MindManager Help | Add task information

Add task information

Utilization definitions and calculations

To add task information to a topic

To mark roll-up topics for task management

To define workdays and holidays

To define task cost

To define task display options

To assign a resource to a task

To import resources

To automatically import resources for new maps

To manage resources

To assign costs to resources

To assign color to resources

To add a dependency between tasks

You add task information to topics using the Task Inspector and the Markers Inspector. Task information (other than Priority and Progress icons) is not displayed in Outline View.

You can assign priorities to tasks, set start and ends dates, duration, effort. and progress.

When you mark a topic as a roll-up topic, its task info is calculated along the entire branch for all parent topics of tasks up to and including the roll-up topic. (Resources are not used, but are retained when entered.) The calculated task info is shown with special markers.

You can import a list of resources from your address book to use as task information on the current map. These are added to the Markers Inspector's Resources group, and the Task Inspector's Resource list. You can assign them to topics from either Inspector. You can also choose to attach the list of resources you import to the central topic as a vCards file.

The default set of workdays (the Map Calendar) for each new map is defined by the Task Info options calendar. You can define a different set of workdays for the current map using the Calendar & Display option in the Task Inspector pane. You can only assign Task Info Start and Due dates marked as workdays (and not marked as holidays) on the Map Calendar. The Map Calendar lets you specify which days should be considered as work days only for this map. These settings override the workdays already defined in the Task Info options. You select which days of the week are used as workdays, and add or remove holidays (non-work days) from the calendar using the Add and Remove functions.

You can decide how to highlight topics depending on the status of their tasks.

You can indicate a dependency between tasks by linking the topics with a special type of relationship. You can choose the type of dependency using the Task Management options.

The Task Info on your map displays shading to alert you to resource utilization issues.

Resource utilization

Resource utilization is automatically calculated by using Task Duration, Work Hours per Day, resource Availability, and resource Loading for each resource used on the map, on both a daily and weekly basis.

To see details about these issues, you can do an analysis to find over- or underutilized resources in the Resources pane.

For more information on how utilization is calculated, see Utilization definitions and calculations.

Resource loading

When you assign a resource to a task, the resource loading is automatically set to 100%. This means that you expect the resource to spend the full task duration working on this task: 5 hours for a 5 hour task, 40 hours for a 40 hour task, etc.

If you change the loading to 50%, this means you expect the resource spend half the task duration working on it: 2.5 hours on a 5 hour task, 20 hours for a 40 hour task, etc.

Analyze Utilization

Analyzing resource utilization can help you to arrange tasks and resources to ensure a successful outcome. Utilization is analyzed over full weeks that occur during the time period you specify, on a weekly and daily basis. It is possible for a resource to be underutilized for a week, but overutilized on specific days, and vice-versa.

Utilization definitions and calculations

Utilization is determined on both a weekly and daily basis for each resource on the map.

Weekly resource utilization

For each week, we calculate the number of hours the resource must work on tasks. We use the resource loading and duration (within this week) for each task to calculate the work required.

work required for a task = task duration this week * resource loading

We total the work required for all the tasks to find the work required for the week. We compare the work required this week to the Availability for the resource to arrive at a weekly utilization percentage:

weekly utilization = [ work required this week / availability ] * 100%

Overutilized resources are those whose utilization is greater than 100%. Their work required for the week exceeds their Availability.

Underutilized resources are those whose utilization is less than 100%. Their work required for the week is less than their Availability.

Daily resource utilization

For each day, we calculate the number of hours to be worked for each task. We use the resource loading and duration (for this day) for each task to calculate the work required:

work required for a task = task duration today* resource loading

We total the work required for all the tasks on that day to find the work required. We compare the work required for the day to the Work Hours per Day to arrive at a daily utilization percentage for the resource:

daily utilization = [ work required for the day / work hours per day ] * 100%

Overutilized resources are those whose utilization is greater than 100%. Their work required for the day exceeds the Work Hours per Day.

Underutilized resources are those whose utilization is less than 100%. Their work required for the day is less than the Work Hours per Day.

