Question

FIFO/LIFO

  • 3 August 2021
  • 8 replies
  • 116 views

Userlevel 6
Badge +10

Hi y’all!

We typically use the date a client drops off tax documents to help determine their place in the prep order.   Any suggestions or ideas on how to best track work in a FIFO order?   

Thanks!!

Kylene


8 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +19

Hi Kylene!

This is a great question. I am a huge fan of first in, first out (FIFO). I worked with support for a while to figure out how to manage it in kanban view, but it’s not built to handle it.

The kanban is sorted by due date, and if you have several work items with the same due date (like individual income tax returns) then the list is sorted alphabetically. If there’s a tie there, it’s sorted by the key (a number no one sees that Karbon uses to keep track of each work item).

I entered a suggestion to add more granular control over the sorting of the kanban boards to accommodate FIFO. The more people put in suggestions, the more likely it’ll get on the roadmap.

What I would like to do is have a field called “Date Received” and then also have a field that displays “Time in Status”. Between these two items, I could make sure that no work item gets left behind.

What do you think? Is that what you are thinking? Maybe you had something else in mind.

Userlevel 6
Badge +10

I love this!  I’ll make sure to have my team put in requests like yours as well!

In the meantime, I was wondering if there might be a way to modify start dates, but I am hesitant to try because of the work recurrence and how we have our templates built, and if modifying the start date will mess up future work items?

Userlevel 5
Badge +6

Hello Kylene,

You can update the start date once all client deliverables are received but you have to ensure that you move the task due dates along with the update of the start date so that all future work is correctly calculating the due dates going forward (e.g. x days after the start date). Note, if the work is to be recurring work, be sure to put the work on a recurring schedule prior to moving the start date.

Userlevel 6
Badge +10

Aha!! Thank you Brooks!  That should fix what I was concerned about.  Will definitely try this out.

Hi All, this thread is helpful but i have a different result.  During tax season we have workflow set to a jan 1 start. some clients held that start date through out the year but most actually a true in date which i attribute the first completed step.  I’m was seeing what I thought was the FIFO dates. As far as i know this was accurate.  i confirm I did create the repeat work prior to any date change.  Now I’m trying to recreate this and cannot.  

oops i found it in the Automator settings :grin: !! 

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +19

What we are trying this year is updating the work item due date dynamically via automator to three days after receiving all of the client’s documents.

All others will stay due on the day we should file an extension if not completed (typically a couple weeks before the statutory due date.

We are working really hard this year to avoid all last minute filings. If clients are late getting their documents to us, we’ll file an extension and not stress about the deadline. Everything will be planned out to complete a week before the deadline. I’m excited to see how it goes.

Userlevel 7
Badge +13

We have also successfully used the automators to update due dates on tax returns.  Once all documents have been received in their client task, the work item moves to the Tax Associate for preparation.  We have an automators that move the due date.  This is what we use in the Preparation section.  They are triggered by the client bringing in all their documents.

 

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