Tasks

Overview

A task is a piece of work for one person to do. Every task somebody is expected to do appears on their Tasks page, and it stays there until it is completed or it expires.

There are two kinds of task, and two ways a task can arrive. Those are separate choices, so any combination of them is possible.

A task is one of two kinds:

A form — a checklist or questionnaire to fill in, built once on the Forms page and reused.
A simple task — no form, just a name and instructions. The person marks it done with a button, and you can require a photo as proof.

A task arrives in one of two ways:

From an assignment — the way to reach several people at once, or to have the same work repeat on a schedule. See Assignments.
As a quick task — a one-off you hand to a single person or a single location, without setting up an assignment.

Assignments or a quick task?

	Quick task	Assignment
Best for	One-off, ad-hoc work	Recurring or bulk work
Recipients	One user or one location	Any number of users, locations, teams, or roles
Scheduling	Optional due date	One-time, recurring (daily, weekly, monthly), or no due date
Reporting	Not included in assignment reports	Completion rates and scheduled reports

The short version: if it is going to one person once, use a quick task. If it repeats, or goes to more than one person, use an assignment.

Quick Tasks

Creating one

There are three places to start, and they differ only in what is filled in for you:

From the Tasks page — click Create. Nothing is pre-selected.
From the Locations page — click the dots (…) next to a location, then Create Task. That location is pre-selected.
From Organization → Users — click the dots (…) next to a person, then Create Task. That person is pre-selected.

Then fill in the options below and click Create.

Quick Task Options

First choose the kind of task:

Assign a Form: pick an existing form from the dropdown. The task takes the form’s name and its questions.
Create a Simple Task: leave the form empty and instead give the task a name and instructions. Optionally tick Require Photos to insist on a photo as proof, and Camera Only (No Uploads) to force a new photo rather than one from the camera roll.

Then choose who it is for:

Assign To User: one particular person.
Assign To Location: anybody working at that location can pick it up and complete it.

And optionally set a Due Date and time.

The Tasks Page

Tasks is your own list. It has three tabs:

Assigned — work waiting on you.
Approvals — submissions waiting on your sign-off. See Approval Routing.
Calendar — the same work laid out by date.

Two related pages sit next to it in the menu: Team Tasks, which shows the same information for everybody you are responsible for, and Drafts, which holds anything started and not finished (see Viewing A Draft).

Completing a task

Open the task from the Tasks page.
Fill in the form, or follow the instructions if it is a simple task.
Attach any required photos.
Click Submit.

If the form it came from requires approval, the submission then waits under Approvals until somebody signs it off.

Task Statuses

Not Started: nobody has opened it.
Started: opened but not finished.
Completed: done.
Late: completed after the due date.
Expired: the due date passed and it can no longer be submitted.