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Feature guide

Tasks and kanban

Run human work with assignments, queues, forms, outcomes, collaboration, SLAs, and visual boards.

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Complete feature description

Understanding tasks and kanban in UserTasks

Tasks are the human execution layer of UserTasks. They represent work assigned directly to a person, offered through a team queue, or created by a workflow that must pause for human input. A task carries priority, due dates, acceptance state, assignment, forms, outcomes, messages, files, subtasks, metadata, and lifecycle history.

Workflow User Tasks connect the runtime task to a paused workflow event. When completion rules are satisfied, submitted form data and the selected outcome return to the workflow as variables. Reminders, SLA warnings, and escalation continue to operate while the task is open.

Kanban boards provide a visual projection of work with columns, ordering, custom fields, subscriptions, and optional task synchronization. Queue, tracker, capacity, and reporting views serve different operational roles without creating separate work records.

When to use this feature

  • A person must review, approve, investigate, or provide evidence.
  • Work should be offered to a team rather than preassigned.
  • Due dates, reminders, outcomes, or escalation must be tracked.
  • Managers need workload, status, and capacity visibility.

What you can build

  • Shared approval and service queues
  • Investigation and exception work
  • Case-management task plans
  • SLA-governed review processes
  • Team kanban boards
  • Structured checklists and subtasks

Production design notes

  • Choose direct versus queue assignment deliberately and define who may redirect work.
  • Use outcomes with stable values because workflow branches depend on them.
  • Set realistic reminder and escalation thresholds to avoid notification fatigue.
  • Bind a form when completion requires structured data rather than relying on free-text notes.

Core concepts

Direct and queued assignment

Assign work to a user or team, or place it in a queue for acceptance.

Task lifecycle

Tasks move through todo, acceptance, action, completion, rejection, reassignment, and escalation events.

Structured completion

Attach forms, subtasks, outcomes, completion rules, messages, files, and task data.

Kanban projection

Visualize and edit operational work on boards while synchronizing selected items with tasks.

Actions and capabilities

What designers and operators can do in this product area.

Task lifecycle actions

Create, assign, action, complete, redirect, remind, and decompose human work.

Task lifecycle actions

Create and assign

Set title, description, priority, due date, assignee, team, assignment mode, and queue behavior.

Example: Use tasks and kanban as part of a repeatable operational process.
Configuration inputs
  • Permission to view and edit the relevant tasks and kanban assets.
  • The target tasks and kanban configuration and target assets.
  • Any required mappings, recipients, filters, variables, permissions, or lifecycle settings shown by the designer.
How to use it
  1. 1.Open Tasks and kanban from the main navigation.
  2. 2.Create or open the relevant asset and choose “Create and assign”.
  3. 3.Complete the required fields, map dynamic values, and review access to every referenced asset.
  4. 4.Use preview, test, or validation where available; correct errors before publishing or executing.
  5. 5.Run the action and inspect its status, output, history, or audit record.
Expected results
  • The configured action completes and its result is available to authorized users.
  • Failures remain visible with enough context to correct configuration or retry safely.

Task lifecycle actions

Accept or reject

Let workers claim queued tasks or reject them with lifecycle history.

Example: Use tasks and kanban as part of a repeatable operational process.
Configuration inputs
  • Permission to view and edit the relevant tasks and kanban assets.
  • The target tasks and kanban configuration and target assets.
  • Any required mappings, recipients, filters, variables, permissions, or lifecycle settings shown by the designer.
How to use it
  1. 1.Open Tasks and kanban from the main navigation.
  2. 2.Create or open the relevant asset and choose “Accept or reject”.
  3. 3.Complete the required fields, map dynamic values, and review access to every referenced asset.
  4. 4.Use preview, test, or validation where available; correct errors before publishing or executing.
  5. 5.Run the action and inspect its status, output, history, or audit record.
Expected results
  • The configured action completes and its result is available to authorized users.
  • Failures remain visible with enough context to correct configuration or retry safely.

Task lifecycle actions

Complete with outcome

Submit bound form data and select one of the configured workflow outcomes.

Example: Use tasks and kanban as part of a repeatable operational process.
Configuration inputs
  • Permission to view and edit the relevant tasks and kanban assets.
  • The target tasks and kanban configuration and target assets.
  • Any required mappings, recipients, filters, variables, permissions, or lifecycle settings shown by the designer.
How to use it
  1. 1.Open Tasks and kanban from the main navigation.
  2. 2.Create or open the relevant asset and choose “Complete with outcome”.
  3. 3.Complete the required fields, map dynamic values, and review access to every referenced asset.
  4. 4.Use preview, test, or validation where available; correct errors before publishing or executing.
  5. 5.Run the action and inspect its status, output, history, or audit record.
Expected results
  • The configured action completes and its result is available to authorized users.
  • Failures remain visible with enough context to correct configuration or retry safely.

