Work Items & WBS Codes
The Phase, Activity, Task and Subtask hierarchy, how WBS codes are numbered and renumbered, and everything on an item's own page.
Everything in the WBS is a work item. What kind of item it is decides where it can sit, what it can contain and which workflow governs its status.
The Hierarchy
| Type | Sits under | Can contain | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phase | nothing — top level only | Activity | Title |
| Activity | Phase | Task | Title |
| Task | Activity | Subtask, Issue | Title |
| Subtask | Task | nothing | Title |
| Issue | Task, or the top level | nothing | Title, Priority |
Only a Phase — or a stand-alone Issue — can sit at the top level, so the first thing on any project is a phase. Below that, the type follows the position: add in place under a Phase and you get an Activity, under an Activity a Task, under a Task a Subtask. A Subtask or an Issue will not take a child — "A subtask cannot contain other items."
Issues belong to the Issues module
An Issue is the same record the Issues module owns — a defect, a rework item, a follow-up. Raise one here and it appears on its parent task's Issues tab and in the Issues module; it does not appear in the seven WBS views, so a message with Open takes you straight to it. See Issues.
WBS Codes
Every item carries a WBS code, and PleoStack generates it — you never type one. The code is derived from where the item sits: top-level items are 1, 2, 3; a child takes its parent's code plus its own position, giving 1.3, then 1.3.7, then 1.3.7.2.
That means the code follows the work, not the item. Move an item under a different parent, or reorder it among its siblings, and it renumbers — along with everything beneath it. Delete an item and its number is released, so the siblings close up over the gap and the next item you create can take it.
Don't treat a code as a name
A WBS code is a position, not an identifier. If you need something stable to refer to on a drawing or in an email, use the item's title.
The separator between levels is set per project. Go to Project Settings → WBS Configuration → Separator and choose . (dot), - (dash) or / (slash). Dot is the default. Changing it renumbers every existing code in the project at once.
Creating an Item
Add Item in the page header opens the Create Work Item drawer. You can also add in place from the actions menu in the peek panel or the Table's actions column, from a cell on the Board, or from the ghost Add a work item row in the Table.
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Type | One of the five. Changing it clears the Parent, because the legal parents change with it |
| Parent | Searchable, shown as WBS code · title. Required for everything except a Phase, which reads Top level — an Issue can also be put at the top level. With no legal parent available the drawer names the one it needs — Add a Phase first, for an Activity — and keeps Create disabled |
| Title | Required, up to 300 characters |
| Assignee | Optional — Unassigned if you leave it |
| Priority | Critical, High, Medium, Low or None. Defaults to Medium |
| Start Date / Due Date | Optional, but four of the seven views stay blank without them |
| Tags | Comma-separated, up to 500 characters |
| Description | Up to 2,000 characters |
| Cost Tracking, Quantity Tracking, Location, Schedule Context | Optional field groups — which ones appear depends on the type |
You do not choose a status when you create. The item starts on its workflow's opening status — a Task at Not Started, a Phase at Planning, an Issue at Open.
Cost, Quantity and Location Fields
Beyond the basics, each type carries the field groups that make sense for it. Some of the figures are worked out for you and cannot be typed over.
| Group | Applies to | Fields |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Activity, Task | Budget, Actual Cost, Cost Variance (calculated), Cost Rate, Unit Cost, Total Cost (calculated) |
| Quantity | Task, Subtask | Planned Quantity, Actual Quantity, Unit (m³, Ton, m², Linear m, Nos, kg), Quantity Variance (calculated), Quantity Progress % (calculated) |
| Location | Task, Subtask, Issue | Zone, Floor, Area/Address, GPS Coordinates |
| Schedule Context | Phase, Activity, Task | Planned Start, Planned Finish, Duration (days), Critical Path |
How to mark a milestone
Set Duration (days) to 0, either in the create drawer's Schedule Context group or later in the item page's Schedule group. That is what makes an item draw as a milestone on the Timeline rather than as a bar.
The Item Page
Click Open at the end of a row — or Open full page in the peek panel — for the item's full record. The header carries a back link to WBS, breadcrumbs made of the ancestors' WBS codes, the item's type icon and its own code. Edit the title in place at the top of the body; a Save button appears as soon as anything is dirty.
The body is a set of collapsible sections:
| Section | Contains |
|---|---|
| Overview | Status, Priority, Assignee, Progress and Tags |
| Planning & Effort | Start Date, Due Date, Duration (derived), Est. Hours, Actual Hours and Variance (derived) — dates on phases, activities and tasks, hours on activities, tasks and subtasks. An overdue due date is outlined in red |
| Cost, Quantity, Location & Schedule | The field groups above that the item's type carries, and the title names them: a phase shows Schedule only, an activity Cost & Schedule. Collapsed by default, with a summary on the header |
| Description | Free text |
The panel on the right has two tabs. Info repeats the item's key facts — status, type, WBS code, assignee, progress, dates, when it was created and its ID. Activity records the item's creation and every status change, including the note that came with it.
The Tabs
| Tab | What's in it |
|---|---|
| Inspections | Inspections scoped to this item, each with its category, item count and result. New Inspection starts one against this item |
| Issues | Issues raised under this item, with assignee, priority and status, and a link back to the inspection that raised one. Add Issue, or the quick-add row |
| Sub-Items | The children as a table — WBS, Title, Type, Status, Priority, Progress, Assignee — with a quick-add row in the footer |
| Dependencies | The links to and from this item. See Baselines, Dependencies & Capacity |
| Attachments | Files, drawings and site photos. Drop them in, or pick them; each shows its size and date and can be deleted |
Each tab carries a count, and at phone width the tab bar scrolls sideways with chevron buttons.
Progress
In the WBS views a parent row shows a rolled-up progress figure worked out from the work beneath it. That is why a phase reads a number nobody typed against it — and why correcting a phase means correcting the tasks under it.
On the item's own page, Progress has an Auto / Manual switch. A parent opens on Auto, which works the figure out from its children and any linked issues and inspections; Manual keeps the figure the item already has. The figure showing is stored on the item when you click Save.
Duplicating and Deleting
Duplicate copies an item's title — suffixed (copy) — along with its parent, assignee, priority, dates, estimated hours and tags. It deliberately does not copy the baseline: a copy is a new piece of work and has not been committed to anything yet.
Deleting a parent does not delete its children
Delete an item and anything directly under it moves up one level, to the deleted item's own parent. The work is not lost. The item's WBS code is released and the rest of the project renumbers to close the gap.
Select several rows on the Outline, Table or Board and the bulk actions appear: Set baseline and Delete. Set baseline reports how many it set; Delete only speaks up if some rows could not be deleted.
Related
Questions
Can I get a deleted work item back?
No. There's no undo or restore for a deleted work item. The items that were under it stay, one level up.
Where is Duration (days) on the item's page?
In the collapsed section below Planning & Effort, under Schedule, with Planned Start, Planned Finish and Critical Path. Phases, activities and tasks have it. Change it and click Save; set it to 0 to turn the item into a milestone.
Why does a parent's progress on its own page differ from the WBS views?
They're worked out differently. The views roll the figure up from the work underneath. On the item's page, Auto also counts linked issues and inspections, and Manual keeps the figure you set. Whatever the page shows is stored when you click Save.
How big can an attachment be?
Up to 25 MB per file.