On the map, task info is shaded:

•

— Red indicates that one or more resource assigned to the task is overutilized (on either a day or week basis) at some point between the Start and Due date. The overutilized resource names are bolded.

•

— Tan indicates that all the resources assigned to the task are fully utilized (nether under- nor overutilized).

•

— Green indicates that one or more resource assigned to the task is underutilized (on either a day or week basis) at some point between the task's Start and Due date, and that no resources are overutilized at any point. (If it is a mixed case of under- and overutilization, overutilization is indicated.) The underutilized resource names are bolded.

To add task information to a topic

1 Select the topic.

If the Inspector is not open, click the Show Task Pane toolbar button on the Task tab.

2 In the Inspector, click the Task Info tab

3 On the Task Info tab of the Inspector, define the task information for the selected topic. You may define any or all of the properties.

4 Set a task's priority by clicking a Priority button.

A corresponding icon is automatically added to the selected topic on the map.

5 Set a task's progress by clicking a Progress button.

A corresponding icon is automatically added to the selected topic on the map.

6 Set a task's schedule by choosing dates in Use Start Date and Use End Date pop-up menus.

7 Set the amount of time the task is expected to require by choosing the task length in hours, days, weeks or months in the Duration pop-up menus.

The default duration for a task with a Start date and Due date is 1 day. Changing the Duration will change the Due date

8 Set the actual amount of work time required to complete a task by choosing the work time in hours, days, weeks or months in the Effort pop-up menus.

9 Denote a task as a milestone with the project by selecting the Milestone check box.

For Priority and Progress information the corresponding icon is added to the topic. The rest of the task information is displayed in a small window below the topic text.

To hide the task information windows on your map by choose View > Show & Hide and deselect the Task Info check box. To hide the icons deselect the Icons check box.

You can also add Priority, Progress, and Resources markers to topics directly from the Markers tab of the Inspector.

To see larger task information images, choose MindManager > Preferences and select Show larger icons and task information images.

To mark roll-up topics for task management

1 Select a topic that has at least one subtopic.

2 In the Task Inspector pane, select the Roll Up Task Info check box.

You can also enter task info for the roll-up topic's subtopics.

To define workdays and holidays

1 Do one of the following:

• To define workdays for all maps, choose MindManager > Preferences, and click the Task Info tab.

• To define workdays for the current map, click the Calendar & task options button in the Task Inspector pane.

2 Select the check boxes corresponding to the days of the week that you want to be considered workdays.

3 Indicate which days are to be considered holidays by selecting a date from the Holidays pop-menu, and clicking Add.

4 Set the length of the workday by typing in the Work hours per day box.

5 Click OK.

To define task cost

1 Select the topic(s) you want to define the task cost for.

2 Click the Show Task Pane toolbar button on the Task tab.

3 In the Costs area of the Task Inspector pane, define the General cost, which is a fixed cost associated with the selected topics or tasks.The Resource box displays the cost of resources assigned to the task based on assigned resource's availability for the task and standard rates for those resources.The Total box displays the sum of the General and Resource costs for the selected task.

To display a total for all tasks in a project, select the central topic, and enable the Roll up Costs check box. You can also display costs for part of a project by selecting a topic and enabling the Roll up Costs check box. All costs in tasks in that branch are displayed in the selected task.

To hide task costs, click Calendar & task options in the Task Info pane and disable the Show Costs check box.

To change the currency symbol and formatting for costs, click Calendar & task options in the Task Info pane. Then, choose an option from the Currency Symbol drop-down menu.

To define task display options

1 In the Task Inspector pane, click the Calendar & task options button.

2 Click View Task Highlighting Rules.

3 In the SmartRules dialog, assign a color if you want to highlight topics whenever the status of a task is: past due, at risk, or completed.You can also choose to highlight roll-up branches only.

By default, task info display is enabled, and the topics highlighted are those including tasks that are past-due (pink), at-risk (yellow), and completed (green).

