Blockers
Often referred to as “Blockers” or “Make Ready Tasks”, this feature identifies what actions need to be taken for a task to go ahead.
In Aphex, Blockers can be added to a task to help track and pre-empt actions that need to be taken, what needs to be done (open status) and what was not done in time (overdue status), potentially decreasing delays on tasks in the future.
To see a walk-through, click through the player below, or scroll down for a breakdown of Blockers:
Blockers can be tracked in a number of ways on Aphex, starting with setting due dates. Due dates can be added to Blockers and can be used or changed on specific tasks. The Blocker will stay open until the set due date and then will become overdue if the Blocker has not been resolved.
The overlays menu provides a toggle to show overdue blockers next to tasks on the Gantt, making the tasks with overdue Blockers easy to see.
Like Clashes and Missing Fields, Overdue Blockers are flagged in the Published Version summary and treated as an unresolved issue for the Owner of the task.
The Task Panel has a Blockers section, showing Blockers in your lookahead period - with the ability to customise whose Blockers you are viewing, the name of the Blockers, the tasks that they belong to and the status of those (whether they are open, overdue or resolved). Overdue Blockers will always appear in the Task Panel, regardless of the date of the task.
Use the following steps to set up, add and resolve your blockers:
Head to the 'Manage Project Assets', Blockers then select 'Create Blocker'.
Choose the Blocker Name, Blocker Category, Colour and set an Automated Due Date (optional)
Open Blockers from the column picker
Click on the Blockers cell next to the task to assign a Blocker
Choose from the Blockers list to select one or more Blockers
When your Blocker is completed, select the Blocker to resolve it
If your Blocker is not resolved by the due date or beginning date of the task, it will be seen as an Overdue Blocker and will be marked as overdue until the task is resolved or the due date is amended.
Once the Blockers are set up on your tasks, there are ways to track the Blockers you have added:
In the right hand panel, it will show all of the Blockers on tasks. This can be customised to show your blockers, all blockers or overdue Blockers.
On the Gantt Overlay menu, you can toggle on and off the overdue Blockers to appear next to tasks. What this does is shows the overdue symbol next to tasks that have overdue Blockers.
On the map, the work area colour can be changed to reflect the colour of Blockers.
In the Published Version summary, overdue Blockers are a part of the Make ready plan. These will be treated as an unresolved issue for the Owner of the task.
On the Blockers column, choose to summarise Blockers on the Gantt
When setting an Automated Due Date, you can add the number of days and select from 'before Start Date' or 'after State Date'
There is an option to Automatically add a Blocker to new tasks
Change permissions for creating & managing Blockers on the Project Settings page.
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