Task Linking

In the realm of large scale construction it is standard to maintain a full project lifecycle schedule usually spanning several years. Relatively speaking, optimal output from Fuzor requires micro scheduling, a more detailed and specific scheduling of tasks.

To make a realistic schedule with Fuzor, tasks must be broken down into individual operations. When this is done properly it allows for a holistic and approach to project planning. IDD Teams can perform a detailed and visual audit of the construction simulation before the project begins. This is an opportunity to avoid scheduling issues, safety hazards and modeling errors.

A holistic approach to schedule integrations allows for faster and more accurate turn around time for an ensuing construction simulation audit. After loading new schedule data, each detailed step in a procedure can be reviewed with the revision to the schedule.

Because schedule updates are so integral to Fuzor project management it is important for a Fuzor user to know the best practices to ensure schedule updates run smoothly.

Fuzor enables users to control this by clearly defining the difference between tasks that are imported from other software and should be updated directly by a schedule update and tasks created in Fuzor.

A Macro Task is a task imported into Fuzor from another software. A macro task can also be created in Fuzor but is not recommended if expecting the task to update sensibly when changes are made to the macro schedule.

A Micro Task can only be created in Fuzor. macro tasks have special scheduling logic that allow you to

By default, micro tasks are created instead of macro tasks when using the create construction task button. A macro task needs to be selected in order to add a micro task to the schedule.

Adds a construction micro task to the currently selected macro task. Other Task Types also create Macrotasks, by default.

When a microtask is created it is created as the child of the selected task. This allows users to clearly evaluate the relationship between the microschedule and the macroschedule.

By default, the user cannot edit the Macroschedule and Task names and dates of macrotasks appear grey instead of black. This enables the user to easily distinguish between the two.

When a XML update is made microtasks update durations and dates based on the offset that is introduced to an associated macrotask with the XML update.

When a schedule update is made to ‘Macrotask’ that changes the start date ‘Microtask 1’, ‘Microtask 2’ and ‘Microtask 3’ will all have their start dates adjusted by the same amount.

There are two ways to create multiple microtasks linked together

Creates multiple Microtasks linked together in a chain as children of the currently selected task.

Microtasks can also be created separately and manually linked together.

In some situations a user may need to relink a micro task to a new macro task. this may happen due to changes in the construction methodology or because of a mistake. Additionally during schedules updates some tasks may become orphaned. Orphaned tasks need to be relinked to a new macrotask before continuing.

Selected to relink a micro task. All micro tasks contain the icon in the relinking column allowing you to relink them at any time.

Selected to relink an orphaned micro task.

After the relinking column in the micro task is selected a macro task is needed to relink the micro task too. The same column is used to select the macro task. A different Icon is used to denote a macro task.

Selected to denote the macro task that the micro task is being relinked too.

Chains of micro tasks are always linked together. only a sequential chain can be relinked at a time. a microtask with multiple predecessors or successors cannot be relinked. Predecessors and successors may need to be temporarily removed before relinking a specific chain of tasks.

In some situations the user may need to edit task data in the macroshedule. The user also may be creating a schedule entirely in Fuzor and does not need to use the Macro-Micro relationship.

The Micro and Macro radio button toggle between macro and micro scheduling modes. When in Micro schedule mode the user can only create and edit microtasks. When in Macroscheduling mode The user can edit any task, but can only create Macrotasks.

When an XML is imported, the mode is always switched to macro mode.

A Construction task is the only task type than can be created as a macrotask. However the task type be changed after it is created to any Fuzor task type.

A Macoschedule is updated by importing a XML or CSV or by Column Mapping a spreadsheet. For both methods Microtasks update thier durations based on changes to thier associated macro task.

When a XML or CSV is imported the gantt chart is automatically filtered to only display tasks associated with changes to microtasks in the schedule. During the session the update is conducted the Show Merge Changes checkbox controls whether this filter is active.

The Show Merge Changes checkbox toggles whether microtasks and associated macrotasks with changes are isolated in the gantt chart.

Importing and Updating Schedules provides general information about updating by importing entire schedules using a new XML or CSV.

Column Mapping provides general information about updating by column mapping in data from XLSX and CSV Spreadsheets. Column mapping does not enable the Show Merge Changes filter.

Sometimes tasks are deleted when a schedule update is made. This means that there are Macrotasks in Fuzor that do not exist in the updated XML.

When Using Merge By ID there is an option to delete tasks with assigned objects. Macrotasks that have no objects assigned will always be deleted if not included in the XML update.

When a macrotask is deleted the user is prompted to decide whether they would like Microtasks with deleted macrotask to automatically relink to another Macrotask with the closest date or if they would like to manually relink microtasks back to the macroschedule.

If manually relinking is desired any microtasks that are children of deleted macrotasks will become Orphaned.

Orphaned Microtasks always appear at the top of the gantt chart. In order to continue working the microtasks need to be remapped to new macrotasks. The relinking column is used for to remap the microtask to a new macrotask

Selected to relink an orphaned Microtask. for more information see Relinking Microtasks.