Add Materials & Tools

Materials are the things the work consumes, produces, or changes, such as a laptop, a signed contract, or a welcome packet. Tools are the equipment, software, and systems the work is performed with, such as an HRIS or a label printer. Listing them tells each Task's Assignee what they need and what they must produce. Portfolio Administrators and Leads may add them.

Materials and Fields

A Material is a thing, not information. That is the difference from a Field:

• A Field carries information. Each Assignment captures a value for it, such as a laptop's asset tag or a new hire's start date.
• A Material is the thing itself, such as the laptop. TaskTrain lists it for the Assignee but records no value for it.

To record something about a Material, add a Field for it. To have the work confirm a Material is ready, add an Exit Criterion stated in words, such as "The welcome packet is on the new hire's desk". See Add Entry & Exit Criteria.

Supplies and Deliverables

You list each Material as an Input or an Output of a Procedure or Step. TaskTrain then works out how it looks to the Assignees doing the work:

• A Supply is a Material that comes in from outside, because nothing inside the Procedure or Step produces it.
• A Deliverable is a Material that leaves, because nothing inside the Procedure or Step consumes it.

A Material one Step produces and a later Step consumes stays inside the Procedure, so it is neither. Supplies, Deliverables, and Tools appear on each Task's Guide. See Follow a Task's Guide.

Physical and Digital Tools

Each Tool is Physical, used by hand, such as a torque wrench or a label printer, or Digital, software or a system, such as Salesforce or Slack. The kind is shown beside the Tool's name.

A Digital Tool in the Organization Catalog can also name its MCP server: the address an AI agent connects to in order to use the Tool. TaskTrain doesn't connect to it. It includes the address when the Procedure is exported or read by an MCP Client.

Add a Material or Tool

1. Select the Procedure or Step, then press the Specification tab in the detail pane.
2. Open the Materials & Tools panel. It has a Materials table and a Tools table.

   

3. In the table you want, press the create button to create a new Material or Tool, or the link button to use one that already exists.
   • To create one, enter its Name and Description. For a Tool, choose its Kind: Physical or Digital.

     

   • Organization Administrators and Leads also choose its Scope: Portfolio or Organization.
   • To link one, pick it from This Portfolio or the Organization Catalog.
   • For a Material, choose its Direction: Input or Output.
4. Press Save.

Change, remove, or delete

Press a row's Actions menu to choose:

• Edit Material… or Edit Tool…: change its name, description, kind, or scope everywhere it is used. For a Digital Tool in the Organization Catalog, the Edit Tool dialog also holds its MCP server, an address starting with https://.

  

• Remove from Step or Remove from Procedure: take it off here only. If this is its last use, you can choose to remove it or delete it.
• Delete Material… or Delete Tool…: delete it from every Procedure and Step.

Like Fields, Materials and Tools belong to the Portfolio, so every Procedure in the Portfolio can reuse them. The Portfolio's Catalog tab lists them all, where each can be edited or deleted. To share one with every Portfolio, move it to the Organization Catalog by changing its Scope.

Related Articles

Overview

1. Key Terms
2. Procedure Writing Best Practices

Step-by-Step

1. Define Procedure Fields
2. Add Entry & Exit Criteria
3. Follow a Task's Guide
4. Organization Catalog