Actions: how-to

Step-by-step instructions for every Actions task. For what each option means, see Actions; for problems, see Actions: troubleshooting.

Find your task

If you’re here because…	Go to
You want to see what you need to do today	Check your Actions
You got an Action email, or an Action is waiting	Work through an Action
An Action should be someone else’s	Assign or reassign an Action
Each type of Action should always go to the same person	Set up automatic action assignments
You can’t deal with it yet	Snooze an Action
You’ve dealt with it outside COHO, or it’s no longer needed	Dismiss an Action
You want to track progress for your team	Change an Action’s status
You need a reminder COHO doesn’t raise for you	Add your own Action
You follow the same steps every time	Add a checklist to an Action, then Create a workflow template
Every Action of one type should get the same checklist	Apply a template automatically
You want a checklist when you onboard, add a tenancy or set a move-out date	Start a workflow from a form
A task repeats on a schedule	Set up a recurring Action
A new property’s setup Actions aren’t in your list	See setup tasks
You need a list to share or print	Report on or export Actions

Check your Actions

Do this at the start of the day, or when the dashboard Actions tile shows something open.

1. On the dashboard, click the Actions or Overdue tile, or go to Menu > Actions.
2. Check the person filter. It starts on Mine & Unassigned. Choose All to see the whole team’s.
3. Click a category tile, for example Property, to list its Actions.
4. Narrow it down if you need to: Filter by action type, Filter by tags, Filter by status, or chosen properties.
5. Click View on a row to open it.

What happens next: overdue rows are highlighted. To check one property, open the property page and use its Actions panel instead.

Work through an Action

Do this when an Action is waiting for you, or you clicked the link in an Action email.

1. Open the Action (View).
2. Read the message, and use the links to the Property, Room or Tenancy if you need them.
3. Do the task in the Action itself. Most COHO Actions show the form you need: for example, upload the certificate, log the payment, or open the onboarding.
4. If it has a workflow, tick each step on the Workflow tab as you go. Check the Instructions tab for notes and files.

What happens next: when the task is done, COHO closes the Action, and you may see “You have successfully satisfied this action and it has been marked as dismissed.” If you did the task elsewhere in COHO, the Action closes straight away or at the next check. Click the panel’s reload icon to refresh.

Assign or reassign an Action

Do this when an Action should be handled by someone else, or nobody has it yet.

Before you start: you need edit permission for Actions.

1. Find the Action in the list.
2. Click the person in the Assigned column.
3. Choose the team member, or clear it to unassign.

What happens next: the new person gets a notification, and the History tab records the change. Some maintenance Actions can’t be reassigned here; reassign the maintenance issue instead.

Set up automatic action assignments

Do this when the same kinds of Action should always go to the same person, for example every maintenance Action for one block to your maintenance coordinator.

Before you start: you need edit permission for User management.

1. On the Actions panel, click the settings cog.
2. Open Automatic Action Assignments and click Add Assignment.
3. Choose Action types, Properties, or both. Leave one blank to match all of them.
4. Choose Assign to.
5. Click Add.

What happens next: from now on, new Actions that match are assigned to that person. Newer rules take priority over older ones. Existing Actions keep their assignee, so reassign those yourself.

Tip

For broad defaults, use the Users panel’s Automatic assignments instead: one person each for Lettings and sales, Property management and Tenancy management, for the organisation and for each property. Rules here override those defaults.

Snooze an Action

Do this when you can’t act yet, for example you’re waiting for a contractor.

Before you start: you need edit permission for Actions.

1. Click the bell on the Action’s row.
2. Choose Tomorrow, 3 days, Next week, Next month or In 3 months, or pick a date under Snooze until.

What happens next: the Action leaves the list until that date, then comes back. Its due date doesn’t change and COHO doesn’t send a new notification. To see snoozed Actions, tick Include snoozed. To bring one back early, click its bell, or Unsnooze on the open Action.

Dismiss an Action

Do this when you’ve dealt with a reminder-type Action, or it’s no longer needed.

Before you start: you need edit permission for Actions.

1. Click the tick on the row (Mark as completed and dismiss action), or open the Action and click Dismiss Action.

What happens next: the Action moves to Completed. You can find it for 30 days by filtering by Completed.

Note

If there’s no tick and no Dismiss Action, the Action closes itself when the task is done. Do the task, or snooze the Action. See I can’t dismiss or delete an Action.

Change an Action’s status

Do this to show your team where you’re up to.

1. Click the status in the Status column.
2. Choose New, In Progress or On Hold. Completed is offered on Actions you can dismiss by hand.

What happens next: the status changes for everyone. It doesn’t do the task itself.

Add your own Action

Do this for a task COHO doesn’t raise for you, such as renewing a parking permit or calling a tenant back.

Before you start: you need edit permission for Actions. For a checklist, create a Manual action template first; see Create a workflow template.

