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Using the Task List
The Task List is an electronic listing of workflow tasks that require a user's attention. It is similar to an email Inbox. Users must log in to to access their task list. Tasks display in a small area on the left side of the screen. Clicking on an icon to perform a task related function will display any associated screens to the right or below the task list depending on it's state. See images below.
Selected tasks will display with a blue background. Updates to the task list occur automatically every five minutes and an icon is provided to manually refresh the list.
Desktop/Tablet View of the Task List
On This Page:
You will notice a different look and feel when the Task List runs on an iPhone.
Task List on the iPhone
Tasks appear on the task list for one of three reasons:
- You clicked the save icon on a form or flow which had the saved/load feature enabled.
- A workflow was directed to you to perform the next step in the flow.
- A workflow was directed to a role (ex: Manager) to perform the next step in the flow, and you have that role. See embedding your task list.
You will see your tasks when you login. If your user account has the special frevvo.designer role, you must click on the My Tasks tab to view your tasks. Customers using a space, may have to click on the Important Items tab to access the Task List. The icon expands and contracts the task list . It will show a menu with two selections, My Tasks and Shared Items when it is expanded. A contracted Task list will show the associated screens to the right while an expanded Task List displays the screens below it.
Your tasks will be grouped by flow. For Example, all expense reports waiting for manager approval will be listed under the Expense Report Flow and vacation requests listed under Leave Approval. You can manually expand or contract the tasks for a specific flow by clicking anywhere on the flow title bar.
The user that sent the the task to your Task List displays in the top left The date/time that the task was navigated to the user's task list is shown on the top right. Task List time is always displayed in the Task List and Audit Trail in the user's browser local timezone.on desktop and mobile devices. Task information, intended to provide additional information about the task for the user who is going to perform it, is configurable by the designer and appears in the bottom left.
The Tasks page lists your saved forms and flows and all the flows pending to be performed by you or pending to be performed by someone with one of your assigned roles. You can:
- Click the icon to manually refresh the Task List. The expanded/contracted state of the refreshed task list will not change.
The Live Forms Task List will automatically refresh every 5 minutes displaying any updates. The refresh time interval can not be changed at this time. It may be a configurable option in a future release.
- Click the My Tasks to toggle between an expanded and contracted Task List.
- Click the Inbox icon to display a non-expanded task list.
- Click the Recent icon to see all tasks you acted upon in the past 7 days. The task list is color coded. Tasks with a green background have been submitted, while those with an white background are pending/saved. A red background indicates tasks that have been aborted. The image shows one submitted task, two aborted tasks and two pending tasks.
- Click the Saved icon to view all tasks currently saved by you
- Click the icon to search for tasks you have performed in the past
- Click the icon to see how to embed your task list in another web page
The Tasks page displays a list of all your pending tasks by form/flow name. For each task you can:
- Click the icon to display a Quick View of the task without displaying the entire form. Quick View allows the user who's responsibility it is to review the task (manager, supervisor, reviewer etc.) to add a comment, approve or reject, sign and pass it to the next user in the flow. Quick View is enabled by the designer. See below for the details.
- Click the icon to perform the task. This icon is red when the task is locked by you so that only you can perform it. No other users with your role can perform this task unless you unlock it . The icon is blue when the task is shared between multiple users, for example when the task is assigned to a role i.e. group of users.
- Click the icon to modify a task and send it back to a prior step, abort, reassign or reset a task. The Modify icon will only display if the user is a flow administrator, tenant admin or a designer user.
- Click the icon to see the event history for this specific task. For flows you will see all the users that have participated in the flow thus far. For saved forms & flows you will see each time you clicked save
- Click the icon to lock a task so you can perform it later
- Click the icon to unlock this task and return it to the task pool
- Click the to abort a task. The abort icon will only display if the user is a flow administrator, tenant admin or a designer user.
Not all tasks have all the action icons listed above. For example saved forms may not have the lock, unlock or modify icons. This is because saved forms usually can only be performed by the user that saved them. Thus in that sense they are already locked by you and cannot be unlocked back to any other user. Workflow tasks may or may not have the modify or abort icons. The icons only display f the user is a flow administrator, tenant admin or a designer user. The modify action does not make sense for saved forms.
When a task step is assigned to a role rather than a specific user, that task will simultaneously appear on the task list of all people with that role. The first person that clicks the perform or lock icon will in effect claim that task. At this point all other users with this role can no longer perform this task. They will see the perform icon change as shown below to a indicate that it cannot be clicked. View the audit trail or hover over the icons to display a tool tip with the username of the person who currently has this task locked.
