Creating tasks

Create tasks to involve users in processes. Tasks are assigned to users and include a user interface (a form or a Guide) that can be populated with data. When users are assigned a task, they are provided with the form or Guide to complete and submit.

The following items can be added to process diagrams to generate tasks and involve users:

Workspace start point:
Enables users to open forms or Guides in the Start Process pages of Workspace.

Assign Task operation:
Creates a task that is assigned to a single user or user group.

Assign Multiple Tasks operation:
Creates tasks for multiple users so that they can simultaneously review information. The results of the reviews are stored in a collection.

After you add these items, specify values for presentation properties, such as the form and action profile to use. For Assign Task and Assign Multiple Tasks operations, also specify who is assigned the tasks that are generated. Workspace start point tasks are automatically assigned to the user who opened the form or Guide from the Start Process page.

When users submit forms and Guides to complete their tasks, the corresponding Workspace start point, Assign Task operation, or Assign Multiple Tasks operation is also complete. Data that populated the form or Guide is submitted to the LiveCycle server. Data about the task is also submitted, such as who completed the task and which action was selected to complete the task.

For information about adding and configuring Workspace start points, see Starting processes using start points .

Add an Assign Task or Assign Multiple Tasks operation:

Drag the Assign Task operation or Assign Multiple Task operation to the process diagram.

After you drag the operation to the process diagram, you can complete the following tasks:

Assigning tasks to users

For each Assign Task operation and Assign Multiple Tasks operation that you add to the process diagram, identify who is assigned the task:

  • For Assign Task operations, specify a single user.

  • For Assign Multiple Tasks operations, specify multiple users.

You can use the following methods to identify a user:

Specific user:
Search for the LiveCycle ES2.5 user who always fulfills the role for this step in the process. If the user who fulfills the role changes, change the process accordingly. This method is useful for testing processes in the development environment. In the production environment, assign tasks based on roles or use XPath expressions.

User list:
(Assign Multiple Tasks operations only) Select a user list that has been created.

Group:
Assign the generated task to user groups so that tasks are distributed among the users in the group. Task assignment can occur in one of two ways:

  • Tasks are assigned to a group’s task queue, and users in the group manually claim tasks from the queue.

  • Tasks are automatically assigned randomly to users in the group.

    User who started the process:
    You can specify that tasks are assigned to the user who initiated the process without specifying the actual user profile.

    Variable:
    (Assign Multiple Tasks operations only) Select a variable that contains a User or Group value, or select a string value that stores an identifier for a user or group.

    XPath expression:
    Use an XPath expression that evaluates to a value that represents a user or group. XPath expressions are useful when the identification of the participant is stored as process data. For example, a previous task collects the identification in a form.

Reassigning tasks for out-of-office users

Tasks can be automatically reassigned if the task is assigned to a user who is out of the office. Reassigning tasks prevents delays in the progression of the process.

Tasks are reassigned according to the Out Of Office settings that the user configured in Workspace. For example, the mortgage loan application that a bank uses requires loan approvals to occur in two days. A bank employee is on vacation and has configured the Out Of Office settings so that new tasks are reassigned to a colleague. When a task in the process is assigned to the employee who is on vacation, the task is automatically reassigned to the colleague.

Important: You may not want to reassign tasks if they display confidential information to the user.

Assign tasks for Assign Task operations:

  1. On the process diagram, select the Assign Task operation.

  2. In the Process Properties view, expand the Initial User Selection property group.

  3. Specify the user:

    • To select a user, select Assign To Specific User and then click Browse to search for the user. (See Select a specific user ).

    • To select the process initiator, select Assign To Process Initiator.

    • To specify a user from a group, select Assign To Group. Specify how tasks are assigned to users in the group, and then click Browse to search for the group. (See Select a specific group .)

    • To use an XPath expression, select XPath Expression and then click the ellipsis button to open XPath Builder. (See Use an XPath expression or variable to specify users .)