1. Below the list on the Actions panel, click Add Action.
2. Under Want to use a workflow?, choose Single Action or Workflow. For Workflow, choose the template.
3. Choose the Property (on the organisation panel; leave it empty for an organisation-wide task). For a multi-let or block, choose the Room or Unit, and the Tenancy if it’s about one.
4. Enter a Title (at least 3 characters). For a workflow it’s filled in from the template.
5. Optionally set a Due date, Snooze until, Assigned to, Detail and tags.
6. Click Add.

What happens next: the Action appears in the Other tile. If you leave Assigned to empty on a property, it goes to that property’s Property management default, if there is one. The assignee is notified about a minute later. You can change its title, due date and detail later with Edit.

Add a checklist to an Action

Do this when one Action needs several steps, possibly for different people.

1. Open the Action and go to the Workflow tab.
2. Click Create steps to add steps one by one, or Use template, choose a template and click Apply.
3. Assign a step to a person if you need to.
4. Tick steps as they’re done. [number] completed shows ticked steps again.

What happens next: the status shows progress, for example “In Progress 2/5”. When every step is ticked, a reminder-type Action closes; an Action that closes itself shows Completed until its task is done. To reuse your steps, click Save as template.

Create a workflow template

Do this when you follow the same steps regularly, for example a move-out or a new landlord setup.

Before you start: you need edit permission for Actions.

1. On the Actions panel, click the settings cog and open Workflow Templates.
2. Click Add template.
3. Choose Manual action (for Actions you add yourself and recurring Actions) or Built-in action (for one type of COHO Action). Under Select the action type, choose the type; the list uses Action titles, for example Gas Safety Certificate Required or Workflow -> Tenancy Move-Out Date Set.
4. Name your template and click Continue.
5. Add steps with Add step. Use Add section and Add child step to group them, drag to reorder, and use Assign someone? to give a step to a person.
6. Optionally add Additional instructions and Additional files.
7. For a built-in action, tick Always use this workflow for actions of this type if every Action of that type should get it. See Apply a template automatically.
8. Click Create.

What happens next: the template is available under Use template, in Add Action, in recurring Actions and in the matching forms. Editing a template later doesn’t change checklists already added to Actions.

Apply a template automatically

Do this when every Action of one type, for example every gas safety renewal, should get the same checklist.

1. Open Workflow Templates and click Edit on a Built-in action template.
2. Tick Always use this workflow for actions of this type and click Update.

What happens next: within about 5 minutes, COHO adds the checklist to every open Action of that type that doesn’t already have one, including older ones. Snoozed Actions are skipped. Only one template per type can apply automatically; untick the other first.

Start a workflow from an onboarding or tenancy form

Do this when you want a checklist Action created as you onboard someone, add a tenancy, cancel an onboarding or set a move-out date.

Before you start: create a Built-in action template of the matching type. In the template’s type list these are Workflow -> New Onboarding Started, Workflow -> New Tenancy Added (directly), Workflow -> Tenancy Move-Out Date Set and Workflow -> Onboarding Cancelled.

1. In the form, find Custom Onboarding Workflow (on Onboard New Applicant; click Change if it says “There is no Custom Onboarding Workflow”), or Do you want to include a workflow?
2. Choose Yes, and choose the Workflow Template.
3. Optionally set Workflow due by.
4. Finish the form as usual.

What happens next: a workflow Action is created and assigned to you. If the template is set to apply automatically, the form chooses it for you.

Set up a recurring Action

Do this for a task that repeats, such as a quarterly check on every property.

Before you start: you need edit permission for Actions.

1. On the Actions panel, click the settings cog and open Recurring Actions.
2. Click Add recurring action.
3. Choose Single action or Workflow (and the Workflow template).
4. Enter the Title.
5. Under Property, choose Specific properties or By property tag. Leave the property list blank for all active properties.
6. Set the Due date (Immediately, or days, weeks or months after), the Frequency and the Start date.
7. Optionally choose Assign to, and add Detail and Tags.
8. Click Add.

What happens next: on each run, COHO creates one Action per property in scope, in the Other tile.

See setup tasks

Do this when a new property’s first-time Actions, such as adding its first certificates, aren’t in your list.

1. On the Actions panel, switch on Setup tasks.
2. To move a property’s setup tasks into your normal list, open the property and click End this process on its setup checklist.

What happens next: the setup tasks join your normal list. Ending the process can’t be undone. Setup tasks never send notifications.

Report on or export Actions

Do this to share, print or analyse your Actions.

1. Set the filters first: person, one property (or none), a category tile, and Include snoozed if you want them.
2. Click one of these:
   • Generate Report: opens a printable Actions Report in a new window, grouped by category, with Title, Property, Due and Overdue.
   • Export (CSV): downloads open Actions (not completed or dismissed).
   • Export ALL (CSV): downloads completed and dismissed Actions. It can take a long time.

What happens next: the CSV includes created, due and completed dates, category, type, title, message, property, room, tenancy, notes and tags.