How do I create & track Milestones?

Milestones are significant activities or dates used to mark specific moments within a project's lifecycle.

In Aphex, Milestones are a special Task Type that allows teams to track Milestone variance week-on-week (between baselines) or to compare the current dates to Milestone Target Dates.

• In April 2024, all Key Tasks were migrated to Milestones

• Milestones will always appear on the Gantt with a diamond symbol

• Milestones are still considered 'tasks' so can have all properties standard tasks hold (including Status, Progress Updates, Resources etc)

• Minimum Milestone duration is one day

Creating a Milestone

Milestones can be created inside Aphex by converting an existing activity, or they can be imported directly from P6, MS Project or Asta.

You can convert an existing task into a Milestone in a few different ways:

Task Overflow

• Hover your cursor over the task name of the activity you want to convert

• Click the 3-dot button

• Select ‘Convert to Milestone’

• Add a target date if needed (optional)

• Confirm

Right-Hand Panel

• Open the task in the Right-Hand Panel

• Click the 3-dot overflow in the top right

• Select ‘Convert to Milestone’

• Add a target date if needed (optional)

• Confirm

Duration column

• Toggle the duration column in the column selector

• Change the duration of the task to 0

• Add a target date if needed (optional)

• Click ‘Convert to Milestone’

Tracking Milestones

You can track Milestones and how they are progressing through your plan using the Milestones Panel, the Critical Path Overlay, following the Targets on the Gantt, or through exporting to CSV / APIs.

Comparing target date

• Click the Diamond Icon in the Right-Hand Panel

• Click ‘Compare to’

• Select ‘Target Dates’

This will list out all your Milestones, and show the variance between the current end dates, and the target dates.

Comparing to previous Published Versions

• Open the Right-Hand Panel

• Click the Diamond icon

• Click ‘Compare to’

• Select a ‘Previously Published Version’

This will list out all your Milestones, and show the variance between the current end dates, and the end date in the Published Version you've chosen.

Filter by Slippage or Improvement

• Open the Right-Hand Panel

• Click the Diamond icon

• Click the Configuration Icon

• Toggle Slippage/Improvement

This will allow you to control whether you only see Milestones that have slipped between baselines, or Milestones that have improved between baselines.

Track Target Date Variance on the Gantt

• Locate your Milestone on the Gantt

• Next to the Milestone, you'll see a positive or negative number

• This will indicate how many days the Milestone has slipped or improved by

• Follow the dotted line from the Milestone to see the Target Date icon on the Gantt

Critical Path Overlay

• Click the Overlays button in the top left of the Gantt

• Select 'Critical Path'

• Click the '>' arrow

• Select the Milestones you wish to see the Critical Path to

This will highlight the Critical Path to all selected Milestones in Gold.

Export

• Open the Right-Hand Panel

• Click the Diamond icon

• Click the Configuration Icon

• Set the config to display all Milestones you wish to export

• Open the configuration menu (top right of the panel)

• Select 'Export to CSV'