Introduction

Tasks are a type of activity. For example, as a sales rep, you want to remind yourself to send an email to a customer sometime in the future. You can create a task with the name Email customer’ and set up a reminder for the same.

You can log these tasks in Vtiger CRM, monitor their status, and create reminders for them. View your tasks by going to Main Menu > Essentials > Tasks. 

Feature Availability 

Important Fields in Tasks

Tasks: Different Views

You land on the Tasks page by going to Main Menu > Essentials > Tasks. You can see your tasks in three styles:

• List View 
• Kanban View
• Calendar View

Your tasks are displayed in the List View by default when you land on Tasks. 

• List View
  • The list view, as the name suggests, provides a list of all your tasks. The tasks can be sorted by date, name, etc. by clicking the column names. From the List View, you can mark a task as Completed, merge tasks, edit tasks, etc. Furthermore, you can create your own list of tasks. 
  • To learn more about the List View, click here. 
• Kanban View
  • The Kanban View displays tasks as separate cards in columns, sorted based on the task status. You can filter tasks, hide empty columns, and perform other actions. 
  • To learn more about the Kanban View, click here. 
• Calendar View
  • You can get a clear view of your schedule for the day using the Calendar View. It displays tasks based on time. You can view tasks performed in the past or scheduled for the future by using the left and right arrows displayed on top. You can also view your tasks for the current week and current month by using the Week and Month tabs.
  • To learn more about Calendar View, click here.

Creating a Task

You can create a task in the following ways:

• From the List, Kanban, or Calendar Views
• From Quick Create

From the List, Kanban, or Calendar View

Follow these steps to create a task in one of the task views: 

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials.
4. Select Tasks.
5. Go to the List, Kanban, or Calendar View using the icons on top.
6. Click +Add Task.
7. Fill out the necessary fields.
8. Click Save.

From Quick Create

With Quick Create, you can create a task quickly by filling in only the mandatory details. You can access this feature from any screen, which saves you a lot of time. 
Follow these steps to create a service contract using Quick Create:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the + icon on the top right side of your CRM screen.
3. Click Show all to view all the modules.
4. Select Tasks.
5. Enter the mandatory details.
6. Click Save. 

You can click the View full form button to view all the fields and fill them out.
To learn more about Quick Create, click here.

Note: You can view a task's fields under the Details tab on the right side of the task record
 

From another record in the CRM

Follow these steps to create an event from a deal, contact, or organization: 

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Deals, Contacts, Organizations, or Quotes.
4. Select a record. 
5. Click the Events tab on the right.
6. Click the ‘+’ icon. 
7. Fill out the necessary details.
8. Click Save.

Creating a Subtask

A subtask is a child task. You cannot mark a task as Completed before completing its subtasks. Also, you cannot update the due date of a task before completing its subtasks.

Follow these steps to create a subtask:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials.
4. Select Tasks.
5. Open a task.
6. Click +Add Section in the Subtasks section (on the left). You can create sections to group your subtasks.
7. Enter the section name.
8. Enter the subtask name.
9. Click Save or press Enter.
10. Click on the fields to set values. 

Task Sequencing 

Task sequencing is the process of creating a sequence of tasks with a one-way dependency between them.

Previous Tasks

You can make a task dependent on another by using the Previous Task field. The dependent task is called a successor task.

Follow these steps to add a previous task to a task:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials.
4. Select Tasks.
5. Click +Add Task.
6. Fill out the necessary details.
7. Click the button beside the Previous Task field to select an existing task from the CRM or click ‘+’ to create a new task. 
8. Click Save.

Parent tasks

A parent task can have many subtasks under it. You can close a parent task only after closing all its subtasks. 

Follow these steps to add a parent task to a task:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials.
4. Select Tasks.
5. Click +Add Task.
6. Fill out the necessary details.
7. Click the button beside the Parent Task field to select a task from the CRM or click ‘+’ to create a new task. 
8. Click Save.

Due date for a Task

The due date for a task can be viewed when you open a parent task from a related module like Contacts, Organization, etc. This feature will help you not miss any deadline for that particular task. 

You can also view a task when you open the sub-task in a parent task.

Setting up Task Reminders

Vtiger CRM sends you an email reminder when a task is about to start. To set up a reminder, you must specify how many days/hours/minutes before a task’s Start Date & Time, you want to receive the reminder. 

Follow these steps to set up a task reminder:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials.
4. Select Tasks.
5. Click +Add Task to create a task.
6. Click the More icon on the top right corner of a task.
7. Click the Create Reminder icon.
8. Enter the reminder name.
9. Choose the reminder date and time.
   1. Click the Custom checkbox to enter your choice of time.
10. Click Save.

