What is a Task?
A task is a single action that needs to happen during a bid: "review architectural drawings," "send subcontractor invitations for Division 09," "review bid leveling spreadsheet," and so on. Each task has an assignee, a stage, a category, a status, a priority, and (usually) a due date.
Adding a Task
Click + Add Task at the top of any view. Fill in the title (what needs to happen), pick a stage and category, set priority, and either pick a due date directly OR enter a Day Offset (number of days after Bid Start) to auto-calculate the due date.
Day Offsets โ The SBG Convention
Every task can have a Day Offset โ a number representing how many days after the Bid Start Date this task should be done. Examples:
- D+0 = on the bid start day
- D+5 = 5 days after bid start
- D+12 = 12 days after bid start
Why this matters: when you change the bid start date (or use Revise Bid Date), all tasks with offsets automatically recalculate their due dates. You don't manually shift 30 due dates โ they shift together.
Statuses
- Not Started (gray) โ task exists but no work has begun
- In Progress (navy) โ actively being worked
- Blocked / RFI (red) โ can't proceed; waiting on info or decision
- Pending (purple) โ waiting on someone external (sub, owner, architect)
- Complete (green) โ done and ready for sign-off
Priority
High / Medium / Low. Affects the colored bar on the left edge of each card and the sort order within columns. High-priority tasks always sort to the top.
Editing Quickly
Three quick-edit shortcuts that don't require opening the full task modal:
- Drag & drop a card between columns to change status (Board view)
- Status dropdown on each card โ change status without opening the modal
- Sortable columns in Table view โ click any header to sort by that field
Checklists / Sub-items โ Subdivide a Task
Some tasks have several distinct steps but don't deserve full task records of their own โ checking submission specs, gathering 5 sub bids, going through a pre-bid walkthrough list. Use the task's โ Checklist / Sub-items section to break the task into a checklist without cluttering your board.
- Where to find it โ Inside any task modal, scroll past Notes to the โ Checklist / Sub-items collapsible section. Click to expand.
- Adding items โ Type a step, press Enter (or click + Add). Repeat for each step.
- Reordering โ Use the โฒ โผ arrows on each item to move it up or down.
- Editing text โ Click any item's text and type to edit. Changes save when you save the task.
- Removing items โ Click โ next to any item, or use "Clear All" to remove everything at once.
- Bulk check/uncheck โ Use "Check All" or "Uncheck All" to toggle every item at once.
Visual Progress
- Inside the modal โ A progress bar at the top of the section shows X/Y completion as a colored bar. The bar turns green when all items are checked.
- On the board card โ A small chip shows "โ 3/8" with a thin progress bar. When all items are complete, it turns green and shows "โ 8/8".
- In the table view โ A compact chip next to the task title shows "โ 3/8" or "โ 8/8".
- When all items are checked โ The section header flashes briefly, suggesting (but not forcing) you to mark the parent task Complete.
Audit Trail
Each checked item logs who checked it and when. Hover the green checkmark badge next to a checked item to see the audit info. Useful for inspections and quality reviews where you need to know who signed off on each step.
๐ก When to use checklists vs. separate tasks: Checklists are best for steps that are part of a single accountability โ one person owns the work, and the steps are sequential or related. If different people own different steps, or steps have different due dates, use separate tasks instead.
Recent Activity Log โ Per-Project Audit Trail
Every project has a chronological audit log of changes made to it. Find it by expanding the ๐ Recent Activity section near the top of the project view.
- What gets logged โ task creation, edits (with field-level diffs), status changes, deletions, project edits (name/dates/owner), milestone changes, addendum log entries, and bulk operations. Acknowledgments and sign-offs are also captured.
- What does NOT get logged โ view changes, filter selections, modal opens without saves, search queries. The log captures meaningful changes, not navigation noise.
- Per-event display โ each entry shows the actor (who), timestamp (relative like "2h ago" with absolute on hover), an icon for the event type, and a short summary. Edit events expand to show field-level diffs (old value crossed out โ new value highlighted green).
- Filtering โ narrow by event type (Tasks Only, Status Changes, Sign-offs, Rejections, Project Edits, Milestones, Bulk Ops) or by user.
