To Do Processing

There are numerous events that trigger the creation of email-like messages describing work that requires human attention.  For example, if a bill segment has an error, a message is created to highlight such.  We refer to each message as a To Do Entry.  In this section, we describe how to view, manage and work To Do entries.

Contents

The Big Picture of To Do Processing

Managing To Do Entries

How To

The topics in this section provide background information on To Do processing functionality.

Contents

To Do Role

To Do Priority

Work Distribution

A User's Current To Do

Related To Do Entries

Complete A To Do

To Do Role

Each To Do entry is assigned a specific To Do Role.  The role defines the users who may work on the entry.  The permissible roles that may be assigned to a To Do entry are defined on the entry’s To Do type.  Refer to To Do Entries Reference A Role to learn more about initial role assignment.

After an entry is created, its role may be changed to any role defined as valid for the entry’s To Do type. 

When a To Do entry is reassigned to another user and the new user is not a member of the entry's current role, the system adjusts the role to a permissible one that is also eligible for that user (one is picked at random).  Manual changes of a To Do entry's role are recorded on the To Do entry log.

To Do Priority

A To Do entry is associated with a priority level representing its processing order compared to other entries.  Refer to The Priority Of A To Do Entry for more information on how an entry's priority is initially assigned.  

A user may manually override a To Do entry's priority at any time.  Once overridden, automatic recalculation of the priority is no longer performed so as not to override the value explicitly set by the user.  Manual overrides of a To Do entry's priority are recorded on the To Do entry log.

Work Distribution

To Do entries may be manually assigned to users either by their supervisors or picked up by the users themselves.  The system can also be configured to dynamically assign the highest priority work to users on demand whenever they are available for fixing errors. 

One of the main benefits of the assignment on demand approach is that work is allocated real-time based on most current information such as skills, priority, user availability, etc.  This also means that work remains unassigned until a user is actually going to work on it making it available to any qualified user.

Manual assignments of To Do entries are possible as follows:

·         Supervisors may use the supervisor function pages to review and assign To Dos to users.

·         A user may use the To Do list pages to review and assign To Dos to themselves or forward any of their To Dos to someone else.

·         All of the above assignment functions may also be performed using the To Do Search page.  

Assignment "on demand" is possible from the Current To Do zone on the Dashboard portal.   Refer to this zone to learn about all the functions it provides.

A User's Current To Do

Users have the option of drilling down on an entry from various list queries in the system.  Refer to Working On A To Do Entry for more information on drilling into an entry.  

Drilling down on an entry from the following To Do list queries (using the entry's message description only) also sets the entry as the user's Current To Do entry:

·         To Do List

·         To Do Search

Additionally, users may have the option to click on the  icon on the Current To Do dashboard zone to request their next task. The returned To Do entry automatically becomes the user's Current To Do.

Regardless of how a To Do entry became current its information is displayed on the Current To Do zone. 

If a To Do entry becomes current as a result of drilling down from a list query, the system supports the ability to drill down to the Next and Previous entries respective to the Current To Do entry in that list.   

If a To Do entry becomes current using the Current To Do zone, that entry is not associated with any work list to scroll through.  The next and previous To Do action bar buttons are therefore disabled in this case.

Related To Do Entries

A user working on a To Do may want to know of other To Dos that may be related to the same problem.  If can be worked by the same user they may get resolved faster.  It seems almost impossible to programmatically determine whether two To Dos really stem from the same problem.  The user should therefore be presented with a list of potentially related To Dos from which he/she can select the truly relevant ones. 

A To Do entry is considered potentially related to a given To Do if they reference a common entity.  For example, if a given To Do references a certain account then any To Do referencing that same account is considered related to it. 

The To Do Search page supports a Related To Do filter that lists all related To Dos for a given entry.  Various pages showing To Do information often provide an indication as to how many non-complete entries may be related to a given To Do entry.  Clicking on the indication's hyperlink transfers the user to the To Do Search query pre-populating it to list the related entries for the specific To Do entry. 

