Video Training NetChecklist.com Task Dependencies
This video explains what task dependencies are in the NetChecklist.com task management application and how you can use them.
Video Transcript - Using Task Dependencies Within the Task Management Application NetChecklist.com
Hi, welcome to another video tutorial on the web application NetChecklist.com. In this video I'm going to talk about how you can benefit from using task dependencies in the application.
If you're watching these videos in order you know that in the last video, we made a couple of copies of one of our checklists - let's go look at the "Checklists Copied" page and here are the copies of checklists that we made. Let's focus on just one of these. This one consists of 9 tasks, none of which have been completed yet and if we click "View These Items" we're taken to the task list where we see all 9 of those tasks. Notice that we are seeing the tasks assigned to all members of this organization which we can do because we're logged in a user who has a high enough level of user rights within this organization to be able to do that.
So, all 9 of the tasks that were copied with this checklist are showing up here but there's a big problem with this and that is that many of these tasks can't actually be completed until others have first been completed. Wally Webmaster can't add the property to the company website until the agent has emailed him the pictures of the property and the agent can't actually email the pictures until they've downloaded them to his or her computer and edited them and they actually can't even do that until they've gone out and taken the pictures of the property. Sally Secretary can't make a file for the listing until the agent has turned a copy of the paper work in to her and Bob Broker can't review the file and web page for accuracy and completeness until Wally has added the property to the company website AND Sally had made the file for the new listing.
The problem with this is that all of these users have tasks showing up on their task lists that they can't do yet because something else has to be done first - either by them or by another member of their organization. That wouldn't be so bad if someone only had one or two but what if they have 20 or 50 or 100? That person's task list wouldn't even be usable because they'd have to spend so much time reading and scrolling through their list just trying to find something that they can actually go ahead and do and if the tasks they're waiting on need to be done by someone other than themselves, they'd have to keep checking with that person, asking "have you done this yet?" "Will you call me when you have?" "Did you forget to call me?" Well, the sad truth is that most of us work like this all the time but it's a huge waste of time and it's a problem the "Task Dependencies" feature in this application does solve.
In this application, task dependencies are used when one task can't be completed until another task or tasks have first been completed and they can be extremely helpful. The main reason they're so helpful is that it keeps your users' task lists from being cluttered up with things that they can't do yet. In order for a task list to be useful, it needs to be concise - it needs to include only the items the user needs to do and CAN do at a given time.
There's also a second important reason why using the dependent tasks feature can be helpful and that is that it can be used to guide users through a process, step by step in the proper and most efficient order and we'll more talk about that in a few minutes.
In this application, task dependencies are set up on the checklists not on tasks that are already on the task list - this application is all about using checklists. Once your task dependencies are set up on a checklist then those dependencies get copied with the checklist to the task list every time you use that checklist.
Let's go back to the main checklists page for this organization and this time let's look at version 3 of the "New Listing for Sale" checklist. As we start looking at the items on this checklist we can see that several task dependencies have already been set up. The task "Get Listing Paperwork Signed by Owner" is dependent on "Prepare Listing Paperwork". "Download Pictures to Computer and Edit Them" is dependent on "Take Pictures of the Property For Advertising". Next, "Email Property Photos to Webmaster" is dependent on "Download Pictures to Computer and Edit Them" and "Add the property to the company website" is dependent on "Email Property Photos to Webmaster". "Make File for New Listing" is dependent on "Turn Paperwork in to Office Secretary". So we can already see that it's easy to have quite a few task dependencies even on a pretty simple checklist like this one.
Next, let's look down here at the task assigned to Bob to "Review File and Web Page for Accuracy and Completeness" we see that it is already dependent on the task "Make File for New Listing" but it's not yet dependent on the task "Add the Property to the Company Website" and it really does need to be. There's no point in Bob seeing this task and going to the company website to check the listing only to find it hasn't been added yet. So, a task can be dependent on more than one other tasks and a task that's dependent on more than one other task won't be activated until ALL of the tasks it's dependent on have been marked complete. So, let's add a second dependency to this task now.
To do that we simply go to the item that we want to make dependent on another item and click the link that says "Make This Item Dependent on Another" and we're brought to the "Add New Checklist Dependency" page. It tells us that we're adding a dependency for the checklist called "New Listing for Sale - Version 3" and the task that we're adding the dependency for is "Review File and Web Page for Accuracy and Completeness" and we get a drop down list where we select the task that we want to make this one dependent on. Notice that the only tasks that show up in this drop down list are the ones from this checklist - a task can only be dependent on another task from the same checklist. Also notice that the task we're adding the dependency for, "Review File and Web Page for Accuracy and Completeness" does not appear in the drop down list - a task obviously can't be dependent on itself.
So let's select the item "Add the Property to the Company Website" and click the "Add New Checklist Dependency" button and we see a note at the top of the page that says "New Task Dependency Added Successfully" and if we scroll down to the end of the list we see that that item is now dependent on two items "Make File for New Listing" and "Add the Property to the Company Website".
