Chapter 08: Managing Teams and Users

Chapter Objectives:

• Understand when and why to use team-based task assignment

• Create and configure teams with appropriate members

• Implement effective team assignment patterns for your organization

• Monitor team workload and balance task distribution

• Enable collaborative workflows through team structures

Prerequisites:

• Understanding of workflow tasks (Chapter 6)

• Familiarity with task assignment concepts (Section 6.4 fields 11-12)

• Access to QUA Business Teams setup

8.1. Team Management Overview

Why Use Teams?

Individual Assignment works well when:

• You know exactly who should handle each task

• Workload is predictable and balanced

• No backup coverage needed

• Organization is small (5-10 people)

Team Assignment is better when:

• Multiple people can handle the same type of task

• Workload varies unpredictably (peaks and valleys)

• Coverage needed for vacation, sick leave

• Tasks should go to "next available" person

• Self-assignment empowers users

• Manager wants oversight of team's work

Team vs. Individual Assignment

Comparison:

Team Assignment Workflow Patterns

Pattern 1: Self-Assignment (Pull System)

Pattern 2: Manager Assignment (Push System)

Pattern 3: Hybrid (Unassigned Pool + Escalation)

When to Use Each Pattern

8.2. Creating and Configuring Teams

Creating a Team

Navigation:

Procedure:

Step 1: Create Team Record

1. Click New
2. Code: Enter team identifier (e.g., "SALES-TEAM")
   - Code field (Code[20])
   - Used in task assignment
   - Keep concise, descriptive
   
3. Name: Enter descriptive name (e.g., "Sales Order Review Team")
   - Text field (Text[100]

Step 2: Add Team Members

IMPORTANT: User Id field is NOT validated on entry. This allows placeholders, but means typos won't error immediately.

Team Configuration Examples

Example 1: Sales Order Review Team

Example 2: Senior Finance Approvers

Example 3: Multi-Department Escalation Team

Example 4: Geographic Team

Team Naming Best Practices

Code Field Best Practices:

Good Codes:

Poor Codes:

Name Field Best Practices:

Good Names:

Poor Names:

8.3. Understanding Team Statistics

Each team record displays real-time statistics about assigned tasks.

Team Statistics Fields

Available FlowFields (automatically calculated):

Using Team Statistics

Example: Monitoring Team Workload

Example: Comparing Team Performance

Accessing Team Statistics

Method 1: From Team List

Method 2: From Team Card

Method 3: From Role Center Cues

8.4. Team Assignment Patterns in Practice

Pattern 1: Self-Assignment Workflow (Detailed)

Configuration (Workflow Task):

Workflow Task:
  Code: "REVIEW-ORDER"
  Description: "Review and approve sales order"
  Activity Type: Sales Order Card
  Assigned to: <blank>

User Experience - Team Member View:

Step 1: Team Member Sees Available Tasks

User: JSMITH (member of SALES-TEAM)

Navigation: 
  Search: "My Team Tasks" or "QUA WorkFlow Entries"
  Filter: Assigned to Team = SALES-TEAM
          Assigned to = <blank>
          Status = Released

Result:
  Entry No.  Workflow           Description                  Due Date    Assigned to
  1001       ORD-REVIEW        Review order SO-1001         12/07/25    <blank>
  1002       ORD-REVIEW        Review order SO-1002         12/07/25    <blank>
  1003       ORD-REVIEW        Review order SO-1003         12/08/25    <blank>

Step 2: User Claims Task

Step 3: User Works Task

Pattern 2: Manager Assignment Workflow (Detailed)

Configuration (Same as Pattern 1):

Workflow Task:
  Assigned to: <blank>

User Experience - Team Lead View:

Step 1: Manager Sees Team Pool

User: SALES-MGR (team lead with access to team tasks)

Navigation:
  Search: "QUA Business Teams"
  Select: SALES-TEAM
  Click: View Tasks or drill down on Released count
  
Filter Applied:
  Assigned to Team = SALES-TEAM
  Assigned to = <blank>
  Status = Released

Result: Same list as team members see
  Entry No.  Workflow        Description              Due Date    Assigned to
  1001       ORD-REVIEW     Review order SO-1001     12/07/25    <blank>
  1002       ORD-REVIEW     Review order SO-1002     12/07/25    <blank>
  1003       ORD-REVIEW     Review order SO-1003     12/08/25    <blank>

Step 2: Manager Makes Strategic Assignment

Step 3: Manager Monitors Progress

Pattern 3: Hybrid Workflow with Auto-Escalation

Configuration (Workflow with Custom Status Rules):

Workflow Task:
  Code: "REVIEW-ORDER"
  Assigned to: <blank>

User Experience:

Day 1 (Task Created):
  Status: Open (waiting for prerequisites)
  Assigned to: <blank>

8.5. My Teams View

Team members need easy access to their team's tasks.

Accessing Team Tasks

Method 1: Direct Search

1. Search: "My Team Tasks" (if custom page created)
   OR
   Search: "QUA WorkFlow Entries"
   
2. Apply filter:
   Assigned to Team: [Your team codes]

Method 2: From Team List

Method 3: My Teams ListPart

Recommended Filters for Team Members

Filter Set 1: Available Tasks (Self-Assignment)

Filter Set 2: Urgent Team Tasks

Purpose: Tasks needing immediate attention

Filters:
  Assigned to Team: SALES-TEAM
  Assigned to: "" (blank)
  Status: Released
  Critical Date: ..[TODAY]

Filter Set 3: My Team's Work (All)

8.6. Team Workload Balancing

Team leads need strategies to distribute work effectively.

Monitoring Team Workload

Individual User Workload Check:

Navigation:
  1. Search: "QUA WorkFlow Entries"
  2. Filter: Assigned to Team = SALES-TEAM
            Status = Released
  3. Group By: Assigned to
  4. View count per user

Example Result:
  Assigned to      Count
  <blank>

Action: Reassign 4-5 tasks from JSMITH to RBROWN

Reassigning Tasks

Procedure:

Scenario: Task currently assigned to overloaded user, need to move to another user

Steps:
  1. Open task record (QUA WorkFlow Entries)
  2. Current values:
     Assigned to: JSMITH
     Assigned to Team: SALES-TEAM
     Status: Released
     
  3. Edit:
     Assigned to: RBROWN (or <blank>

Considerations:

• Notify user when reassigning

• Check if user already started work

• Document reason for reassignment

• Consider user expertise/relationship when reassigning

Workload Balancing Strategies

Strategy 1: Round-Robin Assignment

Strategy 2: Skill-Based Assignment

Strategy 3: Value-Based Assignment

Strategy 4: Geographic/Temporal Assignment

8.7. Team Collaboration Patterns

Collaborative Work Scenarios

Scenario 1: Peer Review

Process:
  Task 1: Primary reviewer (JSMITH)
    Status: Released  Completed
    
  Task 2: Peer review (same team, different member)
    Release Condition: Task 1 Status = Completed
    Assigned to: <blank>

Scenario 2: Team Escalation

Process:
  Task 1: Front-line team (CS-TIER1)
    If unable to resolve  Change Assigned to Team
    
  Team member action:
    1. Open task
    2. Edit: Assigned to Team = CS-TIER2
    3. Edit: Assigned to = <blank>

This completes the core content of Chapter 8. The chapter provides comprehensive coverage of:

• Team management concepts and benefits

• Creating and configuring teams

• Three team assignment patterns (self-assign, manager-assign, hybrid)

• Team statistics and monitoring

• Workload balancing strategies

• Team collaboration scenarios

Chapter 8 Complete: Managing Teams and Users