Using Cirkus you can setup a workflow to capture Task requests and direct them to the right place. For example, if your team of technicians regularly receives work orders from producers, you can use provide a Request Form in Cirkus to:
- Gather information for the first time.
- Assign to the right team or person.
- Grant Approvals.
- Notify stakeholders.
- Moving the request through workflow.
The Request workflow is powered by Task Templates
Set up the Request
This example is the one in the Task Template tutorial video.
Let’s look at a Compression Request Task Template to support our producer to technician workflow.
The template for the request is set up in the Workspace Task Templates.
Go to your Workspace and then to the Task Template tab.
First let’s look at the Info tab
- Parent Status: This field only shows if the task template has subtasks. It defines if the parent task will need to also be marked as Done (Independent) or if it will be "Done" when all subtasks are done ( see Subtasks article for more information about this feature)
- Project, Subproject select one or more projects and Subprojects where this task can be added.
- Role: this defines the Role who will be assigned to this task on creation
- Task Editable by: this defines if the task will be only editable by Assignees, i.e creator cannot edit it.
- Involved Behaviour: this setting defines if this tasks Assignees will also be booked on the task (Assignees) or if other Members can also be booked (Independent) . More information in the Task Scheduling article on this topic.
- Approval By: If this field is not set, the Task will be immediately added to the Assignee.
- Allowed Resources/Allowed Involved: This field defines which Resources or Members are available to be booked on this Task i.e only Editors, only Suites.
- Approval By: If this field is set to a person or a role, it must be “Approved” by them before it shows in the Schedule to the rest of the team. For our template we will set this to be our “Studio Manager” role.
- Default Name: This is the name that any Task created with this template will have by default. It can be edited by the requestor.
- Offer as Request: Toggle to ON to make the template available on the Requests portal. (see Task requests Article)
- Starred by Default: If there are lots of templates, you can toggle this ON so they show up first in the list.
- Request Category. This allows the admin to group requests types together, so requestors can easily find the type of request they need. Our one is in the “Post Services” category.
Request Categories are set up in the Task Template tab.
Switch the view at the bottom, and create or edit existing request categories. - Description: This is the optional Description of this template
- Now in the Fields tab we can any any needed custom fields to the Task Template, more information on custom fields can be found in the Task Template article
Ok, so now our workflow is all set up.
It’s possible to share a direct link to the request created with other Cirkus members with the Copy Web URL option.
This copies a url to the clipboard which is the web address of the request.
Request Portal
Anyone submitting a Task request must be a member of our Cirkus Workspace, and they can use the Requests view on web, iOS or Mac app, or a direct web link to access the request form as outlined above.
We will look at how it appears on the web browser below.
As a Requestor, go to the Requests view or click on the shared request link (this can be copied from the template on web or mac apps).
Our Compression Request is under the Post Services Category.
Click the Post Services, and select the Compression Task request from the menu.
Complete the Information in the New Task Sheet.
When the Request is submitted it will show in the “My Recently Created Requests” section, with a status indicating it is Pending Approval if an approver was added to the Task Template during creation. If a request does not have it approval, it will be automatically submitted.
Now, let's take a look at another example.
This time, we will create a Task Request that includes a Resource. This workflow can be helpful for Task that require one or more resources to help you get the job done, such as in a photoshoot or an ad campaign.
1. Go to your Workspace and then to the Task Template tab.
2. Create a name for your Task Template to help you easily find it when creating the request.
3. Select the Project where the resources needed for this task are located.
4. Next, head to the Request Portal and click on Show All Requests.
5. Find and click on your Task Template to bring up the New Task Sheet.
6. Create a name for the request and select the assignee(s) who will carry along the task.
7. Select the Start/End dates in which the task will take place.
8. Using the Resources selector, choose the Resources that will be used to complete this task. If a Resource is already booked at the selected time, they will have an orange indicator dot beside their name.
9. Once you've filled in all the necessary information on the New Task sheet, click Add to submit the request.
You've now submitted your request with a resource!