Home » ProjectLibre Tutorial Part 2: Task Breakdown, Resources

ProjectLibre Tutorial Part 2: Task Breakdown, Resources

project-management.com content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners.

Featured Partners: Project Management Software

projectlibre_tutorial_p2_featured1

At the first part of the tutorial we described how to create your first ProjectLibre project and add your first tasks. At this part of the tutorial, we are going to see how to add subtasks and how ProjectLibre handles resources.

All tutorial parts:

Breaking down tasks

Let’s start by adding a master task. Add a task with a duration of 10 days as at the image below.

projectlibre_tutorial_p2_image1

After adding the task lets breakdown this task to other tasks. Add another task called ‘Child task 1’ with a duration of 5 days and another task called ‘Child task 2’ with a duration of 7 days.

projectlibre_tutorial_p2_image2

We now have three tasks independent from one another. As you have noticed, the first one is red. This is because it is the most critical one. Meaning that the project duration is dependent on that. Anyway, let’s connect ‘Child task 1’ and ‘Child task 2’ with ‘Master task’. If you right click on ‘Child task 1’ you will see some options. You can understand what New, Delete, Cut, Copy and Paste do. We are going to use the ‘Indent’ option for now. So, right click on ‘Child task 1’ and ‘Indent’. Do the same for ‘Child task 2’. You can see immediately the following:

  • Both child tasks are ‘enclosed’ to Master task.
  • Master task look has changed
  • Master task duration has automatically changed.

Congratulations on making it possible to breakdown ‘Master task’!

projectlibre_tutorial_p2_image3

Let’s make things a little bit more complicated now. Below ‘Child task 2’ add ‘Child for child 2’ and ‘Child for child 2b’. Add a duration of 2 days for the first, and 8 days for the second. Also, link the two tasks as we have shown at the previous ProjectLibre tutorial part (making the ‘Child for child 2’ completion a prerequisite for ‘Child for child 2b’. Then select both tasks (hold Ctrl key pressed and click on number 4 and 5) and then click ‘Indent’. The result should look like the following picture:

projectlibre_tutorial_p2_image4

Also, instead of using the mouse to Link and Unlink tasks and right click in order to indent you can use the following buttons located on the top toolbar.

projectlibre_tutorial_p2_image5

Using resources for a project

Since you got a pretty good idea about how you can handle tasks, break them down and connect them, we can now move on to the resources section of a project. Click on Resources at the top menu and you should see the following image:

projectlibre_tutorial_p2_image6

Now go on and add the following resources as in the image, Mr Analyst (type=Work) and 1kg coffee (type=Material).

projectlibre_tutorial_p2_image7

The important elements here are:
Type: It can be either material or work
Standard rate: Rate of use per hour
Overtime rate: If the resource is used at a time different than normal working hours (overtime). Then use this rate
Cost Per Use: This is for contract jobs or for materials. If you hire someone and you pay him a fixed amount to do the task, then you can use this item instead of standard rate. Also, if you consume some resources then you have to use this item too.
Accrue at: ‘Prorated’ means that costs are calculated when the task is planed, ‘Start’ means when the task starts and ‘End’ when the task ends.
Base calendar: We will get to this at a later part of the tutorial.

If you double-click on any resource row you can click on the ‘Costs’ tab and define different cost rules for different dates. If a resource charges a different amount for a specific job, you can take advantage of the ABCDE tabs, and define different rates. Also, at the ‘Resource Availability’ tab, you can define from when will this resource be available.

projectlibre_tutorial_p2_image8

As in Task data entry, at resources, you can also have child resources. So, you can add a resource and ‘Indent’ it in order to show where it belongs. Notice however that the master’s rates are not auto calculated. You have to enter the rates yourself. It is up to you how you are going to handle resources break down.

That’s it for now. Save your project. At the next part of the tutorial we are going to describe how to assign resources to tasks and how project costs are calculated.

All tutorial parts:

Featured Partners: Project Management Software

1 Wrike

Visit website

Wrike is the most powerful work management platform on the market, enabling teams to plan projects and collaborate in real time. Our award-winning software is trusted by 20,000+ companies across the globe, including Sony, Estée Lauder, and Siemens.

Wrike’s customizable features include Gantt charts, request forms, dashboards, cross-tagging, time tracking, and proofing. Integrate with 400+ apps from the likes of Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce. Automate repetitive tasks and achieve 50% faster planning. Work from anywhere with 100% access to your files via our mobile and desktop apps.

Whether you’re a small startup or an established brand, Wrike has the solution for you. Paid plans start at $9.80/user/month. Join our community of 2.3 million — start your free two-week trial today.

Learn more about Wrike

2 monday.com

Visit website

monday.com Work OS is an award-winning no-code work management platform that helps teams manage projects and workflows more efficiently.

Used by 152,000+ customers worldwide, this fully customizable software lets you plan, manage, and track every project in one place. monday.com offers time-saving and easy-to-use features such as automations, time tracking, document sharing, and real-time collaboration. Multiple board views such as Gantt and Kanban help you structure and navigate tasks and projects the way you prefer, and dashboards give a high-level overview of your progress.

In addition, integrations with apps such as Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Gmail, and Excel, allow you to easily continue working with your favorite tools from within the platform. monday.com also offers dedicated solutions, such as monday dev and monday sales CRM, designed to answer the needs of specific industries.

Learn more about monday.com

3 Smartsheet

Visit website

Smartsheet is a leading work execution platform that has real-time work management features, collaboration and automation tools. Users are presented with a familiar and easy-to-use spreadsheet-like interface. However, it has enterprise-grade capabilities that even Fortune 500 companies like Cisco, Bayer, HP, and PayPal are confident to adopt in their business. Strong project management features enable teams to utilize different views of real-time data, and switch easily from Gantt, card, grid and calendar views. Smartsheet has automatic update requests, and can be used for waterfall and agile projects, product launch, sprint planning, and more. The resource management feature provides users the visibility who is busy, and who is not, in real-time. They can also attach files, share sheets, get notified, view the activity log, export, email, and print.

Learn more about Smartsheet

Share Article


Project-Management.com Avatar