Tasks

Go to Helpdesk › Tasks for work that has to get done, whether or not a ticket asked for it. A task can stand alone ("Review vendor contract"), belong to a ticket ("Swap the screen"), repeat on a schedule ("Check the fire extinguishers every month"), need someone's approval, or hold a checklist of steps. Work you repeat starts from a template.

You need View tasks (tasks.view) to open the page, and your plan needs Tasks. Anyone with a task or checklist step assigned to them can open it too, as My tasks.

My tasks#

People can always open the work assigned to them. If your role doesn't include View tasks but a task or a checklist step is assigned to you, My tasks shows in the sidebar, under schoolAgent, and opens this page with just your work:

• The list holds only the tasks and steps assigned to you. There are no other views.
• Open one to change its status, add files and comment. Everything else about it (its name, details, assignee, dates) is read-only.
• A step's checklist task opens too, read-only apart from your step.
• You can't add, reassign or delete tasks, or see anyone else's.

My tasks appears once something is assigned to you and stays while you hold any task, done or not. It isn't offered as a homepage. Your plan still needs Tasks.

In schoolAgent#

Your tasks are in schoolAgent too: select the agent's name at the top of the page and pick My tasks from the menu. The number beside it counts what's still to do. It shows when your plan has Tasks and you have View tasks or a task assigned to you.

• The list. A card for each task assigned to you, and each task with a step assigned to you. A step you can't reach the task of shows on its own, with the same Step 2 of 4 chip as the Tasks page. The heading says how many are still to do. Each card shows when it's due ("Due Friday", "Oct 10", or Done), its number, its name, a progress bar with how many steps are done, and where it happens. What's due soonest comes first; done tasks come last.
• One task. Select a card to open it: its details, its checklist, the comments, when it's due and how many steps are done, who asked, and where.
• Steps. Check off your own steps, and uncheck one to open it again. Other people's steps show whose they are and can't be changed. An approval step is decided on the Tasks page.
• Comments. Add a comment, and type @ (or select the @ button) to mention someone.
• Mark task done. Shows when the task itself is assigned to you, and works once every step is done. The message that confirms it has Undo.

My tasks at the top left takes you back to the list.

The header#

The title is Tasks, with a count of the tasks showing and how many are open, for example "24 tasks · 9 open".

• New task. See Add a task. Press N anywhere on the page to start one.
• Templates. Your task and checklist templates, and their editor. See Templates.
• More (⋯) › Export to CSV. Table view only. Downloads every task in the list, with the columns you're showing.

Your approvals#

When approvals are waiting on you, Your approvals sits above the list, oldest first: what was asked, who asked and which checklist, and how long it's waited (with reminder sent once a reminder has gone). Select one to open it, or decide it right there: Approve or Decline on the row asks you to confirm first, with a note for the requester (a reason is required to decline), and the row leaves the list. See Approvals.

Open tasks become tabs next to the view picker, so you can jump back to them.

Views#

• All Tasks. Every task you can see. A checklist's steps are left out: they show inside their task.
• My Tasks. Tasks assigned to you, including checklist steps you own.

Search and filters#

• Search task names and details… matches words in a task's name or details.
• Filter opens the same filter menu Tickets has. Each filter you set becomes a chip under the toolbar; remove the chip, or Clear all, to widen the list again. On My tasks it has Status alone.
  • Status. One of Open, In Progress, On Hold, Blocked, Done, Denied or Skipped (a checklist step that wasn't needed), in that order. With none picked, every status shows.
  • Assignee. Tasks assigned to one person.
  • Assignee out of office. Only tasks assigned to someone who's out of office right now: they turned on Out of office in their profile, or their connected calendar has them away. Their picture carries an orange ring along the bottom wherever it shows, and the list says when they're back ("Out until Fri").

When nothing matches, the list says so and offers Clear filters. With no tasks yet, it offers New task and Make a template.

Tasks follow the department you're in, when your account has departments. A task on a ticket can be handed to another department, the way a child ticket is: it needs only that department to be turned on, not you to be in it. Its assignee and team must work in that department.

