How to add a summary task

What is a summary task

A summary task is a top-level task that groups together all related subtasks and their combined start and end dates. Summary tasks automatically calculate:

• Their own start and end dates, using the earliest start and latest end date of the subtasks underneath.
• The current summary task percentage complete using the overall percentage complete of all underlying subtasks.

How to add a summary task

Click on the dropdown arrow next to Add Milestone in the top bar and select Add > Summary. 

Add the details of the summary task and click OK. Note: the start and end date of your summary task should take into account the start and end dates of subtasks you will be adding underneath. 

Two tasks will then be created in your plan:

• The first task will become the overarching summary task and the Start Date, End Date, and Percentage Complete fields within this summary task will be locked as these will be updated by any underlying subtasks. 
• The second task will be a duplicate of the summary task and should be used to create the first subtask in the group (this will all be editable). Note: if a summary task is being added to the plan after the subtasks have already been created, this duplicate task can either be deleted or repurposed.

The overarching summary task will display a fixed duration based on the start date of the first subtask and the end date of the final subtask in the group. The percentage completed information is calculated based on all subtask percentage completes.

If all of the subtask date ranges are within the overarching summary task start and end dates, the summary task will be highlighted with a green bar. 

If any of the subtask date ranges are outside of the overarching summary task dates, the summary task will be highlighted with a red bar to indicate a scheduling conflict. 

How to update a summary task

There are 2 ways to update the start and end dates of a summary task:

1. Turn on Auto Scheduling for the entire plan. The summary task will then automatically change its start date and end dates based on the earliest and latest dates of all the subtasks.
2. Manually auto schedule the specific summary task dates, as and when needed.