dspTrack

Inform Users of Late Tasks with Escalation Processes

This section contains the following topics:

View Late Tasks

A task is late if the task is not in a Completed status and:

  • The current date is later than the planned finish date or
  • The task is on the critical path and a task that occurs before it in the critical path is late or
  • The task has passed a Threshold Warning. Refer to Set Parameters for Schedule Status Calculation for more information about Threshold Warnings.

When a task is late, it displays on the Late Task page. Late tasks only display for active plans. If a plan is deactivated, the late tasks associated with that plan when the plan was active no longer display on the Late Task page.

Work List items added on the Work List Setup page that are late do not appear as late tasks.

NOTE: Security settings are required to view late tasks on the Late Task page. To view late tasks, users must be assigned to the Sample Project Level Role or the Sample Plan Level Role. If custom security roles are defined, these roles must have at least one of the following WebApp Groups assigned: Power User, Power Designer, Project User or Plan User to view late tasks.

NOTE: Security keys must be assigned to a security role every time a new project or plan is created in dspTrack™.

Refer to Set Up Security for dspTrack™ for more information.

There are two ways to access the Late Task page: view all late tasks across all projects or view late tasks for a plan.

To view all late tasks across all projects, select Late Tasks in the Navigation pane.

To view late tasks for a plan:

  1. Click Project in the Navigation pane.
  2. Click Plans for a project.
  3. Click Vertical View for a plan.
  4. Click the Additional Information tab.
  5. Click Late Tasks.

NOTE: The Late Tasks icon will always display red, even if there are no late tasks associated with the plan.

Create an Escalation Process

dspTrack™ allows users to send escalation workflow emails to management regarding late tasks. The escalation email is generated by dspTrack™ to make management aware of late tasks within a project.

Before a late task can be escalated, the escalation process must be configured following the steps in this section.

NOTE: Users must have the correct security to configure the escalation process. Users must be assigned to security roles that have the WebApp Groups Power User, Power Designer or Administrator assigned. Users assigned to the Template Security Role DSPTrack.Administror can also configure the escalation process. Refer to Set Up Security for dspTrack™ for more information.

The escalation process is comprised of two sets of users.

Multiple escalation processes can be added. A user can be added to multiple processes as either a manager, a business user, or both.

For example, a process could be added called Project Management: Daily Reports. The business users assigned to this process are assigned to tasks that run and analyze daily reports. One of these users is RJones. The managers assigned of this process are responsible for ensuring that daily reports are run and analyzed. One of these users is BFranklin. The Project Management: Daily Reports escalation process can be used to inform managers (such as BFranklin) when any of the tasks assigned to any of the business users (such as RJones) are late.

Another process could be added called Project Management: Monthly Reports. The business users assigned to this process are assigned to tasks that generate weekly metrics. BFranklin, a manager in the Project Management: Daily Reports process, is assigned to the Project Management: Monthly Reports process as a business user. The Project Management: Monthly Reports escalation process can be used to inform managers when any of the tasks assigned to any of the business user (such as BFranklin) are late.

To create an escalation process:

  1. Select Configuration > Workflow >  Escalation Process in the Navigation pane.

    NOTE: If no records have been added, the page displays in add mode. Otherwise, click Add.

    View the field descriptions for the Escalation Process page

  2. Enter a descriptive name for the Escalation process in the PROCESSNAME field.
  3. Click Save.

To add a manager to the escalation process:

  1. Click Users - Escalations Received for a process.

    NOTE: If no records have been added, the page displays in add mode. Otherwise, click Add.

    View the field descriptions for the User List - Receive Work List Escalations page

  2. Enter a number in the PRIORITY field to determine the order the managers (i.e., the users who receive emails when tasks are late) display on the Late Task Escalation page.

    NOTE: While managers and email addresses for managers can be added on the User List – Receive Work List Escalations page, a previously added contact and email address can also be selected.

  3. Either:

    Enter the name of the manager and press the Enter key to add the manager to the NAME combo box.

    Enter the email address for the manager and press the Enter key to add the address to the EMAIL ADDRESS combo box.

    Or

    Enter the first few letters of a manager’s name in the NAME combo box and select the previously entered name.

    Select the previously entered email address for the selected manager from the EMAILADDRESS combo box.

    NOTE: dspTrack™ populates the EMAIL ADDRESS combo box with the previously added email address as an option for selection.

To add the business user to the escalation process:

  1. Select Configuration > Workflow >  Escalation Process in the Navigation pane.
  2. Click Users – Work Items Escalated on the Escalation Process page.
  3. Select a USER ID to select a business user whose work will be tracked. When a task is late, the manager will receive an escalation email.
  4. Click Add User; a confirmation message displays.
  5. Click Ok.

Escalate Late Tasks

A user assigned to the DSPTrack.Project.Template or DSPTrack.Plan.Template security roles can escalate late tasks for a project.

NOTE: The security keys for the project and plan must have been added to the security role as well. Refer to Set Up Security for dspTrack™ for more information.

When viewing all tasks in all projects (select Late Tasks in the Navigation pane), the managers that display on the Late Task Escalation page depend on whether work on the late task selected on the Late Task page has begun. Work starts for a task when a user clicks Next Action on the Work List when a task is in Ready status.

If work on a late task has not begun (the task is in Ready or Waiting on Dependency status) the Late Task Escalation page displays the escalation managers from all escalation processes associated with business users assigned to the task selected on the Late Task page.

If work on a late task has begun (the status of the task is In Progress) the Late Task Escalation page displays the managers for the business user who started work on the task.  

NOTE: The order that a contact displays on the Late Task Escalation page is determined by the priority set for a contact on the User List – Receive Workflow Escalationpage.

To escalate a late task:

  1. Select Late Tasks in the Navigation pane to view all late tasks across all projects.

    OR.

    Select Project > Plans > Vertical View > Additional Information tab > Late Tasks to view late tasks for a plan.

  2. Select the task that requires the escalation email to be sent.

    NOTE: If no records display on the Late Task Escalation page, an Escalation process has not been created for users assigned to that task.

  3. Click Send Escalation Email for the contact NAME on the Late Task Escalation page.

The ESCALATED ON field updates to the date and time the email was sent.

The ESCALATED BY field updates with the user name of the user who clicked Send Escalation Email.