Projects introduction
Get an introduction how to work with projects in TETFund Research Planner.
To start collaboration in TETFund Research Planner, you first have to set up a new project.
- A project is defined as a temporary, goal-driven effort to create a unique output.
- A project has clearly defined phases, a start and an end date, and its success is measured by whether it meets its stated objectives.
- A project in TETFund Research Planner can be understood as a project as defined above.
- Also, it can be set up as a “workspace” for teams to collaborate on one common topic, e.g. to organize a department.
If you have any questions that are beyond the scope of this help file, Please feel free to email by clicking on this link Support mail.
Create a new project
To create a new project, click the green button + Project directly on the system’s home screen in the Project section.
Alternatively, you can use the green + button in the header menu to create a new project.
- You can either create a completely new project, create a subproject of an existing project or create a (sub)project from a template. For the latter option, choose a template using the drop-down menu.
- Enter a name for your project and click the blue Save button.
- Integrate the project into the existing project hierarchy by defining it as a subproject of an existing project.
- The Advanced Settings allow for further configuration, e.g. description, URL, etc.
List projects
To get an overview of all your projects, press the Projects lists button at the bottom of the Select a project menu in the top left header navigation.
You will then get a list of all your projects in TETFund Research Planner. You can use this projects overview to create a multi project status dashboard if you include your own project custom fields, e.g. custom status options, Accountable, Project duration, and more.
With the arrow on the right you can display the project description.
With the horizontal three dots icon on the right side of the list you can open further features, such as creating a new subproject, project settings, archiving a project, copying and deleting a project.
Please note that you have to be a System Administrator in TETFund Research Planner to access these features.
You can choose the columns displayed by default in the System settings in the Administration. To access it quickly use the vertical three dots icon on the upper right.
To change the order of the displayed custom fields (columns) follow the instructions here: Displaying a project custom field.
To display the work packages of all your projects in a Gantt chart click on the Open as Gantt view icon on the upper right. This is a shortcut to quickly get to the report described in the chapter below. The Gantt chart view can be configured in the System settings in the Administration.
Create a subproject
To create a subproject for an existing project, navigate to Project settings -> Information and click on
the green + Subproject button.
Project structure
Projects build a structure in TETFund Research Planner. You can have parent projects and sub-projects.
A project can represent an organizational unit of a company, e.g. to have issues separated:
TETFund Research Planner, for example, uses the projects to structure the different modules/plugin development:
The maximum number of displayable work packages is 100.
This includes both, groups and users (placeholders or registered).
You can add members to your project via the green + Member button in the bottom left corner.
The View all members button displays the list of project members that have been added to your project. Members can be individuals as well as entire groups.
The description can be added or changed in the project settings.
The custom fields can be adapted in the project settings. As a system administrator you can create new custom fields for projects.
First, select your project status from the drop-down. You can choose between:
ON TRACK (green)
OFF TRACK (red)
AT RISK (yellow)
NOT SET (grey)
The widget only links the first subproject hierarchy and not the children of a subproject.
To edit the project hierarchy, go to the project settings.
You can display the graph according to the following criteria:
The work package table can be filtered, grouped, or sorted according to the work package table configuration, e.g. to display only work packages with the priority “High”.
To re-size a widget, click on the grey icon in the lower right hand corner of the widget and drag the corner to the right or left.
The widget will re-size accordingly.
You can add planned unit costs as well as labour costs for the project.
Then, you will assign work packages to a budgets.
If you log time or costs to this work package the costs will booked to this budget and show the percentage spent for a project budget.
To create your first budget in TETFund Research Planner, click the green + Budget button on the top right of the page.
In the detailed view you can enter the details for your project budget, add planned unit costs and planned
labour costs.
In the Costs section, select the budget which you want to assign this work package to.
You will see a list of budgets configured in your project in the drop-down list.
Now, all time and costs booked to this work package will be booked against the corresponding budget.
Click on the subject to open the details view of the budget.
You will get and overview of planned as well as spent costs and the available costs for your variable rate budget.
Also, the total progress of the budget (ratio spent) is displayed.
Furthermore the fixed rate is shown from which the costs for labour and unit costs are being calculated.
Select Log time from the More functions drop down menu, the icon with the three dots in the top right of the work packages details. Or use the Log time icon next to Spent time.
Alternatively, you can also log time via the work package table.
To do this, simply click with the right mouse pointer on the line of the work package, which you want to track times for and then select “log time” from the entries in the list.
You will then also be led to the form for logging time.
You will be directed to the detailed view to log time where you can edit the following:
The aggregated time spent on a work package is shown in the work package details view.
This will start the time tracking timer for the current work package. A timer icon will also appear next to your avatar in the top right corner as a reminder in case you navigate away from the work package.
Once you are done working, you can stop tracking time by clicking the Stop time tracking button. This will
open a pop up window with the recorded time spent based on the timer. You may correct or adjust this time
manually if you wish.
If you want to continue tracking time, click Cancel and the timer will continue running. If you do not want
to log time, click Delete. Clicking Save will log the time the same as if you had manually logged it.
If you navigate away from the work package in which you have a timer running, you can easily navigate back
to it or stop the timer via the time tracking controls visible when you click on your avatar from anywhere
in TETFund.
This will bring you to the time tracking report where you will see all time entries to this work package.
Depending on your rights you may not be able to edit time entries made by other users. Click on the Edit icon next to your time entry in the list.
The same detailed view to log your time entries will appear where you are now able to apply your changes.
In the list of time entries, click on the Delete icon next to a time entry to drop the logged time.
Depending on your role in a project you may or may not be able to delete time entries of other project members.
The labour costs will then be calculated automatically based on your hours booked and your hourly rate.
You will need system admin permissions for this. Please navigate to the user profile, e.g. by clicking on a hyper link of the user name on a work package.
You will be directed to the user’s profile page.
Here, you can click the Edit button on the top right corner of the user profile page.
Alternatively, you can navigate to Administration -> Users and permissions -> Users and click on the
respective user name.
Click on the Rate history tab.
In the list of time entries, click on the Delete icon next to a time entry to drop the logged time.
Depending on your role in a project you may or may not be able to delete time entries of other project members.
This makes it easier to track and follow multiple parallel tasks and get a sense of how a project will evolve (or has evolved) over time.
You must first enable the Calendar module in your project settings to use it.
Initially, it will be empty.
When you open a new calendar, all work packages within the current project are displayed as horizontal
strips that span all dates between the start and finish dates (inclusive).
The color represents the work package type.
The subject or title displayed on the strip (insomuch as the length allows).
The current month is automatically selected.
Click on a work package strip to view the work package in split screen mode.
Click the Filter button on the top right above the calendar to open the filter details.To add another filter criteria, select the drop down next to + Add filter and choose a filter criteria.The number of different filter criteria is displayed on the filter button.
This makes it possible for you to keep an eye on your project schedule from any compatible device (including mobile devices) without having to connect to your TETFund Research Planner instance and always remain up to date with relevant work packages.
To subscribe to a calendar:
Meetings is defined as a module that allows the organization of meetings.
The module has to be activated in the project settings in order to be displayed in the side navigation.
