The Data Columns

On the left of the schedule is the Column panel, as shown below:

In this panel, you can view all of the task-related data for your project. As well as seeing each of the tasks in the "Task Name" column, you can view a suite of other task information to help you create a comprehensive project plan. Read the "Column Basics" and "Changing Columns" section to find out more.

Column Basics

The data columns in ProjectPlan.com allow you to change task information, quickly and easily. Here is a description of each of the columns available:

• Information: This column shows any general information relating to the task. This information includes notes, alerts and the lock / unlock status.
• Task Name: This is the name of the task. You can call it whatever you wish.
• Planned Start Date: This is the date that the task is planned to start on.
• Planned Finish Date: This is the date that the task is planned to finish on.
• Planned Duration: This is the planned duration of the task, calculated as the elapsed time difference (in days) between the Planned Start Date and Planned Finish Date for the task.
• Planned Effort: This is the amount of effort that is planned to be spent (in hours) completing the task.
• Actual Start Date: This is the date that work on the task actually commenced.
• Actual Finish Date: This is the date that work on the task ceased, when the task was marked as 100% complete.
• Actual Effort: This is the amount of effort that was actually spent (in hours) completing the task.
• Actual Duration: This is the actual duration of the task, calculated as the elapsed time difference (in days) between the Actual Start Date and Actual Finish Date for the task.
• Percent Complete: This is the actual current percentage of the task that has been completed, to date.
• Resource: This is a list of resources that have been allocated to complete the task.
• Milestone: This is a checkbox that shows whether the task is marked as a Milestone task or not. A milestone task is something that you feel is an achievement for the project.
• Complete: This checkbox allows you to quickly and easily mark a task as 100% complete.
• Priority: This is the priority assigned to the task.

To find out how to turn columns on or off, read about "Column Basics" in the next section.

Changing Columns

Show / Hide Columns

The Column area is the section to the left of the schedule that lists the data for each task. You might find that some columns are useful and others are not. You can hide the columns that you don't want to see and show the ones that you do want to see. To do this, click on the Column title bar in the area shown below.

This will display a list of all of the available columns in the system. You can check and uncheck the boxes to show and hide columns respectively.

Moving Columns

If you have the right columns displayed but you want to change their order, then simply click on the relevant column header (shown in the screenshot above) and drag it to its new location (i.e. to the left or right). When you drop one column on top of another one, it will automatically update the order displayed.