Workiva Support Center

To help ease data collection for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) or sustainability reporting, you can create and manage tasks to prepare and approve metric values from Sustainability Program.

With these tasks, you can:

• Include multiple values within the same task, such as based on dimension or other criteria.
• Assign workspace members to prepare and approve each task's values.
• Set up approval workflows to enable multiple approvers or steps with their own due dates.

Note: A task can include multiple values only when collected through the Workiva Tasks portal. Values with a connected source file each require a separate task.

Create tasks for a metric

To delegate the data collection of a metric's values within a Program year, you can create a task assigned to the workspace members to prepare and approve the values.

Depending on the values you assign the members, you may create multiple tasks at once:

• A task for each value with a connected source file
• A task for each collection period, which includes the period's values not collected through a source file

Note: You can create tasks for only metric values that are not yet Complete and not already included in another task.

To create a task to collect a metric's values:

1. From Sustainability Program, select the metric in the outline.

2. Select the year and collection period of the values to include in the task.

   Tip: To create tasks for values from multiple collection periods, select All periods in Collection period. After you create the tasks, you can edit their assignment details before you send them — such as to adjust due dates based on the values' collection period.

3. Create the task from Values or Tasks:
   • From Values, select the values to include, then select Create task from Edit values.
     
   • From Tasks, click Create task.
     
4. Enter a name to help identify the task.
   

5. In Assignee, select the members to prepare the task's values, and select their due date.

   Note: If you select multiple assignees, any of them can prepare the values and complete their task.

6. To have members verify the prepared values, click Add approval step, and set up the approval workflow:

   • To enable one or any of multiple approvers to verify the values, select them in Approvers, and select their due date.
   • To require specific approvers to verify the values in order, select the first approver — or group of approvers — in Approvers, set their due date, then click Add approval step to select the approvers for each step. 

   Note: If you assign multiple approvers to an approval step, any of them can approve the values to complete the step. To require multiple members to verify the values, add a separate step for each approver. To learn more, view Manage approvals of Sustainability Program metrics.

7. Enter instructions for the assignee and approver, such as details of how to prepare the values or their supporting material.

8. To add values to the task, select them in Search values, and click Apply.

   Tip: You can only add values that aren't already Complete or included in another task. If you inadvertently apply a value to the task, click Remove.

9. To create the values' tasks — based on their connected source files and collection periods — click Create task.

Combine tasks

To group values included in separate tasks into a new single task, you can combine their tasks from the metric.

Note: To combine tasks, they must be Not started, and their values must be collected through Workiva Tasks portal or the metric, not a connected source file.

1. From Sustainability Program, select the metric in the outline.
2. Select the year and collection period of the values to include in the task.

3. Select Tasks, then select the tasks to combine.

   Tip: To combine a task already In progress, first reset the task to return it to Not started.

4. From Manage tasks, select Combine.
   
5. Edit the new task's name and assignment details as necessary, and click Combine.

Edit tasks

To reassign a task or adjust the values it contains:

1. From Sustainability Program, select the metric the task supports.
2. From Tasks, edit tasks as necessary:
   • To edit a specific task's assignment or values, select Edit from its menu, then edit its assignment or values as necessary and click Update task.
     

   • To update multiple tasks to the same assignment, click Manage tasks and select Edit, then edit the assignment details as necessary and click Update all.

     Tip: From Find and replace, you can edit multiple tasks at once, such as to reassign an assignee or approver based on personnel changes.

Send tasks

When ready to start data collection, send tasks to its assignee to begin to prepare its values:

1. From Sustainability Program, select the metric the task supports, then select Tasks.
2. Select the tasks to send, then choose whether to send them with notifications to the assignees:
   • From Manage tasks or the task's menu, select Send, then choose whether to send with notifications.
     
   • In Status, click Send or select Send without notifications.
     

Reset a sent task

To cancel a task and return it to a Not sent status, you can reset it. For example, you may want to reset a task if you inadvertently sent it prematurely or need to stop its data collection.

Tip: When you reset a task, you retain any values and supporting material already collected by the assignee.

1. From Sustainability Program, select the metric the task supports, then select Tasks.
2. From the task's menu, select Reset.
   
3. Select whether to notify the assignee and approvers of the reset, and click OK.

Send reminders for sent tasks

To help keep data collection flowing, Sustainability Program automatically sends reminders to assignees or approvers with incomplete metric tasks:

• Three days before their due date
• On their due date
• Every day after the due date, up to three days

To send an additional reminder for an In progress task, select Tasks from the metric, then select Remind from the task's menu.

Complete tasks on behalf of assignee or approver

If an assignee or approver is unavailable, the Program Owner can complete tasks on the behalf, such as to send its values for approval or skip the step in the approval workflow.

View a sent task

For more details about a task's data collection, you can view it directly in Workiva Tasks or its value's connected source file. From the metric, select Tasks, then select Go to task from the task's menu. 

For details about a task's progress and history, you can view its activity log from the Task steps checklist panel within the Workiva Tasks portal or the Tasks panel of a connected source file.

Note: To view metric tasks created by or assigned to others, such as to perform an internal audit, you need both the Task admin and Sustainability reporting roles. For tasks completed through a connected source file, you also need at least Viewer permissions to the file.

Delete a task

If you no longer need a task, you can delete it. When you delete a task, you also:

• Cancel the task for its assignee and approvers
• Return its values to a Not started status
• Delete any data and supporting material prepared for its values

Note: To cancel a task but retain any values already collected, reset it instead.

To delete a task:

1. From Sustainability Program, select the metric the task supports, then select Tasks.
2. From the task's menu, select Delete.
3. Click Delete.