Fortunately, task management software can make a significant difference in keeping things organized and efficient. It provides a central hub for creating and tracking tasks, setting due dates and reminders, and monitoring progress.

This is a lifesaver for teams and individuals alike, as it helps you stay on top of your work and keep projects moving forward.

But what is task management software? Why is it important? And what are some of the best tools to consider?

In this article, you’ll learn all about task management and the benefits it brings to your daily business life. We’ll also dive into some of the top task management tools you might consider for your team.

Let’s get started!

What is Task Management Software?

Task management software is a process that facilitates the creation, tracking, and completion of tasks.

In a nutshell, it helps you manage, organize, prioritize, and assign tasks to different team members or teams. It also provides a central hub for tracking progress, setting due dates and reminders, and keeping everyone on the same page. Task Management software also typically includes useful features such as generating reports, tracking time spent on tasks, timesheets, and more.

Overall, task management software can help your team stay organized and on top of their work. You can use it for many different tasks, from organizing complex projects to maintaining daily to-do lists and as we said earlier, it can be used by individuals and teams alike.

That said, what are the benefits of task management software?

Why is Task Management Software important?

Task management software provides several benefits that improve productivity, efficiency, and communication.

For starters, it helps keep tasks organized and saves time. You can quickly create tasks and schedule due dates, and assign them to specific team members.

Here are some of the benefits of using task management software:

• Organizational prowess: Say goodbye to the chaos of scattered to-do lists and hello to the power of task management software. Easily prioritize and categorize your tasks in a centralized location.
• Collaborative wizardry: Work smarter, not harder! Task management software simplifies teamwork by allowing for efficient task assignment and real-time progress tracking.
• Time is of the essence: Time management is crucial to productivity. Task management software helps you set deadlines, receive reminders, and optimize your time management skills.
• Communication at its finest: Communication is key to success. With task management software, communicating with your team members and clients is streamlined, improving communication efficiency and reducing the need for multiple channels.
• Productivity on steroids: With all your tasks in one place, streamlined collaboration, optimized time management, and efficient communication, task management software helps you get more done in less time, unleashing your productivity potential.

Features to look for in Task Management Software

Before we get into the best tools out on the market, let’s take a look at some of the TOP task management software features you should be looking for.

Now this may vary depending on the type of tasks you’re managing and how many people will be using the software, but here are some important features to consider when choosing task management solutions:

• Intuitive interface: Look for a task management tool with an easy-to-use interface that allows you to quickly create and manage tasks, without feeling overwhelmed.
• Task prioritization: Make sure the tool provides various ways to organize your tasks, such as by project, due date, priority, or category.
• Collaboration features: If you’re working with a team, look for task management tools that allow for easy collaboration, including assigning tasks, commenting, and sharing files.
• Reminders and notifications: The ideal task management tool should be able to send reminders and notifications, so you never miss a deadline.
• Real-time updates: Stay up-to-date on your tasks with real-time updates, allowing you to quickly see changes made by you or your team members.
• Integration capabilities: Since most professionals use more than just one tool, look for task management tools that offer integration capabilities, allowing you to connect and streamline all your productivity tools.
• Reporting and analysis: Does the software offer reporting and analytics tools to help you analyze your performance?
• Task Automation: Task management tools should propose more and more process and task automation features to save time for users. For salespeople, for example, it would be to automate the sales process by scheduling emails, phone calls, and many more tasks.

These are just a few of the features that one should consider when selecting task management solutions. Ultimately, selecting the right tool should come down to understanding your unique tasks and needs and ensuring that the software you choose meets those requirements.

Best Task Management Software on the market

Now that you have your priorities straight, you can start exploring the different task management tools and find one that best suits your needs. Here are a couple of the top-rated task management software solutions on the market:

• Asana
• Comidor
• Monday
• ClickUp
• Wrike

Let’s find out a bit more about each one to see which one is the best fit for you.

Asana

Asana is a robust task management tool that offers a range of features for individuals and teams alike. With Asana, you can easily create and assign tasks, set due dates and priorities, and organize your work by project or team.

It also offers collaboration features such as commenting, file sharing, and a team inbox, making it easy for teams to work together efficiently. Asana also offers reporting and analysis tools, allowing you to track your progress over time.

Comidor

Comidor offers ready-to-use task and project management applications. Users can create tasks and assign them either to themselves or others in the company, based on group, team, or role. Tasks can be accessed and managed from the Notifications bar, Calendar, Timesheet, or Workbench. When setting up a task, users can specify its priority, link it to a process or project, and provide additional details. They can also set task repetitions to save time and boost productivity, ensuring everything stays on track. Moreover, Comidor enables setting reminders, sending automated notifications, and adding comments to any task, facilitating seamless collaboration. Lastly, through Task Reports, managers can monitor all tasks per user, their status, and track team performance.

Monday

Monday is an all-in-one task management solution that allows you to track and manage tasks, projects, and teams in one place. It is one of the most known tools as it is very user-friendly and offers a visual and intuitive interface.

With Monday, you can easily track your tasks, projects, and deadlines, and collaborate with your team in real time. The tool also offers various integrations with other services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and Slack. What’s more, Monday provides reporting and analytics tools to help you track your progress and identify areas of improvement.

ClickUp

ClickUp is a great task management tool that offers awesome features for individuals and teams. With ClickUp, you can create and manage tasks, set reminders and due dates, and organize your work by project, priority, or status.

It also offers advanced features such as time tracking, custom workflows, and integrations with other productivity tools. Plus, ClickUp has a variety of views, like list view, board view, and calendar view, so you can manage your tasks in a way that suits you best.

Wrike

Lastly, the popular application Wrike is a comprehensive task management software that helps teams stay organized and productive. It offers features such as task creation, project planning, collaboration tools, and reporting.

