Adobe Workfront Experts on Workfront System Smarts & Strategic Starts | Adobe Higher Education
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kautuk_sahni
Community Manager
Community Manager
September 22, 2025

Adobe Workfront Experts on Workfront System Smarts & Strategic Starts

  • September 22, 2025
  • 32 risposte
  • 12332 visualizzazioni

October 29th, 2025

 

We are happy to welcome Monique Evans, Kiersten Kollins, Nichole Vargas, Cynthia Boon and Leslie Spier for an AMA session about Workfront System Smarts & Strategic Starts. 

 

Our experts:

  • Monique Evans is a Senior Manager - Global Content Studio Operations at Stanley Black & Decker, Inc.
  • Kiersten Kollins is a Marketing Operations Tech Manager at DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse
  • Nichole Vargas, Leslie Spier & Cynthia Boon are Customer Success Managers from Adobe. 

 

How this AMA works:

  • This thread will open on Wednesday, October 29, for you to start submitting your questions 
  • Reply to this post with any questions you have for our Experts. They will reply to as many of your questions as possible. 
  • After the AMA is over, the thread will be locked for new replies, but it will remain visible as a resource. 

32 risposte

KariB93WI
Level 2
September 23, 2025

How do you communicate release information with users? Do you change your SOP to take advantage of new features? How often?

KierstenKollins
Community Advisor
Community Advisor
October 29, 2025

It depends on what the changes are but, in my experience, try to be ahead of the game as much as possible. Be sure to frequently check the release updates page to see what is coming out to be able to plan for the changes. In the preview environment, be sure to test and grab any key users to ensure it makes sense to them before sending a broader communication when the time is right. As an Admin, SOP’s may need to change and that is part of the job. My biggest piece of advice to make sure you plan for these changes in your day to day, because they are important and should not be overlooked. Communicate with leadership the importance on why this is adding work to your plate but it is valuable.

 

Release Updates: https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/workfront/using/product-announcements/product-releases/product-releases

 

 

The communication cookbook is also a great resource to see how others communicate changes.

 

Communication Cookbook: https://experienceleaguecommunities.adobe.com/t5/workfront-blogs/introducing-the-end-user-communications-cookbook/ba-p/607439

 

 

Overall, it is about finding the balance that works for your business and users and to meet them where they are, so they know they have support when changes occur. This helps to promote adoption even when changes are scary sometimes.

Level 3
September 23, 2025

I have an browser extension call Whatfix - Cost is about 100/year per user.

It allows me to create quick links at the top of Workfront pages and the quick links reference the Workfront release notes

The same application allows me to have a Workfront self help and I put the links in there also.

CynthiaBoon
Adobe Employee
Adobe Employee
October 29, 2025

That's a great tip! Thanks for sharing!

Level 2
September 23, 2025

How do you or your clients typically manage the environment lifecycle in Workfront?

We currently use up to four environments (Production, Preview, and two Sandboxes) to avoid making changes directly in Production. Our process starts in Sandbox 1, then moves to Sandbox 2, and finally to Production. However, we’re facing two main challenges:

  1. There’s no reliable and comprehensive way to promote configurations across environments — the package export/import only supports a limited set of objects and settings.
  2. Some features (e.g., Proofing) are only available in Production and Preview, making it impossible to test them beforehand.

Do you have any best practices or recommendations to address these limitations?
Maybe we're doing it the wrong way.

Thanks!

MoniqueEvans
Community Advisor
Community Advisor
October 29, 2025

Most people would scream when they read this but honestly I do most of my building and testing in Production. I know, I know. But for me, I have a Portfolio and Program that is hidden to everyone outside of admins so it's relatively hidden. I also only run Fusion scenarios one at a time for very specific projects and use myself and/or the specific ID so it's a very controlled enviornment. Also when it's ready to roll out I don't have to think about any promotion limitations or recreating the whole build.

Lyndsy-Denk
Community Advisor
Community Advisor
October 30, 2025

Same, @moniqueevans. I isolate my playground in a dedicated portfolio.

Kurt_Jones
Community Advisor
Community Advisor
September 24, 2025

Can you provide an example of a roadmap on how you align releases, fixes, and long-term planning?  This is always a challenge to get leaders to see and understand

KierstenKollins
Community Advisor
Community Advisor
October 29, 2025

I won’t be able to share an example but here is what I have found to be successful over the years.

 

  1. Develop a simple roadmap to start. Be sure to include the following: Project Name, Notes about the project, Team(s) impacted, Level of Effort, Priority Tier, ROI Value, Projected Timing (could be business quarter(s), year(s), ect.), Status (Completed, In Progress, Not Started), Begin Date and Completed Date
  2. Be sure to share somewhere, either in Workfront, Spreadsheet, SharePoint, etc. a view of the roadmap that end users can access any time. This provides full transparency to users that there are a lot of items on an Admin’s list to solve for and not everything can be a priority when a new idea or change comes in.
  3. Share recaps to all users. In my experience, a quarterly update was the right balance. We would provide a simple recap with what projects were in the works, where we were at with projects and what was upcoming. Also, within this recap deck, we would remind people to check out the roadmaps or where to go to submit new ideas.
  4. Be sure to level set expectations with a disclaimer on all communications when sharing roadmaps. For example, adding the following: Please note, roadmaps are subject to change based on business needs. Projects may be placed on hold to re-prioritize other needs.

 

Overall, these steps also helped to protect the Admin from burn out and provide clarity to leadership that ideas and changes are being captured but take time to implement.

