Actions & Recurring Work

In short

An action item is a single piece of work with a recognisable result, for example "Approve the fire-safety concept". The Actions area collects every such entry in a project and shows them in four views: as a list, as a Kanban board, sorted by priority, and as templates for recurring work. Every action item carries status, dates, responsibility, effort, and budget. Those are exactly the values the analyses and Timeline use to tell you what comes next.

When you need this

• You want to record who delivers what by when, without keeping a second list outside TensorPM.
• You want to see which work is stuck right now and why.
• You have recurring obligations such as the weekly site meeting or the monthly invoice check, and you do not want to retype them every time.
• You want to record sequence: approval first, then procurement.
• You want the project agent to derive action items from a meeting record or an email, and then review them yourself.

Action item or work package

These two are easy to confuse, because both sound like "work".

A work package is a folder in the work breakdown structure (WBS). It describes a bounded deliverable, for example "Shell construction, ground floor". It has its own status, its own progress, and its own code. You create work packages in the Work Packages area.

An action item is the concrete task inside it, for example "Schedule reinforcement inspection with the structural engineer". You create action items in the Actions area.

The link between them is the category. Every action item sits in exactly one category, and in a WBS project a category is either a structure node or a work package. Action items may only sit in work packages and in the catch-all category General, never directly on a structure node. TensorPM prevents that on creation and moves the item to General instead. The reason is simple: a structure node only rolls up what sits beneath it. An item attached directly to it would appear in no total at all.

In projects without a WBS this distinction does not exist. There a category is simply a freely named group.

The view modes

At the top of the Action Items view sit three tabs: List, Board, and Recurring. Next to Board on the right is a selector that switches between Kanban and Priority. There is no dashboard in this area.

Top right you also find a gear icon. It holds the Hide Completed switch. That switch appears in List and Priority only.

The list is the only view where you see and edit every field at once.

List

The list is a table grouped by category. It is the place for precise work: changing fields, showing and hiding columns, filtering, selecting several entries at once.

Click the pencil icon next to the Action Items title to switch on edit mode. Only then can you tick items, use Select All to mark the filtered set, and remove them with Delete Selected. Switch edit mode back off afterwards so you do not keep clicking by accident.

Clicking a row opens the Item Details panel. It holds description, assignees, dates, effort, budget, attached files, and the dependencies. Right-clicking a row opens a context menu with the most frequent changes: Status, Priority, Assign To, Category, Add Block Reason, Copy ID, and Delete.

Categories can be renamed by double-click, collapsed and expanded, and reordered with the arrow keys. If you delete a category that still holds items, TensorPM asks whether the items should be deleted with it or moved to General.

Board -> Kanban

Kanban shows four columns, one per status: Open, In Progress, Blocked, Completed. Drag a card into another column to change its status. This is the fastest way to do the daily round: what has started, what is stuck, what is done.

While dragging, a drop area labelled Drop here to delete appears at the bottom edge. Drag a card there when it should go.

Kanban is deliberately narrow. The cards show only title, priority, due date, and a few icons. For everything else, switch to the list.

Board -> Priority

Priority also shows four columns, but sorted by importance instead of status: Low, Medium, High, Very High. The columns match fixed ranges of the priority value: 1 to 25, 26 to 50, 51 to 75, 76 to 100.

When you drag a card into another column, TensorPM sets the priority value to the middle of the new range. A card dropped into High therefore gets the value 63. That is deliberately coarse: this view is for comparing, not for fine-tuning. You set the exact value in the list.

The view answers one question: do we have too many "very important" items? When the right-hand column overflows, the prioritisation has stopped being worth anything.

Recurring

Recurring does not show action items. It shows templates. Each template describes an obligation that repeats on a fixed rhythm. Real action items are produced from a template later and then appear in the list and on the board. The template itself stays here and is never "done".

Creating an action item

1. Open the Actions tab in the sidebar.
2. Choose the List view.
3. Expand the category the item belongs to.
4. Click the Add new action item field at the end of the category, type the title, and confirm with Enter.
5. The new row appears immediately with status Open and priority 50.
6. Click the row to open Item Details and fill in only the fields you actually want to steer by.

Write the title as a result, not as a topic. "Approve the fire-safety concept" can be checked. "Fire safety" cannot. You notice the difference at the latest when you have to decide whether the item is finished.

