Basic tasks

1 Introduction
2 Common use cases
3 Basic task attributes
4 Actions on basic tasks
- 4.1 Create basic tasks
- 4.2 Convert a basic task into a monday item
5 Task structure based on basic tasks
6 Limitations

Introduction

Basic tasks are tasks stored by BigPicture and are NOT synchronized with monday. Basic tasks can be viewed in:

the Gantt module
the WBS widget
the Resources module
the Calendar module

Basic tasks can coexist with other tasks and work great as placeholders or temporary tasks and simulate higher levels in the hierarchy or serve as additional information boxes.

Common use cases

Basic tasks are NOT stored in monday. Exemplary uses of basic tasks:

Use basic tasks to create a custom hierarchy and aggregate data
Use basic tasks to add project information, which is not necessary on monday board, e.g., headlines of project phases on a timeline
Use basic tasks as placeholders
Convert basic tasks to milestones
Convert basic tasks to monday items

Basic task attributes

The table presents attributes available for basic tasks.

Attribute	Description

Attribute	Description
Icon	Basic tasks have a non-configurable icon. The Key field is generated automatically and cannot be modified.
Key
Summary	It’s a required field.
Start date/end date	It’s not required to provide start/end dates when you create a basic task. You can add start/end dates later or leave a basic task without any dates. If you create a basic task as a milestone, you provide only one date. The milestone duration is always zero days so the start date is the same as the end date. See more on the Milestones page.
Status	Basic tasks can have three statuses to choose from: To Do (grey) In Progress (blue) Done (green)
Baseline start date	Available for basic tasks.
Baseline end date	Available for basic tasks.
Milestone	Available for basic tasks.
Color	You can change a basic task color (the task color settings set to manual).
Duration calendar days	Available for basic tasks.
Duration working days	Available for basic tasks.
Outline level	Available for basic tasks. The Outline level field shows how deep a basic task is in the tree structure (WBS).
Scheduling mode	Basic tasks follow the same set of rules including linking, sorting, etc. However, dependencies between basic tasks and monday items are NOT synchronized to monday boards, they exist only in BigPicture. Basic tasks have most of the features of monday items. It is possible to add aggregations in the column header or column view configuration, convert basic tasks to milestones and create baselines just like with other tasks. See more on the Scheduling mode page.
Baseline	You can create baselines for basic tasks.

Actions on basic tasks

Create basic tasks

Convert a basic task into a monday item

To convert a basic task into a monday item:

Go to the Gantt module.
Right-click on the basic task.
Select the Convert to monday item option.
Select a board and group to which the task will be added.
Click Convert to confirm.

Task structure based on basic tasks

Building the task structure with the basic task can be done manually using drag-and-drop, indent, or outdent arrows.

Limitations

Basic task are NOT visible in monday boards.
Only BigPicture built-in fields can be edited for basic tasks. Monday fields cannot be edited for basic tasks.