Project activities are key elements of the project plan, guiding the planning and execution of work. After the project structure is created, activities related to the sub projects should be registered. This is done using the Activity, Activities, or by using the Project Scope and Schedule page, selecting the sub project node and then Activities tab. Tasks can also be created under activities to further define the specific work to be carried out.
When you enter a new activity, the Early Start date is automatically set to today’s date, though it can be adjusted as needed. You can then specify either the Early Finish date or the number of Total Workdays required to complete the activity. If you enter a value in the Total Workdays field, the system uses the predefined hours per workday to convert the duration from days into minutes. This conversion is used for both scheduling calculations and manual input of Early Start, Early Finish, and Total Workdays.
When work starts on the activity, such as when progress is reported, the Actual Start date is updated to match the Early Start date, unless the Actual Start date has already been set manually. If the activity has both Actual Start and Actual Finish dates, you cannot manually update the total work days.
A variety of information and options can be defined for each activity prior to its execution. Here are some examples:
Objects, for example tasks, work orders, shop orders, document packages, and purchase orders, and resources can be connected to, or planned on the activities. These objects report progress, cost and hours to the activity based on the progress method and planned cost driver of the activity.
All costs and hours are reported to and accumulated on the activities, and cannot be assigned directly to a subproject. As the project progresses, key performance indicators such as cost, revenue, reported hours, earned value, and progress are continually reported back to the respective activity.