Set Work Hours, Track Progress, and Manage Resources

Multi-tasking is the norm of the day and not all tasks are the same. Some tasks require more time and effort than others. But how do you set and track the time a resource spends on a task?

Set Work Hours
Zoho Projects lets you set work hours for individual tasks. Work is calculated based on your organization's business hours.

    •   work hours per day - number of hours to be spent on a task each day 
   •   work % per day - percentage of business hours allotted for the task in a day 
   •   work hours - allows flexibility by specifying work hours over the entire duration of the task

If work hours are not set then the task duration is taken as the total work.

When adding a new task select Set Work to allot work hours.

Track Work Progress
Once you have set the work hours for tasks it becomes important to keep track of productivity. The Planned vs Actual chart does just that. Click on the user to view their individual tasks.

    •   If the user has more time on hand the difference is shown in green with a '+' sign.
   •   Red indicates the user is taking more time than planned and is prefixed with a '-' sign.

Manage Resources
The Resource Utilization chart shows how each team member's time is utilized. You can add and manage tasks from the chart. The chart supports the following functions:
   •   Search users  
   •   Add a new task  
   •   Increase or decrease work hours  
   •   Move tasks to another day  
   •   Move tasks from one resource to another
    •   Convert to PDF

Use Case: A content management head requires the team to spend 5 hours developing content and 2 hours for peer review. Here is how he sets about adding tasks and allotting work hours:

Adds task Content Development and sets work to 5 hours. 
Adds task Peer Review and sets work to 2 hours.  
Using the Planned vs Actual chart he can see who is on track and who is behind schedule. 
The Resource Utilization chart tells him if any resource is free to take up any extra load of work. 
The manager drags and drops the task to a different day or to another resource to balance the workload.

Try out this feature and give your suggestions in the comments.

Regards,
Chaitanya

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