  4. To forward tasks according to users’ Workspace out-of-office settings, select Allow Out Of Office Designation.

    Note: Tasks are forwarded only if the user’s out-of-office settings indicate to do so.

Assign tasks for Assign Multiple Tasks operations:

  1. On the process diagram, select the Assign Multiple Tasks operation.

  2. In the Process Properties view, expand the Participants property group.

  3. To add an item to the list, click the plus button . Select the type of item to add to the list, and then specify the specific item:

  4. Repeat the previous step to add additional users or groups.

  5. For each item in the Participants list, specify whether to forward tasks according to users’ Workspace out-of-office settings:

    • Select the item in the list.

    • Select Allow Out Of Office Designation.

  6. For each group in the list, specify whether a task is assigned to each member of the group:

    • Select the group.

    • Select Assign To Every User In The Group.

Select a specific user

Search for the user to assign tasks that Assign Task or Assign Multiple Tasks operations generate. The following procedure describes how to use the Select User dialog box that appears when you are assigning tasks to specific users. For information about how to open the Select User dialog box, see Assigning tasks to users .

Search for a user:

  1. In the Select User dialog box, specify how to search for the user:

    • To search by name, select User Name.

    • To search by the user’s email address, select Email.

  2. In the box, type all or part of the user name or email address and click Find.

    Type no characters in the box and click Find to retrieve a list of all users.

  3. In the Results pane, select a user, click Add, and then click OK.

Select a specific group

Search for the user group to assign tasks that Assign Task or Assign Multiple Tasks operations generate. The following procedure describes how to use the Select Group dialog box that opens when you are assigning tasks to specific groups. For information about how to open the Select Group dialog box, see Assigning tasks to users .)

Groups are defined by using User Management in LiveCycle Administration Console or the LDAP server defines them.

Search for a group:

  1. In the Select Group dialog box, specify how to search for the group:

    • To search by name, select Group Name.

    • To search by the group’s email address, select Email.

  2. In the box, type all or part of the group name or email address and click Find.

    Type no characters in the box and click Find to retrieve a list of all groups.

  3. In the Results pane, select a group, click Add, and then click OK.

Select a user list

Browse for a user list to assign tasks that Assign Multiple Tasks operations generate. The following procedure describes how to use the Select User List dialog box that opens when you are assigning tasks to a user list. For information about how to open the Select User List dialog box, see Assigning tasks to users .

Browse for a user list

  1. In the Select User List dialog box, click the ellipsis button to open a user list selection dialog box.

  2. In the application tree, locate the user list to use to assign tasks.

  3. Click the user list and click OK.

For information about creating a user list, see Creating and changing user lists .

Use an XPath expression or variable to specify users

You can use XPath expressions to identify users and groups that are assigned the tasks that Assign Task and Assign Multiple Tasks operations generate. (See Assigning tasks to users .) For Assign Multiple Tasks operations, you can also use variables. XPath expressions or variables are useful when the identification of the next participant is captured during the process.

The value obtained from the XPath expression or variable must be the identification of a user or group. If the identity of the user or group is not valid, an error occurs. The following information can be used to identify a user:

  • Global unique identifier (GUID) of the user account, such as 9A7AD945-CA53-11D1-BBD0-0080C76670C0

  • Login name of the user, such as atanaka

  • Canonical name of the user, such as atanaka.sampleorganization.com

  • Email address, such as atanaka@sampleorganization.com

  • Common name, such as Akira Tanaka

  • The User value that represents the user.

Note: Use the common name or email addresses only if you are certain that they are unique.

The following information can be used to identify a group:

  • The GUID of the group, such as C76670C0-CA53-11D1-9A7AD945BBD0-0080

  • The canonical name of the group, such as tanakareports.sampleorganization.com

  • The email address, such as tanakareports@sampleorganization.com

  • The common name, such as TanakaReports

  • The Group value that represents the group.

GUIDs are unique across all domains. Canonical names are guaranteed to be unique to a single domain only.

