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5pm is a web-based application that you can run directly from your browser. No need to download or install anything.
We officially support: IE 7 and higher (PC), Firefox 1.5 and higher (Mac, PC, or Linux), Safari 2 and higher (Mac and PC), Opera 9 and higher (Mac and PC), Chrome 3 and higher.
- JavaScript must be on
- Cookies must be enabled
- Minimum Monitor Resolution: 1024 x 768 px
- (optional) Adobe Flash 8 plugin or higher - used only in Timeline view
Using the keyboard
Though mouse is the easiest way to access all of the 5pm features, sometimes keyboard can help you do some things even faster:
- You can delete projects/tasks/activities using the "DELETE" key. Just select the object you want to delete and hit "Delete".
Tip: If you don't want to see the confirmation dialogue, hold CTRL+SHIFT keys while hitting the "DELETE".
- You can navigate through your projects, tasks and activities lists using the UP and DOWN keys. Also, in the left panel, you can use LEFT and RIGHT keys to fold/unfold projects.
5pm is a tool that lets you manage your projects and tasks online and to coordinate your team's efforts.
5pm Data Structure
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Group |
You can use Groups to group together Projects and single Tasks (tasks with no parent projects). For example, you can group projects by departments inside your company. |
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Project |
Projects are a way to organize your work. Projects can contain multiple tasks that need to be accomplished in order to finish the project. A project can have one of these statuses: "open", "on hold" and "done". Each project can have a client attached to it and a Project Team. |
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Task |
Tasks can be added inside projects, but you can also create tasks outside them (single tasks). This can be used when you just have one separate task (for example, "Pay the taxes") and you don't want to create a whole project for it. A task can have one of these statuses: "open", "on hold" and "done". Each task can have a Task Team attached to it that can be different from the parent Project Team. It allows you to dynamically add people to the project just when they are needed and create cross-project teams. For example, you started a "Website redesign" project and you want your logo redesigned, so you decided to use John for that. You create a task "Logo redesign" inside this project and add John to the Task Team, but you don't want to add him to the whole project, since he is not involved in the rest of it. It will also prevent him from getting email notifications related to the whole project or to other tasks (Task Teams and Project Teams can be notified separately). |
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Message |
Messages are an universal tool for exchanging ideas, comments and notes. You can add them to a Project or a Task. You can also attach files to a Message. |
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Progress Note |
Progress Notes is a way of reporting your work. Users add them to the tasks to report their progress. Each Progress Note may contain the description, the % of task completion (the only mandatory field) and the hours invested into it. |
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File (attachment) |
You can add files to a Project or a Task as a way to share your documents with other users. Files can be also attached to Messages. |
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Profile (user) |
There are four different user profiles: administrators, users, external users and clients. The first three categories can be added to a Project Team or a Task Team and they have different security levels. Clients are a separate type of users - they can be directly attached to a project. |
5pm is a tool that lets you manage your projects and tasks online and to coordinate your team's efforts.
User Profiles
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Administrator |
Administrators are users with unlimited rights - they can see and edit any information in your 5pm account. They can also access the 5pm subscription details. One Administrator profile is created when you register your 5pm account and can not be deleted. This main Administrator is used by us to contact you about important information related to your account, so make sure you use a valid email and you add support@5pmweb.com to your trusted email addresses. |
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User |
This is a regular user. It is the recommended profile type for all your team members. Their rights:
- CAN see any projects or tasks, even if he/she is not part of their teams, unless those are hidden - just the team members and the Administrators can see a hidden task or project.
- CAN add other users or external users, but can NOT modify any existing user profiles, besides their own one
- can NOT modify the messages/progress notes/files they didn't create
- can NOT edit/delete the projects/tasks they did not create, unless they are part of the team
- can NOT add Progress Notes to the tasks, unless they are part of the task team
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External User |
External Users are very similar to Users but are more limited in access rights:
- can NOT see a task or a project unless they are part of its team
- can NOT edit tasks or projects (they can edit the tasks they created)
- can NOT add other user profiles or edit existing ones (besides their own)
- can NOT create new projects, but CAN create tasks
External Users still can work on tasks by adding Progress Notes, Messages and Files and even add new tasks within their projects. External Users are best used for contact workers that are not part of your main team. |
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Client |
A client is a separate type of user profiles. Clients are directly attached to projects (not tasks) and can see just those projects (and anything inside them and inside their tasks, besides the hidden messages and files) and participate in discussions inside them. Clients rights:
- can see just the projects they are assigned to
- can see all the Activity inside their projects and its tasks, besides the messages and files hidden from clients
- can NOT add or edit projects, tasks or progress notes
- can NOT add other user profiles or edit existing ones (besides their own)
- can NOT see other Clients profiles
- new! can NOT see the Groups in wich they don't have any projects
Clients still can participate in discussions and add Messages and Files. |
Adding a Project
You have to be in the main view ("Projects") and the "Projects" tab has to be selected in the left panel. There are two ways to add a project:
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Click "Add" button on the top of the left panel, then select "Add Project" from the dropdown.
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RIGHT click on the Group in the left panel, then select "Add Project" from the dropdown..