By selecting Meetings in the project menu on the left, you get an overview of all project meetings sorted by date. By clicking on a meeting name you can view further details of the meeting.
Note: in order to be able to use the meetings plugin, the Meetings module needs to be activated in the Project Settings.
Enter your meeting’s title, location and start date and duration.
Select the meeting participants from the project members list.
Click the blue Create button to save your changes.
An edit screen is displayed and the meeting information can be adjusted.
Do not forget to save the changes by clicking the blue Save button. Cancel will bring you back to the details view.
The process is the same whether you are creating a new meeting or editing an existing one. Additionally you can record after the meeting who actually took part in it.
You can see the list of all the project members under Participants.
This list varies from project to project.
If you select the field in the columns Invitees or Attendees, the selected project members will be notified automatically when an agenda or a meeting protocol is created.
By removing the check mark you can remove project members from the meetings.
Click on the Save button to secure the changes made by you.
The meeting minutes are automatically created when closing the agenda in the details view of the meeting and
selecting the Close option.
The agenda is closed and copied to the meeting minutes page as a basis.
You can start editing the minutes now.
The same way as in the wiki pages, you can format the text, link minutes to work packages, documents and include work package lists or other macros.
You will be directed to the meeting view, where you can
Select Copy in the upper right corner.
You can now edit the copied meeting and add the new details. Click the Save button to secure your changes.
Work packages have a type, an ID, a subject and may have various additional attributes, such as status, assignee, priority, due date.
Work package ID is defined as a unique integer assigned to a newly created work package. Work package IDs cannot be changed and are numbered across all projects of an TETFund Research Planner instance (therefore, the numbering within a project may not be sequential).
Types are the different items a work package can represent, such as task, feature, bug, phase, milestone. The work package types can be configured in the system administration.
Work packages can be displayed in a projects timeline, e.g. as a milestone or a phase. In order to use the work packages, the work package module has to be activated in the project settings.
Find out how to make changes to the work package table view, e.g. change the titles in the header, filter,
group or add dependencies.
Also, the split screen view can be activated or de-activated with the info button at the top right corner of the work package table, next to the Filter.
Once the split screen is open, you can easily navigate through the work package table by clicking in a row
of a work package and display the details in the split screen on the right.
Also, you can use the full screen icon in the work package split screen view in the header at the right (next to Watcher).
Then, the work package with all its details will be displayed.
The arrow next to the subject will bring you back to the table view.
To switch to the card view in the work package table, you must select the card icon at the top right corner of the work package table.
The new Work package appears in a green row. Type in the subject of the Work package, change attributes,
such as Type or Status directly in the table and hit Enter to save the changes.
This way, you can quickly and easily create new Work packages in the table, just like Excel.
The new Work package form will open in the split screen view. Enter all information, such as description,
assignee, status, priority, due date and more.
Click the green Save button.
Starting with TETFund Research Planner you can add emojis to all text editors, including the work package
description. Type a colon and a letter, e.g. :a into the text editor and get a suggested list of emojis you
can use.
The green message on top of the work package indicates a successful update.
All changes of a work package are documented in the work package Activity.
You can change the header in the table and add or remove columns, filter and group work packages or sort them according to specific criteria.
Also, you can change between a flat list view, a hierarchy view and a grouped view.
Save the view to have it available directly from your project menu. A work package view is the sum of all modifications you made to the default table (e.g. filters you set).
To open the work package table configuration, open the Settings icon with the three dots at the top right of the work package table.
First, open the work package table configuration.
In the pop-up window, choose the tab Columns.
You can add columns by typing the name of the attribute which you would like to add.
You can remove columns by clicking the x icon.
You order the attributes via drag and drop.
Clicking the Apply button will save your changes and adapt the table according to your configuration.
The number next to it tells you how many filter criteria you have applied to a table.
In this example one filter criterion is applied: Status = open.
To add a filter criterion, choose one from the drop-down list next to + Add filter or start typing to search
for a criterion.
Required attributes might only offer two options, is (OR) and is not, since they cannot be empty.
Enter all required work packages and press Enter.
This will show the selected work package(s) and its/their children.
If you only select work packages without children, no work packages will be shown at all.
To include, or exclude such work packages, use the Include projects button on top of the work package table view, where you can select/unselect the appropriate projects and sub-projects you want to add.
To automatically include all sub-projects for each project you chose to select, check the Include all sub-projects box at the bottom of the dialog.
To view all work packages across all projects you could select everything, or use the global work package
tables.
By entering the ID or subject of work packages you can select them.
Another use case would be to exclude specific work packages (e.g. you want to display all milestones but one). Therefore, use the “is not” option next to the filter’s name on the left.
Use the filter “Attachment content” or “Attachment file name” to filter attached documents in the work package table.
For both the file name and the content, you can then differentiate the filtering with the “contains” and
“does not contain” options for selected keywords and text passages. To do this, please enter the
corresponding text in the field next to it.
It will then display the corresponding work package with the attachment.
The ID is unique for a work package within TETFund Research Planner. It will be set automatically from the system. With the ID you can reference a specific work package in TETFund Research Planner.
To sort the work package table view, open the work package table configuration and select the tab Sort by. You can sort by up to three attributes, either ascending or descending.
Clicking the blue Apply button will save your changes and display the results accordingly in the table view.
The same filter applied in the hierarchy mode.
Moving a work package will change its attributes, depending on the kind of table displayed, e.g. hierarchy changes or priority.
To keep the sorting it is necessary to save the work package view.
To switch between the different criteria, open the work package table configuration and open the tab Display settings.
Choose how to display the work packages in the table and click the blue Apply button.
When you group the work package table by an attribute or by project a button to collapse groups shows up:
Use it to quickly collapse or expand all groups at the same time.
Find out here how to use this feature for a quick overview of several projects at once.
When you tick the box next to Display sums the sums of Estimated time and Remaining hours as well as custom fields of the type Integer or Float will be displayed at the bottom of the work package table.
If you group the work package table, sums will be shown for each group.
Public views: Check the public checkbox if you want to have this work package view accessible also for other users from this project.
Favored: Check this favored checkbox if you want to have this work package as a menu item in your favorite views.
Press the blue Save button to save your view.
The view will then be saved in the work packages menu in your Favorite views:
If you check the public visibility, the view will be saved under your public views in the work package menu:
In order to apply the change to the actual saved view, click on the disk icon which appears next to the title of the saved view:
If you want to save a completely new work package view, again click on the settings and select Save as… as
described above.
This will open a dialog where you can select the desired format. Click on one of the possible formats to
start the export. Below, we will detail how to adjust which data should be exported as well as what the
various formats contain.
The limit can be changed in the work package settings in the system administration.
Newly created instances have a maximum of 500 work packages set as a limit by default.
By adding or removing specific columns you can control the columns that will be included into the exported file.
Work packages IDs are linked to the respective work packages.
Clicking on a work package ID will lead you directly to the work package in TETFund Research Planner.
To do that click on the settings icon in the top right corner and select the preferred format from the dropdown menu.
Also, at the bottom of the Work package form you can add files via drag and drop or select the file from a
folder to upload it to the Work package.
Accountable per definition would be the one accountable for the delivery of the work package.
The assignee is the person currently assigned and working on the work package.
