Tasks (Report Deadlines)

The Shared Platform Project Coordinators are responsible for maintaining and managing report deadlines and submitting reports for all Shared Platform projects. Report deadlines are recorded on the related Salesforce opportunity through "tasks", in the Outlook Shared Platform deadline calendar, and in the Smartsheet deadline tracker. 

Create Salesforce Tasks

  1. Navigate to the opportunity record for which you want to enter report deadlines. This is typically done once we have received a grant agreement letter (GAL) with reporting deadlines.
  2. On the right side of the opportunity, click on the Green New Task button
  1. Type in the subject using this format: REMINDER: [project name] report due to [funder name]
  2. In the name field, add the Project Specialist, Project Director, and Finance Lead
  3. Assign the task to the correct Project Specialist
  4. Click Save
  1. Once the task is created, click on it, and add the following information
    1. Due Date (deadline that the report is due to the funder)
    2. Type (e.g. Report)
    3. Financial Component Required: Check this box if financial reporting is required
    4. Audited Project Financials Required: ONLY CHECK THIS BOX IF AN EXTERNAL AUDIT IS REQUIRED FOR THE PROJECT FINANCIALS
    5. Description: Enter any comments, including:
      • Submission instructions (link to portal and login details, email address report is to be submitted to, etc.)
      • Specific time due, if applicable
      • Approximate Deadline or Extension, if applicable
      • Link to templates, etc.
      • Type of reporting (e.g. narrative and financial, payment advance claim, brief progress update, etc.)

Task to Outlook Calendar Automation

Once every two months, coordinators should run a report of their deadlines for the next three months. The schedule would look something like this:

  • January: Pull a report of all deadlines occurring between February 1 and April 30
  • March: Pull a report of all deadlines occurring between April 1 and June 30
  • May: Pull a report of all deadlines occurring between June 1 and August 30

There should always be overlap of one month to ensure nothing was missed.

  1. Run Salesforce report
    • Salesforce > Reports > All Folders > Society Org Share > Award Deadline Tasks - EST, PST, or Water (depending on your portfolio)
    • Click Edit

2.    In the left-hand pane, click on Filters and update Due Date to desired date range

3.    Click Save and Run

  1. Open each deadline and select Society from the Send Email Invite drop-down field. This will automatically send the task information to all contacts in the Name field.

If you make updates to a task in Salesforce that has already been sent to Outlook, the Outlook event will not automatically update. After you've made the desired changes to the task, you must select Society from the Send Email Invite field again to trigger the automation. Then, delete the previous version of the Outlook event from the calendar. 

Note: Please make sure the subject line follows the correct naming conventions, links are included in the description, and the contacts in the Name field are still correct before sending the invite.