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May 19, 2022
Question

Custom Aggregation in Parent Tasks

  • May 19, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 1033 views

My team uses a template where all tasks are set up as Calculated Work tasks. We also do not use a typical 8-hour workday, so we enter the duration of all tasks as hours (e.g., Duration = 2 hrs) and therefore the Planned Hours matches automatically (e.g., Planned Hours = Duration = 2 hrs, assuming a single person is assigned). Workfront does not allow us to edit the Planned Hours directly as it is calculated in this case.

It would be ideal if we could just enter time as Planned Hours, have the Duration automatically match the Planned Hours, and simply exclude Duration from the view we use. However, because time must be entered as Duration, not Planned Hours, we have no choice but to display both columns.

The issue is that, when aggregating the hours in the parent tasks, the Duration column looks funny whereas we would really prefer to show the actual SUM of the hours as you see in the Planned Hours column.

I desire to build the view to contain one column called "Effort" which is a Duration column (so that we can enter time), but to have the parent tasks aggregate by referencing the tasks Planned Hours and display that instead.

I have the following code in Text Mode, but the parent tasks are still aggregating the data in the default way. Is there a good solution for this?

aggregator.displayformat=minutesAsHoursString

aggregator.function=SUM

aggregator.valuefield=workRequired

aggregator.valueformat=compound

descriptionkey=duration

displayname=Effort

durationunitfield=durationUnit.value

listsort=intAsInt(durationMinutes)

querysort=durationMinutes

section=0

shortview=false

stretch=0

textmode=true

valuefield=durationMinutes

valueformat=compound

width=80

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1 reply

May 20, 2022

It looks like the aggregator code affects groupings only, not parent tasks. However, it works effectively for groupings. Is there a way to essentially apply the same specifications for how it handles aggregated data on the parent task?

New Member
December 8, 2022

I'd like to be able to aggregate values at the parent task level, too.  

February 26, 2024

I have spoken with a technician are Workfront before, and he confirmed that it is not possible to stipulate custom aggregations on parent tasks. This is only possible with groupings. The only thing you could do is to group by parent task.