See which tasks need updating

As a project manager, it's important to keep your project moving by making sure team members are focusing on the right work—and that progress is being tracked consistently. Fusion Online provides a few simple tools to help you quickly identify which tasks may need attention or have not been updated recently.

Option 1: Use the “Tasks Needing Update” link in Project Details

One quick way to find potentially stale tasks is from the Project Details view:

  1. Open your project and scroll to the Statistics section.

  2. Look for the Tasks Needing Update count.

  3. Click the count to open a prefiltered task list view.

The statisics section on Project Details

This view includes:

  • Standard tasks only (it excludes summary tasks, milestones, and checklist tasks)

  • Tasks that are eligible to start (i.e., they have no incomplete predecessors or constraints blocking them)

  • Tasks that are projected to start within the next 7 days based on the most recent schedule update

  • Tasks that haven’t been updated in over a week

This filtered view gives you a practical, focused list of tasks that likely should have been worked—and updated—but haven’t been. It’s a helpful first step in identifying tasks that may be slipping through the cracks.

Option 2: Review the endpoint’s impact chain

Another powerful way to find the most critical tasks to update is to review the impact chain for your project's endpoint. The impact chain shows tasks that, if delayed, will lead to buffer consumption—these are your highest-risk tasks and should be prioritized.

Impact Chain view

When viewing the impact chain:

  • Use the Horizon filter to narrow down the list to tasks projected to start within a given time window

  • Increase the Sensitivity to view shadow chains—tasks that are not yet on the chain but are close to impacting the buffer

You can add columns like:

  • Update Date – to see when the task was last updated

  • Assignee – to verify that someone is responsible for moving it forward

This approach helps you find and follow up on high-priority work that may not yet be updated, giving you an opportunity to check in and keep the schedule on track.

Focus the team on the priority work

By using both the Tasks Needing Update filter and the Impact Chain, you can:

  • Quickly spot tasks that may have been forgotten or delayed

  • Identify where attention is most needed to prevent buffer consumption

  • Ensure your team is focused on the priority tasks—not just the ones they happen to see first

These tools help you proactively manage project risk and maintain forward momentum, rather than reacting to problems after they surface.

See also

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