Complete A To Do

After you finish working on an entry, you can mark it as Complete.  At this point, you may want to review potentially related To Do entries and complete those that have been addressed by resolving the problem associated with the current entry.

If you cannot resolve the problem, you can forward the To Do to another user, thus assigning the To Do to another user.    

This section describes the various pages available to view and work on To Do entries.

Contents

To Do Supervisor Functions

To Do List Functions

To Do Entry

To Do Search

To Do Supervisor Functions

This section describes To Do transactions that aid supervisors in the monitoring and assignment of To Do entries.

Contents

Supervisor To Do Summary

Supervisor User Summary

Supervisor To Do Assignment

Supervisor To Do Summary

This Supervisor To Do Summary page summarizes To Do entries by To Do Type.  Only entries that are Open (i.e., not assigned to a specific user) or Being Worked On are summarized.

Use To Do, Supervisor To Do Summary to open this page.

Description of Page

This page summarizes all To Do entries that are Open or Being Worked On.

·         To Do Type contains the description of the To Do type.

·         Priority provides a total count of To Do entries of a given type by priority.  For each distinct priority the description includes the priority value followed by the corresponding number of entries.  If all entries are of the same priority no additional count is displayed.

·         Total contains the total of Open and Being Worked On entries.  The hyperlink navigates to the Supervisor To Do Assignment transaction, setting it to display all Open and Being Worked On entries for the given To Do Type. 

·         Open contains the number of To Do Entries whose status is Open.  The hyperlink navigates to the Supervisor To Do Assignment transaction, setting it to display all Open entries for the given To Do Type. 

·         Being Worked On contains the number of To Do entries whose status is Being Worked On.  The hyperlink navigates to the Supervisor To Do Assignment transaction, setting it to display all Being Worked On entries for the given To Do Type.

The “age bars” that appear to the right of the totals highlight the age of the To Do entries.  The colors red, yellow and green are used to highlight the relative number of old, middle-aged and new To Do entries.  The age associated with each of these colors is user-configurable.

Supervisor User Summary

The Supervisor User Summary page summarizes To Do entries by the user who is assigned to work on the entries.  Only entries that are Being Worked On are summarized.

Use To Do, Supervisor User Summary to open this page.

Description of Page

This page contains a grid that displays all assigned To Do entries by User ID and To Do type.

The hyperlinks all transfer you to the same place – to the Supervisor To Do Assignment transaction.  On this transaction, you can assign / reassign To Do entries to a specific user.  The only difference between the hyperlinks is that they cause different types of entries to be displayed (e.g., if you drill from the To Do Type column, only Open entries are displayed on the Assignment transaction). 

Supervisor To Do Assignment

This page lists To Do entries of a given type and allows a supervisor to assign / reassign them to a designated user.  Use To Do, Supervisor To Do Assignment to open this page.

Description of Page

This page contains Open or Being Worked On To Do entries of a given type.  These entries can be assigned to a specified user one-by-one or several at a time.  The following points describe this functionality:

·         You can select a different To Do Type by typing in a value or pressing the search button in the upper right corner.  An Info description of the To Do type appears on the left.

·         You can change the list of entries displayed according to their status.  Select the Filter by status to be All (blank), Open, or Being Worked On.

·         If you want to re-sort the entries by a different value, click the search button adjacent to Extra Information.  Each row’s respective sort value is displayed in the Extra Information column. 

·         Click the Select All button to select all entries displayed in the grid.  Click the Clear All button to remove the selections in the grid.

·         Use the checkbox if you want to assign specific entries. 

·         Entries are further sorted by their Priority.  Highest in priority are listed first.

·         Create Date/Time contains the date and time the To Do entry was created by the system.  Click the Create Date/Time hyperlink to:

·         View more detailed information about the entry.

·         Add comments to the To Do entry.

·         Add a log entry of type User Details to record information about the To Do entry.

·         Forward the To Do entry to another user.

·         Send Back a To Do entry that was forwarded to you by another user.

·         Click the number of Related entries hyperlink to navigate to the To Do Search query to list potentially related entries to the current entry.

·         Worked By shows the user currently assigned to the To Do entry.

