In this video we will walk through how to view, create and manage tasks in Practice Pro.
Video Transcript:
In this video, we'll walk through how to view, create, organize, and manage your tasks, as well as how to use dependencies to keep your workflow running smoothly.
Think of tasks as your personal and team to do's.
You can assign them to yourself or to someone else in your firm.
And if someone assigns you a new task, don't worry, you'll get an e-mail notification with a direct link to it.
To see your tasks, head to the left sidebar and click on the tasks.
This will take you to the Tasks list page.
From here, depending on your security settings, you can create new tasks, import or export tasks, search or filter tasks, edit multiple tasks in bulk, and even view the history of each task.
You can also sort your tasks by clicking on any of the column headers.
To update a task status, go to the Status column and use the drop down menu.
There are six options available.
Ready The task is set and ready to be worked on.
In progress work is already started on the task.
On Hold the task is paused and not currently being worked on.
Stuck Something is preventing progress and the task can't move forward.
Completed The task has been finished from start to end.
Closed, The task is no longer active, even if unfinished.
This could mean it became irrelevant or was completed by someone else.
One of the most useful features on the tasks list page is filtering.
Filters allow you to narrow your view so you can focus only on the tasks that matter most.
For example, you might filter to show just the active tasks assigned to you, and once you've applied filters, you can save them for quick access later.
Here's how.
Click All Filters, select the filters you want and hit Apply Filters.
Next, click Save Filters, give your filter a name and click Save.
Your saved filter will appear as a button underneath the filter section.
Just click it and all your chosen filters will instantly reapply.
This is especially useful if you regularly review the same set of tasks, for example, your own open tasks or a group of tasks assigned to your team.
Filters aren't just for individuals, they're also a great tool for managing teams.
For example, a partner could filter tasks by multiple team members to see who's working on what or who might have extra capacity.
And with bulk actions, you can make updates across multiple tasks at once, saving time and keeping everyone aligned.
Simply select the tasks you'd like to apply the edit to, click into the bulk action drop down and select the appropriate bulk action.
There are two quick ways to add a task in the system.
First, you can go to the Tasks list page and click Add Task.
Fill in the task information and then hit Save.
Or no matter where you are at in the system, you can use the Quick Add icon at the top navigation bar.
Just click the + and choose Task.
At a minimum, every task needs three things, a task name, a client, and a matter, but you can also add more details like who it's assigned to, priority start and end dates, budgets, tags, and more.
Once you've filled out all the necessary fields, select Save.
You can also view tasks related to a specific matter by clicking on Matters in the left side menu, opening that matter, and selecting the Tasks tab.
Sometimes tasks need to happen in a certain order.
That's where dependencies come in.
From the Tasks page or the Tasks tab on a Matter page, click Add Dependency from the Actions column, choose whether the task is a predecessor or a successor.
Select the dependent task and enter any lag days if needed, as well as the lag type.
So whether we are counting calendar days or only business days.
In this example, we're setting File Completed Engagement Letter as the predecessor & and Deliver Engagement Letter as the successor.
This ensures the filing task won't begin until the sending task is completed.
You can see all these relationships visually in the Gantt Chart tab.
And if you find yourself creating the same sets of tasks over and over, Task Blueprints can save you time.
A blueprint is a reusable collection of tasks that you can import into any matter.
Please see the Task Blueprint Training video for information on how to create and apply a task blueprint.
And that's an overview of tasks.
You now know how to create, filter, and manage tasks and organize work for both yourself and your team.
With these tools, staying on top of deadlines and priorities has never been easier.