Distinguishing Tasks within Templates

A task is an action assigned to a user to complete, such as completing a form or reviewing or approving a document. Projects can be created with a default set of tasks defined in the project template.

When a user is assigned a task, the system:

• Adds the task to the user's My Tasks page.
• Adds the task to the user’s calendar. The task status can indicate an action required by the user.
• Sends an email notification to the user.
• If a task has a due date or end date specified, SAP Ariba also adds the task to the user’s To Do portlet.

Setting up tasks at the template level as an administrator is one of the best ways to ensure that your organization’s process is followed each time a project is created.

The process is like creating tasks in projects, but there are a few additional options to allow a more general setup of a task so that it can apply to many projects created using that template. For example, if you make a task required in a template, end users cannot edit it and make it optional in a project. Since these tasks are required at the template level, users are unable to complete their projects until those tasks are completed, thus ensuring compliance with the business process.

You can place tasks into phases to help you organize them. You can quickly view the status of each phase within the Process content area in the full view of a project.

Phases enable you to:

• Organize tasks into phases that match your business model.
• Specify task due dates relative to the start of the parent phase for a task instead of a fixed date. This enables you to establish task start dates when you create a project or project template.
• Enforce workflow order, you can specify predecessors for phases so that users cannot start tasks in a phase until the predecessor phase or task is complete.
• Phases (and the tasks in it) can be set up to occur in the project more than once by setting a Recurring Schedule.

When all required tasks in a phase are completed, SAP Ariba automatically marks that phase as completed by default.

• To Do A To Do task requires the task owner to do something, like set up a meeting.
• ADocument To Do task is a To Do task that is associated with a particular document or folder. For example, if you have a form that needs to be completed by a specific team member, you could assign a To Do task directly from the document. If there are several forms, you could put them in a folder and assign the Document To Do task from the folder.
• Review and Approval tasks are designed to route a particular document for other users to review or approve. Document reviewers can submit comments, while approvers have the authority to approve or deny a document with comments. These tasks ensure that the proper users have signed off on critical documents before they are published.
• A Negotiation task is designed to capture the negotiations between two or more parties concerning a contract or any other type of document. It captures the comments from the negotiating parties as well as the changes in the document.
• A Notification sends email reminders to recipients. It is used primarily after a project is published to remind users to take action, such as periodically checking contract activity or market pricing. Reminders can be set up to be sent once or repeatedly on a scheduled basis.

• Tasks are something that needs to be done by a specific person, by a specific time, and can be set as optional or required.
• Tasks can be part of phases and predecessors that maintain the order of sequence.
• The types of tasks in SAP Ariba are To Do, Document To Do, Review, Approval, Negotiation, and Notification

• Task Initiation and Scheduling: Determine if tasks auto-start based on dates or task completion.
• Approval Automation: Specify if approval tasks are completed automatically without reviewers.
• Task Prioritization: Define task completion order using predecessors to ensure proper task sequencing.
• Project Milestones: Mark key tasks as pivotal milestones in project templates for consistent project tracking.