tFLOW Documentation - 10b. Order & Job Management - Jobs

 
Order & Job Management - Jobs
 
Overview
 
One of the principal advantages of tFLOW is the ability to monitor Orders and Jobs throughout the creative and prepress processes.  In tFLOW, Orders are the equivalent of a customer Purchase Order, and can contain one or many items which are labelled Jobssure - in tFLOW, each artwork constitutes a Job, regardless of the number of copies.  The Order and Jobs windows provide many tools for filtering, viewing activity in addition to order and jobs statuses, messaging, and searching.  These views also provide a great level of customizability in order to allow users to view the information they need with respect to their particular role in the production process.
 
 
Jobs Page Organization and Options
 
To access jobs, click on the Jobs button in the left menu.
 
 
On the Jobs page you will see the total number of jobs in the current view in parentheses in the upper left.  All job controls with the exception of Select All are located in the upper right.
 
Search – to search for a particular Job, click on the search button (Magnifying glass icon), type in the job number and hit Return.  The list will be filtered to only show jobs with the string you have entered in the search field.
 
Job information fields – you can define which information will be present for each job in the list view by clicking the Job Information button and selecting any fields you want to have listed on each job list panel.  The panels will auto expand/contract to make room for your selection:
 
 
 
Sorting – Click the Sort button to choose a sorting parameter from the list, then select the up or down arrow to define if you want to list to ascend or descend according to that item.
 
Filtering – Click the Filter button to access all of the filtering options.  As there are a large number of available filters, this button opens a new window where you may make multiple selections and configure several filtering parameters.
 
 
 
Once you have chosen your filtering options, click Apply to apply the filter, and your job list will update accordingly.  To remove the filter, open click the filter button to open the filter window again, click Reset, and the Close.  Note: when a filter is applied, an orange dot will appear on the filter button.  If you are not seeing the jobs you are expecting to see, this is the first place you should check to make sure that a forgotten filter is not being applied.
 
Job Views – The job view button provides access to several job views you may choose from. 
 
  • List view displays each job in a one column list.  You may define what information is shown for each job by making your selection in Job Information Fields.
  • Tiles – shows small tiles for each job, giving you a larger artwork preview than the List view, but at the expense of showing less job information
  • Medium Tiles – Larger version of the tile view, which presents the full proof as the thumbnail instead of a preview.  You may interact with the proof directly using the tools in each tile.
  • Large Tiles – The largest version of the tile, providing almost a full window view of the proof.  Artwork information is also included, so this is the most complete job view.
  • Kanban – shows the jobs in a Kanban board with each column representing a tFLOW job state.  As jobs change state, they will move from left to right on the board.  This view is useful for large screen displays in production departments.
 
Screenshot of Medium Tile view:
 
 
Job Options – When you have selected at least one order, the order options button will appear in the upper right (three dots).  Depending on your permissions, and the number of jobs you have selected, the contents of this menu will change.
 
 
 
Job panels and tiles – the job list is made up of individual job panels or tiles, depending on the view you are using. 
 
  • Job panel - On the left is the job thumbnail and to the right thumbnail is the job number and job information that you have selected to be displayed via the Job Information Fields button.  On the right side of the panel is the Job Status, and on the far right is the job options button (3 dots) which displays all available options for that job according to your permissions.
 
 
  • Job tile – there are three tile views, but all share some common characteristics.  Most of the tile displays the artwork (either as preview or as proof), together with job states and options.  Job options are always accessible via the button with three dots.
 
Job Options – User permissions define the options which will be available to each user, but your list will contain most of the following options:
 
  • Change job state: all jobs in tFLOW follow predefined workflows – jobs which are awaiting approval can be approved or rejected, approved jobs can be sent to production, etc.  Job options will list the next possible states for the current job.
 
  • Send Reminder: available for jobs which are in Awaiting Approval state – resends awaiting approval email to assigned users
 
  • Open Job: opens the job to proof preview window.
 
  • Open Job in Separate window: opens the job to proof preview window in a separate browser tab, leaving the current tab unchanged
 
  • Duplicate job: creates a new job with the same parameters.  This does not duplicate the artwork in the original job. It is possible to enter the number of the copies of the original job you want to create.
 
  • Delete Job – deletes the job, job files and job details.  Deleted jobs cannot be recovered so use this option carefully.
 
  • Archive job: moves all hi-res data from the job to the archive.  See System Settings: Archiving for more information on setting up archiving
 
  • Assign Users: opens the user select dialog box to add other users to the job.  Use Select Users to search for users which are already in the system, and “New User” to add a new user to both the Job and to tFLOW.  You can also type a message below which the user will receive via email.
 
  • Send Invitations – Creates a guest access to the job and sends an email invitation to a non-tFLOW user to be able to view and or approve the job for a limited amount of time.  Options include sending the proof along with the invitation, as well as typing in a message.  Multiple users can be invited at the same time.  Time limitation for the invitation expiration is defined in System Settings: Other
 
  • Make Rush – tags the current job with a Rush label (flame icon with a clock) so that it can be easily identified in the system as well as searched and filtered in job lists and the dashboard.
 