You can obtain User and Group values by using the User Manager Lookup service. (See User Lookup .)

Creating and changing user lists

Create a user list to use for configuring task assignment for Assign Multiple Tasks operations. User lists are saved as application assets. You can edit or remove user lists any time after you create them. If you delete a user list, it is removed from the properties of any operations that refer to the list.

The New User List wizard steps you through the process of creating a user list. The wizard lets you specify the name and location of the user list, and the members of the list. After the user list is created, you can change which users are in the list.

Start the New User List Wizard:

Click File > New > User List.
You can also right-click an application version and click New > User List.

Change a user list:

In the Applications view, right-click the user list and click Open.
Ensure that you have the user list checked out.

User list general properties

The following user list properties are configured by using the New User List wizard:

User List Name:
The name of the user list. The name appears only in Workbench 9.5.

Description:
(Optional) A description of the user list that informs developers what the user list is used for.

Location:
The location to store the user list. Use one of the following methods to specify the location:

  • Type the location in the box.

  • Select the folder in which to store the user list in the application tree.

Click New Folder to create a folder to store the user list.

User list population properties

You can configure the following user list properties by using the New User List wizard or when the user list is opened in Workbench 9.5:

User List Population Options:
Select an option to indicate how to specify the members of the user list:

  • Select The Users And Groups To Include In The User List to add the members manually. You can search for users and groups and add them to the list.

  • Select Use A Process To Populate The User List to run a process that selects the members.

The option that you select determines which properties appear.

Select the users and groups to include in the user list:

  1. Select Users to add a user, or select Groups to add a group.

  2. In the Name box, type part or all of the user or group name to search for, and then click Search.

    The search returns all users or groups when no name is entered.

  3. In the list, select the user or group to add.

  4. If you are adding a user, to forward the task based on the user’s Workspace out of office settings, select Allow Out Of Office Designation.

  5. If you are adding a group, specify how tasks are assigned to the group:

    • To create one task and add it to the group’s To Do list in Workspace, select Assign To Group Queue.

    • To create a task for each member of the group, select Assign To Every User In The Group.

  6. Click Add to add the user or group to the user list.

  7. Repeat this procedure for every user or group that you want to add.

Use a process to populate the user list:

Specify the location of the process by using one of the following methods:

  • Type the location in the box.

  • Select the process in the application tree.

The process that you select must return a list value that contains the following data types (the list members must be the same data type):

  • string values that represents any of the following user properties:

    • Global unique identifier (GUID) of the user account, such as 9A7AD945-CA53-11D1-BBD0-0080C76670C0

    • Login name of the user, such as atanaka

    • Canonical name of the user, such as atanaka.sampleorganization.com

    • Email address, such as atanaka@sampleorganization.com

    • Common name, such as Akira Tanaka

  • User and group values. (See User and Group values.)

If a process for populating user lists is not yet created, click New Process. Workbench 9.5 creates a minimal process that you can use to configure the user list properties. You can develop the process later.

You can create a process to use to populate the user list. You can finalize the configuration of the user list without closing the New User List wizard or the user list editor. When you finish configuring the user list, you can complete the development of the new process.

Configuring the presentation of task data

For each Assign Task and Assign Multiple Task operation that you add to the process diagram, identify the information that is presented to the user. You can present an asset or a document that is stored in a document variable.

Asset and data

When the Assign Task or Assign Multiple Task operation executes, the asset and data are sent to the assigned user. Specify which action profile of the asset to use. The prepare data, render, and submit processes of the action profile can require the following configuration:

  • When to run the prepare data process

  • Values for any input variables of the processes

Document

Any document can be presented to the user if it is stored in the process data model as a document value. The user must have the client software required to open the document. Some applications require that the document opens in a new window.

Presenting PDF documents is useful when you need to preserve a digital signature that is on the document.

If you use a document variable, you cannot specify data to merge with the document.

