Task Manager is Vendasta’s tool to help fulfillment teams to track and communicate the work they are doing for customers, and its flexibility and customization allows for a variety of workflows, all while fitting into Vendasta’s infrastructure for ordering and reporting.
This guide will focus on using projects in Task Manager. Projects are an easy way to get started and allow for a lot of flexibility, no matter the work that’s being done. Whether you’re using an existing process that your team has used for years or you’re starting something new from the ground up, Task Manager Projects can be the tool for you!
Getting Started Checklist
Cover the basics
Add your team
Digital Agent is the role you want to give your team members to allow them to access Task Manager. To add team members, take the following steps:
- Go to Partner Center > Administration > My Team.
- Click Invite team member.
- Enter a name and email address for the team member.
- Select a role(s) for the team member.
- Be sure to select Digital Agent, but you can add more roles if you choose.
- Select which permissions the team member should have.
- Click Send.
Navigation Basics
You can access Task Manager from Partner Center by clicking Tasks > Open Task Manager. Additionally, by navigating to Tasks > Users, you can find your unique Task Manager login URL that you can provide for your Digital Agent users to log in directly.
The video above walked you through the basic navigation of Task Manager. Here are the main sections to be aware of:
Projects: The focus for this guide, projects are a collection of tasks. Typically, they represent the unit of work that your team is completing for a customer (eg. a Website Build, or a Customer Onboard for example). The Projects tab shows all of the open and completed projects for your entire team.
Accounts: Unlike the Accounts section in Partner Center, this section shows only accounts that have tasks or projects associated with them.
Tasks: The individual pieces of work that your team is completing for a customer. Projects are made of up tasks, but tasks can also be created as standalone items. This section allows you to view all of the tasks across your team.
Templates: Pre-built projects that can be manually or automatically created as needed.
The Loop: An activity feed of information inside of Task Manager. Learn more.
Settings: Adjust the settings for task generation, statuses, and more. Learn more.
Create a template
Basic template
- Go to Task Manager > Templates.
-
Click + Add New Template.
- Click Select from library to create a template from one of the pre-made library options.
- Click Create new template to create one from scratch.
- Fill in the general template details. These include the following:
-
Template Name - What your template will be called.
- This field is required.
- Project Assignee - Who the template will be assigned to by default.
- Due __ days from creation - The number of days the entire project will be due after its creation.
- Recurrence - How often the project recurs.
-
Template Name - What your template will be called.
- Create the tasks associated with the project. Here, you can set the following fields:
- Task Name - What the task is called.
- Assignee - Who the task will be assigned to when created.
-
Due __ days from project creation - How soon after the project is created the task is due.
Note: You can add new tasks by selecting Add Another Task. Similarly, you can delete tasks by selecting Delete Task.
- Select Create Template.
Advanced template features
There are several advanced features available when creating a template.
Advanced Settings for Projects
Clicking into the advanced settings in the main project configuration section while creating a template reveals two settings:
- Project details: This rich text box allows you to add information that will be generated each time that a project is created from this template.
- Associate with items in Marketplace: This will allow you to choose a product. Every time that you activate the chosen product, the templated project will be generated.
Advanced Settings for Tasks
When adding tasks to a project, there are advanced settings available here as well:
- Task notes: There is a rich text field to add public and private task notes that will be generated inside of the task every time that a project is created from this template.
- Product: You can select one of Vendasta's core marketplace products (eg. Reputation Management, Website Pro, etc). This will create a link to the product inside of the task that will allow your team to access that product inside of your customer's Business App.
Locking Tasks/Task Dependency
When you create two or more tasks, an option will become available to you to "Lock the next task until this one is completed." This allows you to prevent the task from being completed or acted upon until the previous one is completed. Note that when a task becomes locked, rather than setting a due date from the task's creation, you set a due date based on when the task is unlocked instead.
Generate your project
There are three ways that you can create a project from a template: manually, through product activation, and through an automation.
Manual
- Go to Task Manager > Projects.
- Click “Add…” in the top right corner.
- Click Project from the dropdown menu.
- You will be taken to a Create project screen.
- Use the “Import template” search bar and type in the name of your project template.
- Select the project template from the dropdown menu.
- Search and select an account from the Account search bar in the form.
- At this point, you may make any adjustments to the project or tasks that you wish.
- Scroll to the bottom and click Create project.
Product activation
You can generate a project from a template every time that you activate a Marketplace product of your choosing. When creating or editing a project template, you can follow these steps:
- In the project template, click Advanced settings.
- Under Associate with items in the Marketplace, search and select the product of your choice.
- Scroll down to the bottom and save or update the template.
With a Marketplace product selected, every time that you activate this product for an account, the project will be launched in Task Manager for that account.
Automation
- Go to Partner Center > Automations.
- Click Create Automation.
- Select "From a template" or "Create a new automation".
- If selecting "From a template" then choose "Create a new fulfillment project" as the template.
- Select whatever trigger condition you desire to start the automation.
- Within the automation choose "Create a fulfillment project for the account".
- Select your template.
- Turn the automation on.
Manage your projects
General overview
Sharing your projects in Business App
When creating a template, you can select "Show project in Business App" to allow the project to appear in Business App's Projects tab. Individual tasks also have an option to "Show task in Business App" allowing you to customize which tasks appear for your customers and which will only be visible in Task Manager.
If you have already created a project, project and task visibility can be changed by clicking on the eye icon next to the project or task.
When a project and its tasks are visible in Business App, public notes and comments will be visible in addition to task names and due dates.