Action Scheduler - Delivery as an Action

An action is an event or activity that is performed in association with a project or task.

A delivery is an outgoing message, notification, or form. It can be a PortalsXpress Message or an e-mail.

Deliveries in WorkflowManager are both time saving and work efficiency tools. Why not let WorkflowManager automatically send reminder notices or fact finder sheets to clients, automatically start a new project and send tasks to the appropriate employees' Inboxes, or automatically notify an administrative person when to make a follow-up call?

The Delivery tab of the Action Selector screen collects the necessary information to create a delivery as an action.

There are four main steps to create a delivery :

Establish the time when the action should be performed in the top portion of the Action Selector screen.
Select the individual who will receive the message.
Select the individual from whom the message will appear to be sent.
Determine if the delivery affects the status of the task or project.
Select the file or form to be sent as the delivery (if applicable) and enter the subject and text of the message.

Establishing the time for the action to be performed in the Action Selector screen.
An action can be scheduled to be performed using the following choices. Click the appropriate button to make your selection.

Upon Assignment
After a specified interval of minutes, hours, day, weeks, or months; or at a repeating time interval (every Monday)
At a specified date and time
At completion
When the task is double-clicked on a list
Upon critical error

Selecting a recipient and sender for the action in the Action Selector screen
Click to select either:

Task's / Project's
Individual(s)

If selecting "Task's/Project's", also click the respective "Select" button to choose the related contact from the Select Contact list. The Select Contact list displays Contact folders available on the Related Items list. For example, you may wish to select the project's Originator or Manager as a related contact.

If selecting "Individual", also click the respective "Select" button to choose the related contact(s) from ContactManager. A contact in ContactManager is anyone who has an association with your office. This can be a coworker, clients, or outside resources used to complete the assigned tasks. It could even be a third party vendor.

Determining if the delivery affects the status of the task or project.
Click to select either:

None
Close task/project upon submission of form
Close task/project immediately with delivery

An example demonstrates the convenience of this. Let's suppose that a project's task is to send an electronic form to your client and that this form requires information to be input by your client. By selecting "Close task upon submission of form" WorkflowManager automatically closes the task when the client submits the form (and moves on to the next task or project down the road). WorkflowManager can also monitor if your client is delinquent in returning the form and automatically send a reminder.

Selecting the file or form to be sent as the delivery and adding text to the message
If the delivery is simply a text message or if a text message is to accompany the attached file or form, enter the message subject and text in the input area in the bottom of the screen.

To attach a file or form, click on the "Attach" button to select a file or form from the Related Items list. To name a few examples, a word processor document, a spreadsheet, or an HTML form can be attached as a deliverable. Because of the task status election described above, only one HTML form can be attached per single delivery action. Multiples of other types files can be attached to a single delivery action.

Tokens
To insert a token in the subject or text of the outgoing message, position your cursor where you wish to insert a token, then click on the "Insert" button and select the desired token. The inserted token is displayed on the subject or message field on screen but the actual token reference is displayed in the message.

Using tokens can be thought of as a data entry time saver step. Instead of typing the actual token reference, just select the token. To exaggerate an example, if the manager of a project is Robert William Wellington-Westernhouse, Jr., instead of typing the name you may prefer to simply select the #Manager:FirstName# #Manager:LastName# tokens. The actual name will be displayed in the message.

Preferred Method of Communication
The client's preferred method of communication that is established in the contact's digital file (in ContactManager) impacts the delivery action of a task. If e-mail or PortalsXpress Message is specified as the contact's preferred method than PortalsXpress will automatically send the delivery. Otherwise, the task will be assigned to an individual member of your workforce and appear on that individual's digital Inbox. That individual will then be responsible for contacting the client by the preferred method of communication (telephone call, FAX, or by mail).

NOTE for Hotmail users. If both you (as the sender of a delivery message) and the recipient of the delivery message use an "@hotmail" address, Hotmail will detect that the delivery originates from a mail server other than Hotmail and may filter the delivery as SPAM. In this scenario, the WorkflowManager project correctly sends the message and records it in the Progress Notes but Hotmail stops the recipient from receiving the mail.

Workflow Manager Users Guide