Wrike also offers a range of integrations with tools such as G-Suite, Jira, and Salesforce. Plus, it provides an easy-to-use mobile app so you can manage your tasks on the go.

No matter which task management software you choose, remember that the most important factor is finding one that best fits your needs and goals.

Conclusion

Task management software is essential for anyone looking to increase their productivity. By selecting the right tool, you can manage and track tasks more efficiently and stay organized at work.

When choosing task management software, make sure to consider factors like user-friendliness, integrations, reporting tools, and pricing. We hope this article has helped make your decision about the right task management software for you. Good luck in making the perfect choice for your team! Happy task managing!

The post Best Task Management Software: Top features & 5 Tools List appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

Having systems in place to coordinate and track employee time management ensures that your business doesn’t miss deadlines because it is operating inefficiently. However, even if you meet all your deadlines, your business must operate smoothly and cooperatively to maximize growth and profit.

To boost your business, we’ve shared our 7 best tips and tricks for effective task scheduling and employee time management. If you implement these strategies, your business will run like a well-oiled machine in no time.

Understanding Task Scheduling and Time Management

Before we dive into best practices for task scheduling and time management, we need to explain these two concepts and how they benefit your organization and employees.  

Task scheduling and time management are tools and frameworks that assist your employees in visualizing their goals. They help employees break their goals down into small, achievable tasks and prioritize the most important tasks to make the best use of their time and resources. Juggling numerous appointments, to-dos, and deadlines can feel overwhelming even to the most capable employee. However, proper task and time management structure tasks and make it easier to tackle each day’s work as it comes. 

Using smart strategies or task management software to manage tasks and time usage also allows your employees to schedule more demanding tasks for their peak focus times, use tools like planners, calendars, and lists to their advantage, and remain flexible, even when unexpected challenges or responsibilities arise. Ultimately, task scheduling and time management help employees create a workflow that balances productivity with energy levels, resources, and well-being, promoting progress without overstepping limits. 

Practices to Implement Task Scheduling and Time Management

Below, we’ve outlined the most effective ways to implement task scheduling and time management in your organization. This will help your employees streamline their workflows, maximize their productivity, and ensure that they reach their goals in a fast and sustainable way.

1. Utilize Enterprise Collaboration Software

One of the best ways to improve task scheduling for efficient company-wide time management is through enterprise collaboration platforms. The ultimate goal of this kind of software is to enhance company-wide communication to support synergistic collaboration efforts. It ensures clarity on shared targets and goals, allowing greater flexibility when working in teams.  

Enterprise collaboration software allows you to view organizational charts, thus clearly illustrating the business architecture that dictates the appropriate lines of communication. This software also includes reminders, scheduling features, and workforce monitoring. Additionally, it allows external collaborators to utilize the channel seamlessly. It streamlines communication by offering direct messaging services alongside email and video conferencing. It’s also important to note that scheduled tasks can be synced across features.  

Another attractive feature of enterprise collaboration software is that it’s highly secure. This means that employees can communicate without experiencing anxieties surrounding the potential leakage of sensitive company information. If you want to begin task scheduling while boosting employee time management, Comidor’s enterprise collaboration software is the ideal solution.

2. Improve Your Scheduling Process

Many businesses overlook the vital role that scheduling plays in daily productivity and effective task scheduling. Countless potentially productive hours are lost every day to poorly planned schedules. When you utilize Comidor’s process scheduling feature, you can avoid wasting precious time when scheduling repeat or rescheduled tasks and processes. This feature manages your schedule in a highly organized and time-efficient manner so you don’t have to.  

Scheduling offers several optional details such as assigning “importance,” “priority,” “responsible group,” and “supervisor” specifications, to name a few. The layout of a high-quality schedule management tool should be intuitive and user-friendly, too. This will help you in your task scheduling and employee time management endeavors. 

3. Utilize a Task Management Tool

Another important step to implement effective task scheduling alongside employee time management involves utilizing a helpful task management tool. Task management tools streamline processes that would otherwise be laborious and include inevitable slip-ups and miscommunications. Tools like Comidor Task Management manage personal and team tasks. It manages tasks assigned to you and tasks assigned to others.  

Task management tools allow you to get as intricate and detailed as you require per task. They boast exceptional organizational capabilities that ensure tasks and relevant information are meticulously ordered, grouped, and shared with relevant colleagues.

4. Customize Your Digital Workplace

While there are many recommendations everyone should follow for effective task scheduling and time management, you must establish a system solution tailored to your individual preferences and needs. Every individual in a business will have different daily priorities—not to mention completely different jobs.  

It’s important that every employee can customize their digital workplace to bolster their productivity. To optimize efficiency and productivity within your organization, it is highly advisable to leverage customizable online workspaces, dashboards, or productivity tools provided by platforms like Comidor. By incorporating such tools, employees gain the flexibility to manage their schedules, tasks, meetings, documents, and notes in a manner that suits their preferences, leading to enhanced organization and effectiveness across the board.

5. Your Manager Matters

At the end of the day, you can have the best software tools at your disposal. But you still need a passionate individual to oversee your business’ coordination and time management. The good news is that the availability of digital workspace platforms can enhance the insights and capabilities of a good manager.  

Digital workspaces are famously supportive of collaborations among various employees in a company. Managers can utilize this to its full potential by streamlining communication and the assignment of tasks. Furthermore, depending on the business policy, they may have access to behind-the-scenes insights into the activities and overall productivity of individual employees and different departments.   

6. Be Flexible

It’s vital to remain open and flexible when working towards increased efficiency and organization in any business. As mentioned above, your manager is responsible for overseeing the practical pursuit of this goal.    

Managerial insights from your online workspace are often generated through statistics. This allows managers to track and compare internal company progress in a highly accurate and accessible manner. With careful thought and skill, task scheduling strategies and time clock or tracking data can be compared to weekly productivity insights. This can help a manager assess which task scheduling system works most efficiently. This information can then be utilized to inform a more long-term strategy for improved employee time management.  

