Activity Queries

Activity queries allow employees and managers to search for activities that are relevant to them. Queries are helpful if there are many activities that need to be available to employees.

Manage activity queries

Activity queries can be configured to filter out activities based on:

Query user’s home labor account
Query user’s labor transfer set
Labor accounts in account sets
Activity completion and held status
Activity type (direct or indirect)
Time period within which activity start or end dates fall
Activity name

Activity queries can be used in the following areas:

Activities Setup > Activities(search for activities to duplicate, edit, or delete)
Activities tab and Activity Events tab in the timecard editor (search for activities to start or stop)
InTouch data collection devices and mobile devices when submitting activity forms

Create and edit standard queries

To create a standard query:

Select Application Setup > Activities Setup > Activity Queries.
Click Create .
Select Create Standard Query.

To edit or delete a query, select it and click Edit or Delete .

Note: You cannot delete a query if it is assigned to an activity query profile. You cannot edit or delete preconfigured (system) queries. You can duplicate them to use as templates for new queries.

If you are creating a query, enter a unique name and description.

Note: Do not include the following reserved characters in the query name: & _ * % ? : ; = ( ) / \ [ ] | # @ < > “ ”

If you are creating or editing a query, complete the following settings:

Settings	Description
Use Employee Job Transfer Set and Primary Job	Includes activities that are assigned to any labor account in the transfer set of the person who runs the query, or that are assigned to that person’s home labor account.
Use Employee Category Profile Set and Primary Labor Categoy	Includes activities that are assigned to labor accounts in the transfer set of the manager who runs the query.
Job Transfer Set	Assign a job transfer set to the new activity query by selecting Filter and searching for the desired labor category profile.
Labor Category Profile	Assign a job transfer set to the new activity query by selecting Filter and searching for the desired labor category profile.
User Fields (1 through 4)	Text of configured user fields, as specified in the activity definition, the employee’s activity profile, or employee information in People Editor.
Completion Status	Includes activities whose status or type matches the selections you indicate. All items are selected by default. Remove the selection of items that you do not want to include in the search.
Held Status
Activity Type (direct or indirect)
Exclude System Generated Activities	Determines whether to exclude certain system generated activities. Options available for exclusion are: Default Activity Idle Activity Meal Break Paid Break
Time Period	Includes activities based on whether they have a date that falls within a period of time you specify. Example: To include activities that have a revised start date within a period starting one month ago and ending a month from today, enter the following settings: Activity Date to Use: Revised Start Date Start (days before run date): 30 End (days after run date): 30 Note the following information: “Run date” refers to the day on which the query is used. To specify a period in the past, enter the number of days for Start and End and select “days before run date” for each. For time periods in the future, select “days after run date.” If you do not specify a date for "Activity Date to Use" or leave the "Start" and "End" fields blank, the query does not use the time period filter.

Click Save

To assign the activity query to an activity query profile, see Activity Query Profiles.

How to use the “Activity Name” field

This section shows examples of how to enter activity name strings using characters, wildcards, and forward slashes.

Activity name string	What it finds
Act1/1012/Shop	The level 3 activity with that exact name if it satisfies all other conditions of the query.
Act?/10*	Level 2 activities that satisfy conditions in the query and all of the following name criteria: Are associated with level 1 activities whose names contain four characters and begin with “Act” Have names that begin with “10”
Act1/10//*	Level 4 activities that satisfy conditions in the query and are part of the following combination of activity level names: Level 1 activity called “Act1” Associated level 2 activities with names that begin with “10” Any associated level 3 and level 4 activities
//*	Level 3 activities that satisfy all conditions in the query.

List queries

List queries are queries that are configured with a list of activities so that when the list query is selected, only those activities configured in the list query will be available to choose from. When a list query is selected, users will be unable to leverage the search function to locate activities not included in the list query. Only one list query can be used at a time. The last list query used by a manager or employee with be the first one to appear the next time the user goes to select a new activity query.