Table, board or calendar#

The three buttons after the filters switch the layout. The list and board leave out future dates of a recurring task. They're on the calendar.

• Table view. A sortable table. See Columns.
• Kanban view. One column per status. Drag a card to change its status. Denied has no column, so denied tasks don't show here. Approval tasks and Blocked tasks can't be dragged.
• Calendar view. Tasks by due date, by Month or Week. Use the arrows and today's button to move. Select a task to open it.

Columns#

Table view. Use the columns button to show, hide and reorder them, or reset. Your choice is saved in this browser. All are shown to start with.

• Task ID. The task's reference, such as TSK-0001. The list sorts by this to start.
• Task Name. With the first line of its details. Approval marks an approval task. A checklist step carries its chip (see Steps in your list). Faces show who else has it open.
• Status. Select it to change. Approval and Blocked tasks can't be changed here.
• Assignee. Select it to assign someone.
• Ticket. The ticket it belongs to (select to open it), or Standalone.
• Due. Select it to set or change the date. Overdue open tasks stand out.
• Created.

20 tasks a page.

Change many tasks at once#

Tick the rows you want. The toolbar at the bottom offers:

• Set status: Open, In Progress, On Hold, Blocked or Done.
• Assign to: a person. Only the first 50 people in your account are listed. For anyone else, assign each task on its own.
• Unassign.
• Set due date... Asks you to type a date as YYYY-MM-DD, or leave it blank to clear.

Add a task#

Select New task. You need Create tasks (tasks.create). The Add to tasks dialog has two tabs: Custom and From a template. On a ticket, Add task has the same two.

Custom

• Task name. Required.
• Details. Optional.
• Requires approval. The assignee must approve or deny. Pick an assignee, or nobody can decide.
• Assignee.
• Location and Room.
• Due date. For a one-time task.
• Recurring or scheduled. Tick it for a task on a date and time, or one that repeats. It asks for a Start date, End date and Time, and Repeat: Does not repeat, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Annually, Every weekday (Monday to Friday) or Custom…. Pick a start date first: the options depend on it.
• Documents. Add file attaches files, 10 MB each at most.

Select Add task.

From a template#

1. Pick a template. The templates for the task's department and the ones shared by all departments, A to Z, each marked Task or Checklist · 4 steps. All, Tasks or Checklists narrows the list, and typing searches names and details. Manage templates opens the Templates page beside the dialog.
2. Task name. A task template fills in its own name. A checklist goes inside a task: name it for who or what it's for, such as "New Employee Onboarding — Jane Smith".
3. The key date, when the template counts from one. The box is named for it (Start date, Last day, Event date). Due dates show once it's filled in.
4. The preview. Every step (or the single task) with who it goes to and its real due date, such as Fri, Oct 2. Change anyone or any date here: the change is for this time only, and the template stays as it is. An approval step shows its approvers, who come from the template's approval settings; a step whose Only when doesn't hold for this request shows as skipped. A line under a step says when it isn't what the template says, for example "No ticket, so it goes to whoever adds it." or "The template's team is no longer available."
5. Select Add checklist or Add task. What's added is exactly what the preview showed.

Every step of a checklist is a real task, with its own person, due date, comments and files (see Steps in your list).

Which kind of task?#

| Choose | When | Example | | --- | --- | --- | | A one-time task with a Due date | It happens once. | "Review the copier lease before June 1." | | Recurring or scheduled | It repeats, or has to happen at a set time. Each date shows on the calendar. | "Check the fire extinguishers at Lincoln", Monthly. "Swap the HVAC filters", every three months with Custom…. | | Requires approval | Someone has to say yes before the work goes ahead. The assignee is the approver. | A principal approving a $600 classroom projector purchase. | | A task template | The same one task, again and again, for the same kind of person. | "Image a replacement Chromebook", for the ticket's assignee, due 2 business days after it's added. | | A checklist template | The same steps every time, maybe with approvals along the way and different people on each step. | New staff onboarding: order the laptop 5 business days before the start date, create the account, add them to the building's door access, each step for a different person. |

A task is a step of work. When a request needs its own conversation with a requester, its own team queue or its own SLA clock, it's a ticket; use a child ticket for work another team does for a ticket.

