Assignments & Alerts Manager

The Assignments & Alerts module is designed to provide a comprehensive and global view of all assignments and alerts. This consolidated view combines assignments, tasks and alerts into a single portal.

By using this feature, individual users can view and manage their own Assignments and Alerts. Managers can view and update all Assignments.

For details on Assignments and Alerts, click here.

Assignments & Alerts Manager Toolbar

• New Assignment (button) – Click to create a new assignment. For more info on creating a new assignment, click here.

• New Alert (button) – Click to create a new alert. For more info on creating a new alert, click here.

• Save changes (icon) – Click to save changes to the Assignments & Alerts Manager. This button becomes active when there are unsaved changes.

• Cancel (icon) – Click to cancel changes to the Assignments & Alerts Manager before saving. This button becomes active when there are unsaved changes.

• View (dropdown) – Select from a list of views to display certain Alerts and/or Assignments

• Current - The Current view displays Alerts and Assignments that have not been Dismissed/Completed. Assignments include routed, non-routed and task assignments.

• Dismissed/Completed - The Dismissed/Completed view displays those Alerts that have been dismissed and Assignments that have been Completed. All PO Approval Requests are automatically dismissed once are approved or denied.

• All - Displays all Assignments/Alerts that have been received whether they have been dismissed or not.

• Task List View - Displays all Routed, Non-routed and Task Assignments and replicates the column options of the Task List Dashboard.

• Drafts - The Drafts view contains all Draft Alerts that were created not yet sent to recipients. The Draft option is only available for Alerts.

• Edit Draft - The draft can be edited by using the View Details icon on the grid or from within the draft alert. When completed, either Send the Alert or re-save as a draft using the Save Draft button.

• Delete Draft - The draft can be deleted by using the Delete Draft icon on the grid or from within the draft using the Delete Draft button.

• Attachments - Hover over the Attachments icon to see how many attachments the draft Alert has.

• My Assignments & Alerts (button) - Displays Assignments, Alerts and Tasks for the employee logged in.

• My Alerts (button) - Displays Standard Alerts for the employee logged in.

• My Assignments (button) - Displays Assignments and Tasks only for the employee logged in.

• All Assignments (button) - Displays Assignments and Tasks for all employees. Allows managers and others to see all assignments for any level. This does not include assignments that are assigned to Unassigned.  

• Standard security applies - Advantage | Security | Group Setup | Group Settings tab - Assignments & Alerts Manager Settings section - Show All Assignments.

• User Limit security applies - based on Office and Employees of the User logged in.

• The Assignments and Tasks displayed can be controlled by the settings in My Dashboard Definitions in Maintenance | General | My Dashboard Definition.

• My Dashboard Definition can be limited by Alert Group, Schedule Assignments, Manager, Task Assignees, Account Executive or by other User Defined Managers in Maintenance | Client - Management Level.

• Unassigned (button) - Displays only the Assignments with no assignee(s).

• Bookmark (button) – Click to bookmark the filtered Assignments & Alerts view.

• Refresh - Use to manually update / refresh data displayed. The Alert/Assignment count will automatically update as Alerts / Assignments are added, reassigned, dismissed or completed.

Filters Section

The Filters section enables the ability to limit the assignments and alerts displayed based on selected criteria. Toggle the header to show or hide the Filters section.

• Employee (display only) -Displays the name and avatar for the employee logged in.

• Start/Due Date - Enter the date range in which the Assignments / Alerts was sent, or click the Calendar button to select a date.

• Filter Type (drop-down) – Select the filter type (Department, Employee, or Role), then select the corresponding type in the field. Multiple Departments, Employees or Roles may be selected. This option is available only for All Assignments view.

• Only Tasks Marked Temp Complete (checkbox) – Select to filter Assignments to Tasks marked Temp Complete and Assignments marked Complete. This option is disabled in My Alerts and Unassigned views. To mark all marked temp complete to completed displayed in the grid, click the Mark Temp Complete to Completed button at the top of the grid.

• Include Backlog Items - Check this option to include all assignments on jobs assigned to Boards that are currently in Backlog. Board Name will display as Multiple when the job is assigned to multiple boards.