- Capacity โ each project keeps the most recent 500 events. Older entries auto-trim as new ones come in.
- Display limit โ the dropdown shows up to 50 events at a time. If filters yield more matches, the count is shown so you can refine further.
- Clear Log โ wipe the log for the current project (with confirmation). Doesn't affect tasks, milestones, or other data โ only the audit trail. Useful for sanitizing a project before exporting/sharing.
๐ก Use the actor filter to investigate. "Why did this task's due date move?" โ filter by the user who edited it, find the entry, see the from/to diff. Or sort by time to reconstruct what happened in the last hour.
Bulk Editing โ Edit Many Tasks at Once
To make the same change across multiple tasks (reassign, change status, shift due dates, etc.), use bulk editing instead of opening each task individually.
- Enter selection mode โ click โ Select Multiple in the toolbar above the board/table. Checkboxes appear on every card and row.
- Pick tasks โ click any card or row to toggle its selection. Selected items get a gold border and highlight. Use the master checkbox in the table header (or "Select All Visible" in the action bar) to grab everything currently filtered.
- Floating action bar โ when you've selected at least one task, a navy bar appears at the bottom of the screen with all bulk operations: Status, Assignee, Support, Priority, Due Date, Stage, BIC, Source, and Delete.
- Each operation opens a confirmation dialog showing exactly which tasks will be affected and what change you're about to make. Click "Apply to N Tasks" to commit.
Bulk Operations Available
- Status โ set all selected to Not Started / In Progress / Blocked / Pending / Complete
- Assignee โ reassign the Lead Owner. Acknowledgment is reset so the new assignee gets prompted.
- Support โ add a person as support across many tasks, remove a person from support, or clear all support members
- Priority โ set Low / Medium / High
- Due Date โ set all to a specific date, shift by N days (positive or negative), or clear all dates
- Stage โ move all selected to a different bid stage
- Ball in Court โ change BIC owner
- Source โ change source (Bluebeam, BuildingConnected, etc.)
- Delete โ bulk delete with confirmation showing the first 5 task titles
๐ก Bulk editing respects active filters. If you've filtered the board to only show "Bluebeam-sourced tasks" with the Group by Source feature, then "Select All Visible" only selects those. Combine filtering and bulk editing for surgical changes.
๐ก Date shifting is bid-aware. When you shift due dates by N days, tasks that had a day-offset relative to the bid start date have their offset updated too. So if you push everything 3 days later because the bid date moved, both the absolute date and the relative offset stay consistent.
Recurring Tasks
For tasks that repeat โ weekly status updates, bi-weekly bid reviews, monthly reports โ set up a recurrence pattern in the task modal's ๐ Recurrence section. When you mark the task Done, the next instance is automatically created with a new due date.
- Patterns supported โ Daily, Weekly (with optional day-of-week selection), Bi-weekly, Monthly (with optional day-of-month), and Custom (every N days).
- Day-of-week picker for weekly tasks โ click Mon/Wed/Fri to make a task recur on those specific days. Leave all unselected to repeat on the same day each week.
- End conditions โ set an end date (e.g., "until bid due date") OR a max occurrence count (e.g., "12 weekly meetings"). Leave both blank to recur indefinitely.
- How it works โ When you complete a recurring task, a brief confirmation tells you the next instance was created with its computed due date. The new instance inherits everything (assignee, support, notes, source) except status and acknowledgment state โ those reset for the new cycle.
- Series tracking โ instances are linked together. Open any instance to see "Part of a recurring series ยท Instance #3 ยท 12 total ยท 2 completed."
- Visual indicator โ recurring tasks show a green ๐ badge on board cards and table rows so they stand out as routine work.
- Editing the pattern โ change the pattern on any instance and it applies forward (existing instances stay as-is, future instances use the new pattern).
- Stopping a series โ change the pattern to "None โ one-time task" on any instance, save, then mark Done. No further instances will be created.
Lead Owner & Support Members
Each task has one Lead Owner (the single point of accountability) and one or more Support Members (people helping the Lead). Single-point Lead accountability is intentional โ it prevents the "everyone is responsible, nobody is" pattern that diffuses ownership.
