We add outline structure to a schedule by indenting a task. Here is a very simple example:
Office Move
Equipment
Cubicles/Desks
Install LAN
Install Wiring
Setup Servers
By definition, a task is considered to be a summary task whenever the task immediately underneath it is indented. If a task does not have any tasks indented underneath it, we call it a detail task. A summary task summarizes its detail tasks' dates, effort hours, and costs. (Sometimes we call a summary task a parent, and a detail task a child, but this author will often avoid the terms 'parent' and 'child' because they imply that child tasks are derived from (or produced by) parent tasks -- an implication which can be misleading.) We call a summary task and all its details a family. In the above illustration, Office Move and Install LAN are summary tasks, and the indented tasks Equipment, Cubicles/Desks, Install Wiring, and Setup Servers are details.
Underneath the first level tasks (Office Move and Install LAN) are the second level tasks (Equipment, Cubicles/Desks, Install Wiring, and Setup Servers). You can create a top level summary to all 6 tasks, and call it something like "Department Relocation". You can add more specific details, such as Pack Cubicle #1 and Pack Cubicle #2 underneath the Cubicles/Desks task (thereby turning Cubicles/Desks into a summary task). You can have as few or as many levels of indentation as you like. Most schedules we see have up to three or four levels. Some only have one level (no indented tasks at all), or only two levels (all detail tasks indented one level, under a single summary task).
To create a summary task for a whole group of tasks: 1) insert a new task near the top of them and give it the name you want for the summary. (If necessary, move the new task up or down via <Ctrl-Up> or <Ctrl-Down> so that it is the first task in the group of tasks that it is to summarize); 2) select the tasks that you want to become its details by clicking on the first detail-to-be and dragging the mouse cursor (by holding the mouse cursor down) to the last detail-to-be; 3) indent the entire group of selected tasks with the <Ctrl-Right> key combination. (If your keyboard does not have dedicated cursor/arrow keys, select from the Outline menu Indent, Outdent, Up, or Down).
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