Templates#

A template is what a task starts from. Keep them on Helpdesk › Tasks › Templates: one list, A to Z, each marked Task or Checklist · N steps (with how many approvals, and how many topics use it). Select one to edit it on the right.

Search names and details, and filter by Kind (Tasks or Checklists) and Department.

Department templates#

When your account has departments, each template belongs to one department or to All departments (shared). A department's templates are offered only on that department's tasks and tickets, and to its topics; shared ones are offered everywhere.

• Department in the editor. A new template starts in the department you're working in; pick All departments to share it.
• The Department filter starts on the department you're working in, showing its templates and the shared ones. Pick another department you work in, or All departments for every department you work in.
• Who can change them. The same people who can work in that department's tasks: you see, file and edit templates only in departments you work in. Admins, and roles that reach every department, see them all. Shared templates are open to anyone who can create or update tasks.
• Topics. A topic's Add these to new tickets offers its department's templates and the shared ones. One a topic already has keeps working.

Until your account's database is updated for them, every template is shared and the Department field and filter don't show.

A topic can add any of them, tasks and checklists alike, to every new ticket with it: see Add these to new tickets.

New template asks which kind:

• Task. One task you add again and again, such as "Image a replacement Chromebook".
• Checklist. A process you repeat (onboarding someone, ordering equipment, approving a request) as steps. Each step is a task for its own person or team, with its own due date, and some can be approvals.

With none yet, the page offers New checklist, New task template and Start from an example (a device request: a principal at the requester's school, then the director only when they already have a device, then setting it up).

A task template has a Name, Details, Requires approval (its assignee approves or denies it, so it goes to a specific person), Who does it and Due. A checklist template's editor is below. The ⋯ menu on either has Duplicate and Delete. Deleting asks first, names any topics that use a checklist, and never changes tasks already added from it. Saving needs Create tasks, changing Update tasks, deleting Delete tasks.

Who does it#

For a task template, and for each task step of a checklist:

| Choose | Who gets it | | --- | --- | | Specific person | That person. | | Specific team | The team: any of its members can do it, and each is notified when it opens. | | The ticket's assignee | Whoever has the ticket it's added to. | | The ticket's team | The team the ticket is on. | | Whoever adds it | The person adding the template. |

Left empty, a checklist step goes to its task's assignee, and a task template is added unassigned.

• No ticket. Added on its own (not on a ticket), The ticket's assignee and The ticket's team go to whoever adds it, and the preview says so.
• From a topic. A topic's templates are added before the new ticket is routed, so steps and tasks for the ticket's assignee or team wait, unassigned, and are filled in as soon as routing picks them (or once the ticket's approvals are done and it's routed).
• Someone who can't take it. A person who left, is inactive or isn't in that department, a team that was deleted, or a ticket with nobody on it yet: a checklist step goes to its task's assignee instead, as it always has, and a task template is added unassigned. The preview names the reason.

Approval steps keep their own settings: see Approvals.

Due dates and key dates#

Due is a number of days, or No due date:

• Counted from the day it's added: "Due 2 business days after it's added". 0 is the same day.
• With a key date, counted before or after it: "Due 3 business days before Start date", "Due on Event date". Turn on Count from a key date and name the date (Start date, Last day and Event date are offered, or type your own). Whoever adds the template enters the date; every step counts from it.

Business days only is on to start: days count Monday to Friday, and a due date never lands on a weekend (counting back, it moves to the Friday before; counting forward, to the Monday after; a step due on a key date that's a Saturday is due the Friday before). Turn it off to count every day.

"Today" is today on your account's calendar, in its time zone (Account Settings), so a checklist added on a weekday evening is still due from that day. A topic's template has no one to ask for its key date: it counts from the day the ticket is created.

The Due dates in the preview are the real ones, and can be changed there for that one time.

Checklist templates#

Apply one from From a template in New task or a ticket's Add task, or have a topic add it to every new ticket.

