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In Project Tracker everything is a task. You might be used to organizing your to-do list into releases, areas, or features. In Project Tracker parent tasks and subtasks groups tasks together. So "boil vegetables", "cut vegetables", and "boil water" are all subtasks of the parent task "make soup". Because parent tasks are really just containers for the subtasks, they do not have estimate, deadline, or assignment information.
You can have as many levels of tasks and subtasks as you need, and they will all be subtasks of one main task, in this case "Make soup". This main task is called root task and it is the "container task" for all the tasks in your project. Each Project Tracker instance is one project with one task tree and one root task. So you can pretty much think of the root task as for all intensive purposes a root task is synonymous with project.
Soup project
+ Make soup + Cut vegiables - Peel carrots - Chop onions - Boil water - Boil vegiables
Just like a real tree, the task task tree has leaves and branches. A segment of the task tree is called a task branch such as "Cut vegiables" and all its subtasks. Tasks that do not have any subtasks are called leaf tasks. "Boil water" and "boil vegiables" are all leaf tasks. Each leaf task has a workflow case attached to it, which enables logging and tracking of the task.
Any task can be edited from either the task list or from the detailed view of a single task.
Project Tracker uses the General Comments module to attach persistent comments and files to a task. The workflow engine also supports journal entries, but they are limited to leaf tasks and only supports plain text. Using the journal is not recommended because the journals get deleted when you move or add subtasks.
You can assign leaf tasks to team members; users with write permissions. You can assign as many people or groups as you want and change the assignments at any time.
Once a task is assigned, you have to notify the assignment. This will send an email notification to the assignee, and the task will appear in that person's workflow task-list.
To complete a task you have to first "start" it. Project tracker will log the time and the user who started working on the task. This person becomes the "holding user," and the task will only appear on this person's workflow to do list, you can think as the point person amidst a group of assignees. Only the holding user can "finish" the task.
To complete a task you have to enter the actual number of days it took, and optionally a closing remark.
Actions that have irreversible consequences and effect the task branch are reserved for administrators.
Dropping a task it will drop the entire task branch. When a task is dropped it is hidden from view and it can be seen by setting the task states filter to "all", and it can be reactivated. However, drop will remove all workflow information for the task branch, including assignment and journal entries. Reactivating a task also effects the task branch, and new workflows will be created for the leaf tasks.