Creating a template of tasks for a project

[George, the neophyte]

I like the improvements made in BCM 2007 and want to use it more than I did
previous versions. My question relates to setting up projects and the tasks
within those projects. I am a consultant and the tasks on virtually every
project are the same. Is there anyway when I start a project I can default to
using the same list of tasks without having to enter each task individually?
I would love to setup a series of templates that I can use for projects
depending on the type of consulting job it is.

Am I hoping for too much or is this posible?

Thanks,
George

 

[Judgebob]

George,

Did you ever get a reply or figure this out on your own. My business setup
is similar, and this would be a huge help.

Thanks,

Judgebob

 

[George, the neophyte]

Hi Judgebob -

No, I never did get a reply and still haven't worked out how to accomplish
it. I'm not sure of reposting it will get me a reply either.

Please let me know if you manage to work something out. It is tedious having
to enter each task manaually for every project.

Best,
George

 

[Clinton Ford [MSFT]]

We have gotten a lot of great suggestions around this area. Where do you currently store this list of tasks? On paper, in Excel,
or perhaps Outlook tasks? Are some or all of the tasks order dependent (do they require completion of a prior task)? Do you want
reminders for each task in the project? How long does a typical task take to complete?
--
Visit team blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/bcm
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
George,

Did you ever get a reply or figure this out on your own. My business setup
is similar, and this would be a huge help.

Thanks,

Judgebob

 

[George, the neophyte]

Hi Clinton -

Thanks for responding.

I store my list currently in OneNote then manually enter them into Outlook
when a new project comes up. I would love to store that standard list in a
template in BCM so I could just initiate a new project when it is awarded.

Some tasks are order dependent on a previous task, others aren't and many of
the tasks run concurrently.

I would love reminders for each task once a project has begun.

Timewise, some tasks take a matter of hours (or less), others take several
days, even been know to run into weeks for a large project.

I would be willing to share my lists with you offline if it would help.

Thanks for looking into this for us.
George

 

[Lon Orenstein]

George:

Our pinpoint Marketing tool will create Action Plans of tasks (and can also
schedule appointments, emails, and letters). It links the tasks to a BCM
contact so it shows up correctly in history. Currently, it will schedule
regular Outlook tasks, not project tasks. You can apply the Plan to one or
more contacts at a time.

You can check it out here
http://www.pinpointtools.com/category_s/27.htm

Tell me what advantage you see using Business Projects and Project Tasks
instead of Outlook Tasks, he asks rhetorically...

Hope that helps,
Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
800.238.0560 x6104 Toll Free (U.S. only) +1 214.905.0401 x6104
www.pinpointtools.com

 

[George, the neophyte]

I want it set up in Project Tasks because I am a marketing researcher who
undertakes projects for a variety of different clients and the tasks for each
project are fairly similar. I want to be able at the start of a new project
to run a template that lists all the tasks for that type of project, and not
have to manually insert them into every new project I start which is many per
month. Just trying to save time around here!

As it is not a marketing related activity I'm not sure how your product can
help. It is not about sending an email or sending a marketing message, it is
about completing a project task.

Thanks,
George

 

[George, the neophyte]

Have you or anyone you know moved any closer to being able to have templates
for BCM Project tasks? It is a pain to have to enter the same tasks for each
and every project manually. Isn't that what computers are supposed to help us
avoid?
Thanks,
George

 

[Lon Orenstein]

George:

We're a little closer but not close enough. I've told my developers to do
it but they've been working on getting our pinpointMortgage product out the
door. This should happen this week and then they can return to the pinpoint
Marketing tool.

Hang on Sloopy!

Thanks,
Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
800.238.0560 x6104 Toll Free (U.S. only) +1 214.905.0401 x6104
www.pinpointtools.com

 

[George, the neophyte]

I think I have figured out what I need.

I have created projects linked to myself (as you need a link to be able to
save a project.) I titled the project "generic focus groups" (as that is the
work I do conducting focus groups). Into that I entered all the project tasks
I have for that type of project. As they are sequential, I numbered each task
to begin with 01,02, 03, etc. I didn't enter any dates or other info.

Now when I have a project, I open "generic focus groups" enter in a new
project name, delete my name link and enter the client link for the project
and save it. Now I have all my tasks set up and I just have to go through and
enter dates for each of the project tasks.

I still would like a template that I can enter all these project tasks and
their normal time for accomlishing them and their start day in a project.
Then I enter a project start date and it populates the list with all the
current dates based on the template.

But at least for me, figuring out that I can establish generic projects has
saved me considerable time for each project as I don't have to manually enter
each of the 30+ tasks involved everytime I set up a new project!

Hope you can make some use of this.
George

 

[George, the neophyte]

After posting this message earlier I just figured a time saving way to do it,
but it is still not my ideal. See my message to JudgeBob to see what I
suggest would be the ideal.

Thanks,
George

 

[Omaha Realtor]

I'm in the same situation. I tried to do what George outlined below but when
I rename and relink the "generic" project I lose the original "generic"
project that was attached to me so I still end up have to create a new
project each time. Am I missing something? Any advise anyone has to offer
would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[BlueJay]

I tried this too, and the template project just gets saved as the new project.

I created a macro to create template tasks, and it worked -- it's not rocket
science, but it seems like there must be a better/easier way. This kind of
functionality would really rock BCM if it was there. I use Workflow features
in SharePoint and can't help but think of how much I need to have that kind
of functionality for managing my project/task workflow in Outlook.

The ideal would be to have something similar to a SharePoint Content Type
for projects, to say what kind of project it is, and then have the standard
set of tasks within that, with each already assigned to the appropriate user.


And even then, if it was something as simple as creating my own template
project in the folder that I could at least copy and paste -- wow, so much
project/task overhead could be cleared away...

Cheers,
BlueJay