Latest Updates: tasks RSS

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  Deliverables & Tasks in 2.8.1

  By Adrian Ziemkowski 9:49 am on May 21, 2010 | 5 comments Permalink
  Tags: deliverables, tasks

  Perhaps the most visible change in last week’s Táve 2.8.0 release, and even more so with yesterday’s release of 2.8.1, is the completely revamped Deliverables section of the job viewer.

  Prior to this release, we showed all tasks for a deliverable in two places in the job viewer; collapsed under each deliverable and also in the general task list. The idea behind it was you’d want to see all of your tasks for a job in one place and yet be able to dig into the individual progress of a deliverable. In reality, it meant that the task list would often get too cluttered to be usable and downright confusing if the same task was created for different items.

  Here’s an example of the Tasks and Deliverables sections prior to 2.8.0, courtesy of Karen Lisa:

  

  Now with 2.8, your general task list for a job is limited to tasks you create manually and tasks created when non-deliverable products are ordered.

  Here’s a look at at the same deliverables and tasks above in 2.8.1 (Karen has delivered some of the items since the screenshot above was taken):

  

  You’ll notice that we now group the deliverables by order and include a handy progress meter. In this case, Karen has 3 orders with deliverables booked for this job.

  To make it easier to see what tasks are coming up next for an order, we show the next task for each deliverable even when collapsed.  Click on the deliverable name and it expands to show all tasks and even the item configuration:

  

  The “next task” is based on the task order, so you can always drag and drop the tasks into a new order by grabbing the dotted grips on the left side of the tasks (any time you see those dotted grips in Táve it means you can drag the item using it).

   

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  Workflow Tips & Tricks

  By Karen Lisa Ziemkowski 5:54 pm on August 5, 2009 | 4 comments Permalink
  Tags: products (3), tasks

  When I talk to Táve users on the phone, one of the most important features that they want to learn about is setting up their workflow. They are surprised when they find out how easy it can be!   Our product editor is a cornerstone of the application and definitely worth digging into, especially with the recently released Cost of Goods Sold feature (which was recently updated to show your profit margin percentage as well).

  Product-based automation

  The first step in setting up your workflow is to create a product. Let’s assume that you’re creating an album. For your album, you have 4 steps – to design the album, send the client a proof, order from your vendor, and deliver the album once it arrives. This is easily set up in the brown box labeled “work to create when ordered.”

  You can set which job phase you want the tasks to start in – Booked, Processing, Presentation, Fulfillment, or Completed. In this case, I chose for some tasks to start in the Presentation phase and one in the Fulfillment phase. When editing each task, you can also set more precise due dates if you prefer. It just depends on what you are comfortable with in your workflow!

  

  Quickly creating similar products

  When creating similar products that have the same tasks, I’ve found a really great tip. On the Products page, we include a “duplicate” button for each product. It’s the one that you see below that looks like two boxes, a blue one on top of a white one.

  
  If you click this button, it will duplicate the product and all information inside of it, including your workflow tasks. This will save you some time for items that are similar, as you’ll simply need to click on the copied item and edit it to be a separate product.

  Not only is this helpful for your workflow tasks, but if the items are very similar but just differ in price, then adding all of the options or add-ons is one less thing you’ll have to do to set up the next item on your product sheet!

  Job-specific tasks with Deliverables

  The next time a client books a quote with this product, a Deliverable will be created for the product inside the Job’s task module.  As you progress through the job phases, the tasks will automatically appear.

  

  As clients request special work for the album, just click on the New Task link to create a new task for the deliverable to keep it all organized.

  I hope this little tutorial helps as you set up your products and workflow a bit faster!

   
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  Default Work and Tasks with Relative Due Dates

  By Adrian Ziemkowski 1:28 pm on January 26, 2009 | 0 Permalink
  Tags: products (3), tasks, work

  We just released a small but extremely useful update to default work and tasks, the feature located in the Product Editor that lets you automatically create work, events, or tasks for a job when a client books a quote with the product in it.

  You can have Táve Studio Manager automatically set the due date (or for events, the start date) based on the Job’s event date or when a Job’s phase begins.

  

  This feature alone can have a significant impact on your business!   Examples include scheduling a pre-wedding phone consult with the bride a week before the wedding or creating a task to upload their photos to your blog shortly after the session.