Add a Set of Tasks to an Existing Change

Project managers have always been able to add a set of new tasks to an existing project by going to the project’s Gantt chart and applying a project template.  All the task templates which are part of the project template are then used to generate new tasks for the project.  The predecessor/successor relations between the task templates are copied to relate the new project tasks to each other in the same order.

This feature has now also become available for changes.  When a change manager opens the Gantt chart of one of his/her changes, the ‘Apply Change Template…’ option can be found on the left side of the screen at the bottom of the list of tasks.

Clicking on the ‘Apply Change Template…’ option causes a dialog window to pop up in which the change manager can select the change template which task templates should be used to add a set of new tasks to the change.

After selecting the change template and pressing the Apply button, the new tasks get added to bottom of the list of tasks.  The new tasks can then be linked to the existing ones by dragging arrows between them on the right side of the screen.

Apart from copying the predecessor/successor relations from the change template, 4me also copies any automation rules that are defined for the change template or any of its task templates.

Being able to add a complete set of tasks with its workflow automation and automation rules can be a real timesaver for change managers whose changes normally do not require these extra tasks.  Adding these tasks to the regular change templates would mean having to cancel these tasks in most cases.  In such cases, adding them only when they are needed can be a more practical approach.

It may also be good to point out that it is possible to apply the same change template multiple times.  This can be useful when the same set of steps needs to be completed by different teams in parallel.