In your settings menu, you have an option for workflow that allows you to customize everything around how your team works. Your workflow settings include workflow status, work types, task types and task statuses.
Index
Workflow Settings
Your workflow settings include:
Workflow Statuses
A master list of statuses used for work items, beginning with five primary statuses that can have as many sub-statuses under each primary status as needed
Work Types
Karbon has a list of work types available that allow efficient tracking and visualizations of groups of work
Task Types
A list of task types available that allow efficient tracking of all activities done within a work item
Task Statuses
A list of primary statuses and default sub-statuses that can be applied as a status for tasks in a work item
Video Overview of Workflow (2 mins)
Learn the ins & outs of setting up your workflow (custom statuses, work types and Global Automators)
Customize your Workflow Statuses
To get started, you will need to set up your master list of workflow statuses. You will have a set of primary statuses, there you will be able to add as many sub-statuses under each primary status that you will need.
Any item’s status can be set to Planned, Ready to Start, In Progress, Waiting, or Complete. Under each of these five main statuses, you have the option to create and set your own customized sub-statuses. These custom statuses in combination with work types and automators will allow you to optimize your workflow and better manage and keep track of your team’s work in the way that suits you.
For example: if you’re waiting on completed forms to be returned from a client, marking that task as “Waiting” may not give you all the detail you require. Instead, you can create a Waiting sub-status called “Waiting on client” and mark that task with this new status. Now you and your team can know, at a glance, exactly what you are waiting on.
To create and edit your workflow statuses, go to Settings from the Main Menu, select Workflow and choose the tab Statuses.
Under each of the main statuses, you can create new sub-statuses, edit or delete existing sub-statuses, or reorder a sub-status by using drag & drop. If you delete a custom workflow status, Karbon will prompt you with a modal to bulk reassign everything currently in that status to a different status of your choosing.
Keep in mind you can create as many sub-statuses as you need to effectively manage your team’s workflow, however, any changes you make to your workflow statuses will immediately go into effect across your entire team.
Once your workflow statuses have been created, you can update the status of any item in Karbon, using its drop-down menu.
Best practice tip: Use this custom status matrix to help you organize how you want to build your statuses and work types within Karbon.
Once your matrix is built, go into Karbon and use the Settings section to create/update (from the main navigation panel).
Workflow statuses: Add all custom statuses to the four status groups
Work types: Add all listed work types to the list
Select a work type and then check the custom workflow statuses that apply to the selected work type
Work Types
Karbon allows you to customize the way your team works for specific Work Types.
At any given time, a firm has different types of ongoing jobs. Particularly during tax season or compliance time when there is a high volume of work with external deadlines, managers want to track and visualize groups of work to effectively manage its flow and ensure work is done in the most efficient way.
Common work types per country
Update your work types to suit your firm's needs. Below is a list of common work types listed by country:
Australia
| United States
| United Kingdom
|
New Zealand
| Rest of the world
|
Video Overview of Work Types
Understand the basics and defaults for work types in Karbon's settings to better manage and automate your work and workflow.
Add, edit and delete Work Types
Once you've set up your master list of workflow statuses, you will then be ready to set up your workflows, which lets you customize and map out the process for particular types of work.
To do this you will need to set up some work types and then map out the workflow for each one by selecting which workflow statuses from the master list apply to that work type.
You can add a work type by:
Clicking on Settings off of your Main Menu
Selecting Workflow
Click on the Work Types tab
Click on Add Work Type and name the new work type and assign the work and task statuses that best fit your workflow.
If you need to edit a work type, simply hover over the work type you want to edit, then click the options menu '...' to the right of the work type and then 'Edit'. You can now rename the work type or edit which statuses that work type should relate to.
If a specific workflow status does not show up in the list for a work type, use the instructions above to edit the workflow statuses in the work type.
If you need to delete a work type, click the options menu '...' and then delete. If you delete a work type that is currently applied to a workflow it will prompt you to replace the work type. If you simply want to delete the type, select 'None'.
Apply a work type to a work item
You can apply a work type to a work item by:
Opening the work item
Selecting the Details tab
Clicking edit on the Basics section
Selecting the drop-down for the Work Type and choosing your new work type
If the work is on a schedule, Karbon will ask you if you'd like to apply the work type to future work.
Update work types on templates
To apply a work type to a work template:
Clicking on Settings off of your Main Menu
Clicking on the Work Template section
Selecting your template of choice
Clicking into the Details tab of the template
Clicking edit on the Basics section
Selecting the drop-down for the Work Type and choosing your new work type
Default Work Type
As well to be available for your work items, your Custom Workflow Statuses are available for tasks, notes and emails. Because the workflows of these items might be different from your work items, you have a separate area to choose what statuses will be available under 'Default Work Type'.
The default work type will also be applied to any work item that doesn’t have a defined work type. This default work type is also used for any note or email that has been assigned to a team member. We recommend you edit your default work type and decide which sub-statuses you want to apply to it.
For each work type, there are three levels of a workflow
Work status
which impacts what statuses can be applied to the work item
Task status
which impacts what statuses can be applied to tasks within that work item
Email / Note Status
which impacts what statuses will be available for emails and notes that are assigned to team members
You may decide to use the same status for both, or select different statuses.
You are unable to uncheck any of your five primary statuses (Planned, Ready To Start, In Progress, Waiting, Completed) - they need to be made available for all items.
If you choose to uncheck a custom status that is currently in use by a task, email or note, that item will be assigned the primary status that the custom status sits under.
Task Types
At any given time, a firm has a slew of work being performed by many different people assuming many different roles. Within those jobs, many individual activities are being completed to ensure the client is served. These activities may or may not be billed for and when billed, at differing rates depending on who completes the work. As the work is completed, time is logged against these activities to ensure fixed fees are profitable for the firm while, for time and materials engagements, client-based activity is billed back to the client.
To enable the ability to track these activities, associate them properly on work templates and work items. To track what is billable, you need to update your task types to suit your firm's needs.
Below are more common work types that have been added to your instance by default:
Accounting
Admin
Auditing
Bookkeeping
Business Advisory
CFO
Compliance
Consulting
Financial Planning
Internal Admin (not billable)
Meetings
Payroll
Research
Review
Tax
Training
A Task Type is what you record your time against, indicating the type of activity you are doing within the Role you have chosen. By also adding a Task Type to specific tasks in your work items and work templates, you can also get more granular reporting on actual time spent versus your budgeted time for that type.
Note: if a Task Type is set to 'none' the default billing rate is $0, unless you set a custom rate within that specific work item.
Add, edit and delete Task Types
Go to Settings > Workflow > Task Types > click on Add Task Type, name the new task type and select Billable Task Type if the task type is billable. Click Save.
When a task type is NOT marked billable, a Not Billable flag will be presented next to the task type. In addition, any activity associated to this non-billable task type won't be included in related budgets and utilization reports.
If you want to edit a task type, simply click on the name to rename it or choose if it is billable or not. Then click save. You can also click on the name of a task type to delete it. If you choose to delete a task type and you have tasks in your work items with that task type, you will be prompted to select a replacement or you are able to just select 'None'.
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