Configuring Templates to Create Additional Actions for the To-Do List

This article is a guide on how to set up your contracts to use Action Reminders and the To-Do List within FastDraft. 

This guide contains the following:

• Introduction
• Use Cases
• How do I configure a specific notice to automatically create an action?
• How do I configure a specific notice to optionally (i.e. ask the user if they would like to) create an action?
• How do I configure a reminder to resubmit?
• What happens if I add a CLEAR Post Action?

Introduction

A number of FastDraft workflows come with preconfigured process steps that will automatically create action reminders that are automatically marked as completed as the workflow progresses through the steps. Whilst some aspects of these workflows if configurable (e.g. whether or not a reply is required when Notice of a Claim is received or whether a reply is only required at the Detailed Claim stage) that's not the purpose of this article.

This article focuses on semi-automating the process of manually creating actions that will remind a user to perform a separate additional task (e.g. communicate a related notice or perform an offline activity).

Use Cases

Some examples of where an activity in one workflow requires a follow activity in a completely different workflow:

• Reminder to submit a revised programme following an instruction to do so
• Reminder to submit an instruction following notification of an ambiguity or inconsistency
• Reminder to submit a quotation for an acceleration following an instruction to do so
• Reminder to create a related notice if a notification requires a follow-up
• Reminder to resubmit when a submission is not accepted

How do I configure a specific notice to automatically create an action?

In any workflow that supports clause configuration, you can trigger creation of an action based on a specific clause selection by adding a Post Action.

In the master/contract template click on the workflow group then the Resources tab and then select the relevant clause manager.

In this example we're looking at the Notifications workflow group in an NEC4 ECC contract and we're going to edit the SupplierClauses resource so that a Contractor's Notification under 17.2 will create an action on the PM to issue an instruction for dealing with the illegal or impossible requirement.

Select the relevant clause on the left.

Click on the Post Actions section on the right to expand it.

Click the + button to add a Post Action

Fill in the mandatory fields but leave Ask User blank.

• Hit Save
• Hit Update Item
• Hit Save Changes
• Hit Update Workflow Group
• Hit Save Changes

You can use a pre-configured parameter from the contract Global Resources (as illustrated above) in which case you must enter 0 in the Days field (the selected Global Resource will override this). Alternatively, you can select custom and enter a custom number of days. In this example, assuming PM_REPLY_PERIOD is configured as 14 days the next time a user communicates a Contractor's Communication under clause 17.2 FastDraft will automatically add an action against the PM, reminding them to issue an instruction within 14 days.

The sender will be informed via a pop-up but in this case we have configured not to ask the user so they will not be able to untick the box.

It's possible to add more than one Post Action (e.g. if more than one party needs to undertake a follow-up).

How do I configure a specific notice to optionally (i.e. ask the user if they would like to) create an action?

Follow exactly the same steps as for configuring an automated action (see above) except, in this case because you want the user to decide whether to create an action or not you would tick Ask.

In this example, next time a user communicates a Contractor's Communication under clause 17.1 FastDraft will present the user with a pop-up asking whether they would like to create an action against the PM, reminding them to issue an instruction within 14 days.

The sender will be presented with a pop-up but asking if they would like to create an action for the Project Manager.

Ticking the box before hitting Communicate means an action will be created for the PM. Leaving the box unticked means no follow-up action is created. 

How do I configure a reminder to resubmit?

In several workflow groups (Programmes [104], Submissions [106], Submissions (with quotation) [107] Notifications [105]), it's possible to configure ReplyOptions to determine which dropdown options are available when replying. Where configured, those will continue to apply. However, we've now introduced a new placeholder UnifiedReplyOptions in each of those workflow groups. In order to make that available in a template, the UnifiedReplyOptions will need to be added to each applicable workflow group via the Master Workflows. 

UnifiedReplyOptions introduces the following new capabilities:

• Allows you to define separate labels for reply statuses in each workflow
• Allows you to enable/disable reply statuses per workflow
• Allows you to configure a specific reply status to auto-generate an Action (Reminder)

Each reply option can be configured to create a follow-up Action in the same way that a Clause/Type can be configured. In practise, it would be most useful to configure the NOT_ACCEPTED_RESUBMIT reply option to create a reminder to resubmit.

In this example the ReplyOptions have been configured so that the only available options when replying to a Supplier Submission are 'Accepted' or 'Not accepted'.

In this example we're configuring for an NEC4 ECC contract where clause 13.4 dictates that any submission that's not accepted will require a resubmission so we're using the NOT_ACCEPTED_RESUBMIT field and configuring that to place an Action against the Supplier to communicate a new Supplier Submission within 14 days by selecting the Action [CREATE], Owner Party [Supplier], Action Type [[18] Supplier Submissions], Time Period [Custom], Days [14] and we're not allowing the user to opt out of creating a reminder.

Alternatively, you could configure 'NOT_ACCEPTED' to be an available option that doesn't auto-generate a follow-up action or you could opt to allow the replying party to decide whether or not to create a follow-up action. 

You can also opt to use a global resource (e.g. SUPPLIER_REPLY_PERIOD) to determine the number of days in which case you'll be obliged to enter 0 in the days field (the selected Global Resource will override this).

What happens if I add a CLEAR Post Action?

This option can be configured as above but to automatically clear an action when a particular type of communication is sent with a particular clause selected (i.e. without asking the user). In that case the number of days selected has to be 0. Currently, this has limited usefulness in very specific scenarios.

Invariably, there could be multiple actions outstanding of a similar type so it will be better to ask the user to decide which actions should be cleared. If you believe you have identified a scenario where this would be helpful please contact us before applying the change so that we can discuss your requirements and any potential pitfalls.