Demand tasks
Summarize
Summary of Demand Tasks
Demand tasks are units of work used within a demand to organize and manage early-stage planning activities before converting the demand into a work entity like a product, feature, or enhancement. They focus on preparation rather than execution, distinguishing them from project tasks that track project progress and completion.
Show less
Key Features
- Support planning activities such as gathering requirements, design reviews, feasibility validation, business case analysis, and resource assignment for discovery phases.
- Allow assignment of resources using standard fields; assigned resources can log time against demand tasks via time cards.
- Enable tracking of actual effort and cost during the planning phase based on hourly resource rates, with costs and effort rolling up to the associated demand.
- Do not support planned, actual, or original dates; the due date is solely a target and does not influence workflow.
- Do not support nested tasks, task constraints, or execution methodologies like Agile or Waterfall.
Key Outcomes
- Provide structured tracking of early demand planning without impacting project schedules or workflows.
- Maintain separation of planning effort and cost from execution work; resource assignments and time tracking on demand tasks do not transfer when the demand converts into a work entity.
- Ensure clarity in resource management by requiring reassignment when a demand transitions to a project or feature.
Demand tasks are units of work within a demand. Use them to plan and organize initial activities before converting the demand into a work entity such as a product, feature, or enhancement.
Demand task overview
Demand tasks organize and track early-stage planning activities within the demand record. Use them before converting a demand into a work entity such as a feature, product, or enhancement. Unlike project tasks, which track execution and drive project completion dates, demand tasks focus on planning and preparation. This difference shapes what demand tasks can do and how you use them.
Examples of demand tasks include:
- Gathering and documenting requirements from stakeholders
- Conducting design or architecture reviews
- Validating technical feasibility or dependencies
- Completing business case analysis or ROI assessment
- Conducting security, compliance, or impact assessments
- Assigning resources for discovery or planning phases
Demand tasks aren't appropriate for execution work. After the demand is approved and converted into a work entity such as a project or feature, execution work moves into project tasks.
Assigning resources and tracking effort
You can assign resources to demand tasks using the standard assignment fields. Resources assigned to demand tasks can submit time spent on them using a time card, enabling you to track actual effort and cost during the planning phase.
Resource assignments on demand tasks aren't transferred to the work entity created from that demand. If you later convert the demand into a project or work item, you must reassign resources in the new work entity. Similarly, the time and cost tracked on demand tasks remain within the demand record and don't transfer to the resulting work entity.
The actual cost for the demand task effort is derived from the hourly resource rate defined in the rate model, default labor rate, or default system property. The actual cost and effort for all demand tasks roll up to the associated demand. For more information, see Actual cost and effort calculations for demands.
Differences from project tasks
- Planned dates, actual dates, and original dates aren't supported in demand tasks.
- The due date indicates when the task is targeted for completion and doesn't affect the demand workflow. Project tasks affect project completion dates when planned dates and actual dates are changed.
- Nested demand tasks aren't supported.
- Task constraints such as Start ASAP and Start on a specific date aren't supported.
- Execution types such as Agile, Waterfall, or Hybrid aren't supported.