Viewing Assignments & Alerts Manager

Assignments & Alerts Manager Grid

Toolbar

• Column Settings - Click the icon to select or deselect columns to display in the grid.
• Column Reset - Column widths can be adjusted by grabbing and sliding the borders left or right. The order of the columns can be changed with a drag and drop method. Click the button to reset column widths or order to default.
• Clear Column Filters - Columns can be filtered by clicking on the filter icon and entering criteria. Click the Filter button to activate filter. Active filters will be indicated in yellow. To clear a filter in a single column, click the filter icon and click the Clear button. Click the icon to clear filters for all Columns.
• Mark Temp Complete to Completed - Tasks marked Temp Complete will show as "crossed out." Click the icon to mark all Temp Completed Tasks displayed in the grid from Temp Complete to Completed.

• Dismiss All - Click the button to dismiss all Alerts / Assignments that meet the filter criteria. This option is available for the Current, My Assignment & Alerts and My Alerts views.

• Export (button) – Click to export filtered Assignments & Alerts view to Excel.

• Search - To search for an Alert enter the search criteria in the Search Box on the toolbar. When criteria are entered, click the Search/Find button to view all alerts that contain the search criteria.

• Text - Searches for text, case insensitive and/or incomplete words, in the Alert Subject, Alert Body and Alert User.

• Numeric - Searches for a number in the Alert ID, Alert Sequence and Job Number fields as well as the Alert Subject, Alert User and the Alert Body.

• Clear Search - Click to clear the search criteria.

Managing Assignments and Alerts in Grid

Task Assignments associated with a Job/Component that are closed will not display in any View in the Assignments and Alert Manager. All other assignments will be displayed.

The Assignments and Alerts that are in bold text indicate they are unread. Assignments and Alerts that are not in bold indicate they have been read.

Grouping - Drag a column header to the grouping field to group rows. Multiple grouping levels can be selected.

Sorting - Each column can be sorted ascending or descending by clicking on the column header. These changes are automatically saved. If the browser cookie has been cleared, these column display changes will not be saved.

Reorder Rows in the Grid

Rows can be reordered by clicking the ellipses in the first column and using the drag and drop method. This is available when My Alerts or My Assignments is selected in the Toolbar.

Managers can change the order of Assignments in the Assignments & Alerts Manager for other employees. The Group/Filter should be changed to 'None' and select the Employee in the Filter. To re-order the Assignments, use the Drag Handle to drop the Assignments into a different order. The re-order can be removed by sorting by any column. Note: If using Google Chrome as browser, zoom must be set to 100%.

Changing the order of Alerts or Assignments in the grid will not change dates or priority.

The Unity Menu is available in the Assignments and Alerts Manager by right clicking in the grid. The assignment/alert that is selected must be at the job/component level.

Assignments & Alerts Manager Columns

Column selection can be customized for each user and the selected columns will be saved as the user default until modified by the user. Different column selections can be set up for each of the views (e.g., Current, Dismissed/Completed, All, Task List View and Draft.) Columns can be relocated, resized and filtered to create the desired results.

• Search - To view the details of an Alert/Assignment, click the Search (magnifying glass) icon for the corresponding Alert/Assignment. The icons will be color coded based on priority: Red - Highest, Light Red - High, Grey - Normal, Blue - Low and Light Blue - Lowest.  

• Status - To dismiss an Alert without opening the Alert click the Dismiss (trash) icon. No warning message is generated; the Alert will be automatically dismissed. To mark the Assignment as complete, click the Complete Assignment (green check mark) icon. When a Task Assignment with multiple assignees is marked complete in Task List View, the icon changes to an ‘X’ and the text in the line is crossed out. Click the ‘X’ to mark the task assignment not complete.

• Category (icon) – Shows the category of the assignment. S – Story, A – Action, D – Discussion Topic, E – Event, I – Issue, P – Proof, R – Review, T – Task. The meanings of each of these categories are user defined (with the exception of P – Proof). The icons will be color coded based on priority: Red - Highest, Light Red - High, Grey - Normal, Blue - Low and Light Blue - Lowest.  

• Task Status - Shows status of the task assignment. P (Yellow) – Projected or A (Green) – Active.

• Document(s) - Indicates if documents are included with the Alert/Assignment. The Attachment icon is color coded that indicates if an attachment is included in the Alert: Red = No attachments / Green = has attachments. Hover over the icon to see the number of attachments.

• Task Flag - Indicates if the task assignment is overdue (Red). Hover over the icon to see the number of days overdue or days left before due date.

• Add Time - To add time to the Assignment or Alert, click the Add Time button. Time can be added from an Alert/Assignment when the Alert/Assignment is associated with a Job/Component or to a Job/Component/Task. For more information on adding time, click here.