PDF assets with no submit buttons

Configure tasks so that Workspace provides submit buttons when all of the following circumstances are true:

  • The task asset is a flat PDF document or a PDF form that does not include a submit button.

  • Users open tasks using Adobe Reader version 9.1 or later, or Acrobat Professional and Acrobat Standard.

Under these circumstances, configure the Submit Via Reader property of Assign Task and Assign Multiple Tasks operations.

Use an asset and data:

  1. Select the Assign Task operation or Assign Multiple Tasks operation on the process diagram.

  2. In the Process Properties view, expand the Presentation & Data Settings property group.

  3. Select Use An Application Asset, click the ellipsis button, and select the asset.

  4. In the Action Profile menu, select the action profile to use for the asset.

    If the processes of the action profile that you select require input values, corresponding properties appear at the bottom of the Application Asset area.

  5. (Optional) In the Variable menu of the Initial Task Data area, specify the process variable that contains data to populate the asset.

  6. If you require Workspace to provide the submit button for the asset, select Submit Via Reader.

  7. If you selected Submit Via Reader, in the list, select the type of data that you want to be submitted. The properties of the asset determine the available types. (See About captured data .)

  8. If the action profile that you selected in step 4 includes a prepare data process, specify when the process runs:

    • The User Opens The Task: When the user opens the task from their To Do list

    • The User Opens A Draft Task: When the user opens a draft task that they previously saved

    • The User Opens A Completed Task: When the user opens a task from their task history

  9. If the processes of the action profile require input values, configure the remaining properties.

Use a document variable:

  1. Select the Assign Task operation or Assign Multiple Tasks operation on the process diagram.

  2. In the Process Properties view, expand the Presentation and Data Settings property group.

  3. Select Use A Document Variable and then select the variable from the list.

  4. If the document is a PDF document that Adobe Reader users will submit, select Submit Via Reader.

  5. If you selected Submit Via Reader, in the list, select the type of data that you want to be submitted.

Providing task instructions

Provide instructions to include with tasks so that users know what to do.

The text you provide appears on the process cards that appear in Workspace. Effective instructions can be created by expressing task instructions using a template value. You can also use HTML code to format the text. For example, the following text is a template value for the task instructions: 

Name:<br><b>{$/process_data/@name$}</b></p> 
Amount: <br><b>{$/process_data/@total$}</b></p> 
Deadline:<br><b>{$/process_data/@deadlineDays$}</b></p>

The following task card in Workspace shows the resulting task instructions.

To Do card showing title, image, and instructions

For more examples of effective layouts for task instructions, see Best practices for Workspace .

You can provide task instructions as a literal or template value, or you can specify a variable or XPath expression.

Provide task instructions:

  1. Select the Assign Task or Assign Multiple Tasks operation on the process diagram.

  2. In the Process Properties view, expand the Task Instructions property group.

  3. In the Task Instructions box, specify the text to use for the instructions.

    You can also specify a variable that contains the text, or an XPath expression that evaluates to the text.

Providing actions for submitting tasks

You can specify actions that users can select when they submit tasks. The actions you specify appear instead of the default Complete action. For example, the actions Approve and Deny can appear as buttons in Workspace.

View full size graphic

The type of asset that is being used determines how actions appear in Workspace:

  • If a Guide or PDF form is used, each action appears as a button. Clicking a button selects the option and completes the task.

  • If an HTML form is used, each action appears in a list next to the submit button on the form itself rather than in Workspace. The user can select an item in the list before clicking the submit button.

Note: The form may require the Process Fields object to display the action options. (See “Preparing form designs for LiveCycle Process Management ES2” in LiveCycle DesignerES2 Help .)

The name of the action that the user selects is included in the submitted task data. The selected action can be accessed by using XPath expressions later in the process if necessary. However, XPath expressions are not necessary for selecting the route to follow after the Assign Task or Assign Multiple Tasks operations.

