First Launch
When user launches the Tasks Wizard first time, there is no data in it. And most likely there is no Subscription purchased yet either. User will see Initial Screen (see below) with two option: to tap In-App Store button to purchase a subscription or to tap Free Mode – to work for free with some limitations.
There are two types of subscriptions: Monthly and Annual (see Subscriptions section below for more details). Once subscription is purchased, user will be able to use the app with no limitations while subscription is active. If you are buying Tasks Wizard subscription first time, you will have 7 first days free of charge and your Apple account will only be charged after those first 7 days passed. You may cancel subscription during those first 7 trial free days and in that case you will NOT be charged at all.
Application will create a first project for you – My First Project (name can be changed later or project can later be deleted if not needed). Click here to watch a video tutorial.
Menu
Most of controls are grouped in a left-side sliding menu. Clicking on a “hamburger” icon in a top left corner will show the Menu. Controls are logically grouped into three sections:
Creating Tasks
To create a new Task for a current project press to “+” icon on a top right corner on any task-related interface, including Home Screen. User will have an option to create a “top” task (one that does not have any parents) or sub-task to any of an existing task. Search option allows to find proper task as a parent to a new one. After parent selection is done, user needs to populate Task Details.
Task Details explained
Task Details interface used to create new and edit existing tasks. Click here for a video tutorial. Basic task information includes following fields:
- Title – short task description that is shown on all task-related interfaces
- WBS (work break-down structure) – auto-incrementing number-based task ID
- Priority – ability to mark some tasks more important / priority than the others
- Percent of Completion (a.k.a. “completion”)
- Planing Start and Finish dates (by default today’s date is placed)
- Task Duration – e.g. how long it will take to perform the task (in hours, days or weeks)
User may also add more detailed textual task description and photo(s) to explain task specifics.
Actual Dates will be populated automatically. Actual Start populated when Completion moved from 0% to another value first time. Actual Finish will be populated when Completion moved to 100% or user press “Mark Complete” button. User has ability to change actual dates manually – in this case such change will be recorded in Task History.
There are three numeric attributes on a task. They have Planned and Actual values. Planned values are set by user arbitrary (Planned Time is auto-populated for a new task from the value set in Settings).
- Time – is how much time it takes to complete the task (in hours, days or weeks: 8h, 5d, 2w)
- Cost – is monetary value of task (earned value) or cost of goods required for the task
- Materials – indicate quantity of items required for a task (user pick the units for each task separately)
Actual values for Time, Cost and Materials can be populated manually or linked to Task Completion percentage. In last case application will automatically compute the actual value when change % of completion.
All changes applied to a task are tracked in a History part of the interface. History records show timestamp and what has changed (usually – from old value to new value).
Inter-related Tasks
Tasks can be linked to each other. There are three types of lines: a) predecessor blocks the start of the task; b) predecessor blocks the finish of the task; c) just a link (e.g. no blocking). Selection of a constraint (blue selector) should be done before you pick the predecessor on a popover.
To remove the link between tasks simply slide task under Predecessors to the left – to show and use Delete button. Only link is removed (e.g. related task will still be there).
Deleting Tasks
To delete task you can slide it to the left to reveal Delete button on a Home interface, Task List or a Task Tree interface. NOTE: when you delete a task with children – they will be deleted as well.
Work with Team Members
Team Members section allow to create a list of people who later can be assigned to Tasks. Each Team Member has a name as a required fields (first name and last name). Other attributes, like Title, Company, Phone, Email are optional. User records can be protected by passwords – such records cannot be edited without entering a valid password (in case of lost password records can only be deleted).
One particular Team Member may be marked as “me” (e.g. device owner). If “Me” is password-protected, user will need to put password to change “Me” in Settings.
When you select a person from a Team Member list, you are also able to look at the device Contacts. If you want – you can assign someone from Contacts. This will do two things:
- Copy Contact into Team Members list (includes Name, Company, Job Title, Email and Phone)
- Assign newly copied Team Member to a Task
IMPORTANT: If you delete Team Member in Tasks Wizard – it will NOT affect the device contact member was copied from!