Adding/Creating a Job
 
Jobs can only be created from within orders, so you will not be able to create a job while in the Jobs section (accessing via left Jobs menu).  You can add jobs to orders by dragging and dropping artwork onto any order, or by opening an order and clicking the Add Job button.
 
The Add Job button will open the job creation/configuration window where you will have the ability to define all of the parameters of the job.  The default values will be determined by the parent order, but you can modify most of the settings for any particular job if needed.  The new job window is divided into 5 tabs.
 
 
Job Settings
 
  • Job Name – enter the desired job number.  If you leave this blank, tFLOW will automatically create a job number.
 
  • Creation date – uses current date to define when the job was created
 
  • Ship date – defines when the job should be shipped.  This is predefined at the order level.
 
  • Customer users – lists all users who pertain to the currently selected company.  Whether they are selected or unselected depends on the user preferences.  See the section Users for more information.
 
  • Description – free text area to enter any additional information about the job
 
  • Notes - free text area to enter any additional notes about the job
 
  • Print Width and Height – stores information on the actual print dimensions (could be different from finished product dimensions)
 
  • Quantity – stores the number of copies the job should product
 
  • Additional fields (Sales rep, Shipping address, etc.) – additional general information fields which can be used to store data about the job.
 
 
Advanced
 
  • Workflow – defines which workflow will be used for the current job.  See the section Workflow for more information
 
  • Products – defines which product will be used to process the artwork.  The choice here will affect the other tabs: Proof Settings, Preflight Settings, and Finishing Settings.  See the section Products for more information.
 
  • [Site Owner] Users (owner) – lists all site owner users which have visibility for this job.  If a site owner user’s name does not appear here, and they are created in the system, make sure that they are assigned to the company in their user profile.  See the section Users for more information.
 
  • Select Production queues – Displays available tBOT production queues (tFLOW Enterprise only). 
 
 
Proof, Preflight and Finishing Settings
 
Selecting the Product in the advanced tab defines which parameters will be used for each of these three sections.  For more information on setting up Products and defining defaults, see the section Products for more information.  During job creation, you may enter any of these tabs to change scripts or modify the values for any of the options.  Selections made here will affect the default settings this job only.  Other jobs will not be affected as they will continue to use the original defaults of the Product.
 
Once you have defined all of your settings, click Save to create the job.  Artwork can now be uploaded.
 
 
Job Toolbar
There are several other tools related to jobs which are accessed via the Job Toolbar.  The toolbar is only visible when one job is selected because the options and information displayed is very specific to the particular job.  To see the toolbar, select one job:
 
 
 
Messaging
tFLOW provides real time messaging capabilities at both the order and job levels.  You can use the messaging function to chat in real time with other users, as well as send them email notifications.  To access Messaging, click on the Messaging icon and the messaging window will open.
 
 
You may add comments to either the parent order, or to the job.  To switch between the order and the job, click on the circular icons in the left bar.  Any items which have comments will display an orange badge with the number of comments displayed.  To add a comment, type your message below in the message box and hit return, or click the send button.
 
Replies – in addition to adding new comments, you can also reply to previous comments by placing your mouse over the comment and clicking the “reply” button when it appears.  This will nest your comment under the other comment as a reply.  You may also delete and edit your previous comments by using this same floating toolbar.
 
Public vs Private - By default, all comments are public, meaning that they are visible to both site owners as well as customers.  For site owners, if you click on the “Public comment” button it will toggle to private.  You message will turn orange, meaning that this comment is visible to site owners only.  Replies to private comments will also be private.
 
Email notifications – there are alert settings in the user profile to manage message alerts (see the section Users for more information), but you can also force an email to be sent for a comment by clicking the email icon (envelope) and selecting any users you want to receive an email.  Note that the email button only becomes active after you have typed in a message.
 
Job Settings
You may view all of the job settings by clicking on the “i” button which is the second item in the toolbar.  All job properties are displayed here, divided in the Job Settings (general) and Advanced tabs.  If your user role permits, you can also edit job properties by clicking on the Edit Job button below.
 
Assign users enables you to add additional users to the job – either already existing tFLOW users which are not assigned to the job already, or to create new users.
 
Activity
Actions and state changes are constantly being recorded by tFLOW and can be viewed in the Activity tab.  Click on the third button in the toolbar (clock with arrow) to access Activity.  You will see a timeline listing all actions, comments, changes, etc. ordered by data and time, and by the users that performed them.  In the event that the activity listing is very long, you may apply filters by clicking on the filter button in the upper right.
 
Support Files
Support files provides a place to upload and store any files which are associated with the job that are not artwork.  Artwork is uploaded into each job contained in the order, but often there are additional files such as Excel sheets for distribution lists, CAD drawings, etc. which need to be kept together with the job.  Drag and drop any file to this window to upload and store it there.  Users can later download files from here, and for supported file types (PDF, JPG), click to view them from within the tFLOW interface.
 
Product
Provides access to the product settings for the job.  You may view and edit the Proof, Preflight, and Finishing settings for the job here.  For more information on Product settings, see the section Product.