Working with Inbox

This topic describes the various operations that can be done on tasks, cases, or notifications in an Inbox.

Every Cordys user is assigned an Inbox, which is used to send and receive tasks and notifications.The Inbox is configured for a given user profile and functions like a basic mailbox. As a Cordys user, you can access tasks that are sent to your work lists, to the roles you are associated with, to the teams you are part of, or to your personal task folder.

Tasks

A task is a message sent from an action to a human participant in the process that a certain activity has occurred or an instruction telling the person to perform the next step in the process. Users can either respond to the task, can add a new action to the flow after the task, or do both. For example, when the stock of a particular item in a warehouse reaches below a certain level, a re-order task is sent to the warehouse manager. On receiving the task, the warehouse manager opens it, fills in a purchase order form, and forwards it to the purchase manager.

Notifications

Notifications are used to convey event-specific information to designated recipients or roles. For example, a notification can be used to send a message to the warehouse manager that the purchase order is approved.

Inbox Activities

Through Process Platform Inbox, users can perform the following actions on the tasks in the Inbox:

• Claim the tasks assigned to their work lists
• Start executing their tasks
• Temporarily stop working on a task
• Delegate a task to other users
• Completely stop working on a task
• Complete a task
• Skip a task
• Modify the start date of a task
• Forward a task to other users
• Pause and Resume a task
  and so on. For more information on the operations that can be performed on the tasks in the Inbox, refer to Working with tasks. In addition to the above operations, every user can also perform the following:
• Search for specific tasks in the work list
• Search for notifications in the work list
• Attach memos to a task
• Attach files to a task
• Tag a task
• Set Reminders on tasks
• Set Out of Office Information
• Set preferences on the Inbox
• Personalize the Inbox View
  Every work list manager, team lead, or a user with a specific role, can do the following:
• Work on the tasks for which they are the users
• Assign a task to a user
• Revoke a task from a user
• Suspend a task
• Forward a task to another work list or team
• View the status of various tasks belonging to the teams in the work list
  and so on.
  For more information on a Work list Manager or Team Lead operations, see Working with tasks.

  Note:

  • User can choose to show or hide certain tabs to be displayed in My Inbox. When the unwanted tabs are not selected, their associated functionality will not be loaded, thus reducing the application loading time.
    • Users can choose to view or hide only the tabs that are viewable to them. They can see and toggle the visibility of the tabs by clicking on the titlebar. All the tabs displayed on the interface are shown in the drop-down list and are marked as selected.
    • 'My Inbox' application persists the user settings. When the Inbox is closed, it remembers the settings and when reopened, displays the Inbox based on the last modified settings.
    • Click on the titlebar. User can toggle the visibility of each tab by selecting and clearing the respective tab from drop-down list.
      • BPM Task/Other Task - This view contains the following tabs: Attachments, Tags, Memos, Status Info and Activity Form
      • Case Activity - This view contains the following tabs: Related Activities, Followups, Attachments, Events, Tags, Memos, Status Info and Overview Tab containing Case and Activity Overview
      • Case Instance - This view contains the following tabs: Related Activities, Followups, Attachments, Events and Overview
    • User can set each tab to be displayed in one of the five regions - top, right, bottom, left and middle.
    • 'My Inbox' persists and uses the view of the respective task or activity as set by the user. Inbox persists the visibility and region of the visible tabs. Persisting happens on close of the respective task or activity view.
  • Users can validate the actions performed on tasks or case activities in the Inbox, before or after they are done.
  • Users can use Inbox as a composite control in other XForms. Refer to Using Inbox as a Composite Control, for information on the procedure to use Inbox as a composite control.
  • Users can configure the language, locale, and timezone settings on User Preferences to enable Inbox to be displayed with the corresponding language with date and date-time as set in locale and timezone.
  • If a task is sent to a user with multiple roles, the All Tasks view in the Inbox will display the task only once instead of displaying the same task multiple times; this is done to reduce redundancy thus enhancing the Inbox performance.

  • If tasks are sent to a target, that is, Role or Team or Worklist, and if the tasks are not claimed by any user, the count of all the unclaimed tasks will be displayed after the target label within parenthesis (). The unclaimed tasks count does not depend on any filter criteria related to viewing of the Inbox tasks. If multiple users act on the Inbox at same time and one of them claims the tasks, the count will be reflected based on the Inbox View Mode.