7. Embrace Automation

Automation is an essential tool for any business. It offers the ability to automate and streamline repetitive tasks to save time and money while maximizing efficiency. It can provide an enhanced experience for your customers or clients, boost productivity, and help you gain a competitive edge in your industry. Automation can also free up your team to tackle more creative tasks and problem-solving requirements, leaving your organization with more room to grow without sacrificing efficiency or customer satisfaction.  

Utilizing automation software to implement effective task scheduling and employee time management can take a little time to integrate and get used to. However, the best platforms are intuitive and user-friendly, making the learning curve short and sweet.   

All-in-one business process automation tools like Comidor offer a unique collection of automation features that work together to achieve highly effective task scheduling and time management. Features like process automation, low-code application development, project management software, CRM and sales automation, accounting and finance modules, and quality, risk, and compliance tools ensure that every part of your business can be partly or fully automated to reduce the pressure on your workforce. You can also integrate Comidor with popular cloud services like Dropbox and Google Drive, making it easier to store and share large files securely, or incorporate the use of tools like Google Search Console into your business operations”.

Conclusion

If you follow our recommendations, we are certain that you will effortlessly gain mastery in the art of effective task scheduling and proficient employee time management in your projects. With the right software tools at your disposal and a positive attitude driving your team forward, success is not only achievable but also inevitable. Embrace these strategies wholeheartedly, and witness unparalleled efficiency and productivity within your organization unfold before your eyes!

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A successful business knows that process management and task management are both important to remaining successful. However, the question that may remain is what is the difference between task and process management? Do process and task differ or are they both the same thing? 

Below are some critical differences between process and task management, as well as some great information on how they eventually flow together. 

What is Process Management? 

A business process is defined as a series of steps taken in order to achieve a particular business goal. 

Everything in life involves a process. This could be something as simple as registering your business travel expenses every month to something more complex such as creating customized quotes for one-of-a-kind products. Regardless of the level of complexity, both examples are processes. 

If you are registering your travel expenses, the process could be adding a description and all the information needed, uploading the receipts, sending a notification to the responsible person to approve the expense, waiting for expense reimbursement, then getting an approval/rejection note from your manager and finally get paid in the happy scenario. All of these smaller tasks describe a process. 

On a similar note, if an organization creates customized quotes for one-of-a-kind products, the process could involve receiving the quote request, confirming receipt of the quote, beginning costing on a custom item, and requesting freight for shipping, among many other smaller tasks that come together to form the process of creating a customized quote. 

Process management, therefore, may be defined as an approach used to strategize and align processes within an organization. If an organization begins procurement for new material, process management is primordial for ensuring all stay on track with the procurement and tasks are not lost along the way or forgotten about. 

The process management approach ensures that effective business processes are followed, establishes measurement systems, and educates those using the system so they are empowered to manage operations effectively. 

What is Task Management? 

Task management is the breaking down of a process into smaller, manageable action items. An important part of task management is being able to prioritize tasks on an ongoing basis and not lose track of what tasks have or haven’t been done. 

For example, if there is a project that requires repetitive daily tasks, good task management would allow the individual to stay current with what needs to be done. An example of this is a report that is run daily in several steps, and at the end of the month, a month-end report pulls data from the daily report to create the month-end report. The tasks in this scenario would be running the different reports needed on a daily basis, keeping up with the data, then pulling it into a larger, more encompassing report at the end of the month. 

Another example of where task management is utilized is on a large group project. When the project begins, the tasks are divided among the group members. Being able to track who is doing which tasks is important because it would eliminate an overload of work on some employees, while others are readily available to take on more responsibilities. Having a way to openly track who is working on which tasks is important to successful task management. 

What Is The Difference Between Task Management and Process Management? 

Task management is a task-oriented approach to managing work. It emphasizes the completion of discrete, self-contained, and independent tasks. Tasks are completed in isolation from each other and they do not necessarily have an end goal in mind.

Process management, on the other hand, is a process-oriented approach to managing work. It is a process of managing tasks that are interconnected and dependent on one another. Processes are the steps that need to be taken to achieve an objective and they are generally iterative and recursive. Processes are often mapped out in detail before any work begins so that everyone involved knows what needs to be done and when it needs to be done.

Both task management and process management have their advantages and disadvantages. Task management is more useful when there are few tasks that need to be completed, while process management is more useful when there are many interconnected tasks. Task management, therefore, may be visualized as micro-steps to a process.

If a process for procurement, for example, involves creating a request for proposal template, advertising the bid, and analyzing then the bids received for a final outcome, then the task management would be broken down into much smaller steps. These steps would involve creating an editable document with information to submit a request for proposal, sending the request for proposal for management approval, taking care of any edits, then creating the final draft. All of those tasks sum up just one part of the process which was creating a request for a proposal template. 

What is the Right Choice for you: Process vs Task Management?

If a role requires continuous tracking to stay on top of processes for projects, it could be strenuous, tiresome, and even frustrating to always remember where the last step in a process was completed. 

A business process flow, or workflow diagram, however, would allow a smooth continuity in process management. A good workflow pattern links workflows to processes and facilitates road-mapping business processes. It also applies rights and rules so that teams are certain that the correct people are participating in the process per set procedures and also sets task escalations to automatically initiate actions and send notifications and emails when conditions are met. 

Therefore, if a certain role requires continuous follow-up with various parties, the workflow pattern would guide the individual in what has already been done and what the next steps are. 

If part of a process is tracking sales, for example, an app that allows the opportunity to track productivity would be an integral part of the process. The app would permit the individual tracking the sales to spend less time calculating weekly and monthly sales as they have already created a template in the app to facilitate the monitoring and more time on other tasks of a greater process. 