Keyboard shortcuts - to close a popup quickly, without making changes, just use the ESC button.
Text fields formatting:
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use *bold text* - for adding bold text
- __italic text__ - for italics
- --crossed text-- for
crossed text
- +underlined text+ for underlined text
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website URLs and email addresses will be automatically converted into links
Calendar text shortcuts
You can type in special shortcuts in Start Date and Deadline fields to select specific dates quickly.
| Text |
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| "tomorrow" or "tom" |
selects the current day (today) |
| yesterday/yes |
selects the current day (today) |
| "+x days", "+x day", "+x d" or just "+x" |
selects a day that is x (can be any number) days from the current day for the Start Date, and x days from Start Date for Deadline field. A "-" sign instead of "+" will select prior dates.
"+" is optional. Spaces between x and the letters are optional. |
| "+x weeks", "+x week" or "+x w" |
same as with days, but applied to weeks. |
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When you click "Add Project", a "Add New Project" window will open, where you can define all the project's properties:
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Name - project name. This is the only one field you have to enter in order to be able to create a new project.
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Group - the project can be attached to a group. The current group is pre-selected
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Client - the project can be assigned to a client.
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Description - short project description. Check formatting text fields for information on text formatting.
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Priority - select: "Low", "Normal", "High" or "Urgent".
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Status - select: "Open" (normal default status), "On Hold" (temporary stopped) or "Closed" (finished).
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Start Date - is set to "today" by default.
Check Calendar text shortcuts for information on a quick way to select dates.
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Deadline - scheduled end date (can be empty)
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Profiles/Project Team - to add users to the project team, select them in the Profiles list and click the "Add" button. To remove users from the team, select them in the Project Team list and click the "Del" button.
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Hide this project from non-team members - select this checkbox to hide this project from users that are not in the project's team. Note that users with Admin security level can see all the projects, including the hidden ones. The project creator can see all the projects he created, even hidden ones.
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Notify Project Team - sends an email notification to the Project Team members.
Note: The mandatory fields are marked in bold. |
Editing a Project
There are three ways to edit a project (first two are very similar to Adding a Project):
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Select a project by clicking on it in the left panel, the click "Edit" button on the top of the left panel.
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RIGHT click on the project in the left panel, then select "Edit" from the dropdown.
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When a project is selected in the left panel, and the right panel is on Info tab, click the "Edit" button on the top of the right panel.
Deleting a Project
Same as " Editing a Project", except use "Delete" option/button.
Keyboard shortcuts - you can also use your keyboard to quickly delete a project. Just select the project and hit "Delete" button. If you want to skip the confirmation window ("Do you really want to delete..."), hold the CTRL+SHIFT key pressed while you hit Delete.
Adding a Task
You have to be in the main view ("Projects") and the "Projects" tab has to be selected in the left panel. There are two ways to add a task:
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Click "Add" button on the top of the left panel, then select "Add Task " from the dropdown. If "My Stuff" tab is selected in the left panel, just click the "Add" button.
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RIGHT click on the Project in the left panel, then select "Add Task" from the dropdown.
Keyboard shortcuts - to close a popup quickly, without making changes, just use the ESC button.
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When you click "Add Task ", a "Add New Task" window will open, where you can define all the task's properties:
Note: The mandatory fields are marked in bold. |
Editing a Task
There are three ways to edit a Task (first two are very similar to Adding a Task ) :
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Select a task by clicking on it in the left panel, the click "Edit" button on the top of the left panel.
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RIGHT click on the task in the left panel, then select "Edit" from the dropdown.
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When a task is selected in the left panel, and the right panel is on Info tab, click the "Edit" button on the top of the right panel.
Deleting a Task
Same as " Editing a Task", except use "Delete" option/button.
Keyboard shortcuts - you can also use your keyboard to quickly delete a task. Just select the project and hit "Delete" button. If you want to skip the confirmation window ("Do you really want to delete..."), hold the CTRL+SHIFT key pressed while you hit Delete.
Adding Messages/Files/Progress Notes
You have to be in the main view ("Projects") and the "Activity" tab has to be selected in the right panel (or the "Files" tab can be also selected for the Files).
The right panel is where you can see all the Activity related to the projects and tasks selected in the left panel:
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Messages - simple text notes you can add to a Project or Task to exchange ideas with your team.
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Files - you can also attach files to Projects and Tasks. Since you can add notes to attached files, and attach files to messages, Files are very similar to Messages.
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Progress Notes - small notes that are used to report time spent on tasks and the progress achieved. Progress Notes can be added to Tasks only.
To add a Message/File:
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A Project or a Task has to be selected in the left panel. Click "Add" button on the top of the right panel, then select "Message/File" from the dropdown.
In order to add a Progress Note, a Task must be selected in the left panel. You can add it the same way you add a Message/File, plus there are two additional ways to do it through the Task's contextual menu:
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RIGHT click on the Task in the left panel, then select "Add Progress Note " from the dropdown.
