A Sub-task is a smaller task that is linked to a parent task. Sub-task management in the Odoo Project module helps break down complex tasks into smaller, manageable parts, making project execution more efficient. It allows teams to assign different parts of a task to specific members, ensuring better collaboration and accountability. Each sub-task can have its own planned date, priority, and progress tracking, helping managers monitor overall project completion effectively. This improves workflow organization, reduces confusion, and enhances productivity by ensuring every task is completed systematically.
To see how to manage a sub-task in Odoo 18, let's create a project first. To create a new project, navigate to the project module, and from the dashboard, click on the New button.
A wizard called Create a Project appears; in the form, enter the project name in the Name field. Enable the Timesheet option to track time spent on tasks and activate the Billable option to allow invoicing for time and materials. Assign a customer to the project so that the time and material can be billed to that customer. Specify an email alias in the Create tasks by sending an email to the field. This will enable automatic task creation when an email is sent to the designated alias.
After all the necessary details have been added, click on the Create project button to create a new project. Once the create project button is clicked, a new page appears where the task stages can be added. Add the stage name in the provided field and click on the Add button.
Once all the stages have been added, the tasks can be added under those stages.
Click on the + icon on a particular stage to add a task under that stage or click on the New button at the top left corner to add a new task under the first stage. To add a new task, add the Task Title and Assignee of the task. Then click on the Add button to add the task to the stage or click on the Edit button to edit the task details.
Once the Edit button is clicked users will be directed to a new page where they can add additional details about the task like the Milestone, Customer, Tags, Deadline of the project, and Allocated Time of the project.
In the detailed view, there is a Sub-tasks tab under which the sub-tasks can be added to the task. Sub-tasks help to break down complex tasks into smaller ones. Multiple sub-tasks can be add for a particular task. Click on Add a line to add the sub-tasks. From here, users can specify the name of the sub-tasks and the Assignee, also the priority of the sub-task can also be managed with the star icon. To add more details, like Allocated Time and Deadline for the sub-task, click on View.
Clicking on View directs the users to the detailed page of the sub-task. It is a page similar to the detailed view of the tasks from where the deadline, allocated time for the sub-task, tags, etc can be added. The customer has been auto-populated by the customer that has been added for the parent task. There is a smart tab called Parent Task, upon clicking on which the parent task of the sub-task can be viewed. Also for this sub-task, more sub-tasks can be added by clicking on the Add a line in the Sub-tasks tab. Corresponding to the Project field where the name of the project is provided there is an eye button; if it is made active, this sub-task can be viewed in the Pipeline view.
Here, the Allocated Time for the sub-task has been given as 3 hours, and the Allocated time for the Parent task is given as 20 hours. So Odoo includes the time that has been allocated for the sub-task in the time that has been allocated for the parent task. That is, the hours that has been set as the Allocated hours for the sub-task are not added as extra hours to the main task, but it gets included with the time already allocated for the parent task. And it will be specified in the parent task.
Task Dependency for Sub-tasks
If the parent task can only be executed if the sub-tasks are completed, users can set a task dependency based on the sub-tasks. For that, go to the Blocked by tab of the parent task and click on Add a line, select the task that needs to be completed before the parent task can be completed, And then click on the Select button.
Once the blocked by task has been added it can be viewed in the Blocked by tab of the task.
To view this in the Gantt chart view, first, ensure that the sub-task is made visible in the pipeline by activating the eye button in the subtask, then select the Gantt chart view of the pipeline. Click on the cell corresponding to the date at which the task has to be carried out and select the tasks and click on the Select Button.
In the Gantt chart view, the task dependency can be viewed.
Now, Add a timesheet for the sub-task ‘Collecting Ideas’ and mark the sub-task as done.
Go to the parent task and there in the Allocated Time it can be viewed that 15% of the Allocated Time for the task has been completed, and also in the Sub-tasks smart tab 1 out of 2 has been marked as complete, and it is given 50% indicating that half of the task is complete, since there are two sub-tasks added for this task and one sub-task has been completed.
Similarly for the next sub-task ‘Noting Ideas’ the Allocated Time can be added, Once the task has been completed, the timesheet can be logged, and also the stage of the sub-task can be changed to ‘Done’.
Then, in the Parent task, it can be viewed that 100% of the Allocated time has been completed since the timesheet for 20 hours has been added for the subtasks. And under the Sub-tasks tab, both the sub-tasks has been marked as Done, also in the smart tab, it can be seen 2/2 since both the sub-tasks are complete and it is given 100%.
Here both the sub-task has been assigned to different employees so that it reduces the burden of work on one employee and the work can also be done simultaneously, thus completing the work faster. So by implementing SubTask Management, companies can enhance team productivity, optimize resource allocation, and ensure timely completion of projects.
To read more about How to Manage Project Stages & Task Stages in Odoo 17, refer to our blog How to Manage Project Stages & Task Stages in Odoo 17.