·         To Do Entry Status is the current status of the To Do entry.

·         Message contains a description of the To Do entry.  Use the message description hyperlink to drill into the page on which the entry’s respective object is displayed.  If the To Do type has been configured to associate a script with this To Do entry’s message number, then instead of being taken to the respective page, the associated script is launched.  Refer to Working On A To Do Entry for more information.

·         You can assign entries to a user:

·         Enter a user ID or search for a user using the Assign To User field.  You can only select a user that is associated with a role that is associated with this To Do Type.  Note that the current number of assignments is displayed adjacent.

·         Select one or more entries to assign to this user and click the Assign button.  The entries’ status becomes Being Worked On.

To Do List Functions

This section describes To Do pages that aid users in the assignment and working of entries in To Do lists.

Contents

To Do Summary

To Do List

To Do Summary

This page summarizes To Do entries that meet the following qualifications:

·         The entry is Open and you belong to the entry’s To Do role. Refer to To Do Entries Reference A Role for more information about roles.

·         The entry is Being Worked On and you are the user to which it is assigned.

Use To Do, To Do Summary to open this page.  You can also the To Do icon  in the button bar (or press Alt+X) to get to this page. 

Description of Page

This page is dedicated to a grid that summarizes the To Do entries on which you can work.  The following information is displayed:

·         To Do Type contains the description of the To Do type.

·         Priority provides a total count of To Do entries of a given type by priority.  For each distinct priority the description includes the priority value followed by the corresponding number of entries.  If all entries are of the same priority no additional count is displayed.

·         Total contains the total of Open and Assigned to You entries.  The hyperlink navigates to the To Do List transaction, setting it to display all Open and Being Worked On entries assigned to you for the given To Do Type. 

·         Open contains the number of To Do Entries whose status is Open.  The hyperlink navigates to the To Do List transaction, setting it to display all Open entries for the given To Do Type. 

·         Assigned to You contains the number of To Do entries that are assigned to you whose status is Being Worked On.  The hyperlink navigates to the Supervisor To Do Assignment transaction, setting it to display all Being Worked On entries for the given To Do Type.

The “age bars” that appear to the right of the totals highlight the age of the To Do entries.  The colors red, yellow and green are used to highlight the relative number of old, middle-aged and new To Do entries.  The age associated with each of these colors is user-configurable.

To Do List

This page lists To Do entries of a given type that are either Open (i.e., not assigned to a specific user) or are assigned to you.

Use To Do, To Do List to open this page.

Description of Page

This page contains a grid that summarizes the To Do entries of a given type on which you can work. 

The Info section contains a concatenation of the To Do Type’s description and the user’s name.

The area beneath Info provides you with options that control which To Do entries appear and the order in which they are displayed.  The following points describe the various options:

·         Use Sort By to define how you want the To Do entries sorted.  The following options are available:

·         Assigned Date – On or After.  This option sorts the To Do entries in chronological order (based on the date the entry was assigned to you) starting from the input Date.  If you choose this option, the system assumes you want to start from the earliest To Do entry.  If you want to start from a date other than the earliest To Do entry, enter the desired Date and click the adjacent search button.

·         Assigned Date – On or Before.  This option sorts the To Do entries in reverse chronological order (based on the date the entry was assigned to you) starting from the input Date.  If you choose this option, the system assumes you want to start from the today’s date.  If you want to start from a date other than today’s date, enter the desired Date and click the adjacent search button.

·         Create Date – On or After.  This option sorts the To Do entries in chronological order (based on the date the entry was created) starting from the input Date.  If you choose this option, the system assumes you want to start from the earliest To Do entry.  If you want to start from a date other than the earliest To Do entry, enter the desired Date and click the adjacent search button.

·         Create Date – On or Before.  This option sorts the To Do entries in reverse chronological order (based on the date the entry was created) starting from the input Date.  If you choose this option, the system assumes you want to start from the today’s date.  If you want to start from a date other than today’s date, enter the desired Date and click the adjacent search button.

·         Extra Information.  This option sorts the To Do entries by the value of the Extra Info.

