Custom Automated Workflows

We’re taking workflow management to the next level! You can now create custom subtasks per service, giving you detailed work steps and flows tailored to each entity type and customised per client. These custom workflows will replace the Task detail checkboxes for users that activate the feature. Custom workflows will enable you to:

• Set as many steps per task as you need

• Automatically assign team members to the steps

• Set budget hours for each task

• Control workflow dependencies to determine when a task can be completed.

• Customise due dates to ensure a seamless timeline

• You can also customise the due dates of the subtasks to ensure they are completed before the main task.

This powerful new feature makes task management more structured, efficient, and effortless.

In a nutshel, you will activate the custom automated workflow. DataGrows will then populate a template for each task and entity type based off the current task detail checkboxes found in the system. You can add and adjust tasks to suit your workflows. This will then populate for each task for each entity type and can be unique for each firm if you have multiple firms. Tasks can further be defined on a client level to exclude some tasks for some clients. So when you set up the tasks, set them up for the most complicated workflow for each entity type and reduce the tasks needed per client. Once this is set up all future tasks will schedule according to the team and settings you have selected.

All custom tasks that you set up will display in the new Subtasks due dashboard so you can easily see what is needed across the system.

Here’s how to get started:

 

This feature is quite comprehensive, so please follow each step carefully:

1. Enable Advanced Workflows

Go to Setup > Global Settings and select Advanced under Workflow Preference to unlock custom workflows.

2.     Create Your Custom Workflow

Once the Custom workflows are set to advanced, all of the workflow-related checkboxes (task detail checkboxes) in the task tables will be replicated as example workflow steps. For example, on Accounting – Bank Recon, Journals, Income Statement – these checkboxes will not be visible on the accounting task anymore, but instead show as individual subtasks on the record.

From here you can edit them, or create your own list from scratch. Assign them to multiple entity types and set dependencies so tasks appear exactly when they need to be completed.

*Please note that the checkboxes that might have been checked in any current task will not automatically be marked as a completed subtask.

Adjusting the Workflow:

• To adjust the workflow and add or remove steps, go to Setup > Workflow Setup

• From here you can add, remove and edit any record to create the workflows that you need for each of your firms.

Workflow Setup fields explained:

a)         Firm – the workflow steps are per firm.

If you have multiple firms, you can create custom steps per firm, or replicate them for multiple firms using a CSV upload. We recommend you create the steps for one firm in DataGrows, and then download the table, replace the firm name with the second, and upload. If you need any help please don’t hesitate to ask.

b)         Task – these are our automated Services found on the Clients table.

Currently, tasks in the Adhoc department are not supported, but will likely be added in a future upgrade. The tasks you can create a custom workflow are,

Accounting, VAT Returns, CIPC Annual Returns, CIPC BO Declaration, Financials, Compensation Fund ROE, EMP201, EMP501, Payroll, UIF uFiling, Corporate Tax Returns, Income Tax Individuals, Provisional Tax Returns, Trust Tax Returns, Turnover Tax.

c)         Entity Type – this is the trigger that will populate the subtasks to the clients.

You can choose multiple entity types, or even all, depending on the subtask. But the idea is that you can split the subtasks needed for say, CIPC registered companies, from the steps needed for a sole prop.

d)         Subtask – this is the workflow step.

We encourage detail and as many individual steps as you would like, to make it easy for your team to follow and document their progress.

e)         Description

You can add additional detail here per subtask.

f)           Budget Hours

Indicate the number of hours or minutes as hh:mm that should be allotted per task, to measure team performance.

g)         Workflow dependency – this is a number field.

Use it to tell DataGrows the order in which steps should be completed. For example, on Financials, the tax calc should not be done before the planning and other recons. So you could mark planning as 1, recons all as step 2 (as they can occur independently and at the same time), the tax calc as 3, and sending of drafts as step 4. These tasks will then only appear in the Subtasks Due Dashboard, as each previous step is marked as complete.

*The full list of tasks will appear in each task table regardless of dependency, so that you can review overall progress.

h)         Working Days before Due

You can trigger these subtasks to have a due date long before the main task. Eg, the bank recon for accounting set 10 days before Due, would be due 05/05/2025, with the accounting task due 15/05/2025 – giving your team a staggered timeline of work to complete on time.

Repopulating your custom list

This action will take all the workflow subtasks and populate them as per the setup to all the clients of the related entity types you have selected. Please note: this action clears all customisation done in the client tables, we do not recommend running this action unless you want to start from scratch in the clients’ workflows. You do need to run this action once for the first time to populate either our examples, or your own workflows, in order for them to appear under Clients and on the tasks themselves.

To do this, once you are happy with the customised list, you will need to repopulate the subtasks that have already been scheduled. Select all tasks by checking the checkbox to the left of the table. Then click on Actions > Repopulate Complete Workflows.

Refining the list per client

You cannot add steps per client here, only mark irrelevant steps as not applicable. We recommend that your Workflow Setup be the most complex list of subtasks, and then you can choose which clients need to have a more filtered version. 

You can access the Client workflow by clicking on a client in the Client table, then scrolling down to Services or by clicking on the Client workflow tab at the top. This table forms pert of our new inline editing. To adjust any field, double click in the field and click away or click enter to save.

Client Workflow fields explained:

a)Client – the linked client that will be affected by these changes.

b)Task – the service that will show the subtasks. If the Service is not on for the client, the subtasks will not be scheduled.

c)Subtask – this is not editable here, please edit in the Workflow setup.

d)Description – you can customise the description per client subtask

e)Budget Hours – you can customise the budgeted hours per client.

f)Workflow Dependency – you can customise the workflow dependency per client

g)Working Days before Due - you can customise the subtask due date per client

h)Applicable to client – this will determine whether the subtask triggers per client.

i) Assigned to – choose the team member who is responsible for the subtask. It does not need to be any of the main roles assigned to the client.

The changes made here will update your client’s subtasks in the individual tasks.

Task Workflows:

Each task will have their own subtasks. They will filter per period and per client. The subtasks are embedded in each task record, where the checkboxes used to be. We have not removed any checkboxes that relate to tracking the submission or payment of returns.

Double click in any field to edit the subtasks. Click away or click enter to save.

• Add notes as you work

• Status – mark the subtasks as completed, as they are done. This will trigger the workflow dependency on the Subtasks due dashboard so the next task will appear.

  
  

Subtasks Due Dashboard:

This will show all the subtasks per task per team member due. Only current workflow dependencies will show here (ie, a task that can be completed in the flow will display, and the next dependent task will show once the previous task is completed).

You can log your time on this view as you work on subtasks, and they will show as subtasks on the Timelog tables. The billing for subtasks will still be linked to the main task rate. No additional billing changes need to be made.