Last Modified On: November 12, 2024

There may be instances where several members of a team work together to share the workload. As such, you may not necessarily want to assign the task to a specific team member. Inspire Planner allows you to assign tasks to a queue and members of the queue are able to see the task and update them.

Queues allow groups of users to manage a shared workload more effectively. Queues are like holding areas where tasks can sit until they are assigned to a specific user (resource).
 

A typical use-case where queues are used is with a support team. Help tickets are usually submitted to the support team as a group instead of a specific team member.  Members of the support team can then see all the tasks that are in the queue. Usually, a task in the queue is then re-assigned to a specific team member to then complete.

This help article will walk you through how to set up queues in Salesforce, how to assign tasks to a queue and how to re-assign them.

• Create a Queue
• Assign Tasks to a Queue
  • Manually Assign Tasks to a Queue
  • Automatically Assign Tasks to a Queue based on Role
• Re-assign Queue Tasks to a Resource

Create a Queue

In order for you to be able to assign tasks to a queue, you would first need to create queues. This section will walk you through how to create queues in Salesforce.

1. Click on the Gear Icon in the top right corner and go to Setup.
   
   
    
2. Enter "Queue" in the Quick Find box and click on Queues.
   
   
    
3. Click on New.
   
   
    
4. Populate the information below.
   
   
   
   1. Label (Required) - enter the name of the queue. The Queue Name will automatically populate when you move your cursor away from the Label.
   
   2. Queue Email (optional) - you can choose to have an email notification sent to the email address you populate in this field.
   
   3. Send Email to Members (optional) - check this box if you would like an email notification sent to the members of this queue. 
   
   4. Supported Objects - select Task from the list of Available Objects.
   
   5. Queue Members - you will need to select the users that are to be members of the queue.
   
   Once you've populated all the information for the queue, click on Save.

Assign Tasks to a Queue

Once you've created queues, you can now assign tasks to them. This section will walk you through how to assign tasks to a queue. You can choose to manually assign tasks to a queue or use the auto task assignment based on Role.
 

Manually Assign Tasks to a Queue
 

1. Double-click on the Assigned To cell and click on the edit icon.
   
   
    
2. Enter the queue name and search in queue Then, click on Search.
   
   
    
3. Select the queue and click on Assign Task.
   
   
    
4. You will see that the queue you selected is now displayed in the "Assigned (Salesforce Tasks)" section below.
   
   If you would like to assign the same task to another resource or queue, you can search for another resource/queue and add them. All resources/queues you selected will be displayed in the "Assigned (Salesforce Tasks)" section.
   
   Click on OK when you are finished.
   
   
    
5. The assigned queue/resource(s) are now displayed in Assigned To. You will need to save the project to save your task assignments.
   
   
   
   Once you've assigned a project task to a resource (user, contact, or queue), they now become a part of your project team. This means that if you need to assign project tasks to them within the same project, you don't need to search for them again. Their names will now appear as resource options in the picklist, when you double-click on the "Assigned To" field. This makes it quick and easy for you to assign project tasks. 
   
   Double-click on the "Assigned To" field and click on the dropdown arrow. This will display the existing project team members in a picklist. 
   
   Simply select the user, contact, or queue to assign the project task to them. You can select multiple resources if needed. Click on Save to save your changes.
   
   

Automatically Assign Tasks to a Queue Based on Role

A quicker, more efficient way to assign project tasks to resources or queues is to populate the project task multi-role. When you create project team members with the same role, Inspire Planner then automatically assigns the project tasks to the project team members.

For more information, please see Auto Assign Tasks to Project Team Members.

Re-assign Queue Tasks to a Resource

When Project Tasks are assigned to a queue, an equivalent Salesforce Task is also created. The Salesforce Task is assigned to the Queue and members of the Queue are able to see it.

As mentioned in the beginning of this article, queues are like holding areas where tasks can sit until a specific user picks them up or until a specific user is assigned to the task. This section will walk you through how to re-assign a task from a queue to a specific resource. 

Please note the following:

• It is recommended that re-assigning tasks should always be done from the Project. Tasks assigned to queues are the exception. For tasks assigned to queues, they can be re-assigned either from the Project or by updating the Salesforce Task.
   
• Salesforce Tasks assigned to a Queue do not display on the Resource Utilization page until they are re-assigned to a specific user (resource).

1. Open the Salesforce Task assigned to the Queue. Click on the Edit icon beside Assigned To.
   
   
    
2. Click on the X beside the Queue Name to remove the Queue.
   
   
    
3. Search for and select the user you would like to re-assign the task to.
   
   
    
4. Click on Save when you are finished.
   
   The updates you make to the Task assignment are also visible within the Project schedule, so Project Managers are able to see which specific resource was/is assigned to the task.