Using Tasks in Advice Ally
Tasks help you turn the actions discussed in a client meeting into work your team can track. Review the tasks identified by Odin, add your own follow-ups, assign responsibility and keep the supporting documents and conversation together.
This guide covers Tasks in the Advice Ally Next web experience.
Where to find your tasks
You can work with tasks in three main places:
Tasks in the left navigation
Search, filter and manage tasks across your practice.
Tasks on the home screen
Review tasks assigned to you and make quick updates.
Tasks within a meeting
Review the actions identified from that meeting and add meeting-specific follow-ups.
Search
Find tasks from anywhere in the app and reopen recent tasks.
Select a task to open its full details, including its description, assignee, due date, comments, checklist, attachments and history.
If Tasks is missing, check whether you are using the Advice Ally Next experience. Standalone Tasks is not available in the legacy interface. Contact your practice administrator or Halosoft support if you need help accessing the new experience.
Home screen showing My tasks, Filters and the add button.
Find tasks using Search
Use Search to find a task without first opening the Tasks list. You can also reopen a recent task or start a new one from the same panel.
Select the Search field at the top of the screen, click the magnifying-glass icon in the left navigation, or press Ctrl + K.
Select Tasks at the top of the search panel to focus on task results.
Enter your search text, or choose an item under Recent tasks.
Select the task to open its details.
The search panel shows task titles, priority icons and statuses. Tasks with overdue dates display the date in red, helping you identify work that needs attention.
Search with Tasks selected showing the New task quick action and recent tasks.
To create a task from this panel, select New task under Quick actions. The panel also displays Shift + T as the shortcut for this action.
Review tasks from a meeting
Odin can automatically identify tasks when a meeting is processed. These appear in the meeting's Tasks tab and in the main task list.
Open the processed meeting.
Select Tasks.
Review each task and expand any additional detail.
Check that the action accurately reflects what was agreed.
Open the task from the main Tasks list to update its details, assign it to the right team member and set a suitable due date.
Automatically generated tasks initially have these settings:
Assignee
The user who uploaded the meeting
Status
To Do
Priority
Normal
Review these defaults before handing work to your team. The initial assignee does not necessarily reflect who agreed to complete the action during the meeting.
Use the view selector within the meeting to show all tasks, open tasks or completed tasks. The meeting initially shows all tasks. Marking a task complete from the meeting updates its status to Done in the task system.
Meeting Tasks tab with Prepare Advice expanded to show Next Best Steps.
The expanded task can include Next Best Steps, a summary and the scope of the action. Use the chevron beside its title to expand or collapse this detail. The View all selector and + button sit above the meeting task cards.
Add another task to the meeting
In the meeting's Tasks tab, select +.
Enter the task title and any supporting details.
Check the assignee, priority and due date.
Save the task.
The task is linked to the meeting and its household. The household is prefilled and cannot be changed in this creation window.
Create a task manually
Use manual tasks for follow-ups or work that was not captured in a meeting.
Select Tasks in the left navigation, then Add task. You can also select Add task from the left navigation's + menu.
Enter a clear title, such as “Request the client's latest superannuation statement”.
Add the details your colleague will need to complete the work.
Choose the assignee, due date, priority and household, where relevant.
Select Save.
Title
A short description of the action. This is required.
Description
Instructions, context and the expected outcome. Rich text formatting, lists and links are supported.
Assignee
The team member responsible. A task has one assignee and defaults to you.
Status
To Do, In Progress or Done. New tasks default to To Do.
Priority
The relative urgency of the work. The default is Normal.
Due date
When the work needs to be completed. This is optional and can be cleared.
Household
The household the task relates to. A manually created task can have one household or none.
After saving, use the confirmation message to open the task, or select it from the Tasks list.
Tip: Keep the title focused on the action and put the explanation in the description. This makes the task list easier to scan.
Find and prioritise your work
The Tasks list shows each task's title, ID, status, priority, assignee, due date and linked household.
Tasks list grouped by due date, with filters across the top.
By default, the list filters to tasks assigned to you with a status of To Do or In Progress. Tasks are ordered by due date, with overdue work first and tasks without a due date last.
- Use Assignee to view another team member's work or select several people.
- Use Status to include completed tasks or focus on a particular stage.
- Use Priority, Due date, Household and Source to narrow the list further.
- Use Quick filter anything to search within the list.
- Use Group by to organise the results. The screenshot shows Due date grouping, with Overdue and No due date sections.