Choose the respective team member from the drop down for assignee or accountable.
If you are looking to add a team member that is not coming up in the drop down, this team member might not yet be a member of the project and needs to be invited.
On the tab Activity tab you have a comment field at the bottom (or on top depending on your My account settings).
They will receive a notification in TETFund Research Planner about the updates (according to their notification settings in the My account settings).
Full-screen view:
Type a colon and a letter, e.g. :a into the text editor and get a suggested list of emojis you can use.
They will receive notifications according to their notification settings if changes are made to the respective work package.
To add watchers, open the work package details view, select the tab watchers on the right hand side and choose the members you want to add with the drop-down menu or by starting to type their name.
It is also possible to add oneself as watcher (if you have sufficient permissions).
Click the cross icon next to a watcher to remove the watcher from a work package.
The user will no longer get notifications in TETFund Research Partner about changes to this work package according to their notification settings.
Highlight all work packages which you want to edit. Tip: keep the Ctrl. button pressed in order to select and edit several work packages at once.
To open the quick context menu, press the RIGHT mouse button.
Then you have the possibility to:
At the bottom of the page you can decide whether email updates regarding these changes should be sent or
not. It makes sense not to tick the box for large updates to prevent users from getting flooded by emails.
A more intuitive way to select start and end dates is to simply click on two different dates in the mini calendars below.
Two calendar months are displayed for better visibility.
Start by clicking on a start date.
This will enter the selected date as the start date, mark it with a dark color on the mini calendar below and move the focus to the finish date field.
Hovering on different finish dates will give you a preview of the date range for the work package if you click this second date.
Once you have decided on a finish date, click on it.
This will enter the finish date in the date field and mark that date with another dark color.
The dates in between will be highlighted with a lighter colour.
To confirm the selected dates, click on the Save button.
The green message on top of the work package indicates a successful update.
To clear a date field, simply click on the clear icon (“×”) icon when the field is in focus.
Date changes are documented in the work package Activity.
Work packages with only a start date or only a finish date are automatically considered one-day events.
Certain work package types (such as Milestones) can only span one day and thus have only one date field:
The Working days only switch is on by default, and the date picker skips over the weekend (or the days
defined as non-working days) when scheduling work packages and deriving duration.
In this mode, non-working days are marked with a darker colour and are not clickable.
Work packages cannot start or finish on non-working days, and these days do not count towards the calculation of duration.
Switching Working days only off will turn the previously disabled non-working days into regular working days, and make them available for scheduling.
The duration will now take these days into account.
The Duration field is directly related to the start and finish dates, but does not require them. Changing one will change the other.
Duration can either be automatically derived from dates or entered manually. When the duration field is is
focus, you can enter a number corresponding to days; you do you not need to type the word “days” (or the
equivalent in your language), this will automatically be added for you.
Changing the duration when both start and finish dates are already set will then update the finish date.
In our example, if you change the duration to 4 days, one of two things can happen:
This derived date can either be the start date or the finish date.
For example, if you set the start date to Wednesday, 12 October and enter a duration of 3 days, a finish date of Friday, 14 October is automatically derived. Conversely, if you set the finish date Friday, 14 October and then set the duration to 3 days, the date picker will count backwards and derive a start date of Wednesday, 12 October.
Switching “Manual scheduling” on enables manual scheduling mode for the work package.
This ignores work package relations such that you’re able to select any start and end dates, even ones that would normally be restricted due to follows/proceeds relationships.
Manual scheduling also decouples the start and end dates of parent and children work packages.
This means that the dates of parents are no longer constrained by those of the children, and children can be scheduled outside of the range of parent work packages.
These relationships are completely ignored as far as scheduling is concerned, but are not removed (so they will still be visible in Gantt view); the constraints are respected again if you switch manual scheduling off.
Manual scheduling can be useful when you need to anchor a work package to fixed dates, for example because the dates of preceding or following work packages are not yet known.
Information banners have a blue background and display information that is helpful to the user but is not critical.
Warning banners have an orange background and display information that is critical, with potentially larger consequences to project scheduling. There are four possible banners:
This information banner is displayed when the dates of the current work package are derived from existing
relations and can therefore not be modified.
This is the case of parent work packages whose start and finish dates are derived from the earliest and latest child work packages respectively.
It is nevertheless possible to input specific start and finish dates for such work packages by enabling manual scheduling (which will ignore relations from which the dates were originally derived).
This information banner is displayed when certain date ranges are disabled due to constraints imposed by
follows/precedes relations. For example, a work packages following another one cannot be scheduled before
the finish date of the the preceding one.
This warning banner is displayed when you enable manual scheduling on work packages that have
follows/precedes or parent/child relations, which are now ignored and no longer limit which dates can be
selected for this work package.
This also means that changes a manually scheduled work package no longer affect others, despite those existing relations.
This banner is not displayed when manual scheduling is enabled on work packages without relations.
This warning banner is displayed on work packages whose start and end dates affect those of other related
work packages. For example, when changing the finish date will consequently change the start date of another
(following) work package and/or the finish date of a parent.
The information and warning banners also feature a Show Relations button. Clicking on this will open a new
tab that displays work packages with direct relations to the current work package in Gantt view, in
hierarchy mode.
A project can represent an organizational unit of a company, e.g. to have issues separated:
- Company (Parent project)
- Marketing (Sub-project)
- Sales
- HR
- IT
- …
- Launch a new product
- Design
- Development
- …
- Product A
- Customer A
- Customer B
- Customer C
TETFund Research Planner, for example, uses the projects to structure the different modules/plugin development:
Note: You have to be a member of a project in order to see the project and to work in a project.
Projects overview
Get an introduction how to work with projects overview dashboard in TETFund Research Planner.
The project overview is a single dashboard page where all important information of a selected project
can be displayed.
The idea is to provide a central repository of information for the whole project team.
Project information is added to the dashboard as widgets. To customize the dashboard to your needs, you can change the order in which the widgets appear as well as change their size. Furthermore, you can add text widgets, custom texts, links and other information to your overview page. Open the project overview by navigating to Overview in the project menu on the left.
The idea is to provide a central repository of information for the whole project team.
Project information is added to the dashboard as widgets. To customize the dashboard to your needs, you can change the order in which the widgets appear as well as change their size. Furthermore, you can add text widgets, custom texts, links and other information to your overview page. Open the project overview by navigating to Overview in the project menu on the left.
If you have any questions that are beyond the scope of this help file, Please feel free to email via Support mail.
Add a widget to the project overview
-
Choose the place where to add the new widget.
To add a widget to the project overview, click on the + button on the top right of the page.
-
Choose which kind of widget you want to add.
Choose the most appropriate type of widget from the list.
Calendar widget
The calendar widget displays your current work packages in a calendar. It shows work packages that are being worked on at the current date.The maximum number of displayable work packages is 100.
Custom text widget
Within the custom text widget you can add any project information which you want to share with your team, e.g. links to important project resources or work packages, filters, specifications. You can also add files to be displayed or attached to your project overview.Project members
You can add a widget which displays all project members and their corresponding role for this project on the project overview page.This includes both, groups and users (placeholders or registered).
