Plan It Quickstart - Part 1
Getting started with Plan It should be quick and easy. This guide provides a simple run through of the key features of Plan It to help you get up and running by building a simple example Plan.
Step 1 - Create you Plan
On launch you are presented with a choice of plan styles. This choice just effects how the plan looks and can be changed through the style inspector at a later time:-
For this guide we are going to use the Autumn style, so just click the Autumn style and then the Choose button. You will then be presented with the plan view.
Step 2 - Create some tasks
The first thing to do is to create some tasks on the plan. You can add tasks in multiple ways such as the Menu, Toolbar and keyboard shortcuts but for this tutorial we are just going to type straight into the left hand table of tasks. Double click the first Task Name on the plan and it will become editable as below:-
You can now type in the name of the task. For this tutorial we are going to call this task 'Widget Design' so type in the task name and press enter. After pressing return a task will be added onto the plan view on the right hand side and the next row will automatically be in edit mode:-
Continue adding task to the plan so you have the plan below. If for some reason you loose the editing or make a mistake you can just double click on the row you want to edit.
Step 3 - Resize your tasks
Now you have your tasks on the plan you need to be able to adjust the length of the tasks. Like most features of Planit there are a few ways of doing this. You can edit the number of days in the days column on the table, select the task and change the end date in the inspector or click and drag the top right corner of the task bar on the plan. The former method will change the cursor as you hover over the control point as below:-
As you drag the bar will change an automatically adjust based on non working time (such as weekends). You will also see the details change in the inspector if the task is selected.
Quick Tip - In the preferences you can switch on Task buttons which will show round button on the plan to adjust tasks.
Resize the previously entered tasks so your plan looks like the following:-
You may also want to move the start some tasks. This can be done by adjusting the start date in the table or clicking the centre of the bar and dragging to move. Move task 6 as below:-
Step 4 - Add dependancies
Normally while planing you have tasks that are dependant on previous tasks. The quickest way to add dependancies in Planit is to use the task bar controls on the plan. On the plan click drag the bottom right corner of task 1 and drag to task 2. As you drag the mouse you will see the dependancy link on the plan. When releasing the mouse the task you are linking too while automatically adjust the its start.
You can also add dependancies by using the table on the left hand side. To do this you should disable coloumns so you can see the dependancies. This can be done using the column inspector:-
To remove a dependance select the task and click break dependancy in the task inspector or right click the task an click the dependancy you want to remove.
Add dependancies to that you plan look like the one below:-
Step 5 - Group your tasks
In order to make your plan more manageable you will need to group your tasks. To do this you need to you the indent functionality of Planit.
On the tutorial Plan select tasks 2-8 by clicking on task 2 in the left hand table and the pressing shift while clicking on task 8. Your selecting should look like the following:-
Now to indent click the indent toolbar button or use the indent menu.
Your plan will now look like the following:-
Step 6 - Fill out your Plan
Now you should be able to do basic task manipulation within Planit.
Quick Tip - You can also select a number of tasks an use the Link Selected and Link Selected Super options in the Task menu to automatically create dependancies and groups.
Continue adding task to you plan until you have the following.
Quick Tip - If you want too see how you plan will look printed use the print button on the tool bar.
Now save your plan. You have now finished Part 1. Part 2 of this tutorial will show you how to add resources, milestones and do basic tracking.