Overview of Content Types

Content Types

There are several primary content types you can create in a matter.   Tasks, Notes, Events, Files, and Documents (Documents from templates are in beta).

Tasks

Tasks are the basic working unit of Dendri.  They have the most features of any element and will be where you and your team do most of your work.  

A brief breakdown of a task: 

At the top is the title.  You can edit the title by clicking on it. 

The save button and exit icon are both also at the top.  We are experimenting with many different ways to auto-save.  For the beta we're enforcing a manual save while we monitor the way people use tasks. 

The next row contains subtasks. 

Any task can have an unlimited number of subtasks.  

Subtasks are added using the "Add Subtask" button, and can be navigated by clicking on each.  This tabbed browsing lets you navigate between a parent and its subtasks without ever leaving this window. 

When looking at the Kanban board you can tell at a glance whether a task is a single task, or is either a parent or subtask. 

Parent task:

Sub task:

Single task:

As you can see, single tasks are squared off and have no rounded top.  Parent tasks have a gray rounded border on the top, but no additional information.  Sub tasks have a purple rounded border up top and also have a label indicating the name of the Parent task at the bottom (by using shape, color, and text we hope to hit most accessibility needs, but if you have any suggestions on how we could make this even more clear, let us know). 

Moving on: 

On the left side of the task window next is the description, which is a rich text area where you can add lists, links, and formatted text. 

Below this is the comments area.  In addition to updating the task, you can mention specific users (including users who are not assigned to the task).  This will cause the task to show up as "unread" on their dashboard, and will also send an email notification letting them know they've been mentioned.  

On the right side of the task window from top to bottom is the start date (for the most part this should be left alone, this will default to the creation date, but it can be used if you have a deadline in the future and don't need to worry about a specific task for a while, you can set a start date. 

Next is the due date.  Self explanatory... when's this thing need to get done?!?! 

Below that is one of our unique features: Primary user and Assigned users. 

In Dendri all tasks can be assigned to multiple users.  The ability to duplicate tasks across many dashboards so different people can work on their shared work in the ways that make the most sense to them is a cornerstone of what makes Dendri special.  The problem with multiple users though, is sometimes, on tasks where the role is poorly defined, you may not have "ownership."  Separating a primary user from other assigned users should help limit this.  The primary user is optional, and can be changed by anyone (including the primary user), but this signal should be used to show the team's best idea as to who should own this task.  Only one primary user can be assigned, but an unlimited number of assigned users can be added and each will have a copy of the task synced with their dashboard. 

Next we have "Assigned Teams," this selection is used to optionally send a task to a Team Board.

Below this we have labels.  Labels are arbitrary and can be created by any user and then re-used across all Dendri elements (organization-wide label management is on the roadmap).  Labels are useful as a filter target, but also to quickly identify types of work. 

Below labels are two status dropdowns.  These are the "matter status" and the "user status." These show the column the task currently occupies on the matter board and on your dashboard.  In other words, every logged in user will see something different in the latter, while everyone will see the same status in the former.  Using these drop downs you can move the task to another column on either board without leaving this window.  This lets you quickly move a task to "done" when working on it from your own dashboard, or vice versa.  

Finally, you can attach important files to your task using the dialogue at the bottom. 

Tasks exist both on the kanban board and the matter or dashboard history.   Only tasks exist on the kanban board. 

Notes

Notes include many of the elements of a task with a couple of key differences.  Most importantly, notes appear ONLY in the history of a matter, or your dashboard history if you've been assigned or mentioned in a note.  Notes don't have steps, but are informational.   Additionally, in settings, you can create specialized note "types" to delineate say costs from phone logs.  Notes are a catch-all way to record information.  You can also set up custom fields in notes for specific information you need to capture. 

Like tasks, notes can be assigned users and also like tasks, notes have comment sections to discuss any actionable information.  Notes can also be labeled and added to a team board.  In other words, the only ways in which notes are not like tasks are 1) they can have custom fields and "types," 2) they do not exist on the kanban board and therefore cannot be moved from one status to another.  Below is a note that is a "phone log," which causes the "callback number" to appear.  It is assigned to a few users and a chill label, but is not on a team, and has one comment. 

Events

Events will be discussed in greater detail under the "calendar" section.  

Events can be created from the matter or the calendar, and include labels and assignments.  Every user assigned to an event will have that event added to their calendar.  If their account is synced with a google calendar, these events, along with any task deadlines, will be synced to their google calendar. 

Files

Files are the simplest content type.  This is where any documents you need to associate with a matter or project will go.   

Files can be uploaded from a simple drag and drop or attach interface: 

We've set basic limits based on what we think is needed, but if you have different needs, let us know, these can easily be adjusted.  

Once uploaded, your file is added to the matter history: 

From here you can interact with the file (download, add labels, assign users, add a description, and use the commenting system):

Most files can be previewed in the browser, including word documents, images, pdfs and more. This makes it easy to quickly confirm the content of a file without having to first download. Documents cannot be edited, and the preview is designed currently, just to allow you to see and review the content.