Task lifecycle actions

Reassign or redirect

Move work to another eligible user or team with configurable recipient controls.

Example: Use tasks and kanban as part of a repeatable operational process.
Configuration inputs
  • Permission to view and edit the relevant tasks and kanban assets.
  • The target tasks and kanban configuration and target assets.
  • Any required mappings, recipients, filters, variables, permissions, or lifecycle settings shown by the designer.
How to use it
  1. 1.Open Tasks and kanban from the main navigation.
  2. 2.Create or open the relevant asset and choose “Reassign or redirect”.
  3. 3.Complete the required fields, map dynamic values, and review access to every referenced asset.
  4. 4.Use preview, test, or validation where available; correct errors before publishing or executing.
  5. 5.Run the action and inspect its status, output, history, or audit record.
Expected results
  • The configured action completes and its result is available to authorized users.
  • Failures remain visible with enough context to correct configuration or retry safely.

Task lifecycle actions

Remind and escalate

Schedule reminders and escalate overdue work to a user, team, or manager.

Example: Use tasks and kanban as part of a repeatable operational process.
Configuration inputs
  • Permission to view and edit the relevant tasks and kanban assets.
  • The target tasks and kanban configuration and target assets.
  • Any required mappings, recipients, filters, variables, permissions, or lifecycle settings shown by the designer.
How to use it
  1. 1.Open Tasks and kanban from the main navigation.
  2. 2.Create or open the relevant asset and choose “Remind and escalate”.
  3. 3.Complete the required fields, map dynamic values, and review access to every referenced asset.
  4. 4.Use preview, test, or validation where available; correct errors before publishing or executing.
  5. 5.Run the action and inspect its status, output, history, or audit record.
Expected results
  • The configured action completes and its result is available to authorized users.
  • Failures remain visible with enough context to correct configuration or retry safely.

Task lifecycle actions

Create subtasks

Break a task into smaller tracked steps with independent completion state.

Example: Use tasks and kanban as part of a repeatable operational process.
Configuration inputs
  • Permission to view and edit the relevant tasks and kanban assets.
  • The target tasks and kanban configuration and target assets.
  • Any required mappings, recipients, filters, variables, permissions, or lifecycle settings shown by the designer.
How to use it
  1. 1.Open Tasks and kanban from the main navigation.
  2. 2.Create or open the relevant asset and choose “Create subtasks”.
  3. 3.Complete the required fields, map dynamic values, and review access to every referenced asset.
  4. 4.Use preview, test, or validation where available; correct errors before publishing or executing.
  5. 5.Run the action and inspect its status, output, history, or audit record.
Expected results
  • The configured action completes and its result is available to authorized users.
  • Failures remain visible with enough context to correct configuration or retry safely.

Kanban boards and items

Visualize work by stage and keep board items synchronized with operational tasks.

Kanban boards and items

Create and update kanban items

Manage boards, items, fields, subscriptions, ordering, and task synchronization.

Example: Use a Service Requests board with Review and Approved columns; moving a linked item to Approved resumes its workflow path.
Configuration inputs
  • A board name and the columns that represent your real work stages.
  • Item fields such as title, description, due date, assignee, priority, and custom values.
  • Optional task synchronization, workflow subscriptions, ordering, and target-column mappings.
How to use it
  1. 1.Open Kanban and create a board for one clearly defined process.
  2. 2.Add and order columns such as Backlog, In progress, Review, and Done.
  3. 3.Create an item manually or configure a workflow User Task to create and link one automatically.
  4. 4.Move the item between columns, edit its fields, and confirm linked task values remain synchronized.
  5. 5.Add board or item event subscriptions when a column change should start automation.
Expected results
  • The board displays ordered items in the correct process stage.
  • Linked tasks and Kanban items share lifecycle context without creating duplicate work.
  • Subscribed board events can start workflows with board, column, item, and task identifiers.

Potential use cases

Patterns you can adapt to your own operating model.

Approval queue

Route requests to a shared team and let the next available reviewer claim them.

Workflow creates queued task
Team member accepts
Review form
Approve/reject outcome
Workflow resumes

SLA escalation

Warn owners before a deadline and escalate overdue work automatically.

Set due date
Reminder schedule
SLA warning
Escalation assignment
Capacity report