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How to Create Tasks and Task Blocks

The capabilities described on this page are included in Appian's advanced and premium capability tiers. Usage limits may apply.

Overview

Tasks are the main driver of activity in your case management application and case workflow. They represent the work that your case workers complete to resolve a case. A workflow is a process made up of a series of tasks done by case workers to resolve issues and complete cases. Case Management Studio allows you to manage workflows, cases, and tasks in a centralized place.

When managing your tasks, Studio allows you to dynamically change the task workflow for an individual case by adding or removing tasks to any section of the workflow. You can add new tasks in a sequence to capture a specific process and even see a real-time visualization of the whole case process that updates as you add, remove, or complete tasks.

This page will provide a brief overview of what tasks and task blocks are, how to configure them, and how they relate to case workflows.

What are tasks and task blocks

Tasks are steps in a workflow that represent the actions taken by case workers or other users to resolve a case.

Task blocks are groups of tasks that are chained together in a sequence to create flexible pathways within a workflow. Task blocks aren't specific to a case type and can be reused across all case types.

Tasks and task blocks can be shared across all case types and case categories.

In addition to tasks and task blocks, you can optionally create milestones to add to tasks in a case type. Milestones are labeled and color-coded groups that allow you to visually organize your tasks based on your own criteria. Milestones are specific to the case type in which they are created and can only be added or edited in the Workflow page of that case type.

Tasking page

All tasks and task blocks for your case management app can be found within the TASKING page group in the navigation bar, which consists of two nested pages: TASKS and TASK BLOCKS.

Tasks page

From the nested Tasks page, you can:

  • View tasks across all case types and categories in Studio.
  • Create, search, and edit tasks.

Creating tasks

You can create tasks in two places, in the Tasks page or in the Workflow tab of a case type.

Creating tasks from the tasks page

To create tasks directly from the Tasks page:

  1. In the Tasks page, click TASKING > CREATE TASKS.
    Result: The Create Task dialog displays.
  2. In the Create Task dialog, configure the following task properties.

    Property Description
    Name The name of the task.
    Task Type The kind of activity the task represents. There are three task types available out-of-the-box: confirmation, decision, and document upload.
    Default Assigned Group The group that is initially assigned this task, unless otherwise specified.
    Default SLA The service level agreement to apply to the task, calculated in business (working) days.
    Question The question for your users to answer. Questions are required for the Decision task type.
    Response Options The optional responses for your users to choose from. Response options are required for the Decision task type.
    Description Description of the task. This text box contains many text formatting options, so you can write the best description of the task, including instructions, for your users.
  3. When you're done configuring the task, click CREATE.

Creating tasks from a case type

To create and configure a task from within a case type, follow the instructions here.

Editing tasks

You can edit tasks from the Tasks page and in a case type on the Workflow page. You can edit tasks and workflows at any time, even for in-progress cases.

Task blocks page

From the nested Task Blocks page, you can:

  • View all task blocks across all case types and categories in Studio.
  • Create, search, and edit task blocks.
  • View a visualization of the sequence of tasks in each task block.

Creating task blocks

To create a task block:

  1. In the TASK BLOCKS page, click CREATE TASK BLOCK.
  2. Enter a name and description. Click NEXT.
  3. Click Add Tasks.
  4. Select the tasks you want to include in the task block.
  5. (Optional) Re-order the sequence of tasks in your task block using the up and down arrows in each block.
  6. Click ADD DEPENDENT to add dependents to each task. This sets the chronological order in which the tasks are done by selecting the task that should directly follow the current task.
  7. Click CREATE.

Note that task blocks can only be created and edited from the TASK BLOCKS page.

Adding task blocks to case types

Once created, you can add task blocks to as many case types as needed. To add a task block to a case type, follow the steps here.

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