Setting Up and Managing Your Task Workflow

In order to properly report progress made on tasks, your system administrator will need to establish a workflow. Your workflow starts with a task type, which is the method used to categorize your tasks. You then define these task types by customizing and adding unique status codes to each stage of a task type’s life cycle.

Configuring Task Types

1. To begin establishing task types, click WORKFLOW...TASK TYPES in the navigation bar. This will take you to your Task Workflow Manager.

2. In this new window, click the ADD TASK TYPE button on the top-right side of your screen to give your task type a name. You can base this name off of the staff department that will use this workflow, or you could use a name that corresponds with the type of service you provide to your customers.

3. Once you have established your name, click ADD and BigTime will create a default status code for every stage.

Defining a Task’s Progress Through Each Stage Using Status Codes

Editing Stages

By default, BigTime generates six general stages for a given task’s life cycle:

• Not Started
• In Process
• Under Review
• Admin
• Complete
• Archived

The application and purpose of each stage can be adapted to suit your firm. If necessary, the first five stages can be renamed by clicking the PENCIL ICON next to the task type's name, and then entering new text in the dialog box below each header.

The last stage, "Archived," cannot be renamed due to its unique function. Archived means that any status code assigned to this stage will trigger a task to be removed from the Task Dashboard, as it no longer needs to be tracked by any teams. However, you can still report on these archived tasks in the reporting system.

Assigning Status Codes to Stages

Now that you’ve created a task type, you will need to populate each stage with at least one status code so that a task can be associated with one stage or another. To edit/create status codes for each stage, click the pencil icon next to your newly created task type. 

From here, you can add new status codes to each phase by clicking the ADD NEW CODE button at the bottom of each column. Each status code must be unique to each stage. You can also move status codes from stage to stage by simply clicking and dragging them to the appropriate column. 

Deleting/Inactivating Status Codes and Tasks

You are able to delete or declare status codes that you no longer need "inactive" by clicking on the TRASH ICON.

From this screen, you can also make a task type completely inactive once you no longer need to track it on your Task Dashboard. Simply check off the box underneath the task type name to apply this change. Making status codes inactive is preferred over deleting, however, in order to keep a history of these codes within BigTime.

Once you are done making your changes, click SAVE at the bottom of your workflow setup screen.

Assigning Types and Statuses to Your Tasks

Applying types and status codes to your tasks is simple. Simply apply these values upon creating a new task, or open an existing task, to assign it a type and status code.

You can also apply these changes in bulk, if needed, to save yourself some time. Just check off the tasks you would like to update on your Task Dashboard. From the BULK ACTIONS menu, use the drop-down arrow to choose the UPDATE STATUS option. From here you will have the option of applying an updated status to each task in your selection.