This article will discuss creating and handling Deadline Chains in a project, including adding a Deadline Chain to a project, completing and handling deadlines, sorting deadlines, and recalling deadlines. For more information on how to set up Deadline Chains, consult the Setting Up Deadline Chains article.
You can also watch the Deadline Chains & Taskflows training video to learn more.
Creating Deadline Chains
Adding the Section
If the project type you are working with does not have a Deadline Chain section, you will need to add one to this project type in the Customs Editor. Follow the steps below to add. If your project type already has a “Chains” section, skip to the next section.
- Click Advanced > Customs Editor. Click on the hamburger menu in the top lefthand corner, and select “Advanced” from the dropdown. Then, in the lefthand menu, select “Customs Editor.” Select the Org and project type, if applicable.
- Begin creating a new section. Click on the “Create New Section” in the top right to open the “Section Properties” window, shown below. Choose an icon and a unique name for your section. The “Section Selector” field will fill automatically.
- Select the “Chain” section type. In the dropdown menu beside “Section Type,” you will see several “Built-in” options. Select “Chain (Built-in)” from this list.
- Choose whether to lock the section. Select the “Locked for Non-Project Admins” option to make the Deadline Chains section read-only to all but project Admins.
- Save the section. Click the “Save” button to save the section. You can also reorder where this section is displayed by clicking the up and down arrows next to each section.
Adding a Chain
If your project type has a Chain section, you can begin adding Deadline Chains. Before adding Deadline Chains, you will need to build your chains in the Deadline Chains Advanced tool.
To add a Deadline Chain to a project, follow the steps below:
- Go to the correct section. In the “Search for a project” search box in the top right corner, search for the project where you would like to add the Chain. Then, click on the name of your Chains section in the lefthand menu.
- Add a Deadline Chain. Click the “+ Add a Deadline Chain” button, or the plus button to the right of the search bar. In the “Add a Deadline Chain” window, click on the field for a dropdown menu of all Deadline Chains, or start typing the name of the Deadline Chain. Select the desired Deadline Chain.
- Edit name, if desired. The Deadline Chain name and any deadlines that are not dependent on others will appear. Edit the name of the Chain by clicking on the pencil to the right of the Deadline Chain name, or throw out the Deadline Chain by clicking on the red trashcan icon next to the pencil.
Moving Between Chains
Only one Deadline Chain will be shown in this section at a time, so if you have more than one Deadline Chain, you will use the “Enter deadline chain name” search bar at the top of the section to navigate between them.
Handling Deadline Chains
Completing Deadlines
Once a Deadline Chain is added, the first deadlines will appear. You are able to either add due dates to or complete these deadlines. The day when a deadline gets a due date or is marked complete is important because this date is what dependent deadlines will be based on. To learn more about building these dependencies, read the Setting Up Deadline Chains article.
To add the due date, enter a date into the “Due” field.
To complete a deadline, either enter a date into the “Complete” field or click on the circle at the left of the deadline name. The circle will be marked with a checkmark, and the “complete” date will fill in automatically as the current day, though the date can be edited.
Completed Deadlines in Groups
For deadlines that are part of a group, also called “branching deadlines,” the process is a bit different. When you complete any one deadline in a group, the other deadlines in that group will disappear from the list of deadlines, and the deadlines dependent only on the one deadline you completed or gave a due date will appear.
Sorting and Ordering
Underneath the Deadline Chain name and above the listed deadlines, you will see buttons that enable you to sort deadlines by their completion status.
The leftmost button will show only uncomplete deadlines, the middle will display only completed deadlines, and the rightmost will show all deadlines. The section’s default will be to show all deadlines.
To the right of the sort options, you can use a dropdown to reorder the deadlines within a single deadline chain. You can order deadlines by name (alphabetically from A to Z), due date (from oldest to newest), or complete date (from oldest to newest, with uncompleted deadlines at the bottom of the list). You can also select Default from the dropdown to revert the deadlines back to the original order created in the deadline chain.
Recalling
To recall a deadline and change it back to uncompleted, delete the complete date from the “Complete” field. When this deadline is marked incomplete, all deadlines dependent on that deadline being marked completed will disappear, and you will have to mark them complete once again when they appear.
Similarly, to take away deadlines that are dependent on one deadline being given a due date, delete the due date from the “Due” field. When this deadline’s due date is deleted, all deadlines dependent on that deadline being given a due date will disappear, and you will have to mark them complete once again when they appear.
Deleting and Undeleting Chains
Chains can be deleted by clicking on the red trashcan next to the name of the deadline chain and then click on the “Remove Chain” button in the pop-up window.
If you need to undelete a chain that was mistakenly deleted, a user with access to the Undelete Advanced tool can undelete the Deadline Chain.
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