So now that we have that setup, let's make a copy of this checklist. Let's open our "Copy Checklist" accordion menu and this time let's select "New Listing for Sale - Version 3" and it doesn't really matter which project and user assigned we select so let's just select "42 Wallaby Way Sydney" and "Andy Agent" and click the "Copy Checklist" button. Once it finishes copying everything, the application takes us to the checklists copied page as always and we see the copy of the checklist that we just made and this time we get a message saying that one checklist was copied successfully, 9 tasks were copied successfully, 8 task dependencies were added successfully, and 7 tasks were made inactive successfully. What does all that mean?
Well, with dependent tasks, what happens is when a checklist is copied, the dependent tasks on the checklist, the ones that can't be completed until another task or tasks have been completed, do get copied to the task list at the time the checklist is copied but they are marked inactive, so they won't normally show up on the user's task lists. These dependent tasks then remain inactive until the task or tasks they're dependent on are all marked complete. So a task that's dependent on more than one other task won't be activated until all of the tasks it's dependent on have been marked complete. So what happened here is that 7 of our tasks had dependencies so those 7 tasks were marked inactive - that makes sense. One of our tasks however, the last one had 2 dependencies so 8 dependencies were added even though only 7 tasks were marked inactive. So this is all making sense.
To see these items, let's again click the "View These Tasks" link under this checklist copy but just make a quick mental note that 9 tasks were copied and 7 were marked inactive so 2 were left active. When we get back over to our task list we do in fact have 2 and only 2 of these tasks showing up. Remember when we made a copy of the checklist that didn't have any dependencies set up, all 9 of the tasks were showing up. I know I keep mentioning this but again notice that in this case that both of these tasks are assigned to Andy Agent and the only reason they are showing now, while we're logged in as Bob Broker is that we have changed our task filtering options to show "Tasks for All Users" and we can only do that because Bob has a high enough level of user rights in this organization to be able to do that. If we didn't have our task filtering options set to show "Tasks for All Users", nothing would be showing up right now even though our checklist was in fact copied successfully.
Remember I said that the dependent tasks are market inactive and that we won't "normally" see them on our task list - well we can see them if we want to. If we want to see all 9 of the tasks that were copied with this checklist, let's come over under our "Task Sorting and Filtering Options" and come down to "Filter Tasks by Active/Inactive Status" and change the default setting of "Active Tasks Only" to "Both Active and Inactive Tasks" and the click the "Update Task Sorting and Filtering" button and now we do see all 9 tasks and if we look at them we can see that 7 of them say "Currently Inactive" so this is still making sense.
Next, let's turn off that option to show inactive tasks so that we again only see our 2 active tasks and let's see what happens as we mark them complete. We'll only do them one by one so we can tell what's happening as each one is marked complete. Let's see what happens when we mark the first one complete. For the item "Prepare Listing Paperwork", let's select "Yes" under task complete and then click the "Process Task Updates" button. The message tells us that one task was marked complete, one dependent task was activated and one down line dependency was deleted. Once these dependencies have served their function and the dependent task has been activated, the dependency is simply deleted.
Looking at our task list now, we see that the task we marked complete "Prepare Listing Paperwork" is now gone but there's a new active task assigned to Andy to get the paperwork signed by the owner. Next, let's mark the task "Take Pictures of the Property For Advertising" complete and again we see that one task was marked complete, one dependent task was activated and one down line dependency was deleted. The task we marked complete, "Take Pictures of the Property For Advertising" is no longer showing up but we do have another new task showing up "Download Pictures to Computer and Edit Them". Next, let's mark the task "Get Listing Paperwork Signed by Owner" complete and when we do the task "Turn Paperwork in to Office Secretary" gets activated. When the task "Download Pictures to Computer and Edit Them" is marked complete the task "Email Property Photos to Webmaster " is activated.
Let's pause for a second. Notice that the task "Turn Paperwork in to Office Secretary" is assigned to Andy and also notice that there aren't currently any active tasks assigned to Sally. Let's mark Andy's task to "Turn Paperwork in to Office Secretary" complete and notice that when we do, Sally's task to "Make File for New Listing" is activated. The point I'm making here is that the dependent task and the task it's dependent on can both be assigned to the same person but they don't have to be - it makes absolutely no difference. This task to "Make File for New Listing" was assigned to Sally because that's who it's assigned to on the checklist. It was activated because the task it was dependent on, the only task it was dependent on, "Turn Paperwork in to Office Secretary" that was assigned to Andy Agent was marked complete.
