(OBX) Task Template Cheat Sheet

Learn how to create Precursive Task Templates using this Cheat Sheet.

Mar 4, 2025
Knowledge

Title

URL Name

Task-Template-Cheat-Sheet-1604944091646

Body

Table key:

Field Names define the names you should use for each column header
Description: here you can find information on how to fill each cell and the correct format to use

Note - Important! When creating a template source file, do not use commas (,) anywhere in the spreadsheet, since CSV type files read commas as commands to separate the values between rows and columns. Using commas in your source file will result in an error when uploading!

LEVEL 1 - Defining Tasks and Project Timeline

FIELD NAME	DESCRIPTION
Order	The initial order tasks appear within their List in the Board view. The Plan view will always order tasks chronologically. Format: Number
Name	The name that the Task will display on the Board Format: Text Example: Contact supplier, Request expense reports, Create Blog Post etc. 💡 Keep the Name short and simple and under 80 characters - you can use the Detail field (see below) to add more information about the Task.
Detail	Lets you pre-populate a description of the Task in the Details section. Format: Text 💡 Don't use commas (,) anywhere in your CSV file! For punctuation where commas are needed, use a semicolon (;) instead!
Duration (Days)	That is the number of days that it should take to complete a Task. Format: Number
Reference	Note - This field is required for Task Templates to work. Make sure you add a Reference column and a unique reference value for all of your Tasks. A unique reference name that you assign your Tasks and that can be used to create time dependencies between Tasks or to group Tasks under a Parent Task (see 'Predecessor Dependencies Reference' and 'Parent Reference' below). The Reference is a value that identifies that task as unique on the Board. The value becomes a suffix to the Salesforce Record Id that is generated automatically when the task is created from that Task Template. Format: Text (letters, numbers or a short description). Values entered here should be unique for the board. Example: AA, BB, KickoffCall 💡Make sure each Reference on the template is UNIQUE - but keep it short and simple, and under 80 characters long.
Predecessor Dependencies Reference available from Winter '22 release (version: 21.0.)*	Here you can add a Task Reference if you want to condition the start of a Task based on the end of the Reference Task. If you want a to condition the start of a Task based on the end of a prior Task, then grab the Reference value of the prior Task and paste onto the Predecessor Reference cell of the second one. Add the Lead/Lag value after the reference with underscore “_”. You can add multiple dependencies by separating them with a semi-colon. (please see Managing Task Dependencies for more information). Format: Text Examples: “KickOff_+1”: the Task with Reference 'KickOff' is the predecessor and Lead/Lag value equals 1 day “KickOff_+1;Sharing Doc_+3”: both the Task with Reference 'KickOff' and the one with Reference with 'Sharing Doc' are the predecessors and the Lead/Lag value equals respectively 1 and 3 days. Note - The value of 0 (zero) means the following Task will be set to start on the same day its predecessor is completed.
Start Date	Here you can define a Start Date for your Task. That can achieved in different ways: You can define a specific date. Enter the date in format YYYY-MM-DD. E.g. 2018-05-21 You can use relative values, such as TODAY or TODAY+1. TODAY = the date the Board is created using the Task Template. If you are using Time Dependencies (see Predecessor Dependencies References above, you can set the Start Date as TODAY for your first Task and then have the rest automatically calculated by the system by specifying Lead/Lag days in the Predecessor Dependencies References. You can use a related Date field in Salesforce. Please see Schedule Tasks Based on Other Dates in Salesforce for more information.
List Name	This field defines what List the Task should appear on when the Board is created. Format: Text Example: Not Started, In Progress, Waiting, On Hold 💡 Make sure the List Name already exists in the List Template that will be used along your Task Template when you build Precursive Board Type.

LEVEL 2 - Creating Task-based Resource Requests

FIELD NAME

DESCRIPTION

Roles

You can assign pre-existing Team Roles to specific Tasks. You can insert multiple roles by separating them with a semicolon (;).

Format: String

Example: Project Manager; Account Manager.

💡 If you are using this field, before uploading your Task Template you need to configure your roles from the Salesforce Setup: Setup > Picklist Value Sets > Team Role. Please see How to add New Picklist Values for Stages and Team Roles for more information.

Estimated Hours

That is the amount of hours that it should take to complete a Task. This is useful to report on planned VS actual time if users log time against Tasks. Please see Logging Time on Tasks to learn more.

Format: Number

LEVEL 3 - Tracking Time-to-Value

FIELD NAME	DESCRIPTION
Milestone	Milestones can be used to measure time spent between the completion of key Tasks. You can assign a Milestone to key Tasks directly from the Task Template and then define your milestone measures on the Precursive Platform. Please see Defining Precursive Milestones & Milestone Measures to learn more. Note: The entries in this column should reflect the Milestone name you define on the Precursive Platform. Format: Text Example: 'KickOff', 'GoLive', 'Training Complete', 'Launch Complete', 'First Value'. 💡 If using this field, be sure to use the word 'Milestone' as a singular noun on the Task template.
Stage	That is the Stage on the Precursive Board Process Path that you would like your Task to be associated to. By linking a set of Tasks to each Stage of your Process Path, that will updated automatically once each set of Task gets completed. Note - Entries in this column should reflect the Stage Picklist Values in the Salesforce Setup. Please see How to add New Picklist Values for Stages and Team Roles before filling this column of your Task Template. Format: Text
Category	This field usually define the type of work required to complete a Task (admin, internal calls, customer action, etc.). Categories will appear on the Task card as color-coded labels and you can report on them. Format: Text You can use the Precursive default labels or define new ones for your Organization in the Precursive Task Categories Tab (please see Create & Manage Task Categories for more information).

