Packages and deadlines

Packages are the deadlines you staff to: pick them from a schedule or type their dates, then set the estimate.

A package is a body of work with a deadline, usually a milestone from your schedule, like "100% CDs" or "Permit set". People are staffed on packages, and Bullpen checks each package's work against the hours booked before its deadline.

Packages live on the Staffing page.

Add packages from a schedule #

On the Staffing page, click + Package ▾, then From the schedule…. (With no packages yet, click Pick deadlines from a schedule.)
Pick the Project, then a schedule. Once the plan is saved, only its own project's schedules are listed, so everyone on the plan can read them.
Tick the deadlines you staff to. Milestones are listed; tick show tasks too to see tasks as well.
Optional: set Due to a number of working days before each date. 0 means on the date.
Click Add (it says how many packages).

Not signed in yet? Click Use the example schedule to try it.

A package added this way follows its schedule item: when the schedule moves the date, the package moves too.

Add a package with typed dates #

Click + Package ▾, then With typed dates. The package's settings open so you can name it and type its deadline.

Package settings #

Open a package's settings with Settings on its row in the staffing grid. When the view bar is narrowed to one package, Package settings at the top of the grid does the same.

At the top are a color, the name, the due date, and the package's hours of work against hours staffed. A thin strip shows every package's dates, with this one in color.

Deadline from the schedule #

A package from a schedule shows Deadline from the schedule · locked and the item's name.

Unlock (type a date): stop following the schedule and keep today's dates as typed dates. You can lock it back on later with Lock to (the item's name) again.
When the schedule changes, the settings say Schedule changed: and what moved. Click Accept to take the change.

If the schedule can't be read, or the item is gone from it, the package keeps the dates it last saw.

Bullpen reads linked schedules again when you come back to its window. The refresh button on the schedule chart gets the latest dates right away.

The team's due date #

Under More: the team's due date, spent to date, coordination, set the team's due date a number of working days before or after the schedule's date. Before is for a doc-control submission date; after is for a slip or an extension. Weekends and office holidays are skipped.

Work starts #

Work starts is the first day of the package's window. Hours booked before it don't count toward the package.

Follow a group of schedule tasks #

Follows in the schedule ties a package loosely to the slice of the schedule it works toward, like a building's milestones.

Click + Follow a group of tasks.
Pick Groups. None picked means every group.
Pick Tags if the schedule has them. A task must carry every tag you pick.
Leave milestones only ticked, or untick it to include tasks.

The link that lists the matching tasks opens them; untick any one to turn it off. New tasks that match show up by themselves. Stop following ends it.

Followed tasks are for display: they show under the package on the chart, on the Team cards as Next ◆, and in the report. No hours ride on them. A package with no schedule item and no typed dates takes its dates from the tasks it follows.

A schedule's sub-milestones show in the list marked sub. They never set the package's dates.

The estimate #

The Estimate is the work in a package, from the top down.

h to work with: the package's hours.
% done: how much of it is done.
Who owns it: each person's share, as a percent. Click + person… to add one. If shares don't cover everything, a note says how much has Nobody yet.

Break it down into sheet groups #

Click Break it down into sheet groups ▸ to split the hours into groups like "A-100s Plans".

Type a group name and hours, then click Add group, or pick from + a usual group….
From a Cartoon Set… makes a group per sheet series of a Cartoon Set in the project, with its sheet names.
Each group has its own hours, number of sheets (Bullpen shows the hours per sheet), % done and owners.

Hours not broken out into groups still belong to the package's owners.

Unlock a group's sheets #

Click Unlock sheets ▸ to give each sheet its own hours and person. The group's hours are split evenly to start. Add a sheet with + Add a sheet. Each sheet has Hours, Who and % done.

◂ Fold sheets back adds the sheets back into the group's hours, and the people on them become its owners.

Other work #

Other work is for tasks that aren't sheets, like code analysis or client meetings. Type a name and hours, then click Add, and pick Who.

Fold back into one number #

◂ Fold back into one number adds the groups, sheets and tasks back into the package's hours, with the people on them as its owners. The detail goes; Undo brings it back.

If a breakdown adds up to more than its level's hours, or shares add up past 100%, Bullpen flags it.

Spent to date and coordination #

Both are under More in the package settings.

Spent to date: hours already spent, as of a date. Only the Burn report uses it.
Coordination +%: meetings, QA and redlines on top of the listed work. It's added to the package's hours of work.

Remove a package #

Click × at the top of the package settings and confirm. Its staffing and its tasks go with it.