·         Use Extra Info to change the type of information displayed in each entry’s Extra Information column.

·         Use Filter by to restrict the To Do entries based on their status.  The following options are available:

·         All.  This option shows all entries that are Open or Being Worked On.

·         Being Worked On.  This option shows all entries that are Being Worked On (and assigned to you).

·         Open.  This option shows all entries that are Open.

The grid that follows contains the To Do entries that match your criteria.  The following information appears:

·         Click the Select All button to select all entries displayed in the grid.  Click the Clear All button to remove the selections in the grid.

·         Use the checkbox if you want to mark specific entries as Completed or Being Worked On. 

·         An  icon appears if there are comments on the To Do and an  icon appears if there is a log entry of type Forwarded, Sent Back or User Details on the To Do.  This column appears if at least one To Do has either comments or a special log entry.

·         Entries are further sorted by their Priority.  Highest in priority are listed first.

·         Create Date/Time contains the date and time the To Do entry was created by the system. 

·         Click the Create Date/Time hyperlink or either of the special icons to navigate to the To Do entry page.

·         Click the number of Related entries hyperlink to navigate to the To Do Search query to list potentially related entries to the current entry.

·         Assigned Date/Time contains the date and time the To Do entry was assigned to a user.  This field is only populated on entries that are Being Worked On.  If a user assigned the To Do entry, the user ID and name of the user who assigned the To Do entry are displayed beneath the Date/Time.

·         Message contains a description of the To Do entry.  Use the message description hyperlink to drill into the page on which the entry’s respective object is displayed.  If the To Do type has been configured to associate a script with this To Do entry’s message number, then instead of being taken to the respective page, the associated script is launched.  Refer to Working On A To Do Entry for more information.

·         To Do Entry Status is the current status of the To Do entry.

·         Extra Information contains more information about the entry.

·         To Do ID contains the unique identifier of the To Do entry.

·         If you want to mark one or more entries as Being Worked On, check the desired entries and then click the Assign button.

·         If you want to mark one or more entries as Completed, check the desired entries and then click the Complete button.  Completed entries do not appear on the To Do list (but they are retained on the database for audit purposes).

To Do Entry

The topics in this section describe the pages on which a To Do entry and its associated To Do log are maintained.

Contents

To Do Entry - Add Dialog

To Do Entry - Main

To Do Entry - Keys/Values

To Do Entry Actions

To Do Entry - Add Dialog

The To Do Entry transaction features a dialog that can add new To Dos (if the system is configured with manual To Do types).  This dialog appears if you open the To Do, To Do Entry page in add mode (it also appears if you click the clear button when on the To Do Entry page).

Description of Page

The To Do Type is the type of To Do entry that you want to create.  Only To Do types that are set up for manual usage appear in the list. 

The default To Do Type Priority is displayed adjacent.  Use Override Priority to override the default priority assigned by the system. 

Type a Subject for your To Do entry.  Depending on how the To Do type is set up, the subject may appear as the message in the To Do entry and To Do lists.

Enter a Comment to provide a longer description of and more details about the To Do entry.

Send To indicates whether the new To Do will be assigned to a Role (the default) or User. 

The Role indicates the role to which this To Do entry will be assigned.  Only users of the specified role will be able to view and work on the To Do entry.  The role is defaulted from the To Do type.  If you want to assign the To Do to a different role, change the specified role.  You can only assign the To Do entry to one of the roles specified on the To Do type. 

User appears if Send To is set to User.  Use this option if you want to assign the To Do to a specific user.  The user must be a member of the selected role.

If the To Do type defines valid characteristic types, the Characteristics collection is visible.  If any of the characteristic types are flagged as Default on the To Do type, the characteristic type with its default value (if applicable) are displayed.  If applicable use the characteristics to define other information related to this new To Do entry.  For example, you can link the account and premise that you are attempting to start service for. 

Click OK to add the To Do Entry. 

To Do Entry - Main

You use this page to perform various actions or modify details about a To Do entry.  Use To Do, To Do Entry to open this page.

