Creating summary tasks

Use this method to create a summary task if the bars that you want to summarise already exist. For example, there might be a number of related bars in a chart and you could summarise them under one task.

To summarise existing bars:

1. Select the bar(s) that you want to summarise. You can select bars that are dispersed in the current view. When a bar has one task, you can select the task to summarise the whole bar. When a bar has multiple tasks, you must select all the tasks or the whole bar: you cannot summarise just one of the tasks.
2. On the Home tab, in the Hierarchy group, click Summarise.

A summary task is created above the first selected bar. The summary task spans the duration of the bars that were selected. The titles of the selected bars are indented below the summary task, indicating that they form a summary group. If you selected dispersed bars, they are grouped together when the summary task is created.

If you create a summary task in this way (as opposed to turning an existing task into a summary task) and Asta Powerproject is configured so that new tasks inherit certain key attributes from a neighbouring task, the summary task inherits the attributes of the first task that is being summarised.

You might want to convert a normal task into a summary task if you realise that the task needs to be broken down into a number of related tasks.

You might want to convert an expanded task into a summary task if you originally set up a subchart but you now want to convert the subchart into a summary group which can be displayed on the parent chart.

To convert a normal task or expanded task into a summary task, right-click the task, select the Make Into command, then select Summary. Double-click the new summary task to expand its summary group. When you convert a normal task into a summary task, the summary group is empty; when you convert an expanded task into a summary task; the summary group contains the tasks that were previously in the subchart.

Using this method, you can create summary tasks on the same bar as other normal, expanded or summary tasks. You can also move summary tasks so that they are on the same bar as other normal, expanded or summary tasks. This can result in summary tasks overlapping other tasks on the same bar.

When a summary task is empty but has a duration greater than 0, you can convert it into a normal task by right-clicking the summary task, selecting the Make Into command, then selecting the Task command.

You cannot convert tasks that have one or more task activities into summary tasks.

You might want to create summary tasks in the project view if you know the chart or summary group in which you want a new summary task to be located.

To create a summary task in the project view:

1. Right-click the chart or summary group to which you want to add a new summary task, then select Insert Child Summary. The Select Bar Line dialog appears for you to choose the position at which the summary task should be inserted in the selected chart.
2. Select the bar above which you want to insert the summary task, or select End of Chart to insert it at the bottom of the selected chart, then click OK. The Name dialog appears.
3. Enter the name of the bar on which you want to create the new summary task in the Bar title field.
4. Enter the name of the new summary task in the Task title field.
5. Click OK.