Zohawtof This is a lengthy reply though please read through as it includes proper business use cases and how in the current form the app won't work in many large businesses, although it does look good. I have already started on customization to the Inspections Sample PowerApp to do similar a little while ago because capability isn't there in the Tasks app yet, so I understand the use cases quite well.
Centralization of Tasks:
- An "Update" is essentially a task you require someone to complete.
- Though it has extra information in the response that needs to be recorded
- Also needs the capability to create a notification and new task in case of found issues
- Why isn't this included in the Tasks App in Teams then?
- It is essentially a dumbed down planner with forms capability
- Now a Frontline worker will have to go to two separate apps within Teams to see their required tasks
- An "Update" should be included under the assigned to me tab in Tasks
There are two ways this could work in business:
- Best option: MS Forms capability being added to Planner tasks
- On the Planner task have a button that opens up the Form exactly as shown in the Updates app just like adding an attachment to the task
- Template capability added to Planner exactly the same as in "Updates"
- Ability to create forms as templates
- Able to add a template form to a task
- Scheduling then would be done via the reoccurring tasks feature being released in Planner this month
- Frontline workers then could access all their required tasks from within the Assigned to me section within Teams Tasks
- Second option: "Updates" app being only the front end UI for submission of these types of tasks as show above
- A task is created in Planner Board with scheduling (with planners reoccurring capability - June 2022) and assignment
- Automatically creates "Update" with corresponding info as the task
- Frontline worker sees task assigned to them in Teams Tasks
- They then move to complete the corresponding Update in the "Updates" app
- Automatically completes the Planner task with information assigned to that task when submitted
- Specific answers should have the capability to create another task in the Planner board
- E.g. Issue during an inspection checklist step, it creates a maintenance request task in the planner board
The current implementation doesn’t work for anything other than impromptu updates that a manager wants, I.e. the idea of within the team conversation creating a progress update requirement for their employees.
This whole app is basically Teams Tasks with Microsoft Forms as the task rather than a To Do/Planner task. Why not merge these and provide functionality of Microsoft Forms within a To Do/Planner Task. Then we keep all tasks centralised and then able to provision tasks by team/group or person.
To what is stated in this blog post though I need way more capability in this "Updates" App if it is separate to Planner or Tasks for it to be functionally useful in real business situations.
The way the app is rolled out/provisioned doesn't make sense for large businesses that have multiple branches/plants:
You can't add it as a tab in a team as a app with a separate environment so you can't differentiate updates between locations easily. Which means for large businesses it would be extremely unwieldy. This needs to change with also the other updates as shown below.
- More Repeat Options:
- Annually
- Half-yearly
- Quarterly
- 2 monthly
- Fortnightly
- Bi-Weekly
- All Microsoft Forms capability - why weren't these included when Microsoft Forms already has this capability?
- Branching, extremely important
- All question types that forms has now - i.e. image upload, etc.
- Image in question description
- Rich text formatting
- Link to planner tasks - During inspection if there is an issue automatic creation of task in planner or updates
- Use case: During machine inspection there is a faulty part, a notification (i.e. task) is needed to be created and assigned in a planner board for the maintenance team to fix
- Assign "Update" to a Team within Teams not just individuals
- Without this it is extremely annoying admin when people leave and join the business
- Hierarchy of "Updates" or rather "Locations" these updates occur in for ease of their use when trying to find correct "Update" to submit
- See even here its weird to state "Update" - Don't know if I am trying to say update the task in the app or an "Update" within this app
- Export data or link
- Below aren't as important for use immediately though definitely are needed long term:
- Power Automate Connector
- Data within the Dataverse
- PowerBI Connector - pull live data into PowerBI - Especially for safety observations and incidence reporting
- Delete templates rather than just disabling them if no submission has been made
All of these improvements are pretty much taken care of if you add Forms capability to Planner tasks. This really should be the way forward!
If not being added to Planner than please change the name of this app! It is already hard to find information about some applications online let alone one that clashes with the terminology (Updates) that almost every app worldwide uses.
Last point as well, can you remove the Wiki from the header bar of all teams. Wiki is barely used and is a poor replacement for OneNote and all it does is clutter the tab bar. It should have to be manually added to each team just like any of the other apps. It’s a nightmare not being able to turn off Wiki being automatically added to each team channel
Please vote at the two feedback listings below, these will help make this usable for a much larger array of business cases:
https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/da898116-41fb-ec11-a81b-6045bd864d4f
https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/02843e0a-dff2-ec11-a81b-000d3a00c008
Microsoft
