There has been a major of update to the Deep Core Data website that I would like to share with you; the Project Task interface. This interface will allow you to request specific tasks as part of a project and budget how much time is available for each task.  You can edit tasks, view task progress, and be notified by email when the tasks are ready for approval or complete.

How to Work with Project Tasks

The major new feature is the ability to submit specific requests for work to be done on a project.  Deep Core Data will examine the submitted request, coordinate with the Customer, and post a series of estimates for the work necessary to accomplish the requested work.  Both the Customer and Deep Core Data can then review these estimates, edit them, and approve them when they are happy with the terms.  The task is then marked as ‘IN_PROGRESS’ to indicate that the assigned employee can begin work.  As work is completed the entries from the employee’s timesheet will populate the display.  When the work is complete the task is marked as ‘COMPLETED’ to indicate that work is finished.

Requesting an Estimate

When a new project starts the project view will be empty.  The ‘Submit Task Request’ button can be used to request work on a new task.  Simply enter a name for the task and a description of the task and press the Request Task Estimate button.

When an estimate is requested a task is automatically created for looking into the task, coordinating with the Customer about their needs, and determining the project requirements.

Approving and Editing Tasks

Once Deep Core Data has built out the estimate of work the task be available for approval.  The two boxes in the approval column represent approval to start work either from the Customer (left box) or Deep Core Data (right box).  The task cannot be moved into ‘IN_PROGRESS’ status until both parties have given approval. 

Both the Customer and Deep Core Data can edit the tasks once they have been created.  The Edit interface (  ) allows the Customer to alter the name or number of hours allocated to a task.  Deep Core Data administrators can also adjust the hourly rate.  If either Deep Core Data or the customer make edits to a task the approval for the opposite party is automatically revoked.  This is to ensure that both parties approve the terms of the task.

If one party has approved a task an email will be sent to the contact information on file; either for the Customer or Deep Core Data, indicating that a task is awaiting approval.  The button-style links in the email will only function if you are logged into the website with the ‘Remember Me’ option and your session has not timed out.  Those links will take you either directly to the Project page to review the tasks or allow you to approve the work directly from the email.

Once both parties have approved the task an email indicating that the task can begin work will be sent out.  A task in any phase of work other than COMPLETED may be cancelled; which is the mechanism by which the terms of a task may be changed. 

Once a project has left the NEW state it can no longer be edited by either party.

Completing Tasks

Once a task is in the COMPLETED state it cannot be modified by edit, cancel, or deletion.  An email will be sent indicating that the task is complete.

At this point the task is complete and we are ready to accept more tasks on the project or simply declare the project finished.