This is one of the two lists available in the Collaboration screen accessed through the collaboration button. The list shows all the tasks created by the user.

The list is a dashboard, providing task owners with the necessary visibility of tasks in progress, but also allowing changes and creation of new tasks. 

Task list 

Shows the list of tasks either owned by the User or where the user is “2nd-in-Charge“, the with following columns: 

• Status and progress – This is a visual cue showing the current status of the task and its indicated progress as follows: 
  • Where there are multiple users assigned to the task, this represents the average of their individual progress percentages, however voting rule is taken into account as shown in this example:
  • If 2 out of 3 users assigned to a step/task need to make a decision so a step/task can be completed, then progress will be 50% after the first user completes the step/task (progress indicated by other two users will be normalised against remaining 50% and added to show overall task/step progress . If a specific user needs to complete a step/task, progress will remain at 0% until that user completes step/task. “Not mine” default decision by any user means 100% complete by that user.
• Icon – to show if there are files in the task not saved to the repository. 
• Task name and description – abbreviated in the second line  
• Step – shows the current and overall number of steps in the task. 
• Project the task belongs to. 
• Last action – when and by whom, push updated.
• Due date – different colour for due today and overdue tasks.  
• Date created 
• Priority 
• Number of new task messages – reset after opening the task, push updated.
• 2nd-in-Charge icon showing the name of the owner as a tooltip.  
• Ellipsis – task functions available from the list for each task: 
  • Edit task – This is to change header level task details. For comprehensive task editing, a task should be opened by clicking on the task from the list. 
  • Add to the project – available only for tasks not assigned to a project.
  • Remove from the project – available only for tasks assigned to a project.   
  • Delete task – task will never be permanently deleted but its status will change.  
  • Pin task – you can pin a task or a project to the top of the work list. Pinned tasks are ordered according to the sort order column selection. Pinned tasks are preserved between your logins and you can unpin it at any time. Only standalone tasks or whole projects can be pinned.

Filters and sorting 

“Tasks managed by me” list can, over time, become quite busy which is why it has filtering and sorting capabilities built in. 

The easiest way to filter this list and access desired task is by entering partial task name into the search box at the top right of the list.

Alternatively, we can use Filtering bar sitting above the list which offers the following options:

Filtering on status

• Active
• Completed
• Disabled (by task owner)
• Draft (saved as draft by task owner)
• Inactive
• Removed (deleted by task owner) 

Filtering on type

• Simple – to-do and file sharing tasks that don’t have any advanced properties set
• Advanced 

Filtering on due date 

Shows tasks by due date.

Filtering option showing only standalone (non-project) tasks

Shows only standalone tasks.

Showing tasks from a specific project

In addition to these filtering controls we can also choose to show only tasks from a specific project by selecting that project using drop-down menu of “Tasks managed by me” button. 

For selected project, the system shows key project properties and the Gantt chart and provides access to following Project-wide commands: 

• Message – broadcasting task owner’s message to all tasks 
• Add task to the project – pop-up panel allows selection of tasks that are to be added to the project. Dependent tasks will be moved to the project together and their dependency will be preserved. 
• Edit project – controls project-wide settings – Name, Description, Due Date and 2nd-in-Charge. 2IC setting affects all underlying tasks. 
• Delete project 

You can sort by clicking on the arrows beside column name in the list. Some columns (messages, status, step) cannot be used for sorting. 

Pinned tasks will always be at the top of the list, overriding selected sorting order.

Command buttons  

Use the “Create project” button to create a project and set its properties (Name, Description, Due date and 2IC).  

Create task

Initial view of this pop up is simplified to include controls required for “To-do” or “File share” type tasks. 

“More options” button will expand the form to include all other controls of the create task.  

• Name (mandatory, unique for the owner of the task) 
• Description
• Invite participants adds users to the task either by selecting an item from the user list or by typing a valid email address to invite an external user to the task. New external users are created on the platform but are not activated until they log in for the first time when they are prompted to set mandatory user fields, including a password. They can only log in for the first time by following the link from the notification email.
• Watchers are users who just monitor the task and are not expected to make decisions. Similar to task participants, they can be selected from existing users or added by typing their email address.
• Task attachments  lists files associated with the task. Files are added by using one of three options available:
  • Add files to task only – This Drag & Drop target adds a file system object to the task. Internally, file is saved in “Task only” document class. You are prompted for File Title (if not supplied, use actual file name) and Description. These files are confined to the task and are not returned by PIQNIC document searches until they are saved.
  • Add files from PIQNIC – Use this option to add one of PIQNIC files to the task.
  • Add URL – Adds an URL reference to the task.

Advanced view

As mentioned earlier, where more control over a new task is required, PIQNIC offers additional configuration parameters. 

Due date

Sets due date/time for the task. 

For dependent tasks this has to be later than the parent task’s due date. 

