How to create and assign tasks in Foreman

In Foreman, a task is one piece of work for one person: a title, optional notes, a project (or Other), and a tick when it's done. Admins create and assign tasks on any project. Site Managers do the same on the projects they manage. Site Crew see the tasks assigned to them in the Tasks tab and tick them off on their phone.

Who can do what

An Admin can create, edit, re-allocate and delete any task, including tasks that aren't tied to a site. A Site Manager can do all of that on the projects they manage, but doesn't see the company-wide Other tasks. Site Crew only ever see tasks assigned to them, and the only thing they change is whether it's done. If you're not sure which role someone has, see user roles in Foreman.

Create a task

1. Open Tasks and tap New task. If you're already on a project page, tap + New task on the Tasks card instead and the project is filled in for you.
2. In Task, write what needs doing in a few words, the way you'd say it on site: "Clean up the slab".
3. In Notes (optional), add anything the worker needs to know: which unit, who to call, where the key is.
4. Under Project, pick the job. Admins can choose Other (no project) for work that isn't on a site, like taking the jackhammer in for repair. Foreman won't guess, so the button stays greyed out until you pick one.
5. Under Assign to, pick one person, or leave it as Unassigned. Your own name appears with "(you)" if you want to take it on yourself.
6. Tap Create task.

New tasks start as outstanding and show up straight away in the Tasks list, on the project's Tasks card and in the assignee's Tasks tab.

The Assign to list shows the active Site Crew on that project, plus you. Other Admins aren't listed. For an Other (no project) task it shows all your active Site Crew. If there's no crew to pick, Foreman tells you there's no Site Crew on the project yet. Either add the person to the project first, or save the task unassigned and allocate it later.

What your crew see

Site Crew open Tasks from the bottom bar. Every task assigned to them is there, across all their projects, and they can filter by project. It opens on Outstanding, which is the list that matters at knock-off.

They can finish a task two ways: tap the tick on the left of the row, or tap the row to read the notes and then tap Mark complete. Tapping the row on its own never completes anything, so nobody ticks off a job by accident while reading it. Once ticked, the task drops off the Outstanding list and a Task completed message appears with Undo, in case it was a mis-tap. Foreman records the time it was completed.

Re-allocate, edit or delete a task

Someone's off sick, or the job has moved on. Open the task from Tasks, change Assign to and tap Save changes. It moves out of the old person's list and into the new person's. Re-allocating doesn't reset anything, so a done task stays done.

You can change the title, notes or project on the same screen. To remove a task completely, tap Delete task and confirm. There's no getting it back.

If you take someone off a project, their tasks on that project stay put but become unassigned, so the work isn't lost. Hand them to someone else when you're ready.

Logging a defect as a task

Defect lists suit tasks well. Make each defect its own task and give it to whoever is fixing it. "Patch the plaster behind the laundry door" assigned to the plasterer is easy to tick off, and you can see at a glance what's still open, which beats scrolling back through a group chat.

Tasks don't hold photos, checklists or comments. Each one is a single line you tick, so:

• If you need a photo of the defect, put it on that day's site diary entry. See how to log a site diary entry.
• If you need a checklist, such as a pre-handover inspection, build it as a form. See how to build a form template.

Good to know

• Tasks have no due dates, priorities or reminders. If a date matters, put it in the title or the notes.
• One task has one assignee. If two people need to do something, make two tasks.
• When a project is archived, its tasks disappear from the crew's Tasks tab. Admins still see them, marked as on an archived project.
• Tasks are included in the project data export as tasks.csv, but they carry no hours, so don't plan on billing from them. They're for running the job.
• If the signal drops as someone ticks a task, the tick goes back and they see a message asking them to try again.

You can also ask a connected AI assistant to create or update tasks for you. See what you can ask your AI assistant, or read more about Foreman's task tracking.