Important Note: This article discusses classic functionality. For information on the modern applicant experience, refer to the Applicant Experience Knowledgebase article.
This article is Part II of the documentation regarding tasks. Before creating tasks, you should configure the task feature by following the steps outlined in Part I of the documentation --
Administrative Tasks: Part I - Configuring the 'Task' Feature and Task Lists (Classic)
This article discusses the following topics:
Creating Tasks
Tasks can be created directly from the admin homepage. Go to your admin homepage -> click on the 'New Task' tab in the tasks panel -> enter the relevant information and click the 'Add' button. Tasks created in this manner will not have a target.
A. Subject: Every task must have a subject.
B. Description: A more detailed description or instructions can be provided - up to 4,000 characters.
C. Status: The status of the task is 'Open' by default. Other status options include In Progress, Pending, and Completed.
D. Priority: The priority level of the task is 'Medium' by default. Other priority options include Low, High, and Critical.
E. Due Date: If the task has a due date, enter it here.
F. Assigned to: Every task must be assigned to a site admin. Click the 'Edit' link and select the appropriate person from the list. All admin who are in one of the permission groups with access to the task feature will appear in this list.
G. Send notification to assigned admin: If the admin assigned to this task should receive an email or SMS text notification, select the appropriate option here.
H. Send notification to task creator: If the person creating the task should receive an email or SMS text notification, select the appropriate option here. Note: Notifying the task creator may be desired when creating tasks that will be used in workflows.
B. Description: A more detailed description or instructions can be provided - up to 4,000 characters.
C. Status: The status of the task is 'Open' by default. Other status options include In Progress, Pending, and Completed.
D. Priority: The priority level of the task is 'Medium' by default. Other priority options include Low, High, and Critical.
E. Due Date: If the task has a due date, enter it here.
F. Assigned to: Every task must be assigned to a site admin. Click the 'Edit' link and select the appropriate person from the list. All admin who are in one of the permission groups with access to the task feature will appear in this list.
G. Send notification to assigned admin: If the admin assigned to this task should receive an email or SMS text notification, select the appropriate option here.
H. Send notification to task creator: If the person creating the task should receive an email or SMS text notification, select the appropriate option here. Note: Notifying the task creator may be desired when creating tasks that will be used in workflows.
Creating a Task with a Target/Object
The following items can serve as an object of a task:
- Profile - every tab can be an object
- Application - every tab can be an object
- Program Builder - every tab can be an object
- Application Cycle - every tab can be an object
- Info Request
- Exchange Balance
- Questionnaire - configuration pages under Process
- Material - configuration pages under Process
- Assessment - configuration pages under Process
- Learning Content - configuration pages under Process
- Home Course
- Site Content Pages
- Document Center Documents
- Saved Query Results
- Credit Equivalency Request
Each page that can serve as the object of a task will have a 'New Task' tab at the top of the page. For example, let's say an admin created a new Learning Content and they would like a colleague to review it before it is published in a live app cycle. That admin would go to Process > Learning Content -> click the edit pencil icon for the Learning Content that needs to be reviewed. On the edit page, a 'New Task' tab will appear at the top. Creating a task from an object is exactly the same as creating a task from the admin homepage, however, you'll notice the task has a 'target' which is a link back to the object of the task. When the other admin sees his task list, he will be able to click a link and go directly to the edit page of the Learning Content to complete his work. He will not have to go to Process > Learning Content -> and find the edit pencil icon for the Learning Content.
As previously mentioned, each page that can serve as the object of a task will display a 'New Task' tab. In addition, if a particular page has ever served as the object of a task, it will have an additional tab for 'Tasks' with the number of incomplete tasks shown in parentheses.
In the example above, the 'New Task' tab appears so a task can be created with the 'Overview' tab of this application serving as the object. The 'Tasks' tab appears because the 'Overview' tab of this application has already been the object of at least one task. Once a particular page has been the object of a task, this tab will always appear. The (1) indicates that there is one incomplete task related to the 'Overview' tab of this application. Once that task is marked as complete, this tab will display 'Tasks (0)' to indicate that there has been at least one task related to this page but all tasks are now complete. Click on this tab to see a list of all tasks that have this page designated as the object.
