Quickstart

Navigate to the Project Plans tab within an engagement to build task timelines, or use Project Management in the main sidebar to view all plans and tasks across your entire organization.

In-Depth

Servantium’s Project Management module bridges the gap between scoping and delivery. By building project plans directly within engagements, you ensure that execution stays aligned with what was sold.

Global Project Management

While project plans are built within specific engagements, you can view and manage all delivery work across your entire organization from the global Project Management screen (accessible via the main sidebar).

This screen opens to the Project Plans view by default and provides two centralized views:

• Project Plans: A high-level directory of all project plans, allowing you to instantly assess delivery timelines.
• Tasks: A master list of all individual tasks and milestones across every active project in your organization.

Both global views natively use Algolia search, allowing you to quickly filter and find specific plans or tasks across your entire organization. Clicking on a specific plan from the global view opens its dedicated tasks list. You can also create a new project plan directly from this screen by clicking Create. A dialog will prompt you to search and select the target engagement before building the plan.

Project Plans

A project plan provides the high-level timeline and structure for delivery.

When you open a project plan, it defaults to the Items list tab. The redesigned header displays your total task count, an overall progress bar, and segmented tabs to easily switch between the Info, List, and Gantt views. A dedicated toolbar below the header provides a Search box and a Views dropdown (All Tasks, Critical Path, Incomplete, Completed) to filter your tasks.

• Custom Properties: Scroll to the bottom of the plan’s detail form to add and manage dynamic custom properties. This integrates directly with your Data Dictionaries, allowing you to track project-specific metadata (like JIRA epics or internal billing codes).

Plan Tasks

Once a plan is created, you can break it down into actionable tasks using the expandable tree view on the Items tab. The backend automatically manages scheduling, durations, and dependencies.

• Hierarchy & Ordering: Tasks automatically receive hierarchical Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) numbers (e.g., 1, 1.1, 1.2). Nest sub-tasks under a larger parent task using the inline Add Child action, or build out lists quickly using Add Sibling Below. You can reorder tasks at any time using drag-and-drop. As you drag a task near the top or bottom boundary of a row, a visual drop target smoothly expands. When moving a task to a boundary where the intended depth is ambiguous (e.g., between different depths or at the end of a list), the drop zone intelligently splits into Dual Drop Targets, allowing you to explicitly drop the item as a Root Task (outdented) or a Subtask (indented) with dynamic WBS previews. The system actively prevents circular reference cycles (like dropping a parent into its own child) and auto-expands the destination phase upon drop. You can also reorder using the Move Up and Move Down actions in the row context menu, or keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl/Cmd + Up/Down). Use Ctrl/Cmd + ] to indent a task, and Ctrl/Cmd + [ to outdent it. The table features a collapsible tree view so you can organize large phases. Parent tasks automatically calculate their overall start and end dates based on the earliest start and latest end dates of their nested sub-tasks. Because of this, start dates and durations cannot be manually edited on parent tasks, which display a lock icon in those cells. Additionally, the overall Project Plan and its parent Engagement automatically sync their start and end dates to encompass all tasks.
• Context Menu: Right-click any task row to access a context menu for quick actions like adding siblings or children, moving, indenting, outdenting, toggle the critical path, or deleting tasks (including bulk deletion of selected tasks). When a task is deleted, the system automatically recalculates the completion progress (% Done) for all parent tasks and cascades start and end date updates to any downstream dependent tasks.
• Auto-Scheduling: Task timelines use a strict forward-calculating model. When you define a task’s start date and duration, the system automatically calculates and enforces the exact end date. End dates display a lock icon in the grid because they are always calculated automatically. You can type shorthand values directly into the duration field (e.g., 40h, 5d, 2w, 1m, 1y). When scheduling in days (e.g., 5d), the system automatically skips weekends. Fractional values (e.g., 0.5d) are also supported for precise scheduling.
• Inline & Batch Editing: You can edit a task’s name, start date, duration, and description directly in the table row without opening a separate dialog. Press Tab to move right to the next field, Enter to move down, and Shift+Enter to move up. To speed up data entry, pressing Enter on the final subtask within a parent group automatically creates a new sibling subtask. Pressing Enter on the overall last row or Tab on the final field automatically creates a new task (note: auto-creation is disabled when search or view filters are active).
• Column Selection & Drag-to-Fill: Multi-select cells across task grid columns (% Done, Duration, Start, Assignee, Name) using Shift+Click, Ctrl/Cmd+Click, or Shift+Arrow Up/Down. Drag the corner fill handle up or down to copy values across tasks, or double-click the handle to auto-fill down to the end of the sibling task group. A floating HUD shows selected cell counts, clearable via Esc or applied via Enter. Summary parent tasks automatically lock calculated fields (% Done, Duration, Start) from multi-selection or drag-to-fill targeting, and tasks with predecessor dependencies protect Start dates from being overwritten.
• Dependencies: Link tasks that are dependent on the completion of others. Click the dependencies column on any task row to open an inline autocomplete search. Selected dependencies appear as visual chips. A task’s start date automatically aligns to the latest end date of all its prerequisites. Because the start date is determined by its predecessors, it displays a lock icon and cannot be manually edited. When a prerequisite’s end date changes, all dependent tasks automatically shift their start dates forward or backward to match, creating a dynamic waterfall timeline. If you apply a dependency to a parent task, it automatically cascades to all of its nested sub-tasks, ensuring no child work begins before the parent’s prerequisites are met.
• Assignee: Assign the resource responsible for completing the work directly from the grid using the inline autocomplete search. You can use your keyboard’s up and down arrow keys to navigate the resource dropdown and press Enter to make a selection.
• Statuses & Progress: Project plans and tasks follow a specialized lifecycle (Planned, Not Started, In Progress, Blocked, Completed, Cancelled). When a project plan is marked as “In Progress”, all of its “Planned” tasks automatically cascade to “Not Started”, locking in their baseline planned dates. You can also manually update a task’s status using the interactive status chip directly in the grid. Track completion by entering a value from 0 to 100 (including fractional values) in the % Done column. The system automatically evaluates this progress to transition statuses dynamically. For example, when a task or overall plan reaches 100% completion, its status automatically transitions to ‘Completed’. If the percentage drops below 100%, it automatically reverts to ‘In Progress’. For parent tasks, this field is read-only; progress is calculated automatically based on nested sub-tasks and displayed as a visual progress bar. The overall Project Plan also automatically calculates its total progress based on the average completion of its top-level tasks, which you can track via progress bars on the plan details. The plan details screen features a visual progress bar indicating overall completion.
• Milestones: Mark critical checkpoints as milestones for easier tracking.

