Managing Tasks

Task Management WorkCenter offers you access to task transactions from one central location. You can use this WorkCenter to configure and manage tasks for Campus Solutions. Access the Task Management WorkCenter (Campus Community > Task Management WorkCenter).

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Task Management WorkCenter.

For information about using the links on this page, see:

• Configuring Tasks

• Managing Tasks Using the Task List Page

Task Management WorkCenter is a PeopleTools Portal – WorkCenter page. For information about the WorkCenter, see Understanding WorkCenters and Dashboards.

Access the Assign Tasks page (Campus Community > Task Management WorkCenter > Assign Tasks).

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Assign Tasks page. You can find definitions for the fields and controls later on this page.

In Assign mode, the Assign Tasks process creates the tasks and populates the context data. The process also handles the checking of prerequisite tasks and triggering of assignment notifications.

For each instance, the Administrator roles defined for the template are copied to the instance. A security record with the Privilege Set ID of Contributor is created for the User ID related to the EMPLID, rather than a Role defined for the template (for example, CS - Student for the delivered templates).

If there is no User ID associated with the EMPLID, the instance is created without a defined Contributor and a message is logged. If the EMPLID is associated with multiple User IDs, Contributor records are created for each User ID and a message is logged.

For each record, the process performs the following:

• If any prerequisite task defined in the Task Configuration component is not complete, the process does not create the task for that student, logs a message and skips to the next student record.

• If there is an existing task for the student (that is, activity guide instance with all context data is matching), the process does not create a task for that student, logs a message indicating that the task already exists and skips to the next student record.

• If the process passes all the above validations, it creates a new activity guide instance for the student and populates the context data, logs a message with the student details confirming that the task has been created.

• For each new activity guide instance created, if a notification has been defined with Trigger = Assigned in the Task Configuration component, the process triggers a new notification for the student.

  For Fluid tasks, if the Push Notifications check box is selected, an Alert is generated in the Fluid Notifications flag with a link to access the task.

In review mode, the Assign Tasks process performs the following:

For the purposes of matching the population and In Progress tasks, the context data values for the population are taken either from the PS Query results or from the Context Data parameter fields.

Step 1. Review population against tasks

For each record in the population:

• If there is a matching activity guide instance for the Template ID, Institution, EMPLID and all the context data and:

  • If the instance status is Cancelled, the process logs a message stating that the task is cancelled for the ID.

  • If the instance is In Progress or Complete, the process does not log a message.

• If there is a matching activity guide instance for the Template ID, EMPLID and Institution but not all the context data matches, then the process logs a message stating that the context information of the task does not match.

• If there is no matching activity guide instance for the Template ID, Institution and EMPLID, then the process logs a message stating that the task is not assigned to the student.

Step 2. Review tasks against population

For each current task (that is, activity guide instance with status In Progress) for the Template ID and institution (note: the process does not consider cancelled and completed tasks):

If the student is not in the population, the process logs a message stating that the ID, status and task context is not included in the population.

The Task List page has an enhanced functionality when compared with the PeopleTools - Manage Activity Guide Instances page. For example, the Task List page provides more search options and enables you to identify the EMPLID of the student to whom the task is assigned.

Access the Task List page (Campus Community > Task Management WorkCenter > Task List).

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Task List page. You can find definitions for the fields and controls later on this page.

You can use the PeopleTools Activity Guide components to manually create an instance (task for a student), based on a template. For example, to create an instance based on a template, you can use the Create Instance button on the Activity Guide Template - Properties page. In other words, you can use the button to manually assign a task to a student that the student needs to complete.

Note that the same Instance Creation method is used by the PeopleTools Activity Guide components when you manually create an instance and the Assign Tasks process.

Use the PeopleTools - Manage Activity Guide Instances page to manage instances, for example, adding action items to an instance or deleting instances. You can access this page from the PeopleTools menu or from the Task Management WorkCenter.

Refer to the PeopleTools: Portal Technology documentation for information on creating instances and for fields on the PeopleTools - Manage Activity Guide Instances page.

See the product documentation for PeopleTools: Portal Technology, Managing activity guide instances.

To search for agreement records, access the View Agreements page (Campus Community > Task Management WorkCenter > View Agreements).

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the View Agreements page. You can find definitions for the fields and controls later on this page.

Click the Agreement link in a search record to access the View Agreement Detail page.

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the View Agreement Detail page. You can find definitions for the fields and controls later on this page.

This page enables you to view an agreement for audit purposes and as an administrator complete an agreement on behalf of a student (for example, after a student has declined an agreement, printed and signed the agreement and returned a paper copy).

When you click the Save button and if the Acceptance Status check box has been selected, then the system updates the status of the associated action item to Completed. If all the required action items (that is, action items with the Required check box selected on the Action Item Details page) for the task are now set to Completed, the system performs the following processing (which is the same processing the system performs when the student clicks the Finish button on the Complete Task page):

• Updates instance status to Complete.

• Triggers the complete notification.

• Creates subsequent tasks.