Only administrators can create or delete list queries.
Once an administrator has created a list query, managers with the proper permissions have the ability to edit existing list queries, adding activities to the list query or re-ordering where activities will appear in the list.

Warning: When an employee selects a list query, they are automatically granted access to all activities configured in the list query, even when they would not have access to the activity otherwise.

To create, edit, or delete a list query:

1. As an administrator, select Application Setup > Activities Setup > Activity Queries.
  - To edit or delete an existing list query, select it and click Edit or Delete .
2. To create a new list query, click Create and select Create List Query.
3. Enter a unique Name and Description.
  Note: Do not include the following reserved characters in the query name: & _ * % ? : ; = ( ) / \ [ ] | # @ < > “ ”
4. (Optional) Under Completion Status, update the assigned completion statuses for the list query from the list of available statuses.
  Note: 'Incomplete' and 'Not Started' are selected as the assigned Completion Status by default.
To edit a list query that has been created by an administrator:
1. As a manager, select Application Setup > Activities Setup > Activity Queries
2. On the Activity Queries page, select a query from the list click Edit .
3. Edit the query Name or Description.
  Note: Do not include the following reserved characters in the query name: & _ * % ? : ; = ( ) / \ [ ] | # @ < > “ ”
4. (Optional) Under Completion Status, update the assigned completion statuses for the list query from the list of available statuses.
  Note: 'Incomplete' and 'Not Started' are selected as the assigned Completion Status by default.
5. To add activities to the Activities List, select Add Activities > Search:
  1. Select Search to open the Select Activity right panel and search for activities to add to the Activities List.
  2. Select the desired activities to add to the Activities List. Selected activities will added to the list in the order that they were chosen.
  3. Click Apply.
6. Under Activities List:
  - To modify the order of activities in the list:
    1. Select Re-Order Selection.
    2. Select the desired activity and use the up and down arrows to move the activity to the desired location in the list.
    3. Click Save Order.
      
      Note: Changes will not appear in the Activities List unless you select Refresh Order button after clicking Save Order.
  - To delete an activity from the activities list:
    1. Select the activity you would like to delete from the list.
    2. Click the Delete button.
7. Click Save.

Pre-defined activity queries

Activities provides pre-configured activity queries, also known as system queries. They were designed with business needs in mind and to help reduce the number of queries you need to create for your needs.

Note: You cannot edit or delete system queries. To create a query that is based on a system query, duplicate the query, and then edit it.

You can assign system queries to activity query profiles.

The following table lists the pre-configured activity queries. The term “held status” refers to any of the following activity statuses: “Hold,” “Released,” “Never Held or Released.”

Query name	What the query finds
All Activities	All activities in the system. This query is available to include in query profiles. The query is also the default activity search query for users who do not have an Activities license.
Direct	Activities that satisfy all of the following criteria: Are classified as “Direct” Have a completion status of “Not Started” or “Incomplete” Have any held status.
Incomplete	Direct and indirect activities that satisfy all of the following criteria: Not yet complete.
Indirect	Activities that satisfy all of the following criteria: Are classified as “Indirect” Have a completion status of “Not Started” or “Incomplete” Have any held status.

Example activity query

A manager needs to see a list of all activities that fulfill all of the following criteria:

The activities are associated with his home labor account or the labor accounts in his labor transfer set.
The activities are direct activities.
The activities have been started but are not complete.
The activities were scheduled to start within the last 30 days.
The activities are third level activities that are associated with first level activities whose names contain four characters and begin with “Act”.

When you create the activity query, make the following selections:

Prompt	Setting
Use Employee Labor Transfer Set and Home Labor Account	<selected>
Use Manager Labor Transfer Set	<selected>
Completion Status	Incomplete
Held Status	<all options selected>
Activity Type	Direct
Activity Date to Use	Scheduled Start Date
Start	30 days before run date
End	0 days before run date
Activity Name	Act?//