What is Task Duration, Est. Work, Actual Work, etc.

This document describes the meaning of Task Attributes and terminology used in EasyTaskLink.

Duration - The total span of active working time that is required to complete a task.  This is generally the amount of working time from the start to finish of a task, as defined by the project. 

Note that the duration is the calendar duration and not the actual work duration.

Est. Work - The total labor required to complete a task in hours.  For assignments, the amount of work to which a resource is assigned.  For resources, the total amount of work to which a resource is assigned for all tasks.  This is calculated automatically when you enter the Duration.  However, if the Duration is 10 days, but the work required is only 2 hours per day, then Work = 20 hours, but the duration is still 10 days.

Note:  This is equivalent to the Work field used in Microsoft Project.

Start Date - The estimated start date of a task.

Finish Date - The estimated finish date of a task.  This is first calculated when you enter Work, but can be independently adjusted.

Actual Start - This is the date a team member enters or automatically set when a task is marked % Complete > 0.

Actual Finish - This is the date when a team member enters or automatically set when a task is marked % Complete = 100.

Actual Work - The actual hours spent on the task.  Changing this does not alter other values such as Est. Work or Work.

Actual Work (Day) - Actual Work expressed in day.

% Work Complete - The amount of work complete.  For tasks that have multiple assignees, this number reflects the percentage completed of the individual assignee, not the total task completion percentage.

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