Creating and Using Task Templates

Overview

Task templates auto-populate information when creating a task that helps streamline user workflows by cutting down on repetitive entries. This article outlines the steps to create custom task templates and how to launch a task using a template within your Practifi organization.

• Creating Task Templates
• Creating Task Templates From the Process Tasks Page
• Task Templates and Active Forms
• Additional Features
• Using Task Templates

Creating Task Templates

To create a new task template, do the following:

1. If not already in the Settings app, select the App Launcher in the upper left-hand corner of Practifi. 
2. Select the Settings app from the drop-down menu.
3. In the Settings app, use the Navigation menu and select Task Templates.
   
   Please note: If the Task Templates page appears at the bottom of the list in your organization and you want to move it higher, you can change the order of pages in the menu. To do this, click Edit to rearrange, then click Save. If you are unable to access the Task Templates page, follow the steps outlined in the next section.
4. On the Task Templates page, select the New Task Template button on the right-hand side. 
5. Selecting the New button will open a New Process Task subtab. The following fields are displayed in the Summary section:
   
   
   1. Subject - Required. This is the task's name and how it will be displayed in shorthand within your Practifi organization. Enter a short subject in this field.
   2. Status - Required. This field determines what status the task will have when it is launched. This is typically set to Not Started.
   3. Visible - If this box is checked, the task template will be available to users from the New task (from template) global action.  
   4. Priority - Required. Set the priority of the task to determine its importance to the assignee. 
   5. Description - Enter the information that you would like to auto-fill within the Description field during task creation.
   6. Task Type - Optionally, select a type for the templated task. This will pre-populate the Task Type field when tasks are created from this template.
6. Scroll down to the Task Settings section to access the following fields:
   
   
   1. Assignment Type - This setting determines who will be assigned the task when it launches. Leaving this as None will assign the task to the user who is creating it.
   2. Due Date Interval - Enter a whole number in this field to specify the number of business days after the task's creation that the task should be due.
   3. Task Group - Enter an identifier to group this templated task along with other similar tasks. This value will appear in the Task Group picklist when a user creates a task from a template.
   4. Related To - Optionally, select the objects and record types where you want this task template to be available.
   5. Roles that can execute this task - If you want this task template to be available only to users with certain roles, you can select those here.
   6. Bus. Roles that can execute this task - If you want this task template to be available only to users with certain business roles, you can select those here.
      Please note: To learn more about how the above functionality works, please see Understanding Advanced Execution Management for Tasks.
7. In the Portal Settings section, check the Enable for Portal Users box to make this task template available in a client-facing portal.
   Please note: This setting applies only to organizations with the Practifi Portals add-on service. To learn more about adding this functionality, please contact your CSM.
8. Once the task template information is entered, select Save to finalize the task template creation. Save & New may be selected if creating multiple task templates at one time. 

Creating Task Templates From the Process Tasks Page

If you are unable to access the Task Templates page in Settings, do the following:

1. From the Settings app, use the Navigation menu and select Process Tasks.
2. Select the caret next to Recently Viewed on the Process Tasks list view and select All Task Templates from the list view options. 
3. On the All Task Templates list view, select the New button located on the right-hand side. From here, you can follow steps 5-8 in the above instructions.

Task Templates and Active Forms

As of the Albariño release, task templates within Practifi support the addition of Active Forms. When completing a workflow step, there's often information encountered that needs to find a home in your organization. With Active Forms in your Practifi instance, you can enter that information directly on the workflow step's record page. Using Active Forms avoids additional navigation and ensures that team members capture what's needed before marking an item as complete. Once captured, that information gets used as inputs by the workflow step's actions, sending it to exactly where it needs to go in your organization.

Active Form configuration will occur after the task template's structure is initially created using the steps above. For information about Active Form configuration and considerations, please consult our Configuring Active Forms article.

Additional Features

In addition to Active Forms, other options become available after the initial creation of the task template. From the Process Task record page, you can add Checklist items you want to appear on the task for the user to complete. To learn more, please see the Preset Checklist Items section of our article on Creating Processes.

You can also use the Rule-Based Actions section to specify criteria that trigger actions at the task level. To learn more about how these rules work, please see our Understanding and Using the Rule Builder article.

In the Available To area of the Process Task record, you can click the New button to specify Team Members, Divisions and Financial Products where you want this task template to be available. Each of these relationships has a different impact on workflow availability:

• If a task template is related to a Team Member, that user will see the item appear in the New Task (from template) action wherever it’s been exposed (as per the item’s Related To options).
• If a task template is related to a Division, any user who’s a member of that Division will see that item appear in the New Task (from template) action wherever it’s been exposed (as per the item’s Related To options).
• If a task template is related to a Financial Product, any user will see that item appear in the New Task (from template) action for an Entity that has one or more related Asset/Liability records which are themselves related to that Financial Product (via either the Financial Product or Parent Financial Product lookup fields).

Using Task Templates

Task templates are available through Global Actions, page actions, the Processes & Tasks section and through table mass and row actions on specific records within your Practifi Organization. The creation process will ask you which task template to use, displays the fields in an editable form for any final adjustments and then creates the task record with the values as specified. Depending on the context the action is launched from, the task will be automatically related to the relevant records.

For detailed instructions on how to use task templates, please see our Using Tasks article.