Departmental Checklists
Does your team have assignments that need to get done the exact same way by everyone, every time? This is what is known as a standard procedure. A departmental checklist is a way of uploading the standard procedure for an assignment and validating that it was carried out correctly. Here is a simple example of a standard procedure for taking out the trash:
- Pull out the trash can from under the kitchen sink cabinet. Lift the used garbage bag out of the trash can and tie the ends together to seal it.
- Carry the garbage bag to the west side of the parking lot and toss it in the large brown bin.
- Return to the empty trash can. Grab a new trash bag from the cabinet below the kitchen sink.
- Air out the new trash bag and put it into the empty trash can, folding the edges of the trash bag around the edges of the trash can.
- Return the trash can to its spot under the sink.
Of course, this is a simple example. But, with long, complex tasks, it can be very important to have a clear set of step-by-step instructions for your team members to follow. Additionally, using the Do+Track checklists, you can instruct them to record data and upload photos or documents during the process. Numerical data can be designated to fall within a range (high/low), a min, or max and it will be flagged when it does not meet the specification. For instance, using the trash example, it could look like this:
- Pull out the trash can from under the kitchen sink cabinet. Lift the used garbage bag out of the trash can and tie the ends together to seal it. Record on a scale from 1-10 (one being the least, 10 being the most), how smelly the trash was.
- Carry the garbage bag to the west side of the parking lot and toss it in the large brown bin. Record approximately how many trash bags were in the brown bin.
- Return to the empty trash can. Grab a new trash bag from the cabinet below the kitchen sink. Record the number of boxes of trash bags left.
- Air out the new trash bag and put it into the empty trash can, folding the edges of the trash bag around the edges of the trash can. Take and upload a photo of the clean, empty trash.
- Return the trash can to its spot under the sink.
When your workers have completed the assignment and recorded any necessary data, as well as uploaded any necessary photos and files, you can view the checklist to validate that everything was done correctly.
- Starting at the home page, hover over “checklists” in the navigation bar at the top of the screen. Click on “checklist templates.”
- Click on the large plus sign in the top left corner to create a new checklist.
- Select which Do and Track item it is assigned to (this is required) and specify if it is assigned exclusively to a project (this is not required). Select which item and optionally which project it is assigned to.
- Fill in the label for this report where it says, “Report Label text for PDF.” When a PDF of this checklist gets created from the system, this will be its title.
- Describe the category.
- Fill out the email text. When the checklist is completed and the user wants to email the report, this will be the default email text for this checklist.
- Describe what this check list tracks.
- Select which special teams manage this checklist.
- Select who has access to this checklist.
- Click save.
- Click “edit” on the top right corner of the card that was just created.
- Start adding the step-by-step instructions for this assignment.
- If you want your worker to record data during a step, click “input required.” Give it a label and select which type of data you want recorded.
- To add a new step, simply click, “Add More.”
- Save the steps as you go.
- Now, when your workers complete items attached to this checklist, they will need to complete the checklist and attach any necessary files/documents/images. If necessary, more than one checklist can be created for a single task type.
It is important to note that a checklist must be created before a WIP item, for it to be automatically attached to that WIP item. If you want to add a checklist to an already-made WIP item, you can click the three dots at the top of the WIP card and click “add a checklist to this do and track.”
Once a checklist is attached to a WIP card, your workers can access it from that WIP card by clicking on “checklist docs.” Then, they need to click “open” in the top right corner of that checklist doc to access and fill out the checklist.
Once each step of the checklist is filled out, your worker can click “save all,” and they will have the option to email the document out directly or click print to save as a PDF or print the document.
A departmental checklist is assigned to and filled out by a department and may contain information that requires special skills, knowledge, access, or assigned responsibility. It can be linked to a specified task and is then added automatically when the task is created, but it can also be added on the fly to an existing task. Additionally it can be linked to a task and a specified project which makes the checklist a recipe to be used when the task and project happen together. You can also have more than one departmental checklist assigned to a task for either different departments to handle or different phases of the task's requirements.