Task Manager Terms

Table 24-1 Task Manager Terms

Term	Description
Tasks	Tasks are activities performed during a business process, for example, Enter Form Data, or Review New Accounts. Service Administrators and Power Users define the tasks for the process, and include details for each task, such as start and end dates, assignees, and approvers. Users open assigned tasks, read instructions, answer questions, and after completing tasks, submit them.
Templates	Templates define a repeatable set of tasks required for a business process. Administrators can save a set of defined tasks as a template to use for future periods, such as monthly or quarterly, rather than recreating the tasks each time. For example, an administrator can save a set of tasks required for a monthly process and use the same template for that process every month.
Schedules	A schedule is an ordered set of tasks for a business process. Schedules can be created from a template of predefined tasks, or manually created. When administrators create a schedule, they map the relative dates that were defined for tasks such as Day 1 and 2 of the business process to calendar dates, such as March 1 and 2. When they change the status of the schedule to Open, the tasks run according to their scheduled start date and times. For example, an administrator creates a monthly process schedule for March, with the Review New Accounts task assigned to March 1. When the administrator changes the schedule from Pending to Open, on March 1, the Review New Accounts task starts and an email notification is sent to the task assignee.
Task Types	Task Types enable the standardization of task details across all tasks of the same type. Details defined on the Task Type are inherited by all tasks created from the Task Type. For example, when an administrator defines Task Type settings such as instructions or rules for the Approve Data Task Type, those settings are shared by all tasks created using the Approve Data Task Type. Basic Task: a default Task Type, which does not contain any task details Parent Task: a Task Type that enables you to create parent tasks for task hierarchies. For example, the Load Data parent task can have child tasks of Load EMEA Sales Data and Load NA Sales Data. Integration Task: a Task Type that defines an action and includes the application component, such as a form, or parameters needed to link to an external application. Predefined Integrations and Task Types are automatically loaded for your service. After you set up a connection to a different service, you can include Integration Task Types from that service in your tasks. For example, an administrator using Task Manager in one service can enable and synchronize connections to a different service, such as Account Reconciliation, which loads the predefinedAccount Reconciliation Integrations and Task Types.
Integrations	Integrations are used to automate tasks across EPM Cloud business processes and external applications. You can define tasks that include Integrations with other applications. For EPM Cloud Services, the service is automatically configured with local predefined Integrations for the business process. If you have subscriptions to other EPM Cloud services, you can create connections between services and enable integrations using Task Manager. Pre-built integrations allow you to perform Task Manager tasks that access other EPM Cloud functionality. You can also create custom Integrations, for example, custom Event Monitoring tasks. Integration tasks run based on one of these Execution Types defined in the task: End User - a task that requires the user to interact with a user interface to complete the task. When a user launches an end user task, the task automatically opens the user interface component needed to perform the task. For example, the Enter Form Data task requires a user to enter data. When the Enter Form Data task is launched, it opens the form UI. Process Automation - a task that runs in the background without any user interaction required. These integrations are automatically executed in external applications when their start date and time are reached, and any predecessor tasks are completed. For example, a Load Data task can be defined to run automatically overnight based on its start date and time. Event Monitoring - a task used to monitor a particular event that happened on an external system. When the action or status occurs in the external application, the task is changed to Closed. For example, if you are working with Task Manager in one application, you can monitor the status of a Copy Data task in an external application. When the Copy Data task completes and you see that the task is Closed, you can start the next task in your application, for example, Approve Data.
Alerts	Alerts are notifications from users on issues that they encounter during the process, such as hardware or software issues. When users encounter an issue and create an alert for it, they select from a list of predefined Alert Types to identify the issue. The Alert is then sent to the assignee defined in the Alert Type to be resolved. For example, a user has a task due and can’t access their assigned tasks. The user selects an Alert Type, such as Access Issue, which sends the alert to the predefined assignee, for example, the System Administrator. The System Administrator resolves the access issue, then closes the alert.
Alert Types	Alert Types are categories of possible issues that might occur during the business process. Administrators can create Alert Types such as Missing Data or Access Issue. Each Alert Type defines a procedure that is used to capture critical information about the issue and assigns key personnel to resolve it. For example, an administrator can create an Alert Type called Access Issue, which contains questions to users for more detailed information. The administrator defines a workflow for the Alert Type with an assignee to resolve the issue such as a System Administrator, and a backup assignee if desired.
System Settings	System Settings enable Service Administrators to specify defaults for Task Manager settings. Administrators can define Global Integration Tokens to manage parameters for URLs, for example, in task instructions. They can determine Holiday Rules for which holiday dates apply to schedules, and create geographical or business unit Organizational Units to associate with task settings such as holidays and time zones. They can also configure settings such as comments and task deletions, email notifications, task governors for maximum values of list and file sizes, reassignment request approvals, permissions to reopen tasks, and specify how tasks display in Smart View, the Worklist, and the Welcome panel.
Worklist	A Worklist is the main end-user screen where users can easily work on their assigned tasks.
Schedule Tasks	Schedule Tasks page displays a list of schedules and the tasks they contain. This enables users to see all the tasks within a schedule. Filtering and Saved View options enable users to quickly review their tasks.
Overview Dashboard	The Overview Dashboard provides a summarized view all tasks within a POV. You can filter tasks by Year, Period, and Schedule. You can view tasks by Schedule, Priority, Task Type, or Organizational Unit, and drill into task details.
Compliance Dashboard	The Compliance Dashboard provides metrics on how well the company achieved their compliance objectives, distinguishing tasks that were completed on time from those that were late, and providing a count of those that were approved or rejected. You can filter tasks by Year, Period, and Schedule, view user performance metrics based on user and organizational unit, and drill into task details.
Operational Dashboard	The Organizational Dashboard provides an overall summary of data for a Task Manager process using a variety of displays. Operational dashboards can combine charts, lists, or pivot views. For example, you can create an Operational dashboard called Task Performance that contains a Bar chart for On Time Performance, a Pie chart for Task Status, and a Pivot view for Status by User.
Task Manager Report	The Task Manager Report is a report provided by default that reports on task execution. For example, it displays tasks that are At Risk, Early, Late, or Rejected by an approver. It also displays Task Compliance, Performance by Organization Unit, Users with Late Tasks, and an Audit Trail of task changes. Administrators can define their own custom reports as needed.