Description of Page

To Docontains a concatenation of important information about the To Do entry.  To Do ID is the system-assigned unique identifier of the entry.  These values only appear after the case is added to the database. 

To Do Type displays the entry’s To Do Type and its description.  Refer to To Do Entries Reference A To Do Type for more information about To Do types.

Role displays the role of the users who may be assigned to the entry along with a description of the role.  Refer to To Do Entries Reference A Role for more information about roles.

Message is a display-only field that describes why the entry exists.  If the To Do entry is in the status of Open or Being Worked On, the message description allows youto drill into the page on which the entry’s respective object is displayed.  If the To Do type has been configured to associate a script with this To Do entry’s message number, then instead of being taken to the respective page, the associated script is launched.  Refer to Working On A To Do Entry for more information.

Status indicates if the entry is Open, Being Worked On, or Complete.  Refer to The Lifecycle Of A To Do Entry for more information status.

Use Priority to manually override the To Do entry's current priority.  Any manual change to the priority is recorded on the To Do entry log.

Assigned To displays the user who is working the entry.

Sent By displays the user who assigned this To Do to the current user.

Created By only appears if a background process that uses To Do entries to report object-specific errors created the To Do entry.  The field displays the background process description and batch run number in which the entry was created.  Refer to To Dos Created for Object-Specific Error Conditions for more information.

Extract Info only appears if the To Do is being sent out of the system.  Extract Info displays the background process description and batch run number in which the entry was downloaded.  Refer to To Do Entries May Be Routed Out Of The System for more information.

Use Comments to describe anything interesting or unusual about the To Do entry.  The Comments field is disabled if the To Do entry is complete.

If the To Do entry has non-complete related entries a summary description appears below the comments line.  The description states the total number of related entries, how many are still Open, how many are assigned to you and how many assigned to others.  Use this hyperlink to navigate to the To Do Search query to list these entries.

The Actions buttons allow you to Complete the To Do, Forward the To Do to another user or Role, or Send Back a To Do that has been forwarded to you by another user.  All buttons are disabled once a To Do is complete.  Refer to To Do Entry Actions and the How To section for more information on using these actions.

The Characteristics collection is visible for manual To Do entries or for automatic To Do entries that have characteristics.  The characteristics are protected for automatic To Do entries.  Characteristic Type indicates the type of characteristic.  Specify a valid Characteristic Value for the characteristic type.

The Log grid displays log entries (in reverse chronological order) that audit the progress of a To Do entry.  You cannot modify or delete log entries that have been created by the system.  You can manually add a log entry of type User Details and you may remove a log entry before it is saved.  Once a User Details log entry is saved, you cannot modify or delete it. 

The Log grid displays the following information:

Log Date/Time displays the date and time when the log entry was created.

Log Type indicates the To Do entry event for which the log entry was created.  For example, when the To Do entry is created, the Log Type indicates Created.  For more information refer to the Log Entry Events table below.

The Details column contains user-specified or system-generated information about the log entry.  This field is blank for some types of log entries. 

Log User displays the user who caused the log entry to be created.

Assigned To displays the user to whom the To Do entry was assigned (if any).

To Do Entry - Keys/Values

The Keys / Values page contains detailed information about the sort keys and drill keys associated with a To Do entry.  This information may not be modified.  It is shown to assist support personnel.

Use To Do, To Do Entry, Keys/Values to open this page.

Description of Page

The Sort Keys grid contains an entry’s sort keys and values.  This information is display-only.

The Drill Keys grid contains an entry’s drill keys and values.  This information is display-only.

To Do Entry Actions

You can perform the following actions on a To Do Entry.

Contents

Complete

Forward

Send Back

Log Entry Events

Complete

Clicking Complete causes the To Do entry’s status to be Completed.  When you complete a To Do, a log entry is created that indicates when the To Do was completed and by whom.  This button is enabled for To Do entries with a status of Open or Being Worked On.

Forward

Clicking Forward causes the Forward To Do Entry dialog to appear, allowing you to forward the To Do to another user or role.  This button is enabled for Open To Do entries assigned to a role to which you belong or Being Worked On To Do entries assigned to you.

