ForumsQuestionsManaging Projects - is there a better workflow?
Managing Projects - is there a better workflow?
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kayne |
I have a complex question that would be easier to break into parts. In this post, I'll describe a basic workflow, and why it works but is time consuming. There's more to it than this.
I am looking for suggestions to improve this workflow. I'm certain that I'm not the only person with this particular challenge. When we have a new customer at work, I have a process where I clone a task. The cloned task is a starred task, with about fifty child tasks. Many tasks has fields, like "CUSTOMERNAME" or "ACCOUNTNAME". These may be in the task name, or in a task note. Task notes are used for future emails that will be sent to the customer. In many cases, I can send these by copying the task note and pasting it into the email on my mobile or on my tablet, regardless of where I am. For example: Task name: "Schedule ACCOUNTNAME" Task note: "Dear CUSTOMERNAME, SALESPERSON tells me that you're ready to schedule your ..." Would become: Task name: "Schedule Initech" Task note: "Dear Bill, Joe tells me that you're ready to schedule your ..." The way that the those fields get filled in is by hand, by me. This means when we get a new customer it takes me about an hour or so - depending on relative complexity - to set up their task list. This seems horrendously inefficient. Is there a better way to automatically replace these fields in the tasks, or alternatively, has anyone seen an larger alternate solution to this challenge? This message was edited Mar 13, 2014. |
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Purveyor |
Posted by kayne:
The way that the those fields get filled in is by hand, by me. This means when we get a new customer it takes me about an hour or so - depending on relative complexity - to set up their task list. This seems horrendously inefficient. It is inefficient because you are using the wrong tool for the job. Take a look at Customer Relationship Management software (CRM).At a more basic level, you need software that merges data. You can use something like Excel, Word and Outlook to do that, or you can use Gmail and Google Docs. You can then create email messages that have some formatting rather than just plain text. Merging on a mobile device would be difficult, but not impossible. This message was edited Mar 14, 2014. |
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Jake Toodledo Founder |
If you use Excel to make a spreadsheet of the tasks you can use the find/replace feature to update everything quickly for each new client. Then export the spreadsheet as a CSV file and import it into Toodledo using our CSV importer in the Tools section.
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kayne |
Jake and Purveyor,
Thank you for the follow ups. I've had a chance to think about this suggestion. I like the idea of Excel as I could then define a formula for the due date of tasks, and use a global find and replace to replace names and addresses. However I've worked with the CSV importer and found that it does not associate child tasks with parent tasks. I'm using this feature in Toodledo to see all the tasks associated with an account. Is there a way that I can use the CSV importer to associate parent-child tasks? Here is a sample CSV for two tasks - a parent task, which is starred, and then a child task, which reminds them to take online training if they already have not. TASK,FOLDER,CONTEXT,GOAL,LOCATION,STARTDATE,STARTTIME,DUEDATE,DUETIME,REPEAT,LENGTH,TIMER,PRIORIT Y,T AG,STATUS,STAR,NOTE CUSTOMER SOP,Template,,,,,,,,,,,,,Next Action,Yes, ONLINE TRAINING four weeks before remind them about it,Template,Online,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"CONSULTANTEMAIL CUSTOMEEMAIL SALESTEAMEMAIL Hi CUSTOMERNAME, This engagement includes online training. One of the biggest indicators of a successful jump start projects is completion of the online training. Please make sure that your assigned personnel have reviewed the online training and are familiar with the product before Professional Services arrives onsite. According to our records, the following personnel have access to the computer-based training materials: (LIST THEIR PERSONNEL HERE BASED ON SEARCHING SALESFORCE) Thanks," To Purveyor's point, we do use SalesForce for CRM software. It's nowhere as easy as Toodledo, nor is it as quick once it's running, when my primary tasks could be defined as: a) check if someone's done something; and, b) if not, remind them about that something; and, OR a) send slightly customized email to customer based on date; and, b) if necessary, set a follow up task to check for replies or actions taken. This message was edited Mar 15, 2014. |
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Jake Toodledo Founder |
Unfortunately, it is not possible to import subtasks via the CSV import tool.
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kayne |
I think that I've sorted this out. The XML import tool allows for subtasks.
I've defined a parent task with an ID of 123456789. All child tasks have a PARENT of 123456789. And all child tasks have an ID starting at 100000000, and incrementing upwards. Based on my tremendously limited testing today it appears as though Toodledo - on import - assigns each task a new ID. This is a good thing, as I'd been concerned about duplicates, or creating circular links to tasks. This still has the feel of a hack to it, but with 50+ child tasks to customize for every customer account, using find & replace on an XML file is less inefficient. |
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