Quick View
The Quick View feature is particularly suited to flows designed for mobile devices. The Quick View icon will only appear for tasks where it is enabled by the designer. See Setup Quick View for the details. Clicking the icon shows a Quick View of the task. Quick View provides an easy way to add a comment, approve something in your task list and pass the task to the next person, or reject the task and send it back to the previous step.
Quick View does not lock the task.
Let's consider a Leave Approval workflow with two activities: the first step is a form which collects the pertinent information about the Leave request - employee name, starting date and duration of leave, etc. This step is filled out by any employee requesting a leave. The second step is a form that has a section named Manager Approval with a text area control for comments. The designer has setup the Quick View feature for this step in the flow and assigned the role of manager to it. When a manager clicks on the Quick view icon, the Manager step displays as shown:.
You will see the following on the Quick View Screen:
- A summary text area that can be used to give a description of the task at the top. This is configurable by the designer and can be templatized via the "control" dropdown. See Setup Quick View for the details.
- A text area in which the person who is viewing the task can enter a comment. Entering a comment on the Quick View screen is the same as typing the comment directly into the form.
- Approve button. Clicking this displays the message "Task successfully approved" and moves the workflow along to the next step. The task will disappear from your task list.
- Reject button. Clicking this rejects the task to the step selected from the Prior Activity dropdown. A reason for the rejection must be provided. The message "Task successfully rejected" will display.
- Details button. Clicking this will display the form as usual. This action is identical to clicking on the perform this task icon. Clicking on the Details button will lock the task.
Quick View is not available if you are using the Task List within Confluence.
Perform a Task
Click the icon to perform a task in your task list. This icon is red when the task is locked by you and it is blue when the task is available to multiple users to perform.
A task will appear in your task list when you are the person assigned to perform the next step in a workflow. When you click the perform icon, the flow will load into your browser at its current step. This workflow step may have been assigned specifically to you to perform or it may have been assigned to a person having one of your roles (ex: Manager).
A task will also appear in your task list if you clicked the save icon/button on a form/flow in order to complete it at a later time. When you click the perform icon for a saved task, the form/flow will load back into your browser with all the form field values as you left them when you last clicked save.
If the task displays the disabled icon, this indicates that the task is currently being performed by another person or that another person has clicked the lock icon to reserve the task. When this is the case, the only person that can complete this task is the person with the lock. View the audit trail or hover over a locked task to see who holds the lock. You can ask that person to unlock the task if you want to perform it. You can also ask your tenant administrator to unlock a task.
If you see the error in the image below when clicking on the Perform this Task icon on the Task list, it is most likely because the visibility of the flow is set to private instead of public in tenant or public. Notify the form/flow designer that you are receiving this error.
Audit Trail
Click the icon to view a task's event history. A new event is added to a task's history each time:
- The form/flow is saved
- The form/flow is submitted
- The form/flow is aborted
- The flow is continued and becomes pending for the next person
- The flow is modified and reset back to an earlier step and becomes pending again for the person that previously performed that step.
Here is the event history for a form that was saved twice and not yet submitted.
Each events contain the following information:
- The state - Pending, Saved, Submitted, Aborted or Waiting.
- The user name of the person who caused the event (ex: "By: James Blume" or "By:Anonymous " if the event was performed by an anonymous user)
- A date/time stamp when the event occurred The time displays in the user's browser local timezone.
- When the event in the history has a state of "Pending", the user name or role(s) for whom the task is awaiting the next action (ex: "For Roles Manager", "For User: jerry")
Here is the event history for a form that was saved thrice and then submitted.
The icons displayed at the left of each event indicate:
- - The task can be continued (displayed for pending events, and pending flows)
- - Displayed for saved forms
- - This task was modified and reset to this step
- - This task was finished
- - The task is locked by a user
- - The task is aborted
- - The task has been reassigned to another user or role by an administrator.
Here is the event history for a Mortgage Application workflow that was initiated by an anonymous user ("By:Anonymous "). Next the task was performed by the user m1. Next user s1 rejected the task and reset it back to a step previously performed by user m1. This workflow now resides on the task list of user m1.
Here is the event history for the same workflow as above. After the reset, the task was performed by user m1 and is now on the task list of all users having the role Processing. This task is now potentially on the task list of multiple people in this tenant if multiple users have the role named Processing.
User s1 performed the next step in the workflow. This user must have the role named Processing in order to have performed this step. The user s1 completed the final step in the flow and submitted it.
Here is the event history of a 2nd Mortgage Application workflow. The flow was initiated by an anonymous user and then performed by user m1. The tenant admin then aborted the task. Abort removes the task from everyone's task list. This task can still be found by any user that performed one or more steps or by the tenant admin via Search History.