Every field of an action item

No field is mandatory except the title. Every additional field you fill improves the quality of the analyses and Timeline, but only for as long as it stays current. An outdated field is worse than an empty one.

Title

The one sentence that names the result. It appears in the Item column and on every card. Keep it short and active.

You cannot leave it out. Without a title there is no action item.

Description

Formatted text for everything that does not belong in the title: constraints, acceptance criteria, contact person, a reference to a meeting record. You edit it in Item Details; it can also be shown in the list as the Description column.

Leave it empty when the title stands on its own. Use it as soon as you would otherwise have to explain verbally what is meant.

Status

Four values, and no more:

• Open: not started.
• In Progress: someone is working on it right now.
• Blocked: it cannot move forward. Always add a Blocker reason, otherwise the status is just a feeling.
• Completed: the result named in the title exists.

Do not set an item to Completed because an email went out. Only when the named result exists. TensorPM records the moment and shows it on the card as Completed with the date.

You cannot leave status out. It is always on one of the four values.

Priority

A number from 1 to 100. Higher means more important. You set it in the list using the number field in the Priority column, roughly through the context menu with Low, Medium, High, Very High, or by dragging on the board.

If 100 steps feel too fine, switch on Simplified Priority Scale under Settings -> General. You then see 1 to 10. That is display only; internally and for the AI it stays 1 to 100.

Next to the number field sits a lock icon. Close it and the priority can no longer be changed, not even by the AI. Use that for values that come from a commitment and are not negotiable.

Leaving it alone is perfectly fine. Every new item starts at 50. Priority only helps when it actually lets you choose between competing work.

AI priority

In addition to your value, the AI can calculate a priority of its own. It is based on the whole project context: goals, dates, risks, dependencies, commitments. When such a value exists, you can switch the number field between the two. The small marker beside it reads user or ai+ so you always know which value you are looking at. If a reason was recorded, it appears as a tooltip.

There are two ways to get that value. First: Settings -> General -> Automatic AI Prioritization. With that switch on, the AI evaluates every newly created or edited item in the background. Second: the Re-evaluate quick action in the AI panel for selected items.

Both consume AI Credits. Leave automatic prioritisation off if you want to be economical, and instead re-evaluate a deliberate selection once a week.

Treat the AI value as advice, not as a decision. It does not know about the commitment you made on the phone yesterday.

Complexity

Five levels: Very Simple, Simple, Moderate, Complex, Very Complex. It describes how hard the work is in substance, not how long it takes.

The value helps the AI propose sensible splits and helps you distribute work across people. Leave it empty when all items in the project are of a similar nature.

Impact

Five levels: Minimal, Low, Medium, High, Critical. It describes what happens if the item is not done.

Use the field when you want to separate importance from urgency. An item can be critical and still have three months of runway. Leave it empty when you work with the priority number only.

Urgency

Five levels: Very Low, Low, Medium, High, Overdue. It describes time pressure.

Impact and urgency together give a usable picture: high and high means now, critical and low means plan rather than run. Leave urgency empty when you maintain the due date anyway. The date then says the same thing more precisely.

Owners: people and agents

An action item can have up to ten assignees. Two kinds of participant can be assigned:

• People from the People area. TensorPM offers the likely ones first under Suggested people.
• Agents, meaning local AI tools set up on your machine. They appear under Available agents with a role: reviewer ("Reviews completed work"), architect ("Defines architecture and technical approach"), or developer ("Implements features, fixes bugs, and updates technical artifacts"). An agent that is not installed on this machine is shown as Unavailable on this device.

Assign as soon as a real person has taken responsibility. Do not assign "just in case", or the Assigned to column becomes meaningless. Unassigned work is an honest signal and shows up in the suggestions.

Before you delegate an item to an agent: write the result and the acceptance criterion into the description, attach the relevant files, and review the result yourself afterwards. Only set it to Completed after that review.

Category

Every action item sits in exactly one category. In a project without a WBS that is a freely named group, for example "Permits". In a WBS project it is the work package the item belongs to.

You change the category by right-click via Category, or by dragging the row into another group in the list.

You cannot leave it out. Without a choice of your own the item lands in General. That is meant as an inbox, not as a permanent home.

Dates

Two date fields: Start Date and Due Date.

The due date is the more important one. It drives sorting, the overdue marker on the cards (for example "3d late"), and the warnings in the suggestions. You need the start date as soon as the item should appear as a bar in Timeline, because a bar needs two ends.

