Reusable Task Library (create templates/projects by pulling in prebuilt tasks/task sets)

[#1]

Create the functionality that allows you to manage and use tasks and sets of tasks consistently across the system without excessive manual effort (similar to to how you can edit a single field or a single form that can then be reused across multiple project template)

1.) Create a task library similar to the field library that allows you to manage tasks and choose to reuse them

2.) Allow admins to create custom "Parent/Child task sets" that could be added to a Project template just like you can add in multiple forms in the Project's custom forms section (ex: if you had a Parent Task for "Design Layout" with the 4 child tasks already made, you could just add the Design Layout task section to a new project or template without having to rebuild it)

Building and maintaining consistent tasks across project templates is very cumbersome. For example, currently if we need to change the description or duration of the "Design layout" task we have to make the change on every template the task appears on (basically all of them). This is a huge lift.

[#2]

Hi Jacquelyn,

I do this by making 'modules' which are simply project templates that I can attach to an existing project. I have parent/child tasks set up and prebuilt with creative tasks, approval tasks, and release tasks, which have a parent task of the deliverable. In some cases we have modules for agile and our digital teams as well. Just think of your project templates as that library and I'm sure you can custom build any project. However, this does mean you'll need to have your overarching frame work in place so that you can slot in these modules with ease.

[#3]

I think the idea would be great for Adhoc Tasks. I don't need a set of Tasks just one Task with all the Custom Forms attached and some other basic data. I'd rather have users add a new Task then have to go down the path of attaching a new Project Template when it's just one Task.

[#4]

This option would be extremely beneficial to our organization. We build many workflows for each product type and often need to reuse or add tasks. We would like to have some consistency so we can report on each task in a workflow with accuracy.

[#5]

In addition to the project templates, a library of tasks, similar to the library of "fields", would be a significant time saver and huge win. Our organization leverages the the same sets of tasks on several project templates, updating these for any change is a very manual and time consuming process, and even with workarounds we have developed, due to the band aid/workaround solution, there is a risk in missing something during an update. Additionally, without a library, task reporting is quite challenging. Requiring a long of "task name includes x" versus simple include all task x. One example of reporting would be being able to create a report to show time planned for Task X and time actually logged for Task X across a robust book of projects. this is arduous to build in today's environment. Understanding that there was a task library previously, would like to understand why that feature was removed (what were the challenges, etc.).

[#6]

In addition to the project templates, a library of tasks, similar to the library of "fields", would be a significant time saver and huge win. Our organization leverages the the same sets of tasks on several project templates, updating these for any change is a very manual and time consuming process, and even with workarounds we have developed, due to the band aid/workaround solution, there is a risk in missing something during an update. Additionally, without a library, task reporting is quite challenging. Requiring a long of "task name includes x" versus simple include all task x. One example of reporting would be being able to create a report to show time planned for Task X and time actually logged for Task X across a robust book of projects. this is arduous to build in today's environment. Understanding that there was a task library previously, would like to understand why that feature was removed (what were the challenges, etc.).

[#7]

In addition to the project templates, a library of tasks, similar to the library of "fields", would be a significant time saver and huge win. Our organization leverages the the same sets of tasks on several project templates, updating these for any change is a very manual and time consuming process, and even with workarounds we have developed, due to the band aid/workaround solution, there is a risk in missing something during an update. Additionally, without a library, task reporting is quite challenging. Requiring a long of "task name includes x" versus simple include all task x. One example of reporting would be being able to create a report to show time planned for Task X and time actually logged for Task X across a robust book of projects. this is arduous to build in today's environment. Understanding that there was a task library previously, would like to understand why that feature was removed (what were the challenges, etc.).

[#8]

We could definitely use this functionality to work smarter, not harder.  For in-house development, we utilize Agile Scrum and have repeatable items for 90% of the tasks.  It would be nice to apply a user story (parent task) and task (child task) template to a project that would be applied when creating a new user story and identifying the parent project.

[#9]

We had a similar need, with users needing to select a few or many templated tasks from a list of hundreds. The typical "apply additional templates to the project" approach doesn't work for them due to the randomized nature of which sets of tasks are needed for each project. 

Our approach was to create a project (informally referred to as the "job bank" and add/configure all the tasks. We then created a prompted task report which only searches the job bank. This allows users to quickly search for the tasks they need to add to their project. From the results returned in the prompted task search, they select all, and copy to their target project. This has worked well.

It is also possible to search/filter/report on these tasks IF you first create them in a project template, then apply the template to the job bank project. This method retains the "templateTaskID" value on all tasks that get copied from the job bank, which can be used in your search when needed. 

[#10]

+1 for "Like", @William--  -- very nice.

Regards,

Doug

[#11]

Thank you for the submission! We think this is a good enhancement to the Workfront platform overall and this product area in particular!

Workfront currently prioritizes large-scale, foundational enhancements such as the new Reporting experience and changes to the core data model, so this item does not fit in our near-term roadmap. As such, I am marking this as Declined now, but we'll keep this in our backlog for the improvements for this area so that we can revisit the decision in the future.