The zInspector Task Manager lets you easily sort, search, and find tasks, communicate with others about them, and schedule appointments, while you track them to completion. An important aspect of any Task is setting a Managed Contact and an optional Assigned Contact.
The Managed Contact is typically the person with an oversight role over the task. When created, a Task is automatically assigned to the user who created it; they are designated the Managed Contact. The Managed Contact role can be changed to any Group Member for a given task.
The Assigned Contact is typically the agent responsible for completing the task. The Assigned Contact can, like the Managed Contact, be a Group Member, or it can be someone outside your organization on the Vendor tab of your Contacts page. Again, the Assigned Contact role is optional.
Comments
- Any comments entered in the Comments field for the Task are automatically emailed to the Managed Contact or Assigned Contact (if within the organization) by default. Users can respond to emails received, and their responses will be integrated into the Task Comments log.
- More about Comments in this article.
Calendar / Scheduling
A calendar appointment for a created and scheduled task can automatically sync to on your favorite calendar program. Important calendar features and usages items include:
- The calendar appointment includes the Assigned and Managed Contacts and an Edit link allowing you to open the Task for editing.
- If a Task Start Date and Time is used but no End Time is specified, the calendar will set it up as a 1-hour appointment.
- To change the appointment length, set both Task Start and End Dates/Times.
- If the Task Start and End are on different days, a multi-day appointment will be created.
- To disable a Task from syncing to the calendar, un-check the Calendar box.
- Start / Stop times on your calendar for multi-day appointments are configured under Admin Settings based on your time-zone. By default, multi-day appointments start at 8 am (08:00) and end at 5 pm (17:00).
- zInspector calendars are based on the iCal standard, which is readable by essentially all calendar programs.
Tips for Real-Time Scheduling
- If your office routine involves rapidly changing, real-time scheduling for employees in the field, your users should add the zInspector calendar: individually, go to the zInspector mobile app, tap Settings, and tap Calendar.
- iPhone users: Simply tap the Calendar link to add the Calendar to your phone automatically.
- Android users: Install a separate calendar sync program to control the frequency of calendar updates; Android does not provide this by default.
- Google Calendar: The zInspector calendar can certainly be added to Google Calendar. However, Google chooses the calendar update frequency, which can often be as slow as every 6-24 hours. Therefore, if you are a Google Calendar user and you want your zInspector calendar to sync to your Google Calendar, add your zInspector calendar to Google and then separately add it to your mobile device.