Leave the start date empty for short errands where only the deadline counts. Set both as soon as the item has duration and should take part in scheduling.

Colour

Every action item can carry a colour. It has an effect in Timeline only, where the bar is then drawn in that colour. You set it there by right-clicking the bar and choosing Change Color, then Blue, Green, Orange, Red, Purple, Gray, or Custom....

Use colour for a single, clearly explained scheme, for example one colour per trade. Leave it out when nobody knows the scheme. A colourful timeline without a legend helps no one.

Planned and actual effort

Two fields, each with a number and a unit, either hours or days:

• Planned Effort: what you estimate up front.
• Actual Effort: what was really spent. The value combines manual entries and time captured by the timer. You start and stop the timer on the item card using Start Timer and Stop Timer; running timers appear in the top bar under Active Timers.

Use both fields only if someone on the project actually maintains the actual value. An honest estimate in planned effort plus an empty actual field beats an actual field that nobody has touched for six weeks.

In some views these two columns are labelled Avail. Effort instead of Actual Effort. They then show the remainder left against the plan rather than the consumption.

Planned and actual budget

Two money fields, Planned Budget and Actual Budget. They are always held in the project's storage currency and rendered in your display currency. You set both under Settings -> General -> Currency.

Important: Changing the storage currency converts every existing amount. That affects action items, material, and budget alike. Do not do it in passing.

If the actual budget exceeds the plan, TensorPM highlights the value. Leave the budget fields on the item level empty when you track cost in the Budget area anyway. Cost kept in two places almost always drifts apart.

Blocker reason

A short text that only makes sense together with the Blocked status. You enter it by right-click via Add Block Reason or in Item Details. When it is missing, the status symbol reads No blocker reason provided.

Write down what you are waiting for and from whom. "Waiting for structural approval from Meier engineering" is useful. "Blocked" is not.

Attached files

In Item Details under Attached Files you can upload new files (Upload New Files) or pick files already in the project (Pick Existing Files). The files stay linked to the item and are also visible in the Files area.

Attach what is needed to get the work done: the plan extract, the quote, the meeting record. Do not attach the entire project archive.

Dependencies

You record a dependency when one item determines the timing of another. You find them in Item Details in two blocks: Outgoing Dependencies (this item drives another) and Incoming Dependencies (another item drives this one). You create them via + Add Outgoing Dependency or + Add Incoming Dependency. You pick the second item and the relationship.

There are four types. The abbreviations FS, SS, FF, and SF also appear in Timeline.

Finish-to-Start (FS)

The dependent task cannot start until this task is finished.

Construction example: "Inspect reinforcement" must be finished before "Pour the slab" begins. This is by far the most common case. If you are unsure, it is almost always FS.

Start-to-Start (SS)

The dependent task cannot start until this task starts.

Example: "Set up the site" and "Set up traffic routing" run in parallel, but routing must not begin before site setup has begun. Both may start at the same moment; neither waits for the other to finish.

Finish-to-Finish (FF)

The dependent task cannot finish until this task is finished.

Example: "Work through the defect list" cannot be completed before "Walkthrough with the client" is completed, because only then is it certain that no new defects appear. Work on both has been running in parallel for a long time.

Start-to-Finish (SF)

The dependent task cannot finish until this task starts.

Example: "Run the temporary construction heating" may only be completed once "Commission the permanent heating" has started. This is about handovers, where something old has to keep running until the new thing comes up. The type is rare. Use it only when you mean exactly that handover.

When a dependency is violated

TensorPM checks every dependency before saving and discards it when one of these rules breaks:

• The item depends on itself. Rejected.
• Neither end is the item you are currently editing. Rejected.
• One of the two items no longer exists. Rejected, for example after the other side was deleted.
• The same relationship between the same pair twice. The second entry is rejected.
• FS and SF between the same pair. These two are mutually exclusive. The second entry is rejected.
• A cycle. If A waits for B, B for C, and C again for A, none of the three can ever start. TensorPM detects the cycle and removes exactly those links whose both ends lie inside it. The rest stays.

Discarded dependencies are not saved. No error interrupts your work; the event is only written to the log. If a dependency you just entered is gone after a reload, it failed one of these rules. Check for a cycle first.

There is a second and more important sense of "violated": the plan says the predecessor must be finished, but the successor is already In Progress. TensorPM does not block that. It is everyday reality on site. It does become visible though: the execution analysis picks up sequence problems, and in Timeline you see the link line running against time. That is the moment to correct either the plan or reality.