Generally, process management software is a system that helps you to manage your processes. It helps you to identify the best process for your work and how to carry out the tasks involved in a systematic way. Process management systems are designed with the goal of improving productivity, efficiency, and quality of work. They help employees to complete tasks in a more effective manner by providing them with an organized workflow. On the other hand, task management software is a system that helps you manage your tasks. Similarly to process management, task management systems improve productivity, efficiency, and quality of work by helping people identify what needs to be done next for their task and when it should be completed. Some task management systems also help people prioritize their tasks so they can focus on what is most important at any given time.

Knowing when to rely on technology for facilitated processes or tasks is essential to an organization’s success. Although some processes may be done with databases that have been around for a while, sometimes having to manipulate data and input the data into several different systems could be facilitated by having one centralized platform for process and task management. 

How to Combine Process and Task Management 

Once a business is empowered with a good process and task management system, there are several things they must be aware of to have efficient process and task management skills. 

#1 Work When You Feel Most Productive 

Employees should always work when they feel most productive. If there is a big project due soon, and they know that their best work comes out in the early morning, the employee should schedule set early morning hours where they have time blocked off just for the project.  

This will ensure that tasks are being completed to achieve the process cycle.  

#2 Avoid Multitasking 

Employees should also avoid multitasking when there is a deadline near. Sticking to those closed blocks of time will help the employee maintain significant productivity. 

#3 Using the Right Software 

Starting with the creation of a daily schedule will help improve the process and task management. Having an overall idea of what tasks must be done that day is important to good task management. 

Another great way of making sure you are optimizing your hours is by using the right process management software. 

When the right tools are used, working on something can become that much easier and take up less time. For instance, Comidor revolutionizes the digital workplace with advanced process and task management tools. You can manage personal tasks or your team tasks, nominate a substitute employee to carry out your tasks, have a good overview of all active processes, messages, emails, and tasks through interactive dashboards, and monitor productivity metrics to track processes and tasks.

Take some time comparing different process management tools and deciding which one works for you. If you are running a short campaign with only a few contacts, GetResponse pricing may make sense since their pricing increases as you add more contacts to your plan but if have a large email marketing campaign to handle, a service like this that offers unlimited contacts on all of their plans would make more sense. 

The key is to put in the research so that your final choice saves you money and optimizes your time. 

#4 Use Time Management Software 

Whenever an employee has blocked set times to work on a project, time management software is helpful to ensure the employee is not distracted by non-essential requests. The right time management software is part of every remote team’s stack of tools. 

#5 Have a Regular Check-In Session 

As part of process management, it is important that a supervisor check in with employees on a regular basis to ensure they have remained on track. Part of the workflow design for process management could be a reminder to check in with employees on a regular basis. This will allow the employee the opportunity to communicate any challenges they may be facing from the start and assist in a quick resolution.

The Importance of Process and Task Management

Tasks are key parts of process management. Good process management ensures that every task is completed along the way so that a process may reach its full cycle. Having a good program and plan in place is essential for the success of process management. 

Regularly completed processes that are finalized without issues will set a business up for success as it will be able to continuously achieve more and more projects through the process and task management. 

Author bio
Freya is the founder of CollectingCents- a website that teaches readers how to better manage their finances. She is a quoted contributor in several online publications including Business Insider, Fox Business, Yahoo Finance, the Huffington Post, BankRate, and GoBankingRates.

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When employees have planned or unplanned absences, there may be a need to nominate a substitute employee to carry out their tasks while they are away from the office. Comidor has the solution to this problem, by enabling users to select another user as their substitute for a specific date range. When the substitute has been selected they will automatically be sent your Tasks and be given permission to edit or complete them for the specific dates of absence set.

Assign a Substitute

To access Substitutes go to Packages Icon > HR Automation > Substitutes.

Alternatively, you can click on the User Icon in the top right of the screen and select Profile. Then, select the Substitutes tab from the left side menu.

Note that System admins can create substitute assignments for all users, line managers can create for all users in their team and simple users can only add substitutes for themselves.

1. In the new tab that opens in the active unit bar, click on the ‘+’ icon to add a new Substitute
2. In the create form, you should set the ​Date Range, ​defining the dates of your absence that you wish your substitute to have access to your tasks
3. Personnel Substituted, Simple Users can select their name, Line Managers can choose between members of their team that they are the manager of and System Administrators can choose any user
4. In the field ​Substitute, select the User you wish to substitute the Personnel Substituted ​(selected in the previous field)

Finally, select the desired Save option  (refer to Quick Reference Guide)

Once you save a new Substitute record, the Substitute user will receive a respective notification automatically by the system.

After saving, you will be redirected to the Substitutes table, where you will be able to see one Substitute entry for each day you have set the substitution.

Manage Substitutes

In Comidor, Simple Users are able to manage their own Substitute entries, line Managers can view and manage their team entries and System Administrators are able to view and manage all substitutes

In order to access Substitutes go to Packages Icon > HR Automation > Substitutes.

If you wish to edit a Substitute entry, click on it and then press the pencil button. Make your changes in one of the fields and click on Save.

You can easily delete one or more Substitute entries, by selecting one or more in the Substitutes Table and clicking on the Delete option.

From the Action Icon on the top right of the page you can:

• Click on Export to open or download the current page or all the Substitutes in an MS Excel file. Click OK to proceed
• Click on Print to print the current view of the page

Substitute Tasks

In this Unit, you are able to see all Tasks from other users that you are substituting for and the related period. Substitute tasks are only visible in this dedicated unit, and not in Calendar, Workbench, or other Task Management Comidor Units.

To enter Substitute Tasks, go to Packages Icon > HR Automation > Substitute Tasks

In the new tab that opens, you can see all Tasks that were originally assigned to the User you are substituting. You can also apply Filters such as Period, State, Role, or Tag to refine the search results.

