Once you have finished setting up your project, it is time to jump into your new Phase Plan. When you enter a plan, the plan view is split into two sides using the Active Line. To the right side of the Active Line is the high-level sequencing side, and on the left side is the look-ahead schedule. The Look Ahead Schedule allows you to assign dates to tickets and will be your main planning space.
As an admin, you can move the Active Line to create more planning space on the left side of the plan. To move the Active Line, click the Active Line and select a date from the calendar pop-up window.
Next, you’ll want to create Swim Lanes and Locations in your plan to set up designated, predetermined areas in the project in Touchplan. Select Locations from the left toolbar in any plan and then Add a New Location. The locations will be based on the different locations identified throughout your project (i.e. Floor 1, Area A, North Side, etc).
Swim Lanes are visual guides in the plan that allows you to see where tickets should be placed throughout the plan. To create a Swim Lane, click on the Plan Actions tab on the top right side of the plan view. In the drop-down menu, select Add swim lane, and a shaded row will appear in the plan view. Enter the Swim Lane name and choose a color, click Save once you are finished.
Now that you have set up your plan, you can start creating and adding tickets. In the bottom right corner of the plan view, you can choose from three ticket options:
- Constraints: the circle ticket option, a condition outside of the control of the project team that must be satisfied to complete scheduled tasks. Ex. RFI or Submittal
- Tasks: the square ticket option, tasks or activities that need to be completed.
- Milestones: the diamond ticket option, goals within the plan that the basic users are expected to work towards.
A key step when you are first creating a plan is to add milestone tickets to show key events in your plan. These milestone tickets can represent the completion of a goal within the plan, or the end of the plan (ex. Rough-In Complete, Handoff of Level 1, etc.). To add a milestone ticket, select the diamond icon in the bottom right corner, then in the ticket edit window give it a name and save. After you save the milestone ticket, it will be put into the gray draft area at the bottom of the screen. Your draft area is only visible to you, and the tickets will be available in any plan within the project.
After you have added the milestone tickets, it is time to create your tasks. Select the square icon in the bottom right corner, enter the task description, the location of the work, the crew size, and the duration of the project. When creating task tickets, it is best to keep the task duration to five days or less, this makes it easier to keep track of and update pinned tickets.
Tip: Have every project member make their tasks to maximize the team’s collaboration. Sometimes admins will make the mistake of helping a basic user make some of their tasks – this results in a missed opportunity for a collaborative discussion among basic users that would otherwise generate a better plan.
Once you have started planning, you will want to create constraints, or conditions that are outside of the control of the project team but are needed before specific tasks can begin (ie. RFIs, Submittals, etc). To create a constraint click on the circle ticket in the bottom right. In the ticket edit window, enter a description and assign the constraint to a team member by clicking Assigned To and selecting their name from the dropdown menu. (Add a Need By Date or a Location to the constraint, if needed.) Click Save and drag it onto the plan. If you assigned the constraint to someone else, they will see a notification in their plan window that they accept.
If the constraint is late (i.e. scheduled after tIf the constraint is late (i.e. scheduled after the Need By date), a red border will appear around it. All constraints are organized in the Constraint Log on the left side of the Plan View. Click into the Constraint Log to quickly check their status, see more detail, add notes, and mark the constraint as complete.
Tip: Make a constraint or milestone available across all plans in a project by selecting Add to Timeline from the ticket edit window. The ticket will be added to the timeline and will allow you to link activities between plans.
After you have created your tickets, you are ready to make them visible to the team, click and drag the tasks into the plan view area. Basic users should plan their tasks by clicking and dragging them into the plan to keep all users engaged in the process.
Tip: Have basic users prepare tickets ahead of the planning sessions to save everyone time.
Now that you and your team have built out a sequence of tickets, you can easily build links for tickets with predecessors, or between dependent tickets. To establish a visual link between tickets, click on the dependent ticket to open it, right-click on the predecessor ticket, and select Set as Predecessor. To remove a link between tickets, click on the dependent ticket and right-click on the Predecessor ticket to select Remove Predecessor.
If the predecessor task gets pushed out and makes a dependent task late, a red border will appear around the dependent ticket. Tickets with red outlines should always be discussed between the users that the tickets affect.
Links between tickets are designed to spur conversation. Touchplan doesn’t assume that the entire chain of tasks is pushed out when a single task is late. Instead, Touchplan is built to encourage key users to communicate and look for potential solutions, rebuilding their plan accordingly.
Tip: Adding too many links can lead to confusion. Use this feature sparingly as it is designed to inform your team about critical relationships between two tickets.