• Releases service indicators.

The View Agreements page is updated to also display those agreements where the related instance has been deleted either through the Manage Instances page or by the Delete Tasks process. In such cases, the Task Title is displayed from the related template and Context Information is blank. The Task Title is derived from the first 10 characters of the Instance ID held in the agreement record matched to the Template ID. The Task Status column displays Deleted in place of the instance status.

Access the View Task Activity page (Campus Community > Task Management WorkCenter > View Task Activity).

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the View Task Activity page. You can find definitions for the fields and controls later on this page.

This page displays records based on the activity guide messages that the system logs when a task is completed.

Messages are logged for the following actions when a student completes a task:

• The task status is updated to Complete.

• A new subsequent task is created for the student.

• A subsequent task cannot be created because the current task does not have all the required context data.

• A subsequent task is not created because it already exists for the student.

Access the Batch Notifications run control page (Campus Community > Task Management WorkCenter > Batch Notifications).

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Batch Notifications page (1 of 2)

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Batch Notifications page (2 of 2)

You can use the Notifications Framework’s Batch Notification process for sending reminder notifications to students with incomplete tasks.

Delivered with the system are the Notification Consumer ID Task Management Notifications (SCC_NTF_CON_20130619110938) and the notification setup for an example generic template SCC_TM_REMINDER.

An example PS Query is delivered (SCC_TM_POP_TASK_REMINDER) that you can use for this process. This query returns all the In Progress tasks with the data required to populate the example generic template.

In the Batch Notification page, after selecting the Query Name, click Edit Prompts to add the Academic Institution and Template ID values for the task. After selecting the Notification Consumer ID and Template Name, define the Field Name value for each of the variables used in the Message Text region.

A PS Query cannot provide the student/task specific URL to open the Student Task WorkCenter. Therefore, if you want to include a URL in the email, then define the URL in the Value field. The URL can point to the Student Center or to the Current Tasks pagelet and the student can then click the task link to complete the task. Note that the URL cannot be defined to directly open the Student Task WorkCenter for the task because the batch process is generating notifications for multiple students.

See Understanding the Notifications Framework

Use this batch process to update Activity Guide instances. You can select instances for updating based on Institution, Template ID, Existing Status, and Context Data values (such as, the STRM value for Fluid Registration).You can refine your search by selecting either Population Selection or Student Override methods.

A user with HCCPCSSA1000 CS Administration – All Pages permissions can use the Update Tasks process.

Access the Update Tasks page (Campus Community > Task Management WorkCenter > Manage Tasks > Update Tasks).

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Update Tasks page. You can find definitions for the fields and controls later on this page.

The Update Tasks process comprises the selection of the instances and their update:

Task selection: You can run the Update Tasks process only on instances that meet all of the following conditions:

• The Institution parameter matches the value in the Context Data for the instance.

• The Template ID parameter matches the parent template of the instance.

• The Existing Status parameter is All or matches the instance status.

• Any other provided Context Data parameters match the equivalent values for the instance.

• If a PS Query is defined under Population Selection, the Instance ID appears in the query results.

• If Student Override is selected, the EMPLID in the Context Data for the instance matches one of the defined IDs.

Task update: The process performs the following on each selected instance:

• If the user does not have security access to the instance, the instance is not updated and an error message is logged.

• If a New Status value is provided, the existing status value is updated and a confirmation message is logged. If the status is being updated to Completed, the following processing based on Task Configuration is performed.

  • Remove service indicators.

  • Create any subsequent tasks.

  • Remove any push notifications for the instance (Fluid instances only).

  Note: A Task completed message is not saved in the task activity log.

  Complete task notifications are not triggered.

  The statuses of individual action items are not updated and agreements are not completed or saved on behalf of the student.

• If a new Due Date value is provided:

  • If the new Due Date is earlier than the existing Start Date of the instance, the Due Date of the instance is not updated and a message is logged.

  • If the new Due Date is on or after the existing Start Date, or the existing Start Date is blank, the Due Date of the instance is updated and a confirmation message is logged.

• For each updated instance, the last update date/time is updated to current date/time and the last update Operator ID is updated to the user running the process.

Use this batch process to delete incomplete or cancelled Activity Guide instances. You can select instances for deleting based on Institution, Template ID, Existing Status, and Context Data values. You can refine your search by selecting either Population Selection or Student Override methods.

A user with HCCPCSSA1000 CS Administration – All Pages permissions can use the Delete Tasks process.

Access the Delete Tasks page (Campus Community > Task Management WorkCenter > Manage Tasks > Delete Tasks).

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Delete Tasks page.

The fields and controls on the Delete Tasks page are the same as those on the Update Tasks page. For details, see Updating Tasks in Batch.

The Delete Tasks process comprises the selection of the instances and their deletion:

Task selection: You can run the Delete Tasks process only on instances that meet all the required conditions described in the Update Task instance selection process.

Task delete: If the user running the process has security access, the process deletes the instance record and associated action items for every selected instance, and a confirmation message is logged.