Click on a Substitute Task and a new tab will open with the Task information. From this point, you are able to view, edit, or change the task state.

Please note that those Tasks will be only visible to you during the Date range that has been set.

For more information on how to manage tasks please visit Task Management.

Finally, from the Action Icon on the top right of the page you can:

• Click on Export to open or download the current page or all the Task(s) in an MS Excel file. Click OK to proceed. Note that, you can export the page from the other views of the Tasks (Default view, Table or Graph) or after applying filters.
• Click on Print to print the current view of the page.
• Click on Import Tasks to import tasks inside Comidor.

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• Once a Project Work Package has been assigned to you, you receive a Process Notification viewable and accessible through the Notifications Bar.

Timesheet View

1. If you want to access the Timesheet Unit, go to My Comidor > Tasks >Timesheet.

The Timesheet consists of the Filters area and a Weekly Calendar into which you can add, view, and manage your (all) Processes’ Tasks and Work Packages’ Expenses. Especially from Timesheet, you may track hours spent in Processes (Generic Processes, WorkPackages, Events, Trainings, Job Posting, Ticket, Opportunity, Campaign) or track expenses of WorkPackages.

2. Timesheet Filters are common for Tasks and Expenses.
   • You may Search Processes by Title or with Process Type or by selecting one Process of the list-when clicking on the Process drop-down list you see only the Processes which your manager has assigned to you.
   • Account: Clicking on Account drop-down list you see only the Accounts relevant to at least one Process that someone has assigned to you.
   • Check Processes that are Assigned to you (Mine), to your team (My Team’s), to either you or your team (Assigned to Me or My Team), OR Created by you (Created by Me). Also, you may filter the booked this week, too.
   • Also, you can Sort them by Booking create date, Process Name, most active Process, or Due Date.
   • View only Task type such as Normal, Overtime Hours, Sunday, Saturday, Nightwork, Public holiday work, Personal holiday.
   • View only specific State of Task or Expense.
   • You can select to Hide empty rows; allows you to view only the Processes which have already created tasks or see all of them in order to add a new task to empty Processes.
   • Hide auto book will hide all the Projects’ Work Packages, which were automatically booked to you – without an accepted Booking request from your Manager-.
   • Finally, the clear button erases all the used filters, while the Fetch button displays the respective tasks or expenses.

Anytime you wish, you can hide the filters by clicking on the respective icon ‘-‘, to focus on the Tasks or Expenses displayed at the below Weekly Calendar. If you want to apply different filters, you can click on the plus icon ‘+’, change them and click Fetch.

3. Weekly Calendar can switch between Processes’ Tasks Calendar and Work Packages’ Expenses Calendar through the Tasks and Expenses buttons, respectively. At the top-right corner of the calendar, there are arrows that enable you to navigate to different weeks. Today transfers you quickly to the current week.
4. At the left side of the Calendar, you can see information per assigned Process:
   • The Process that the Work Package belongs.
   • The name of the Work Package
   • Account name, if Process is associated with an Account
   • Process due date
   • Personal Workload is the actual duration of tasks performed by you below this Process.
   • The workload is the scheduled duration of tasks below this Process.
   • Today’s date is light-yellow highlighted, Absence days are highlighted in Yellow and Public holidays days are highlighted in light blue.

Tasks in Timesheet

Add a new Process Task

1. In order to add a new Task, go to Modules Menu Icon > Enterprise Collaboration >Timesheet.
2. Ensure that you have selected the Tasks tab.
3. Find the Process and the Date of your task at the Weekly Calendar and clicking on the respective cell. A cell form appears. In this form, you fill in:
   • the task title as a brief description of what you have done.
   • the scheduled task duration. There are two ways to populate the duration of your task. You can either type the exact duration and use the arrows button to increase/decrease the duration, or click on the plus icon and enter the start and end time.
   • Finally, fill in the actual task duration.
   • Click outside the cell to save the task.

Especially for pre-booked WorkPackages’ Tasks, scheduled duration may be already added and task already created. Read how to manage a Task below.

Furthermore, at the Tasks Weekly Calendar, the column of a specific date might be yellow or blue. This indicates that there is a scheduled absence day or a company holiday, respectively. Adding a task on a company holiday or a scheduled absence the system informs you with a relevant pop-up message at the top of your screen.

View/Manage Process Tasks

1. In order to view or/and manage Process tasks, go to My Comidor > Tasks >Timesheet.
2. Ensure that you have selected the Tasks tab. Here, you can see all your existing Process Tasks on your screen based on your used filters. Process Tasks may have different colors: White for tasks that are not completed and they are the only ones still editable.
   • Light blue-grey, if the user has completed the task

• Light green, in case, that the project manager(s) have approved a completed task.At the bottom of the Tasks Weekly Calendar, users can see the total scheduled duration and the total actual duration per date.
  • Then, check the Remaining capacity for a respective date by hovering your mouse above the date. Weekly capacity is also available.

3. Find the task you wish to manage based on its Process Name and Date.

4. Click the specific cell form in order to change any information you wish.

5. After editing you can either complete or delete the specific task from the cell’s check button or erase button, respectively.

6. By pressing Copy Day or Copy Week, you may copy tasks to the following days/weeks.

Once you complete the task you cannot do anything to change it from the Timesheet Unit.

While a task state is changing to complete, you also cannot change any field of the task cell form. Otherwise, a relevant message appears on the top of your screen.

Expenses in Timesheet

Add a new Work Package Expense

To add a new Expense:

1. Firstly, go to My Comidor > Tasks >Timesheet.
2. Ensure that you have selected the Expenses tab.
3. Then, find the Work Package and the Date of your expense at the Weekly Calendar. After, click on the respective cell and a cell form will appear. In this form, you fill in:
   • the expense title, briefly describing the reason for your expense.
   • the expense amount. You can type a specific amount or/and use the arrows to increase/decrease it.
   • the expense type, selecting among the choices of the drop-down list.