The View all members button displays the list of project members that have been added to your project. Members can be individuals as well as entire groups.
Project news
Display the latest project news in the news widget on the project overview page.Project description
The project description widget adds the project description to your project overview.The description can be added or changed in the project settings.
Project details
The project details widget displays all custom fields for projects, e.g. project owner, project due date, project number, or any other custom field for this project.The custom fields can be adapted in the project settings. As a system administrator you can create new custom fields for projects.
New custom fields for projects can be created in the system administration.
Project status
Add your project status as a widget to display at a glance whether your project is on track, off track or at risk.First, select your project status from the drop-down. You can choose between:
ON TRACK (green)
OFF TRACK (red)
AT RISK (yellow)
NOT SET (grey)
Add a project status description and further important information, such as project owner, milestones and other important links or status information.
Project time spent
The spent time widget lists the spent time in this project for the last 7 days.Sub project
The subprojects widget lists all subproject of the respective project on the overview. You can directly open a subproject via this link.To edit the project hierarchy, go to the project settings.
Work package overview widget
The work package over widget displays all work packages in a project differentiated by a certain criteria.- Type
- Status
- Priority
- Author
- Assignee
Work package table widget
The work package table widget includes a work package table to the project overview.The work package table can be filtered, grouped, or sorted according to the work package table configuration, e.g. to display only work packages with the priority “High”.
Re-size and re-order widgets
To re-order a widget, click on the dots icon on the upper left hand corner and drag the widget with the mouse to the new position.To re-size a widget, click on the grey icon in the lower right hand corner of the widget and drag the corner to the right or left.
The widget will re-size accordingly.
Remove widget from project overview page
To remove a widget from the project overview page, click on the three dots at the top right corner of the widget and select Remove widget.Project budget
You can create and manage a project budget in TETFund Research Planner to keep track of your available and spent costs in a project.You can add planned unit costs as well as labour costs for the project.
Then, you will assign work packages to a budgets.
If you log time or costs to this work package the costs will booked to this budget and show the percentage spent for a project budget.
Create a project budget
In order to create a budget in your project, please activate the Budgets module in the project settings.To create your first budget in TETFund Research Planner, click the green + Budget button on the top right of the page.
- 1 Enter a subject for your budget so you can identify it easily.
- 2 Enter a detailed description to add further information to your budget, e.g. budget owner, status and more.
- 3 Upload more files to your budgets with drag and drop or by clicking on the field and choosing a file from the explorer.
- 4 Enter a fixed date: this date is the basis for the budget to calculate the planned costs based on the configured hourly rate in the user’s profile or the cost types. The rates can be configured for different date ranges, therefore, you need to set a fixed date for a budget for which the costs will be calculated.
Add planned unit costs
You can add planned unit costs to a budget in your project.Note: These unit costs first need to be configured in the system’s administration.
- 5. Enter the number of units of the cost type to add to your project budgets.
- 6. Choose the cost type you would like to plan for your budget from the drop-down list. The unit name will be set automatically according to the configuration of the cost types in your system administration.
- 7. Add a comment to specify the unit costs.
- 8. The planned costs for this cost type will be calculated automatically based on the configuration of the cost per unit for this cost type. The cost rate will be taken from the fixed date you have configured for your budget. You can click the edit icon (small pen) if you want to manually overwrite the calculated costs for this cost type.
- 9. Click the delete icon if you want to drop the planned unit costs.
- 10. The + icon will add a new unit cost type for this budget.
Add planned unit costs
You can add planned unit costs to a budget in your project.Note: These unit costs first need to be configured in the system’s administration.
- 5. Enter the number of units of the cost type to add to your project budgets.
- 6. Choose the cost type you would like to plan for your budget from the drop-down list. The unit name will be set automatically according to the configuration of the cost types in your system administration.
- 7. Add a comment to specify the unit costs.
- 8. The planned costs for this cost type will be calculated automatically based on the configuration of the cost per unit for this cost type. The cost rate will be taken from the fixed date you have configured for your budget. You can click the edit icon (small pen) if you want to manually overwrite the calculated costs for this cost type.
- 9. Click the delete icon if you want to drop the planned unit costs.
- 10. The + icon will add a new unit cost type for this budget.
Add planned labour costs
You can add planned labour costs to a budget in your project.- 11. Set the hours that will be planned for a user on this budget
- 12. Add a user from the drop-down list.
- 13. You can include a comment for your planned labour costs if needed.
- 14. The total amount of planned costs will be calculated based on the entered hours and the hourly rate configured for this user in the user profile. You can manually overwrite the calculated planned labour costs by clicking the edit icon (pen) next to the calculated amount. The costs will be calculated based on the hourly rate taken from the fixed date for your budget
- 15. With the delete icon you can remove the planned labour costs from the budget.
- 16. Add more planned labour costs for different users to your budget with the + icon.
- 17. Save and submit your changes by pressing the blue button.
Assign a work package to a budget
To add a work package to a project budget to book time and costs to a budget, navigate to the respective work package detailed view.In the Costs section, select the budget which you want to assign this work package to.
You will see a list of budgets configured in your project in the drop-down list.
Now, all time and costs booked to this work package will be booked against the corresponding budget.
View and update budget details
You can view the details of a budget and make changes to your budget by selecting it from the list of budgets.You will get and overview of planned as well as spent costs and the available costs for your variable rate budget.
Also, the total progress of the budget (ratio spent) is displayed.
Furthermore the fixed rate is shown from which the costs for labour and unit costs are being calculated.
- 1. Update the budget and make changes to e.g. planned unit costs or planned labour costs.
- 2. Copy the budget to use it to create a new budget based on the configurations for this budget.
- 3. Delete the budget.
- 4. In the budget details you will see all planned unit costs.
- 5. The work packages assigned to this budget that have actual unit costs booked.
- 6. The planned labour costs are displayed for this budget.
- 7. The actual labour costs list all work packages that are assigned to this budget and have logged time on it.
Note: The costs are calculated based on the configuration for cost types and the configured hourly rate in the user profile.
Time tracking and cost reporting
Time and costs functionality in TETFund allows keeping track of the resources, both in terms of labour and budgets. With TETFund you can always keep control of the time and costs planned for and spent on the projects. Create budgets, log time and costs on specific work packages and create time and cost reports based on your needs.Time tracking
Users can book their time or units spent on an activity within a project directly on work packages, which gives a clear indication of how much effort the project activities require. You can log time in the work package view, track time via the time tracking button or via a commit message. You can also log time directly from My spent time widget on My Page.Log time in the work package view
In order to log spent hours for a certain activity, open the details of the corresponding work package.Select Log time from the More functions drop down menu, the icon with the three dots in the top right of the work packages details. Or use the Log time icon next to Spent time.
Alternatively, you can also log time via the work package table.
To do this, simply click with the right mouse pointer on the line of the work package, which you want to track times for and then select “log time” from the entries in the list.
You will then also be led to the form for logging time.
You will be directed to the detailed view to log time where you can edit the following:
- The date, for which the time will be logged.
- The actually logged time (in hours).
- The Activity drop down menu offers a choice of activity categories, such as coordination or development. The range of categories can vary from project to project and can be edited by a project administrator or a role with respective permissions.
