Managing Tasks

Owned by Will Rensmith (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Aug 16, 2024 by Megan Sproul
4 min read

Overview

This page provides an overview on how to navigate and manage workflow tasks.

Finding and Viewing Tasks

Tasks can be found on the Workflow and Tasks tab of a functional area record. A workflow consists of one or more tasks, each of which has a status and assigned workgroup and user. A record may have multiple workflows assigned. Any unstarted or in process tasks will appear on the assigned user’s My Tasks dashboard.

The image below shows tasks associated with an example application submission.

Submission Detail Screen - Workflow and Tasks Tab

Assigning a Task

When viewing the workflow(s) for a specific submission, users can drill down into each particular task within the workflow to configure details related to that task, such as task assignment, start date, due date, and status.

In the image below, the user has opened the "Review Application" task. To assign the task to a specific user, first use the Workgroup field to select the workgroup to which that user belongs. This will then make all users in that workgroup available in the Assigned To field, where the given user can be selected.

Setting a Task Due Date

To set a task due date, update the date in the "Due Date" field:

In some cases, the Due Date field will be locked from editing and a due date pre-assigned. This will be the case if the workflow has been configured by a system administrator to automatically assign a due date based on the completion of a preceding task.

Task Statuses

The Status of each task is indicated in the Status column:

Updating Task Statuses

When work on a task has been completed, this can be indicated by clicking the checkbox next to the task and then clicking the Mark Complete button at the top of the task list. The task status can also be changed by opening the task itself and editing the Status field, as shown below. This allows for changing to other statuses as well, including Withdrawn, On Hold, and In Process.


Working with Triggered Tasks

Triggered tasks are tasks that are only available once another task (the trigger task) is completed. These are managed in the Workflow Templates configuration.

When a task is triggered by another, there will be two differences from non-triggered tasks:

  • A note will show below the task, explaining when it will be available.

  • The status of the task will show as Pending instead of Unstarted.

In the example above, the task is assigned to a different user than the processor. Only when the 3rd task is completed (Permit Letter Review), will the task of Administrator/Signature Review show in the Assigned User’s My Task dashboard for processing. If there are other non-triggered tasks after a triggered task, those will be available to complete even as the triggered task is being worked on.

Working with Decision Types

Decision Types are applied to tasks and are available when the task is completed. These are managed in the Workflow Templates configuration.

Setting a Decision from the Workflow Tab

If a user clicks “Mark Complete” on a Task from the Workflow Tasks list and the task requires a decision to be supplied, a pop-up is displayed showing the available decisions for the task that the user can select from. They can save after selecting a decision.

Setting Decision on Task Detail Page

If a user clicks “Open” on a Task to display the Task Details page, when marking the task status as complete, if configured to support task decisions, a conditionally required field will display for the User to enter a task decision status.

Setting Decision on a Task when marked Complete from My Tasks

If a user clicks “Mark Complete” on one or more Tasks from the My Tasks list, and one or more of the tasks requires a decision to be supplied, a pop-up is displayed showing the available decisions for the task(s) that the user can select from. They can save after selecting a decision.

In the example above, when marking a task complete from the My Tasks Dashboard, a popup appears displaying Decision Codes applicable for that Task that requires a selection before completing the task.

Linking Documents to Tasks

Documents can be manually linked to one or more tasks. This can be beneficial to indicate which documents were created by a workflow task or to indicate documents that need review as part of a workflow task.

To link a document to a task, edit the task, click the Link Documents button, check the boxes next to the document(s) to link, and click Save.

When one or more documents are linked to a task, a document icon will appear next to the task in the Workflow and Tasks list.

Linked documents are also visible in the Next Task Documents column available on the My Tasks page.

Using Task Document Linking to Expedite Document Review Tasks

Document linking is particularly useful to expedite the review of a document by a peer or supervisor. The document author can prepare a document for review, link the document to the review task, and then assign the task to the reviewer. The reviewer would then see the document review task appear on their My Tasks dashboard. The Next Task and Next Task Documents columns allow the reviewer to quickly access the document, edit if necessary, and mark the task complete right from the My Tasks dashboard.