If the task is a parent to another task, the due date cannot be later than the due date of any of its children. It has to be a future date/time.

Task priority

A number between 1 and 10.

2nd-in-Charge (2IC)

Allows selection from the list of users in an organisation. 

If the task is part of the project and 2IC is set on the project level, then 2IC cannot be set on the task level, so this control is read only. It triggers a notification to a selected user.

Dependent on

This is a selection of tasks within the same project or standalone tasks. 

If a task depends on another task it will become and remain inactive until the parent task is completed. 

Inactive tasks are specially marked in the “Work I am managing” list and are not visible to any users assigned to the task. 

When a standalone task is selected as a dependent task of a project task, it will be automatically added to the project. Setting dependency validates due dates (if set) for both a parent and a child task.

Project selection

A task can be assigned to an existing project. 

Left empty, a task will not be assigned to any project. We refer to these tasks as standalone tasks.

Initial message

Registered as the first message on the wall of a new task.

Manage decisions

Decisions must be selected by users to complete work on the task. This list has two initial entries: “Complete” and “Not For Me”. 

The task owner can replace “Complete” with any number of decisions. Any decision can have “Please explain” flag which forces the users to make comments as they complete the task. These comments are added to the task wall. 

If users choose “Not For Me”, they have to provide an explanation, which is also posted to the task wall.

Voting rule

Voting rule is established whenever we have more than one user assigned to a task. As users make decisions, voting rule is checked to determine when the task is complete. To define a voting rule for the task you need to select a decision and then specify:

• how many users need to make the above decision for the task to be completed (any, all, 1,2, …)
• a specific user that needs to make the above decision.

Initial (default) rule is that all users need to complete the steps in order for the whole task to be completed and will apply until modified. 

Watchers are not considered in voting rules as they are not able to make decisions. When the voting rule is evaluated true, the task is completed.

Manage Save Profiles (Attachments tab)

This control allows the task owner to select which Save Profiles are available to task users to save files to PIQNIC while working on the task. 

Multiple selection is allowed and “Add to Task Only” is selected by default but can be deselected, which will prevent adding files to the task if they are not properly indexed in PIQNIC repository. 

Save Profiles owners can select from the profiles they have access to.

Create step

Tasks could be configured to be processed in a sequence of independent steps while preserving the payload (task wall and task files) between them. 

To enable this workflow, the task owner uses “Create step” function to establish steps within the task. The basic idea behind this simple workflow configuration is that a task cannot move to the next step until the previous one is completed and the whole task is complete only when the last step is completed. 

In addition to that, the task owner can define conditions when the task is returned to the previous step. The task owner can create any number of steps. Although values are likely to be changed, each new step sets initial values of Users, Decisions, Voting Rule and Profile Selection from the previous step. 

Additionally, the following properties can be set for each step:

• Step name
• Step description
• Step due date/time – Due date/time cannot be earlier than due date/time of the previous step or later than the following step.

Note: When we try to add step to a task that did not have any steps previously, we will first be prompted for a name of the initial step that will inherit all the configuration of the existing task. After that, we will get a new pop-up to configure the second step as described below. This is because we cannot have tasks with less than two steps.

Each step allows independent configuration of: 

• User list (participants and watchers)
• Decisions
• Voting rule
• Profile selection  

These controls operate in exactly the same way as for tasks that do not have steps. The only difference is an enhancement of a voting configuration that now allows the task owner to also define a condition when the task is returned to the previous step.  

To define “Return to previous step rule” we select a decision and then specify:

• how many users need to make the above decision for the task to be returned to the previous step (any, all, 1,2, …), or
• a specific user that needs to make the above decision for task to be returned to the previous step. 

If no decision is selected for this rule, it is never evaluated, and Task never moves backwards. 

Step completion rule is defined separately using control that operates exactly the same way as described for tasks that do not have steps. 

Return to previous step rule is evaluated first (if one is defined). Obviously, the first step in the task does not have “previous step” rule, and “Go to next step” rule of the last step completes the task.

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Task details pop-up 

This functionality is only available to task owners when they open (select) a task from the “Tasks managed by me” list. 

Task details panel’s emphasis is on managing and checking the latest activities within the task. If a task has multiple steps, the current step is selected by default.

Current status of the task (and its underlying steps) is presented in progress indicator as follows: 

• Where there are multiple users assigned to the task, this represents the average of their individual progress percentages, however a voting rule is taken into account as shown in this example:
  • If 2 out of 3 users assigned to a step/task need to make a decision for step/task to be completed, then the progress will be 50% after the first user completes the step/task (progress indicated by other two users will be normalised against the remaining 50% and added to show overall step/task progress. 
  • If a specific user needs to complete step/task, the progress will remain at 0% until that user completes step/task. “Not mine” default decision by any user means 100% complete by that user.