To make your work easier and faster, SlabWare has developed Workflow and modified the way you add sequences of activities directly to your Job Tracker.
In this post, we are going to work on the entire Workflow of the feature with you. You already know how quickly it works and how easy it is, so tag along and find out how it became even simpler in this latest update.
In this first moment, we are going to show you how to set up a workflow with all its steps, exactly how you already do at your shop.
Later on, in step number 4, we are going to show you how to create a Workflow for a Quote/Invoice/Event that you are creating.
After that, in step number 5, we are teaching you how to link a Workflow to a Quote/Invoice/Event that already exists.
Tag along and let’s get started!
1. Defining the Activities on your workflow:
On your Job Tracker’s setup screen, search for the field Job Activities
Click on the button Add New and fill in the information. Details on fields:
– Name: name of this activity
– Color: a color for its representation on the calendar
– Attached Forms: any forms that will be generated automatically on insertion of new activities of its kind
– Notify: check this option and insert the number of days if you want to be notified X days before this activity starts.
Default Values: they are here to make your work quicker by standardizing the information for every activity of this respective step that will be generated in the future.
– Assigned to: who is responsible for this kind of activity in the company?
– Activity status: what is the standard status for this kind of activity?
– Workers: who are the workers who usually work on this kind of activity?
– Activity Description: a general description of it.
– Signing Document: who is signing the document.
– Google Calendar: check this option to send an invite to your customer’s Google Calendar address.
2. Naming your Workflow and linking the activities:
When you access the Job Tracker’s setup screen, you will see a field named Workflow Sequence
After that, click on the Edit button on the Options column, and on the new pop-up window, click on the button Add New to add the steps you’ve created on item #1 to your sequence.
On the new pop-up window, fill in the fields:
– Job (the activity you created on the previous item),
– Whether you want to create it on Quote, Invoice, or Event (events are jobs without a Quote or Invoice number assigned to them).
– Sequence number: What is the number of this step in the workflow? For example, in a workflow Service Call, Schedule Visit, Template, and Fabrication, the activity Template would be number 3 – while the Service Call would be number 1.
– Skip (Days): Number of weekdays the system will leave blank in the calendar between the previous activity in the sequence and this one. Ex, following the sequence above, let’s assume we’re inserting Schedule Visit. If you fill this field with number 4, the system will leave 4 weekdays blank between the end of the Service Call and the beginning of the Schedule Visit.
We reinforce WEEKDAYS because the system will not count weekends automatically. For example, in the above 4 days, if the previous step finished on a Wed, the system will skip Thu and Fri, then the weekend, and then Mon and Tue, which equals 4 weekdays.
– Time Limit (Days): Number of days this activity usually takes to be completed.
After all the fields are filled in, you will have something like this:
Now do the same with all other steps of your job sequence. After you’ve set up all the activities in the right steps, your sequence will look like this:
3. Creating a Workflow directly when creating a Quote
Create a sequence for a Quote/Invoice that you are creating at the moment. For that, you will get to Order on the left side menu, and create a new Order:
On the Label Workflow, select the Workflow that will be used for this type of order. If you don’t have a workflow for this type of order, please refer to step number 1 in this post to learn how to set it up.
After filling up all the information, click on Create Quote.
When it is created, on your Quote page, you will be able to see all the list of activities that compose your Workflow. They have all been created automatically, according to the configurations you’ve selected on setup!
Automation, to save your time and effort!
4. Linking an existing Workflow to a Quote that already exists
Another possibility is open your Quote page – List of Orders, and select the number of the desired Quote/Invoice. Scroll down the screen to the area of Activities, as shown in the image below:
When you click to add a new Activity, on the pop-up window, fill in the obligatory information and check the checkbox Workflow.
On the new window, select the Workflow you want to use on this Quote/Invoice. Again, if you don’t have a Workflow that you want to use on this respective Quote/Invoice, refer to step number 1 in this post to set up the Workflow and its activities.
After you’ve selected the Workflow, the list of activities will appear as follows. Hit Save.
Now you can see on your Quote page that it shows all the activities in the Workflow you’ve selected above.
5. Inserting your Workflow sequence on your calendar:
Get to the Calendar on your Job Tracker, and click New Activity
Select whether you are inserting an Activity or an Event.
Select the Order and Order Areas (or respectively Customer and Title in case you are creating an Event).
Select the Start Date and click on the checkbox Workflow, right beside the title Activity.
Select the Activity you’ve just created on the previous item and hit Save.
The whole Workflow will be automatically created on your calendar with all the steps, using the steps for Quote, Invoice, or Event, according to what you’ve selected when creating it.
6. Now it is your turn!
Try creating a Workflow and inserting it into your Job Tracker using this tutorial and let us know what you think! Remember that SlabWare is built entirely on the feedback of our customers, so if you have any suggestions, please let us know.
Check out our other blog posts to know our other tools and learn more about how SlabWare can help boost your productivity and increase your productivity! If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.
And if you are not a SlabWare client yet, schedule a demo with our team and start right now for free!