Send To indicates whether the To Do will be forwarded to a Role or User (the default). 

User appears if Send To is set to User.  The User indicates the user to which this To Do entry will be forwarded.  The user must be a member of one of the roles specified for the To Do type.

Role is enabled if Send To is set to Role or if set to User and a User is specified.  It indicates the role to which this To Do entry will be forwarded.  Only users of the specified role will be able to view and work on the To Do entry.  The role is defaulted from the To Do type.  You can only forward the To Do entry to one of the roles specified on the To Do type.  If forwarding to a user the role must also be valid for the specified user.

The Details field provides an explanation of why a user is forwarding the To Do.  This information appears in the To Do log.

Click OK to forward the To Do entry.

Send Back

Clicking Send Back causes the Send Back To Do Entry dialog to appear, allowing you to send back the To Do to the user who forwarded it to you.  This button is enabled if the To Do entry’s status is Being Worked On and it was forwarded to you by another user. 

User is a display only field that indicates the user who assigned you the To Do.

Role may be used to also change the entry's To Do Role.  The role must be a permissible role specified on the To Do type that is also valid for the user this entry is sent back to.  By default, if the sent to user is not a member of the entry's current role, the system automatically defaults the role to the first permissible role that is also valid for the user.

The Details field provides an explanation of a why the user is sending back the To Do or any other desired information.  This information appears in the To Do log.

Click OK to send the To Do back to the assigning user.

Log Entry Events

The following table contains the events that cause a log entry to be created by the system. 

Event	Log Type	To Do Entry Status	Content of Details	Content of Assigned To (on To Do entry and To Do Log)	Log User ID	Contents of Sent By (on To Do entry)
A To Do is created (by the system or by a user)	Created	Open			ID of user who created the To Do
A To Do is created (by the system or by a user) in Being Worked On status	Created	Being Worked On		User ID of user who was assigned this To Do	ID of user who created the To Do	Creating user’s ID
A To Do is completed (by the system or by a user)	Completed	Complete			ID of user who completed the To Do
A user takes an open To Do	Assigned	Being Worked On	Selected by user	Assigned To User ID	Assigned To User ID	ID of user who assigned the To Do
A supervisor assigns a To Do to a user (also happens if they reassign)	Assigned	Being Worked On	Assigned to user	Assigned To User ID	ID of user who assigned the To Do	ID of user who assigned the To Do
A user forwards an entry to a user	Forwarded	Being Worked On	Log details entered by user	Forwarded To User ID	ID of user who forwarded the To Do	ID of user who forwarded the To Do
A user forwards an entry to a role	Forwarded	Open	Forwarded to role Role Description (Role ID) +Log details entered by user		ID of user who forwarded the To Do	ID of user who forwarded the To Do
A user sends back a To Do	Sent back	Being Worked On	Log details entered by user	Sent Back To User ID	ID of user who sent back the To Do	ID of user who sent back the To Do
A user adds a log entry	User Details	Status remains the same	Log details entered by user		ID of user who added the entry
A user manually overrides priority	Override Priority	Status remains the same	Priority changed from <old value> to <new value>	Assigned To User ID	ID of user who made the change

To Do Search

This page allows you to search for To Do entries using various search criteria, and perform various actions on selected ones.

Contents

To Do Search - Main

To Do Search Actions

To Do Search - Main

Use To Do, To Do Search to open this page.

The top half of the page is where you enter the criteria used to search for To Do entries.

The following table describes each of the different search filters. 

