Recording Statistics About a Task

You can record statistics about a task, such as time spent completing the task, billable time, as well as other information, for your own records or for reference when sharing tasks with your co-workers . This feature is particularly helpful when you assign tasks to others; you can keep track of assigned tasks and find out when they're completed.

To enter statistics about a task, open any task in the task list and click the Details tab. Figure 14.6 shows a completed Details tab for a sample task.

Figure 14.6. Fill in the statistics related to the completion of the task for later reference.

The following list describes the text boxes in the Details tab and the types of information you can enter:

• Date Completed Enter the date the task was completed, or click the arrow to display the calendar and choose the date.

• Total Work Enter the amount of time you expect the task to take.

• Actual Work Enter the amount of time it actually took to complete the job. You can then compare the estimated time that you placed in the Total Work box with the actual time that it took (entered in the Actual Work box).

• Mileage Enter the number of miles you traveled to complete the task.

• Billing Information Enter any specific billing information, such as hours billed, resources used, charges for equipment, and so on.

• Companies Enter the names of any companies associated with the contacts or with the project in general. Use semicolons to separate multiple names .

• Update List Automatically lists the people whose task lists are updated when you make a change to your task. This is available only in situations where you are working in a Microsoft Exchange Server environment.

• Create Unassigned Copy Copies the task so that it can be reassigned; use the button to send a task to someone other than an original recipient. This button is available only on tasks that you have assigned to other people.