- The comment field, where you can note a more detailed description of the activities that you log time for.
- Don’t forget to Save your logged time.
Log time via the time tracking button
Starting with TETFund, you can also track time in real time using the start/stop time tracking button. To do this, navigate to a work package you are working on and click on the Start time tracking button.This will start the time tracking timer for the current work package. A timer icon will also appear next to your avatar in the top right corner as a reminder in case you navigate away from the work package.
Log time via My Page
You can easily track spent time in the spent time widget on the MyPage and get an overview about all your activities during a week. It is like a weekly timesheet for yourself. See more information about the My spent time widget on the MyPage.Edit logged time
To edit logged time, click in the amount of the Spent time in the work packages details view.Depending on your rights you may not be able to edit time entries made by other users. Click on the Edit icon next to your time entry in the list.
Delete logged time
To delete a time entry, also click on the Spent time in the details of a work package (same as when editing a time entry).In the list of time entries, click on the Delete icon next to a time entry to drop the logged time.
Depending on your role in a project you may or may not be able to delete time entries of other project members.
Track labour costs
In order to track labour costs, you need to define an hourly rate in your user profile first.The labour costs will then be calculated automatically based on your hours booked and your hourly rate.
Define hourly rate for labour costs
You can define an hourly rate to track labour costs per user.You will need system admin permissions for this. Please navigate to the user profile, e.g. by clicking on a hyper link of the user name on a work package.
Here, you can click the Edit button on the top right corner of the user profile page.
Log and edit time for other users
To delete a time entry, also click on the Spent time in the details of a work package (same as when editing a time entry).In the list of time entries, click on the Delete icon next to a time entry to drop the logged time.
Depending on your role in a project you may or may not be able to delete time entries of other project members.
Projet calendar
The Calendar module gives you an overview of work packages scheduled in a particular month or week.This makes it easier to track and follow multiple parallel tasks and get a sense of how a project will evolve (or has evolved) over time.
You must first enable the Calendar module in your project settings to use it.
Create a new calendar
Once enabled, clicking on the Calendars entry on the left sidebar takes you to the Calendar module with a list of all existing calendars.Initially, it will be empty.
- You can create a new calendar by clicking on either the + Calendar button at the top right corner near your avatar or at the bottom of the sidebar on the left.
- Click on an existing (saved) calendar to view it.
- You can change the visibility settings of any calendar by clicking on [⋮] (more) -> Visibility settings.
- Any calendar that has the Favored option checked will be displayed under the Favorite heading in the sidebar to the left.
- Any calendar that has the Public option checked will be visible to all members of the current project and listed under the Public heading in the sidebar to the left.
- Any calendar that has the Public option unchecked will be considered private and displayed under the Private heading in the menu bar to the left.
Use the calendar
The subject or title displayed on the strip (insomuch as the length allows).
The current month is automatically selected.
- 1. You can use the previews/next arrow controls (←, →) in the top left corner to move forwards or backwards in time.
- 2. The today button brings you back to the current date.
- 3. You can use the month/week toggle on the top right corner to switch between either a month view or a week view.
Click on a work package strip to view the work package in split screen mode.
Create work packages using the calendar module
You can create new work packages directly on the calendar. To do so, either click on a single date or click and drag across a date range. A new work package form will open in a split screen with the selected date(s) pre-filled.Modify work packages using the calendar module
You can make basic date modifications simply by manipulating the work package strips:- Change the start date by grabbing the drag handle on the left edge of the strip and extending or shortening it.
- Change the finish date by grabbing the drag handle on the right edge of the strip and extending or shortening it.
- Drag an entire strip to move the work package forwards or backwards in time whilst preserving duration.
Note: The calendar will highlight non-working days with a darker background colour. By default, a work package cannot be dragged or resized such that it begins or ends on these days unless the “Working days only” switch is turned off for that work package. To learn how to do this, refer to the documentation on Working days and duration. Work packages can also expand and retract in width depending on how many non-working days are spanned. For example, a 3-day task starting on Thursday and ending on Monday will spread across 5 calendar days. Dragging that same work package so that it starts on a Tuesday and ends on a Thursday means that it will spread across 3 calendar days. In both cases, the duration remains 3 days.
Working with filters in calendar view
You can filter the work packages displayed in a calendar by adding any number of filters, e.g. Author, Due Date, Priority, Assignee, etc. This allows you to create a custom calendar showing only relevant work packages, either for yourself (as a private calendar) or for your team (as a public calendar visible to all project members).Click the Filter button on the top right above the calendar to open the filter details.To add another filter criteria, select the drop down next to + Add filter and choose a filter criteria.The number of different filter criteria is displayed on the filter button.
Subscribe to a calendar
TETFund Research Planner allows you to subscribe to and access any of your calendars using an external client that supports the iCalendar format (such as Thunderbird, Open-Xchange, Apple Calendar or Google Calendar).This makes it possible for you to keep an eye on your project schedule from any compatible device (including mobile devices) without having to connect to your TETFund Research Planner instance and always remain up to date with relevant work packages.
Note: You can only subscribe to saved calendars. If you are creating a new calendar, please save it before you are able to create a calendar subscription.
- 1. Click on the [⋮] (more) button on the toolbar and select Subscribe to calendar.
- 2. In the modal that appears, give this calendar a unique name (you can only use it once). We recommend naming it based on where you will be subscribing to this calendar from (“personal phone” or “work tablet” for example).
- 3. Click on Copy URL. This creates the a calendar token and copies the calendar URL to your clipboard.
- 4. Paste this URL in your desired calendar client to subscribe.
Important: Please don’t share this URL with other users. Anyone with this link will be able to view work package details without an account or password.
Meeting Management
Meetings in TETFund Research Partner allow you to manage and document your project meetings at one central place, prepare a meeting agenda together with your team and document and share meeting minutes with your meeting attendees at one central place.Meetings is defined as a module that allows the organization of meetings.
The module has to be activated in the project settings in order to be displayed in the side navigation.
By selecting Meetings in the project menu on the left, you get an overview of all project meetings sorted by date. By clicking on a meeting name you can view further details of the meeting.
Note: in order to be able to use the meetings plugin, the Meetings module needs to be activated in the Project Settings.
Create a new meeting
To create a new meeting, click the green + Meeting button in the upper right corner.Enter your meeting’s title, location and start date and duration.
Select the meeting participants from the project members list.
Click the blue Create button to save your changes.
Edit a meeting
If you want to change the details of a meeting, for example its time or location, open the meetings details view by clicking on the title in the overview list and click on Edit next to the meeting’s name.Do not forget to save the changes by clicking the blue Save button. Cancel will bring you back to the details view.
Add meeting participants
You can add participants (Invitees and Attendees) to a meeting while being in the edit mode.The process is the same whether you are creating a new meeting or editing an existing one. Additionally you can record after the meeting who actually took part in it.
You can see the list of all the project members under Participants.
This list varies from project to project.
If you select the field in the columns Invitees or Attendees, the selected project members will be notified automatically when an agenda or a meeting protocol is created.
Click on the Save button to secure the changes made by you.
Create or edit the meeting agenda
After creating a meeting, you can set up a meeting agenda.- 1. Prior to starting the meeting all participants can add their input to the agenda by simply clicking the Edit button.
