Tasks break projects down into individual processes and can help your firm streamline its workflow by providing up-to-date information and notifications when subsequent tasks are ready to be worked on.

Adding a task to a project

To add a task to a client’s project, follow these steps.

1. Open the Project dialog.

   There are several ways to access the Project dialog:

   • In the Clients setup screen (Setup > Clients), select the client for which you want to add task information and click the Edit button. On the Projects tab, click the Add or Edit button to open the Projects dialog.
   • In the Manage Projects screen (Actions > Manage Projects), right-click the project list and choose either Add Project or Edit Selected Projects from the context menu.
   • You can also right-click any Project field (for example, in Time & Expense Entry) and choose Add Project or Edit Project from the context menu.
2. In the Project dialog, click the Tasks tab.
3. Click the Add button to open the Task dialog.
4. Identification:
   • Order: The default order number is 1 for the first task that you add to a project. For each additional task, the application assigns the next available number. However, you can enter a duplicate order number, if necessary.

     Note: For tasks that are concurrent, you may want to use duplicate order numbers. When the preceding task is completed, notifications will be sent that both concurrent tasks are ready if you have set up notifications at the Firm level. Both of those tasks must be completed before a notification is sent that the next task is ready.

   • Activity: Select the activity for the current task.
   • Description: If you want the task description to be something other than the default description inherited from the Activity, enter a new description.
5. Task information: Make a selection in the Tracking field. The default for new tasks is Not Started. Select a tracking description from the drop-down list. If you have security permission, you can right-click to add or edit a tracking description in the drop-down list.
6. Budget information: Mark the Calculate amount automatically checkbox to have the budgeted amount calculate automatically based on the staff rate of the assigned staff member. Leave the checkbox unmarked if you want to enter the task budget information in the Hours Budgeted and/or Amount Budgeted fields manually or click the Down arrow button and use the drop-down calculator to enter the numbers. You can also make manual adjustments to the number shown in the Est. Remaining field.
7. Target dates:
   • Start: To specify the project’s target start date, complete the month(s) and/or day(s) fields, and then select Before due date or After received date from the drop-down list.
   • Complete: To specify the target completion date, complete the month(s) and/or day(s) fields, and then select Before due date or After received date from the drop-down list.
8. Assigned: Click the More button to select a staff to assign to the project.

   If you are licensed for the Staff Management module, you can also:

   • manually assign staff to the task based on their qualifications. Select a filter from the list, or click the More button next to the Staff qualifications field and create a filter to specify which qualifications the assigned staff must possess to work on the task.
   • automatically assign staff to the task based on a work queue. When you click the Work queue option, the task will be placed in a queue that appears in the Work Queue portlet of the Staff Dashboard only for those staff who meet the qualifications.
   • click the Scheduling tab to view the schedules of all qualified staff members and assign the task to a staff member or to the work queue by marking the appropriate checkbox.
9. Solution:
   • Select solution: Select the solution you will use to complete the task from the drop-down list. This field defaults to the solution for the project.

     When you select a solution (UltraTax CS, Creative Solutions Accounting, Accounting CS, Financial Analysis CS, Fixed Assets CS, Microsoft Word or Excel, or other application) for a project or task, Practice CS will do the following when you launch the solution from the project or task:

     • If the client exists in the solution that you have selected, the client will be opened automatically.
     • If you have entered a file path for Word or Excel, the document in the file path will open automatically.
     • Practice CS will automatically start a timer, if you have the Start Timer for Projects checkbox marked in Setup > User Preferences > Time & Expense Entry. When you close the client, document, or application, the timer is stopped. You then need to post the recorded time to Time & Expense Entry.

     If the solution you want to use is not available in the drop-down list, enter the path in the Solution path field and click the More button to navigate to the solution.

   • Completion event: Select the status event that marks the task’s completion from the drop-down list.

     If you are licensed for UltraTax CS and would like a task or project to be updated automatically when the corresponding status event is logged in UltraTax CS, use the Completion Event field in Practice CS to select the UltraTax CS status event that marks the task’s completion.

     Logging the event and closing the client in UltraTax CS stops the Practice CS timer (if running) and updates the Tracking field to Completed. You will need to post time recorded by the timer to Time & Expense Entry.

10. Notes: Enter an optional comment in the text box.
11. Click the Scheduling tab if you want to view the schedules of all qualified staff members. You can assign the task by marking the checkbox for a staff member or the work queue.
12. The Links tab enables you to add links to any items that you want to associate with the task. You can link to files, websites, or documents outside of Practice CS, including documents stored in FileCabinet CS or GoFileRoom. You can also link to interaction items within Practice CS.

    The links you add to a task apply only to the task to which you add them. You can also add links to task templates, which apply to all new tasks generated from that template.

13. The Custom Fields tab provides fields in which you can enter additional information for the task. Custom fields can be checkboxes, dates, lists, numeric fields, staff lists, or text-entry fields. Custom fields for dates have a drop-down calendar. Numeric custom fields have a drop-down calculator. See Custom fields setup overview for more information on custom fields.
    Practice CS allows you to create your own custom fields and field names for offices, staff, activities, clients, engagements, projects, tasks, and time & expense entry. Using custom fields enables you to track additional information in the application. You can create checkboxes, date fields, numeric fields, text fields (up to 4000 characters long), lists, and staff lists.
    
    To create custom fields, choose Setup > Custom Fields and then Offices, Staff, Activities, Clients, Engagements, Projects, Tasks, or Time & Expense Entry, depending on where you want the custom fields to appear within Practice CS.
14. Click OK to save the task.

Updating task information

1. Select the task that you want to update.

   There are several ways to select a task:

   • In the Clients setup screen (Setup > Clients), select the client for which you want to update task information and click the Edit button. Click the Projects tab, expand the project to which the task belongs, and select the task. Then click the Edit button (or right-click the task and choose Edit Task) to open the Task dialog.
   • In the Project dialog, click the Tasks tab, and select the task that you want to update.
   • In the Manage Projects screen, select the project in the entry grid, then right-click the task you want to update in the lower part of the grid and choose Edit Selected Tasks from the context menu.
   • In the Manage Projects screen, click the Project Tasks tab. Right-click the task that you want to update and choose Edit Selected Tasks from the context menu.
   • In the Time & Expense Entry screen, select a project from the drop-down list in the Project field. Click the Task Selection button to open the Task Selection dialog and select the task that you want to update.
2. Click the Edit button or right-click and choose Edit Task from the context menu.
3. Update the task information as needed.

   Notes

   • When you change the Tracking description field to Completed, the application automatically enters the date in the Complete field under Actual dates. You can edit these dates, if necessary.
   • When you enter an Actual Start or Complete date, the application changes the Tracking description field to Started or Completed, respectively.
   • To update multiple tasks simultaneously, hold down the SHIFT or CTRL key as you make your selections, then right-click and choose Edit Selected Tasks from the context menu. In the Edit Selected Tasks dialog, choose a field to update for the selected tasks and a new value to enter in that field. You can update up to six fields at once in this dialog.
4. Click OK to save your changes.

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