Important Note: This article discusses classic functionality. For information on the modern applicant experience, refer to the Applicant Experience Knowledgebase article.

This article covers the following topics:

What is a Task?

A task is essentially a to-do item, and it represents an activity that is assigned to an admin user. A task has a subject to indicate what the admin user is assigned to do and a status that shows whether or not the admin has started working on their task or if they have already completed it. Tasks may also have a description, priority status, due date, and 'target.' A target is a link to the specific page in the software to which the task is relevant. This can be a specific application, program, document center object, content page, etc.. A task will also have information about who created it, who it is assigned to, and the date it was created. As administrators have tasks assigned to them, a list of tasks will appear on their admin homepage. Depending on the configuration, the tasks can be removed from view as they are marked as complete so the admin always sees a list of currently assigned, incomplete tasks.

Task List on Admin Homepage

A. Task List tab: The task list panel on the admin homepage displays up to 10 tasks. The 'Task List' tab will take the admin to a page that displays the full list of tasks. The two task lists (the one on the admin homepage and the full task list) can be configured to be mirror images of each other, or they can be configured to show different types of tasks and/or different data columns.
B. New Task tab: Use this tab to create new tasks and assign them to yourself or others.
C. Settings tab: By default, all tasks that exist in the system, regardless of the status or who they are assigned to, will appear in the task list on the admin homepage and the full task list. Use this tab to adjust which tasks appear in your lists and which info columns are displayed.
D. Subject: The subject line also serves as a link to a more detailed view of the task. This more detailed view is where you can change the status to 'Completed' once the task has been done.
E. Target: The target serves as a link to the object of the task. The links in this example will take the admin directly to the questionnaire, application, and site content page that require their attention. In this example, the questionnaire, application and site content page are 'objects' of the different tasks assigned to the admin user.
F. SMS Notifications: Enter your mobile phone number here if you want the ability to receive text message notifications when new tasks are assigned to you.

Full Task List

When an administrator selects the 'Task List' tab on the 'Tasks' panel of the admin home page, the following, full task list, is displayed:

A. Return to Home tab: This tab will take the user back to their admin homepage.
B. Edit Filter: This link will take the admin user to a form where they can customize their full task list.
C. Show: Select different numbers in this dropdown to adjust the number of tasks shown on the page.

How do I enable this feature?

The tasking functionality is automatically 'on' for all Terra Dotta sites. You will just need to determine which permission groups should have access to it and decide which custom data fields, if any, you'd like to use. Please note that tasks can only be assigned to administrative users on your site; it is not possible to task applicants/students/registrants.

A. Task / Workflow Configuration: Go to Settings -> System Features -> Administrative tab -> Task/Workflow Configuration.

B. Permission groups: This line of the form will display a list of the permission groups whose users will be able to create/edit/view tasks. If there are none assigned, it will display 'None'. Click the ‘Edit’ link to select the appropriate permission group(s) that should have access to tasks. When a permission group is assigned, the following changes will occur immediately for all admin users in the group:

They will have the option to show the 'Tasks' panel on their admin home page.
They will see a 'New Task' tab at the top of pages that are able to serve as 'objects' for tasks.
They will have the ability to view/edit/create tasks.

NOTE: After editing the permissions groups, the admin user will be returned to the System Features page and will then need to click the 'Update' button at the bottom of the System Features page for the changes to go into effect.

C. Custom fields for tasks: There are two user defined fields available for configuration by an administrator. If there are additional task characteristics important to your office, these 'custom fields' can be used to collect this information. The custom data field can be given a name and a picklist of values can be created for admin to choose from when assigning a task. The custom data fields can be configured to be required if desired. It is recommended to use the task feature initially without defining these custom fields. Once your office is familiar with the functionality, a decision can be made about what additional information could be useful with regards to tasks. There is a strict limit of two custom fields for tasks, so it is important to give careful consideration to what additional information would be necessary/helpful.

