Auto Schedule

Auto Schedule is the one of the most used and appreciated features for To Do List by our customers. It automatically sets the future Due Dates for all incomplete items in a list based on the configuration settings for the To Do List.

The Auto Schedule once used will ensure there are no overlapping tasks, no tasks set for action on a invalid day for the list and that the number of tasks set for a day do not exceed the maximum hours set for that day.

When to use Auto Schedule

New To Do List - when first setting up your To Do List, create each new entry with a description, category, priority, status and estimated effort. Ensure that the items are sorted in your desired priority order with the most important activity at the top of the list. Then select 'Auto Schedule' and set the first due date for the most important activity (by double clicking on the calendar) and the process will set the due dates for all other items in the list.

Updating a To Do List - when you have completed a number of items in a To Do List early or have made changes to the estimated effort for some items, simply click 'Auto Schedule' when all the changes are made and the revised due dates will be set for the incomplete items in the list.

Correcting Warnings for a To Do List - making changes to items in a To Do List can set off 'Warnings' for a list. For example a change in due date or estimated effort can create an overlapping task warning for items in your list. If this happens rather than changing the due date or estimated effort to fix it manually you can use 'Auto Schedule' to fix the warning. Select 'Auto Schedule' and then set the first due date then all other due dates will be set to ensure all items can be completed in line with the configuration set for the To Do List.

Note: Auto Schedule does not apply across To Do Lists so it is still possible your items in different lists could be overlapping unless your separate To Do Lists are only set for work on specific days of the week.

Auto Schedule in action

The image below will demonstrate one of the capabilities for Auto Schedule, in this case one of the items has been changed to increase it's estimate effort. That increase means that the calculated start date for that task overlaps with the first task. A warning is displayed for those items that overlap.

The Auto Schedule is then used to clear that warning and reset the due dates for the items that are incomplete. Once those due dates are reset the warning is cleared and the items are scheduled in line with the configuration for the To Do List.