🔓 What's something you discovered that unlocked everything in Workfront?

If you know me, then you know I've solved many problems with creating a custom form and/or a report but I'd be remiss to not share an eureka moment from that journey. I will never forget when I realized you could make a report on more things than the main 5 (projects, tasks, issues, hours, users) and there was a scrollbar with dozens of options. It's so simple and obvious to me today, but a decade ago I had no idea.

Soon after that discovery I created my first assignment report and used the "assignments > assigned to ID" option in a project report. Lives were changed that day. Suddenly we no longer needed to have a custom field listing everyone on a task, and I could start to truly explore how much work was divvied to an individual without changing the workflow or adding additional tasks.

Mine was realizing that I could reduce our data struggles immensely but using an 'invisible' admin form on object types. It solved for alot of reporting struggles. 

Example: 

Challenge: I want to run a report comparing tasks that are alike and look at their durations to know if I need to update my template durations. However, because of so many changes to task names there's not an easy way to accomplish this.

Result: By creating a custom form 'Task Information' I can attach that form to all template tasks and existing tasks. Why would I do this? By adding a field to this form that no one would see by admins, I can 'classify' similar tasks under one identifying label. 

Real Life application: Our new CMO wants to compare how we are executing a specific task over the past five years. The task "Dry Run Testing" has been changed or modified in projects so many times it no longer had easy way to report it. By creating a 'Rptg_Task_Type' field on the task information form I can select from a drop down the tasks that represent this task regardless of name, changes, or anything else. I can also look at the related template task and select the drop down on that, too, for future identification.

Instead of running a report asking for multiple variations of naming or similarities over the years, I can run a report based on Rptg_Task_Type and get accurate information. 

New management wants to start changing how things are classified? Follow same idea for a new field on a task, etc. 

I need to pick just one?!? 😁

As an admin, I'd say that finding a way to create a report-report that shows me the full code underneath every view/filter/grouping for the report has saved a ton of potential issues. I've been able to build exception reporting based on that to show me where people are pulling the wrong fields, or using filter methods I know won't work the way they think etc. If I'm thinking about modifying a particular field, I can rapidly assess where it's used for impact.

My second favorite (though it's still in testing) is a method of using the new field-level form validation to block creation of projects from templates that are meant to only be appended as ad-hoc tasks. I am determined to make that one work when I have time!

For my users, my 3 favorite impactful tips are:

• Being able to copy/paste things into a document upload from the Clipboard (why is that so buried??)
• Turning on Gantt charts to find missing predecessors
• The meaning and usefulness of the 'Handoff Date' and 'Slack Date' on tasks

It's like Lays potato chips, I can't have just one! 

Early on when I was first learning Workfront a consultant was helping me with reporting and mentioned "you should create a global reporting form" as she had worked with me a lot recently and I kept having new custom fields and calcs that our teams were asking for in reporting.  She explained that I could use that custom form on all my templates so that every request or project (active or not) would have it and if I need to make changes for reporting needs, like calc fields, adding them there would keep me from having to go to individual forms.  That was my "aha moment".

When I first discovered that you can search for a task using a Template Task ID, it was a game-changer. It opened up an entirely new way to report on and manage tasks.

I use this approach whenever I need to locate tasks across multiple projects for bulk updates. For example, if I’ve updated the name or assignments of a task in a project template, I can make sure those changes are reflected in all active projects. To do this, I build a task report filtered by the Template Task ID, then perform the bulk update directly from the report.

To find a template task’s ID:

1. Open the project template.
2. Click the task to open its details.
3. Copy the task ID from the URL — this is your Template Task ID, which you can use as a filter in your report.