Search Filter	Description
Related To Do	If you're searching for potentially related entries for a given To Do entry, choose Specific To Do for the Related To Do Filter.  Enter the To Do ID. A filter value of Not Applicable defaults.
To Do Type	If you're searching for a To Do entry and you know the value of a characteristic linked to the To Do entry, choose Specific To Do Type for the To Do Type Filter.  Enter the To Do Type. A filter value of All defaults.
Char Type	If you're searching for a To Do entry and you know the value of a characteristic linked to the To Do entry, choose Specific Char Type for the Char Type Filter.  Enter the Characteristic Type and Characteristic Value. A filter value of Not Applicable defaults. Only characteristic types that include a characteristic entity of To Do Entry and that have been marked to allow searching by characteristic value are available.
User	Use this search method if you know the Created By User, Assigned To User or Completed By User for the To Do entry.   Enter the appropriate User Id. A filter value of Not Applicable defaults.
Date Range	Use this field if you're searching for a To Do entry and know the Date Created or Date Completed. - If you know the date is between a given range of values, first choose Between and then enter the date range.  A filter value of Date Created defaults.  The Start Date/Time defaults to the current date, 12:00AM and the End Date/Time defaults to the current date, 11:59PM. If you enter a Date Range Filter of All, the system ignores this search method.
Status	Use this search method to restrict the search to To Do entries with a specific status value.  You may search for To Do entries in the status of Open, Being Worked On or Completed.  You may also perform a combination search for To Do entries that have a status value of either Open or Being Worked On. A filter value of All defaults.

The system shows the total number of To Do entries that satisfy your search results immediately below the grid. 

The first group of To Do entries is displayed in the grid at the bottom of the page.

·         Click the Select All button to select all entries displayed in the grid.  Click the Clear All button to remove the selections in the grid. 

·         Use the checkbox if you want to assign, reopen or complete specific entries.  Only Open or Being Worked On entries may be selected.

·         An  icon appears if there are comments on the To Do and an  icon appears if there is a log entry of type Forwarded, Sent Back or User Details on the To Do.  This column appears if at least one To Do has either comments or a special log entry.  Use either icon to navigate to the To Do entry page.

·         Entries are sorted by their Priority.  Highest in priority are listed first.

·         Create Date/Time contains the date and time the To Do entry was created by the system.  Use the hyperlink to navigate to the To Do entry page.

·         Click the number of Related entries hyperlink to navigate to the To Do Search query to list potentially related entries to the current entry.

·         Last Assigned Date/Time contains the date and time the To Do entry was most recently assigned to a user, if applicable, along with the Assigned To user.

·         Message contains a description of the To Do entry.  If the To Do entry is in the status of Open or Being Worked On, the message description allows youto drill into the page on which the entry’s respective object is displayed.  If the To Do type has been configured to associate a script with this To Do entry’s message number, then instead of being taken to the respective page, the associated script is launched.  Refer to Working On A To Do Entry for more information.

·         Status contains the current status of the To Do entry.

·         Completion Date/Time contains the date and time the To Do entry was completed and the user who completed the entry, if applicable.

·         To Do Type contains a description of the To Do type or the To Do entry.

To Do Search Actions

You can perform the following actions on selected To Do Entries.

Contents

Assign Selected Entries

Reopen Selected Entries

Complete Selected Entries

Assign Selected Entries

Use the Assign button to assign or reassign the selected entries to a user.  Enter a user ID or search for a user using the Assign To User field.  By default this field is populated with the current user's ID.  Note that the user's current number of assignments is displayed adjacent. 

Upon successful processing, the selected entries are assigned to the specified user and the status of Open entries becomes Being Worked On.  Additionally, a corresponding log entry is added to each To Do.

Reopen Selected Entries

Use the Reopen button to unassign the selected entries from their users forwarding them back to their role.

Upon successful processing, the selected entries become Open and a corresponding log entry is added to each To Do.

Complete Selected Entries

Use the Complete button to complete the selected entries. 

Upon successful processing, the selected entries become Completed and a corresponding log entry is added to each To Do.

The following sections describe how to perform common tasks for To Dos.

Contents

How To Assign a To Do to a User

How To Work on To Do Entries

How To Add a New To Do

How To Complete To Dos

How To Forward a To Do

How To Send Back a To Do

How To Add a Log Entry to a To Do

How To Assign a To Do to a User

There are several ways to assign a To Do entry to a user:

·         A supervisor can use the Supervisor Functions pages to review, assign and reassign To Dos to users. 

·         The Supervisor To Do Summary page summarizes by type the total, Open (unassigned) and Being Worked On (assigned) entries for roles to which you belong.