Add a user action:

  1. Select the Assign Task or Assign Multiple Tasks operation on the process diagram.

  2. In the Process Properties view, expand the User Actions property group.

  3. Click the Add A User Action button .

  4. In the Action Name box, type the name of the action as you want it to appear to the user.

Note: To express the value of the User Action Name property as a variable, the variable must be a list of string values.

Adding destinations for Assign Task operation actions

When you add user actions to Assign Task operations, you can associate each action with a subsequent operation. When the action is selected at run time, the route to the associated action is followed.

Note: Any conditions on the route are ignored.

If no operation is associated with the selected user action, the Route Evaluation properties of the operation and route conditions determine the next operation to execute.

For example, the following illustration shows the Approve and Deny actions. When the user clicks Approve, the route to activity1 is followed. When the user clicks Deny, the route to activity2 is followed.

View full size graphic

Before you add destinations, draw a route to the desired destination.You can add destinations

Specify a destination for an Assign Task operation:

  1. Select the Assign Task operation on the process diagram.

  2. In the Process Properties view, expand the User Actions property group.

  3. Select the action and click the Modify A User Action button .

    To add a user action, click the Add A User Action button .

  4. From the Destination list, select next operation to execute when the user action is clicked, and then click OK.

Note: To express the value of the User Action Name property as a variable, the variable must be a list of string values. If you use a variable, you cannot associate user actions with routes.

Adding completion policies to Assign Multiple Tasks operations

Create completion policies to complete Assign Multiple Tasks operations before all reviewers have submitted their task. Typically, the number of times a certain user action is clicked determines the outcome of the review. Often, decisions can be made before all reviewers submit feedback. For example, a majority vote only requires higher than 50% of reviewers’ approval.

The completion policy is Complete this step when more than 50 % pick the Approve action .

Each time a user clicks an action to submit a task, completion policies are evaluated.

The Assign Multiple Tasks operation tracks the number of times each user action is selected at run time. Policies use this information to determine when the operation completes, thus terminating the review. Policies contain the following information:

  • The name of the action to which the policy applies

  • A threshold, which is either a percentage or number of users that select the action

  • An operator for the threshold, which can be either at least , exactly , or more than .

For example, the following policy completes the operation when more than 50% of reviewers select the Approve action: 

Complete this step when more than 50 % pick the Approve action

The action is Approve, the threshold is "50%" and the operator is "more than".

Specify the next operation

Policies can optionally specify the next operation to execute when the Assign Multiple Policies operation is complete. These policies are in the following format: 

Go to operation_name when operatorthreshold pick the action_name action

The following policy completes the operation and executes the execute1 operation when more than 50% of the reviewers select the Approve action: 

Go to execute1 when more than 50 % pick the Approve action

Use route evaluation properties

When policies do not specify the next operation to execute, the route evaluation properties of the operation and route conditions determine the next operation. These policies are in the following format: 

Complete this step when operatorthreshold pick the action_name action

The following policy completes the operation when 50% of the users select the Approve action but does not determine the next operation to execute: 

Complete this step when more than 50 % pick the Approve action

Use the "exactly" operator carefully

Using the "exactly" operator in a completion policy is risky when the threshold is based on a percentage. Depending on the number of reviewers, an exact percentage can be impossible to achieve. For example, a review that includes nine people cannot result in exactly half of the tasks having the same action clicked.

Use the "at least" operator to include an exact percentage in the completion policy. The following example policy causes the operation to complete when exactly 60% or more of all reviewers click the Reject action: 

Complete this step when at least 50 % pick the Reject action

Ensure early completion

Create multiple completion policies to ensure that reviews are completed as soon as possible. When you create multiple completion policies, the Assign Multiple Tasks operation completes when either of the policies is true.

For example, a reviewed document is accepted when at least 50% of reviewers click the Approve action: 

Go to publishDocument when at least 50 % pick the Accept action

The result of this rule is that the document is rejected when more than 50% of reviewers click the Reject action. However, when more than 50% of the reviewers click Reject, the preceding completion policy cannot be attained. The review completes only after all reviewers submit their feedback.

