Managing Work Items

The primary purpose of VETembark is the management of Work items.

Work items generally represent any incoming mail item that requires action or further communication via notes.

For example, an email sent to the VETembark email address will appear within the system as a Work item, displaying it's message body and the details of the sender. It can then be assigned to an Internal user of VETembark, who can respond via notes and manipulate the Type/Stage of the Work item as it proceeds towards it's completion.

The vast majority of areas within VETembark will display relevant work items for the entity you are viewing - such as Courses, Contacts and Agencies, etc.

Selecting a Work item will display the Management Screen for it:

• 
  The Work Item Number is displayed as a quick reference for this particular work item.
• 
  The Work Item Title is originally derived from the subject of the initial email - Or entered when the work item is created via an internal user. This can be edited if required.
• Within this header, a range of Dates are displayed to show history for the work item. Clicking the (History) wording will even open an additional window to show more granular details.  You may also merge work items using the "combine" button from the top right hand section.

Assignment panel

• 
  The left-hand side is the Assignment Panel. This area is dedicated to admin-level management of the work item including sections Email, VETembark and VETtrak:

Email section:

1. 
   
   • Email subject
   • The Contact communicates which parties are to receive email replies to this work item. This area also allows you to configure any additional CC's for the communication. Clicking on the CC will bring up a modal box to manage the CC's.
     

2.  VETembark section:
   

   • Assigned indicates which VETembark user is handling the work item. If no-one is currently assigned, you can drop-down the menu to nominate an internal user, or press Take to immediately assign it to yourself (the logged in user):
     
   • The Type drop-down allows you to select a category for the work item, via a Work Item Type. These work as a sorting tool to group work items that cater to specific processes and needs.
   • A Stage can be selected for the work item to immediately communicate what step it may be at – this can be used to show pending items, awaiting feedback - Whatever you may require. Standard Stage items include New, Open and Closed.
   • The Tag area allows you to "tag" the work item with custom tags in order to further enhance working with groups of like work items.  Tags are searchable in work item lists.  See settings section for further information for managing tags.

VETtrak section:

The VETtrak section shows the integration with your VETtrak data for this work item.  There are several VETtrak entities that are loosely associated with a work item.  These include: client, agent (a special employer contact), agency (a special employer record), programme and occurrence.

• The Client record from VETtrak associated with this work item.
• The VETtrak Programme associated with this work item.
• If a Programme is selected you may also associate a VETtrak Occurrence with this work item.
• There is also an indicator showing if the enrolment actually exists in your VETtrak system.

Work Item Communication Panel

The Work Item Communication Panel is the primary area for entering information into your work items, including the option to change the subject of the written replies if needed.

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  Attach a form URL allows you to attach custom form links to the work item.  See the section on Custom forms for further details.
• 
  The Public Reply/Internal Note can be toggled to select between sending a public reply to the recipient (and CC's) or recording an internal-only note for other VETembark users. These internal notes are not viewable by the work item recipient contact, nor included in correspondence.
  
  The composer will display like so to indicate an internal note is being recorded:
  
• The Work Item Comment Body provides a simple composer area to write work item responses, with a range of formatting tools for the body of your message.
• 
  The Choose files area allows you to attach files that are to be sent as part of your response, or attached to the internal note for others.
• 
  The Send/Submit button will process your reply/internal note, updating the work item.

Scrolling down the page will show previous replies and comments – eventually showing the initial point of contact for the work item:

Within this area you can add notes and progress the work item in collaboration with the recipient – updating the Stage as it continues towards a completed status.

Creating a Work Item

Work items can also be initially created within VETembark, prompting email contact with the chosen recipient. This can be useful for when the requirement calls for the VETembark user to establish initial contact.

To do this, access the Quick Create menu in the top left and select Add Work Item:

This will display the wizard modal to Create New Work Item:

Within this area, you can assign the main administrative details of the work item, including:

1. The Contact associated with this work item (required)
2. Select the Work Item Type  to categorise it
3. Define what Stage the work item is considered to be at
4. Assign a VETembark user to initially manage the Work item (required)

Once these details are entered, press Continue.

The second step allows you to select VETtrak Entities relating to this work item:

Pressing Continue will then display the final step of the process.

In this area, you can compose the initial note contact for the work item, to be sent to the recipient. This includes any file attachments that may be required:

The work item will then be available to manage within VETembark system using any of the options described above.