Task Step

In this article, we'll cover:

• Overview
• Where to Find This
• Using the Task Step
  • Waiting for the Task to be Completed
  • Task Responsibility Options
  • Reminder Notifications
  • Configuring a Task Step
• Example

Overview

The task step allows a workflow step to define a ticket task and add it to the ticket. The task reflects the title, description, and responsible user/group from the workflow step. The task is added each time the workflow step starts and cannot be deleted.

As with any ticket task, it appears in the My Assignments section of My Work and in any relevant Ticket reports that incorporate ticket task-based responsibility. Unlike Approval and Choice steps, Task steps are not included in My Approvals lists or workflow step responsibility reporting.

The generated ticket task behaves like any other ticket task, except that it cannot be deleted.

Once the ticket task is marked complete, the workflow moves forward. If it's marked incomplete again later, the workflow doesn't move backward.

In the workflow above, a Branch step fans out into three parallel Task steps, each of which must complete before feeding into the Collector step that waits for all three.

For a complete guide to creating, configuring, and activating ticket workflows, see Configuring Ticket Workflows.

Where to Find This

The Task step is configured in the Ticketing application admin interface, and can be viewed on a ticket with the workflow applied in Work Management and the Client Portal.

Configure the step from the Workflow Builder in the Ticketing app admin UI following these paths:

• Ticketing Application Admins: Work Management > View Applications > [name of the Ticketing application]  > gear icon > Admin > Workflows > [Workflow name] > View Builder 
• Global Admins: TDAdmin > Applications > [name of the Ticketing application]  > Workflows > [Workflow name] > View Builder

Access an active workflow:

• In Work Management > View Applications > [name of the Ticketing application] > find the ticket with the workflow applied and review the step
• In the Client Portal > Ticket Requests > open the request and review the workflow steps

Using the Task Step

Waiting for the Task to be Completed

When creating a Task step, the Wait for task to be completed checkbox is unchecked by default. When unchecked, the Task step creates a task and immediately moves on to the next step in the workflow. When this checkbox is selected, the workflow pauses until the ticket task is marked complete, at which point the workflow moves forward.

Task Responsibility Options

It is possible to create workflow tasks that are unassigned or that are assigned to a role relative to the ticket.

• The Responsibility option defaults to Unassigned.
• Choosing Assign to a specific resource lets you select a named user or group as the Responsible party.
• Choosing Assign to a role lets you select from the roles listed below; if you choose this option, you must also choose a Fallback for Responsible Role — a user or group who will be assigned when the role-based assignment can't be resolved to a valid user or group.

Either assign option reveals a Notify Responsible checkbox, selected by default, which sends a notification to the assigned person or group when the task is created.

The following roles are supported for Task steps:

• Requestor, Requestor's Manager, Requestor's Resource Pool Primary Manager
• Creator, Creator's Manager, Creator's Resource Pool Primary Manager
• Responsible, Responsible's Manager
• Reviewer, Reviewer's Manager
• Service Owner, Service Owner's Manager
• Department Manager
• Custom Attribute – Person attribute type

To be valid, a variable assignment role on a task step must evaluate to at least one of the following:

• An active user with access to the Ticketing application
• An active group containing at least one active user with access to the Ticketing application

Certain roles can result in an assignment scoped only to a group's managers:

• Responsible's Manager (when Responsible is a group)
• Reviewer's Manager (when Reviewer is a group)
• Service Owner's Manager (when Service Owner is a group)

If the role evaluation results in such a group assignment, the fallback will always be used. Unlike Approval and Choice step role assignments, Task step role assignments don't allow assigning a task only to a group's managers.

Reminder Notifications

A Task step can be configured to send recurring reminder notifications to the assigned person or group while the task remains incomplete. For details, see Reminder Notifications for Approval, Choice, and Task Steps.

Configuring a Task Step

The steps below cover configuring a Task step specifically. For guidance on connecting steps, validating a workflow, and activating it, see Configuring Ticket Workflows.

To create a Task step:

1. In the Ticketing application admin UI, click Workflows in the left navigation.
2. On the Ticket Workflows list, click the name of the desired workflow.
3. Click the View Builder button.
4. In the Workflow Builder, click File in the toolbar.
5. Select Check Out from the dropdown.
6. Click the New Step button in the toolbar.
7. In the New Workflow Step window, enter a Name that indicates what the step will do.
8. Select Task from the Type dropdown.
9. If Stages have been configured for the workflow, optionally select one from the Stage dropdown.
10. Optionally enter a Description for the step.
11. Under Responsibility, select Assign to a specific resource, Assign to a role, or leave it as Unassigned.
    1. If you select Assign to a specific resource, choose the Responsible person or group.
    2. If you select Assign to a role, select the Responsible Role whose assigned person or group should be resolved when the task is created. The Fallback for Responsible Role field also appears — select a fallback person or group in case the selected role can't be resolved to a valid person or group.
12. If you assigned a specific resource or a role, optionally deselect Notify Responsible if you don't want the assigned person or group notified when the task is created.
13. Optionally, select Wait for task to be completed to pause the workflow until the task is marked complete before moving to the next step.
14. Enter the Estimated Hours for the task.
15. Optionally, enter a value in Complete Within to set an expected completion window for the task, specified in hours.
16. Under Reminder Schedule, select None, Every [ ] day(s), or Every Weekday to set how often reminder notifications go out while the task is incomplete.
17. Optionally, select Limit Notifications, then enter a value in Do not send more than [ ] reminders to cap the total number of reminders sent.
18. Click Save, then close the window showing the Task step details.
19. Locate the new Task step in the Workflow Builder. It should be on the far left side, often near the Start step.
20. Click the directional arrows in the corner of the Task step and drag it to the desired point in the workflow.
21. Click and drag from the step option of the previous step to create the connection to the Task step.

Learn more about adding, connecting, and validating steps in Configuring Ticket Workflows.

In the New Hire Request workflow below, "Issue Computer" and "Issue Mobile Device" are both Task steps that run in parallel after the Branch step, each waiting for completion before feeding into the "Wait for all tasks to be completed" Collector. If​​​​​ the "Is land line required?" Choice step determines the phone is required, the workflow runs through Telephone Install, Setup Voicemail, and Issue Long Distance Code in sequence, and once that chain completes, it also connects to the same Collector.

Click to open the PDF and view the workflow details.