Creating activities in a project's master plan

To access the New Activity dialog:

1. Click Projects in the left pane. The Projects page appears.
2. Click a project in the list. The Project Details page appears.
3. Click Master Plan at the top of the page. The Project Master Plan page appears.
4. Click one of the controls:
   • Click to the left of the header of the 'Name' column of the spreadsheet to create an activity at the bottom of the master plan.
   • Click to the left of a summary task to create an activity at the bottom of that summary group.

To enter details of a new activity:

1. On the Details tab of the New Activity dialog, enter a descriptive name for the activity in the Activity Name field.
2. In the Activity Type field, specify the type of activity by clicking 'Activity', 'Summary' or 'Milestone':
   • Click 'Activity' for an activity that represents a task with a duration. For example, 'Build wall' is a task that has a start date, a finish date and a duration.
   • Click 'Summary' for a summary task that summarises a number of activities. You can summarise activities in any way you like, and each summary task can contain other 'child' summary tasks as well as activities. For example, if a master plan relates to the construction of a housing estate, you could create one summary task for each plot number, summarising the activities that need to be carried out on each plot, then 'child' summary tasks within each plot's summary to summarise the activities that need to be carried out on each floor.
   • Click 'Milestone' for a milestone that represents a start or finish point in a schedule. Milestones have no duration. For example, 'Complete plot' is a milestone that represents the completion of all activities relating to a particular plot; 'Concrete delivery' is a milestone that represents the arrival of a delivery of concrete.
3. Click the Activity Location dropdown and select the location at which the activity and its associated tasks will be carried out. When you click in the field, global build locations - ones that can apply to any project - are shown by default. Click Project Specific if you want to select a build location that is restricted to the current project.
4. Enter the dates and times at which the activity will start and finish in the Start and Finish fields. If the activity is a milestone, you can specify only one date and time, as milestones have no duration.
   
   You can also change the start and finish dates of activities by clicking and dragging them in the Gantt chart: click and drag to the left to move an activity to an earlier position; click and drag to the right to move it to a later position:
   
   
5. If the activity is partially or fully complete, use the Progress field slider to indicate the percentage progress that has been carried out. You cannot mark progress against summary tasks, as their progress is rolled up from the tasks in their summary groups. Milestones are either 0% complete or 100% complete.
   
   If one or more pull plan tasks have been associated with the activity, a icon appears against the Progress field. Once you have associated one or more pull plan tasks with an activity in the master plan, the progress of the activity is taken directly from the task - or tasks - that are associated with it, and you cannot edit the progress of the activity directly using the Edit Activity dialog.
6. Click the Project Tags tab.
7. Click the Project Tags dropdown and select any project tags that are applicable. You can select any number of project tags.
   Any tags that you select are added to the list of assigned tags beneath the Project Tags field. Click to the right of a project tag to unassign it.
8. Click Save. The activity is created and you are returned to the Project Master Plan page, where the new activity appears in the master plan.