If you want to change the expense type, you can click on the cancel (x) button and select a different one from the drop-down list.

View/Manage Expenses

To view or/and manage work package expenses:

1. Go to Modules My Comidor > Tasks >Timesheet.
2. Ensure that you have selected the Expenses tab.
3. At this point, you can view all your existing Work Package Expenses based on your used filters. Work Package Expenses may have different colors:
   • either white for expenses that are still editable,
   • or light green, for expenses that the project manager(s) have approved.
     • At the bottom of the Expenses Weekly Calendar, there are total expenses per date.
4. Find the expense you wish to manage based on its Work Package and Date.
5. Then, click the specific cell form and change any information you wish.
6. After editing, you can either cancel the specific expense or upload a receipt using the cancel (x) button or the upload button, respectively.
   • People’s Managers in the Team Task Approvals unit will review all Tasks of Processes that you add via Timesheet.
   • People Managers and Project Managers will see Tasks of Project’s Workpackages in Team Task Approvals unit and Task Approvals respectively.
   • Project Managers will see Expenses of Project’s Workpackages in the Project Expenses Approvals unit.

The post Timesheet appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

View Tasks from the Workbench and the Calendar from the Notifications Bar.

Tasks can be created for completing a one-off task, e.g. write a report on the impact of GDPR. A task like this can be created by a manager and assigned to a user or can be created by individual users themselves. The task will appear in the user’s Timesheet and time spent on the task can be allocated against it.

Tasks can also be linked to a Process. A process is a course of action that can be assigned to and completed by multiple users, teams and groups. Processes are made up of multiple tasks. If a Process has no Tasks then there are no actions to complete the Process.

Create a Task

1. Go to Modules Menu Icon > Tasks > Tasks
2. Click on the + Icon at the top right of the screen to open the Create Form
3. Create a title for the Task and fill in the Basic Info.
   • Assigned to: choose the assignee from the users/group leader/group/role and the user responsible for completing the Task
   • Choose the Priority of the task ( e.g. Low, Normal, High, Top)
   • Define the scheduled start and end date and time
     • Task Date Control informs when the assignee of this task already has other tasks to do on that day and the duration of those tasks. Task Time Control warns in the event a new task overlaps with an existing one
   • Define the work hours needed for the completion of the Task (Scheduled Duration). If the task is assigned to a user a timeframe is suggested which calculates the duration depending on this user’s schedule (based on the Region code) and excludes public holidays
   • Select from the list the appropriate activity that relates to the Task.
   • Select the Process that relates to the Task and Account

4. Fill in the Additional Information

• Responsible Group: choose the department responsible for supervising the completion of the Task
• Task Type: choose the type of Task (e.g. Work, Appointment, Meeting, etc.)
• Work type: By default it is Normal, but you can also use Overtime hours, Saturday, Sunday, Night-work or Public Holiday work
• Check the box “Out of office“ if the Task will take place away from the office
• Check the box “Important“ to set this Task as high importance
• Parent Task: The Task can be a part of another, larger Task. Enter the Parent Task here
• Contact: select the Contact (if applicable) that relates to the Task
• Location: select the location that the task will take place
• Fill in the Scheduled quantity of the units after the Task is completed

5. Use the Description Box to write down the information of the Task
6. Execution details will be filled in the future when Task starts
   • Select the correct State
     • The Execution Date and Duration will be automatically completed according to the Scheduled start and duration
     • The Execution End date will be automatically completed when the task is Completed
7. Comidor allows you to set repetition of the Task (in minutes, hours, days, etc)

Click on the Checkbox to create all the repeated Tasks. If none of the choices are checked the next task will be created every time the previous Task is completed or canceled. Choose:

• Minutes to repeat the Task per set minutes
• Hourly to repeat the Task per set hours
• Daily to repeat the Task per set day
  • Exclude weekends by choosing Every weekday
  • Choose an “every 2 weeks” repetition by selecting “Day 14 of every 1 month”
  • Or a “last day of the month” repetition by selecting “Day L of every 1 month”
• Yearly to repeat the Task on a specific day of a given year(s)
• Weekly to repeat the Task on a specific day of the week
• Monthly to repeat the Task on a specific day of the month

8. Add the Reminder’s information

• Choose when to send the notification (On Task Completion or On Task time). Or select when the reminder should be triggered (Number of Days/Number of Hours/Number of Minutes delayed or before the Task completion/Task time)
• Select the user to whom the reminder will be sent
• Check the Email and/or SMS box if the user is to be notified via email and/or SMS
  • Email reminders will be sent provided that the email account is connected to Comidor. SMS reminders will arrive provided the recipient user has set a Mobile phone in his Personal Profile

9. Use the Report Box after the completion of the task to write a report
10. Select the desired Save option (refer to Quick Reference Guide)
11. If the assignee for the task has another task at the selected scheduled start date and time a warning message will appear

You can also create a Task through the Quick-Add menu.