- 2. With the tool-bar, you can make changes to the text format or edit macros, e.g. table of contents or work package tables (see the documentation for the WYSIWYG editor for details).
- 3. Do not forget to save your changes.
- 4. All changes made to the agenda are tracked. You can click the History button to get an overview of all the changes including the persons who made the changes.
- 5. Click the Send for review button to quickly notify participants about the meeting and send them a link to the meeting.
- 6. Press the Send iCalendar button to send a calendar entry to the participants. The users can then quickly add the meeting to their calendar by accepting the invitation / importing the iCal file attached to the email notification.
- 7. At the beginning of the meeting, Close the agenda to prevent any other changes and provide the same basis for all meeting participants. After closing the agenda, the meeting minutes are displayed to capture the results of the meeting.
Create or edit meeting minutes
The agenda is closed and copied to the meeting minutes page as a basis.
You can start editing the minutes now.
The same way as in the wiki pages, you can format the text, link minutes to work packages, documents and include work package lists or other macros.
You will be directed to the meeting view, where you can
- 1. edit the minutes (do not forget to save your data),
- 2. view the change history,
- 3. send the minutes for review to invitees and attendees (as well as watchers and the meeting’s author).
Copy a meeting (recurring meetings)
If you have recurring meetings, such as a Jour Fixe, and want to simplify the process of creating meetings and agendas, you can copy an existing meeting. To do that select the meeting and open the detailed meeting view.Select Copy in the upper right corner.
Note: all the settings will be copied, except for the minutes, participants and meeting history. So if you want to keep the minutes as well, you have to copy it separately.
Work package
Work packages are items in a project (such as tasks, features, risks, user stories, bugs, change requests). A work package captures important information and can be assigned to project members for execution.Work packages have a type, an ID, a subject and may have various additional attributes, such as status, assignee, priority, due date.
Work package ID is defined as a unique integer assigned to a newly created work package. Work package IDs cannot be changed and are numbered across all projects of an TETFund Research Planner instance (therefore, the numbering within a project may not be sequential).
Types are the different items a work package can represent, such as task, feature, bug, phase, milestone. The work package types can be configured in the system administration.
Work packages can be displayed in a projects timeline, e.g. as a milestone or a phase. In order to use the work packages, the work package module has to be activated in the project settings.
Work package views
A list of work packages is considered a view. Each view is based on a set of filter criteria and displays all work packages that meet those criteria. Every project in TETFund Research Planner automatically has these default views:- All open: All open work packages ( that is, with statuses that are not defined as closed), sorted in ascending order of ID (lowest on top)
- Latest activity: All work packages, open and closed, in descending order of last updated date (latest on top)
- Recently created: All open work packages in descending order of creation date (latest on top)
- Gantt chart: All open work packages displayed in Gantt view in descending order of start date (earliest on top).
- Overdue: All open work packages with finish dates that are in the past in descending order of how long each is overdue (closest to current date on top)
- Summary: Table overview of the number of work packages grouped by type, status, priority, assignee, accountable, author, version, category and subproject
- Created by me: All work packages created by you (the current user) in descending order of last updated date (latest on top)
- Assigned to me: All work packages that are assigned to you in descending order of last updated date (latest on top)
Work package view modes
The containing work packages in any view can be displayed a number of different ways. Each of these view modes display the same set of work packages but display them differently:- Table view
- Split screen view
- Details view
- Card view
- Gantt view
- Board view
Work package table view
The table view shows all work packages in a table with selected attributes in the columns.Split screen view
If you are in the work package table, click on the blue info icon at the right end of a work package row to open the split screen view.Also, the split screen view can be activated or de-activated with the info button at the top right corner of the work package table, next to the Filter.
Full screen view
To display a work package with all its details in full screen mode, double click on a row within the work package table.Also, you can use the full screen icon in the work package split screen view in the header at the right (next to Watcher).
The arrow next to the subject will bring you back to the table view.
Card view
You can also display the work package table in a card view.To switch to the card view in the work package table, you must select the card icon at the top right corner of the work package table.
Create work package
There are two ways to create new Work packages:- Work packages can be created in-line in the Work package table (just like Excel) to quickly create multiple Work packages.
- Work packages can be created in a split screen which allows you to specify detailed information from the start.
- Work packages always belong to a project. Therefore, you first need to select a project.
- Then, navigate to the Work package module in the project navigation.
Create a Work package in the table view
To create new Work packages directly in line in the table view, click on the + Create new Work package link below the table.Create a Work package in the split screen view
In order to enter detailed information to the Work package from the start, you can create a Work package in the split screen view. In the Work package module, click the green + Create button and select the type of Work package you want to create.Update a work package
To edit a work package, double-click in the row of a work package in the table view or open the split screen view to see the details. In the work package details, you can click in any field to update it, e.g. change the description, status, priority, assignee, or add a comment. To save changes in the description, click the checkmark icon. Other input fields can be saved with Enter.Note: There is no possibility to undo changes to work packages (Ctrl+Z).
Work package table configuration
You can configure the work package table view in TETFund Research Planner to display the information that you need in the table.You can change the header in the table and add or remove columns, filter and group work packages or sort them according to specific criteria.
Also, you can change between a flat list view, a hierarchy view and a grouped view.
Save the view to have it available directly from your project menu. A work package view is the sum of all modifications you made to the default table (e.g. filters you set).
To open the work package table configuration, open the Settings icon with the three dots at the top right of the work package table.
Add or remove columns in the work package table
To configure the view of the work package table and have different attributes displayed in the table you can add or remove columns in the work package table.First, open the work package table configuration.
In the pop-up window, choose the tab Columns.
You can add columns by typing the name of the attribute which you would like to add.
You can remove columns by clicking the x icon.
You order the attributes via drag and drop.
Filter work packages
To filter the work packages in the table, click on the Filter button on top of the work packages view.The number next to it tells you how many filter criteria you have applied to a table.
In this example one filter criterion is applied: Status = open.
Filter operators
Different attributes offer different filter criteria but most selection attributes like Assignee offer these:- is (OR): returns all work packages that match any one of the entered values
- is not: returns all work packages that do not match any of the entered values
- is not empty: returns all work packages for which the attribute has a value
- is empty: returns all work packages for which the attribute does not have a value
- is (AND): returns all work packages that match all of the entered values.
Multi-select attributes also have one extra options:
Required attributes might only offer two options, is (OR) and is not, since they cannot be empty.
Filter by text
If you want to search for specific text in the subject, description or comments of a work package, type in the Filter by text the expression you want to filter for.Filter for a work package’s children
If you want to only show work package with specific parents (e.g. all work packages belonging to a specific phase of your project) you can use the filter “Parent”.Enter all required work packages and press Enter.
This will show the selected work package(s) and its/their children.
If you only select work packages without children, no work packages will be shown at all.
Include/exclude work packages from a specific project or subproject
It is possible to display the work packages from more than one project.To include, or exclude such work packages, use the Include projects button on top of the work package table view, where you can select/unselect the appropriate projects and sub-projects you want to add.
To automatically include all sub-projects for each project you chose to select, check the Include all sub-projects box at the bottom of the dialog.
