ToDo
ToDo in ERPNext is a powerful yet easy-to-use task management application that's meant to assist users in following up on activities that must be done by someone or a group of people. A personal reminder or delegated task, ToDos assist in workflow enhancement, responsibility, and productivity throughout the system.
Every ToDo is a record of an item to be acted on and is particularly helpful to track day-to-day activities, follow-ups, or control responsibility assigned by documents such as Issues, Projects, Sales Orders, etc.
A ToDo gets created automatically when a document (such as an Issue or Task) is allocated to a user, so nothing falls through the cracks. Automatic creation of ToDo entries achieves ERPNext's task tracking as an integrated and seamless process. You can also manually create ToDos for personal or team usage.
To see ToDo, go to
1. How to create a ToDo
- Go to the ToDo list and click on New.
- You will be taken to a Quick Entry form where you enter the description of the ToDo — this is where you say what needs to be done.
- Click Save to enter the task.
If you prefer to delegate the ToDo to another person, or enter additional information (such as priority or reference document), hit Edit in Full Page. This reveals other fields like:
- Assigned To – choose the user.
- Priority – select Low, Medium, or High.
- Reference Document – attach this ToDo to any document such as Issue, Project, etc.
- Date and Time – provide a due date to assist the users in meeting deadlines.
Note:
Whenever a ToDo is created through Quick Entry, the system assigns it to the creator (current user) by default. If you need to assign it to someone else, you have to edit the ToDo in its full form and manually update the assignee.
ToDo Notification
Each time a ToDo is created either by Quick Entry, it is assigned to the author (current user) by default. Should you need to give it to another person, then you have to edit the ToDo in complete form and update the assignee manually.
1.1 More Options during Creating a ToDo
When you're making a ToDo in ERPNext, you have a number of options for customizing the task management process to be more effective and responsive to your workflow:
Status: An incoming ToDo is defaulted to be Open. The state implies that the job is unfinished and is waiting to be accomplished. Once the task is accomplished the user will change the status manually to Closed, to show that it is complete.
Priority: You can assign the ToDo a priority level to denote the ToDo is high-priority. ERPNext also has three default priority levels Low, Medium and High, thus allowing users to sort and react to tasks according to priority.
Color: To visually organize and differentiate tasks you can assign them a color label. Examples include marking Purple on periodic tasks (ex. weekly reporting) and Yellow on reminders that are personal in nature. Such a visual component improves the list and Kanban views.
Due Date: A Due Date can also be set to assist in tracking deadlines. This date assists the user in prioritizing future tasks and also aids in agenda-based calendar views for ERPNext.
Assigned To: If the ToDo is to be done by someone else, you can assign it to another ERPNext User. Proper delegation of tasks is facilitated, and the assigned user will receive a notification accordingly. You can also assign it to yourself for tracking purpose.
1.2 References
ToDos are usually created from documents through the use of the "Assign To" facility provided in the side bar of most of the forms in ERPNext. This enables tasks to be contextually related to specific records.
Reference Type: The DocType of the ToDo, (e.g. Issue, Project, Task). When you create the ToDo manually, you can still choose the corresponding DocType option so that the ToDo would be linked to a specific document.
Reference Name: This contains the name or ID of the document that the ToDo is linked to. Say, when a task is assigned to an Issue, the Issue ID will be shown here.
Assignment By: When the ToDo is created by assigning it through another document, this field will have the user who assigned or created the task. This increases transparency and responsibility, especially in a team-based situation.
These sources support tracking of work and easy back-tracking to the relative documents.
2. ToDo Statuses
ERPNext employs three statuses to report the status of a ToDo, offering a crisp workflow state at any given time:
Open: This is used as the default status for all new ToDos. This status means that the task is still open and needs to be worked on.
Closed: Users can manually mark the task as Closed after it has been successfully accomplished. In certain situations, for example, when a related Issue or Task is solved, ERPNext could automatically close an associated ToDo. A Closed ToDo can be Reopened if required to enable more work on it.
Cancelled: Once a user is deleted from the assignment or if the attached document is deleted or reassigned, the ToDo automatically gets marked as Cancelled. Hence, only valid and active tasks remain in the system.
These statuses are critical for tracking and reporting purposes, meaning teams can monitor the progress to ensure task completion.