Gantt Chart

In addition to the standard list, every project plan includes an interactive Gantt tab to help you visualize your timeline.

• Date Scope Controls: Use the header controls to shift the timeline (Previous, Next), jump to Today, or select a specific Date Range. Click Reset Scope to return to the default timeline boundary.
• View Scales: Toggle the timeline scale between Day, Week, and Month to adjust the density of the data displayed.
• Interactive Timeline: Tasks are displayed as horizontal bars scaled automatically by duration. Parent tasks display as thick, solid bars. As you nest sub-tasks deeper, their bars become dynamically thinner and more transparent, with darker borders to maintain visibility. The timeline canvas features a horizontal scrollbar, providing a guaranteed minimum scrollable buffer (at least 90 days for Day scale, 52 weeks for Week scale, and 24 months for Month scale) so you always have room to schedule tasks into the future.
• Toolbar Actions: A dedicated toolbar allows you to select the Move/Resize tool to drag tasks to new start dates or pull their edges to change durations. The auto-scheduling engine immediately updates the underlying data and recalculates any dependent tasks.
• Draw Dependencies: Select the Draw Dependencies tool to visually link tasks. Click and drag between tasks on the timeline to create finish-to-start dependencies instantly.
• Critical Path Mode: Select the Toggle Critical Path tool (fire icon) to enter critical path mode. Click any task bar on the timeline to manually add or remove it from the critical path. Critical tasks render with thicker borders and contrasting colors.
• Real-Time Sync: The Gantt chart and standard items list sync in real-time. If a colleague edits a task, you will see the timeline adjust automatically on your screen.

Task Notes

Execution requires context. Instead of relying on external chat tools, you can add notes directly to specific plan tasks. Click the comment icon in the Notes column of the task grid, or next to the task name in the Gantt chart, to open the right-hand notes popout. This captures updates, blockers, and decisions right where the work is managed, ensuring the entire team has visibility.

You can type your updates, use the built-in speech-to-text dictation to record notes hands-free, or attach files (like PDFs or spreadsheets) directly to your note. A numeric badge on the comment icon indicates the number of active notes, making it easy to spot which tasks have ongoing discussions.

Related

• Engagements
• Resource Planning
• Quotes & Pricing