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  2. Creating Tasks and Cloning Tasks

Creating Tasks and Cloning Tasks

You can easily create a Task from the Task Board — the only required field is the Task name but it is recommended to attach the Participant from the beginning if the Task is for a Participant.

Select Participant

To assign a Participant to a Task, click on the "+" icon in the first column.

The list only offers Participants you have access to.

You may need to search by name

Astalty limits the number of Participants we show in the dropdown to 25 — if the Participant you are looking for is not in this list, you can simply start typing their name to search for them.

Telling duplicate profiles apart

If you use Participant Duplication, two profiles can share the same name. When this happens, the picker shows each duplicate profile's External ID beneath the name so you can select the correct one.

This descriptor only appears for profiles marked as duplicates that have an External ID set — all other Participant options look the same as usual. For it to be useful, give each duplicate profile a different External ID; see Participant Duplication for how to add one.

Create the Task

Click the Add a new Task input under the day you want and type the task name.

This should be something short that reflects the name of the task and the work that is being done.

Press Enter to create the task, or click the + icon at the right end of the input. The task is created on that day and assigned to you.

Primary Charge Item

If you have already set up multiple Charge Items, you can go ahead and change the Charge Item if you need to, by simply clicking on it and selecting a new one. The Charge Item that you see on this page is the Primary Charge Item for this Task.

  • A task with no Primary Charge Item shows Set Charge.
  • You must select a Participant before you can set a Charge Item.
  • Changing the Charge Item keeps the quantity already recorded.
  • Click Remove in the same popup to take the Primary Charge off the task.
  • Once the Primary Charge has been invoiced, it can't be changed or removed.

Can't see the Charge Item you need?

If you can't see the Charge Item you need, it means that the Charge Item is not correctly configured for the Participant or the Charge Item you're looking for is not an hourly Charge Item. If the Charge Item you need is not billed by the hour (for example kilometres), you will need to click into the Task and add it from the Finance tab instead.

The list only shows Charge Items on one of the Participant's services that is active on the task's date. A Charge Item whose service has ended, or not yet started, on that date isn't offered.

Adding Billable Time

You can add billable time to the task in the duration column, in minutes.

  • Type the number of minutes, then press Enter or Tab, or click away. Astalty saves the duration then.
  • Or click the duration to open the quick-select buttons. Each +N button adds that many minutes and saves straight away. Reset sets the duration back to 0.

You can change the +N buttons under Settings > Tasks & Notes. They only add minutes; they don't round time or change how it is billed.

The duration and the Primary Charge's quantity stay in step: 90 minutes is a quantity of 1.5 hours. Once the Primary Charge has been invoiced, the duration can't be changed.

Billable Checkbox

You can mark a Task as non-billable by checking or unchecking the checkbox in the Billable column.

Unticking Billable removes the task's charges from any draft invoice batch. Once any charge on the task has been invoiced, the checkbox is locked.

Completed

Once you have completed a task, you can mark it as being completed by checking the checkbox on the right of the screen.

Once any charge on a task has been invoiced, you can't untick Completed.

How Changes Save

There is no Save button on the Task Board or in the Task View. Changes to a task's Participant, name, date, Charge Item, duration, Billable and Completed save as soon as you make them, or as soon as you confirm them where Astalty asks.

When you make several changes to the same task in quick succession, Astalty saves them one at a time, in the order you made them. If a change can't be saved, for example because the task has since been invoiced, the field goes back to its saved value.

Creating a Task With the Create Task Button

The Create Task button at the top of every page opens a form that sets up a whole task at once:

  1. Click Create Task.
  2. Choose the date with the date button. It offers Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, In a week, In a month and Pick a date. The default is today.
  3. Enter the Name and select the Participant.
  4. To put the task on someone else's Task Board, select them in Team Member. See Assigning and Reassigning Tasks.
  5. Select the Charge Item and enter the duration.
  6. Optionally write a note, record a check-in, untick Billable, tick Completed or click Add Documents to attach up to 5 files.
  7. Click Create and open to open the new task, or switch the button to Create to stay where you are. Astalty remembers your choice.

You can also drag files onto the Create Task button to open the form with them attached.

Check-ins are only offered for tasks dated today or earlier, need a note, and are included on the Professional plan and above.

Cloning Tasks

Tasks can also be cloned to quickly create a new task using the details of an existing one.

To clone a task, open it and select Actions, then Clone Task. The Create Task form opens with the original task's details filled in, ready to adjust before you click Create Task.

What is cloned?

When cloning a task, the following details are copied into the new task:

  • Task name
  • Participant
  • Team Member the task is assigned to
  • Duration and the Billable setting
  • Primary Charge Item
  • Additional charges, with their quantities and claim types

The date is set to today. You can change any of these, and add a note, a check-in or documents, before creating the task.

This can save time when creating similar or repeat tasks.

What is not cloned?

The following items are not currently copied when cloning a task:

  • Notes
  • Attached documents
  • Goals
  • The Completed tick
  • Charge price overrides

These will need to be added manually after creating the new task.