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Argus has sophisticated task and report scheduling wizards that seamlessly integrate with the Argus Scheduling Wizard to allow the easy running of various tasks and reports.
The wizards allow the user to select all the parameters required by a particular task or report and then to submit it for immediate or delayed processing either on the desktop or on Argus' multi-threaded server. Argus allows the running of multiple tasks and reports simultaneously by different users. Based upon the options selected the user running the task or report (and anyone else the user chooses) can be notified via e-mail when the task is finished. There are also options to attach an output (report) from Argus to an e-mail and sent to any users. The scheduling wizard can also act as a pretty sophisticated scheduling tool, allowing the user to build dependency maps i.e. making one report (or task) dependant on another task (or report). These reports (or tasks) can be scheduled to run as far in the future as needed. Some firms will schedule daily posting jobs a year in advance!
The task wizard is accessed from the Argus main toolbar:
Select New task from the pull down menu.
This bring up the task wizards first screen. This allows the user to select the task that they wish to run. In our example we want to post time & disbursements entered. After selecting the task press the Next button:
This brings up the second screen of the task wizard. This screen allows the user to make a series of selections based upon client/matter: All client/matter can be selected by simply pressing the Next button or a single client/matter or a range of client/matter can be selected by pressing the appropriate browse button. In our example we want to post entries for a particular client/matter so we press the browse button next to the Starting field under the Select Client Range group:
This brings up the Client Browser which can sort the clients by ID or name. In our example we want to post the daily time and disbursements entered for client: 1000 Colchester International University. Select it from the Client Browser and press OK:
This selects the starting client id. Since we are only interested in this particular client we need to enter the same client as the Ending client. This can be done by pressing the browse button next to the Ending field under the Select Client Range group:
Simply select the same client id. If you leave the ending client blank at this point all clients with client id including 1000 and higher will get selected.
Note how the Starting and Ending client Id is the same. At this point if we want to process all matters for this client we can press the Next button and go on. Just to show you Argus' functionality we have decided to select a particular matter that we want to process. Press the browse button next to the Starting field under the Select Matter Range:
This pops up the Matter Browser and we can select the matter that we are interested in:
Since we only want the one matter we will select the same matter as the ending matter:
Select the same matter as the starting matter:
Notice how the Starting and Ending Matter are the same. We are now ready to go on. Press the Next Button:
This is the third screen of the task wizard. It allows further ways to cut and dice information. For example if on the prior screen we had made no selections ( which means all clients instead of the one client/matter) we could have selected to process transaction for one (or a range of Managing Attorneys, our vernacular -- you might refer to them as billing attorneys or practice managers). We will select a range just to show you the versatility of the task wizard. Press the browse button next to the Starting field under the Managing Attorney Range group:
The Attorney Browser brings up a list of attorneys. Select the starting managing attorney id:
Now select the ending managing attorney by pressing the button next to the Ending field under the Managing Attorney Range group:
Select the ending managing attorney id:
Another way to select the client/matter that you want processed is to use the Billing Codes. Billing codes are used to group together a list of client/matters that have some common criteria e.g. are billed on a particular cycle, belong to a particular area of practice or to a different office. Normally you wouldn't use the Billing Codes in conjunction with a managing attorney range (but you could!). Just to show you how billing codes work we will select a starting and ending billing code:
Select the Monthly Billing code as your starting code from the Code Browser:
Now select the ending billing code by pressing the browse button next to the End Bill Code field under the Billing Code Range group:
We want to select the same billing code as our ending billing code:
Now we are ready to go to the next screen of the task wizard:
This is the fourth screen of the task wizard. This allows the setting of various options that Argus needs to fulfill the task at hand. In this case we are interested in setting a starting and ending date to limit the transactions that will be processed. We can change the default start and end dates that appear. We are now finished with this screen and can proceed by pressing the Next button:
This is the fifth screen of the task wizard. Here the user can decide if they wish to run the task immediately i.e. on the desktop. This can be done by leaving the Launch now radio button selected and pressing the Finish button. Argus is still smart enough to start a processing thread on your desktop and run the task in background, allowing the user to continue using the Argus desktop. Argus displays an animation on the bottom left side of the screen while the task is running. The user knows when the task is completed because the animation stops. If, on the other hand, it is desired to run this task on Argus' multithreaded server either immediately or to be scheduled for some time in the future and perhaps to be run repeatedly over a period of time; then select the Argus Scheduling Wizard by selecting the Proceed to report/process scheduler radio button.
Notice how the Finish button is now grayed out and there is another Next button. This button will take us to the first screen of the scheduling wizard:
This is the first screen of the scheduling wizard. It allows many options on how this task should be scheduled. The radio buttons are self explanatory i.e. Annually = Once a year, Bi-annually = twice a year, Quarterly = every quarter, Monthly = once a month, Weekly = once a week, On specific month day = will be run on a specific day in a month, On specific week day = will run on the specified day of the week and Daily = run every day. This is the default selection. The date range specifies the period over which this task will be scheduled. In our example we want to run this task daily at 5:30 PM for the month of May in the year 2002. Since the appropriate Scheduling plan is selected along with the correct date range. Press the Next Button:
This is second screen of the scheduling wizard. It allows the selection of the frequency of the task i.e. how frequently will it run on a given day. Only once a day = will run the task once a day at 5:00:00 PM everyday during the month of May. Hourly = will run the task every hour for the month of May. Every n hours = will run the task n number of times every hour for the month of May. We only want our report to run once everyday at 5:00 PM for the month of day. Now we are ready to go on. Press the Next button:
This is the third screen of the scheduling wizard and it allows the selection of who will receive notification once the task is complete via e-mail. All registered users will appear under All users and they can be selected individually by using the > button or all by using the >> button. Since we only have on user we will select that user:
If this task were to produce any output (generally useful for reports) we can select the Attach Output box. We are now ready to proceed by pressing Next:
Press Finish to generate the task and submit it to Argus' server.