To ensure that the review is complete as soon as possible, a second policy is created: 

Go to rejectDocument when more than 50 % pick the Reject action

The number of completion policies that you require depends on your review and the policies of your organization.

Before you create completion policies, add all user actions and draw routes to all of the next possible operations.

Create completion policies:

  1. Select the Assign Task operation on the process diagram.

  2. In the Process Properties view, expand the User Actions property group.

  3. Select Use Completion Policies.

  4. Click the Add A Completion Policy button .

  5. In the dialog box, specify how the next operation to execute is determined:

    • To specify the operation in the policy, select Go To A Specific Next Step.

    • To use the route evaluation properties, select Use Routing Evaluation Order And Route Conditions To Determine Next Step.

  6. Click the text to change the values:

    • If Go To A Specific Next Step is selected, click <some destination> and select the next operation.

    • To change the operator, click More Than and select the operator.

    • To specify the threshold, click <some value> and type a number. To change the threshold from a percentage to a count of users, click % and select User(s).

    • To specify the action that this policy is associated with, click <some action name> and select the user action.

  7. Click OK.

Saving task data

You can save the data that is sent to the LiveCycle server when the user submits the form or Guide to complete their task. Saving the data is necessary if you want to use the data later in the process.

Note: If you save task data in a variable that already stores data, the existing data is replaced.

For Assign Task operations, task data is returned as a Task Result value. These values include information about the task, such as which user action was selected, the user who completed the task, task attachments, and user comments (if the Approval Container features are used in Workspace). The field data from the form or Guide is also included. You can optionally store the field data separately in a document or XML variable, so that it is easy to pass to subsequent Assign Task or Assign Multiple Tasks operations.

Because Assign Task operations create a single task, save the submitted task data in a Task Result variable. Assign Multiple Tasks operations create several tasks. Therefore, the Task Result value from each task is saved in a special collection called Task Result Collection . Each Task Result value is appended to the Task Result Collection value. You can also append the output of an Assign Task operation to a Task Result Collection value.

Task Result Collection and the Workspace approval container

The Workspace approval container displays information that is stored in the Task Result Collection that is used to store task results. Any comments and user action information that is stored in the Task Result Collection is displayed in the approval container.

For example, a process includes an Assign Multiple Tasks operation, followed by an Assign Task operation:

  • Both operations use the Workspace approval container.

  • Both operations use the same Task Result Collection variable to store task output.

The Assign Multiple Tasks operation creates tasks for several users so that they can review a document. As users complete their tasks, the results are stored in the Task Results Collection. When stored, they are immediately available to the Workspace approval container. Users can open their task in Workspace to see which actions were clicked for completed tasks.

The Assign Task operation executes when the Assign Multiple Tasks operation is complete. When the user opens their task, they too can see which actions were clicked for the tasks of the Assign Multiple Tasks operation.

Save task data for Assign Task operations:

  1. Select the Assign Task operation on the process diagram.

  2. In the Process Properties view, expand the Output property group.

  3. In the Task Result box, specify the variable or location in the process data model to store the Task Result value.

    Note: If you save task data in a Task Result variable that already stores data, the existing data is replaced.

  4. To store field data separately, in the Output Data box, specify the document or XML variable to store the field data.

    Note: If you save task data in a variable that already stores data, the existing data is replaced.

  5. Specify whether to store the task data in a Task Result Collection variable:

    • In the Variable list, select the Task Result Collection variable.

    • To save field data in the collection, select Include Captured Data.

    • To save attachments in the collection, select Include Attachments.

    Note: Task data is appended to the Task Result Collection. No existing data is overwritten.

Save task data for Assign Multiple Tasks operations:

  1. Select the Assign Multiple Tasks operation on the process diagram.

  2. In the Process Properties view, expand the Output property group.

  3. In the Variable list, select the Task Result Collection variable.

  4. To save field data in the collection, select Include Captured Data.

  5. To save attachments in the collection, select Include Attachments.

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