Assignment Types

 

Use the Assignment Type page to create various Assignment Types, using Child Assignment. You also want to verify, with your organization's Arena Administrator, the below features are working as desired. The hierarchy of Assignments works similar to Tags. Security inherits from the parent level of an assignment type.

Turn on ArenaMailQueue Agent.

Turn on ArenaAssignment/ProcessState Agent, if using Workflow States.

Create Assignment System Emails.

Create an Assignment Type

1.          From the Assignment menu, click the Assignment Types option.

2.          Click the Add Assignment  icon. While it is natural to want to complete the tabs in the order in which they appear you may want to add the Available Workers and Custom Fields first.

3.          Complete the General tab fields, as desired.

•Name – Enter the name for the Assignment Type.

•Active – Select the Yes or No radio buttons. For Assignments no longer used but would like to retain history, make the assignment inactive.

•Upload Icon – Click the Browse button to upload an image to associate with the assignment type.

•SLA (Service Level Agreement) – Enter the number of days the assignment should be complete.

•Parent – This is the parent assignment. Select the drop-down to move the assignment to a different parent assignment or make it a root level assignment.

•Owner – The default owner is the user who creates the assignment type. Click the Change link to select a different owner from the database.

•Request Term – Enter the request term. This caption shows on the Assignment Entry.

•Description – Enter the description for this assignment.

•Allows Requestor to Edit – Select the Yes radio button to allow the requestor to edit the assignment.

•Allow Requestor to Pick Worker – Select the Yes radio button to allow the requestor to select the worker. Select the No radio button if you plan to pre-assign the worker.

•Allow Requestor to Set Due Date – Select the Yes radio button to allow the requestor to select a due date. If you set SLA on the assignment type, the due date defaults to today plus SLA days, but the user is able to change the date. If this set to No (default), then it uses the SLA days to calculate the due date.

•Default Worker – Use this option to set the default worker. Add workers on the Available Workers tab.

•Email Worker (On Update) – Select this check box to send an email to the worker when the assignment type is changed. This includes when an assignment is closed. If you do not check this box, Arena still emails the worker when a user creates an assignment for the assignment type.

•Email Requestor (On Update) – Select this check box to send an email to the requestor when the assignment is changed. If you do not select this check box, Arena still emails the requestor when a user creates an assignment for the assignment type. If the requestor is the same person who updates the assignment, Arena does not send an email. An update is considered any change to an active assignment such as adding notes or changing the state of an assignment workflow.

•Email Subscriber – Select the On Entry check box to send an email to subscriber(s) of the Assignment Type when a user creates a new assignment for this Assignment type. Check the On Update box to send an email to the subscriber(s) of the Assignment Type when a user or worker updates an assignment for this Assignment Type.

•Priorities – In the Available box, select the priorities to use with the Assignment Type. Then click the Select  icon to add priorities to the Selected box. Click the Add link to create more priorities.

•Default Priority – Select the default priority for new assignments for the Assignment Entry.

•Workflow Type – In order to initiate an Assignment Workflow from the Person Detail page or a Calling Campaign, you first need to add the Person custom field on the Custom Fields tab, save the Assignment, then edit the Assignment Type and select a Workflow Type on the Assignment General tab.

•Workflow Custom Field – If using Assignment Workflow, select a Workflow Custom Field that you created on the Custom Fields tab. One common option is to add the Person Type custom field in order to start an assignment from the person detail page.

•Base Detail URL – This is used for the ##AssignmentDetailUrl## merge code in the emails generated for this assignment type. If left blank, the AssignmentBaseDetailUrl organization setting value is used.

4.          Click the Available Workers tab.

5.          Click the Add New Worker  icon to select the available workers for this assignment.

6.          Add Workers.

7.          Select the Custom Fields tab to create custom fields for this Assignment Type. If using Workflow States, the Person Type, value 7, is required.

8.          Click the Add New Field  icon to create a new custom field.

9.          Complete Field, as desired. Some Types require additional setup information.

Title – Enter a name for this custom field.

Title Location – Select the location where the title should display.

Type – Select the desired custom field type. Some types require additional setup information. Below are the available Types:

•Address – This allows the requestor to enter in an address.

•Area – This allows the requestor to select an Area. See Areas in this help file.

•Check Box – This allows the requestor to make multiple selections from a single list. Enter each item, separated by a comma.

•Custom Query – This is where you can enter a SQL statement.

•Date – This allows the requestor to enter a date in MMDDYYYY format.

•Document – This allows the requestor to upload a document.

•Drop-down List – This allows the requestor to make a single selection for a drop-down list. Enter items, separated by a comma.

•Lookup Type – This allows the requestor to select from an existing list of items from Lookups (See your Arena Administrator).

•Person – This allows the requestor to select a person from the database. The default Page ID is 7.

•Phone Number – This allows the requestor to enter in a phone number. Arena formats 10-digit phone numbers. You can enter international numbers.

•Radio List – This allows the requestor to select a single item from several choices. Enter the items in a list form.

•Static HTML Content – This allows the Assignment creator the ability to enter HTML Content.

•Textbox – This allows the requestor to enter a string of text.

Rows – Enter the number of rows to use for this field. It is not necessary to change from the default.