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RIGHT click on the Task in the left panel, then select "Mark as Done/Unmark as Done" from the dropdown. If a Task is not closed yet, you can quickly close it by selecting "Mask as Done" - it will add a 100% Progress Note to the Task and will change its state to "Closed". This action can be reversed with "Unmark as Done" - it will delete the last 100% Progress Note that closed the Task.
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"Add Message" window fields:
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Task - the task to which the Message will belong (the Task selected in the left panel will be pre-selected in this dropdown). You can also select "" to add the Message to the entire parent Project.
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Content - the message body. Check formatting text fields for information on text formatting.
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Notify Project Team - sends an email notification to the Project Team members.
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Add Files - opens additional fields for attaching files to the Message.
Note: The mandatory fields are marked in bold. |
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"Add Files" works very similar to "Add Message", except:
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The section for attaching files is on the top of the window.
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Description field is non-mandatory, but you have to upload at least one file.
File size limitation - you can upload files up to 30Mb each. The maximum total size of all the uploaded files is defined by your Plan - to check it, use "my account" link on the top.
Notice, that besides the Activity tab in the right panel, there is a tab called "Files". This is where you can see all the files in a separate view. This extra view is designed to present the files in a compressed list. It's a "Files Repository" view for Projects, Tasks and Groups.
You can operate with Files in this view the same you operate with them in the Activity tab. |
Keyboard shortcuts - to close a popup quickly, without making changes, just use the ESC button.
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"Add Progress Note " works very similar to "Add Message", since a Progress Note is like a Message that also contains some information about the work done on a Task. The two additional fields containing this information are:
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% complete - shows the percentage of the Task completed. Note that the Progress Notes percentages are not cumulative, and just the last one defines the current percentage (for example: if you add two Progress Notes, one with 10% and another with 30%, the Task completion progress become 30%, and not 40%). This way just the last Progress Note presents your approximation of how much of the Task is completed.
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Time spent - you can also report the time spent on a Task. Note that this field is not mandatory. In order to see all the time spent on a Task, check the Reports.
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Editing a Message/File/Progress Note
There are two ways to edit a Message/File/Progress Note :
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Using the menu on the top of the panel - just select a Message/File/Progress Note in the right panel, and then click the "Edit" button on the top of it.
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Using the contextual menu - just RIGHT click on the Message/File/Progress Note in the right panel, then select "Edit" from the dropdown.
Deleting a Message/File/Progress Note
Same as " Editing a Message/File/Progress Note", except use "Delete"..
Keyboard shortcuts - you can also use your keyboard to quickly delete a Message/File/Progress Note. Just select the Message/File/Progress Note and hit "Delete" button. If you want to skip the confirmation window ("Do you really want to delete..."), hold the CTRL+SHIFT key pressed while you hit Delete.
To link one task to another (and create sub-tasks) do one of the following:
- Select a task in the left panel and then click Add>Add Sub-task on the top (or through the right click on any task)
- In the task creating/editing popup window click the "Parent Task" checkbox and then select the parent task from the dropdown.
- Drag one task into another - this is the fastest way
IMPORTANT: Only tasks with deadlines can be parent tasks. Tasks without deadlines will not appear in the dropdown list of parent tasks to chose from.
The list of the parent task (if any) and the list of dependent tasks (if any) for each task is displayed in its "Info" tab in the right panel.
One parent task can have multiple dependent tasks. One dependent task can have just one parent task.
IMPORTANT: Dependent tasks can not have a Start Date older than their parent task (they can not start before the parent tasks).
Since the dependent tasks can start before or after the parent task End Date (Deadline), you can create flexible schedules, with dependent tasks starting before the parent task is completed (ex: work can be started on "Website texts update" task, while "Texts translation" task is not finished yet) or some time after the parent task was completed (ex: "Paint the pavement" needs to start some time after the "Pave the road" task has completed - to let the pavement cool down). This is sometimes called "lag" and "lead".
The relationship between dependent task Start Date and its parent task End Date (Deadline) is maintained automatically when the parent End Date changes - to keep the same distance between the dates. Changing the dependent task Start Date does not change the parent task Deadline.
Changing the parent task End Date (Deadline) will also change the start/end dates of its dependent tasks.
In the main view the dependent tasks are grouped under their parent tasks and this grouping is maintained despite the sort order. When the parent task is not present on the screen (hidden for some reason), the bended arrow icon by its dependent tasks is replaced with s straight one, to indicate that the parent task is not present above the dependent tasks in the list.
The Timeline view makes it easy to see all the task dependencies. Moving the parent tasks on the timeline will also move the dependent tasks, making re-scheduling a breeze:
In cases when task dependencies can not be maintained, the connection between tasks will be broken.
The tasks connections will be automatically broken when:
- Moving one task from one project to another (or in and out a project for single tasks) since tasks can not be linked across projects.
- Changing the start dates so the dependent task Start Date becomes older than the parent task Start Date (should not usually happen). One of the scenario when this can happen is when some of the connected tasks can not be edited by the user (the User is not-part of the Task team), while other connected tasks can - dragging the "unlocked" tasks in the Timeline may brake the connections with the locked ones, if the connections can not be maintained (Start Date of a dependent task becomes older than the start date of its parent task).
last updated:
May 6, 2010
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