So let's look at one last thing but first let's mark the task "Email Property Photos to Webmaster" complete and now we only have two tasks showing up - "Add the property to the company website" and "Make File for New Listing" and these are the two tasks that the final task on this checklist - "Review File and Web Page for Accuracy and Completeness" is dependent on. Let's just mark one of those two tasks complete; "Add the property to the company website" and notice that when we do that we're notified that one dependency was deleted but no tasks were activated. That's because that final task won't be activated until all of the tasks its dependent on have been marked complete. When we mark that final task complete, it does get activated.
While using the dependent tasks feature is helpful when both the independent and dependent tasks are assigned to the same user it's actually probably even more helpful when they're assigned to different users. The reason I say this is because when both tasks are assigned to the same user, that user will usually know that once they've completed one task, they can move on to the next. When the two tasks are assigned to different users however, the user assigned to the dependent task needs to be notified in some way that the other person has completed their task. Sure this can be accomplished by a phone call or email letting them know but this eliminates the necessity of that. Once you have task dependencies set up on your organization's checklists, they actually become a form of communication between the different members of your organization - actually a really efficient form of communication. I say it's a really efficient form of communication because it's automatic - no one has to remember to make a phone call or send an email to let someone else know that they can now do their task. Your team members don't really even have to understand how the task dependencies are set up or even THAT task dependencies EXIST. All they have to understand is that when a task shows up on their task list, it's time for them to do it.
And that brings up another point having to do with processes. A minute ago, I said that when both tasks are assigned to the same user, that person will USUALLY know that once they've completed one task, they can move on to the next but I chose the word "usually" because that may not always be the case. Sure, they'll know when one task has been completed, but if that person is not familiar with the overall process or procedure that's documented by the checklist, they may not know what they need to do next. Or even if they know all of the steps in a process, they may not understand the correct order in which those steps need to be completed. Now, this could be because the person is new to that job and they're still learning how things need to be done, but if the overall process is long and complicated and especially if it's not something the person does on a regular basis, then even an experienced team member can benefit from an application that takes them step by step through each task they need to complete in the correct and most efficient order and that's another reason why using the dependent tasks feature in this application is so helpful.
Before we finish up, I want to quickly show you a couple more things about setting up task dependencies. In order to do this, let's quickly switch over to another fictional organization I have setup - this one is just called "Test Org". Let's go look a the checklists for this organization and there are only 2 checklists called "Test Checklist 1" and "Test Checklist 2".
The first one "Test Checklist 1", has only 4 items on it that are simply called "Item 1", "Item 2", "Item 3" and "Item 4" and it doesn't have any task dependencies set up on it. Let's click on the link to add a task dependency to "Item 1" of this checklist and when we get to the page let's select the drop down box and we see that we can make this item dependent on items 2, 3 or 4. We know that a task can only be dependent on other tasks that are on the same checklist and these are on the same checklist so that makes sense. We also know that a task can't be dependent on itself and the item we're trying to make dependent, "Item 1", is not showing up as one of our choices in our list so that also makes sense. Let's cancel out of this for now.
Next, let's click on the link to add a task dependency to "Item 2" of this checklist and when we get to the page let's select the drop down box and we see that we can make this item dependent on items 1, 3 or 4 which makes sense, item 2 is not showing up. Let's go ahead and make "Item 2" dependent on "Item 1" and now we see that "Item 2" is dependent on "Item 1".
Now, that we've done that, let's go back to add a dependency to Item 1 again and when we select the drop down box this time, notice that we can only select items 3 or 4 - item 2 is no longer showing up and it was just a minute ago. The reason "Item 2" is no longer showing up is that making item 1 dependent on item 2 would create a circular dependency. 1 would be dependent on 2 and 2 would be dependent on 1 and if we did that then neither one of these would ever get activated, so the system won't let us do that. So, if you notice that some of the tasks from your checklist aren't showing up in your drop down box then that's probably why.
Finally, let's look at "Test Checklist 2" and notice that it also has 4 items on called items 1, 2, 3 and 4. If we look at the dependencies on these items we see that item 2 is dependent on Item 1 and Item 3 is dependent on Item 2 but item 4 is not dependent on any other items. If we go to add a dependency to item 4 we see that we can select any of the other items, 1, 2 or 3. Let's select Item 3 and add the dependency and it tells us that the new dependency was added successfully.
Now, if we go to add another dependency to Item 4 when we get to the page and click the drop down list, we see that nothing is showing up for us to select. We know we added a dependency for Item 3 so it's understandable that it isn't showing up but what about items 1 and 2?
If we cancel out of this and look at this checklist again, we see that item 4 is dependent on item 3 and item 3 is dependent on item 2 and item 2 is dependent on item 1 so in reality, item 4 is already dependent on items 1 and 2 just not directly. Making item 1 directly dependent on either item 1 or item 2 would just be redundant and while things would still work correctly, it wouldn't break the internet or anything, but it would be a waste of resources so the system won't let you do it.
And that's how dependent tasks work within this application. The next important and useful feature of checklists in this application is the delay days field. Let's learn about how that works in the next video.