Record dependencies sparingly. Every link has to be maintained. Take the ones that really drive dates, not every thematic connection.

Recurring action items

Creating a template

1. Switch to the Recurring view.
2. Click + Add Recurring Item.
3. Enter the title under Enter item *. It is used word for word for every generated item later.
4. Set the rhythm under Repeat every: a number and a unit (Day(s), Week(s), Month(s), Year(s)).
5. Set Start Date * and End Date *. Both are mandatory. The end date is the point at which the template stops producing work.
6. If needed, open ▶ Set Additional Properties. There you set category, assigned person, complexity, impact, urgency, effort, budget, and description. All of it is passed on to every generated item.
7. Click Save Recurring Item.

Show Details reveals the settings of an existing template, Edit changes them. Deleting takes two clicks; the second one reads Confirm Delete.

How the repetition actually works

This is the part most often misunderstood. TensorPM does not lay out a series into the future. It catches up on due dates.

• For each template TensorPM remembers the last date it generated up to. The first time round, that is the start date.
• The next date is always the last generated date plus one interval. No item is created on the start date itself. For a weekly template starting on the 1st, the first item is due on the 8th.
• Only what is due gets generated, meaning everything up to and including today. Nothing is sitting in the list for next week.
• If the next date falls on or after the end date, the template stops.
• At most one item is created per date. If you delete a generated item, it is not recreated.

The generated item inherits title, due date, urgency, category, assignees, description, attached files, complexity, impact, planned effort, and planned budget from the template. It starts with status Open and priority 50. It has no start date, no colour, and no dependencies. Add those on the generated item if you need them.

The check runs when the app starts and roughly every 15 minutes afterwards, but at most once per day and project. When you create or change a template, TensorPM re-checks that project immediately.

Ending a template

Set the end date to a date in the past when the obligation goes away. The template stays as a record but produces no further work. Items already generated stay untouched, including the ones still open.

Review the template list every few months. A forgotten template keeps quietly producing items that nobody does any more, and that dilutes every report about open work.

Letting the AI create action items

The project agent can propose and create action items. That saves typing, but it does not replace your judgement.

Generating new items

Open the AI panel and go to the quick actions. In the Generate row you pick Items or Categories and set the count with the Increase and Decrease buttons. Clicking Create derives new items from the project context and creates them directly. Under Custom Instructions you can narrow the topic beforehand, for example "permit planning only".

Alternatively, describe it in the chat: "Read the meeting record from the 12th and create an action item for every open commitment." The project agent uses the same tools for that.

If you switch on Tag AI-Created Items with [AI] under Settings -> General, newly created items and categories carry an [AI] marker in the title. That is useful at the start: you see at a glance what nobody has reviewed yet. You can strip the prefix by hand as you review.

Splitting large items

An item like "Run the permit process" is not an item, it is an undertaking. It cannot be completed, cannot be estimated, and cannot be sensibly assigned.

To split it:

1. Switch to the List view and turn on edit mode.
2. Select the oversized item. Several at once works too.
3. Open the quick actions in the AI panel.
4. Choose Auto split to let the AI decide the count, or Manual split into: and enter the number yourself.
5. Click Split.

Without a selection the action is unavailable; the hint then reads Select items to split.

The size is right when one person can finish the item within a manageable stretch of time and you can say without doubt at the end whether it is done.

Re-evaluating

Re-evaluate lets the AI recalculate priority and assessments for selected items against the current project context. This action also needs a selection in edit mode, otherwise you see Select items in edit mode to re-evaluate.

Use it after larger changes: after a date shift, after a new risk, after a decision in the steering meeting.

What you have to check

Walk through these five points after every AI generation:

1. Duplicates. Does the item already exist under another name? Merge, do not keep two.
2. Title. Does it describe a result or only a topic?
3. Category. Is the item in the right work package? Anything that landed in General needs sorting.
4. Dates and responsibility. The AI guesses here more often than not. A guessed date is worse than no date.
5. Dependencies. Proposed sequences are hypotheses. Check them against your actual construction sequence.

All AI actions consume AI Credits when you work through the TensorPM provider. You can see the consumption in the account popover at the bottom left.