Filter by ID or work package name
If you want to create a work package view with only specific work packages you can use the filter “ID”.By entering the ID or subject of work packages you can select them.
Another use case would be to exclude specific work packages (e.g. you want to display all milestones but one). Therefore, use the “is not” option next to the filter’s name on the left.
Filter for assignees or assigned groups
There are several options to filter for the assignee of a work package. You can choose one of these filters:- Assignee: Filters for work packages where the specified user or group is set as Assignee
- Assignee or belonging group:
- When filtering for a single user: Work packages assigned to this user, and any group it belongs to
- When filtering for a group: Work packages assigned to this group, and any users within
- Assignee’s group: Filters for work packages assigned to a user from this group
- Assignee’s role: Filters for work packages assigned to users with the specified project role
Filter for attachment file name and content
You can run a full text search and filter and search not only headings and text contents but also file names or file contents of attached documents to work packages.Use the filter “Attachment content” or “Attachment file name” to filter attached documents in the work package table.
Sort the work package table
Automatic sorting of the work package table
By default, the work package table will be sorted by work package ID.The ID is unique for a work package within TETFund Research Planner. It will be set automatically from the system. With the ID you can reference a specific work package in TETFund Research Planner.
To sort the work package table view, open the work package table configuration and select the tab Sort by. You can sort by up to three attributes, either ascending or descending.
Please note: If you have the hierarchy mode activated, all filtered table results will be augmented with their ancestors. Hierarchies can be expanded and collapsed.
Therefore, the results may differ if you sort in a flat list or in a hierarchy mode.The same filter applied in the hierarchy mode.
Manual sorting of the work package table
You can sort the work package table manually, using the icon with the 6 dots on the left of each work package to drag and drop it.Moving a work package will change its attributes, depending on the kind of table displayed, e.g. hierarchy changes or priority.
To keep the sorting it is necessary to save the work package view.
Please note: This has no effect on the “All open” view; you have to save your sorting with another name.
Flat list, Hierarchy mode and Group by
You have three different options to display results in the work package table.- A Flat list (default), which contains all work packages in a list no matter how their parent-child-relation is.
- A Hierarchy, which will display the filtered results within the parent-child-relation.
- Group by will group the table according to a defined attribute.
To switch between the different criteria, open the work package table configuration and open the tab Display settings.
Choose how to display the work packages in the table and click the blue Apply button.
Find out here how to use this feature for a quick overview of several projects at once.
Display sums in work package table
To display the sums of eligible work package attributes, go to the work package table configuration and click on the tab Display settings (see screenshot above).When you tick the box next to Display sums the sums of Estimated time and Remaining hours as well as custom fields of the type Integer or Float will be displayed at the bottom of the work package table.
If you group the work package table, sums will be shown for each group.
Save work package views
When you have configured your work package table, you can save the views to access them again and share them with your team.- 1. Press the Settings icon with the three dots on the top right corner of the work package table.
- 2. Choose Save as…
- 3. Enter a Name for your saved view (according to the criteria you have chosen in your work package table configuration).
Public views: Check the public checkbox if you want to have this work package view accessible also for other users from this project.
Favored: Check this favored checkbox if you want to have this work package as a menu item in your favorite views.
Press the blue Save button to save your view.
Please note: The collapse status (collapsed or expanded groups) can not be saved.
Change saved work package views
If you make changes to a saved view, e.g. change a filter criteria, you have to save the new view once again.In order to apply the change to the actual saved view, click on the disk icon which appears next to the title of the saved view:
Please note: You can’t change the default “All open” view. Therefore pressing the disc icon won’t have any effect on the default view that is displayed when navigating to the work packages module. You always have to create a new view (filter, group, etc.), set a name and save it (private or public).
Export work packages
You can export work packages from your TETFund Research Planner instance in various formats using the export functionality.How to trigger an export
To export work packages to another format, visit the Work packages module and select a default or saved work package view (table or card view) that you want to export. Click on the settings icon in the top right corner. Trigger the Export dialog from the dropdown menu.Export contents
All work packages that are included in the work package table in the currently selected view will be exported, unless a certain export limit has been defined by the instance administrator.The limit can be changed in the work package settings in the system administration.
Newly created instances have a maximum of 500 work packages set as a limit by default.
Note: PDF export options includes all of the work packages in the selected work package table, regardless of the limit. The possible export limit is relevant for XLS, CSV and Atom export options.
Columns
The exported file will display the columns that are activated for the work package table.By adding or removing specific columns you can control the columns that will be included into the exported file.
Please make sure to save the work package view you configured for the changes to be included into the report. Some formats such as PDF will limit the number of columns available due to limitations of the PDF rendering engine to avoid overflowing the available space.
Export format options
TETFund Research Planner has multiple options of exporting work packages, including PDF, XLS, CSV and Atom. See below what each format entails.PDF export
TETFund Research Planner has multiple options of exporting work packages in PDF format.PDF Table
PDF Table exports the work package table displaying work packages as single rows with the selected columns for the work package table.Work packages IDs are linked to the respective work packages.
Clicking on a work package ID will lead you directly to the work package in TETFund Research Planner.
CSV export
TETFund Research Planner can export the table into a comma-separated CSV. This file will be UTF-8 encoded.Export single work packages
It is also possible to export single work packages in PDF and Atom format.To do that click on the settings icon in the top right corner and select the preferred format from the dropdown menu.
Add attachments to Work packages
You can directly add images, e.g. via copy and paste to the Work package description. You can also use the toolbar above the Work package description and click the Insert image icon:How to assign a member to a work package
When you assign a team member to a work package, you can distinguish between assignee and accountable.Accountable per definition would be the one accountable for the delivery of the work package.
The assignee is the person currently assigned and working on the work package.
Choose the respective team member from the drop down for assignee or accountable.
If you are looking to add a team member that is not coming up in the drop down, this team member might not yet be a member of the project and needs to be invited.
How to update the status of a work package
To update the status of a work package, click on the current status in the work package details and select the new status in the drop-down list.Please note, the status may differ from work package type. They can be configured in the system administration.
How to add comments to a work package
To add a comment to a work package, open the details view or the split screen view of a work package.On the tab Activity tab you have a comment field at the bottom (or on top depending on your My account settings).
@ notification (mention)
You can mention and notify team members via @notification.They will receive a notification in TETFund Research Planner about the updates (according to their notification settings in the My account settings).
Full-screen view:
Add Emojis
TETFund Research Planner allows you to add emojis to all text editors.Type a colon and a letter, e.g. :a into the text editor and get a suggested list of emojis you can use.
How to add watchers to a work package
Watchers can be added to a work package in order to notify members about changes.They will receive notifications according to their notification settings if changes are made to the respective work package.
To add watchers, open the work package details view, select the tab watchers on the right hand side and choose the members you want to add with the drop-down menu or by starting to type their name.
It is also possible to add oneself as watcher (if you have sufficient permissions).
How to remove watchers from a work package
To remove watchers, navigate to the work package details view and select the tab Watchers.Click the cross icon next to a watcher to remove the watcher from a work package.
The user will no longer get notifications in TETFund Research Partner about changes to this work package according to their notification settings.