Use the history message property to add custom messages to the audit trail for the steps of a workflow.
The audit trail will log an entry each time the workflow navigates to a different user and each time the current user saves the flow. The audit trail will log a single entry when the same user performs multiple steps. You can configure the Save on Navigation feature if you want to see an entry in the Audit Trail each time the flow navigates to a different step even if they are performed by the same user.
Lock and Unlock a Task
A task becomes locked when you click the lock or perform icons. Perform auto-locks the task to prevent multiple people from mistakenly performing the same task at the same time. If you decide that you do not want to perform this task, click the icon to return it to the task pool (ex: Managers).
If a task is loaded from the task list but not submitted, the lock will be released when that users session with expires or the user explicitly logs out. You can set the Session Timeout in your in-house installation.
Some task do not display lock/unlock icons. A workflow step assigned specifically to you, rather than a role, must be performed by only you. In this sense such a workflow is currently locked for only you to perform.
The same is true for saved forms. Saved forms must be performed, completed and submitted by the person that started them. They cannot be unlocked back to a pool of users to complete.
Once a task is locked, all other users with this role can no longer perform this task. They will see the perform icon for this task on their task list change as shown below to a indicate that they cannot be clicked:
The image below shows the Task List of Manager Jack Smith after Manager Jerry Mouse has claimed the Expense Report submitted by employee Giorgio Armani. Clicking on the perform icon will not display the task. If you hover over these icons to a tool tip with the username of the person who currently has this task locked displays. If a task is currently locked, the last entry in the audit trail will show who locked it and when.
You can ask that person or your tenant administrator to unlock the task if you want to perform it.
To lock/unlock a task on the iPhone, touch the Edit button on the Task List.
Check the checkbox that appears to the left of the task. Touch Lock to lock the task or Unlock to unlock the task. This checkbox is not available for Saved Forms/Flows.
The green dot displays when the task is locked.
Modify a Task
Tenant/flow admins and designer users have special modify permissions. They can:
- Reset a task to a prior step
- Abort a pending task
- Reassign a pending task to a different user
- Reassign a pending task to a different role
Non-admin users have the ability to send the workflow back to a different step by clicking the Reject button. This property is configurable by the form/flow designer. Designer users, tenant admins or flow admins click the modify this task icon to abort/reassign/reset tasks. This icon only appears on those user's task list.
Resetting a Task
Resetting back to a prior step is useful for example when the person performing the current step needs to ask one of the people who completed an earlier step to review or fix a problem. For example, perhaps the manager Jerry sees that the property address is incorrect and needs to send the form back to the person who filled in the application.
Designer users and flow administrators will see the modify this task icon when the task appears on their task list. The tenant admin must perform a search to locate the task then click the modify this task icon. Clicking the modify this task icon on a Saved task presents this screen without the Reset to Step section.
The screen shown below displays in all three cases. To reset (reject) a task:
- Click on the modify this task icon.
- Select the step in the flow that you want to send the task back to from the Reset to Step dropdown. To send the workflow back to the Loan Application step performed by the user max, jerry selects this choice from the dropdown. The sections of the screen for aborting and reassignment collapse.
- Fill in the Reason for the modification. Click submit. The task disappears from Jerry's task list and appears on Max's task list.
The message will display.
User Max receives an email informing that he has a new task for the Loan Application flow. The email contains a link to his task list. He will have to log in to access it.
When a workflow is reset to a prior step that task will appear on the task list of the person that performed that step. Even if this step was configured to be performed by anyone with a given role (ex: Manager) a reset workflow task will appear only on the task list of the manager that previously performed that step.
In many real world workflows such as a loan or job application, the first one or more steps are often performed by people that do not have a user account in the tenant. You currently cannot send the workflow back to this person. The task can only be sent back to a person with a user account in the tenant. All signatures in flow steps along the way will be removed - the user will have to sign again. You cannot reset a task to a Summary Step.
Aborting a Task
On occasion, there may be a reason to abort a task. Only the tenant admin, flow admin or designer user can abort a task. The modify and abort icons only appears on these users' task list.
There are two ways to accomplish this:
- Click the abort this task icon
Check the "Yes" checkbox after clicking the modify this task icon.
Aborting a task removes it from all task lists. Aborted tasks can never again be performed or submitted so use this action with care.
The tenant admin must perform a search to locate the task then click the abort this task icon.
