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Arena Assignments

Part 2– Implementation

(Course A271)

Presented by:

Ben Lane

Shelby Senior Staff Trainer

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Objective Prepare to use Assignments with knowledge gained in this session.

Topics covered in this session:

How to create Assignment types

How to create Assignment workflows

Real-world Assignment simulation

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Create an Assignment Type (non-workflow)

Scenario

The Student Ministry team wants to know which schools are attended by students in its program. The

Arena Administrator has created a person attribute tied to a School lookup type, but occasionally a

school is not listed or needs to be updated for some reason. In order to track the requests, and to ensure

that they are completed, she creates an Assignment Type with an SLA of 2 days. This Assignment Type

should be a child of the IT Assignment Type, and it should include the following fields: School Name,

Type (High School, Junior High), District, and Address. Requesters are able to edit the Assignment after it

has been created but are not able to set the due date or worker. The worker should also be emailed

once the Assignment has been opened for 2 days. The Student Ministry team has view rights, and Arena

Administrators have view, edit, and edit security rights to the Assignment.

Assumptions

In this demo we assume that a parent Assignment Type called “IT” has previously been created.

Steps

1. Click on Assignment Types from the left navigation bar.

2. Select the IT Assignment Type.

3. Select Child Assignment Types.

4. Select the Add button.

5. Click the Available Workers tab and notice how the workers are copied from the parent

Assignment Type.

6. You can remove or add any necessary workers for this Assignment Type.

7. Click on the Custom Fields tab. If there were any custom fields in the IT Assignment Type, they

would be included here.

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8. Add the following custom fields:

Field Name Type Options/Qualifiers Properties

Instructions Static HTML Content

<b>For Adds:</b><br /> Please provide as much information as possible. <br /> <b>For Updates:</b> <br /> Please select the school from the school list and provide only the information that is changing.

Visible = Y Required = N Read Only = Y Show On List = N

Request Type Radio List Add, Update Visible = Y Required = Y Read Only = N Show On List = Y

School List Lookup Type School Visible = Y Required = N Read Only = N Show On List = N

School Name Textbox Visible = Y Required = N Read Only = N Show On List = N

Type Checkbox List High School, Middle School, Elementary

Visible = Y Required = N Read Only = N Show On List = N

Address Address Visible = Y Required = N Read Only = N Show On List = N

Phone Phone Number Include Extension Visible = Y Required = N Read Only = N Show On List = N

District Textbox Visible = Y Required = N Read Only = N Show On List = N

9. Click on the Workflow States tab.

10. Edit the Open State.

11. Add the Remind Worker Action with a 2-day delay.

12. Save the State.

13. Click on the General Tab add basic Assignment information.

14. Click the Update button to save your changes.

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Security

Security can be configured from the Security tab on the Assignment Type page. For a user to be able to

access, create, and work on an Assignment, he or she needs to have view permissions to the Assignment

Type. There are two different ways that security can be configured, each with its benefits and

drawbacks.

If you want to allow a user to add/view an Assignment using the default Assignment Type and

Assignment Entry page, the user needs to have view access to the Assignment Type and to its

complete hierarchy. Using our example listed above, a user needs to have view permissions to the IT

and Add/Update School Assignment Types.

o Benefits

Ability to go to a single page to see all Assignments associated with an Assignment

Type

Ability to go to one page to create Assignments for all Assignment Types to which a

user or role may have access.

o Drawbacks

Having view access to a parent Assignment Type gives you the ability to see

Assignments from all child Assignment Types in List view.

This is only a concern if you allow a user or role to view the Assignment Type

page.

If the user selects an Assignment that he or she does not have access to, the user

receives an error message on the Assignment Details page.

Depending on the number of Assignment Types to which a user has access and your

Assignment hierarchy, the page could grow rather large.

The second option is to create additional pages and have multiple instances of the Assignment Type

and Assignment Entry modules. Both of these modules allow for an administrator to specify which

Assignment Type to associate with the module instance. This can be either a parent or a child

Assignment Type. This allows you to better filter to which Assignment Types user has access.

o Benefits

As an Administrator you do not have to grant users/role access to an Assignment

Type’s complete hierarchy.

It allows for filtering of the Assignment Entry page and keeps the user from scrolling

or clicking through too many Assignment Types.

Can help to prevent the view issue listed above

o Drawbacks

More pages and modules to administer

Users may have to go to multiple pages to create or view an Assignment.

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Entering and Viewing Assignments

Assignment Selection

From the above page the user can select from any of the parent Assignment Types to which he or she

has view access. Once a user clicks on the Assignment Type, it either opens the Assignment Entry (if

there are no children) or allows the user to select a child Assignment Type.