Edit a Task

1. Go to Modules Menu Icon > Tasks > Tasks
2. Select the Task to edit
3. Click on the Edit button to open the Edit Form
4. Edit the information (all the fields explained in Create a Task section) you want and click the desired Save option (refer to Quick Reference Guide)

When the scheduled duration of the Task is changed a message appears asking whether to change the execution duration as well

View and Manage a Task

1. Go to Modules Menu Icon > Tasks > Tasks
2. Click on a Task to view its Details
3. View the Summary of the Task:
   • Basic info of Task (Assigner and Assignee, Scheduling info and its related Process) and Additional Info
   • The Description of the Task
   • Scheduling and Execution details with any Repetition plan added
   • Upload related files straight from the Desktop, an existing Comidor file or by clicking on the button to attach a File URL
   • Users that have the right to view a Task (Users or Group Leader, Users in Groups or Roles that are assigned to contribute on this Task and Task Assignee) can also read any discussion inside that Task in Notes
   • Add a Comment using a simple or enriched HTML Editor (Open editor)
   • Click on Refresh to see new comments. Click on Show More or Show Less to increase or reduce the number of comments on view
   • Only assignee (user/users inside the group/group leader(s)) and assigner will receive notifications in the Notifications Bar about these comments
4. From the side-bar choose the Tab:

1. 1. Click Notifications to see all the System Notifications that have been sent to the Notifications Bar of other users. Check whether Notifications are still active
   2. Assets, which may be human or non-human Assets that could be used upon this Task completion. Book a new Asset by clicking on the + Icon. A pop-up window opens to choose a resource and book it automatically
   3. Create a new sub-task by clicking on the + Icon. Scheduled and Execution duration of the sub-tasks you create will be available on Task View Form to help calculate the overall Tasks’ duration
   4. Click on Tags and Links to add a Tag to this Task or Link it with other Comidor entities such as Accounts, Contacts, Projects, Opportunities, Messages, Files, etc
   5. To complete a task that has sub-tasks finalize the sub-tasks (either complete or cancel)
   6. Choose the Print icon to open the Task in a new tab to print it. Follow the browser’s default printing procedure
   7. Click on the Actions Button in the Task and a list of additional options will also appear.

• Refresh the Task to view instant changes
• Delete a Task. A confirmation pop-up box appears
• Choose Copy to copy the Task. A new create form will open. Previous information about the Task will remain. Fill in the additional fields
• Choose Print to open the Task in a new tab to print it. Follow the browser’s default printing procedure
• Link the Task with other entities (Contacts, Accounts, Emails, Opportunities, Tasks, Files, etc)
• Click on Notify to notify specific Comidor groups or Comidor users or external recipients via Email Notifications
• Choose Schedule Notification to set a new Reminder for a specific user upon this Task. A pop-up window appears
  • Click on when the notification should be sent (On Task Completion or On Task time or when Task is a Number of Days/ Number of Hours/Number of Minutes delayed or specific Number of Days/ Number of Hours/Number of Minutes before the Task completion/Task time
  • Select the user to send the reminder to. The Reminder will arrive in their Notifications Bar
  • Check the boxes Email and/or SMS to notify the user via email and/or SMS
  • Click Save to send the notification or Cancel to go back to the View Form or close the window (X)
  • Users can view the Reminders already set through a side panel in the Task in the Notifications section. The Reminder can also be deleted

8. Click the Complete button to complete your pending task. In case you want to change the task state click the “… button” to select the desired state: Start, Complete, Cancel or Pause.

When in an Upcoming Task or an Overdue Task:

1. Set Task state as Complete, or Paused. Each of these states has a pop-up window that prompts the user to fill in execution info and completion percentage. Resume completed and paused tasks.

In a Task that is Running:

1. Click to set a Running Task as Completed
   • A pop-up appears asking for execution information which the user should save
2. Or choose to set Task state as Paused.

When in a Completed Task choose to set the Task as Scheduled or Paused. Each of these states (except Scheduled option) shows a pop-up window that prompts the user to fill in execution info and completion percentage.

In a Task that is Paused:

1. Choose to set the Task as Scheduled, or Completed. When you choose to complete the task a pop-up window shows,  that prompts the user to fill in execution info and completion percentage

In a Canceled Task, there is no option to restart or set the task as scheduled.

Managing a Group of Tasks

1. Go to Modules Menu Icon > Tasks > Tasks

1. Click the Checkbox next to the Task(s) to Manage
   • Reassign many tasks at the same time to a specific User/ Group Leader(s)/Group. A pop-up appears to choose the new assignee
   • Easily Change the state of many tasks at once. A pop-up box appears to choose the state
   • Easily assign a Task or multiple Tasks at once in a Process or change the Process that was selected. In the pop-up that appears select the Process and click on Ok
   • Choose Copy to copy ONE task and a new create form will open. Previous information of that Task information will be populated and additional fields can be filled in
   • Click on Delete to Delete a Task or multiple Tasks at the same time. A confirmation pop-up box appears
   • Choose Link with to Link the Task(s) with other entities (Contacts, Accounts, Emails, Opportunities, Tasks, Files, etc.)
2. Click on the Action Icon on the top right of the page
   • Click on Export to open or download the current page or all the Task(s) in an MS Excel file. Click OK to proceed. Also, export the page from the other views of the Tasks (2D Analysis/3D Analysis)
   • Click on Print to print the current view of the page
   • Click on Import Tasks
     • Choose to import tasks from Google Calendar. Click on Login to add the credentials. Change the accessibility to Public or Private
3. Click on Reports to open Tasks Reports tab
   • In Tasks Reports, you can check already-made Reports, such as Tasks per User or User Group, Tasks per Process or Project, etc.  You can then apply multiple filters depending on the selected Report and finally check results in a Table view. You can also Print or Export the results.

The post Tasks (Task Management Tools) appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

1. Don’t forget tasks

Crucial or minor, urgent or future, complex or simple, no task should get forgotten. According to Anders Clark, Writer / Editor / Project Manager at Disciples of Flight “Online Task management software is a good way to log and organize the tasks as they come, and be reminded to take care of them at an appropriate time”. Jordan Warzecha, CEO & Co-Founder of backstitch, illustrates it with an example based on his experience “Anytime something like a bug or customer request comes up we put it in a Priority Dependent list that we pull from when assigning tasks. That way we don’t forget ad-hoc tasks but don’t have to stress about them in the back of our minds. We can just add it to the list and move on.”

