Activities

For users who choose to import their master schedules, the XER file they use to bring in the data will be uploaded directly to the Project Database, through the Project Insights. This will not only allow the data to be imported into Plans as Activities, but also track if any adjustments have been made so they can be updated once more in P6, Microsoft Project, or OPC.

Review this guide to see how to import XER files in the new architecture and bring them into a Plan: XER Import v2 Guide

• Activities Summary
• Create Subtasks from Activities
• Connect Tasks to Activities
• Adjust Activities

Activities Summary

Upon the initial import of the XER file, Activity Milestones will appear yellow with a diamond icon and Activities will appear color-coded based off their imported status.

• Green - completed
• Blue - not yet completed
• Red - not started

They will also appear slimmer than regular Tasks, Milestones, or Constraints, but can still be resized as desired in the Whiteboard areas of the Workspace. Activities will also import with a select amount of labels that will appear when hovering over it (WBS, activity ID, status, and float), but no field can be edited except for the dates and only as a means to suggest changes to the overall schedule.

Create Subtasks from Activities

Subtasks can be created from Activities the same way as described in this article, but the connections will appear differently: they will stem directly from the middle of the corresponding Activity rather than a Start-to-Start and Finish-to-Finish so it emulates a "branching" of the parent Activity instead. 

You can create subtasks using the the three dot icon in the selection menu or the radial tool when clicking on the dependency dot when hovering over the Activity. 

Moving the subtasks of an Activity to dates earlier or later than the start and end dates of the Activity will cause both elements to appear with the conflict border that will need to be resolved. 

Connect Tasks to Activities

In lieu of creating subtasks, you can also connect existing elements to an Activity as its parent connection. This will be slightly different from creating normal dependencies:

1. Hover over the Activity until you see a small yellow down arrow along the bottom edge of the element
    
2. Click and drag that arrow to your desired element

✏️  Note: Creating these kinds of dependencies from Activities will show "Parent" and "Child" designations in the respective elements' Connections page. Furthermore, even subtasks of a subtask of a Task connected to an Activity will also appear as part of the "Child" list in the Activity's Connections page.

Adjust Activities

In the same way you can click and drag the Activities from the Whiteboard into a Plan and from one Swimlane to another, you can click and drag Activities to new dates, extending them or shortening them the same way you would with Tasks or adjusting their start and due dates within the Editor.

When this is done, the Activities will appear with chevrons across its length, pointing in either direction depending on whether it was adjusted earlier or later in the Plan. This is not a direct adjustment of the Activity within the master schedule, but rather a way for the field team to suggest changes to the schedule. These will only be resolved once the updates are made within the original master schedule software and its updates reimported back into Hoylu via XER again or if they are reverted back to the original dates.