How the custom fields will be used will vary greatly from office to office. Here are a few examples:

Tasks are assigned to specific administrators. If an office has a policy stating that when someone is out of the office, the other staff members are expected to work on his/her tasks, they might want a custom data field for 'Claimed by:'. When 'John' is out and 'Stephanie' begins working on one of his tasks, she can select her name from the custom field picklist to 'claim' the task so that other admin don't spend time working on the same task.
If an office is using Terra Dotta Study Abroad and Travel/Risk, they might find it useful to use a custom field for 'Task Type' so they can indicate if the task is related to Study Abroad or Travel/Risk.
If an office is using Terra Dotta ISSS, they might find it useful to use a custom field for 'Scholar Dept.' so that when sending a task regarding a scholar, their department can be included in the task information.
An office may want the ability to filter task views based Visa Type. They could create a custom field for 'Visa Type' and then filter views to show only F-1 or J-1 tasks.
Some offices may not have a need to use the custom fields at all, if the default task information is enough, there is no need to configure these custom fields.

On the System Features page, click the ‘Edit name/options’ link to customize the custom fields:

A. Field name: This is a required field and will display the currently assigned name for the user defined field. It can be a maximum of 15 characters and follows default field character restrictions (no HTML, special chars, etc.)

B. Required: These radio options will determine whether or not the custom field will need to have a value provided for any new tasks (or when editing existing tasks)

C. Options list: In this area the admin should build a picklist of values that can be selected for the custom field.

NOTE: After editing a custom field, the admin user will be returned to the System Features page and will then need to click the 'Update' button at the bottom of the System Features page for the changes to go into effect.

Admin Homepage: Enable ‘My Tasks’ panel

Once a permissions group has been given access to tasks, a new panel can be configured to appear on the admin home page for all admin users in that group. To configure the admin homepage to display the task panel, the admin should click on the 'Admin Settings' tab at the top right of their menu.

Next, check the box next to 'Tasks' and click the Update button. Then click the ‘Return to Admin Home’ tab to go back to your admin homepage.

Customizing Task Lists

As mentioned before, there are two types of task lists:

One task list is on the admin homepage in the 'Tasks' panel and will display up to 10 tasks
Another task list, the full task list, is seen by clicking on the 'Task List' tab on the admin homepage

By default, all tasks in the system, regardless of the status or who they are assigned to, will be displayed on both lists for all admin who have permission to use this feature. Every admin user should customize their view of tasks so that they only see tasks relevant to them. In addition to filtering which tasks appear in the list, admin can also customize what information about the tasks is displayed. For example, an admin might want to see only the subject, due date, and target while another admin might want to see the subject, due date, description, status, priority, and target. You can customize both lists so that you see the tasks you want to see and the information about those tasks that is most relevant to you. The two lists may or may not be mirror images of each other, depending on how the admin configures the task list settings. For example, an admin may want only tasks with a priority status of 'critical' to show on their admin homepage, while incomplete tasks of all priority levels could show in their full task list.

Customizing the task list is easiest if there is at least one task in the system that appears in the list as an example so the admin can see how their settings affect their task lists. To quickly create an example task go to your admin homepage and click on the 'New Task' tab. Enter dummy information and assign the task to yourself. When you're finished, this task should appear on your task lists.

Now that you have an example task in your list, go back to your admin homepage and click on the 'Settings' tab in the tasks panel and you will see a page that looks similar to:

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A.    Return to Home tab: This tab will take the admin user back to the admin homepage.
B.    CC Email Address: When an admin is assigned a task, the person creating the task can choose to alert the admin via email or text. If the admin is alerted via email, the email notification will be sent to the email address associated with that admin user. If the admin would like another email address to also receive this notification, they can enter that alternate email address here. NOTE: There is no email validation performed on this field.
C.    “Tasks to display” Home page panel current settings: This section displays the current values being used to filter the tasks displayed on the task list on the admin homepage. To customize the settings for the admin homepage task list, click the 'Edit filter' link.
D. "Tasks to display" Default task list settings: This section displays the current values being used to filter the tasks displayed on the full task list. To customize the settings for the full task list, click the 'Edit filter' link.