2. Cleaner Email Inbox

Actually, the majority of emails is related with tasks. Tasks that have been assigned to you or tasks that you have assigned to others…David Bakke from SparkCharge Media LLC underlines that “Online Task management software offers a better way to communicate rather than relying on say, email.” Corey Barnett, Founder & Consultant of Cleverly Engaged Marketing, has noticed that “The ability to comment on assignments directly in the task management software keeps more emails out of the inbox. It also prevents super long email chains of 50+ replies that are difficult to read.”

3. Enterprise Collaboration

Mark Tuchscherer, co-founder and president Geeks Chicago describes “We have people in multiple offices, all working on multiple tasks with different groups. People can view and update tasks on the go. If something changes with regard to a task, individuals can receive alerts on their mobile phones and laptops”.

Vasili Puntus, Marketing specialist at Xpansa Group shares with us “Our team can work together with a lot of tasks at the same time. We can quickly and easily communicate and interact each other when it needed. In this case, we can know and plan resource usage. As a result, it allows us to save time for all team and help us to work more efficiently and faster. People in the company can work together around the world mixed the knowledge, culture and help our company grows together with them.”

4. Sense of Accomplishment

Completing task is satisfying by itself, but using task tracking tools it can be more…! Steve Gibson Director of JotForm Inc considers that “It’s extremely satisfying to move things from one field to the next.”Moreover, as Jordan Warzecha explains “Being able to look back at everything that got accomplished over a day, week or month gives a concrete way for a team to have a sense of accomplishment.” Marc Prosser, co-founder and managing partner of Marc Waring Ventures, agrees and wonders “Who doesn’t get a kick out of crossing items off a list?”

5. Responsibility

Individuals using task management software may feel more responsible. Manish Raje, Founder of MyOPDClinic Software, explains “When a Task is assigned to an individual, it keeps the individual on track with a set date of completion. As people become more accountable, they feel more responsible.”

6. Productivity

Marc Prosser,describes “Task tracking software can track how long and how much effort things take to accomplish, and in so doing, can help you refine your productivity. If you’re not tracking something, you can’t optimize it, and task tracking software can be a great way to assess how you’re doing at specific tasks.”

7. Traceability

Steve Gibson informs us that using task tracking app “You can give an accounting of what you did long after the fact.” Manish Raje has realized that “People come and people go. As a result, an important business function is to know history of a Task, may be days or years later, be it any communication or a support issue. With everything logged into a Tracking software, business become less people dependent and more process dependent.”

8. On time and budget

Mark Tuchscherer considers that “Tracking tasks with software is one of the best ways to ensure that tasks and projects hit deadlines while remaining on budget.” According to Amy Fowler, Online Marketing Manager of Boom Online Marketing “Probably the biggest benefit (to task tracking software) for us as a company is the ability to manage client budgets. Everything we do at Boom is highly variable; our clients all have different budgets, and instead of charging a fixed amount for each task we do, we charge an hourly rate for our time. This means that without task tracking software it would become very (very!) difficult to keep track of how much of each client’s budget has been spent, especially since we also need to be able to keep track of this throughout the length of our working relationship with each client (even though our clients pay a set amount each month, we’re a little more fluid in how we use their budget and we just need to ensure that the books balance over time).”

9. Human Resource Management

Steve Gibson and Anders Clark agree that “with task tracking software, you start to gain a better idea of how long certain tasks take, and what resources they require and this allows you to better plan for similar tasks in the future.”

Amy Fowler claims that “Task tracking software is also imperative in managing our staff’s time, and ensuring they’re not under, or overworked. Although we can never measure exactly how long something will take, we assign each task a set number of hours. This means that, once we’ve calculated approximately how much work each member of staff would be capable of completing in a given month (another huge variable on account of staff’s differing responsibilities, and of course, holidays) we can ensure they’re assigned the right amount of work to fill their time.”

The post 9 Key Reasons to use Online Task Management Software appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

Task Management tools  are everywhere and technology’s growth seems unstoppable. The growth is not only coming in terms of accomplishments (incredible new materials, superb energy efficiency, medical miracles, sci-fi patents, miniature engineering, speed-of-light processing software), but also in terms of geographical penetration.

Actually, the whole planet is benefitting from technology, even in places that no one would ever imagine. Long suffering Afghanistan has more than 1 million internet connections and 18 million mobile users in a population of 32 million!(The World Facebook) In one of the poorer and more isolated places of our planet, one out of two is daily paying for technology services. Marconi and Tesla surely rest in peace.

However, technology’s most important penetration is to enter everyone’s daily life by facilitating the fundamental human need for communication. Moving one step further, to elaborate this need into something that brings tangible results: technology facilitates collaboration.

Collaboration adds value on the flat verbal exchange by adding the element of mutual goal. From individuals to friend groups, from project teams to large company departments, everyone is using technology tools to accomplish mutual goals. And technology is quite generous with providing affordable collaboration and productivity measurement solutions, since location and volume of the collaborators is not a problem anymore.

Welcoming BPM platform

Various collaboration tools exist in the global market: simple calendar organizers, fun team-project tools, professional enterprise collaboration systems, CRM Project Management softwares. Some still run only on desktops via the company’s local intranet, while other run on smart mobiles and tablets using the Cloud technology. All of them share the same cornerstone: the tasks from BPM platform.

Despite tasks ‘ importance as a fundamental element in the collaboration process, it is admittedly neglected. Managers prefer grandiose and impressive terms, such as: sales plan execution, project management scheduling, financial consolidation, enterprise social networking etc. On the other hand, employees avoid the word “tasks” for the fear of extra work and responsibilities.

Still, it is the careful-designed task management process (assignment, execution, monitoring and reporting) that will deliver sales volume, successful projects, financial results, efficient collaboration and drive a company to grandeur, while helping the employee to show-off his daily contribution in printed reports.

Especially, in times of global economic turbulence, when the latter is haunted by cost-cutting policies and cost-efficient machines, tasks monitoring within collaboration tools can be claimed salvation.

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