Permission considerations: Admin will be able to send tasks with objects/targets from any page that can serve as an object and that they have permission to access. When the task is created, there is no permission check to determine whether or not the admin being assigned the task also has permission to see that page. It is possible for an admin to assign a task to another admin who doesn't have permission to see the object of the task. In this case, the admin assigned the task will click the target link, and receive a message indicating that they do not have permission to access the page. At that point, they could re-assign the task to the task creator to let that person know they were unable to complete the task because of permission restrictions.
Task Notifications
When a task is created, an email notification can be sent to the person assigned to the task. The format of the email notification is as follows:
To: erivers@terradotta.com
From: rparker@terradotta.com (Email notifications are sent from the Contact 1 email address)
Subject: Task notification: Review Learning Content
*Office Name* - Task Notification
A task assigned to you has been created.
Subject: Review Learning Content
Description: Please review this Arrival Information LCP. Let me know when you're done and I'll publish this in the upcoming app cycle.
Deadline: 08/21/2015
Priority: Medium
Status: Open
To go directly to the task target, click the following link:
LCP: Arrival Information
From: rparker@terradotta.com (Email notifications are sent from the Contact 1 email address)
Subject: Task notification: Review Learning Content
*Office Name* - Task Notification
A task assigned to you has been created.
Subject: Review Learning Content
Description: Please review this Arrival Information LCP. Let me know when you're done and I'll publish this in the upcoming app cycle.
Deadline: 08/21/2015
Priority: Medium
Status: Open
To go directly to the task target, click the following link:
LCP: Arrival Information
When a task is created, a text message (SMS) can be sent to the person assigned to the task (assuming they have entered a mobile phone number on their admin homepage). The format of the text message notification is as follows:
From: rparker@terradotta.com (SMS text messages are sent from the Contact 1 email address)
Message: Review Learning Content (The message will be the task subject)
Message: Review Learning Content (The message will be the task subject)
Should an SMS text notification be sent to an admin who does not have a value for the SMS phone number on their admin homepage, the following will happen:
- If the admin was going to be sent an email notification anyway (because it was checked off too), the SMS notification is just ignored
- If the admin was NOT going to be sent an email notification, the notification will be sent as an email notification instead of a text notification
In order for a user to be able to receive SMS text notifications of new tasks, they must enter a phone number in the SMS notifications widget on their admin homepage:
This widget will only appear on the admin home page when the admin is a member of a permissions group that is assigned access to the task feature on the System Features page. It will display the current values for the mobile number and for the carrier's domain. When the admin clicks on the 'Edit' link, the following modal interface is displayed to the admin:
A. Mobile number: Only numeric characters are accepted - no symbols or letters will be considered valid.
B. Mobile carrier: This drop-down menu will display all the available carriers per the database lookup table. If the user selects the 'Other' option, Section C will be revealed as a form field for entering a custom gateway domain.
C. Other carrier: This field only appears when 'Other' is selected in Section B. When it is visible, it is a required field and the information entered into it, when concatenated with the data from Section A, needs to be a valid email address.
D. Action buttons: Use these buttons to cancel the action of adding a phone number, send a test to the phone number entered in the widget, or update the profile with the new phone number and carrier information.
E. Test SMS sent: This text appears after the 'Send test' button is clicked to verify that a test SMS has been sent to the user.
Task Examples:
Here are some examples of tasks that can be created manually as described in this article, or form part of a workflow:
- Credit Equivalency Request Approvals - Once a student, or study abroad advisor, adds a course a task could be sent to a faculty member or chair for review and approval.
- Review a specific process element (questionnaire, signature document, learning content, etc.) – A task can be created informing an admin to review a specific element of an application. The specific element would become the target in the task.
- Generate a roster for a faculty led program – A task can be created to notify an admin to create a roster for a faculty member leading a faculty led program.
- Approve a travel registration – A task can be created to notify a specific admin to approve or deny travel registrations to high risk locations.
- Approve a scholarship application – A task can be created to notify a specific admin to approve/deny a scholarship application.
- Assign applications and requests to admins for review - A task can be created when an application or request has been completed and it is ready for review.