LEVEL 4 - A Hierarchical Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

FIELD NAME

DESCRIPTION

Checklist

A to-do list for your Tasks. Each item should be separated by a # symbol.

Format: Checklist

Example: ‘Send Documents#Receive documents back#Setup Account’

💡 Keep each checklist item under 80 characters long.

Parent Reference

Here you can add a Task Reference if you want to group your Task under the Reference Parent Task.

Please see Precursive Subtasks for more information.

Format: Text

FIELD NAME	DESCRIPTION
Internal Only	Insert TRUE for the Tasks that you don’t want to be displayed on the Board when that is shared via External Sharing. Insert FALSE for all the other Tasks. Please see Share a Board with External Sharing for more information. Format: TRUE/FALSE
Contact Roles	Do you need customers to complete any Tasks during your delivery? You can use 'Contact Roles' to assign a set of Tasks to a Customer contact. On top of that, if you also Enable Contact Notifications (click to learn how!), your customer contact will also receive email notifications when they are assigned to Tasks and when it's time to get to work on them! Format: Text Examples: Customer, Customer Stakeholder 💡 Note - Contact Roles need to be added as Team Roles' Picklist Values! Before importing your Level 5 Template, you also need to make sure that the Contact Roles you add there are existing picklist values in the system. Otherwise you will get a validation error when uploading the template. Please see this article on How to add New Picklist Values for Team Roles for a step-by-step guide.
Shared Notes	In addition to assigning a customer contact to their Tasks, you can also add useful information and documents to support them along the way. That's what 'Shared Notes' are for! You can add this column to your Task Template and enter there any notes..and links as HTML. To do that, you can use the following formula to create a hyperlink and enter your link and title instead: <a href=" https://yourlink.com">Text your want to appear on the Task Shared Notes </a> When you import your template into a Board, that appears as a hyperlink and when you share that with your customers, they will be able to see it on the Task details and click on it directly. Format: Rich Text Example: For more information, please visit the <a href="https://support.precursive.com/s/">Precursive Success Hub</a> That will look like "For more information, please visit the Precursive Success Hub "

Additional Fields

You can also set Tasks to automatically repeat directly from a Task Template by defining the fields below:

FIELD NAME	DESCRIPTION
Repeat Frequency	From Precursive OBX v.16 and upwards, you can also schedule Tasks to repeat. You can set the following fields directly from the Task Template to have a Task copied and re-added to your Boards automatically upon completion. That is according to the set frequency and interval. Please see Repeat Precursive Tasks for more information. Here you can set the frequency and that can be set as: Weekly Monthly Yearly Format: Text
Repeat Interval	The interval is the space between each frequency, such as "1" for once a week, if the frequency is "weekly", or "3" for a 'monthly' frequency to have a Task re-added every quarter. When the first Task is completed, a new task will be created and scheduled for 3 months from the Complete Date of the first one. Format: Number
Repeat End After Occurrences	You can also set an end to your Tasks repetition from a Task Template. You can either specify and End Date (see row below) or set the repetition to end after a set number of occurrences. Here you can specify how many. Format: Number
Repeat End Date	Here you can specify when you would like the Repetition to end. You can define a specific date. Enter the date in format YYYY-MM-DD. E.g. 2018-05-21

Note - Custom fields can also be created and used in Precursive as well as its Templates. When using custom fields in a template, refer to their API name. The API names can be found in Setup > Create > Objects > Custom Fields & Relationships.

Fields Deprecated from Winter '22 release (version: 21.0*)

If you are running on an older version of Precursive (any version before 21.0, you will have to set your Predecessor and the Lead/Lag days in separate columns to create Time Dependencies between Tasks. Please check the table below to learn how. In alternative, please check How to upgrade to the newest Precursive Platform version? to update your platform.

Predecessor Reference

Here you can add a Task Reference if you want to condition the start of a Task based on the end of the Reference Task. If you want a to condition the start of a Task based on the end of a prior Task, then grab the Reference value of the prior Task and paste onto the Predecessor Reference cell of the second one.

Format: Text

💡 Do not forget to add a Lead/Lag (days) value - see below - to any Tasks on the template containing a Predecessor Reference value!

Lead/Lag (Days)

The number of days between the end of the predecessor Task and the start the next one. Values for Lead/Lag should be a number of days.

Format: Number

Note - The value of 0 (zero) means the following Task will be set to start on the same day its predecessor is completed.

Migration into new Multiple Tasks’ Dependencies

Old Templates will work properly also if updating to version 21.0* and you would still be able to build Multiple Dependencies manually on your boards (please see Managing Task Dependencies for more information), but we still recommend changing them to fit the new Data Model.

All the details related to data migration into new Data Model are described here: Precursive OBX Winter '22 Release (v21.0) - Critical Upgrade Actions for System Administrators.

This article is about Precursive OBX