Demand task overview
Summarize
Summary of Demand Task Overview
A demand task is a manageable unit of work within a demand that facilitates the breakdown of initial planning activities before a demand is converted into a project, change, enhancement, or defect. It allows for delegation of tasks to evaluate the feasibility of a demand, helping organizations make informed decisions before committing resources to larger initiatives.
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Key Features
- Creation and Delegation: Demand tasks can be created from the Demand Tasks related list, enabling the assignment of activities crucial for assessing demand feasibility.
- Resource Assignment: Resources can be assigned using the Assigned to, Additional Assignee list, and Assignment Group fields. However, resource plans cannot be used for demand tasks.
- Time Tracking: Resources can submit time cards for the time spent on demand tasks, but costs and efforts do not transfer to the work entity created from the demand.
- Cost and Effort Calculation: Actual effort and cost for a demand task are based on time cards and the resource's hourly rate, with totals rolled up to the associated demand.
Key Outcomes
By using demand tasks, ServiceNow customers can effectively assess the feasibility of potential projects, make informed decisions on resource allocation, and accurately track the costs and efforts associated with demand management. This structured approach provides clarity and efficiency in the early stages of project planning.
A demand task is a unit of work, created within a demand, to break down initial planning activities before converting the demand into a project, change, enhancement, or defect.
What is a demand task
A demand task is a manageable unit of work within a demand that helps break down initial planning activities. It allows you to delegate tasks to assess the feasibility of a demand before converting it into a larger project, change, enhancement, or defect.
For example, your company is exploring a new software project. You create a demand task to conduct market research, assigning team members to gather customer and competitor insights. This small task helps assess if the project is worth pursuing before committing to a full-scale development.
You can create a demand task from the Demand Tasks related list to delegate activities that are helpful for assessing demand feasibility.
Key differences between demand tasks and project tasks
The following are key differences between demand tasks and project tasks:
| Demand tasks | Project tasks |
|---|---|
| Have a simple due date that doesn’t affect workflow | Planned dates, actual dates, and original dates are part of project tasks |
| Do not support nested or sub-tasks | Support nested or sub-tasks for complex workflows |
| Lack scheduling options, such as Start ASAP or setting specific start dates | Offer scheduling options, allowing tasks to start ASAP or on a specific date |
| Do not follow specific methodologies, such as Agile, Waterfall, or Hybrid | Can be assigned specific execution types like Agile, Waterfall, or Hybrid for project flow |
Resource assignment
Assign resources for a demand task using the Assigned to, Additional Assignee list, and Assignment Group fields. Do not create and use resource plans for allocating resources or groups to a demand task or to submit the time spent on the demand. If you associate a resource plan with a demand task, the associated resource plan is not transferred to the work entity created from that demand.
The resource plans are not associated with the demand by default. Make sure that you do not use the resource plans that you created for the future work entity created from the demand to submit the time spent on a demand.
When you submit a time card for a demand, the time and cost incurred are not transferred to the work entity created from the demand and remain within the demand as the demand cost and effort.
If you manually associate a resource plan with a demand, the actual effort and cost remain within the demand and are not transferred to the work entity created from the demand.
Resources assigned to a demand task can submit the time spent on it using a time card. For more information, see Submit a time card for a demand task.
Actual cost and effort for a demand task
The actual effort of the work performed on the demand task is derived from the time card. The actual cost is derived from the hourly resource rate defined in the rate model, default labor rate, or default system property. The actual cost and effort for a demand task are then rolled up to derive the actual cost and effort for the associated demand. For more information, see Actual cost and effort calculation for a demand and demand task.
Add work items to a Demand
Based on the selected demand task category and role assigned to you, you can use the demand task form to: