Process Step Details - Create Task

Select a Task Template to pre-populate default values such as Assignee, Due Date, Categories, and Details.

Note: Advanced fields like Priority, Job Category, and Work Type can only be populated through a template.

The Assignee can be set as a specific person in your user list. Using Merge Fields, this can be set as "Manager" to assign the task to the relative job's manager, or as "Partner" to assign it to the relative job's partner. For manual processes, the task can be assigned to the "Automation Initiator User", the user that triggered the automation to run. Custom User Roles can be selected from the Merge Fields window. Refer to Custom User Roles.

When using the drop-down option to select the Assignee:

• For a process that is run in the context of a Job, the Manager or Partner is taken from the Job Details.
• If there is no Partner/Manager assigned to the job, the Assignee is set as "Unassigned".

If a user has been selected incorrectly, and the task needs to be set back to unassigned, select "Unassigned" from the dropdown menu.

Defines who delegates the task. Can be a specific user or a role using Merge Fields (for example, the Client Manager). When unassigned, the Delegator defaults to System.

The Delegator will receive a notification when the task is completed.

Specifies when the task is due, relative to the automation run date.

Select a number of days from the drop-down. Selecting 0 makes the task due immediately. If Custom is selected, an additional Days field will be displayed, allowing you to enter a value up to 365.

If Task Security is set in your Practice Settings, a Cabinet can be selected to add Cabinet Security to the task. This ensures that only users with access to that Cabinet can see the task, for example, for sensitive areas such as HR or performance management. 

When creating a task, you can select the cabinet. Where a task is automatically created as linked to a document, the task cabinet is inherited from the document created and displayed in the task details. 

When set to On, pauses the process until the created task is marked as Complete. This could be used, for example, for a Task created in the process to ensure that an invoice created in the previous step(s) has been approved before any other actions in the process are done. When the Task is set as "Completed", the next step in the process commences.

Note: Avoid enabling Blocking for single-step processes as they will remain incomplete until the task is manually completed.

By default, a comment will not be created. 

Set the option to Yes. The Your Comment field will be displayed to customise the comment added to the task.

'A comment will be created' will display in the Action column of the process step, when the step is saved.

Enter the details of a comment, using the @ symbol to notify a specific user. 

Click the Merge Field icon to use Merge Fields in the comment. Refer to Including Merge Fields in Automations.

Tip: To use a Merge Field to select a user and send a notification, type the left square bracket [ and @ symbol, select the Merge Field, and type the right square bracket ]:

@[{{ TriggerClient_custom_Administration_name }}] .

The method used to calculate the time assigned to the task.

Fixed - The Default Time value entered in the next field will always be used when the time entry is created, regardless of the size of the client or the Job Time Budget. Relative is used to calculate the time for the Task relative to the total estimated hours for a Job.

Relative - Calculates the time relative to all of the tasks on the job. the total of the Default Times for all the Tasks in the Process is calculated. This is then compared to the Estimated Hours for the Job and any "Relative" times are then calculated and proportionately increased or decreased based on the total for the Job that is being considered. For example:

• The total of all Default Times in the Tasks in the Process is 10 hours.
• A Task has been set up as Relative, so it will allocate the time proportionate to the estimated total of the Job.
• The Default Time of this Task is 30 minutes (00:30).
• The Estimated Hours for one of the Jobs that triggered the Process is 30 hours. For this Job, the Time allocations for this Task will be increased by three times the Default Time. The time allocated for this Task, for this Job, will be 1 hour 30 minutes.
• The Estimated Hours for a different Job that triggered the Process is 2 hours. For this Job, the Time allocations will decrease and allocate it as one-fifth of the Default Time. The time allocated for this Task, for this Job, will be 6 minutes.

Set as the estimated time that the action or Task would take.

Time can be added using the hours and minutes format (hh:mm), a whole number, or as a decimal. Decimals will be converted using 6-minute increments. Once entered, the time will be converted to display using the hours and minutes format (hh:mm). Refer to Time Overview.

For example, to add 12 minutes you could enter:

• 00:12
• 12
• 0012
• 0.2

Used to update the Custom Fields when a time entry is created after completing a task.

If you select a Custom Field, a new field will be added to the drawer.

Once a Custom Field has been selected, it will be removed from the options available in the Custom Field drop-down list. You can add additional Custom Fields by selecting them from the drop-down.

Update the added Custom Field by selecting a value from the drop-down, or clicking the Merge Field. When updating a Custom Field that is a Date, this is set as the "Current Date" by default.

Custom Fields on the time entry will be updated using the selections made in the Automation step, along with any values inherited from the job.

Note: To inherit from the Job, the Custom Fields must be enabled for both Job and Time.