Level 5
September 24, 2025

What would be the best way to pull a report for proofs with no reviewer and approver? We frequently have designers forget to add an approver to the proof.

NicholeVargas
Adobe Employee
Adobe Employee
October 29, 2025

@stacey_robertson There isn't a way to report on proof reviewers currently (although that is coming with the new document approvals experience), however, if you were to create a Proof Approval report that filters for Approver ID > Is Blank, that will pull in all proofs that don't have an approver. 

Level 3
October 29, 2025

Oh, that's a great workaround! We're not big fans of the new unified approvals. It's SO different than how people learned to add people to proofs, that it just adds confusion.

Level 3
September 24, 2025

How do you effectively create project plans in Workfront where you are typing in responses within the project columns? Is there a secret to this? 

LeslieSpier
Adobe Employee
Adobe Employee
October 29, 2025

Hey @jenniferma10 ! Can you give a little more detail? Are you trying to build timelines or fill out custom forms? We love a good in-line edit!

Level 3
October 29, 2025

You bet! I would love a way to create a custom timeline in Workfront similar to Smartsheet. I want to create my own custom fields within View and then edit them accordingly. Our team creates very elaborate project plans, and I just can't figure out a way to get Workfront to do this.

skyehansen
Community Advisor and Adobe Champion
October 2, 2025

I see your sample question "What’s one thing you wish every admin did regularly that would save headaches later?" but have to ask "How do you think two steps ahead so you can see a headache coming?"

KierstenKollins
Community Advisor
Community Advisor
October 29, 2025

In my experience, I have found to stay connected with your users on a regular basis to stay ahead of issues or pitfalls. 

 

One easy way of doing this to start is to offer Open Door hours where users can come in freely to bring up concerns or ask questions. These organic conversations versus scheduled feedback conversations can get to real, meaningful discussions versus sitting in a group call.

 

If you are unable to hold open doors, anonymous surveys periodically work wonders. I have found the simpler the better with these. 1 - 2 minute surveys can be valuable to see how people are feeling to get ahead of panic or users not adopting the tool.

 

 

 

 

JohnMitchellWF
Level 2
October 6, 2025

External Lookups (Used Internally as Excel Spreadsheet Replacements):

Is anyone actively using external lookup fields to act as a data table in Workfront? For instance, retrieving other custom data on a project's task or issue list to then be used in other spaces? I've built a few versions of it, and run into a few small issues here and there in terms of useability, but overall it seems like a really good spreadsheet replacement tool that is easier to manage than something like a lengthy picklist set and calculated fields or display logic to drive choices in a form. 


Curious to hear other's thoughts!

MoniqueEvans
Community Advisor
Community Advisor
October 29, 2025

Unfortunately neither of us have used the external lookups yet but I did attend an incredible session earlier this month that had a lot of insightful information that may help you. If not, please post a separate Community post and I'll tag some of the other Advisors to chime in if they are better versed.

 

https://experienceleaguecommunities.adobe.com/t5/workfront-discussions/event-follow-up-workfront-pro-tips-for-governance-execution-and/m-p/780766#M4880

BridgettePr1
Level 2
October 6, 2025

What are some of the ways that admins/power users communicate with their internal users to cascade information, foster adoption and interest, and get them excited about new features? We have challenges with varied use and falling back into excel documents for certain teams. Would love some tips on how to bring folks along on the journey!

KierstenKollins
Community Advisor
Community Advisor
October 29, 2025

Communication can be hard, but it is essential to maintain strong adoption for changes or new process implementations.

 

I have found that with users they need to have the nuts and bolts broken down in a simplistic way. In my experience, provide the who, why, context, etc. goes a long way. We would send Process Updates to communicate changes in real time which can be found in the Communications Cookbook.

 

Communication Cookbook: https://experienceleaguecommunities.adobe.com/t5/workfront-blogs/introducing-the-end-user-communications-cookbook/ba-p/607439

 

 

If there were larger projects with stakeholders, these were treated differently. We would have core team members and weekly or monthly updates sent out for status updates. This was important to bring users along the journey the entire time so when changes were made live, teams were prepared and aware versus being out of the loop. Lastly, have a feedback loop with teams. This could be a 30, 60, 90 day check in to see if something needs to be adjusted and meet users needs.

Level 3
October 6, 2025

Hello Bridget,

 

I do that with a third party product we have called Whatfix.  It is a browser extension and it costs approximately $100.00 per user per year.

What fix allows me to do the following that I use to inform users.

1.  You can create a popup message that appears when they login (you decide when and for how long)

2.  You can create what I call quick links - These appear on the Workfront pages and the user can click on them.  When the user clicks on them they can have the following happen

> A popup message is displayed with information

> The click takes them to a link which can have a document, video, etc with information

> The click starts a process flow with tips on each step to guide them thru the process

3. Whatfix provides a self help Icon that is displayed on each Workfront Page.  Self helps has many features

> User can search for a topic (for example:  Documentation on the next Workfront release)

> Folders in which you can create and place Workfront items (videos, documents, links, flows)

> I even have the ability for them to start a webex meeting with me (the admin)

4. I have created about 80 process flows that the user can use

> Some provide a tip on each step of the flow (good for new users learning Workfront)

> Others are what we call Auto Complete flows and these process flows try to complete as many steps as possible automatically and only stops and displays a tip when the user needs to do something in the process.

 

Hope this is helpful