In this video:

To get started,

When you arrive on the Task Templates page, you’ll see a couple of things:

As you select a template, the workflow preview appears on the right, so you can see the overall task, as well as the subtasks and client requests associated with it.

You can create templates for the task in two ways:

Let’s start by making a new template - select Create New.

On this page, the main pane is the overall main or parent task - so the actual job you are doing. Any Subtasks and Client Requests roll up underneath this main task.

To the left, you can see the workflow as you build it out, sorta a nice map to guide you on your quest. Above that, you can decide if this template should be shared across your team or just for you.

With all that out of the way, are you up for the task?

Let’s build one out for a simple Bookkeeping process.

Right under the name, you can select specific roles or users to assign to this task. Keep in mind, since this is a template, every time it’s used, it will assign them.

Other task details you can include:

You can continue to add details including:

Setting up automation rules within workflow templates truly unlocks multiple benefits for you and your firm.

You can use automation rules to notify the next person when a task is completed, change status once a task changes, notify of an upcoming date, and more.

But we have to be honest with you - there is a bit of effort to set these up at the beginning. But once you do, it’s smooth sailing from there. It’s just like sharpening a saw!

To add an automation rule:

Once you have those set up, click Add Automation. Ok, so now when the task is approaching the due date, it will send a notification to team members automatically.

Since this new rule is part of the template, it will carry on to every task you apply to this template too.

For more complicated tasks, you may want to add subtasks or stages of work that you want to divide up into smaller steps.

To add a subtask, click on the Add button beneath the task pane. This creates a subtask! And it looks identical to the main task, coming with all the options we went through for the main task.

Let’s call this one, Upload Transactions.

You’ll see when I added this, it populated the name and the subtask in the workflow here on the left!

It’s helpful to lay out your entire flow before adding dates, reminders, or automation. So let’s do that quick:

So we have a basic map of our workflow!

You may also want to add a Client Request to ask for a list of transactions your client made. So let’s click that Add button once more, but this time select Add Client Request.

In a client request, you can name it, assign a due date, and a reminder to complete the task. You can also add automation and files.

If you have a template for a client request, you can apply that by selecting apply Template.

You can also move subtasks and client requests around in the flow as you see fit. I might want the client request to go out to the client first to collect transactions before uploading, so click the client request for this in the workflow and drag it to the top, under the main task.

Now that you have the flow down, you’ll find it easier to add due dates or automation rules, which you can add to the main task, subtasks, and client requests.

When you’re ready, click Save.

Now, you can see your new template in the menu.

You may also use the pre-made templates below as well. You can’t edit these, but you can build on them by duplicating and copying them.

You can do that by selecting the icon on the far side of the template name.

Let’s duplicate a common template for a 1040 Return.

Once you duplicate, you’ll be asked to name the copy. You have the option now to make this template available for your team to use. You can also toggle this on later as well.

When you’re finished naming, select Copy.

This adds the newly copied template to the list above. Now, since you “own” this template, you can add your edits to it.

Click the three dots and select Edit.

Like before - You can modify the order of subtasks, and add and edit contents at any time for these copied templates.

After you’ve built these templates, you and your team members can apply them when creating a new task workflow.

This will bring in the name of the task, subtasks, and due date rules that you created in the template. Looks like a whole lot of saved time, especially for common workflows!