Opportunity Tasks: Getting Started

To get started on Opportunity Tasks, there are a few key things you should know:

1. You can aggregate all your tasks into a single list, making it easier to pull into an Opportunity later.
2. Tasks are cloned with the Opportunity, meaning there is one less step to getting the next trip going.
3. Tasks within the Opportunity are different than tasks within a Track/Pipeline (not all organizations use both).
4. If you make your Tasks "Templates", then you can report on them across several opportunities, which is a great way to easily pull data into your Opportunity Reports.

Put simply, an Opportunity Task Template can go into an overall Task List, which can then be tied to an Opportunity.  If your Opportunities are different, you can create a list of tasks for each.  For example, let's imagine you have a list of tasks for your student trips that is quite different than your adult trips.  You can create a single Opportunity Task Template for "Background Check" that is only visible to those over 18 years of age (more on that later).  That template can be added to the Task list for "Student Trips" AND be added to the task list for "Adult Trips".  

Let's walk this example through.  

Creating a Task 

First, let's create the Task.  Tasks can be created through the Task Template area, in a Task List, or in the Opportunity itself.  For this example, we will use the Task Template area.  You can get there from either of the following links (left navigation or the Mission Control page).  Please note that your image may look different based on the features of your organization.

Once on the page, you will see any other templates you have for Opportunity Tasks.  There are several types of tasks that you can create:

• Checkbox - These are good for single action items like completing a background check, uploading a photo, etc.
• Form - This will prompt participants to complete a Form.  Upon completion, the task will automatically be checked/completed as well.
• File Upload - This allows participants to upload a specific number/type of file.  You will be able to download all of them as a zipped file later within each opportunity.
• Payment - This prompts a participant to complete a payment.  This can either be a specific dollar amount or a percentage of the amount needed.

Each task you create will have several fields to complete.

• Name - This is what appear to the participants and allows admins to report on this later.  HINT: A clear name makes it easier to find later.  
• Description - This is the text that appears to participants when they open the task.  This can contain links (e.g. videos they need to watch, information they need to read, etc.)
• Due Date - This can be any number of days, weeks, or months prior to the start of the Opportunity or after the Opportunity has finished.
• Who should complete this task? - This field allows you to assign ownership of the task to someone.  If this is something that needs to be done by the participant, you can select that here.  For more details, see "Assignment of Tasks" below.
• Resources - This area allows you to add any resources that will be attached to help each user complete this task.  For example, if you need them to sign a form and upload the signed copy, you can attach the blank form as a resource, have instructions to download it, sign it, then upload it as a part of this task.  You can also attach other resources as is helpful (instructions, guidebooks, etc.)

Assignment of Tasks

Opportunity Tasks can be assigned to three different groups of people responsible for ensuring that task is complete.  

1. Participants - These are the folks going on the trip
2. Trip Admins - These are typically the leaders of the trip
3. Org Admins - These are the folks at the organization or church who help manage all the trips/opportunities

When assigning ownership to Participants, this is a 1:1 relationship.  Each participant will need to complete that task. However, once this is associated to an Opportunity, you will be given more granular control to actually assign certain tasks to specific people in your trip (e.g. just the three team leads, etc).  The options you will see under participant ownership are:

• All Approved Participants - only those approved for a trip will get task assignment
• Select Approved Participants - select only those few folks who need to complete this task

When assigning ownership to Trip Admins or Org Admins, an additional option will appear stating "This task needs to be completed for multiple participants on the trip."  This will create a task per approved participant for the admin to complete.  Using our example from above: If each participant needs to complete a background check, there will be a task for each participant to do so.  There will also be a task to the Trip Admins per participant to "Validate background check is completed".  This will allow the admins of the trip to go through and check off all the participants who have completed this leveraging your background check solution of choice... and also prompt the trip admins to follow up with those who have not done their part of this list yet.

Auto-Complete

Another option within a task is the ability to mark it as "Auto-Complete".  If selected, the admin will get the chance to pre-select this as "complete" for any participants who have met this criteria in the time period of the admins choosing.  Using the background example: If your background check is good for 2 years, you can mark the participant task for "Background Check" as Auto-Complete with a valid date of 2 years from the start of the trip (or the end of the trip, or the date the participant applied for the trip) as seen here.

If a task is created in this way, then if this same participant applies for a trip next year (within that 2-year window), they will see the task on their list of to-dos, but it will already be checked off since they met the criteria last year.  

Age Restriction

This option allows tasks to appear for participants based on their age.  For example, you may want any participants under a certain age to fill in a "Minor Release" type form.  Or, in the example we have been using, anyone younger than 18 years of age by the time the trip returns is exempt from completing the Background Check.  Your options here are as follows:

Attaching a Task to an Opportunity

Once this Task is saved, then it appears as a Task Template.  It can then be added to a list of other tasks (our suggestion) or pulled into a specific Opportunity where this Task needs to be completed.  You can also add ad-hoc tasks to an opportunity, but we highly encourage you to make sure they are saved as a "template" so that you can use them within our cross-opportunity reports (only task templates appear as options and can be pulled across multiple trips).