- Adding multiple supports โ In the task modal's Support Members field, type a name and press Enter (or click + Add). The name appears as a chip with their avatar. Repeat to add more. Click the โ on any chip to remove that person.
- Where supports show up โ Board cards display stacked support avatars (up to 3 inline + "+N more" badge). Look Ahead view, Today view, and the team grouping all include support members in their filters.
- Notifications โ When a task is edited, completed, or rejected, every Support member gets notified via task messages, alongside the Lead Owner.
- Acknowledgment authority โ Any Support member can acknowledge a completion rejection (in addition to the Lead Owner). The Lead Estimator's project-level sign-off authority is unchanged โ Support membership doesn't grant that.
- Reassigning โ The Reassign Tasks function on a team member's row swaps their name across both the primary support and any additional support memberships, in one operation.
Saving to Master Template
Found a task that should be standard for every project? Open the task โ click โญ Save to Master Template. The template fields (title, stage, category, source, priority, offset) get added to the master list. Per-project fields (assignee, status, due date, notes) are NOT copied.
Emailing About a Task
Open any saved task โ click โ Email Task. The dialog pre-fills a draft with the project name, task title, due date, assignee, status, and notes โ then opens in your default email client (Outlook for most SBG users) so you can review and send.
- Quick-pick recipients โ buttons for the assignee, support, lead estimator, and rest of the roster. Add team email addresses in Manage Team first; otherwise the button drops in a placeholder you can replace.
- Body is editable โ the auto-generated body is a starting point, not final copy. Trim or expand before sending.
- Long emails โ most clients accept up to roughly 2,000 characters in a mailto link. For longer messages, click ๐ Copy Body to copy the full text and paste it manually after the draft opens.
Adding a Task to Your Calendar
Open any saved task โ click ๐
Add to Calendar. The dialog pre-fills an event with the task title, defaults the date to the task due date, and includes the project context in the description. Two ways to send it to your calendar:
- ๐ Open in Outlook Web (recommended for SBG) โ opens Outlook on the web in a new tab with all fields pre-filled. One click, no download. Works as long as you're signed into Outlook on the web in your browser. If you're not signed in, you'll see the Microsoft 365 login page first; after signing in, the event form appears.
- ๐ฅ Download .ics โ generates a standard calendar file that opens in any calendar app. Use this if your primary calendar is Outlook desktop only, or if your browser blocks the Outlook Web popup. Double-click the downloaded file to open it in Outlook.
- Personal block vs. meeting invite โ leave Attendees blank to add a personal time block. Add attendees and Outlook will offer to send the event as a meeting invite to those people.
- All-day or timed โ pick a duration from 15 minutes up to several hours, or choose "All-day event" for full-day blocks.
- Reminder โ defaults to 1 day before. Choose anything from 15 minutes to a week before. (Reminder is honored on .ics downloads; Outlook Web uses your default reminder setting and lets you adjust before saving.)
- Show as Busy/Free โ checkbox controls whether the event blocks your availability. Uncheck for tentative or informational events. (Outlook Web honors the busy/free choice when set on the event after opening.)
- If popup blocker stops the Outlook Web tab โ the dialog will offer to copy the link to your clipboard so you can paste it into a new tab manually.
Adding Project Milestones to Your Calendar
Project milestones (Trade Partner Bids Due, RFIs Due, Bid Submission, etc.) can also be sent to your calendar. Two ways to do it:
- Single milestone โ Open Key Milestones from the project page โ click the green ๐
button on any milestone row with a date set. Same dialog as task calendar invites, pre-filled with the milestone's date, time, and project context. Use Outlook Web or .ics download as before.
- Bulk export โ all milestones at once โ From Key Milestones, click ๐
Add All to Calendar at the bottom. This generates a single .ics file containing every milestone with a date set (skipping any that are missing dates), with a one-day reminder on each. Open the file in Outlook to add the entire bid timeline to your calendar in one operation.
Tip: Milestone calendar events default to 5:00 PM if no time is set, with a 30-minute duration and 1-day reminder. The description includes project context (owner, architect, bid due date), lead time relative to the bid, and your project notes. Outlook tags them with category "SBG Bid Milestone" so you can filter your calendar later.