Build the work programme

A new project starts as a single empty row on the schedule. The work programme is the structure you give it — the stages you deliver in and the order they run. You build all of it by dragging directly on the timeline, and the schedule keeps the dates consistent as you go.

The example here is Riverside Apartments: we take it from one empty row to three linked stages — Concept Design, Documentation, and Contract Administration — running July to December.

How the schedule handles dates and structure

Two ideas make everything below make sense.

The timeline is where dates live. A bar's position and width are a task's start date and duration. You set dates by drawing and dragging bars, not by typing into a form — so what you see is always what's scheduled.

A project is a tree. The project sits at the top, stages hang off it, and tasks hang off the stages. Most architecture programmes are two levels deep, stage then task, and that is usually all you need. Everything downstream — resourcing, fees, milestones, invoices — attaches to this tree, so the structure you build now is what the rest of the project hangs on.

Set the project's span

First switch the schedule into edit mode — the timeline is read-only until you do, which stops viewers nudging the programme by accident. Then give the project its overall dates by dragging across its row.

1. 1

   Click Edit on the schedule toolbar.

2. 2

   Switch the timeline to Monthly so the whole project fits on screen.

3. 3

   Drag along the Riverside Apartments row from July to December. The project now has a bar spanning those months.

   

Draw the stages

Open the project so its stage lane appears, then drag out each stage across the months it runs. Dragging sets the start date and the duration in one motion, so every bar is sized correctly the moment it exists. Lay all three down first, then name them — it keeps the rhythm going.

1. 1

   Click the arrow beside Riverside Apartments to open its stage lane.

2. 2

   Drag one bar across July and August, another across September and October, and a last one across November and December.

3. 3

   Select each bar in turn and name them: Concept Design, Documentation, and Contract Administration.

   

Link the stages

Stages rarely run independently — Documentation can't start until Concept Design is signed off. You capture that with a dependency: drag from the end handle of one stage to the start handle of the next.

1. 1

   Hover the end of the Concept Design bar until its dependency handle appears.

2. 2

   Drag from that handle to the start of Documentation to link them.

3. 3

   Link Documentation to Contract Administration the same way, end to start.

   

See the dependency work

This is the payoff. With the chain linked, drag the Concept Design bar later and watch Documentation and Contract Administration slide along with it — then release back to where you started. You move one cause and the schedule moves every consequence, instead of you dragging each bar by hand.

Save

The schedule is versioned, so saving is safe — you can roll back to an earlier baseline at any time.

1. 1

   Click Save on the toolbar.

2. 2

   Wait for the change indicator to read No changes.

Gotchas

• The timeline won't respond to a drag. You are not in edit mode — click Edit first. The stage lane and drag handles only appear once editing is on.
• Don't over-nest. Two levels, stage then task, covers almost every programme. Deep trees are hard to resource and hard to read on the Gantt.
• A dependency you didn't mean to create will drag stages around unexpectedly. Select the link and delete it; the stages keep their dates but stop moving together.

Where this fits next

You now have a structured, linked programme. Next, put people on it: Resource the project — that is where hours, cost, and revenue start flowing from the stages you just built.