Export project via email
Active (current) project can be exported and shared via email – as email attachment. Due to size constraints for email attachments photos are usually excluded from the export to make attachment be small enough to pass through email servers.
When project exported, it includes all data (project details, tasks, task change history, relations, etc.) as well list of team members that are assigned to exporting project’s tasks. When user will import such project on another device – those team members will be added to a list of others on that target device. If team member already exist on a device – it will be skipped (existence checked via GUID). Besides whole project, application allow to export a snapshot from Home interface.
Import project from email
Project that was exported and sent via email can be imported on another device. Simply download entire attachment, then click on it and open in Tasks Wizard application (it has to be installed on a device and properly licensed, of course). If project with the same GUID already exists on a device – user will see the error notification. Otherwise project will be imported and selected as active (current) – user will see a Home Screen interface. Click here for video tutorial.
PRIVACY NOTICE: Please keep in mind that project will be exported with the assigned team members and those team members will be added to a target device during import. Since team member records include private information, such as Name, Email, Phone number. It is totally a user responsibility to share or not to share this data via project export / import.
Switch projects
Tasks Wizard allow you to have multiple projects. To switch from one project to another just use project name control on a Home Screen – when clicked, you will see a popover to select a new active (current) project. Then press OK.
Home Interface in details
Home interface aggregates most important information about the project. iPhone and iPad have different layout of Home interface, but it is the same information that is displayed.
Charts show planned vs. actual for main metrics – Completion and Time. If Planning Cost is also defined for any of Tasks – it will be shown as well.
Task lists show most important tasks in chronological order:
- Overdue tasks – those that should be completed before today’s date
- Open and Upcoming – show tasks that should’ve been started by now or will start soon
- Recently completed – to make sure that important tasks are done properly
Lists of important tasks can be filtered by assignment – e.g. show only those, assigned to one particular team member. Click here to see a video tutorial.
There are an additional filters on Home Page as well as on Tasks List / Search interface. User may filter tasks by their Name, WBS, Priority and Assignments.
Task Views
Click here to see a video tutorial for Tasks Views.
Tree
Tree view presents one level of tasks at a time, starting from a top-level tasks. When you tap on a task, application will “drill-down” into it and show you children of this task.
If you want to edit a task in a Tree mode – use a “long tap” (e.g. tap on task and keep finger on it for a couple of seconds).
Creating a new task in Tree mode will create it as a child to one, that is shown as an interface title.
List / Search
In a List mode application shows all tasks as one long list. Search bar and filter allow to filter that long list to only tasks that includes typed-in keyword (keywords applied to a task Title and WBS). In addition to that the filter provide options to filter by Priority and Assignment.
In order to create new task in List mode you will need to select a parent for a newly creating task.
Gantt chart
Gantt chart is a main way to display a hierarchical project tasks graph. It shows all tasks indented according to their level and parent. Dates are presented as days of a week. Tasks are shown as Planned vs. Actuals (outer pale color represents a Planned value, while inner intense color represents an Actual). Gantt view can show tasks by the Percent of Completion, Time or Cost. In Completion mode application will also show related tasks (predecessors) as arrows from predecessor’s finish to successor’s start or finish (depending on relationship constraint).
User may edit planned dates of tasks in Gantt view – just double-tap on a task line to make it “editable” (task line will be surrounded by blue). Editable task can be moved (if dragged by the middle) or stretched/contracted (if dragged by either end). NOTE: This will only change task planned start and finish dates!
User can also re-position tasks or groups of tasks on Gantt interface. Tap on Edit button on a top toolbar to bring Gantt chart tasks list into Editing mode. You can drag desired task into new position or new indentation/inclosure level, then drop it there.
Calendar
In calendar view user may see the list of tasks that relevant to selected date (e.g. tasks that either start, finish on the date or “actual” – e.g. started before and finishing after selected date).
Assignments
Assignments view is a matrix between Team Members and Calendar Days. Intersection shows tasks that are planned to Start on particular calendar day and assigned to a particular team member. Assigned tasks of a current project shown in Red while assigned tasks from other projects shown in Blue. Unassigned tasks are shown in Gray on a left side – user may drag them to Green “drop area” on a particular day for particular team member. Dropping task there will do the assignment as well as change Planned Start and Finish dates accordingly.
