Needs & Tasks

Overview

The Needs & Tasks register is used for recording services and tasks to track the immediate needs for which can be assigned to providers.

Needs & Tasks are a sub-item of and can be attached to the following parent registers:

• Cases

• Relief Registrations

• Infrastructure

You cannot add Needs & Tasks directly, they must be added through one of these registers. Each of these can have one or more Needs and Tasks attached. It is important to monitor both the parent register and the Need/Tasks associated with it. It is possible for a parent item to be closed for example, but have open tasks remaining. Ideally a Coordinator should review open tasks and finalise them before closing the parent record.

Having its own register and workflow means that you can manage provision of services separately. You can assign them to providers, which can include internal teams, and track them until the services are fully delivered. Providers can be given restricted access only to the their currently assigned Needs & Tasks.

Needs & Tasks provide the following features:

• Flexlible task management compatible with Cases, Relief Registrations and Infrastructure

• Assign to users, positions or refer to external providers who are automatically notified as they progress through the workflow.

• External providers can be set up to access and manage only tasks they've been assigned

• Estimate costs for and allocate resources to tasks

• Set a due date to manage follow ups and be automatically notified when the due date is approaching or overdue.

• Categories and Tagging to help manage related groups of items to make them quick and easy to find and report on

Access

To access Needs & Tasks:

• Needs/Task must be enabled for the event.

• Go on duty with an appropriate role such as Relief Officer, Recovery Officer, Relief Coordinator or Recovery Coordinator. If you can't access it, ask your administrator to check your permissions.

Locate the Needs & Tasks register under Recovery > Needs & Tasks in the menu.

Finding Needs & Tasks

The register includes a number of features to assist in finding Relief Registrations:

• Datagrid view

• Map view

• Filters including Workflow, Types, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Specific Support, Region, Category and tags

• Combination filters and search by most fields

Filters

Filters help make management of Needs & Tasks easier by focusing on specific groups of items on the datagrid.

Viewing Needs & Tasks

When viewing Needs & Tasks, sections can be expanded to show information.

As each section is completed, new sections may show additional information.

Need/Task Settings

General

The General section records the key information including Workflow.

Category is used to categorise Needs & Tasks, for example those that are related to Accommodation, Fencing or Transport etc. This can be used to report on provisioning for different types of needs. Your Administrator configures the list of categories for your site using the Recovery: Immediate Need Category lookup.

Provisioning Status records the current step in service provision. On the datagrid this appears as just 'Status'. A basic overview of the workflow is shown in the diagram below.

Needs & Tasks have the following Provisioning Statuses, in order of which they can be set.:

Reference records any reference numbers such as invoice numbers.

Cost Estimate records an estimate of costs for the Need/Task. This is used, for example, to generate totals in financial reports.

Task assigned to records the user, position or external provider that the item has been assigned (or referred) to.

Resource records a single Resource allocated to the Need/Task. Resources must be added in the the Resource register before they can be allocated.

Detail records additional information about of any actions or activities required to perform the Need/Task. This is important information for anyone who is assigned the task, particularly when they are referred to external providers.

Associated task documents and images enables image/s or document/s to be uploaded using the Add File button.

Tags is used to classify the item. Refer to tags for more information.

Location

The Location section records an optional geographical location for the Need/Task. This is displayed on the Register's map view.

Workflow

The Workflow section records additional information about the kind and importance of the Need/Task.

Type records which register the Need/Task was created from. Relief Registrations and Cases are recorded under Relief/Cases and Infrastructure Needs and Tasks are recorded under Infrastructure Services.

Priority helps indicate information items that are a higher priority than others. Priority is an optional column on the datagrid and allows you to create filters to find high and urgent priority tasks.

Due Date records the date when it becomes Overdue, these items can be found using the Overdue filter on the datagrid. For use of the date field refer to: Selecting dates.

Related

Any parent records of Needs/Tasks Case are listed in the Related section under their respective type/category. You can follow these back to the parent record for more context.

Classification

Refer to: Editing Items: Classification

Activity

Refer to: Viewing and Opening Register Items: Activity

Updating Needs & Tasks

When updating Needs & Tasks:

• Add notes on your edits in the Record Notes field

• Ensure Provisioning Status to reflects the current stage

• Manage priority and due date

• Enter cost estimates and resources for any costs incurred or resources utilised

• Check the location is current and matches the service provision

Assigning Needs & Tasks

• When assigning Tasks, set Task Assigned to to a user or position and change the Provisioning Status to In Progress

• When referring Tasks, set Task Assigned to a position associated with an external provider and change the Provisioning Status to Referred

Adding Needs & Tasks

Needs & Tasks can only be added through their parent register.

For further instructions, refer to:

• Cases

• Relief Registrations

• Infrastructure

When adding Needs & Tasks:

1. Go to the relevant Needs and Tasks section in the parent register and in the Add services, tasks and immediate needs field. Use the Add button or, if there are existing Needs & Tasks use the Add Another button .

2. To add multiple use the Add Another button .

3. Set the Category using the pull-down list. This is required at minimum.

4. New records are automatically have the Provisioning Status set to Requested.

5. Complete each section of the Need/Task Settings as required. You can remove an existing Needs & Tasks sub-item using the red cross icon on the top right.

6. Repeat steps 2-5 for as many Needs and Tasks that you require.

7. Complete also each section of the form in the parent record you're working with.

8. Save

Bulk Actions

The following additional bulk actions can be performed on Persons via the Actions menu:

Importing Needs & Tasks

A System Administrator can import Needs & Tasks in bulk via the Import system using the Recovery Task Import option.

Reports

There are several Reports available for Needs & Tasks in the Built-in reports, including:

• Needs & Tasks Summary (also available from the Actions menu)

• Recovery Needs & Tasks (also available from the Actions menu)

• Finance - Recovery Cost Per Case Needs and Tasks

• Recovery Needs and Tasks with Case Data