Getting Things Done with Tasks

A tasks list provides a mechanism to assign activities to users and track their progress. Tasks are often used with meeting workspaces to assign specific responsibilities or duties to individuals before a meeting, and to assign follow-up action items after a meeting. Tasks can be used in almost any type of collaboration environment to ensure that the team members know what their responsibilities are and what due dates need to be met. For simple projects where it is not necessary to use a full-blown project management application, tasks lists can be used to manage projects.

Constructing a Task Item

Any user in the Contributor group or any user who has the Add Items right can create an item in a tasks list. To create a task, follow these steps:

1.	From a tasks list, click on New Item.
2.	Enter a title for the task in the Title box.
3.	Select a priority for the task by clicking on one of the items in the drop-down list. The default choices can be changed by using the Modify Settings and Columns option.
4.	Select the status of the task by clicking on one of the items in the drop-down list. The default choices here can also be changed by using the Modify Settings and Columns option.
5.	Enter a number that indicates the percentage of the task completed.
6.	Select the person to whom the task is assigned from the drop-down list by clicking on the appropriate person. The drop-down list shows the names of the site users.
7.	Enter a description for the task.
8.	Enter the start date for the task in the format mm/dd/yyyy. The date can be manually keyed in, or the calendar can be used (by clicking on it) to select a date.
9.	In the box next to the date, enter the start time hour or click the triangle in the Time box to view a drop-down list of the times, and select a time from the list. Do the same for the minutes.
10.	Enter the due date and time in the same manner as the start date and time.
11.	Click on Attach File if you want to attach a file related to the task (such as a project plan, or detailed instructions on how to perform the task).
12.	Click on Save and Close to save the item.

Special Task Views to Assist in Task Management

The tasks list comes with its own set of default views to help manage tasks. These views are as follows:

• My Tasks Displays the tasks assigned to you.

• Due Today Displays the tasks that have a due date equal to the current date.

• Active Tasks Displays all tasks that have a status not equal to "Complete."

• By Assigned To Displays all tasks sorted by the person assigned to the task.

In addition to these views, other customized views can be created to manage tasks. For example, it might be useful to have a view that displays overdue tasks (tasks that have a due date prior to the current date), or tasks that are due soon but have not yet been started (due date less than or equal to the current date plus one AND status equal to "not started").

TIP

Exporting a tasks list to a spreadsheet is a good way to capture a set of tasks at a given time and enables you to format the tasks however you want in preparation for a meeting. The printing options from SharePoint are limited and may not meet the needs of the manager in a formal meeting situation because there are a lot of extraneous graphics and text on the page that can be distracting. A quick chart can be created as well to show completion levels.

The exported tasks could be saved based on the date of the export and then later compared to the updated tasks to see how much progress is being made.