Tasks vs Local Projects

Stellar gives you two ways to organise your work: Tasks and Projects.

Choosing the right one at the start makes a significant difference to how your work is stored, backed up, and shared.

• Tasks are created and managed on a Task Server. The Task Server provides centralised storage, automatic cloud backups, and the ability to share and assign work to team members and freelancers.
• Projects are created locally on your own computer. They are not backed up through the Task Server and are not easy to share with others.

tip

If the work needs to be shared, collaborated on, or protected by cloud backups, create a Task. A locally created Project keeps the work on your machine only, without the Task Server's storage, backup, and collaboration capabilities. So only use Local Projects if you're a freelancer working completely on your own.

Why use Tasks?

Collaboration

The Task Server allows work to be shared with team members and freelancers rather than staying with one person.

When work is assigned to a user, it is provided as a Task containing the files required to complete that work. Everything the assignee needs travels with the Task, so work can move between people without files being passed around separately.

This makes Tasks particularly suitable for team-based workflows where work needs to move between several people to reach completion.

Version control is automatic and version history is stored and shared automatically.

Automatic cloud backups

Tasks stored on the Task Server benefit from automatic cloud backups.

This is one of the clearest practical advantages of Tasks over locally created Projects, which do not receive Task Server backups. Storing your work as a Task helps protect against the loss of locally stored work if there is a problem with your computer or local storage.

Centralised task management

Tasks are maintained on the Task Server, which provides a single, central location for task-related work.

This is useful when work needs to be assigned, shared, tracked, and completed as part of a team workflow, because the task and its files are managed in one place rather than depending on an individual local Project on different computers.

Task Server options

You can work with either:

• The shared Yella Public Task Server, or
• A separate private Task Server provided by your company.

Both options provide the Task Server capabilities described on this page. Which one you use depends on how your organisation has set up Stellar.

Comparing Tasks and Projects

Feature	Tasks	Projects
Storage	Created on a Task Server	Created locally on your computer
Cloud backup	Automatic cloud backups available	Not backed up by the Task Server
Team collaboration	Designed for shared team workflows	Local workflow
Assignment	Tasks can be assigned to users	Not presented as Task Server assignments
Centralised management	Managed through the Task Server	Managed locally
Multi-user operation	Supported - more than one user can open the same Task at the same time	Not supported
Workflow automation	Supported by task server	Not supported
Files	Files required for the work are associated with the Task	Held with the local Project

When should I use a Task?

Create a Task when:

• Work needs to be shared with team members or freelancers.
• Work needs to be moved between different computers.
• A task needs to be assigned to another user.
• Work should benefit from automatic cloud backups.
• Multiple people need to collaborate on the same Task.
• The work needs to be managed centrally through a Task Server.
• You want to implement workflow automation to speed up your processes.

A locally created Project may be appropriate when the work is intended to remain local and does not require the Task Server's collaboration, assignment, and backup capabilities. Work created as a local Project depends on your own computer and storage. If that local storage becomes unavailable, the work is not protected by Task Server backups.

Creating a Task

You can create a Task from the Stellar Dashboard.

1. Select Create Task.
2. Choose the option that matches your starting point:

• New Media
• Existing Media
• Current Task
• Current Project

3. Select the required Workflow
4. Provide a Task Name along with other task details.
5. Provide task configuration details if required.
6. Click on Start Job button to create the task.

note

If you have already started work locally as a Project, you can use it to create a Task from that Project using the Current Project option, so the work gains the Task Server's centralised storage, backup, and collaboration capabilities.

Important distinctions

Task

• Created on the Task Server.
• Intended for shared work and collaboration.
• Can be assigned to users.
• Provides automatic cloud backups.
• Files required for the work are associated with the Task.

Project

• Created locally on your computer.
• Does not receive automatic Task Server cloud backups.
• Does not provide the Task Server's centralised task-based collaboration and assignment workflow.