Best UI approach for a assigning tasks in a workflow to users

Question

I'm working on a workflow-kinda application where a project leader is required to assign tasks in the project to users. Following are the key inputs to this requirement:

1. The users are selected by searching in the application's user group.
2. The tasks are grouped in to phases.
3. User should be able to assign all tasks in a phase to a particular user.
4. User should be able to assign each task in a phase to a different user.

I'm wondering what the best approach would be. Something that is obivious is to have a collapsable table

1. Phase 1 - Assign User
   1-a. Task 1-1 - Assign User
   1-b. Task 1-2 - Assign User
   1-c. Task 1-3 - Assign User
   
2. Phase 2 - Assign User
   2-a. Task 2-1 - Assign User
   2-b. Task 2-2 - Assign User
   2-c. Task 2-3 - Assign User
   

If the assign user is clicked at the Phase 1, the search feature will be provided in a pop-up and after searching that user will be applied to the entire phase and overwrite any assignment that was done at the task level in that phase. And when assign user is click at the task level, it will be applied only to that task in that phase.

Is this approach the best approach OR is there another one?

Answer 1

For bulk editing purposes, providing a way to select multiple phases and/or tasks and then assign a user would be ideal. Some online tools such as GMail do this with email management. Only after selecting an item do "bulk editing" options appear such as moving an email, tagging it, forwarding, deleting, and so on. You still want to provide assigning options at the phase and task levels though on individual items.

If I'm roughing this out, it would be something more like this: