Summary Phases

Summary phases (also called summary tasks) group related tasks under a collapsible parent row. They are the primary tool for organizing a project into logical sections — phases, sprints, workstreams, or WBS levels. DPlan computes summary dates, duration, and progress automatically from the children.

What Is a Summary Phase?

A summary phase is a special task type that acts as a container for child tasks. It does not have its own independent start/finish dates or resources — instead, it derives these values from its children:

• Start date — earliest start date among all child tasks.
• Finish date — latest finish date among all child tasks.
• Duration — span from derived start to derived finish in working days.
• Progress — when Progress Rollup is enabled in Settings, computed as a weighted average of child progress values, each weighted by child duration. When rollup is disabled, you can set progress manually.

Summary phases appear as a distinct bar style on the Gantt timeline: a thin filled bar with downward bracket markers at each end, making them visually distinct from regular task bars.

Adding a Summary Phase

• INSERT ribbon → Add Summary — Inserts a new summary phase at the current selection position.
• Keyboard shortcut S — Press S while the Gantt is focused to insert a summary phase instantly.
• Indent an existing task — Select a regular task and press Tab (or click Indent in HOME). The task above it automatically converts to a Summary type if it was a regular task.

After creation, the Task Editor opens. Give the phase a meaningful name — e.g., "Phase 1: Discovery", "Sprint 3", or "Backend Development". The Type field is pre-set to Summary and cannot be changed while the phase has children.

Indenting Children Under a Summary Phase

Tasks become children of a summary phase by indenting them:

1. Add the summary phase (e.g., "Design Phase").
2. Add or select the tasks you want beneath it.
3. With each task selected, press Tab or click Indent in the HOME ribbon.
4. The task row shifts right in the task table, WBS numbers update (e.g., 2.1, 2.2), and the summary bar on the Gantt expands to encompass the children.

To remove a task from a summary phase, select it and press Shift+Tab (Outdent). The task moves up one indent level.

Collapse and Expand

Summary phases can be collapsed to hide their children and compact the view:

• Click the triangle/arrow icon to the left of the summary phase name in the task table to toggle expand/collapse.
• Press Space when a summary phase row is selected to toggle its collapsed state.

When collapsed, child tasks are hidden from the task table and the Gantt timeline. The summary bar remains visible. Collapsed state is preserved when you save to a .dplan file, so collaborators see the same view you set up.

Gantt Appearance

On the Gantt timeline, summary phases render differently from regular tasks:

• A thin horizontal bar spans the full phase duration (from earliest child start to latest child finish).
• Downward bracket end-caps (⌐ and ¬ shapes) mark the start and finish edges.
• A progress fill overlays the bar left-to-right based on rollup progress percentage.
• The phase name is displayed above or inside the bar depending on available space.
• Summary bars are not directly draggable — to move the phase, move its children or change their dates.

Progress Rollup

The Progress Rollup setting (found in Settings) controls how summary phase progress is calculated:

• Rollup ON (default) — Progress is automatically computed as:

  Phase Progress = Σ(child progress × child duration) / Σ(child duration)

  This duration-weighted average means a 10-day task at 100% contributes more to phase progress than a 1-day task at 100%. The summary progress field in the Task Editor is read-only when rollup is on.
• Rollup OFF — You set the summary phase progress manually in the Task Editor, just like a regular task. Useful when you want to report phase completion independently of individual task states.

How Summary Dates Are Computed

DPlan recalculates summary dates every time a child task changes:

• Summary Start = minimum start date across all direct children (and their descendants if nested).
• Summary Finish = maximum finish date across all direct children (and their descendants).

This means if you drag a child task's bar to start earlier, the summary bar automatically extends left. If you extend a child's duration past the summary finish, the summary bar extends right.

Nesting Phases Inside Phases

DPlan supports multi-level nesting. A summary phase can contain other summary phases, allowing deep WBS hierarchies:

1       Project Alpha
1.1       Phase 1: Planning
1.1.1       Stakeholder interviews
1.1.2       Requirements document
1.2       Phase 2: Development
1.2.1       Sprint 1
1.2.1.1       API design
1.2.1.2       Database schema
1.2.2       Sprint 2

Each level is indented visually in the task table. WBS numbers reflect the depth. Outer summary phases roll up from all descendants recursively.

Dashboard and Summary Phases

The Dashboard counts summary phases separately from regular tasks in the task count KPIs. The "Total Tasks" KPI counts only leaf-level (non-summary) tasks. Summary phases appear in their own count. This distinction matters when comparing planned vs. completed counts.

Deleting a Summary Phase

Deleting a summary phase removes the phase row. You will be prompted to choose:

• Delete phase and all children — Permanently removes the phase and every child task beneath it. This is irreversible (though undoable with Ctrl+Z).
• Delete phase only (promote children) — Removes the summary row and moves all direct children up one indent level, preserving the tasks.

Best Practices

• Use phases for WBS levels — Mirror your project's work breakdown structure. Phase 1/2/3 maps naturally to Gantt phases.
• Sprint structure — Create one summary phase per sprint (Sprint 1, Sprint 2…). Indent sprint tasks beneath each. Collapse completed sprints to keep the view clean.
• Department workstreams — In cross-functional projects, create one summary phase per department (Engineering, Design, Marketing). Assign resources and filter by phase to see department load.
• Limit nesting depth — Three levels (project → phase → task) is usually enough. Deeper hierarchies become harder to navigate in the Gantt view.
• Name phases clearly — Include the phase number and a short descriptor: "Phase 2: Development" is clearer than just "Development" when you have multiple phases.

Practical Example — Three-Phase Project Structure

1     Discovery Phase
1.1     Kickoff meeting          [1 day]
1.2     Stakeholder interviews   [3 days]
1.3     Requirements sign-off    [2 days]
2     Design Phase
2.1     Wireframes               [5 days]
2.2     UI mockups               [4 days]
2.3     Design review            [1 day]
3     Build Phase
3.1     Backend API              [10 days]
3.2     Frontend integration     [8 days]
3.3     QA testing               [5 days]
3.4     Deployment               [2 days]

With Progress Rollup enabled: once all Discovery tasks reach 100%, the Discovery Phase bar fills completely. The overall project progress in the dashboard reflects weighted completion across all three phases.