Quick Tasks SpiraApp Released to Streamline Task Management

How Do I Enable Quick Tasks in Spira?

Once you have uploaded the SpiraApp into your instance of SpiraTeam or SpiraPlan (this app does not work with SpiraTest) as described the section below, you need to go to the Administration > SpiraApps page to activate the SpiraApp:

You will also need to enable it for each product that you want it to be available for. Once that's done, click on the Product Settings to tell the app which task type you want to use for your simple task checklists:

While you can use an existing task type and its workflow for this SpiraApp, you may prefer to have a dedicated workflow and task type. This optional step will mean that any tasks created from the Quick Task widget are classified and managed differently from normal tasks. This is useful when you have a highly customized Workflow in your template that you want to enforce in general, but not for your Quick Tasks.

To create a dedicated Task Type, go to Administration > Tasks > Type and add a new Type (e.g."Quick Task").
To create a dedicated Task Workflow, go to Administration > Tasks > Workflow and add a new Workflow (e.g. "Quick Task Workflow").

Next, each user that wants to use the Quick Tasks app can simply go to their Product Homepage dashboard and choose the option to Add/Remove Items. The Quick Tasks SpiraApp can be selected and added to the desired section of the dashboard.

Once that is done, the SpiraApp will appear in the product dashboard along with all other widgets. Any tasks of the chosen type that already exist will be displayed in the list:

You can now use the Quick Tasks app to create, manage, and organize checklists.

How Do I Use Quick Tasks?

The SpiraApp's product home page widget serves as a group to-do list for all users who can create Tasks in the product. The widget displays, for each of the most recent relevant tasks:

Name
End Date
Owner
Release (if the Task has one)

Select the option "Show only my Tasks?" to limit the list to tasks you own.

You can use the top row of the table to create a new Quick Task. This is automatically assigned to you, given the "In Progress" Status, and given the Type chosen in the product setting.

There is a handy calendar control to make the date selection easier.

If a release is selected using the Product Home Page release drop-down list, only Quick Tasks for that release will be shown. Any newly created Quick Tasks will be added to that release and the task end date will match the end date of the release and cannot be changed from the widget.

Below the New Task row, the widget displays up to fifty incomplete Quick Tasks, the most recently created at the top. The widget considers any Quick Tasks with a Status of "Not Started", "In Progress", "Blocked", or "Under Review" as incomplete, and includes only those tasks in this section. You can click the empty checkbox to the left of an incomplete Quick Task to mark it as Completed.

Below the incomplete Quick Tasks, the widget also shows up to five Completed Quick Tasks, sorted by last updated. You can click the filled checkbox to the left of a completed Quick Task to move it back to not done (this marks the tasks as In Progress and moves it back to the upper section).

img-thumbnail