Overview

Tasks are how work gets done in FutureFund Connect. A task is a piece of work that needs to be completed — like submitting a financial report, uploading an insurance document, or updating your board roster. Each task has a title, description, due date, status, and an assigned person, so everyone knows what needs to happen and by when.

Most tasks are created for you by your council, district, or state PTA. They guide you step by step, and you can leave comments along the way. The goal is simple: help your group stay compliant without the stress of wondering what’s due.

You can also create your own tasks from scratch for one-off work that doesn’t fit a pre-built template — see Custom Tasks below.

How Tasks Are Created

Most tasks start from a pre-built template (called a trigger) that your state, district, or council PTA sets up ahead of time. The template already includes the title, description, due date, and approval steps — so you do not fill any of that in yourself.

There are three ways a task appears:

• Automatically. Most tasks are generated on a schedule (for example, every fiscal year or on a set calendar date). You do not need to do anything — they simply show up in your task list when it is time.
• On demand, from a template. If your state, district, or council has set up a template that allows manual creation, you can add one of those tasks yourself.
• On demand, as a Custom Task. You can build your own task from scratch — no template needed. See Custom Tasks below.

Adding a task yourself

1. Go to your unit’s Tasks page from the main menu.
2. Click Create Task.
3. On the Add Task screen, choose a template from the dropdown list, or choose Custom Task to build your own. (The template list shows only the templates your state, district, or council has made available to your unit.)
4. Save. If you picked a template, the new task is created with its title, description, due date, and steps already filled in. If you picked Custom Task, fill in the fields yourself (see below).

When you use a template, you cannot change the title, description, or due date — those come from the template so everyone stays consistent. A Custom Task is the exception: you fill in every field yourself.

Custom Tasks

Sometimes you need to track a piece of work that doesn’t match any of your available templates — a one-off reminder, a follow-up item, or something specific to your unit. Custom Tasks let you create that task yourself, with no template required.

1. Go to your unit’s Tasks page and click Create Task.
2. In the Template dropdown, choose Custom Task.
3. Fill in a title, a description, a due date, and, if you’d like, an assignee from your team.
4. Save. The task appears in your task list right away.

Custom Tasks skip the multi-step review and approval process entirely. When the work is done, open the task and click Mark Complete — that’s it, no reviewer needed. If you complete a task by mistake or need to do more work, click Reopen to put it back on the list. Anyone following the task gets an email as soon as it’s marked complete.

Custom Tasks show up in your task list, My Tasks, and past-due tracking right alongside template-based tasks.

Working a Task

Open any task from your task list to see its details, status, due date, who it is assigned to, and a step-by-step workflow. The exact buttons you see depend on the type of task and where it is in the workflow.

Completing and submitting

1. Open the task from your task list.
2. Follow the on-screen steps. Depending on the task, you might:
   • Complete a general activity and click Submit for Review.
   • Upload a file and click Submit Document.
   • Use Start Task or Resume Task to work through a guided document, then submit it.
   • Make changes to your board members, then submit.
   • For a Custom Task, click Mark Complete.
3. After you submit, the task moves to In Review and goes to the next reviewer. (Custom Tasks skip this step and go straight to Approved.)

If a task has only one step (no separate reviewer), the button reads Close and Approve instead of Submit for Review. Clicking it completes and approves the task in one action — handy for simple tasks that do not need a second person to sign off.

Withdrawing a submission

While a task is In Review, the person who submitted it can pull it back to make changes. Open the task and click Withdraw Submission. The task returns to its starting point so you can edit and resubmit.

Reviewing, approving, or rejecting

If a task has been routed to you for review:

1. Open the task that is awaiting your review.
2. Use the Review or View Draft button to look over what was submitted. For some tasks you can also use Edit Form to make small corrections before deciding.
3. Click Approve to accept the work, or Reject to send it back with feedback.
4. When rejecting, please leave a comment explaining why, so the next person knows what to fix.

A rejected task returns to the person who submitted it so they can make corrections and try again.

Statuses

Every task is always in one of four statuses:

• Pending — not yet started or submitted.
• In Review — submitted and waiting on a reviewer.
• Rejected — sent back for changes.
• Approved — complete.

Task Routing

Some tasks pass through more than one level before they are finished. For example, a task might start at your unit, then go to your council, then your district for approval. The task page shows a small workflow indicator with a dot for each step, so you can see where it stands. The buttons you see automatically match your role at each step — submit, withdraw, or review.

Custom Tasks have no route — there’s no waiting on another level or another reviewer. You mark them complete yourself.

Other Things You Can Do

• Assign the task. Use the Assigned To dropdown on the task page to assign it to yourself or another member who has permission on your unit.
• Comment. Add comments to ask questions, give context, or explain a rejection. Comments are kept with the task as a record.
• Follow. Click Follow on a task to get notified whenever it is updated, even if it is not assigned to you. Click Unfollow to stop.
• Delete. Tasks you added manually, including Custom Tasks, can be deleted (look for the Delete option). Approved tasks cannot be deleted.

Tips

• Check your task list regularly — tasks with the soonest due dates appear at the top, and past-due dates are highlighted.
• Use comments before submitting rather than sending incomplete work.
• If a task is rejected, read the reviewer’s comments carefully before resubmitting.
• Make sure your board roles are filled. Many tasks are automatically assigned to whoever holds a role (like Treasurer or President), so an empty role can mean the task has no one to act on it.
• Use a Custom Task for anything that doesn’t fit a template — you don’t need anyone’s permission to create one.

Related

• Triggers — the templates and schedules behind every task, set up at the state level. Learn how creation dates, due dates, and routing are configured.