Tasks are a way to break down a booking into smaller, manageable items. They are ideal for scheduling and performing work on bookings that run over an extended period of time. For example, a 'hire-booking' that sees a piece of equipment on site for a month or two, may require maintenance or battery swaps at regular intervals - tasks to the rescue!

Tasks are always created for a booking. You cannot create a task without it being attached to a booking. This also means that a task date range is limited to the timeframe of the booking.

Tasks can also be categorized as either billable or non-billable, depending on your business needs. Additionally, tasks may require workers to complete related forms, which can be set as mandatory or optional based on the nature of the task.

Tasks are a way to break down a booking into smaller, manageable items.

The ‘Task Type’ allows you to connect with other Traffio features (such as item classification) and can be used like a template to re-use for different tasks.

To provide an idea of how you could utilise tasks, we have provided an example below.

Client: Level Crossings

Project: Remove Level Crossings - Melton

Booking: Ferris Rd Level Crossing

Task: Change e-sign battery

Other tasks you could add to this example could be:

Please note, while completed task instances can certainly be invoiced for, the time a field worker spends performing a task is not currently able to be incorporated into a pay run.

Task’s can have two distinct activity types, Delivery or Collection:

Allows the field worker to add or re-select the specific resource that is being distributed.

Example:

You have a truck full of signage, the equipment assigned by the office 001A is at the back of the truck. The field worker delivers sign 004B and updates the resource used.

The assigned resources are locked and the field worker is onsite to retrieve it or engage in maintenance services.

Example:

004B signage from the previous example is out in the field. The assigned worker is tasked with retrieving it and assessing if maintenance is required.

Tasks are always created within the context of a booking. To make things easier, Traffio offers several locations where you can create a new task.

The simplest way of creating a task is to:

Once you have clicked +New button, you will be presented with a screen allowing you to fill in all of the details about your new task. This screen is broken down into four sections.

If you regularly apply the same set of tasks to certain bookings, you may want to explore the use of Booking Templates.

A task instance refers to a single occurrence of an action performed by a field worker.

Example Scenario: You receive a call and need to send someone out in order to inspect a site, but this should only take 1-2 hours. You also want to have the choice of it being billable or non-billable and you have created a task type called Site Inspection.

Solution to Example: You then create a task instance, schedule it for the inspection, and assign a field worker.

From here, you will see an overview of the task, along with the task instances and any forms linked to it.

Note: the task instance has not yet been allocated or activated in this state

A task can have multiple instances (occurrences) that can be assigned to one or more field workers. These are able to occur and repeat on:

or

You can also configure the task to exclude weekends and delay the start of task instances by a specific number of days (e.g. start 5 days later) or have them begin a set number of days before the booking's end date (e.g. start 2 days before the task ends).

Example Scenario: A Company has requested a specific setup every Monday and Friday for school days - You need to schedule a team leader or manager to inspect the site on these days.

Note: The schedule for the task instance can be modified until the task instance is confirmed.

All tasks linked to a booking can be easily viewed and managed in bulk through the booking's task page. This allows you to quickly update, modify, or take actions on multiple tasks at once, streamlining the process and saving time.

Task timeframes are determined by the booking's start and end dates. If you need to adjust the timeframe for a task, you must edit the booking itself. This will automatically update the timeframes for all connected tasks.

If you'd like the recurrence to begin after the booking's start date, you can set a delay, allowing the recurrence pattern to start after a specified number of days.

Currently, there is no option to automatically end a recurrence earlier than the scheduled time.

As a task is bound by a bookings' start and end date, when you change the start and/or end date, it may affect your task.

You have a booking for a date range in August with a reoccurring task every two days.

The booking has been delayed and will now start and end in September.

Scenario #1: You have not edited any of the task instances.

If your task instances have not been edited then they shift to the new date range with the same reoccurring pattern.

Scenario #2: You have edited the task instance (e.g. time, added people, etc)

A fresh set of task instances will be created for the new date range with the same schedule pattern (every two days) and any task instances that were edited will remain on their original date.

By leaving the edited task instances on their original date, it will enable you to still invoice for this date and/or cancel individual instances that may already have people allocated.