Filtering, sorting, columns, search

Filters

In the list, click Filters. Filter Items opens with fields for Item Name, Description, Status, Priority, Impact, Complexity, Urgency, Assigned to, Start Date, Due Date, Actual Effort (Hours), Planned Effort (Hours), Actual Budget, and Planned Budget.

For numeric fields you also choose the kind of comparison: Exact value, Range (from - to), Greater than, or Less than. Clear All resets every filter.

Two filters pay off almost always: status Blocked to see obstacles, and due date up to today to find what is overdue.

Sorting

Click a column heading to sort by that column. A second click reverses the direction. The arrow in the heading shows the current state.

Within a category you can also arrange rows by hand through dragging. That order is stored and kept separately per view.

Columns

Click Columns to open Manage Columns. There you show and hide columns with the eye icon and reorder them by dragging. Arrow keys move a column, space or Enter toggles it. Hide All, Show All, and Reset to Default apply to the whole list.

Status and title always stay visible; they are marked as fixed. Column widths are changed directly on the divider between two headings. All of these settings are stored per project.

Hide what you do not steer by. A list with four maintained columns is more usable than one with fourteen half-empty ones.

Search

The search field in the top bar searches the whole project, not just action items. It also finds people, categories, decisions, files, and folders. Clicking an action-item result jumps straight into the list and highlights the row.

Use search when you know a title. Use filters when you are looking for a set.

What happens behind the scenes

Action items live in the local project database on your machine. In a cloud workspace they are additionally synchronised in encrypted form, so they appear on your other devices and for the people you invited.

Every change to an item lands in Trail under Changes, together with its origin. You can read there whether a field was changed by you, by a synchronised colleague, or by the AI. If the change came out of a chat, the source chip takes you back to the message that triggered it.

The check for recurring templates runs in the app's background process, not on a server. If the app stays closed for two weeks, the next start catches up on all due dates at once.

Common questions

Can I assign an item to several people? Yes, up to ten assignees per item, people and agents counted together. Bear in mind though: four owners often means in practice that nobody feels responsible.

Why can I not put an item into a particular category? The project runs in WBS mode and the category is a structure node. Structure nodes only roll up. Choose the work package underneath it.

What is the difference between priority and urgency? Priority is a number from 1 to 100 and ranks the item against all others. Urgency is one of five levels and describes time pressure alone. You may use both, but you do not have to.

Do completed items disappear? No. They stay in the database and in Timeline. Using the gear icon you can hide them from the list and priority views with Hide Completed.

Does changing a recurring template change items it already produced? No. Changes to the template only affect items generated from now on.

Can I detach a generated item from its template? Not explicitly. But you can change it freely; it is never reconciled with the template again.

Does an item count towards the progress of its work package? Yes, when it sits in a work package and that work package uses the calculated progress method. Details are in Work Packages & WBS.

Does AI prioritisation need a subscription? It needs a configured AI provider. Through the TensorPM provider it consumes AI Credits; with your own key on the Business plan it does not.

When something does not work

A dependency I just entered is gone after a reload. It failed validation. The most common causes: a cycle across several items, or an FS relationship already exists and you added SF for the same pair. Break the cycle, or decide on one of the two types.

My recurring template has not produced anything. The first interval has probably not elapsed yet. Nothing is created on the start date itself. Also check whether the end date has already been reached.

Twenty items from the same template appeared at once. That is the catch-up. Either the app was closed for a long time, or the start date lies far in the past. TensorPM then generates every date up to today. Delete the surplus and set the start date to a sensible point.

Re-evaluate or Split are greyed out. Both need a selection. Switch to the List view, turn on edit mode with the pencil icon, and mark at least one item.

A column is missing. It is hidden. Open Columns -> Manage Columns and switch it on with the eye icon, or click Reset to Default.

The list looks empty although items exist. Check the filters first. If Filters is active, open the dialog and click Clear All. Then check whether Hide Completed is set in the gear menu.

The actual effort is wrong. It combines manual entries and time captured by the timer. Check the top bar under Active Timers for a timer still running from last week.

An item does not appear in Timeline. A bar needs a start date and a due date. Add the missing one.

More symptoms and remedies are in Troubleshooting.

Next steps

• Structure deliverables: Work Packages & WBS
• Have priorities and sequence checked: Suggestions & Order
• Use quick actions and chat: Project Agent, Chat & Quick Actions
• Manage people and cost: People & Budget
• Trace changes: Files & Trail
• Look up terms: Glossary