·         The Total, Open or Being Worked On column hyperlinks transfers you to the Supervisor To Do Assignment page where you can assign / reassign one or more of the corresponding entries to a specific user. 

·         Use the To Do List Functions pages to review and assign To Dos to yourself.

·         The To Do Summary page summarizes by type the total, Open (unassigned) and Being Worked On (assigned to you) entries for roles to which you belong.

·         The Open column hyperlink transfers you to the To Do List page where you can assign one or more of the Open entries to yourself. 

·         You may also use the To Do Search page to find certain To Do entries based on various criteria and assign selected entries to a user.

·         Forwarding an entry to a user using the To Do Entry page is yet another way of assigning an entry to a user. 

·         The Current To Do zone next assignment functionality can be configured to dynamically assign an Open To Do to the requesting user based on your organization's work assignment rules.  Refer to this zone for more information.

How To Work on To Do Entries

Depending on your organization's work distribution practice, there are several ways to work on To Do entries. 

When work is manually assigned, a typical approach may be to review the entries in a list and work them one entry at a time.  

·         You can use the To Do List page to review and work on To Do entries by list type.

·         You may also use the To Do Search page to find certain To Do entries based on various criteria and work on selected entries.  For example, you may want to review and work on entries related to a given To Do.

Regardless of the above methods to define your work list, when ready to work on a specific entry, drill into its respective page using the message description hyperlink.  Drilling into an entry from the above work lists makes it your current To Do entry.  This entry's key information is displayed on the Current To Do dashboard zone and you may use special action bar buttons to scroll through your work list to the next and previous entries respective to your current To Do.

When work is assigned "on demand", click on the  icon on the Current To Do dashboard zone to request your next task. The returned To Do entry automatically becomes your current To Do.  The entry's key information is displayed on the zone but since the entry was no selected from a work list the next and previous action bar buttons are disabled. 

Resolve the current To Do by fixing the problem indicated in the message and mark the entry as Complete. 

How To Add a New To Do

If your system is configured with manual To Do types, you can add a To Do entry online.  Online To Do entries may be used like electronic help tickets in the system.  For example, if you are having a problem starting service, you can create a To Do that describes the problem.  The To Do can be assigned to a help resolution group that could either resolve the problem or send the To Do back to you with information describing how to resolve the problem. 

How To Complete To Dos

When you complete a To Do, a log entry is added that indicates when the To Do was completed and by whom. 

There are multiple ways in which you can complete a To Do. 

·         The To Do List page allows you to complete one or more selected entries of a specific To Do Type.

·         The To Do Search page allows you to search for To Do entries using various search criteria and complete selected ones.

·         Use the To Do Entry page to complete a single To Do Entry.

·         You may also use the Current To Do zone to complete the current entry you are working on and/or all related entries assigned to you.

·         The system automatically completes some To Do entries.  For To Do entries that are logically associated with the state of some object, the system automatically marks the entry Complete when the object is no longer in the respective state.  For example, an entry that’s created when an account doesn’t have a bill cycle is completed when the account has a bill cycle. 

How To Forward a To Do

If you have been assigned a To Do that you are unable to resolve, you can forward it to another user or role for help or additional instructions.  When a To Do is forwarded, a log entry indicates who forwarded the To Do, to whom it was forwarded, and the specified reason.

·         Use the Forward button on the To Do Entry page to forward a To Do entry to a role or a user. 

·         You may also use the Reopen button on the To Do Search page to forward selected entries back to their current role.

How To Send Back a To Do

If you have been forwarded a To Do by another user, you may send back the To Do with instructions to the forwarding user.  When a To Do is sent back, a log entry is created that indicates when the To Do was sent back and by whom.

Use the Send Back button on the To Do Entry page to send back a To Do entry.

How To Add a Log Entry to a To Do

You can use the Comments section of a To Do entry to add a comment to the To Do as long as the To Do is Open or Being Worked On.  However, the Comments field is disabled if the To Do entry is complete.

Alternatively, you can add a User Details log entry to a To Do at any time (even after it’s completed).  Refer to To Do Entry page for more information.