Task analysis Solution

Task analysis definition
Task analysis is an examination and collection of information related to the work (tasks and jobs) for the purpose of making a step-by-step comparison between requirements for the work and capabilities of employees involved. Task analysis procedures allow articulating tasks to catch their parameters and attributes for analysis. To conduct task analysis, the work should be broken down into separate units like tasks and jobs, and each unit of the work will be examined and compared in accordance with task analysis templates.

Task analysis benefits
Use of task analysis activities can identify possible areas for performance improvement and workplace modification so that working environments can be adapted to fit needs and consider abilities of employees in the best way. The main benefit of task analysis activities appears in an opportunity to identify factors that limit an employee's return to work, so you can better make decisions having more information on tasks and abilities of the employee. Here are some other benefits which you can gain:

• Finding productivity gaps and disclosing problems related to poor employee performance
• Gathering valued information for examining lessons learnt
• Optimizing use of working hours and employee workload
• Preventing and identifying reasons for procrastination and non-productive time of employees

Task analysis checklist
Various task analysis tools and techniques (ex.: Cognitive analysis and Graph-matrix analysis) teach you how to create task analysis sheets which are used to collect, process, and analyze information related to tasks and jobs. You can choose one or another task analysis tool or method depending on complexity of the work to be analyzed. However, if you want to analyze daily tasks and jobs of employees, it's usually enough to use common rules and methods to create and manage task analysis forms, procedures, and task analysis sheets. The given below task analysis checklist shows you main task analysis processes that you can run to analyze tasks and jobs assigned to employees:

• Classifying tasks – this means you need to sort task lists of employees by priority and status. A sorted task list lets track which task priority conforms to which goal. While classifying tasks, you need to remember the rule: “The higher priority of a task means the higher urgency of this task, and more prioritized tasks should have the higher status of completion.”
• Selecting tasks – according to task priorities and statuses, you can choose those tasks that are more feasible and appropriate. Attributes of these tasks (like due date, assignment, status of completion, urgency etc.) will serve as measures to be used against the rest tasks, so you can define deviations and analyze reasons for them.
• Decomposing tasks – you start identifying and describing task components and task goals. Decomposing tasks results in creation of task analysis grid that shows you a matrix of task analysis samples described by task attributes.

Task analysis software
When running task analysis procedures, information needs to be gathered directly from existing situations and examples, without delays and barriers, so you need to use task analysis softwarethatsupports data sharing, permissions management and user collaboration. VIP Task Manager can be used to analyze tasks and examine task analysis examples taking into account different factors of task management and teamwork control.

VIP Task Manager is a task management program that allows creating task analysis worksheets and checklists to analyze tasks and jobs. The software lets combine tasks into to-do lists and job lists that can be shared with and assigned to a group of employees involved in task analysis process.

By using Permissions panel of the software, you can define user access to tasks and related information, so only permitted employees will be able to participate in task analysis process, review its progress, and build task analysis reports.

VIP Task Manager uses a client-server platform to establish user collaboration in real time. This means you can enjoy communicating with users immediately and sharing task analysis templates. You can use Task Tree view of the software to create and manage a hierarchy of task analysis steps. Task Tree view also allows analyzing tasks in a graph view as you can build task analysis diagrams.