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Assignment Entry

From the Assignment Entry screen, a user enters an Assignment Request. This screen shows the

Assignment fields that are applicable to the Assignment Type and also uses the Request Type entry in

the header for the Title and for the Description fields. The Title, Description, Requester (defaults to the

current user), and Priority fields are always required, as well as any custom fields that are set to

Required when the Assignment Type was created.

Assignment Confirmation

After successfully entering an Assignment, the user receives a confirmation screen stating that the

request has been submitted and providing an option to view the Assignment Details. The Requester and

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Worker receive an email message confirming and notifying them that an Assignment has been created, if

the Assign Worker action is configured to send notification emails.

Assignment Detail (View Mode)

When the Assignment Detail page is in view mode, it shows the title of the Assignment and description

at the top of the page, a brief summary about the Requester on the left, the user to whom it is assigned,

along with all visible information about the Assignment on the right. The Assignment’s history is listed

under the command buttons.

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Assignment Command Buttons

The command buttons (Edit and Close buttons) are visible in the following situations:

o User has edit permissions to the Assignment Type.

o User is the Requester and the Assignment Type is configured to allow Requesters to edit the

Assignments that they have created.

o User is assigned as a Worker to the Assignment Type.

Button Functions

o Edit – Open the Assignment in edit mode.

o Close – Open the Assignment in close mode.

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Assignment Detail (Edit Mode)

When the Assignment Detail page is opened in edit mode, all the editable fields are enabled, and a notes

section becomes available. The notes entered here can either be added to the requester’s Person Notes

on the person detail page, or they can also be marked as private. If a note is marked as private, all users

are able to see that a note is created but are not be able to see the content of the note. Only the user

that created the note is able to see it.

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Assignment Detail (Close Mode)

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When the Assignment Detail page is opened in close mode, the state is set to Closed, and the notes

section is replaced with a resolution textbox and is not required. Once it is saved, the Assignment is

moved to the closed state and marked as inactive.

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Assignment Detail (Closed)

After an Assignment is marked as closed, the Assignment is marked as Inactive. It also displays the

resolution below the title and description. There is also an option to reopen the Assignment if necessary.

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Create an Assignment Type (with workflow) with Person Detail Workflow

Scenario

The Children’s Ministry would like to better manage and track where prospective volunteers are in the

ministry assignment process.

Work Process Flow

Steps

1. Open the Assignment Type Page and click the Add Assignment button .

2. Click the Available Worker’s tab and add at least one worker using the Add Worker button .

3. Click on the Custom Fields tab and add the following Custom Fields:

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Field Name Type Options/Qualifiers Properties

Volunteer Prospect Person Person Page ID = 7 Visible = Y Required = Y Read Only = N Show on List = Y

Wants to Serve In Drop-down List

Infants, Toddlers, Preschool, Children, Tweens, Any Area

Visible = Y Required = N Read Only = N Show On List = Y

Background Check on File Radio List Yes, No, Unknown Visible = Y Required = Y Read Only = N Show On List = Y

1st Follow Up Attempt Date Visible = Y Required = N Read Only = N Show On List = Y

1st Follow Up Type Drop-down List

Phone Call, Email, Text, In Person, Letter

Visible = Y Required = N Read Only = N Show On List = Y

2nd Follow Up Attempt Date Visible = Y Required = N Read Only = N Show On List = Y

2nd Follow Up Type Drop-down List

Phone Call, Email, Text, In Person, Letter

Visible = Y Required = N Read Only = N Show On List = Y

Entrance Interview Date Visible = Y Required = N Read Only = N Show On List = Y

Placed Radio Yes, No

Placed Date Date Visible = Y Required = N Read Only = N Show On List = Y

4. Create General Tab Basic Assignment information. However, update Workflow Type as Person

Detail.

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5. Create the following workflow steps.

6. Click update to save all work.

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Start a Workflow from the Person Detail Page

1. Verify that the Show Workflow property on the Individual Information page is set to True.

a. This step only has to be done once by the Administrator.

2. Refresh Cache if an update is made.

a. This step may have to be done once by the Administrator.

3. Search for the person for whom you want to start the workflow using the search box(es) on the

navigation bar.

4. Select the workflow that you want to start from the “—Select Workflow To Start – “ drop-down.

5. Click the Lightning Bolt button to start the workflow.

6. You see the following message “The workflow assignment, {Assignment Type} [{User}], has been

started.”

6. The new Assignment can now be viewed under the Assignment Type that was selected in the

drop-down.

Before joining Shelby as a certified staff trainer, Ben Lane served as a youth minister and a minister of education at various churches. His desire is to help churches maximize their ministry through effective use of Shelby software. Currently he is a Senior Staff Trainer and trains on all Shelby products. He is married to Dr. Sheryl Lane and has two sons and one granddaughter. It is an honor to serve the Lord, His church and His servants.

Ben Lane Senior Staff Trainer Ben.lane@shelbyinc.com