Working On A To Do

The To Do entry you are actively working on is your In Progress To Do entry. This To Do entry is visible in the Current To Do zone. Refer to that zone's help topic for all the features enabled on that zone.

Important: The information here assumes that you have configured the system to use the ability to have a substatus of Assigned, which includes the In Progress value. If you are not taking advantage of the substatus, then see below for information about how the functionality described here works differently.

If you don't currently have an In Progress To Do entry, there are several ways to choose a To Do and indicate that you want to start working on it. Doing so proactively populates the To Do into the Current To Do zone and navigates you to the related object (or if the To Do type is configured to launch a script, the script is launched).

If your organization's practice is to assign work to users up front, then a typical approach is that you would start by reviewing a list of entries assigned to you using one of the base pages and indicate that you want to work on an entry in the list. Or your organization may allow you to review To Do entries that are open and in a role that you are in. In some pages, there is a way for you to enable a list of To Do Entries that you can work through without needing to return to the query page to get the next entry.

The following points highlight the available base pages and their supported functionality.

  • To Do Management allows you to use filters to view a list of entries assigned to you or that are open. Click the Work List icon in the Action column to populate the Work List zone in the sidebar with the results of the search. Click the Work button to choose the To Do entry you wish to start with. This drills you into the related object and populates the Current To Do zone with this To Do. It marks the To Do In Progress. (If the To Do entry was not already assigned to you, it will first assign it to you). Use the entries in the Work List zone to subsequently work on other To Do entries.

  • If you are viewing a record on To Do Entry that you are allowed to work on, click the Work button to indicate that you want to start working on the record. This drills you into the related object and populates the Current To Do zone with this To Do. It marks the To Do In Progress. (If the To Do entry was not already assigned to you, it will first assign it to you).

  • To Do List allows you to start working on a To Do by clicking the entry's message description link. It marks the To Do In Progress. (If the To Do entry was not already assigned to you, it will first assign it to you). Any other To Do entries that were in that results list on that page become an internal work list and the Previous button and Next button are enabled in the Current To Do zone to work through that list. Note that clicking the next or previous button does not automatically assign the entry to you. Use the Start Progress button on the Current To Do zone to change the status. If you don't start progress, it means the To Do in this zone is not your current In Progress to do entry. It remains in this zone until you perform another action to populate a different To Do in this zone. If you open another browser window, the Current To Do zone will not have this same To Do entry populated.

  • To Do Search allows you to drill into the details of a To Do by clicking the entry's message description link, but it does not automatically assign it to you or update it to In Progress. You can click Start Progress on the Current To Do zone once it's populated. Any other To Do entries that were in that results list on that page become an internal work list and the Previous button and Next button are enabled in the Current To Do zone to work through that list. As with the first To Do selected, the subsequent To Do entries will not be assigned to you or progress started automatically.

    Note: The To Do Search works differently than other pages in that you can drill in on a To Do entry and push the details into the Current To Do zone even if the To Do entry is assigned to someone else or if you are not allowed to work on that To Do. If you have an In Progress To Do entry and use the To Do Search to drill in on a different To Do Entry that doesn't get assigned to you, that To Do is now the one in the Current To Do zone and remains there until you do something else to refresh the data in that zone. If you open another browser window, the Current To Do zone will not have this same To Do entry populated.

Refer to Current To Do for more information about actions available to update To Do entries that you are working on.

Additionally, you may have the option to click on the Assign me a To Do button on the Current To Do zone to request your next task. The returned To Do entry automatically becomes the your In Progress To Do. This does not enable any work list functionality.

Note: If you do already have an In Progress To Do and you perform one of the above actions that results in a different To Do to become In Progress, the To Do entry that was already In Progress is updated to On Hold.
Important: If your implementation is not taking advantage of the substatus as described in The Lifecycle Of A To Do Entry, then the system doesn't have a persistent way of marking which To Do entry is the one you are working on. You may still perform any of the steps described above to make the To Do entry your 'current' To Do. If any of the above steps indicate that the To Do will be assigned to you, that action still occurs, but the To Do entry is not moved to 'in progress'. The To Do entry is only considered the 'current To Do' for your current session. If a different session is opened, you must perform the explicit action again to make the To Do the 'current To Do' for that session.