Tracking Task Progress and Completion

Keep statuses honest, close work properly, and see where things are actually stalling.

Atarim team Updated 29 Jul 2026 · 9 min read

Managing Projects

Atarim board beside a weekly summary of completed tasks

Before you start

Relevant for

Project managers reporting on progress
Teams who want a board that reflects reality rather than good intentions

Required knowledge

Familiarity with tasks, and what your team means by each status.

Tools & resources needed

A project with tasks in it.
A plan that includes task status and priority.

Tracking progress in Atarim rests on one thing: whether statuses mean what they say. A board where half the tasks sit at In Progress because nobody moved them is worse than no board, because it looks like information.

This article covers how to keep them accurate, how to close work properly, and how to spot where progress has quietly stopped.

Status is a paid feature

Gated as Task Status & Priority. On plans that do not include it the controls open an upgrade panel. Learn More About What A Task Holds

What Each Status Means

Four statuses, shown as a slider rather than a dropdown — which makes the sequence obvious and discourages treating them as unrelated labels.

Status	Means	The next move belongs to
Open	Raised, not started.	Whoever is assigned.
In Progress	Someone is actively working on it.	The assignee.
Review	Done, waiting on a check or client approval.	Someone else — usually the client.
Complete	Finished and agreed.	Nobody.

Treat Review as a handover, not a waiting room

It is the only status where the next move belongs to someone else, so using it properly tells your client the ball is with them — and stops finished work sitting at In Progress for a fortnight.

Statuses sit alongside priority, which answers a different question about the same task. Explore Setting Due Dates And Prioritizing Tasks

Updating a Task’s Status

Status can be changed from any of the three views, and it saves as soon as you change it.

Open the task in the Inbox, on Boards, or in Collaborate.
Move the status slider to the stage the work has reached. The change saves immediately, and everyone with access sees it.
On Boards, drag the card between columns instead. Dragging in status view does exactly the same thing.

The status slider on a task — four stages, saved immediately

Dragging a task card between status columns on an Atarim board — Dragging on a board and moving the slider do the same thing

Tip

Dragging on a board is the quickest way to run a stand-up. Work down the board with the team, move cards as people report, and the record updates as you talk rather than afterwards. Explore Kanban Boards

Marking Work Complete

Alongside the slider there is a dedicated control for closing a task, described in the interface as a way to quickly mark this task as complete.

Open the task.
Select the complete control. A confirmation reads Task marked as Complete.
To reopen it, use the same control again. Its tooltip becomes Set this task back to In Progress, and a confirmation reads Task marked as In-Progress.

Reopening sends a task back to In Progress

Not to its previous status. If it should be waiting on the client instead, set it to Review afterwards.

Complete tasks rather than deleting them

A completed task keeps the client conversation and counts toward your reporting; a deleted one is gone, and tasks have no archive. Learn More About Deleting A Task

Closing Out a Batch

At the end of a round, updating tasks one by one is the slow way. Selecting a batch first turns it into one action.

Filter to the tasks you mean — one client, one tag, or one status.
Hover a card to reveal its checkbox and select the tasks, or use Select all visible tasks.
Use the status control on the bulk toolbar. Every selected task moves to that status at once.

Filter before selecting all

Select all visible tasks takes everything on screen after filters. Narrowing first is what stops a bulk completion reaching work that is not finished. Discover Bulk Actions On Boards

Seeing Where Everything Stands

Different views answer different progress questions, and it is worth knowing which to reach for.

Question	Where to look
Where is everything up to right now?	Boards in status view — the whole pipeline at a glance.
What is waiting on the client?	Filter to Review.
What am I meant to be doing?	Assigned To Me, sorted by priority.
What changed, and who changed it?	The task’s activity thread, or the Activity Feed.
Are we getting faster or slower?	Analytics.

The Inbox — a consolidated list you work down

An Atarim Kanban board showing tasks in status columns — Boards in status view — the whole pipeline at a glance

Filtering to Review is the most underused progress check there is

It is the list of everything you are waiting on someone else for — and the list you should be chasing rather than adding to. Discover How To Manage Tasks

Checking the History of a Task

Every status change is recorded, so a task that has bounced between statuses tells its own story.

Open the task and read its activity thread. Status changes appear alongside comments, in sequence.
For a wider view, open the Activity Feed under People. It records status and priority changes across the workspace, with who made each one.

Status changes are recorded alongside the conversation

Tip

A task set to Complete and reopened more than once is usually a specification problem rather than a quality one. The history is where that shows. Explore Activity Tracking and Reporting.

Measuring Progress Across Projects

Statuses tell you about one task. Analytics tells you whether the way you work is improving, using metrics built from those same status changes.

Metric	What it tells you
Avg Task Turnaround	How long a task typically takes from raised to complete.
Tasks Completed On Time Percentage	Whether your due dates are being met or quietly missed.
Task Resolution Velocity	The rate at which work is being closed.
Active Task Percentage	How much of your work is genuinely moving rather than sitting.
Unresolved Comments	Conversations still open, which often outlast the task itself.

