Tasks

Tasks are designed to be automatically created and assigned to staff to be completed. When a task is created, staff will be given an object to complete. With tasks you have the ability to message back and forth within the Task itself, which makes it a quick way to communicate. Tasks can allow you to have a full conversation between the assigned staff members and the task issuers (such as the HR team) within the task. This allows for clarification or communication about a task.

Tasks can be assigned to the whole company of to specific individuals or groups of staff. What this means is that tasks can be filtered so that they are only sent to certain teams, skills or access levels. Everyone assigned to the task will then have access to the task so that they can complete it.
 

Why are Tasks useful?

Tasks are a useful form of communication to help your automated workflows. It’s perfect for HR tasks as it can be used alongside Triggers to create automatic actions such as sending forms or documents to staff to complete.

Creating a Task

A Task will normally be created by a trigger as this is how they are most commonly used but you also have the option to create tasks manually under Staff > Create Tasks. When creating a task, you will need to set up your details including the title of the task - so that staff can see at a glance what the task is about and add your message. This message will explain what needs to be done in the task.

Publishing a Task

You can set up a publish date for when you want a task to go out, so it does not need to go out immediately, you can set a specific date and time.

You are also able to set a deadline for a task - this would be sometime after the task has been published and is useful if you need something done in a specific time frame. Remember, deadlines are optional and you can choose to leave a task open ended.

Following on from this, you can also decide if you the Task is optional or required depending on how important it is. 

Issuing a Task

You can then set up who the task issuer is, this is who is in charge of the Task, and will be responsible for replying and overseeing the Task once it is published. The Task issuer can be the person creating the task (Myself), a specific manager for a Skill, or a group such as a whole squad can take responsibility of a task or all the venue managers for a specific venue.

Choosing your task outcome

When creating a task you will see a drop down list of task options under Task completed by. Each option will offer its own configuration options. They are as follows:

• Just marked as complete by staff member - This is useful for simple day to day tasks that might be done externally.
• Issuer marks it as complete - Again, this might be an external Task done outwith the system but a more important one that requires a manager to confirm it has been accomplished.
• Complete document - If this option is selected staff must complete a Document that has been created in StaffSavvy.
• View a library item - If this option is selected staff will be required to read a library item that has been uploaded to StaffSavvy.
• Welfare & Performance Form - If this option is selected staff will be required to complete a form already created in StaffSavvy.
• Complete Certificate - If this option is selected staff will need to finish a certificate in the online training section in StaffSavvy.

Assigning a Task

Tasks can be shared widely or filtered to be only shared with specific staff members. Tasks can be filtered by Skill, Squad, access level, contract or contract working days. When creating a task, you can now filter who will be assigned the task by contract.

Group Tasks

You can also set whether this is a group task, meaning that it can be completed by anyone who has been assigned it for the whole team.

For example, if the task is that there needs to be a clear out of a dressing room, by anyone in the backstage department, any member assigned the task can take responsibility of the task and mark it as complete.

Alternatively you can choose the option where staff must complete the task independently. Meaning it will still go out to multiple staff member's but they will all need to complete the task themselves. This can be useful for tasks where you need staff to upload a file or document.

Communicating through Tasks

Once you have sent out a task, it will go out to the assigned staff who will be able to interact, comment and reply to the task.

A shared task means that there can be dialogue between all staff members assigned to the task. Whereas with an individual task, staff assigned will still only be able to see their own comments and comments from the task issuer, but not the comments from other staff members.

Task issuers have the option to directly respond to an individual staff member if they have asked a question, or to send a message to all assigned to the task. This is a helpful feature if you have any updates to the task that are relevant to the whole group. Task issuers have the option to do this when they view the task. An option will come up allowing them to reply to individual comments or create a comment for everyone.

Task in practice

Viewing your Tasks

You can see any assigned Tasks from your Dashboard under My Tasks. Just click the notification and you will be able to interact with the Task.

My Tasks

You can also see your upcoming tasks via the My Tasks page. When viewing My Tasks, you can either choose to view all tasks under Assigned Tasks or choose one of our dedicated views. These include:

• Tasks due in the next 7 days -  Tasks with a deadline upcoming within the week. This option helps staff prioritise Tasks that need to be completed soon. 
• Personal Tasks - This shows Tasks that have only been assigned to you.
• Tasks awaiting review - Tasks needing to be reviewed by a manager
• Escalated Tasks - Tasks that have been escalated by a manager.

To see this go to My Account > My Tasks and at the top of the page you will be able to choose your view. This is set up like categories.