Activities are the building blocks of a schedule. They have a start date and a finish date, represented by end nodes, and they span a certain period of time.
To add an activity, click the Activity icon in the toolbar. Once the cursor moves over the canvas, it changes from the Select Tool to a set of crosshairs.
To draw the activity, click the mouse button at the desired start date, indicated by the text above the crosshairs, and drag the crosshairs to stretch the duration (displayed in blue) to the intended finish date. Release the mouse.
Once an activity has been drawn on the canvas, the Activity Object window opens automatically. This window is divided into a set of four core sections (Properties, Dates, Displays, and Formatting) and an auxiliary tab (Info Objects).
Properties
The Properties tab is where basic settings are changed.
Description
If desired, enter a name for the activity in the Description field to display above the object on the canvas. Revisit the Properties tab at any time to edit the description.
Short descriptions are best to avoid data clashing. If a short name is insufficient, stack the text lines by pressing the Enter key to add a new line. This avoids text extending beyond the width of the activity bar.
Because annotations can be more easily modified than descriptions (click-to-move, edit-in-place), it may be desirable to use them instead of descriptions. Checking the box next to Copy Description as Annotation will copy the text from the description and create an annotation with the same text.
Any changes made to the annotation will automatically update the description and vice versa.
If an activity already has an annotation associated with it, checking this box will replace the text of the annotation with the text from the description.
ID
The ID field allows for an additional unique identifier. By default, the ID is not displayed, but it will display in front of the description, followed by a dash, if it is turned on in the Displays tab.
A duplicate activity ID may occur when copying and pasting activities in a plan. If this happens, the system prompts entry of a suffix to the activity ID of the duplicate object.
Resources
To assign resources to the activity, click the Assign button. The Activity Resource Assignment window opens. This window can also be accessed by right-clicking on the activity. To assign resources to more than one activity, click under the resource section of the dropdown menu.
Codes
To assign activity codes to an activity, click the Assign button. The Assign Codes window opens.
Progress
To actualize an activity’s status, click the Actualize button. Once actualized, the object becomes outlined in blue and the dates will be unable to be modified.
Dates
The Dates tab contains all date related fields, such as the start and finish, duration, calendars, and constraints.
Duration, Start and Finish Dates
Modifying any of these fields without disabling one could lead to both ambiguity (if the duration were changed, would the start date change or the finish date change?) and inconsistency (what happens if the finish date is made earlier than the start date?).
To get around this, one field must be selected to be automatically calculated based on changes to the other two fields.
For example, if an activity’s start date needs to be changed while keeping the same duration, select the finish date button. It will become disabled and automatically calculated based on the other two.
If PolyTime is enabled and the schedule time unit has been set to less than days, the start and finish times can also be chosen. Otherwise, they’ll be disabled.
Constraints
To apply a start or finish constraint, check the box and choose a date. For more details, see Constraining Activities.
Calendars
To change an activity’s calendar, click the down arrow button and choose from the list.
Displays
The Displays tab contains aesthetic properties that have strictly on/off functionality; control is achieved via checkboxes.
Fields
By default, only the description, duration, start and finish dates are displayed. To display a field on the canvas, check the box next to the label. To turn it off, uncheck the corresponding box. When an annotation is being used as the description, the check box for description will be disabled until the annotation is deleted.
Drift, float, buffer, and total float are displayed in that order below the activity bar on the same line.
They may be distinguished from one another by the shape of their bounding boxes: drift points to the left, or project start; float and buffer point to the right, or project completion; and total float points in both directions. Either buffer or total float may be displayed at the same time, but not both.
If too many fields are being displayed for the duration of the activity, the data may stack under and perpendicular to the bar.
To customize the position of the different fields, see Minimizing Clashing.
Formatting
The Formatting tab contains aesthetic properties that are not strictly on/off controls, like colors.
Bar & End Node Colors
To change a color, click the down arrow button anywhere the Color field shows up and choose from the list. Any colors already used in the schedule will appear. To choose from a palette or define a custom color, select More.
After clicking More, the Custom Color Palette window will open.
To create a custom color, click in the rainbow color area; the selected color displays below in the Color/Solid box.
To select a darker or lighter tone, move the arrow up and down along the vertical slider bar to the right.
Click the Add to Custom Colors button and the new color displays in the Custom Colors area and is ready to be selected just the same as the basic colors above.
Click OK to apply the color and exit the function.
Once chosen for the first time, any basic or custom color will be displayed in the dropdown list for future selections.
Info Objects
Info objects are external files or attachments. The Info Objects tab is for creating, modifying, deleting, and viewing info objects associated with a given activity.
To add an info object, click the New… button.
The Info Object Properties window opens.
Enter a description and click Browse… to locate the desired file. To view the file, click View…. The file will open outside of NetPoint.
When finished, click OK to close and save the window.
An activity with one or more info objects will have an Info Object icon placed over the bar to indicate a file has been attached. If the duration is reduced to where the end nodes begin to overlap, however, the icon will be hidden.
Finalizing Activities
Once the desired selections are made, click the OK button to place the activity and close the window (if OK is pressed prior to making any changes, the fields will simply be left as default). The window can be reopened (and the properties can be modified) at any time by double-clicking on an activity on the canvas or by right-clicking and selecting .