Mass Editing Tasks

Mass edit is an action available in the List View of Tasks. You can select multiple tasks and edit them at once with Mass Edit. 

Follow these steps to perform mass edits on tasks:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials.
4. Select Tasks. 
5. Hover over the left side of the leftmost column and click the checkbox to select the records in the current page. 
   • You can select all the records in the module by using the option shown on the top-center of the column names.
6. Click the Edit icon from the toolbar shown on the left.
7. Select a field from the Available Fields drop-down. You can select multiple fields to edit their values.
8. Enter the new value(s).
9. Click Save.

The new field value gets updated in all the tasks selected. 

Time Tracking in Tasks

Timelogs in Vtiger allow you to track the time spent on a task. If you are performing a task for a customer and it is chargeable, you can create a timelog for the task. With timelogs, you will charge your customers based on the time you spend on a task. 

The timelogs related to a task are shown under the Timelogs tab on the right side of a task record.

Creating a timelog for a task

Follow these steps to create a timelog for a task:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials.
4. Select Tasks.
5. Click the One View tab on the right side.
6. Click the Start Timer icon in the Timelog block. You can see the timer running on the top of your CRM screen.

Vtiger creates a timelog for the task in the Working state. You can view it under the Timelogs tab on the task record.

Using timelogs

Here are the simple steps to guide on how you can create, pause, and stop a timelog on a task:

1. After you start a timelog, you can see the timer running on top of your screen.
2. You can pause or stop the timer in two ways:

1. By clicking the timer on top of your screen

2. By clicking the Clock icon under the task’s One View tab
3. You can resume the timer from the top of your screen or from the One View tab of the task, the same way as you pause the timer. 
4. The total time spent on a task is available in the task’s One View tab. The total time is calculated by adding the values of all the task’s timelogs in Paused and Completed states.

To learn more about Timelogs, click here.

Creating Invoices for Billable Tasks

• You can create an invoice for tasks for which the status is Completed and marked as Billable. Clicking Generate Invoices from Projects will let you select the billable task to add to the new invoice. In this Billable Tasks list, only Tasks with the status as Completed and marked as Billable are displayed.
• You can create an invoice from Contacts by adding billable tasks created for the Contact. Clicking the invoice displays the Choose Line Items pop-up where you can select the task radio button to add a billable task in invoices or the product/services radio button to select product/services for invoices.
• When you create an invoice, the invoice record title is copied from the task title. The Invoice subject will be copied from the task title if the invoice is created for a task or project. If the invoice is created from a project or contact the last name of the contact is used for the Invoice. 
• The services linked in the Item Details block for a Billable task are automatically added as line items in the new invoice. The task title will be copied to the line item description of the Invoice. Other details that are captured include the rate of that service (Unit Selling price), billable time spent on the task (Quantity), Currency, Tax mode, Charges, Taxes, etc., (as per the configuration made in the CRM). 
• You can also use task time logs to enter the number of hours taken to complete a task. Once the invoice is generated the task is marked as Invoiced. 
• Note:
  • To generate an invoice the following conditions have to be met - task stage should be completed, and the Is Billable field should be enabled. Only then Service and Rate fields are displayed. 
  • If you have enabled a task as Billable, the Service lookup field will become mandatory and you must select the service for the task. 
  • When you select a service, a pop-up will appear asking you to confirm if you want to update the Task's Rate field with the Rate field value of the selected service. On confirming, the Rate value is picked for the billable Task. The Rate field is editable.
  • For each billable Task created, you can add Timelogs either manually or by clicking on the Start timer in the Task Summary View. if the time log is not added, the quantity of the line item is displayed as 0. You can mark Timelogs as Billable or non-billable by enabling the check box in Timelogs. All these Timelogs added will appear in the related tab of the Task record with Time spent details in Days/Hours/Minutes.

Merging Tasks

When you have two or more duplicate tasks or tasks with similar information, you can merge them into one. While merging tasks, you must choose a single task name, due date, and other field values. You can pick field values from one of the records being merged.

Follow these steps to merge tasks:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials.
4. Select Tasks.
5. Select two or more tasks in the List View.
6. Click the Merge option in the toolbar.
7. Choose the task name, start time, due date, etc., for the merged task.
8. Click Merge.

Creating Tasks Through Workflows

Workflows help in automating different tasks in your business process. When triggered, they can create records, update data fields, notify users, send emails, etc. You can also automate the creation of tasks through workflows. 

What are the situations that would require creating a task automatically?

Here is an example: 

As a sales rep, you close a deal and convert a lead to a contact. To work in such situations, you can set up a workflow that automatically creates a task ‘Send Welcome Meeting Invite to Contact’. The workflow action Create Task can help you in doing so.

To set up a workflow action for creating a task, click here.
To learn more about Workflows, click here.