Add Entry & Exit Criteria

Criteria are the conditions around the work: what a Step waits on before it may start, and what must be true before a Procedure or Step is finished. TaskTrain holds every Task to them. Portfolio Administrators and Leads may add them while the Procedure is a Draft or Published.

Entry Criteria

An Entry Criterion is something a Step waits on before work on it may start. It waits for one of two things:

• Another step to reach a status, such as "Confirm the laptop is installed and signs in" being Approved.
• A Field's value to pass a test, such as Needs Phone being true. A Date Field can be compared with a day relative to today, which is how a Step waits for a date: "Start Date ≤ today + 7 days" waits until the start date is a week away.

Entry Criteria are added to Steps only.

1. Select the Step and press the Specification tab in the detail pane.
2. In the Entry Criteria panel, press the add button.

   

3. Complete the Add Entry Criterion dialog:

   

   • Wait For: Another step to reach a status or A Field's value to pass a test.
   • For a status: the Step this one waits on, and the status it must reach in Until It Is: Completed, Skipped, or In Progress, and for an Approval Step also Pending Approval or Approved.
   • For a Field's value: the Field, its Test, such as Equals, Is at most, or Is true, and what it is Compared With: A value, Another Field, or, for a Date Field, A day relative to today. The dialog shows the test it will apply, such as "Tests: Start Date ≤ today + 7 days". Only a Field that is already an Input or Output of the Procedure can be tested; see Define Procedure Fields.
   • Description: optionally, why the Step waits.
4. Press Save.

TaskTrain refuses an Entry Criterion that could never be met, such as two Steps waiting on each other, and says why.

What an Entry Criterion does

• A Task waits until each of its Entry Criteria is met. Until then it stays Not Started: it can be Skipped, but not started, put on hold, or completed.
• A parent Step's Entry Criteria hold every Task beneath it.
• A Required Input waits the same way. A Step's Task waits for a value for each of its Required Inputs, and every Task of an Assignment waits for the Procedure's Required Inputs.
• A Not Started Task that waits on nothing is Ready. When a Task becomes Ready after its Assignment has started, its Assignee gets a Ready Task e-mail, unless they turned it off. See Update Email Notification Settings.
• A test against today counts the day in the Organization's time zone. See Update Organization Details.

Exit Criteria

An Exit Criterion is a check the work must pass before the Procedure or Step is finished. It is met in one of two ways:

• A person judges it: a check stated in words, such as "The new hire can sign in with their own credentials". Whoever completes or approves the work judges it.
• A Field's value passes a test, such as "First Meeting Date ≥ Start Date". TaskTrain checks it.

1. Select the Procedure or Step, then press the Specification tab in the detail pane.
2. In the Exit Criteria panel, press the add button.
3. Complete the Add Exit Criterion dialog:

   

   • Met When: A person judges it or A Field's value passes a test.
   • For A person judges it, state the check in Criterion.
   • For a test, choose the Field, its Test, and what it is Compared With, as for an Entry Criterion. The Description is optional: left blank, the test itself is shown.
4. Press Save.

A Step with Substeps closes when its last Substep does, so its Exit Criteria can't test a Field's value. Put the test on a Substep, or on the Procedure.

What an Exit Criterion does

• Until a Task's tests pass, it can't be submitted for approval, completed, or approved. The same holds until each of its Required Outputs has a value.
• A Procedure's tests hold its Assignment the same way: it can't be completed until they pass.
• A check stated in words is shown, not enforced: the Assignee or Approver judges it.
• Skipped is never refused.

Where criteria appear

• On each Task's Guide tab, under "Before starting" and "Before completing". See Follow a Task's Guide.
• In the Flow view of a Procedure's Steps, which draws what each Step waits on. See View Procedure Steps.
• In prints and exports of the Procedure. See Print or Export a Procedure.

To change or delete a criterion, press its row to open the Edit Entry Criterion or Edit Exit Criterion dialog.

Each Assignment keeps the criteria its Procedure had when the Assignment started. A change to the Procedure applies to Assignments started after it.

Related Articles

Overview

1. Procedure Writing Best Practices
2. Key Terms

Step-by-Step

1. Define Procedure Fields
2. Add Materials & Tools
3. Require Approval on a Step
4. Follow a Task's Guide
5. Update Assignment or Task Completion Status