Key Features
Global Tasks: admins can configure global tasks at the organization level to standardize tasks across your portfolio. Global tasks are available to be reported on across the portfolio through self-serve Reports > Project or through the API.
Dual Date Tracking: enables users to record and monitor both the original planned dates and the actual dates for each task, providing a clear comparison between projected timelines and real-world outcomes.
Variance Analysis: automatically calculates variances between planned and actual dates, offering immediate insights into delays or ahead-of-schedule progress. This analysis helps in identifying trends over time, enabling proactive adjustments to keep projects on track.
Gantt Charts: utilize dynamic Gantt charts to represent tasks, their durations, dependencies, and variances visually. These charts are updated in real-time, providing a comprehensive and easily digestible view of the project's timeline and progress.
Alerts and Notifications: customizable alerts keep the team informed about upcoming deadlines, changes in task dependencies, and deviations from the planned schedule. This feature is essential for maintaining awareness and prompt response to emerging challenges.
Task Dependencies Management (coming soon to customers on Premium plans): effortlessly define and visualize task dependencies within the project. This functionality ensures that all team members understand how tasks interlink and impact one another, facilitating better coordination and scheduling to meet critical milestones.
How to Use Task and Timeline Management
Adding Tasks to a Project
To add tasks to a project, follow these simple steps:
Navigate to your project
Select the "Timeline" tab
Click on "Add New Task"
You can also manage tasks directly from the project dashboard in the Task section.
Task Details
When adding a new task, provide the following information:
Task name
Status
Original Start date
Projected Start Date
Original Duration Days
Owner of the task
Please Note: The Original Duration Days are business days, no weekend or holidays.
You can also add details and @mention team members in the comment section of the task to keep everyone informed. This will notify users in their to-do section on the portfolio page.
Once a task is changed to "In Progress" or "Complete" Rabbet will ask you to update the actual start date and the actual completion date.
Managing Tasks
Once you've added task names, dates, and statuses, they will appear in the Task tab on the project dashboard and under the Timeline tab. Here in the Timeline tab, you can view all Task and Timeline data as well as the Gantt charts. You can easily update the status of each task as the project progresses and export timeline data in a project report.
Creating Milestones
Creating a milestone is similar to creating a task. To create a common milestone, such as an expiration date or maturity date where there is no duration, you can simply enter the start date as the completion date with a 0 day duration.
This will set the completion date the same as the start date.
Weekly Timeline Updates
After setting up Tasks & Timelines, you have the option to configure notifications for Weekly Timeline Updates. You can do this through your notification settings, and these updates will be sent to your email on a weekly basis.
Global Tasks
Global Tasks are tasks that can be set as defaults for all projects and project types. To configure these tasks for all projects in your portfolio, follow these steps:
Navigate to the "Admin" tab
Go to "Configurations"
Select "Tasks" and choose the tasks by project type
Tasks that are set at the configuration level as Global Tasks can be reported on at the portfolio level using table actions > customize columns. They will display here under the project type then task.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What fields are required on a task?
A: Only task name is a required field.
Q: What alerts will I get for overdue tasks?
A: In-app you will see red flags for all tasks that are more than 7 days overdue and a yellow flag for all tasks that are less than 7 days overdue.
Q: If I set a global task list, can I still add tasks to a project?
A: Yes, the global task list is meant to standardize reporting on key dates across your portfolio. Every project is different, so you can add/remove tasks within each project to fit project needs.
Q: Can I assign tasks to outside owners?
A: No, tasks can only be assigned to Rabbet users on your account (for lenders: it also cannot be assigned to borrowers or inspectors)
Q: Do tasks impact automatic rules or projections?
A: Not yet, but we are investing a lot more in this area and expect more ties to rules and projections in the coming months.
Q: I don’t want my lender or equity partner to see a task. How do I filter tasks?
A: There is no way to filter tasks on the Timeline tab. If there’s a task you don’t want to track (for example, an insurance expo date that Rabbet auto-created), you can delete it. If you don’t want to include it on a project report, we can apply filters to your custom project report or you can delete a task after you export to Word. To see the filtered tasks in app, you can use the Task Report in the reporting section of the app.
Tasks & Timeline is a permission-based feature. If you are interested in learning more about this feature, or you have questions or feedback, please contact your Customer Success Manager or email Support at help@rabbet.com.