Task Status Change when using "Work on it" Feature

I just put something out on the global community forum about this. I am trying to run duration reports at the task level but the actual start date does not get populated when someone just clicks work on it; the start date only changes when someone sets the status to in progress. Most of the time that never happens and the only status change to the task ends up being when its marked complete. Once the task is marked done or complete it changes the actual start/end to that date. Very frustrating!!!

I also agree with this one! I have to run a report for "tasks with actual hours but no % complete" to update. This proposal makes sense! "Entering time should automatically set it to In Progress and act as selecting Work On It."

Charlie and Marc, during some enhancements we made to our Stopwatch solution, I learned last month that if you try to enter time against a task whose predecessor(s) are enforced but not complete, the Hours will not be permitted through the UI...but (arg) no message via the API. So, in Stopwatch, we now only show Tasks that Can Start (e.g. Handoff Date is filled in), to avoid the API error. If and when this feature (option, ideally) is built out, if the API exposes it and honors it as well, that would be excellent.

Regards,

Doug

I like it!

Agreed. Entering time should automatically set it to In Progress and act as selecting Work On It.

Hi Marc,

I evidently didn't articulate myself clearly. What I'd like to see is that when a person enters time on a task for the first time the system would automatically set the task status to In Progress, if it isn't already; and would automatically click the Work On It setting if they haven't done so already.

Here's why. We see too many tasks that remain in New status even though people have been entering time on the task for weeks or months. Additionally, very few of our people remember to click on the Work On It button at all and that limits the data that gets pulled into the Adobe Flash grids for actual hours. Evidently the logic behind the flash only selects actual hours from tasks where the Work On It button has been clicked on. Two years in and we can't get people to reliably click on the Work On It button.

Regarding your comment, I agree if someone wants to indicate they will work on a task before they actually start work on it, the the button should continue to be manually set.

Agree that adding time to a task should automatically set it to In Progress. However, don't think status should automatically change to In Progress when someone agrees to work on a task. In some valid workflows, the user is indicating that they are the right person and it has moved into their personal list of tasks - but it doesn't mean that they have actually started work. I would support this feature request if it was configurable. If we could choose this as an option in Setup, then great.

Right on!

The same should apply when someone records time for the first time on a task, and the "Work On It" button should be automatically set as well.