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01-03-2022


Once you have decided to transition to the new Workfront experience, it’s time to begin preparing your organization and Workfront users. The good news is that there are not a lot of technical challenges to solve for - the majority of the transition is rooted in change management.  This week’s blog will provide you with the tools and techniques to help you with this change process to ensure your rollout of the new Workfront experience is a success.


There are three keys to a any great change management initiative:

  1. Understanding your Stakeholders
  2. Good Project Planning
  3. Communicate Early and Often


UNDERSTAND YOUR STAKEHOLDERS

There are several stakeholders to consider when planning the transition to the new Workfront experience, including those planning and executing the change and those that will be affected by the change. Here are some roles to consider for the change management team:


Transition Champion - This person is responsible for the overall socialization and coordination across all teams including ensuring that all stakeholders understand the Who, What, When, Where, and Why surrounding the change.


Transition Team Leads - If the team using Workfront is small, this may be one individual, but if you have multiple departments using Workfront for different purposes, you may have multiple team leads. These individuals are responsible for tactical project management and communication of transition.


Workfront Users - Each team may have a variety of personas including executives, work managers, workers, reviewers and requestors. For each persona, identify how the transition will affect their ability to get their work done. Below are four questions to consider:

  • What are the benefits AND drawbacks of the change?
  • Has their procedure (Click-Path) Changed?
  • Were custom dashboards created for this persona?
  • Do training materials or job aids need to be created or updated for this persona?


PRO TIP:  Establish a pilot team that can test the transition and provide feedback and lessons learned before rolling out to a larger audience. Consider “digital natives” that are eager to adopt new approaches and technology or teams that may have historically resisted Workfront, as the new Workfront experience may have solved several of their barriers.


PLANNING THE TRANSITION

What better place to plan your transition than in Workfront itself. Chris Talmont, Workfront Customer Solutions Architect, developed a Workfront project plan that can be directly imported into the Projects area to help you manage the various steps of transition. The project template includes links to many useful resources and actionable steps or guidance along the way. Click here to automatically download a zip file with the MS Project .xml file included.


NOTE: If you have any issues or are unable to download the zip file, reach out to CSatScale@workfront.com and we can share the MS Project .xml file! 


Instructions for upload:

  1. Open your computer downloads folder and search for the recent download, Sample NWE Transition Plan, or select the zip file from the bottom of your browser window. Double click the zip file so that the .xml file is available. 
  2. Navigate to the Projects area in Workfront.
  3. Click the New Project dropdown.
  4. Choose Import MS Project and select the downloaded .xml file.
  5. The imported project plan should look like the following screenshot. 


Transition_Project_Plan-MC6AJFXYXAR5FYVN2RAHKMR3EIVU.png


Depending on your view, the task description field may not be visible. This field provides additional guidance on stakeholder management, testing, communication and links to key resources. If the description column is missing, select New View from the views dropdown menu and add the task description from the field list or select the built-in view, Detail Information. 


Once the plan has been uploaded, remove any tasks that are not relevant to your organization. The plan has been pre-configured with reasonable durations and dependencies for each task, but these will vary depending on the size and bandwidth of your team. Make sure to adjust the durations and start dates as necessary to create a realistic timeline. Most of the tasks in the plan revolve around understanding your audience and communicating to them around the change, especially required training and enablement.  


PRO TIP: If you have multiple teams that will be making the transition to the new Workfront experience, copy the project and create a separate plan for each.


Another item to consider is to ensure any customizations around the user interface are not lost. These settings are controlled by layout Templates and managed by System Administrators. While similar layout templates for the new Workfront experience should have been automatically created in your instance, consistency may vary and should be tested and updated as needed. The article, Layout Templates in the new Workfront experience explains how templates were migrated from Classic to the new Workfront experience.


COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE

Communication is the key to helping people understand why the change will ultimately be beneficial to them and the organization. Communicating early and often instills confidence that they will be supported during the change and helps to address any outstanding questions to alleviate fears. The project plan referenced above contains links to the new Workfront experience Onboarding Guide which offers several communication templates (pages 19-23) to inform your teams at each stage of the transition. Use these to make sure everyone is well informed!


Sample_Email_Template-MC667C2WWSD5BZJHSR4ILPJYZZKI.png


While change can be difficult to get right - it doesn’t have to be. Understanding your audience, being prepared with a plan, and communicating to your team will go a long way to help ensure your team is ready for the transition. Once the hard part is over, your team can begin enjoying the benefits of spending less time finding things in Workfront and more time getting their valuable work done!