Microsoft 365 How-To

Manager & Admin Guide for CTRS Team Members
Outlook • Teams • Planner • To Do • OneDrive •
Manager & Admin
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Understanding the Board View

Key Concept

Planner organizes tasks on a board with columns called buckets. Think of it like sticky notes on a whiteboard, organized by category.

  • Buckets are columns you define -- e.g., "To Do," "In Progress," "Done," or by category like "Maintenance," "Inspections," "Follow-ups."
  • Task cards sit inside buckets. Each card shows the task name, who it's assigned to, due date, and priority.
  • You can drag and drop cards between buckets to reorganize.
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Setting Up Buckets

Managers
  1. Open your plan in Planner.
  2. Click Add new bucket (appears to the right of existing buckets).
  3. Name the bucket (e.g., "Truck Maintenance," "Inspections Due," "Completed").
  4. Drag buckets left or right to reorder them.

Suggested bucket setup for CTRS:

  • New / To Do -- freshly assigned tasks
  • In Progress -- being worked on
  • Waiting -- blocked on parts, approval, etc.
  • Completed -- done (or let Planner auto-move completed tasks)
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Using Views: Board, Charts, Schedule

Planner Views

Planner offers several views beyond the default board. Look for the view switcher at the top of your plan:

  • Board -- the default column/bucket view. Best for dragging tasks around and getting an overview.
  • Charts -- pie charts and graphs showing task status, assignments, and priority breakdown. Great for managers to see progress at a glance.
  • Schedule -- a calendar view showing tasks by due date. Helpful for seeing what's coming up this week or month.
  • Group by -- switch between grouping tasks by bucket, assignee, progress, due date, priority, or label. Try "Group by Assignee" to see each driver's workload.
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Create & Assign a Task

Managers
  1. Open Planner at planner.cloud.microsoft, or open the Planner tab in your Teams channel.
  2. Open the plan for your team (e.g., "CTRS Tasks" or "On Call Tasks").
  3. Click + Add task in the appropriate bucket (column).
  4. Enter the task name (e.g., "Inspect Unit 12 -- brake lights").
  5. Set a due date and click Assign to select the driver(s) responsible.
  6. Click the task card to open it and add more details:
    • Checklist -- break it into sub-steps
    • Notes -- add instructions or context
    • Attachments -- attach photos or documents
    • Priority -- set Urgent, Important, Medium, or Low
    • Labels -- color-code by category (e.g., red = urgent, green = maintenance)
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Update Task Progress

Everyone

Tasks have three progress states. Update them as you work so managers can track what's happening:

  1. Click on a task to open it.
  2. Look for the Progress field (shows "Not started" by default).
  3. Change it to:
    • Not started -- haven't begun yet
    • In progress -- actively working on it
    • Completed -- finished
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Adding Comments to Tasks

Everyone

Comments are the best way to communicate about a specific task. Everyone assigned to the task (and the plan owner) can see comments.

  1. Click on a task to open it.
  2. Scroll down to the Comments section.
  3. Type your update (e.g., "Parts ordered, ETA Friday" or "Completed -- brake lights replaced").
  4. Click Send.

Use comments instead of sending separate Teams messages about a task -- it keeps the conversation attached to the work item.

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Planner Tips

Desktop Power Tip

You can drag and drop task cards between buckets to reorganize your board. Use the Charts view to see progress at a glance, and Filter to narrow down tasks by assignee, due date, priority, or label.

Planner + Teams

Planner integrates directly into Teams. Managers can add a Planner tab to any Teams channel so the whole team can see task boards without switching apps. See the Teams section for how to set this up.

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