Unblock a stuck project

Before you start

Know the project's name or ID, or start from Portfolio and let the health figures point you to it.

Find what is holding it up

1. Open Portfolio. The tiles at the top count active projects by status. Choose Behind schedule (or At risk) to list only those projects. The table's Bottleneck column names the activity holding each one up.
2. Open the project. Click its row in the Portfolio table, or find it under Projects.
3. Read the critical-path card on the Overview. It names the bottleneck activity, who it is assigned to, and its baseline end against its current end. Unassigned means nobody owns it.
4. Look for Needs reassignment. This card appears on the Overview only when an unfinished activity is still assigned to someone who has been removed.

Alerts reach nobody

Late work is chased through each owner's escalation managers. If the owner has no Escalation level 1, their due-day alert has nobody to go to, and nobody is chased.

1. Open User Management. Search for the activity's owner on the Users tab.
2. Check the Escalation (L1 → L2) column. — (top of chain) means no escalation manager is set.
3. Edit the person. Choose the pencil, then pick an Escalation level 1. Add an Escalation level 2 if you use one.
4. Choose Save changes. Only approvers are offered. If the list is empty, tick This person is an approver on a suitable person first.

Check the escalation managers too. Alerts skip anyone who has been removed, and an activity approval waiting over 24 hours is chased to the approver's own level 1, so an approver with no level 1 is never chased.

The owner has left

Removing a person does not hand their work to anyone. Their unfinished activities stay with them and are listed under Needs reassignment on the project's Overview, marked (no longer active).

1. Tell the project's PM. Only the PM can change an activity's owner, and only while the project is running.
2. The PM opens the activity. On the Activities tab, click the activity. Its Details show Assignee no longer active — reassign.
3. The PM picks a new owner. Under Edit activity (PM only), choose a person in Assigned to and choose Save.

Someone can't see the work

1. Check their page access. In User Management, find the person and read their pills. Projects: View or Projects: Action lets them open every project read-only. Without either, they reach their own activities from My Activities only.
2. Check they own the activity. My Activities shows a card for each active project where they own an activity, are the PM, or were tagged in a thread, so a card alone does not mean they own work there. An activity of theirs is listed only while it is still to do: not done, approved or skipped, still in the plan, and with both a planned start and a planned end date. One with sub-activities shows as a heading over them. If an activity is missing, check those on the project's Activities tab first; if they are fine, ask the PM who it is assigned to. Opening it from a notification also works: My Activities then says why it is not listed.
3. Check their team. If the PM can't find them in Assigned to, they are on another team. Fix their Team, then the PM can pick them.

What happens next

• After you set an escalation manager: from the next daily check at 6:00 AM IST, the owner's due-day alerts go to the new level 1. Four days after a due date, the alert goes to level 2, or to level 1's own level 1 when no level 2 is set.
• After the PM picks a new owner: the new owner is notified of the assignment, the activity appears on their My Activities, and its Action log records the change. Dates and the baseline stay as they are.
• After you change page access: it applies the next time the person opens a page.

What can go wrong