Within the TCM application, you create, assign, complete, and reopen tasks in order to monitor the progress of a project or activity. Tasks are the things that you or other teamspace members need to do to complete a project. As a member of a teamspace, you can assign tasks to yourself and to others, and you can reassign tasks from any member to any other member. Tasks are displayable on the Home tab of the TCM application, on a teamspace Overview tab, and also on the Tasks tab for the teamspace.
Following are some guidelines for working with tasks:
You can control which tasks are displayed so that you see only what is important to you at the time. See Sorting and filtering tasks for more information.
You can break a complex activity into multiple smaller tasks. See Task hierarchy for more information.
When you display a task, either in a list or a detail view, the status is always shown. See Using task status for more information.
A task can be assigned to a specific teamspace member when the task is created, but can be reassigned to another member at any time. See Changing or reassigning an existing task for more information.
If a task is not assigned to anyone, it will appear only in the list of tasks under certain filter conditions (when the Mine Only checkbox is not selected, for example).
Unassigned tasks are displayed with a “not assigned” label in the assignee column and have a different color in the list view column.
When you create a task, you can give it a due date if you wish. See Working with due dates and reminders for more information. Note that if you do not give a task a due date, it will not be included in the list of current tasks if the filter option is set to a date-related option (such as "Today" or "Next 7 days").
Team members are automatically notified via email when a task is assigned to them, and other teamspace members can use subscriptions to be notified when a task is completed, reopened, or reassigned. See Automatic notifications for more information.
When viewing a filtered list of tasks (that is, setting the filter option to anything other than "All," and with "Mine only" unchecked), multiple items at the tree view's root may display the same task name. This occurs because all Open subtasks in multi-level tasks are also displayed at the tree's root.
Though all tasks and subtasks carry unique underlying identifiers, strings used when naming tasks or subtasks need not be unique.
For step-by-step instructions on using the tasks tab, see Tasks tab.
Sorting and filtering tasks
Tasks are displayed on the TCM application Home tab,
on the teamspace Overview tab, and on the Tasks tab for a teamspace.
You can filter the tasks displayed to show all tasks, only the tasks that apply to you, or only the tasks associated with a specific time interval ("Next 7 days " or "Today," for example). To adjust the filtering, use the Show... list and the Mine only checkbox. See filtering lists for more information.
Task hierarchy
Once you have created a task within a teamspace, you can create one or more subtasks under that task. You can use subtasks to break a task into smaller pieces, or to track a project with finer granularity. When you break a task into subtasks, note the following:
If you try to mark a task with open subtasks as complete, you will be notified that there are open subtasks. You must confirm that you want to mark the task as complete.
If you try to delete a task with open subtasks, you will be prompted to confirm the deletion, and notified that there are still some open subtasks remaining. If you do not have sufficient permission to delete a subtask, you will not be able to delete the top level task. If you choose to delete the task, all subtasks will also be deleted.
You can mark a task as complete even if it is not assigned to you.
Using task status
When a task is created, its status is open. Once the task has been finished, it can be marked complete. (See Completing a task or Tasks tab for more information.) The icon next to the task in the Tasks list also indicates the status. Once a task is complete, the icon next to the task changes to indicate that it is complete and the task is grayed out in the list.
Changing, deleting, or reassigning an existing task
By default, any member of the teamspace can edit or complete a task, but only administrators or the task creator can delete, reassign, or reopen a task.
If a task is created by a workflow, the task cannot be deleted until the associated workflow process completes. The task cannot be completed by the workflow, but can be completed through the user interface or by custom programming. When a workflow-generated, workflow-aware task is completed, it can be reopened only by custom programming (it cannot be manually reopened through the user interface).
Notes on task assignment/reassignment:
When a task is completed, the original assigner of the task is automatically notified of its completion. Other members may also subscribe to the task completion event.
If a task is reassigned, the "assigned by" name in the UI and in the Tasks Overview listing will continue to display only the original assigner unless a new assigner first unassigns the task and then reassigns it. The original assigner must then subscribe to the task completion event in order to be notified when the task completes.
Example: If Joe assigns a task to Bob, but Joe leaves the company and Mary, Joe's replacement, now wants to be notified when Bob completes the task, Mary can unassign the task (clearing the assignment field), save her changes, then assign the task to Bob. Mary's name would then be displayed as the assigner.
Working with due dates and reminders
A teamspace member can create a task with or without a due date. After the task has been created, the due date can be added, removed, or adjusted as needed. When a task becomes past due, the assignee is notified via email.
When you assign a task, you have the option of setting a due date and/or a reminder date.
If you set a due date, the task will be highlighted when it is overdue. An email is sent to the task owner on the due date.
If you set a reminder date, an email is automatically generated and sent to the task owner on that date.
After creating a task, the task creator or other user with sufficient permissions can add or change due dates and reminder dates.
Automatic notifications
By default, the application automatically notifies teamspace members of task-related events as follows:
The task assignee is notified when the task is assigned
The task creator is notified when the task is marked complete or reopened (if the creator checked the "Notify
)
The task assignee and creator are notified when the reminder date for the open task is reached (if a reminder date was specified)
The task assignee and creator are notified when a task becomes overdue (if a due date was specified)
For information on the notification options you can set when you create a task, see Creating or editing a task. For information on other automatic notifications, see Subscriptions.