Edit Filter -> Customize Your View

When an admin selects the 'Edit filter' option for either of the task lists, the following modal is displayed. This modal is used to customize which tasks appear on the task list, and what information about the tasks will be displayed by default. Sections A-H are for filtering which tasks appear on the list, and section I is for selecting which data columns to include in the view:

A. Assigned to: These options will display all the available administrators (sorted by last name) and permission groups (sorted alphabetically) as configured in the System Features. The admin can select multiple admins and/or groups, and the tasks that are displayed in their task list will include all tasks assigned to the selected individual users and/or the tasks assigned to all admin in the particular permission group(s) selected. Generally, an admin will want to see tasks assigned to them, however, there might be times where they want to see tasks assigned to other admin users.

B. Created by: These options are similar to the 'Assigned to' options, but without the permission groups as selectable options. If this filter is used, the tasks that are displayed in the admin's task list will be those that were created by one of the users selected.

C. Statuses: The four statuses are available as options here (Open, In progress, Pending, Completed). The admin can select multiple statuses and the tasks that appear in the list will be those that have one of the selected statuses. Generally, an admin will only want to see tasks that are Open, In progress, or Pending.
D. Priority: The four priority levels are available here (Low, Medium, High, Critical). The admin can select multiple priority levels and the tasks that appear in the list will be those with one of the selected priority levels. If tasks of all priority levels should appear in the lists, this section doesn't need to be edited in the filter criteria.

E. Dates: This filter option allows the task list to be filtered based on one of the dates associated with the task. The date can be one of the following:

Task due date
Task created
Task completed
Workflow started

After selecting a date to filter on, a second drop-down will determine the operation. These options are:

In the next
In the last
Since
On
After
Between

Using this filter option, an admin could (for example) filter their task view so they see only tasks with a due date in the next week.

F. User defined 1: This filter will allow the admin to select from the option values that have been configured in System Features for the custom field. NOTE: If a custom field is in use, the name of this section will be different on your site than what you see in this screenshot.

G. User defined 2: This filter will allow the admin to select from the option values that have been configured in System Features for the custom field. NOTE: If a custom field is in use, the name of this section will be different on your site than what you see in this screenshot.

H. Workflows: This filter will list all the existing workflows in the account so that only tasks associated with a particular workflow appear in the task list. (For information about workflows, refer to the Knowledgebase article link at the bottom of this page.)

I. Columns: This section will determine which columns appear in the view and how the tasks are to be sorted/ordered. The first multi-selection interface is 'Available columns' and has the following options:

•   Subject
•   Description
•   Status
•   Due date
•   Priority
•   Assigned to
•   Created by
•   Date created
•   Date completed
•   Target
•   Workflow
•   Workflow started
•   User defined 1 (named as configured in System Features)
•   User defined 2 (named as configured in System Features)

All data columns that should be included in the task list should be selected and moved to the box on the right. Below the 'Available Columns' box is a 'Sort list by' picklist. Select a picklist option by which you'd like to sort your task list and then determine if the task list should be sorted by that criteria in 'ascending' and 'descending' order. For example, the task list could be sorted by due date in ascending order so that the tasks with the closest due date are at the top of the task list.

NOTE: When the admin changes the values through the modal interface, the settings are not immediately changed in the database, the 'Update' button on the next page (Task Settings page) also needs to be clicked to commit the changes.

Once the task feature has been enabled for at least one permission group and the task lists have been customized, you're ready to start creating tasks. Refer to the following Knowledgebase article for information about creating tasks -- Administrative Tasks: Part II - Creating Tasks

Articles in this section

Study Abroad: Administrative Tasks: Part I - Configuring the 'Task' Feature and Task Lists (Classic) Follow