Tasks

Tasks in SORMAS facilitate the coordination of work processes and can be defined as context-independent or context-specific. Context-independent tasks enable individually usable task management. Context-specific tasks can be created specifically for cases, contacts, entries (if used) and events. With the Administrator:in or National:r User:in user role, tasks can always be edited with all the functional options described in more detail in section 5.2.

Feature configuration in the tasks area

Feature configurations refer to settings, some of which can be set (usually activated or deactivated) for each SORMAS database on an office-specific basis.

The feature configuration for automatic taskcreation (TASK_GENERATION_CASE_SURVEILANCE for cases or TASK_GENERATION_CONTACT_TRACING for Contacts) is deactivated by default. When activated, the "Case investigation" task is automatically created for every newly created case, "Contact investigation" for newly created contacts and "Contact investigation" for newly created contacts.

"Contact tracing" (if in tracing). The tasks are automatically assigned to a user. For cases, the task is assigned to the responsible monitoring officer of the respective case; for contacts, it is assigned to the contact officer. (Deviation 1: If no responsible monitoring officer is stored in the case, the task is assigned to another available monitoring officer in the area of responsibility. Deviation 2: If several people are assigned this role in the area of responsibility, but no responsible monitoring officer is set in the case, then the task is assigned randomly, but equally distributed). If the role of monitoring officer is not assigned in the corresponding area of responsibility, the task is assigned to the monitoring manager or, if not assigned, to the national user.

There are several ways to create new tasks, depending on the context for which you want to do this: Tasks can be created for specific contexts via the menu items Cases, Contacts and Events; context-independent task creation is possible via the menu item Tasks. There is a preselection of possible task types for both options. Self-defined tasks can also be created and managed under "Other task" and with the help of the comment function. If required, it is possible to export created tasks from SORMAS.

Create context-specific tasks via cases/ contacts/ events

If a new task is to be created for a specific case, contact or event, this can be done on the first page of the corresponding file. There you will see gray-framed boxes on the right-hand side. One of these is entitled "Tasks". You can open the corresponding input window with the corresponding "New task" button.

Open

In this input window, the mandatory fields must first be filled in. In addition to the task type (A), this also includes the due date (B). Each task must also be assigned to a processor (C). If your office has decided to activate the feature configuration (an option for the office-specific server setting of a certain function) for automatic task creation, the task is automatically assigned to a user, otherwise you do this manually. Optionally, the start date (D) can also be set. Each task can be assigned a three-level priority (E). In the task list, you can filter for tasks with a high priority; the task is then separated from the others in the overview by color. It is also possible to enter notes in the "Comments on task" field (F) (4096 characters possible).

Open

An observer function for tasks is stored below the comment field (not shown in the image above). This can be ignored as it is not intended for German SORMAS systems and cannot be used.

Create context-independent task via the Tasks tab in the ribbon

Context-independent tasks that do not contain a link to a case, contact or event can be created under the Tasks tab in the ribbon. To do this, click on the "New task" button in the Tasks menu.

If a task is created here, it is automatically assigned to the "General" task context.

Edit tasks

All existing tasks that lie within the user's area of responsibility can be viewed in the task management (menu item Tasks). If the task has been created or assigned to a user, it can also be edited. The user roles of the administrator and the national user can edit all tasks. Tasks that are linked to a case, contact, (entry - if used) or event can also always be accessed in the respective file.

Calling up context-specific tasks via cases/ contacts/ events

If you want to edit a task that has been assigned to a specific entity (i.e. a case, a contact or an event participant) or an event, you can select the corresponding…

Select the file and click on the pencil icon in the "Tasks" box on the right-hand side of the first page of the respective file to open the task.

The task then opens. It can now be commented on the task status (A) can be adjusted (e.g. from "pending" to "completed"). It is also possible to change the due date (B) and/or assign the task to another person (C). It is often helpful to enter a comment (D) with a reason. After making changes, click on save so that they are visible to the other colleagues.

Once a task has been completed, it appears greyed out in the file, but can still be viewed afterwards using the pencil icon. Tasks are completed as soon as the associated case, contact or event has been completed.

If you set the status of the task to "Completed" within the case investigation task (or contact investigation for contacts), the investigation status in the Case tab is automatically set from the default setting "Investigation pending" to "Investigation completed". You can now see the completed task highlighted in grey in the box on the right. At the same time, setting the investigation status to "Completed" means that the "Case investigation" task (or contact investigation for contacts), if it has been created, is automatically set to "Completed".

Attention! The case investigation task can only be completed if you have already assigned the case in question to a case definition category.

Call up all, own or employee tasks via the menu item Tasks

In the task management, under the menu item Tasks, tasks of any context can be seen that fall within the user's area of responsibility. The user cannot be shown any tasks where the entity of the task (e.g. the case in a "Case investigation" task) is not within the user's area of responsibility. Likewise, no tasks can be assigned to employees whose responsibility differs from that of the entity concerned. The filter options (A) can be used to search for individual tasks. It is also possible to display only your own tasks or those of colleagues. In addition, the table (B) relevant information about the tasks, such as their prioritization, the processing status, the due date or who has created and been assigned the task. To edit a task from the table, click on the corresponding pencil icon (C). This opens the task and it can be edited as described in the previous chapter.

If a task has been saved as "completed", it can only be found in the task management if the corresponding filter is searched for "completed" tasks, which then appear as grayed-out entries in the table.

To take a look at the file associated with a task (case, contact or event), you can click directly on the ID specified in the column in the task management.

Assign tasks to teams

SORMAS works with a user role concept in which individual users are given different authorizations by assigning and combining user roles. A task can only ever be assigned to one user in SORMAS. There are various options for organizing work processes in teams. For example, the administrator could create a user in SORMAS for the team leader. Other employees could assign all the tasks they want to assign to the entire team to this user. The team leader can then distributes these tasks to the responsible employees from their own team. This ensures that the team leader assigns the tasks to the employees available on that day and at the same time keeps track of which person is behind which user. It is also possible for the employees of this team to independently assign the tasks assigned to this team user (according to the internally defined workflow process), as it is possible to view the employees' tasks and change responsibilities in SORMAS. The comment field can also be used for processing notes such as employee abbreviations.

Bulk editing of tasks - functions for administrators

An option to edit tasks with bulk options is available to users with the role of administrator. This option includes assigning tasks, assigning a priority and adjusting the task status. In addition to the deletion option, a mass completion and editing option has also been created.