You can also choose whether critical paths display, and even whether to show years or not in task info dates.

To assign a resource to a task

1 Select the topic.

2 Click the Show Task Pane toolbar button on the Task tab.

3 In the Inspector, click the Task Info tab

4 Type the resource name in the Resource drop-down.

You can also click the Resource drop-down and select a resource.

Remove the resource by selecting it and clicking the Remove Selected Resource button. You can also remove the resource by Control-clicking the topic and choosing Remove Resource.

To import resources

1 In the Inspector's Markers pane, click the Options button

next to the Resources group.

2 Choose New Resources from Address Book.

3 Select the contacts you want to import as resources.

4 To attach the list of resources to the map's central topic select the Attach Resources to Central Topic check box.

The list is attached as vCards. Another reader of your map can import these contacts into their own address book or other contact manager from the map.

5 Click Import.

The new resources will appear in the Markers Inspector's Resources group. You can add them to topics from here, or from the Task Inspector.

Resource names will be auto-completed for you when you enter them in the Task Inspector's Resources field.

If you attached the resources to the central topic, you can open or remove the file as you would any other attachment.

To automatically import resources for new maps

1 Choose MindManager > Preferences.

2 In the menu under New Map, select the Auto import resources from check box, and choose an address book group.

3 To attach the resources to the map, select the Attach resources to Central Topic check box.

You can import additional resources at any time. MindManager will not duplicate existing map resources. If you need to update the attached resources, delete the .vcf attachment on the Central Topic, and import the resources again.

To manage resources

1 Click the Show Task Pane toolbar button on the Task tab.

2 In the Inspector, click the Task Info tab

3 In the Resources task pane, click Manage Resources.

4 In the Manage Resources dialog, you can change a resource's Availability, assign a cost to the resource, add more resources, or delete resources.

You can modify a resource's effort by Control-clicking the topic and choosing Edit Resource Efforts. You can modify a resource's rates by Control-clicking the topic and choosing Edit Resource Rates.

To assign costs to resources

1 Click the Show Task Pane toolbar button on the Task tab.

2 In the Inspector, click the Task Info tab

3 In the Resources task pane, click Manage Resources.

4 In the Manage Resources dialog, choose the time increment to use when managing a resource's cost. You can choose to calculate costs using hours, days, weeks, or usages.

5 Type the cost per time increment in the Standard Rate box.

To assign color to resources

1 In a topic containing a resource , Control-click the resource and choose Add Resource Color.

If the resource already has an assigned color, choose Edit Resource Color to select a new color.

2 In the Resource dialog, open the Color picker, and choose a color.

To add a dependency between tasks

1 If the Inspector is not open, click the Task Panes toolbar button.

2 In the Inspector, click the Task Info tab

3 Type the resource name in the Resource drop-down.

4 Select the determining task (the task that another task depends on), and assign a Start Date, Due Date, and Duration.If you do not assign Due Date or Duration, during the dependency calculation, the task is given a Due Date equal to the Start Date and a Duration of 1 day.

5 Select the determining task, press Command, and then select one or more tasks. If you select more than two tasks, multiple dependencies will be created in the order that you selected the tasks.

6 Click a dependency type:

• Finish-to-Start — Task 2 Start date cannot be earlier than Task 1 Due date. On update, Task 2 Start date is adjusted to be after the Task 1 Due date.

• Start-to-Finish — Task 2 Due date cannot be earlier than Task 1 Start date. On update, Task 2 Due date is adjusted to be at or after the Task 1 Start date.

• Start-to-Start — Task 2 Start date cannot be earlier than Task 1 Start date. On update, Task 2 Start date is adjusted to be at or after the Task 1 Start date.

• Finish-to-Finish — Task 2 Due date cannot be earlier than Task 1 Due date. On update, Task 2 Due date is adjusted to be at or after the Task 1 Due date.

You can change the dependency type by selecting the dependency line, and then selecting a new dependency type in the Task Inspector.

You can also move the end of a dependency to a different topic by selecting the dependency and dragging the red handle to a new topic.