OVERVIEW
A To-Do in OfficeTools WorkSpace is most directly defined as a single step, single staff member activity. These can be assigned to anyone in the office and are meant to help organize the miscellaneous tasks that come across your desk so that nothing slips through the cracks.
USER GUIDE
In this guide, we will be addressing how to create a To-Do. A To-Do is simply a task with a due date that you can assign to someone. A to-do will be for a contact in the database, assigned to a staff member, can be added to the staff member’s activity list, and can reoccur. To-do’s are usually used for one-off tasks or reminders that are only assigned to one staff member and involve limited steps to complete. To-Do’s can be added, edited, deleted, saved, printed, copied, and emailed. They can be associated to a Project, have a checklist, be seen on your calendar, and have documents associated to it. To-Do’s also integrate into the Time tab. You can establish budgets for a To-Do, as well as, track your time against it. Other information that can be seen is which staff member created it, modified, or completed it. To-Do’s can be seen on certain Staff Reports.
To Create a To-Do, simply go to the To-Do’s tab and click on the plus (+) sign in the tool bar. This tool bar also includes buttons to edit, save, delete, print, email, copy, search, to view associated or create a time card.
The fields showing on the screen can all be populated, and some will be automatically populated. The For Staff is the staff member that the To-Do is assigned to. This field will automatically populate with the staff who is logged in and creating the assignment. The Name is the contact that you have selected, which will also automatically populate. The Contact is the person within the selected entity that the To-Do is regarding. This name will only populate if there is just one person in that contact. The Phone is the main number of the contact that is selected. These 4 fields are drop-down menus and will only display information that already exists in the database, except for the contact field- which can be typed in to.
The following 3 fields are for the data of the To-Do. The Subject, Notes, and Results are for your use of the information of the To-Do. Below the results is where you can see the date and initials of when and who created, modified, or completed the To-Do.
On the top right of the To-Do’s screen, you will see additional fields and a reminders section. Here you can select the Due Date and time that this To-Do is due. You can set a Priority which shows the importance of a To-Do and can also be used for filtering purposes on your activity list. The Type field is referring to an event type (just like the event type on appointments). These can be setup by going to Setup> Schedule> Event Types. The Project field is where you can associate the To-Do to a current Project. You will be able to view this To-Do on the Projects screen by clicking on Project Events. Budgeted Hours is where you can setup an estimated amount of how long it should take to complete the To-Do. Actual Hours will populate only when you have tracked your time to the To-Do.
In the Reminders area, you can setup alerts for the staff member that the To-Do is assigned to. The Add to activity list checkbox puts a notification on your activity list.
Below the checkbox for add to activity list is where you can adjust the time that you want it to populate on your activity list. You can specify a certain number of minutes, hours, and days prior to the due date. If I were to create a To-Do with the due date of 4/15, and set the amount to 3 days, the notification would show up on my list on 4/12. Besides the activity list notification, you can setup a pop-up reminder. This alert will show as a notification bubble from your control panel. The method of how to setup when you see that pop-up notification is the same as setting up the add to activity list date. The next option is the Show on Calendar option. If this checkbox is selected, the To-Do will display on your calendar on the day and at the time that it is due. In correlation to this option, the check box As Reminder will make the To-Do display on the calendar, but not at the time it is due. It will instead show on the top of the day that it is due. *In order to have To-Do’s show on you calendar, you must select an option on the Schedule tab. Go to the Schedule tab and select the options button, then select Show events on calendar.
The next area is where you can set the To-Do to recur. This is helpful if the To-Do is repeating. If the To-do was for Inner Office Payroll, I could setup a To-Do to recur every 2 weeks. The options are the same as above, simply check the box to activate the recur, and choose the duration.
Lastly, you can add documents to a To-Do and create a checklist. To add a document, click and hold the document, drag it over to the Drag & Drop box, then release. You will get a popup to select a category to help organize that document in the DMS.
If the To-Do you are creating has a list of items that need to be completed, you can create a checklist. To create a checklist, click on the checklist box and start typing into the field. Once you have the checklist item, click on the exit button to save. If a checklist item gets completed, go into the checklist and mark the done checkbox. It will track the staff member and date for completion.
To complete the To-Do, you can check the Completed box on the bottom of the To-Do screen, or you can check it off of your activity list.
RELATED GUIDES
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
- How do I make sure that the staff I am assigning the To-Do or Call to, is notified of it right away?
- What is the difference between the “Name” and “Contact” fields on the To-Do and Calls screen?
- Can I add my To-Do’s and Phone Calls to my calendar like I can in Outlook?
- Can I assign a Call or To-Do to more than one person?
- Should I set up my payroll processing as a Project or a To-Do?
- In what scenario would I use a To-Do rather than an Assignment?