AMA: I'm Matthew Townsend, Xplan tasks expert and product manager at Iress, Ask Me Anything!

Awesome idea and question Jeremy-Gorniak

In the workflow research we heard a number of clients interested in something like this or we heard of friction points that could perhaps be solved by visualising the workflow.  In my view there's 2 elements to it as you kind of alluded to:

1.  Visualising the workflow: so you can quickly see and understand the flow of the process, where you are at, what comes next etc.  We would be aiming to include something like this when we look at moderning the workflow layers in Xplan.  It then could be incorporated back into Tasks so you can find out where you are at and see that whole process right when you need it. 
   
   
2. Building workflow: Possibly, this one we see coming later and we also think there's a number of ways you could go about solving this - a kind of drag and drop flowchart may be one way, but there could be others which we'd need to explore but still a ways away at this stage.

 

So in short, yes something like this is part of our future thinking for workflows at least in terms of helping view and follow them :) 

Hi jaclyn.bazin4, 

Sorry we didn't get to this one in the AMA and my delay in replying.   Unfortunately as you have suspected there aren't any bulk actions in this area that would suit this one.  The only options for the user would be to either:

• Manually remove the threads - if you don't want to retain any of the thread or task data. OR
• Manually abort the threads - this will retain the data but you will also need to bulk abort the tasks afterwards.

You've definitely highlighted a good use case here for that functionality, it's something we've recorded down but it's not on the roadmap at this time.

Thank you,

Matthew

Hey mat.tenison3, 

Thanks for kicking us off with a great first question and I couldn't agree more with you when you say they can make a real difference to a business.

• You can find all your workflow (Threads/Cases) templates by searching for
  'Threads' in the navigation - it will be the first result that appears under Global - or by navigating to: Admin > Site > Templates > Tasks & Thread template > Threads
• I'm not going to say there's not a learning curve because there is, but we see practices big and small creating and updating their own workflows without the need to hire others so its definitely achievable, deciding factor might be whether you have the time or not.  Editing existing workflows can be a simple way to start.
• Keep in mind yYou can also export your templates (use the action menu dropdown next to each template) so you have a back up and removes some of the risk.
• If you want to start from scratch my main tip would be to pick a simpler workflow or process, build that out, get your automations and then tackle some of the more complex ones.

 

If you want to learn more there's a number of webinars and courses on the Iress Learning Centre that can help.  This one can be a good starting place:  https://learningcentre.iress.com/course/view.php?id=636

Hey tl

1. This is a great use of the automation and to answer your question - yes you can.  when setting up the outcome and selecting to send email or sms from a template you have an option labelled 'prompt to edit', if you set this to yes, you will get the email loaded up in the Xplan email editor and can review/update before sending (managed to include a pic below).
   
   
2. Unfortunately that filter is not there yet.  Tasks has a number of filters and we started by introducing the most used and requested one but we are getting more feedback for this filter and are looking to see when we might be able to bring this one over into the new experience.

Hi carolyn.pretorius

Good question and as I'm sure there's other clients who could be in the same boat.  There are a number of resources on the Iress Learning centre that can help get you started with a view to understanding and building your own - they aren't all labelled best practice though - As an example, this one for an ongoing review process i've heard before was helpful: https://learningcentre.iress.com/course/view.php?id=348

Probably one of the best all round workflow overviews I have seen was from jessica.lamb and you can find the session she did on this over on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kih1A7rYMQ

There's a lot of providers out there that could help review your workflow and set you up, let me see if I can track down a list of partners Iress recommends.  Alternatively, I wonder if the Advisely members might have some suggestions for Carolyn?

Good afternoon sarah.burke38,

That's interesting, i'll need to look into what was sent over but that's really helpful feedback to know you liked the content and would like to see more of these kind of resources.  

In terms of why we don't have that or move of that for here, sounds like this might be something we need to look into but in the meantime please keep letting us know what resources help and you want to see more of as this certainly guides us.  

Hi sarah.burke38, thanks for your question.

This one is outside my Labs and Tasks wheelhouse, but I've checked in with the teams involved in that space and this isn't something being explored with Revex at this time and you would need to speak to them about integrations as a starting point.  

Kind regards,

Matthew

Thanks for your question sarah.burke38 !

I worry your post might not be easily visible to the rest of the community as this is an old AMA thread. Would you mind posting it again as a new thread here?

All you need to press is 'Start a Discussion' at the top of the page. Let me know if you need assistance!