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  • Product: DT Practice

Setting qualifications for work items

If your firm is licensed for the Staff Management module, you can set up qualifications for work items such as projects, tasks, scheduled phone calls, and to-do items.
note
Projects and tasks are part of the separately licensed Project Management module.

Qualifications overview

When qualifications are defined for a work item, that item can only be assigned to a staff member who meets those qualifications. For example, if you want to ensure that the tax return for one of your longtime clients is handled by staff who are most proficient with such returns, you can set up a qualifications filter that includes only those staff.
Typically, you would establish qualifications by setting up skill sets for your staff and then creating filters to group skill sets together to form lists of staff qualified to perform certain tasks. However, you can create qualifications filters based on certain other criteria. To set qualifications for work items, you must first create qualifications filters.
You can add scheduled items to a work queue based on qualifications. Items in the work queue appear in the Schedule Items portlet on the Staff Dashboard only for staff members who meet the qualifications. When those staff members free up from other projects, they can select additional work items from the work queue.
Items in the work queue with no defined qualifications are available to all staff members.

Setting qualifications for project templates

You can set qualifications on your project and task templates so new projects are automatically put in a work queue of qualified staff.
note
To set qualifications for project templates, you must first create qualifications filters.
Project qualifications
  1. Choose Setup > Templates > Projects.
  2. Select a project template from the list and select the
    Edit
     button.
  3. In the Assigned section on the Main tab, select a filter from the drop-down in the
    Staff qualifications
     field. If necessary, you can select the More button and create a new filter.
  4. To designate the project as a work queue item, select the
    Work queue
     option. This adds any projects generated from this template to the work queue for staff who pass the qualifications filter you selected.
  5. When you are finished editing the project template, select
    Enter
     to save your changes.
Task qualifications
You can also set qualifications for individual project tasks using similar steps.
  1. Choose Setup > Templates > Projects.
  2. Select a project template from the list and select the
    Edit
     button.
  3. Go to the Tasks tab.
  4. Double-click a task to open it in the
    Task Template
     dialog.
  5. In the Assigned section on the Main tab, select a filter from the drop-down in the
    Staff qualifications
     field. If necessary, you can select the More button and create a new filter.
  6. To designate the task as a work queue item, select the
    Work queue
     option. This adds any tasks generated from this template to the work queue for staff who pass the qualifications filter you selected.
  7. Select
    OK
     to save your changes to the task template.
  8. When you are finished editing the tasks and any other project information, select
    Enter
     to save your changes to the project template.
note
You can also set qualifications for individual project tasks. Follow the steps above but go to the Tasks tab, select a task, and select the
Edit
 button. Then make the changes in the Assigned section of the
Task Template
 dialog.

Setting qualifications for a single work item

To set qualifications for a single project, task, scheduled phone call, or to-do item, follow these steps.
note
To set qualifications for work items, you must first create qualifications filters.
  1. Add or edit a project, task, scheduled phone call, or to-do item.
  2. In the Assigned section of the dialog, select a filter from the drop-down in the
    Staff qualifications
     field. If necessary, you can select the More button and create a new filter.
  3. To add the item to the work queue, select the
    Work queue
     option. Otherwise, select the
    Staff
     option and select a qualified staff member.

Setting qualifications for multiple items

You can set qualifications for multiple projects or tasks at once. Follow these steps.
note
To set qualifications for work items, you must first create qualifications filters.
  1. On the
    Manage Projects
     screen, press SHIFT or CTRL while selecting multiple projects or tasks.
  2. Right-click and choose
    Edit Selected Projects
     (or
    Edit Selected Tasks
    ) from the context menu. This opens the Edit Selected Projects/Tasks dialog.
  3. In the first drop-down field, select
    Staff Qualification
    .
  4. In the next field, select the qualifications filter you want to apply to the selected items.
  5. Select the Add Row button and choose
    Staff Assignment Method
     from the first field in the new row.
  6. In the next field, select
    Work Queue
    .
    note
    If you want to assign the items to a specific staff member at this point, select
    Assigned Staff
    , then select the Add Row button again and select
    Assigned Staff
     and the staff member to whom you want to assign the items.
  7. Select
    OK
    .