- Select a column heading to sort by that field. Select it again to reverse the order.
Filters work together. For example, selecting a colleague and In Progress shows that colleague's tasks currently in progress.
Can't find a task? Check the assignee and status filters and clear any search text. A completed or reassigned task may no longer match your current view.
Update, assign and complete a task
Task details with attachments, comments and the checklist panel.
In the full task view, the household and task ID appear at the top left. Status, assignee, priority and due date are across the top. The main panel contains the title, description, attachments and comments; Checklist and History are in the right-hand panel.
For a quick update, change the status, priority, assignee, due date or household directly in the Tasks list. You can also open the task to edit these fields and its title or description.
Changes to the task's assignee, status, priority and due date save automatically. If a text field displays a save control, use it to confirm your edit before closing.
To Do
The action is still waiting to be started.
In Progress
Work has started and is not yet finished.
Done
The action has been completed.
When handing a task to a colleague, update the assignee and leave enough detail for them to pick it up. If you need to draw their attention to something, mention them in a comment.
When the work is complete, add any useful outcome or handover detail in a comment, then set the task to Done. To find it later, include Done in the status filter.
Collaborate using comments and mentions
Use comments to keep updates and questions alongside the task.
Open the task and go to the comments area.
Write your update or question.
To mention a colleague, type @ and select the person from your practice.
Post the comment, or reply to an existing comment to keep the discussion together.
For example: “@Colleague The client has sent the statement. I've attached it here. Please check the balance before completing the task.”
A colleague mentioned in a task comment receives an in-app notification. They can open it to go to the task and the relevant comment. Use the Mentions tab in the notification panel to find these updates.
Mention notifications apply to comments. Mentioning yourself does not create a notification. Setting an assignee or due date is not the same as sending a mention notification.
Break larger tasks into a checklist
A checklist is useful when one task involves several smaller actions.
Open the task and select Checklist.
Select Add item and enter the first action.
Add the remaining items.
Hover over an item to set an optional due date or access its menu.
Tick each item as it is completed.
You can edit items, drag them into a different order, untick completed items and delete items through their … menu. The progress indicator shows how many items are complete.
Checklist items use plain text and can contain up to 255 characters. Use any save control shown when entering or editing item text; completion and ordering changes save automatically.
For example, a task to prepare for a client review could contain:
- Request updated statements.
- Confirm changes to the client's circumstances.
- Prepare the meeting agenda.
Completing every checklist item does not automatically complete the task. Set the task itself to Done when the overall action is finished.
Add supporting documents
Keep relevant documents attached to the task so the person completing it has the information they need.
Open the task.
In Attachments, select + or Browse, or drag files onto the main task body.
Wait for the upload to finish before leaving the task.
Select the download icon beside the attachment. Additional actions are under its … menu.
Each file can be up to 50 MB, with a maximum of 50 attachments per task. Some file types are blocked. If an upload fails, check the error shown against that file.
The three most recent attachments appear first. Select Show X more files to see the remaining files. Files with the same name can coexist, so check the uploader and upload date when choosing a document.
Leaving a task while uploads are still running cancels the remaining uploads. You can also cancel an individual upload using X.
The documented attachment release supports upload and download. File previews and deleting uploaded attachments are not included in that release.
Check a task's history
Open the task and select History to see who changed it and when.
History includes the original task details and subsequent changes such as reassignment, due date changes, status updates, description edits and checklist activity. It also records comments being added or replied to and attachments being added.
Where available, select See previous version to review an earlier task description. Load older history to see earlier events.
Delete a task
For a user-created task, open its … menu in the task details, Tasks list or home screen, select Delete and confirm.
Odin-generated meeting tasks cannot be deleted. The documented workflow is to mark them complete instead. If an automatically generated action is not required, add a comment explaining why it is being closed before marking it Done.
Use Tasks with an older meeting
An older meeting may need to be updated to the new file note format before it can use Tasks.
Before updating: Download and retain anything you need from the existing file note and fact find, including your edits. Updating is irreversible and replaces the existing file note, fact find and user edits.
Open the older meeting in Advice Ally Next.
Select the update banner beneath the tabs.
Select or create the household.
Review the update information, then select Update meeting if you want to proceed.
Wait for processing to finish, then reopen the meeting and check Tasks.
Updating an older meeting does not consume additional meeting hours or create an overage charge. If a processed meeting has no task data, its Tasks tab may remain inactive.