In all three cases, clicking the icon displays the following message to confirm the abort:
A task can also be aborted by checking the Abort this task checkbox after clicking the modify this task icon for that task. Checking "Yes" for the Abort this task question collapses the reset to step, assign to a different user and assign to a different role sections. A required reason for aborting the task must be entered before clicking Submit. The reason will be visible in the audit trail.
Reassigning a Task
Reassigning a workflow task to another user/role can be done automatically via workflow escalation or performed manually by administrators. Tenant/flow admin users can modify both workflows and saved forms. This gives the admin the ability to move a saved form from one user's task list to another for example if one user has gone on vacation the admin can pass the incomplete form to another user to finish.
Admins should use caution when reassigning a workflow task to another user or role. It is possible to change the flow in a way that may have been unintended by the person that designed/created the workflow. This is why only the tenant/flow admins have the permission to reassign to a specific user or role.
It is not possible to reassign a task that is in the WAITING state to another user.
Assign to User
Imagine that Sally in the mortgage processing department was working on a mortgage application and had saved the loan form. Sally then left for a week vacation. The tenant admin can login and search for all forms saved by Sally. Flow administrators can search for all saved forms associated with the mortgage application flow. Here we see the loan application task she was working on.
The tenant/flow admin clicks the icon to move this saved form to a different user's task list by selecting a user from the "Assign to a different user" dropdown, putting a message in Reason input and clicking submit. In the image below the flow admin, Jerry has selected the username 'm1'.
Now when Sally next logs into her account she'll no longer see this saved form on her task list. When the user 'm1' logs into m1 will see Sally's saved form on their task list and can perform, complete and submit the form.
Assign to Role
The tenant/flow admin can also move a saved form or any saved or pending flow to one or more roles. In the example above imagine that the user 'm1' is also unavailable. The tenant/flow admin can again search for the loan application form saved by Sally and again click modify but this time select a role from the "Assign to a different role" dropdown. Click the plus icon to select multiple roles. Now the saved form will appear on the task list of all users that have that role(s).
Notice that the task history now shows that the form is pending for any user that has the role Processing. Also notice that unlike typical saved forms this task now displays the lock icon which enables one user to lock the task so they can complete this form later.
Search History
Click the icon to search for a form you have saved and want to continue or that you have submitted in the past, or to search for a workflow you have participated in.
Search history only displays forms and workflows which have the "show in history" property enabled. This property is configured by the form or workflow designer. If you don't see a form appearing in your history, contact your tenant administrator or the flow designer and ask them to enable this feature.
You can narrow your search to specific forms or flows and also to a specific date range when you performed that task, submission status and only tasks that ended with errors.
Workflows only appear in your search results if you performed one or more steps in the flow. Workflows will NOT appear in your search results just because it was at one point in time on your task list but was performed by a user other than you. For example if a workflow is on your task list because you have the role (ex: Managers) to which a particular flow step is assigned, but this step is performed by another user with that role, then this task will not appear in your search list.
When you click the Submit button, the Search Results will display. You may notice the Refresh icon is no longer visible. This is as designed. There is no Refresh capability available for Search results. When you click the Cancel button, you will be asked to confirm and then see the message "Your search was cancelled" after clicking OK.
A submission status of WAITING, can be used to find workflow tasks that have an Email or HTTP activity. These activities suspend the flow until an anonymous or programmatic step is completed.
If no matching tasks are found as a result of your search, you will see this message:
By Tenant Admin
The tenant admin user is able to search for tasks that were performed by other users. The search history form for the tenant admin has several additional search criteria fields.
One very common function is to search for tasks that are locked by a particular user so that the admin can modify them and reassign them to another user or role -- for example if a person goes on vacation and you need to move a saved or pending form or flow to another user.
A submission status of WAITING, can be used to find workflow tasks that have an Email or HTTP activity. These activities suspend the flow until an anonymous or programmatic step is completed.
By Flow Admin
Flow Admins see this screen when they click the Search icon. When searching for tasks, if a flow is chosen, and the user is a flow admin for it, then all tasks for that flow display. If no flow is selected, then all tasks, even those that the flow admin has not participated in, plus tasks for which the user is a flow admin will display.
Embedding Your Task List
The task list can be made conveniently available in your own web site. By embedding the task list you can access your tasks without having to login to the frevvo web UI directly. This gives the feel that the task list is part of your company portal. To do this click on the Embed icon and copy the task list embed script into your web page.
Here is how an embedded tasks list looks. Even when embedded, the task list is always protected by a login dialog. So if you have not already authenticated to you will be prompted to enter your username and password. The login then automatically redirects each person to their own personal task list.
If embedding the task list successfully into an HTML page requires setting its width, see URL Parameters for more details.