClosedPlanning Board Information

The planning board is the calendar style view shown on the right side of the Planning Board tab. The following information is shown for each scheduled appointment:

  1. Project Number and TitleClosedHover the mouse over an item in the planning board, to view the Project Number and the Project Title.
  2. Sub ProjectClosedUse the Display view 'by sub project' to see the sub project name and sub project colour on each appointment. The sub project name and colour are defined on the Project Plan > Sub Projects tab. Or view the sub project name by hovering the mouse over the appointment in the planning board.
  3. TaskClosedUse the Display view 'By Task' to see the task name and colour on each appointment. This information is defined on the Project Plan > Work Breakdown tab.Or view the task name by hovering the mouse over the appointment in the planning board. If no task has been assigned to the work breakdown item, the text 'Any task' is shown, and will display the default colour of white.
  4. RateClosedUse the Display view 'By Rate' to see the rate name and colour on each appointment. The rate is defined on the Project Plan > Work Breakdown tab, and the rate colour is defined in Practice > Rates List. Or view the rate name by hovering the mouse over the appointment. If no rate has been assigned to the work breakdown item, the text 'Any rate' is shown, and will display as the default colour of white.
  5. StaffClosedUse the Display view 'By Staff' to see the staff members name and colour for the appointment. The staff member is selected on the Project Plan > Work Breakdown tab, and the colour is defined in Practice > Staff and Application Security List. Or view the staff member assigned to complete the task by hovering the mouse over the appointment. If no staff member has been assigned to the work breakdown item, the text 'Any staff' is shown, and will display the default colour of white.
  6. Scheduled HoursClosedThe number of hours of each individual appointment. See the scheduled hours on the appointment bar in the planning board, after the display option text (Sub Project, Task, Rate, or Staff). Or hover the mouse over the appointment to view the number of scheduled hours.
  7. Start TimeClosedThe start time of the appointment is shown when you hover the mouse over the appointment.
  8. End TimeClosedThe end time of the appointment is shown when you hover the mouse over the appointment.

Tip: Change the Display view in the toolbar, to change what information is shown for a scheduled task in the Planning board.

Want to learn more?

Looking for more help? Try reviewing the following Resource and Capacity Management topics: Concept Link IconView Topics

 

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