However, if he/she is the author, assignee or accountable of the work package there still might be notifications.
Bulk edit work packages
To make a bulk update and edit several work packages at once, navigate to the work packages table view.Highlight all work packages which you want to edit. Tip: keep the Ctrl. button pressed in order to select and edit several work packages at once.
To open the quick context menu, press the RIGHT mouse button.
Then you have the possibility to:
- Open details view of all selected work packages.
- Open the fullscreen view of all selected work packages.
- Bulk edit all selected work packages.
- Bulk change of the project of all selected work packages.
- Bulk copy all selected work packages, incl. the hierarchy relations (parent-child relations).
- Bulk delete all selected work packages.
How to set start and finish dates
You can change the start and finish dates of a work package by opening the date picker.- 1. Manual scheduling switch
- 2. Working days only switch
- 3. Start date, finish date and duration input fields
- 4. Mini calendars for date range preview
- 5. Save and cancel buttons You can open the date picker for a work package from a number of different places:
- By clicking on the date field in the work package details view
- By clicking the the date field in the work package split screen view (from any other view, including notification center, team planner, boards…)
- By clicking the start date, finish date or duration fields in table view
Using the date picker
You can enter dates either by typing them in into the start and finish date fields or by clicking on individual dates in the mini calendar below.Note: Typed dates need to be in the standard ISO 8601 format: YYYY-MM-DD (so 12
October 2022 would be 2022-10-12).
They will nevertheless be displayed in your desired format
(usually depending by your region or language).
A more intuitive way to select start and end dates is to simply click on two different dates in the mini calendars below.
Two calendar months are displayed for better visibility.
Start by clicking on a start date.
This will enter the selected date as the start date, mark it with a dark color on the mini calendar below and move the focus to the finish date field.
Hovering on different finish dates will give you a preview of the date range for the work package if you click this second date.
Once you have decided on a finish date, click on it.
This will enter the finish date in the date field and mark that date with another dark color.
The dates in between will be highlighted with a lighter colour.
To confirm the selected dates, click on the Save button.
The green message on top of the work package indicates a successful update.
Advanced functionality
- The date picker allows you to pick start and finish dates in the opposite order. Clicking on a start date and then moving backwards to click on an earlier date will then use that first date as the finish date and the second (earlier) date as the start date.
- For a work package that already has a start and finish date, it is possible to adjust just the finish date: click on the finish date field and then click on a new date. As long as this date is after the start date, the finish date will update accordingly. If the date you pick is earlier than the start date, the original start date will then be cleared and a click on a second date will define the other end of the new range.
- It is possible to set only one of the two dates. To do this, click on the field you would like to set (start date is selected by default, but you can change this manually to finish date) and click on a date. Then save without selecting a second date. Alternatively, if a a range is already selected, simply remove one of the dates and save.
Note: The precedes-follows relation can constrain or affect the dates of work packages. For more information, see Moving related work packages.
One-day events
If you want the work package to start and finish on the same date, simply click the same date twice.Certain work package types (such as Milestones) can only span one day and thus have only one date field:
Working days and duration
Starting with TETFund Research Planner, it is possible to manually input a duration for a work package and decide whether this duration should include working days only or all calendar days.Note: Working dates are currently defined by the administrator of your TETFund Research Planner instance. By default, they are Monday to Friday, with Saturday and Sunday considered non-working. If you are an administrator, please read our admin guide on working days.
Working days
In this mode, non-working days are marked with a darker colour and are not clickable.
Work packages cannot start or finish on non-working days, and these days do not count towards the calculation of duration.
Switching Working days only off will turn the previously disabled non-working days into regular working days, and make them available for scheduling.
The duration will now take these days into account.
Duration
Duration is always expressed in days, and is the total number of days between the start and finish dates (inclusive).The Duration field is directly related to the start and finish dates, but does not require them. Changing one will change the other.
Duration when start and finish dates exist
When you set a start and a finish date, the duration is automatically derived. For example, if the start date is set to Wednesday, 12 October, 2022 and the finish date to Friday, 14 October, 2022, a duration of 3 days is derived.In our example, if you change the duration to 4 days, one of two things can happen:
- If the Working days only switch is on, the finish date is automatically set to Monday, 17 October, 2022 (since Saturday and Sunday are not working days)
- If the Working days only switch is off, the finish date is automatically set to Saturday, 15 October, 2022 (since all calendar days are included)
Duration when only one date exists
A work package cannot have only one date and a duration; the other date is automatically derived.This derived date can either be the start date or the finish date.
For example, if you set the start date to Wednesday, 12 October and enter a duration of 3 days, a finish date of Friday, 14 October is automatically derived. Conversely, if you set the finish date Friday, 14 October and then set the duration to 3 days, the date picker will count backwards and derive a start date of Wednesday, 12 October.
Duration without start and finish dates
It is possible for a work package to have only duration without any start or finish dates set.Note: If you add even one date to a work package with duration, the other date is automatically derived; it is not possible to have just one date (start or finish) and duration set. Please note also that if a work package with only duration derives its start date via a relation, the finish date is then also derived.
Setting only duration without start or finish dates is especially useful when you have a general estimation of how long different tasks or phases of a project will take, but do not have exact dates defined quite yet.Pro tip: This feature makes it possible to automatically derive an estimated
start or finish date for entire project.
To do so, create a series of work packages that represent the main phases and set the approximate
duration for each. Link them all using follow/precedes relationships. Now, when you set a start date on
the first work package in the series, the start and end dates for all other work packages will be derived.
Scheduling mode
Manual
This ignores work package relations such that you’re able to select any start and end dates, even ones that would normally be restricted due to follows/proceeds relationships.
Manual scheduling also decouples the start and end dates of parent and children work packages.
This means that the dates of parents are no longer constrained by those of the children, and children can be scheduled outside of the range of parent work packages.
These relationships are completely ignored as far as scheduling is concerned, but are not removed (so they will still be visible in Gantt view); the constraints are respected again if you switch manual scheduling off.
Manual scheduling can be useful when you need to anchor a work package to fixed dates, for example because the dates of preceding or following work packages are not yet known.
Information and warning banners
TETFund Research Planner introduced helpful banners to give you important contextual information when changing dates on work packages with relations.Information banners have a blue background and display information that is helpful to the user but is not critical.
Warning banners have an orange background and display information that is critical, with potentially larger consequences to project scheduling. There are four possible banners:
Automatically scheduled
This is the case of parent work packages whose start and finish dates are derived from the earliest and latest child work packages respectively.
It is nevertheless possible to input specific start and finish dates for such work packages by enabling manual scheduling (which will ignore relations from which the dates were originally derived).
Available start date and finish dates limited by relations.
Manually scheduled, relations ignored
This also means that changes a manually scheduled work package no longer affect others, despite those existing relations.
This banner is not displayed when manual scheduling is enabled on work packages without relations.
Other work packages affected
Info: When both an information and a warning banner are applicable to a work package, only the more important warning banner is displayed.
Show Relations button
Info: This preview is intended to give a quick overview of only direct relations that might affect scheduling options for the current work package. It does not show second-level relations (and above). To get a full overview, please use the project work package table view or Gantt view with your desired filter/view configuration.