Creating, Editing and Duplicating Tasks

*Admins, leads, and organizers can access this feature.

Tasks make it easy to assign, track, and manage the to-dos that will be crucial for any organizing campaign: talking to people at their homes, collecting information about what a person does, and figuring out which leaders and activists should be given more responsibility. Tasks are always campaign specific. 

Creating a Task

To create a task, click on the three dots at the top right of your screen, and go down to Tasks.

Once you select tasks you will be taken to a list of your assigned tasks. To create a new task, click on the blue "New Task" button.

You will need to input a name and a due date by when the task needs to be completed. You will also need to select which Entity type the task applies to. 

You can optionally enable canvassing.  When you enable canvassing, you'll be prompted to select the type of task that you are creating either a Home Visit, Text Bank or Phone Bank.  Depending on what is chosen, the Task will highlight the best contact method for that record.  Additionally, task assignees will be able to track and record attempts and contacts as part of the task workflow.

Adding a Description

After creating the task, adding a clear description is the best way to communicate to users what the goals of the task are and other details that you think might be important. To do that, you need to click on the "+" sign in the Description section of the task.

The description box includes a full text editor, so you can add bullet points, images, and attachments, among other features. Click "Update" when you are finished.

Adding To-Dos

"To-Dos" refer to specific tasks assigned for a user to finish. They can encompass various actions, such as updating assessments, verifying contact details, inputting job information, identifying relationships, among others.

To add a "To-Do", simply navigate to the Tasks page and select the "Add To-Dos" button.

This should open up a list of tasks for you to choose from. You are able to choose multiple tasks.

 

Selecting Targets

"Targets" are the specific entities, often times people, in your campaign whose information needs updating. You decide who these targets are by using the query builder or selecting everyone on your campaign.

Creating Up Turfs and Assigning Them to Your Staff

In Action Builder, a "turf" refers to a distinct geographical region in a neighborhood and also a list of specific targets intended for staff interactions, like phone calls and text messages. When setting up, create a turf and designate it to a particular user or a group of users for completion.

Should you enable notifications for a Task and then add more Targets to a turf, the assigned user(s) will receive an email notifying them of the changes made to the turf. This notification mirrors the one they receive when first assigned to a turf. However, it's essential to understand that this notification is triggered only when Targets are added using the Query or Map methods, and not when added manually one by one.

For turf creation, you have the flexibility of either manually drawing one by opting for "Create Turf" or allowing Action Builder to auto-generate through "Auto-Create Turfs", determined by factors such as target counts size, field responses, or connections.

Remember, after your first round of turf creation, be it manual or automated, all subsequent additions must be made manually via the "Create Turf" selection.

Auto-Create Turfs

When you select Auto-Create, the system will ask if you would like to create turfs by list size, fields, or connections.

Turf by Size

If you select "Create Turfs by Size" you will be asked how many targets you wanted included in each turf (minimum of 5). Choose the number of targets you'd like and select Create Turfs to have your turfs auto-generated. Note that the targets will be randomly assigned to turfs.

Turf by Field Response

If you select "Create Turfs by Field" you will be asked to select which field you would like to create turfs based on. You can select turfs from the menu or search a specific turfs. Turfs will automatically be created and named for every field response, and targets will be added to turfs in accordance with their responses. Targets with multiple responses will be assigned to multiple turfs. Targets with no responses will be assigned to a no response turf.

*Note that you can only auto-create turfs based on a single field.

Turf by Connection

Allows you to assign turfs based on who targets are connected to, one turf per connected entity. Targets with multiple connections will be assigned to multiple turfs. Targets with no connection will be assigned to a no connection turf.

 

Creating Turfs Manually

If you prefer to create turfs manually you can either create turfs using a query or a map.

In the query view, you can load a pre-built query or select any data point available in the query builder.

For more information on how to use the query builder check out our other articles here: Query Builder

Alternatively, the map view allows you to cut turf based on a person's home address. To cut turf, just click the "Draw" button and create a closed shape around the individuals you want to put in the turf. 

You can also add folks individually by using the Add People button from within the turf as well.  Click on the button to pull up a search where you can search for people by name or nickname in the campaign and add them to the turf. You can choose to exclude people who have already been assigned to a turf.

Assigning a turf to a user

The turf can now be assigned to any user in the campaign to complete. You can also assign a turf to multiple people. To assign a turf to a user, click on the three dots to the side, then "Assign Turf", followed by clicking on the users' names.

The task is now assigned. A user will see it when they log in to their Action Builder account and go to Tasks.

You can also rename turf to whatever makes sense for the task. To do that, you click on the three dots, click "Rename Turf", and then enter in the new turf name.

You can also make edits to the turf at any point in the future by going clicking on the three dots to the right of the task name. 

Editing and Duplicating Tasks

If you want re-create a task click on "Manage Tasks" to go to the list of all tasks in your campaign. Click on the three dots to the right of the task name and select "Duplicate." Duplicating a task will keep the To-Dos, Description, and Targets of the old task, though turfs will have to be recreated.