A booking on the Team Schedule can be linked to a project task. The booking then shows the task's name, and while a task has just one booking, changing the person or the dates on either side updates the other. You can still use tasks and scheduling separately, or link several bookings to one task.

Two things must be in place:

  • The Team Schedule module is on. Administrators and Finance Managers switch it on or off under Settings › General, in Enabled/Disabled Modules. See general settings.
  • The person has the Scheduling User role, which makes them available to book. Assign it in Contacts. See managing users and contacts.

Book time while you create a task

  1. In Create a Task, choose one person under Assigned To, and set a Start Date and Due Date.

  2. Tick Create Resource Schedule booking for this task. The option only appears when exactly one person is assigned. If they don't have the Scheduling User role, a warning says so: add the role, or choose someone else.

  3. Choose a Timesheet Category, and enter either Hours per Day or Total Hours. Tick Schedule on Days Off to book weekends and holidays too, and add a Start Time and End Time if you like.

  4. Click Save. The booking runs from the task's start date to its due date.

Anyone who can create tasks in the project can do this. A booking can't start or end on one of the person's non-working days unless Schedule on Days Off is ticked. If there are no categories to choose from, an Administrator sets them up in Settings › Timesheet Settings.

Add or change bookings for an existing task

Administrators and Scheduling Managers see a Scheduling Settings tab (the calendar icon) in the task popup. It lists the task's Resource Bookings, each with an edit button. + Add Booking opens Add Booking with the task's project, assignee and dates filled in. See managing tasks.

You can also link a booking on the Team Schedule itself: choose a task in the Task (optional) field of Add Booking, or of Edit scheduled time for an existing booking. The list shows the booking's project's tasks, and subtasks under their parent. Hide Completed and Hide Subtasks shorten it, and Open task opens the linked task.

On the Team Schedule, a linked booking shows the task's name under the project when Bar size is Regular (not Compact). Hover over the booking to see TASK, or PARENT TASK and SUBTASK for a subtask. See subtasks.

How syncing works

Avaza keeps three things in step: the assigned person, the start date and the end (due) date. It only syncs while the task has exactly one linked booking and one assignee.

Why only then? A task with one person and one booking describes one piece of work, so the task and the booking should match. When several people are assigned, or the task has several bookings, each booking is one person's plan for their part of the work, while the task's Due Date stays the deadline for the whole deliverable. Those dates can rightly differ, so Avaza leaves them alone.

Changes on the task update the booking when the task has both a Start Date and a Due Date, and you:

  • edit the task in its popup;
  • drag it to another person in List or Board view grouped by Assigned To;
  • move or resize it in Gantt view, including dependent tasks that move with Auto-Schedule;
  • drag or resize it in Calendar view. See calendar view.

The booking keeps its hours per day, so its total changes with the dates. If it was set up with total hours, the hours per day change instead.

Changes on the booking update the task when you edit it in Edit scheduled time, or drag or resize it on the Team Schedule. The task keeps its times of day, and a task without dates takes the booking's dates. Saving a new linked booking also sets the task's assignee and dates to match, if it's the task's only booking and the task has one assignee.

These rules explain most surprises:

  • Reassigning the task to someone without the Scheduling User role deletes its linked booking.
  • Removing the assignee, or clearing a date, leaves the booking as it is. So does giving the task a second assignee: syncing stops until it has one again.
  • A second linked booking stops the sync, whether you added it, split a booking or copied one. A recurring series counts as one booking, but editing only some of its occurrences turns them into separate bookings, so that stops it too. See recurring bookings.
  • A move that would start or end the booking on a non-working day is refused, with a message, unless the booking has Schedule on Days Off ticked.
  • Who can: anyone who can edit the task changes it from the task side. Changes on the Team Schedule need an Administrator or a Scheduling Manager.
  • Deleting: a task with linked bookings can't be deleted. Delete its bookings first.

Next, your team can turn their bookings into time entries: see creating timesheets from schedule assignments. To compare booked and actual hours, use the schedule vs timesheet report.