Overview
Each Assignment Definition has its own priorities and a Deadline delay policy. Together they decide the deadline an Assignment starts with, which priorities need a start and deadline at all, and how an Assignment's priority and deadline affect readiness, overdue tracking and notifications.
This article explains how those settings behave on Assignments. To build a definition — its states, categories and access rules — see Using Assignment Definitions.
At a glance |
|
Who can do this | Configure: Super Users or a Role with Organization › Administrate. Anyone creating an Assignment sees the effect |
Where | Configuration › Assignments › Assignment Definitions › a definition › Priorities |
Works on | Backend (web) to configure. Applies to Assignments in the Backend and Mobile app. |
Availability | Add-on — ask your CSM to enable Assignment Definition functionality |
💡 Why this matters: A repair that must be done before opening and a routine touch-up shouldn't get the same deadline. Priorities and deadline policies let each definition set sensible defaults, so people don't have to work out a deadline every time and urgent work shows up where it should.
How the deadline is pre-filled
When someone creates an Assignment, Mobaro pre-fills its deadline from the start time using the definition's Deadline delay policy. The start defaults to now, and they can change both before saving.
Policy | Pre-filled deadline |
Default | One week after the start |
Relative | Delay deadline by a number of Hour(s), Day(s), Week(s) or Month(s) after the start — or the End of day, End of next day, End of week, End of month or End of year of the start. Optionally and fix time at a time of day. |
Relative deadlines use your organization's time zone, and End of week follows its First Day of Week. For example, Delay deadline by 2 Day(s) and fix time at 17:00 gives an Assignment started Monday at 10:00 a deadline of Wednesday at 17:00. In the Backend, Assignments without a definition get the same one-week default.
From a Checklist: an Assignment trigger's Set deadline to overrides the policy, and the app then hides the date fields — see Assignment triggers in Checklists.
From a Downtime or a Note: the policy is always applied, unless a Note type's trigger sets its own deadline.
Existing Assignments: changing the policy only affects Assignments created afterwards.
Priorities and time frame policies
Add priorities on the Priorities tab with Add Priority. Each one has these settings:
Setting | What it does | Default |
Name | Shown wherever the priority is picked, such as P1 or Urgent | Empty |
Default | Pre-selected on new Assignments. Exactly one priority must be the default | Off |
Critical for operation | Assignments at this priority count as high priority. Can't be changed after the priority is saved | Off |
Time frame policy | Disabled: start and deadline are cleared and hidden. Optional: shown, not required. Required: both must be filled before saving | Optional |
The time frame policy follows the priority, so in the Backend and app, switching an Assignment to a Disabled priority clears its start and deadline. An Assignment with no deadline is never overdue.
🛑 Critical: With Red if one or more active high priority assignments exist turned on — it is by default — any open Assignment at a Critical for operation priority turns its Location red (not ready) until it's finished. Keep that flag for work that must stop operation. See Schedule criticality and Location operational status.
What priority and deadline affect
Readiness: besides the high priority rule above, Red if one or more active overdue assignments exist (off by default) turns a Location red while an Assignment there is past its deadline and not finished.
Start: the Assignment is visible straight away. Its start time is when work can begin; assignees get an Assignment started notification then, if their settings allow.
Overdue: once the deadline passes, Assignment overdue notifications go out, depending on each person's settings — see Organizational and personal notification settings.
The Assignments list: the Priority filter shows High priority and Critical for operation Assignments, and the Deadline filter finds Assignments due in a period. See Reporting on and exporting Assignments.
Many at once: Set Priority and Set Deadline change several Assignments together — see Bulk-managing Assignments from the Backend.
Change priorities later
To change Critical for operation, create a new priority with the setting you need and delete the old one.
Deleting a priority that Assignments use opens the Assignment Definition Mapper: choose a replacement in Priority mappings for them.
Renaming a priority or changing its time frame policy keeps the Assignments that use it.
Example: a work order definition
Scenario: a maintenance team wants critical jobs started immediately and everything else planned.
Setup: P1 is Critical for operation with time frame Disabled, so nobody sets dates and the ride shows as not ready until it's fixed. P2 is Required, so the creator must plan a start and deadline. P3 is the Default, with Optional dates. The Deadline delay policy is Relative, End of next day.
Result: critical work turns the Location red without a deadline to manage, and routine work gets a sensible deadline without anyone typing one.
Best practices
Match the policy to how the work really runs — End of next day for urgent repairs, End of week for routine jobs.
Make the most common priority the Default, so most Assignments need no extra choice.
Use Required where planning matters, and Disabled only for work that has no deadline.
Set the deadline on Checklist triggers when a check needs a different deadline than the definition's policy.
Frequently asked questions
How do I change the default deadline, for example on assignments created from a "Not OK" answer?
Set the definition's Deadline delay policy on its Priorities tab. For Assignments raised by a Checklist, the Assignment trigger's Set deadline to wins — change it there. Without a definition, the Backend pre-fills a week after the start.
How can I prioritise assignments or sort them by priority?
Give each definition priorities, and use Critical for operation for the most urgent. The Assignments list can't be sorted by priority, but the Priority filter shows only High priority and Critical for operation Assignments.
Why can't I choose a priority when I create an assignment from a checklist in the app?
When the question's Assignment trigger sets a priority, the app hides the field. Change the priority on the trigger in the Checklist, or edit the Assignment after it's created.
If I set a start date, is the assignment hidden until then?
No. The Assignment is visible to its assignees straight away. The start date only marks when work can begin, and triggers the Assignment started notification at that time.