For days that already have tasks application shows total time of assignments. If it less than half of a maximum daily working hours – bar will be green. If it is between half and full maximum daily work time – it will be yellow. Otherwise – it will be red.
All changes in assignments will be reflected in Task History log.
Settings
There are few settings to set for the Tasks Wizard. They are pretty much self-explanatory. Last one (“Me”) allow to mark your name in a Team Members as “*** Me ***” to find it faster. If “Me” is set – it will be marking task changes with your name attached to it. If you assign to Me a team member that is password-protected, application will ask a password to confirm.
Photos and their quality
User may take a photos and attach them to Tasks. Click “Add” in a Photo section on Task Details to open Camera view to aim and shoot. If taken photo meets the requirements – click Use this Photo to attach it to a task. Attached photos are shown as thumbnails with time stamp in Photos section on Task Details interface.
To view photo in full size – click on a thumbnail.You can also delete photo in full view mode by pressing on trash can icon.
Tasks that have a photo attached are shown with little image icon next to a task name.
Creating and Managing projects
Application supports multiple projects. Project Management interface can be accessed via the Menu. Each project includes several basic settings: Name, Category, Description (optional), activity flag, GEO-location (optional). If projects have GEO-tags, they can be viewed on a Map in addition to a list. Click here for a video tutorial.
Backup and restore
All projects on a device can be backed up into user’s iCloud storage. Once backed up, projects can be restored either on the same device or another device, connected to the same iCloud account and with Tasks Wizard installed. New backup will override the old one (e.g. only latest backup is kept on iCloud). Then application re-installed, or installed on new device with the iCloud account setup, backup data can be restored during newly installed app initialization.
iCloud Sharing and Synchronization
In version 2.0 Tasks Wizard application get an ability to share projects on multiple devices via iCloud (within the same iCloud account). In this case when you change data in a shared project on one device, the change will be automatically propagated to all other devices where this project is also present and shared (IMPORTANT: all devices should be connected to the same iCloud Account).
In order to share projects in iCloud you will need to: 1) enable Sharing in Settings menu; and 2) set particular project as “Shared” on project details interface.
If devices are online – changes will be propagated momentarily. If device is offline and you make a changes to shared project – those changes will be stored locally on a device and application will attempt to send them to iCloud once device is back online.
User may also perform the update manually. To push local changes to iCloud use the menu interface “iCloud sync”. To get most recent changes from iCloud to your device simply put tasks list on Home, Tree or Search interfaces – you will see a blue progress control:
Sharing and delegating tasks via iCloud
For projects that are shared in iCloud you can also share tasks with other iCloud users. Tasks of share projects will have share button next to save on Details interface. Sharing can be done via email or phone and user, who receives the message needs to accept that share.
Shared tasks will appear under Shared Tasks menu. They will be grouped by their respective projects. You may edit those tasks same as local ones, but changes will be visible for task owner.
Subscriptions
In order to use the application you will need to have a valid and active subscription. Tasks Wizard offer two options – Monthly (e.g. renewing every month) or Annual (renewing every 12 months). Annual subscription cost a bit less than twelve monthly ones. App Store will automatically renew subscriptions when they expire. User has ability to cancel subscription and its auto-renewal at any moment (NOTE: there will be NO refund for a current period that was cancelled). Application provide a convenient link to manage subscriptions on iTunes. If application launched with expired subscription – you will see the cover and option to open In-App Store to buy it. If user re-install the application on current or new device under the same Apple ID as one that has active subscription – it can be retrieved from Apple via Restore option in In-App Store.
NOTE: Monthly subscription offer a FREE 7-day trial for the first-time buyers. When purchased, user will be only charged on 7-th day and only if like the app and didn’t cancel auto-renewal option on iTunes store.
We hope you will like our Tasks Wizard and find it useful. It will be very helpful for us if you provide your feedback. Please use the form on this website to ask questions. If you like the application – please rate and review it on Apple iTunes store!
If you still have questions or concerns, please ask us a question! We will try to address it to our best abilities! Thank you for using our product!