Completing work in Workplace

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From the Workplace start page, you can organize and work on your tasks, and use workflows to collaborate with others to complete both unstructured and structured work.

V21.0.2 Workplace in Workflow Process Service offers a slightly limited set of capabilities, with optional enablement to the full set. To access the full text search and advanced filtering functions, you need Workflow Process Service to be configured with Elasticsearch. For more information, see IBM Workflow Process Service.

Working with tasks

Your task list includes all the tasks that are directly assigned to you, tasks that you claimed to work on, as well as all the available tasks that are assigned to the teams that you are a member of. To work on an available task that is assigned to your team, claim it first. Open the task to complete the required work. If you want to be notified when a new task is assigned to you or your team, set up the email notification.

View customization and advanced filtering: See your overall task status at a quick glance, and use the quick status filters to filter the list to show only the tasks that you want to focus on. The total number sums up all your claimed and available tasks and decreases as you complete work. When you resize and rearrange the columns in the list and sort the content in an ascending or descending order, your settings are persisted between sessions.; V21.0.2 To optimize your task list based on your business needs, customize your view . Start by selecting a scope to narrow the focus of your search, then build your own filters and select the columns that you want to show. When you are done customizing your view, name and save it for reuse or share it with other people or your team. To share a saved view with another team, duplicate, rename, and share it with the additional team.; To further refine the results, you can combine filters. As you apply the filters, filter badges appear showing the combination of filters that your list is filtered by. For example, when you combine a quick status filter, a full text search, and a saved view, three filter badges are displayed. The badge of an unsaved filter shows an asterisk that indicates that a save is pending. To clear a filter, simply click the x sign on its badge.

Task details and actions: To preview task data in the list, before opening the tasks, expand the task rows. Additional actions, such as opening and modifying tasks or the parent workflows, are available from the overflow menu .; You can also batch modify specific task properties directly from the task list. To modify the priority, assignee, or due date of multiple tasks at once, select the tasks in the list, click , and specify the new values.

Email notifications: V21.0.3 To receive an email notification when a new task is assigned to you or your team, click Set email notification in the switcher menu , then provide your email address and enable the email notification in the Set email notification modal. For quick access, the email notification includes a direct link to the new task. Before you can enable the notification function, the email environment must be configured to send Workplace notifications. For more information, see Configuring email notifications.

Easy navigation through URL addressability and custom dashboards: V21.0.2 Each Workplace page has its own URL, which you can copy and share with other users or bookmark to easily navigate to that page. Most pages in Workplace are URL-addressable, including the start page, all the pages and dashboards that you can access from the switcher menu , and all the task completion and workflow pages that you can access from the overflow menus . Click next to the page title or the Copy link option in the overflow menu at the end of the task or workflow row to copy the page URL to clipboard.; For easy access to information that is tailored to specific business needs, use the custom dashboards. All the custom dashbords that are defined in Workflow Center and you can access are listed in the switcher menu . For a larger number a custom dashboards, use the search function to find and access the custom dashboard that you're interested in.

Automatic and manual refresh: V21.0.2 Your task list is refreshed automatically whenever new tasks are assigned to you or your team, are claimed by other team members, or when task details are changed. When the notification server is not available to trigger the auto-refresh, the Refresh button becomes visible, allowing you to refresh your task list manually.

Intelligent Task Prioritization

To improve your own and your team's efficiency, you can activate the Intelligent Task Prioritization function, which uses AI that is drawn from expertise across the team to suggest the next best tasks for you to work on. Intelligent Task Prioritization sorts your current list, placing the best high-value tasks to complete at the top of the list. Your administrator can set up the task prioritization function as follows:

Enabled by default: Your list is automatically prioritized. Any subsequent re-sorting of the list overrides the prioritized sorting.
Enabled manually: You have the ability to turn the task prioritization on or off. By default, the Task prioritization toggle is in the Off position. When you turn it on, the prioritized sorting overrides the current sorting of the list.

To activate Intelligent Task Prioritization, you must enable the task filter service. For more information, see Prioritizing work.

Working with workflows

Regardless of their type, workflows have the same look and feel in Workplace, which enables you to use them consistently to complete different types of work.

View customization and advanced filtering: Your workflow list includes the workflows that you can view and participate in. Similar to the task list, you can search, sort, and filter your workflow list.; V21.0.2 Use the quick status filters to filter your list to show only the workflows that you want to focus on. To customize your view to meet your business needs, use the advanced filter functions to build your own filters, combine the filters to refine the results, and select the columns that you want to show. To preview workflow data in the list before opening the workflows, expand the workflow rows.

Consistent workflow pages: Open the workflow to get a 360-degree view of it. The workflow information is presented in a similar manner across several tabs regardless of the type of workflow. The Overview tab includes a visual progress bar, a summary of key business and workflow data, and a comments section, where you can review the comments that other people left and also add your own comments. The Tasks and Activities tabs list the tasks and activities that are configured in your workflow, which you can view, start, and work with. The Activities tab can include ad-hoc activities, which are not part of a structured flow and can be started when needed to complete unstructured work. The Documents tab lists all the documents that are uploaded and shared within the workflow. The History tab lists all the actions that are recorded for the workflow. When available, the Properties tab allows you to edit the business data. To get the latest updates to the workflow details, refresh the page .

Starting workflows: From the Start workflow page, you have access to a list of existing workflows that you can start. If you have Workstream Services installed, you also have access to predefined activities from which you can start configuring a workflow from scratch. To narrow down the search for the workflow that you want to start, filter the list by recent or favorite workflows.; Start workflows to complete unstructured or structured collaborative work. For structured work, start your own workflow from a predefined activity (if Workstream Services is installed) or launch an existing workflow and collaborate with others using configured tasks and activities to complete the work. Depending on the type of work that needs to be done, you can use different work patterns.; In sequential workflows, you complete activities and tasks in order. When you start a sequential, process-like workflow, a task for the first activity is generated and is added to the task list of the assignee who does the work. When the task is complete, the next one is kicked off. Work continues automatically from one task to the next, and documents and activities are completed until all the work is complete.; In other workflows, where you start activities as needed, you can use a case-like work pattern. The workflow can contain required activities, which can be started automatically, and optional activities, which can be started manually. When an activity is started, its tasks are completed by the assigned users or teams.; V21.0.2 No support for documents and case workflows is available in Workplace in Workflow Process Service.

Workstreams: Workstreams are no-code workflows that you can use to streamline and automate simple, repetitive work. You can create and configure workstreams in IBM Automation Workstream Services, which is integrated in the Workplace application.; Workstream Services is included with Workplace only in a Cloud Pak for Business Automation deployment. When Workstream Services is included, your workflow list also includes workstreams. For more information, see IBM Automation Workstream Services.; V21.0.2 No support for Workstream Services is available in Workplace in Workflow Process Service.