Watch turnaround and on-time percentage together

Fast turnaround with a poor on-time figure means dates are being set optimistically; slow turnaround with a good one means the dates are honest but the pipeline is congested. They diagnose different problems. Discover Analytics & Metrics

Note

Analytics reports on a rolling window rather than all time, so figures reflect recent behaviour rather than your whole history.

Automating the Progress Chase

Most status hygiene problems are people forgetting, which makes them a good fit for automation.

What you want	How to build it
Tell the client when work is ready for them	Task status changes trigger, a condition for Review, then a notification.
Chase work that has stalled	Status change trigger, a Delay of a few days, then a comment.
Notify a lead when something completes	Task completed trigger with a notification or Slack message.
Close a loop in an external tool	Task completed trigger with an integration step.
Move a task on automatically	A Change task status step in any workflow.

The stall-chaser is the one worth building

A status change, a three-day delay, then a comment asking for an update — and work that would have sat quietly for a fortnight chases itself instead. None of those steps cost credits. Learn More About Workflow Automation

Progress at Project Level

Task statuses do not roll up into a project status, deliberately. A project can have every task complete and still be mid-delivery, so project-level progress is tracked separately.

Use project stages for dated checkpoints a client can see. Badges change colour as a stage approaches or passes, and they appear on project cards and in Collaborate.
Use page approvals to record sign-off page by page. Clients mark pages approved themselves, which is a firmer record than an email.

Three separate records of progress

Completing a task does not change a page’s approval status or a project’s stage, and vice versa. They track progress at three different levels. Explore Project Stages

Benefits of Tracking Properly

Benefit	In practice
The board reflects reality	A glance answers “where are we” without asking anyone.
Handovers are explicit	Review says the next move is someone else’s, so nothing waits silently.
History survives	Completed tasks keep the client conversation and count toward reporting.
Stalls surface early	Active task percentage and turnaround show congestion before a client notices.
Chasing is automatic	A workflow follows up on quiet work so nobody has to remember.
Progress is reportable	Turnaround and on-time figures give you something to show a client beyond a task list.

Example Use Cases

Situation	What to do
A daily stand-up	Work down the board in status view, dragging cards as people report.
Chasing a client	Filter to Review — that is the list of what you are waiting on.
Closing out a finished round	Filter to the client’s tag, select all visible, and set them Complete in one action.
A client asking how it is going	Use project stages for the answer, not a task list.
Work that keeps stalling	Build the delay-and-chase workflow rather than remembering to follow up.
A task reopened three times	Read its history. Repeated reopening is usually an unclear specification.

Known Limitations

Four statuses, fixed. They cannot be renamed, added to, or removed.
Reopening a completed task returns it to In Progress, not to whatever it was before.
Task statuses do not roll up into a project status. Use project stages for that.
Status and priority are a paid feature.
Analytics reports on a rolling window rather than all time.

FAQs

Can I add my own statuses?

No. The four are fixed. Use tags if you need further categorisation.

What is the difference between Review and Complete?

Review means the work is done but someone else has to check or approve it. Complete means that has happened.

Can I reopen a completed task?

Yes. The same control reopens it, returning it to In Progress.

Does completing a task notify anyone?

Status changes can trigger notifications and workflows, depending on your setup.

Should I delete finished tasks?

No. Complete them — tasks have no archive, and completed ones keep the conversation and count toward reporting.

Does completing every task complete the project?

No. Project progress is tracked with project stages, separately from task statuses.

How do I see what I am waiting on others for?

Filter to Review. That is the list.

Common issues

The status control shows a lock — status and priority are not on your plan. The panel names the minimum plan required.
“Failed to update task status” — try again. If it persists, check you still have access to that project.
Half the board sits at In Progress — a habit rather than a real state. Agree that Review means handed over, and re-triage.
Dragging changed priority instead of status — the board is in priority view. Switch back to status view.
A reopened task went to the wrong status — reopening always returns a task to In Progress. Set it to Review if it is waiting on someone.
A bulk completion closed too much — Select all visible tasks follows your filters. Narrow them first.
Analytics figures look lower than expected — the reporting window is rolling, so older completions fall outside it.

Conclusion

Progress tracking works when statuses are honest and Review is used as a genuine handover. Get that right and the board becomes something you can trust, the client knows when the ball is theirs, and Analytics has real behaviour to report on rather than a record of good intentions.

Priority and deadlines decide what gets picked up first. Discover Setting Due Dates And Prioritizing Tasks

Tips & best practices

Treat Review as a handover, not a waiting room. It is the only status where the next move is someone else’s.
Run stand-ups on the board and drag cards as people report, so the record updates as you talk.
Filter to Review regularly — that is your chase list.
Complete tasks rather than deleting them. There is no archive for tasks.
Watch turnaround and on-time percentage together; they diagnose different problems.
Automate the stall chase rather than relying on anyone remembering.

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