Starting tasks

Before you can start a task, all necessary specifications must have been made. In particular, the input data fields that have been marked as mandatory must have a value, otherwise you get an error message when you try to start the task.

For input data fields of type document, you should first upload the documents that you intend to assign as values to these input fields. You can upload the documents into the task (e.g. with   New    Document   in the action menu of the task) or to some other suitable place, e.g. the project or phase to which the task belongs.

In order to assign values to input data fields,

•      select   Change    Properties  in the action menu of the task and go to the ‘Data’ sec­tion or directly select   Change    Input . You can also switch to task view by open­ing the task.

•      Enter at least values for the data fields that have been marked as mandatory. For data fields of type document, use the  button to find the input document in your folder hier­archy.

You should also make sure that you have assigned contractors to the task – otherwise you remain the sole contractor and the task becomes a personal one, like an entry in a personal to-do list. If you start a task in this state by mistake, you can nevertheless assign other con­trac­tors afterwards (e.g. via   Change    Responsibles  or   Task    Assign ).

You must not necessarily assign requestors before you start a task – you yourself will become requestor automatically when you start a task without requestors. Anyway, you can forward the task later to a different requestor.

After you have made all necessary preparations,

•      you start the task via   Task    Request  in the action menu of the task or by [Request task] in task view.

•      The task state switches from initial to requested and you become sole requestor. Should there have been other users assigned as requestors, they lose this role.

•      All input data are released by requesting the task: they become visible to all con­trac­tors and cannot be changed in this task state neither by you as requestor nor by the con­tractors. Documents as input data are put under version control when the task is started. This way, changes to task documents are traceable and document versions can be uniquely associated with task states, e.g. if an input document has to be changed by you as requestor after objections by the contractors.

At this point in time at the latest, the task is entered into the personal task lists of the con­trac­tors. Additionally, the task is entered into the personal task list of the requestor, if not already present.