Automation Examples (Basic): Updating Job Assignees

When your firm has many employees, the different people maintain the job on different pipeline stages. It is really easy to make a mistake when you reassign jobs manually. Instead, you can have job assignees added and removed automatically at certain stages of the workflow.

Covered here:

• Step 1. Define job assignees for specific pipeline stages
• Step 2. Set up the "Update job assignee" automation
• Step 3. Note the order of automations
• Change job assignees when moving or adding jobs

Step 1. Define job assignees

Having job assignees helps you see who is responsible for a specific job and also allows you to filter by each assignee. You can set up as many assignees as you want for each job and you can have them all displayed in your job cards as long as you have that option enabled in your pipeline’s settings.

Before adding the automation, you have to decide which team member should be assigned to a job and when they need it. That depends on your team member's role or responsibilities, since your sales manager/tax preparer/reviewer/etc. could be responsible for a job only during a certain workflow stage. For example, you can have a job assigned to a client manager in the first stage, then to the preparer in the next one, then to the reviewer, and so on.

Step 2. Set up the "Update job assignee" automation

To make sure all your staff is assigned to the job while they are completing their part in it, follow these steps:

1. Go to the pipeline settings, choose the stage to which you would like to add the automation, click on the Add automations link, then choose Update job assignees in the pull-down menu. Choose the team member(s) from the account list.

2. While creating the automation, select employees you want to add or remove as job assignees automatically.

The automation can be configured in different ways:

• Clear existing assignees on + Add assignees empty:
  When a job enters this stage, assigned employees become unassigned, and the job becomes unassigned.
• Clear existing assignees on + Add assignees filled:
  When a job enters this stage, assigned employees become unassigned, and the ones listed in the Add assignees field are assigned to the job instead.
• Clear existing assignees off + Add assignees filled:
  When a job enters this stage, assigned employees remain assigned to the job, and the ones listed in the Add assignees field are assigned as well.
• Clear existing assignees off + Remove assignees filled:
  When a job enters this stage, employees listed in the Remove assignees field become unassigned.
• Add assignees filled + Remove assignees filled:
  When a job enters this stage, employees listed in the Add assignees field are assigned to the job, and the ones listed in the Remove assignees are unassigned.

Once a job enters the stage, the job assignee is automatically updated.

Note! For the Update job assignee automation,it doesn't matter if the automove jobs toggle for the stage is turned on. The automation is triggered automatically and doesn't require actions from either the client or the firm side to be completed. Also, no elements are linked to the job when the automation is triggered.

Step 3. Note the order of automations

When building complex pipelines using Update job assignees automation and conditional stages and automations, be aware of the order of automations. Take into consideration that automations are triggered one by one, from first to last. 

Compare the two images below for a better understanding. 

• In the example on the left, a task will be created for a team member assigned to the job on a previous stage and then, the job will be assigned to another team member.
• In the example on the right, the job will be assigned to a new team member first, and then, the task will be created for this specific team member.

To change the order of automations, click on any automation inside the stage, hover the mouse over the  Move icon, then drag-n-drop it. 

Tip! If, during the task template creation, you are uncertain about the specific task assignee, you can leave it blank and then enable the Assign task to job assignee toggle in Create task automation in conjunction with the Update job assignees automation. This way, the task will be assigned to a team member who was assigned to a job after the automation is triggered. Read more on matching task assignee with job assignee.

Change job assignees when moving or adding jobs

The options you choose in the pipeline settings are the default ones. However, you can always decide which team members will be assigned or removed when moving your jobs manually or adding them to the pipeline.

If there is an Update job assignee automation created inside a selected stage you are moving jobs to, it is displayed on a pop-up. You have the following options:

• If you want the automation to be triggered with the default settings, leave it as is
• If you don't want the automation to be triggered, untick the checkbox
• If you want to change the settings for the assignees, add or remove the ones you need
• If you want to clear all existing assignees for the job, toggle on Clear existing assignees

Also, you can see assigned team members from the kanban view, as well as add or remove assignees by editing a job card on the spot.