Siebel Business Process Framework: Task UI Guide > Siebel Task UI User Interface Elements > About the Task Pane >

Current Task Pane

The current task pane is a type of pane that helps the user navigate through a task UI. Siebel CRM displays it in the task pane after the user clicks a task link in the context pane.

Figure 9. Example of the Current Task Pane

Explanation of Callouts

Figure 9 includes an example of the current task pane. In this example, Enter New Account is the task chapter, and Enter Account Details is the current task view:

1. Current task pane. A pane that helps the user navigate through a task UI.
2. Task view. A type of view that includes task applets or Siebel CRM applets. For more information, see About the Task View.
3. Applets. A Siebel CRM applet, task applet, or task playbar applet in a task view. For more information, see Task Applet and Task Playbar Applet.
4. Task chapter. A list of task steps that Siebel CRM groups in a common chapter name. For more information, see Task Chapter.

If you define no chapters in the task UI, then the current task pane displays only view steps. Upon backward navigation, Siebel CRM still displays view steps that are downstream of the current step. If, on subsequent forward navigation, the user enters a different branch in the task flow, then Siebel CRM clears the view steps that it displayed for the branch that the user originally navigated.

About Fast Backward and Fast Forward Navigation

The user can use fast backward navigation and fast forward navigation, which are navigation features that allow the user to navigate back and forth through a task UI without having to repeatedly click Previous or Next.

For example, assume a user starts a large task UI and is currently working in the eighth task view. The user realizes that information in the first view requires a correction. If the user double-clicks a link in the Current Task pane, then Siebel CRM displays the view that this link references.

If the user uses fast backward navigation, then note the following:

• If the user modifies any data in the view that Siebel CRM displays, then the user must click Next from this point forward in this task UI. For example, if the user attempts to use fast forward to navigate back to the eighth view, then Siebel CRM displays a message that is similar to the following:

  You have already started modifying data on the view. You must proceed to the subsequent view through the Next button on the play bar.

• If the user does not modify any data, then the user can double-click any link in the Current Task pane to navigate directly to a view.

The user can use fast backward or fast forward navigation with various task UI features, such as the following:

• Pause a task.
• Transfer a task to another user.
• Navigate to another task UI chapter.
• Navigate to a subtask.

Siebel CRM enables fast backward navigation and fast forward navigation, by default.

The user can use fast backward and fast forward navigation only on views that the user has already visited in a task instance.

About the Task Progress Indicator

A task includes a Task Progress Indicator that displays the number of screens completed and the percentage of the task complete. For example, the indicator might display the following information:

Percentage Complete: 40%

Siebel CRM displays the Progress Indicator in the lower portion of the Current Task pane. It displays the percentage of views that the user has completed as part of the total number of views in the current task UI.

How Siebel CRM Determines the Percentage of Task Completion

To calculate the percentage of task completion, Siebel CRM determines the following items for each view in the task UI:

• The number of views the user completed
• The total number of views in the task UI

This percentage of task completion is the number of views completed divided by the total number of views that exist in the task UI. For example, if the user completes five views, and if a total of eight views exist in the task UI, then the percentage of the task complete is 62.5%, that Siebel CRM rounds up to 63.

To avoid run-time overhead, Siebel CRM does most of the calculations it requires to determine task completion during application design.

Decision steps, subtask steps, and loops can contribute to task complexity. To handle this complexity, Siebel CRM stores the number of views that exist in the longest possible path to reach the end step from the current view, including subtasks and alternative branches. It stores this number for each task view step. The only run-time calculation that Siebel CRM does is to track the number of views that the user completes.

For more information, see Enabling the Task Progress Indicator.