Task reminders automation

[Baptiste Achard]

Hey community,

I'm currently trying to improve a Project Management Workflow on Confluence workspace.

We already have several states, approvals conditions, and transitions.

My goal is to find a way to send reminders automatically after a certain amount of time.

1) First Idea : Use Intermediate states

- I tried using intermediate states with due dates.

So typically, if you are on State A and you reach the due date, you send a reminder and move to state B. If you reach the duedate for state B, you send a reminder then go back to state A. 

However this solution add complexity (Double amount of states + increase the number of transitions) to current workflow and can quickly be source of instabilities and issues.

2) Second Idea : Use two tasks within a state

- The idea is to create 2 tasks when we reach a state, with duedates, and jump from one task to another when we reach due dates. 

However, it seems impossible to reset the state of a task on trigger.

3) Third Idea : Task creation on triggers

- The idea here is to first set up a due date for each state. Then call the state expiry trigger to create a task, with a due date.

However, I can't find a way to create a task only if the trigger is called..  

4) Fourth Idea : Develop a tailored PlugIn 

- Using JAVA API

Complex solution which can lead to some issues and instability in the process.

I've been digging the documentation for several days but still can't find a way.. I know that the tool is not clearly made for that kind of functionality but maybe we could make it :D

If you have any ideas/tricks let me know ! 

Thanks in advance,

Bapt

[James Conway · Accepted solution]

Hello @Baptiste Achard, welcome to the community!

Are you using Confluence Cloud or Server / Data Center? The easiest way is to look at the url - if it is https://<something>.atlassian.net you are on Cloud, if it's not got the atlassian.net in it, then it's Server /DC.

We do not currently have Tasks in Comala Document Management Cloud, this is something that's on our Cloud roadmap (https://wiki.comalatech.com/display/CDML/Migrating+to+Confluence+Cloud).

Regarding reminders, the approach you describe regarding using an immediate state is one we commonly recommend, there shouldn't be any instabilities or issues.

If you want some more detailed help, you can reach out to our friendly Customer Success team any time at https://support.comalatech.com. It would be really helpful if you could attach your current workflow markup as a text file, see the following links for how to copy it.

• In Cloud: https://wiki.comalatech.com/display/CDMC/JSON+editor
• In Server / DC: https://wiki.comalatech.com/display/CDML/Markup+editor+in+workflow+builder

All the best

James
Senior Product Manager

[Baptiste Achard]

Hi @James Conway

Good question, I think we are on server, actually the url is as follow "https://itdoc-q.<comapny_name>.com. And because I have the possibility to create tasks and assign them to users or assignees.

I will also align with Customer Success Team.

Thanks for the information !

Best,

Baptiste

[Aron Gombas _Midori_]

The fifth idea could be using the expiration tracking features provided by the Better Content Archiving app.

It can be configured to notify the last modifiers or content owners:

1. in N days after the last update
2.  or on a given date

These work for a single page, a whole page tree, and even for a family of unrelated pages and send out a single email with the page list:

I am developer working this app, and although I am not deeply familiar with the Comala app, I think they could perfectly co-exist. As you noticed, these address somewhat different problems, and as a result the concept of the Comala "workflow" is different from our "lifecycle management".

But you can make sure in a free trial.

[Liam Green]

Hi @Baptiste Achard 

Welcome to the Community!

There is a Marketplace app called Workflows for Confluence that I think would do what you require - I don't have any first hand experience with it myself though so couldn't say for sure.

Hope that helps,

Liam

[Baptiste Achard]

Hey @Liam Green,

Yep, just saw this app this morning, but as we are using Comala Doc Mgmt Cloud, we already have a workflow builder, very similar to Workflows for confluence. I forgot to mention that sorry ;-) 

But I checked the tool and seems that the possibilities and limits are quite the same regarding notifications on due dates.

Thanks anyway for the idea !!

Best

Baptiste

[Liam Green]

No problem @Baptiste Achard 

If you're using Comala it might be worth reaching out to their support to see if they can help