• Stopwatch - Select to start timing the task's activity click on the Stop Watch icon. Time can be added from an Alert/Assignment when the Alert/Assignment is associated with a Job/Component or to a Job/Component/Task. For more information on the Stopwatch, click here.

• Subject - The Subject for each Alert/Assignment will display. Advantage Alerts are automatically given Subject descriptions, but an Alert/Assignment created in Webvantage can include have user defined Subjects. Click on the Subject to view the Alert/Assignment.

• Last Updated - The Date and Time the Alert/Assignment was sent and/or last updated. The Last Updated date/time is updated when the Alert Recipients is selected on an alert or when Comments and/or Attachments are added to the alert.  

• Start Date - The Start Date of the Alert/Assignment.

• Due Date - The Due Date for the Alert/Assignment.

• Time Due - The time the Alert/Assignment is due.

• State - Indicates the current State (status) of the Assignment. This field only applies to Assignments.  

• Priority - Alerts / Assignments can defined with a priority: HH - Highest, H - High, -- None, L - Low and LL - Lowest. Use the drop-down to change the priority.

• Assigned To - Indicates the current employee assigned to the Assignment. This field only applies to Assignments.

• To change the 'Assigned' employee for an Assignment, click on the Assigned To link.

• If no employee(s) are selected, the Assignment will be displayed under Unassigned.

• ID - Identifies the Alert ID number. This field can be used for reporting purposes.

• Standard Alerts and Assignments - A generic Alert ID is assigned to all Alerts at any level.

• Assignments:

• Job Level Alerts are given a separate sequence to that assignments can be tracked by individual ID at the job level.

• All Other Levels use the generic Alert ID.

• All Alert ID's can be searched for in the Alert Application.

• Alert ID's are also used in Email Replies and are used for tracking purposes.

• By - The name of the person who sent the Alert/Assignment or last updated the Alert/Assignment.

• Client - Identifies the Client associated with the Alert/Assignment.

• Division - Identifies the Client associated with the Alert/Assignment.

• Product - Identifies the Client associated with the Alert/Assignment.

• CDP Codes – Displays the codes for Client, Division and Product associated with the Alert/Assignment.

• Job – Displays Job Number and Description

• Job Number – Displays Job Number

• Component - Displays Component Number and Description

• Component Number - Displays Component Number

• Job Component - Displays Job/Component Number and Job/Component Description

• Job Component Number - Displays Job/Component Number

• Job Description - Displays Job Description

• Component Description - Displays Component Description

• Hours – Displays default hours for Task Assignments, including total hours at the end of the column.

• Category – Displays category for the Assignment or Alert. For more details on Categories, click here.

• Type – Displays the type of Alert or Assignment. For more details on Types, click here.

• AE – Displays the name of the Account Executive for the Job/Component associated with the Assignment.

• PM – Displays the name of the Manager for the Schedule associated with the Task Assignment.

• Office - Displays the Office associated with the Assignment.

• Campaign - Displays the Campaign associated with the Assignment.

• Template - Displays the Template associated with the Routed Assignment.

• Task Comments – Displays Comments for the Task Assignment. Tasks Comments on Task Assignments can also be edited directly in the Assignments and Alerts Manager (Allow Task Edit must be enabled in Security | Group Setup | Group Settings tab).

• Version - Identifies the version number.

• Build - Identifies the build number. Version and Build are only available when the alert is assigned at the Job or Job Component level and the Job or Job Component must be setup in Maintenance | General | Software Version to use these options. This field can be used for reporting purposes.

• CC Recipient Codes - Displays the CC recipient codes on all alerts and assignments. Includes the client contacts.

• CC Recipient Names - Displays the CC recipient names on all alerts and assignments. Includes the client contacts.

• Board Name - Displays the board name associated with the job.

• Board State - Displays the board state associated with the assignment.

• Sprint Name - Displays the sprint name.

• Sprint Start Date - Displays the start date of the sprint.

• Task Status Description - Displays the status of the task assignment and allows the ability to filter by Active, Projected, All or Blank.

• Task Level - Displays the Level of the task assignment from the Project Schedule.

• Parent Task - Displays the Parent Task of the task assignment (if one exists) from the Project Schedule.

Types

Types identify the kind of Alert or Assignment that was sent.

Categories

To dismiss all Alerts that meet the filter criteria, click the Dismiss All button. The Dismiss All option does not apply to Draft Alerts and Assignments.

Page Size

To change the number of Alerts / Assignments to display at a time, in the Page size input box, select the number of alerts to view.

Security and Setup