vPlanner V5
User Guide
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  Copyright vPlanner, 2025

10.1. The Difference between a Committed Task and an OnTrack Task

Committed Tasks and OnTrack tasks are both workplan tasks. 
vPlanner assigns a task the Committed status when a team manager creates a workplan after the team has identified the tasks that they are willing to do.  When a task becomes a Committed task, vPlanner converts the Forecast Start (FS) and the Forecast Finish (FS) to Committed Start (CS) and Committed Finish (FF) dates and those dates will be frozen until the tasks status changes.  The OnTrack status allows you to communicate that the Committed Task is on Track to finish when promised with the added layer of flexibility to that you pull the work the follows the OnTrack tasks ahead if it is going to take less time than expected by reducing its duration.
Team members are encouraged to discuss the status of the Committed tasks on a regular basis during the daily huddle.  A user may choose to flag a Committed task to be OnTrack to communicate visually that it would finish when promised.
Here are the rules for Committed and OnTrack task status in vPlanner V5 and their workflow implications.
  • A Committed task will hold its CF date unless it is constrained by another task that is not a Committed task.
  • A Committed task can be marked OnTrack if today’s date is >= its CS and <= its CF date.
  • When a Committed task is marked OnTrack, vPlanner will show the remaining duration from today’s date (at the time of marking it ongoing) to the committed finish date). It will hold its CF date.  You do not need to keep updating the status as the CF date will hold but you can do so if you would like to simulate a count down.  The count down will have no impact on the CF date as long as Today + Duration >= CF.
  • If you reduce the duration so that Today + Duration < CF the task will pull ahead.
  • An OnTrack task status can be rolled back to Committed and the Committed duration will be restored.
  • OnTrack tasks remain OnTrack when a workplan is closed (i.e. they hold their CF dates unless they were forced to pull ahead).
  • OnTrack tasks can be marked Completed or Not-Completed in-between workplans.
  • You will need to run the cleanup (found in the Status ribbon) to make adjustments to OnTrack tasks if they are marked Not-Complete but not if they are marked Completed before you can create a new workplan. This will allow you to unlock the status between workplans to that you can remove those tasks if needed from the next workplan.