A template is a repeatable resource that can be used for multiple projects in a delivery. Templates are created in the template builder, which is where you will define the workflow, add ledgers, invite people and define their roles.
Setting up a template is the most involved part of the TCP process, but if you spend time planning here, the rest of your project will benefit. Your template will be used across multiple projects within your delivery.
To get started, navigate to ‘Templates’ in the top navigation menu. Select whether you are starting a New Retail Workflow Template or a New Commercial Workflow Template in the toolbar. This will open up the template workspace.
To rename your template, click the ‘edit template’ button. This will open a modal screen where you can edit the template name and add an optional description.
Workflow
To build the workflow in your template, you will add a series of phases, add a series of tasks within those phases, and set conditions and dependencies on a task-by-task basis.
Phases
A phase is a segment of a workflow; it is the child of a workflow and the parent of a task.
Certain phases are pre-defined based on the template ‘kind’ you selected earlier. These pre-defined phases are designed to assist your process, though you can rename these by clicking the ‘edit phase’ button and filling out the form in the modal screen.
To add additional phases, scroll down to find the ‘add new phase’ card. Provide a name, then click ‘Add’ to add the phase to your workflow.
Tasks
A task is a single piece of work in a project, to be completed by users assigned to roles as designated in the template builder or project workspace. Tasks are children of phases. Tasks have conditions, which are either yes/no, document upload or date completed.
To add a task, click the ‘+Add’ button underneath the phase to which you want to assign a task. This will open a modal screen that will prompt you to fill out a number of fields, as outlined below.
Task Details
- Task Name
- Task description: This will appear on the task page as a reminder of which this task is about
- Length: Assign a duration of the number of working days estimated to complete the task
Role Responsibilities
- Primary Responsibility: Use the drop-down to select the one role responsible for completing this task. The team member assigned to this role will be able to view the task, receive notifications about the task and complete task conditions.
- Copied To: Use the drop-down to select one or more roles. When selecting these roles, they are not responsible for completing the task, but they can view the task and receive notifications about the task.
Dependencies
Dependencies refer to tasks in the workflow that must be completed in order for other tasks to be started. Click the ‘add’ button under the dependencies heading and select one or more tasks that the current task depends upon. In other words, select other tasks in the workflow that needs to be completed before the current task can be worked on. Click ‘OK’ once you are done.
Conditions
Conditions are what determine whether or not a task has been completed; they must be met in order for a task to be closed. There are three types of conditions: ‘yes/no’, document upload and date completed.
To add a condition to a task, click the ‘add’ button under the Conditions heading. This will open a modal screen in which you can supply a condition name, add an optional description and identify the condition ‘kind’.
- Name: the name of your condition. If your condition is to upload a document, this should be the name of your document.
- Kind: upload a document, ‘yes/no’ and date.
- Description: optional; this tells the person responsible anything specific they should know about the condition
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Continue adding phases and tasks as above until all phases and tasks have been created. At any time you can edit a phase by clicking the ‘edit phase’ button to the right of the phase name, and you can edit the task simply by clicking on the task itself.
Ledgers
#This feature is currently disabled#
A ledger is a flat record of all of the financial information about a project. You have the ability to design as many ledgers as you want. Usually, a Tenancy Coordinator would track against three main types of ledgers:
- Fit Out contribution
- Cat 1 works
- Landlords works
TCPinpoint gives you the ability to record amounts against each of those ledgers, and you can update additional lines and approve them internally. You can add and edit ledgers in the ‘ledgers’ tab within the template workspace. If you add ledgers to a template, these will appear on the Project Page of any projects created from that template, in the ‘ledgers’ tab. Note that the ledgers tab is only visible to team members with Project Administration authority or higher, and not to Project Party authority.
Team Members
The team members tab is where you will add the core people in roles for project delivery.
In the first card, you’ll see a list of members that have been added to your team. In the second card, you’ll see an interface where you can add people by email address and nominate a role for them.
The people invited to the project will be assigned tasks based on their assigned role, and the tasks those roles are responsible for.
Adding the team members means they will automatically be added to any project this template is applied to. The benefit of that is that you can add people once, and save yourself work when setting up projects. However, if you’ve missed anyone, you can add more team members later in the team members tab of the project workspace.
Your Template Library
Under the ‘template’ tab you’ll see a collection of templates that you have created over time. You will only have access to templates you have created yourself. Use the sorting filters to navigate through the templates you have created. Editing an existing template will not edit any workflows that have been populated into a previously existing project, but will only affect future projects.