Milestones

About Milestones

By assigning milestones to the states in a workspace's workflow you have an added measure of control over items in the workspace as they progress through the workflow step by step. For even more control, you can track multiple items with milestones by adding them to a project in the Project Management tab.

Milestone Concepts

Workflow State. Milestones are associated with the transition of a workspace item to or from a state in the workflow of the workspace.

Milestone Event. A Milestone Event identifies whether a Milestone represents a transition to, or a transition from the associated workflow state. There are two types of Milestone Event:

• Enter state. Signifies a transition to the associated Workflow State.
• Leave state. Signifies a transition from the associated Workflow State.

Target Date. Use a milestone to set a target date for the associated Workflow transition, and to track the achievement of the transition against this date. Each milestone requires a target date.

Status. Indicates whether the associated milestone event is yet reached. The status of a milestone is independent of its target date.

+/- days from Target Date. Milestones are tracked with a +/- days value indicating the following:

• Milestone event awaiting. The difference between the target date and the date today. If the target date is the date today, a Today label replaces the value.
• Milestone event reached.The difference between the target date and the date on which the associated milestone event is reached. If the dates are the same, the Today label replaces the value.

Example 1: On 09/09/11, a milestone with a target date of 09/28/11 and a status of Milestone event awaiting shows a value of -19d.

Example 2: A milestone with a target date of 09/02/11 with a status of Milestone event reached, and the associated milestone event was reached on 09/08/11, shows a value of +6d.

Warning days before. You can assign a warning period for each milestone, defined as a number of days before the target date. See the following sections to learn how to apply warning periods.

Workflow Progress (%). The total percentage of progress through the workflow upon completion of a milestone (optional).

Green/Orange/Red Color-Coding. The +/- Days from target date column colors indicate the following:

• Green
  • Milestone event awaiting. The associated milestone event is on time with the target date, and outside the warning days before period (if any).
  • Milestone event reached. Reached the associated milestone event on time, before 12 a.m. of the target date, and outside the warning days before period (if any).
• Orange (occurs on milestones with warning days before only):
  • Milestone event awaiting. The milestone is close to being late. The date today is within the warning days before period.
  • Milestone event reached. The milestone was almost reached late. It reached the associated milestone event on or before 12:00 a.m. of the target date, but within the warning days before period.

  In both cases, the +/- Days from Target Date shows as a negative (-).

• Red:
  • Milestone event awaiting. The milestone is late. The date today is later than the 12:00 a.m. of the target date.
  • Milestone event reached. Achieved the milestone late. Reached the associated milestone event after the target date.

Item Header State This color-coding is reflected in the color of the item header icon as follows:

(Green) Associated milestone on time.

(Orange) Associated milestone close to being late.

(Red) Associated milestone late.

View Milestones

If you have permission to view the milestones of a workspace, the Milestones tab is visible on the workspace page.

• To view the milestones added to a workspace item, click the Milestones tab.

Add Milestones

If you have permission to add a milestone to a workspace item, an Add button is visible on the Milestones tab.

1. To add a milestone to a workspace item, click Add.

   

2. Select the workflow state to associate with the new milestone.
3. Select the milestone event type, either Enter state, or Leave state, to reflect a transition to or from the associated workflow state.
4. Select a target date for reaching the milestone event.
5. Enter a number of days before the target date to define a warning period for the milestone (optional).

   

6. Enter the percentage of progress through the workflow at the completion of this milestone (optional).
7. Click Save.

Edit Milestones

If you have permission to edit the milestones in a workspace, an Edit button is visible on the Milestones tab.

1. To edit a milestone of a workspace item, click Edit.
2. In the edit mode, enter changes, as described previously in Add Milestones.

   

3. Click Save.

Shift the target date on milestones

1. Select one or more milestones to apply the target date shift.
2. Specify whether to factor in weekends in the shift calculation.
3. Enter the number of days to shift one or more target dates. A backwards shift requires a negative (-) number.
4. Click Shift.

   

5. Click Save.

Delete Milestones

If you have permission to delete the milestones of a workspace item, a delete column with a delete icon in the header is visible on the far right.

1. To delete a milestone, select the check box for the milestone row.
2. When finished checking milestones to delete, click delete .

   

3. When prompted, click OK.

For Administrators: Enable Milestones in a Workspace

To enable the Milestones tab in a workspace:

Set up permissions:

1. Create a user role for the workspace and add Milestones permissions to it as needed (View, Add, Edit, Delete).
2. Create a user group for users who need those permissions.
3. Assign the user group to the role you created in step 1.

For more help, see About Permissions and Set up Permissions.