qbo.Decision: Tasks (Import Forms)

A common use case is to submit a task for review and approval. Implied in such a use case is the possibility of rejection, or requiring a submitted to re-work the task to provide amplifying information. Thus, a single form may appear to multiple work lists, for multiple people, as it transitions between statuses.

Implementing this requirement in QBO is best done by:

• • Create a series of custom statuses for the task, representing the possible 'flow' of the task

    • e.g. Processor Review, Supervisor Review, Manager Review, Rejected, Accepted

  • Create a series of state transitions, representing what role is allowed to transition from one status to the next

    • Processor Review => Supervisor Review // submit for approval

    • Processor Review => Rejected // anyone can reject a taskSupervisor Review => Processor Review // supervisors can kick a task back to a processors

    • Supervisor Review => Manager Review // supervisors can submit a task for manager approval, but processors cannot

    • Supervisor Review => Rejected // anyone can reject a task

    • Manager Review => Accepted // only managers can accept

    • Manager Review => Rejected // anyone can reject a task

    • Manager Review => Supervisor Review // managers can kick a task back to supervisors

  • Adding a call to RenderStatusButtons template

    • This will render 'save' buttons labelled for each transition currently allowed, based on the current status and the user's role

When an Import Form record is updated, the ImportFormTransition trigger will:

• • Raise an error if the transition is not allowed (e.g. Process Review => Approved)

  • Complete any Smart Worklist Members bound to the task matching the old status

  • Insert a new Smart Worklist Member bound to the task matching the new status

Repeatability

When a task is created by a workflow, or via a GET request (e.g. ImportForm.ashx/Render?Template=My Task&Object=Organization&ObjectID=1), QBO will either create a new task or bind to an existing task based on the task template's repeatable setting: 

• • One per Parent (0): only one task based on the template may exist per parent

  • One active per Parent (1): only one active task based on the template may exist per parent

  • Many per Parent (2): any number of tasks based on the template may exist per parent

To demonstrate use cases for repeatability, we'll create three tasks all bound to 'Organization':

• • Company Profile (there should be only one such task, possibly reused over time)

  • Contract (there should be one active task, though once a old contract expires it may be replaced by a new contract)

  • Support Ticket (there may be many such tasks per organization)

The 'Company Profile' task template may be defined as 'one per parent', and any number of workflows may prompt a user to enter or review the Company Profile. Regardless of how many workflows include the 'Company Profile' task, only one copy of the task will be created per Organization. In this situation:

• • GET /Decision/ImportForm.ashx/Render?Template=Company Profile&Object=Organization&ObjectID=1

  • will create and render a Company Profile task the first time it's called

  • GET /Decision/ImportForm.ashx/Render?Template=Company Profile&Object=Organization&ObjectID=1

  • will render the existing Company Profile task all subsequent times it's called

A 'Support Ticket' task template may be defined as 'many per parent', and each time a support ticket task is added to an Organization, a new task is created. There may be multiple support tickets open simultaneously for a given organization, and each may be completed independently of any other support tickets. In this situation:

• • GET /Decision/ImportForm.ashx/Render?Template=Support Ticket&Object=Organization&ObjectID=1 

  • will create and render a Support Ticket task every time it's called

The 'Contract' task template may be defined as 'one active per parent', meaning that there may only be one 'active' Contract task at a time. In this situation:

• • GET /Decision/ImportForm.ashx/Render?Template=Contract&Object=Organization&ObjectID=1 

  • will create and render a Contract task the first time it's called

  • GET /Decision/ImportForm.ashx/Render?Template=Contract&Object=Organization&ObjectID=1 

  • will render the existing Contract task until the existing Contract task is completed

  • POST /Decision/ImportForm.ashx/Save?Template=Contract&Object=Organization&ObjectID=1&ActualCompletion=1/1/2018 

  • will complete the existing Contract task

  • GET /Decision/ImportForm.ashx/Render?Template=Contract&Object=Organization&ObjectID=1 

  • will create and render a new Contract task, leaving the original completed task alone.

Note that there is a more complicated use case for 'one active per parent': creating a task that's part of a workflow, before the workflow is created. Let's assume that:

• A 'Renew Contract' workflow is used by an Organization to handle new contract drafting, review, and approval

  • this workflow contains a 'Draft Contract' step that is handled by a third party law firm

• The third party law firm case management system transmits 'Draft Contract' tasks when they, er, draft contracts for us

  • the firm does not know about our approval workflow; they just concentrate on creating a contract for us to review

  • the firm knows when to draft contracts; it's their job!

  • when they've drafted a contract, they just: 

  • POST /Decision/ImportForm.ashx/Save?Template=Draft Contract&Object=Organization&ObjectID=1&ContractURL={Url}&ActualCompletion={Today}

The 'Draft Contract' task template can be defined as 'one active per parent'.  Then the following happens:

• The law firm tells QBO they've finished the draft contract (with the POST above)

  • This inserts a new Draft Contract task, but there's no workflow step connected to this task

• A data listener detects the 'orphaned' task (no workflow step), and launches a 'Renew Contract' workflow

  • • the Renew Contract step, although marked complete by the third party law firm, should be 'detected and used' by the Renew Contract workflow

To handle this use case, 'active' tasks are task that:

• • have not yet been completed, OR

  • have been completed, but are not bound to an existing workflow

Tech note: the implementation of this behavior may be overridden in Design > Configuration > ImportForm > Statements > SelectByTemplate

PDF Forms

The qbo.Attachment.PDF plugins supports using form-enabled PDF documents as custom forms. This allows QBO 3 systems to plug-and-play existing PDF forms as custom forms. 

Steps required to use a data-enabled task: