Worklists

Worklist templates

Setting	Purpose
Applies To	The kind of record the items point to, such as a form or a process.
Assignment	None, Team (a fixed team for every item), or Matrix (a team matrix decides; see below).
Default Priority	Priority for items that don’t get one from the matrix. Lower numbers come first.
Member Url	Where Next sends the user. Placeholders such as {SourceObjectID} are filled from the item and its record.
Member Format	How items are named. The default is {Label}. {GrandParent}: {Label} gives names like Acme Service Contract: Document Approval.
Sticky	Keeps an item with the person who worked the same record before (see below).
Business Hours	A calendar. When it’s set, completion time is measured in business minutes.
Audit	An audit matrix (see Audit sampling).
Calculate method	For query-based worklists, the filter that selects records (see Exception queues).
Recalculate / Restart Schedule	Schedules for refreshing a query-based worklist, or for restarting the worklist.
Extranet	Whether partners can see the worklist’s items (see Templates).

To give a form template its own worklist, use Create a Worklist on the form template.

Assignment by matrix

With Assignment set to Matrix, QBO evaluates the template’s team matrix against each new item’s record. Use Create Team Matrix to start one; it’s named Assignment: {template}. QBO reads these outputs:

Output	Effect
Team	Name of the team (label) that may work the item
Person	User the item is assigned to
Priority	Item priority
SmartWorklist	Name of the worklist the item belongs in. QBO uses the open worklist with that name, or creates one.

If the matrix doesn’t supply a team or priority, QBO uses the worklist’s, then the template’s. Assignment runs when an item is created, and again whenever you Auto-Assign.

Assign items to teams, not people, and let users pull work with Next. Each team member has a priority for the team, so senior staff can drain a specialist queue first and fall back to general work.

Sticky assignment

When a form creates a new item, Sticky can give it to the person who handled an earlier item for the same form:

Setting	Looks for a previous assignee in…
Current Worklist	the same worklist
Current Template	any worklist from the same template
Any Open Worklist	any open worklist
Any Worklist	any worklist, open or closed

A person assigned directly on the form always takes precedence.

Escalation by status

Approval chains are built from form statuses. In the form template’s State Diagram, list the allowed moves, such as Processor Review → Supervisor Review. For each move, set a role or permission required and, optionally, a worklist template. When a form changes status:

1. A move that isn’t in the diagram, or that the user isn’t allowed to make, is rejected.
2. Open items for the old status are completed.
3. A new item is created on the move’s worklist (or the form’s own worklist), unless the new status is final.

Use the form’s Status button layout to show one button for each allowed move.

Exception queues

Exception management means turning problems into owned, measurable work. There are three ways to build exception queues:

• Query-based worklists. Set Applies To to the record type and Calculate method to a search, for example Process/Search?SqlFilters=MissingDocuments, where MissingDocuments is a filter you’ve defined on the module. QBO uses the parameters after the ?, so include it. Calculate adds matching records that aren’t already in the worklist and cancels items whose records no longer match, with the reason Criteria No Longer Met. Schedule recalculation and the queue clears itself as problems are fixed.
• Exception forms. A workflow step, an import, or an API call creates an exception form (such as Data Exception) on the record when it detects a problem. The form’s worklist picks it up, and completing the form clears it. Pass a worklist name when you create the form, such as Exceptions: October import, to start a separate queue for each batch.
• Matrix routing. A team matrix SmartWorklist output sends items to a named worklist, such as one per client or region, and creates it on first use.

You can also drag a spreadsheet onto the Worklists dashboard to create a form template (one question per column), a form for each row, and a worklist for them all. The spreadsheet needs a Template column.

Audit sampling

Use Create Audit Matrix to start an audit matrix, named Audit: {template}. Its outputs are:

Output	Default	Meaning
Percent	10	Share of completed items to audit
Minimum	1	Audit at least this many
Maximum	none	Audit at most this many
Template	Audit: {template}	Worklist template for the audit items

Add inputs and rows to vary the rate, for example 50% for high-value items and 5% for the rest. Running Audit on a worklist evaluates its completed items against the matrix, picks a sample for each matching row, and queues the sample for assignment on the audit worklist. Records already in the audit worklist aren’t sampled twice. If the audit template doesn’t exist yet, QBO creates it, using the original template’s URL with an Audit parameter added.

Managing worklists

Managers can select items and Assign a team or person, Auto-Assign (rerun the matrix), Requeue (clear the start date and assignee, keeping the team and priority by default), Complete, or Cancel. Restart closes a worklist and opens a fresh one containing only pending items, keeping teams and priorities but not assignees by default, then reruns assignment. Cancel Worklist stops all its items from being offered.

Caution

Completing or cancelling a work item doesn’t complete or cancel the form or record behind it, and it skips the form’s required-field checks. Complete the forms themselves when the underlying work is really done.