In the editor:

• The name and what it's for, at the top. Used by lists the topics that apply it.
• One step at a time. On: each step opens when the ones before it are done or skipped, numbered. Off: all open at once.
• Count from a key date and Business days only. See Due dates and key dates.
• Steps. Drag a step by its handle to reorder it, or focus the handle and use the arrow keys. Each step is a Task or an Approval:
  • A task: Who does it (see Who does it) and Due. A step on a team is for any of its members: each of them is notified when it opens and can open it from the notification and work it, even without View tasks.
  • An approval: Who approves, How many, If nobody matches and Due. See Approvals.
  • Only when: conditions for a step that's needed only sometimes. See Only when.
  • Add details for whoever does it.
• Add a step and Add an approval.
• With approvals: When denied (close the ticket, or keep it open) and Reminders.
• Preview for a person: who each step goes to for a requester you pick.
• Save (⌘S or Ctrl+S). Discard drops your changes.

Until your account's database is updated for them, Count from a key date, Business days only and the ticket and Whoever adds it choices don't show, and saving them is refused with a message saying so.

Steps in your list#

A checklist's steps show inside their task. Where a step shows on its own (in My Tasks, on someone's own list), it looks like any other task, with a small chip saying where it belongs: Step 2 of 4 · Onboard Jane Smith (a stamp instead of a checklist mark for an approval). The approvers of an "any one" or "all of them" approval share one step number.

In a One step at a time checklist, a step whose turn hasn't come is grayed and says Waiting on step 1: the first step before it that isn't done. It opens, and its person or team is notified, once the steps before it are done or skipped. Open a step to work it; Step in at the top links to its task.

Work a task#

Select a task to open it. It takes the whole page, the way a ticket does, with the sidebar folded to its rail; All tasks on the slim rail at the left brings you back to the list.

In the middle:

• The name. Select it to rename.
• Status. Select it to change. An approval task is decided with Approve or Deny instead.
• The approval, for an approval step, first: who asked, what they asked for, the devices they have now, where the request stands, and Approve, Deny, Ask a question and Hand to someone else. See Approvals.
• Details. Saves when you click away.
• The checklist, when the task holds one. Work each step. Each step is a task of its own and shows its number (TSK-0074) before its name; select either to open it. An approval step says Approved by or Denied by the person who decided, with their picture.
• Activity, on the right, is the task's whole record: created, assigned, status, due date, renamed, details, location, files added or removed, comments, checklist steps added, opened or skipped, approvals asked and decided, questions, and what workflows did, each with who and when.
• Attachments. Upload files in their own card. New files are checked for viruses first, and show Checking until they can open; Blocked means the check failed them.
• Comments. Add a comment in the card below Attachments. Type @, or select the @ button under it, to mention a person or team; they're notified if they can open the task (Notifications and @mentions). The task's assignee is notified of every comment and change someone else makes.

Someone who's here only for their own work (the task is assigned to them, or a step of its checklist is) sees the task read-only, and works just their own task or step: its status, files and comments.

The icon rail on the right switches panels:

• Task. Due date (or Schedule with Edit, for a scheduled task), Location and Room, Ticket with Grant assignee ticket access, Dependencies, who created and assigned it, and Delete task.
  • Grant assignee ticket access lets the task's assignee open its ticket, even if they couldn't otherwise.
  • Dependencies are tasks that must be done first. Add dependency picks one. A task can't start or finish until its blocking tasks are done.
  • Delete task asks first. It needs Delete tasks (tasks.delete).
• Users. Assignee, who created it and who decided it.
• Activity. Everything that happened to the task.
• Time. Log time spent.

Who can do what#

• Anyone with work assigned to them, whatever their role: open My tasks, their own tasks and steps only, and change their status, add files and comment.
• View tasks (tasks.view): open the page and see tasks in your reach.
• Create tasks (tasks.create): New task, new checklists.
• Update tasks (tasks.update): change status, assignee, dates and details; edit checklists.
• Delete tasks (tasks.delete): delete tasks and checklists.

Tasks on a private or FERPA-protected ticket are hidden from people who can't see that ticket.