Pixels Wide – Enter the number of pixels for this custom field. It is not necessary to change from the default.

Visible – Select the Yes radio button to display this custom field on the Assignment Entry page.

Required – Select the Yes radio button to require this custom field to be complete.

Read Only – Select the Yes radio button if this custom field is for view purpose only; no action is required.

Show on List – Select the Yes radio button for this custom field to be available in Lists.

10.          Click the Save button.

11.          Select the Workflow States tab. Workflow states allow you to create a process for this Assignment Type.

12.          Workflows will vary for your organization. In this example the Workflow States for First Time Visitors are: (1) Sending a First Time Visitor letter, (2) A reminder email when the State is not changed within x days, (3) Making a First Time Visitor Phone Call, (4) A reminder email when the State is not changed within x days, (5) Closing the Assignment.

13.          Click the Add New State  icon to add a Workflow State.

14.          Enter a Name for this state.

15.          Select the User Selectable check box, if desired, to indicate if the state is selectable by the user. If checked, the state displays in the State drop down box. If not, it can only be selected by Arena through a state action or if the state was incremented from a previous state.

16.          Select the Increment State After Action check box, if desired, to indicate if the Assignment should increment to the next state automatically after successfully completing the previous state.

17.          Select the Action(s) from the available drop-down to add to this assignment. You can include more than one Action for a State.

•Assign Specific Worker – Assigns to the worker what you configure for this action.

•Assign Worker – Assigns to the default worker that you configure on the assignment   type.

•Assign Worker (Load Balanced) – Assigns to the worker that has the fewest active assignments of the current type. This option is only available when using Workflow.

•Assign Worker (Round Robin) – Rotates assignment between all the workers for the assignment type. This option is only available when using Workflow.

•Close Assignment – Allows you to set the email notification to notify the requestor when the assignment is closed.

•Remind Worker – Allows you to set the number of days after a state was last updated or this action was last run. Arena sends a reminder email to the worker.

•Send Assignment Reminder Email – Allows you to create an email and set the dates prior and after the due date.

•Send Email – Allows you to set the email notifications options for when a worker is emailed.

•Set State – Allows you to set the new state of an assignment.

•Set State After Number Days – Allows you to set the state after “x” days when a state was last updated.

•Set State after Testing Field – Allows you to set a state based upon a pre-determined value to decide what to do next.

18.          Click the Add Workflow  icon to add the workflow state to the Selected states.

19.          Based on the Workflow state selected, select or enter the Action Settings for the workflow state.

20.          Click the Save button.

21.          Repeat steps 1 through 7 for additional workflow states for this Assignment Type.

22.          Set security for this Assignment Type, similar to Tags. This Assignment Type is now available on the Assignment Entry page. Permissions are automatically set at the parent level for the user who creates the Assignment Type. If you create an assignment type on the child level, it inherits parent level permissions. See your Arena Administrator if the Security tab is not available.

Child Assignment Types

The Child Assignment Types tab displays any assignment types you create under the parent assignment type.

•Subscribe – Select the Subscribe check box to add a link to your Arena homepage for any of these Assignment Types. If desired, the Subscribers can receive an email when users create or update the Assignment Type.

•Name – This is the name of the Assignment. Click the Name link to open the Assignment Type.

•Owner – This is the owner of the Assignment. Hover over the person’s name to display the person pop-up.

•Active – This denotes if the Assignment is Active  or Inactive .

•# of Child Types – This denotes the current number of all child Assignments associated with the Assignment Type.

•Assignments – This is the total number of Assignments, including all child Assignments. This number includes open, closed and inactive assignments.

•Active – This is the number of current active Assignments; that are still open. The number includes all statuses except for closed.

•Past Due – This is the number of Assignments that are past due, based on the Service Level Agreement (SLA) date or date or Due Date.

•Delete  icon – Click the Delete icon to delete the Assignment Type. This is available when no Assignments exist.

•Add  icon – Click the Add icon to create a new top level Assignment Type.

•Export to Excel  icon – Click the Export to Excel icon to export the selected Assignment Types to an Excel spreadsheet.

Assignments Tab

The Assignments tab gives you the ability to filter through the statuses of current assignments.

•Filters – Use the filters to display the desired assignments.

•Flags – The colored flags indicate if the Assignment is current, almost late or late, based on the SLA. Green indicates the assignment is current. Yellow flag indicates the assignment is almost late. The red flag indicates the assignment is late.

•Title – This is the title of the Assignment.

•Requester – This is who made the request.

•Worker – This is whom is responsible for this Assignment.

•State – This is the state of the Assignment, if using Workflow States.

•Priority – This is the current Assignment status.

•Created – This is the date the Assignment was created.

•Due Date – This is when the Assignment is due.

•Additional columns display, if you are using Custom Fields and “Show on List” is enabled on the field.

•Delete  Icon – Click the Delete icon to delete an Assignment. Users need at least edit rights.

•Email Requestors – This link allows you to create an email Communication to all requestors.

•Email Workers – This link allows you to create an email Communication to all workers.

•The Add Assignment  icon allows you to add an Assignment from this page, taking you to the Assignment Entry page.

 

Assignment Security Tab

Use this page, to set security permissions for each Assignment Type.