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Update Stream: Show Updates Made to Project Templates

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Employee

5/8/23

I'm referring to the functionality outlined here: Configure system updates & System-tracked updates 
Currently:
When making changes to a Project template there is no indication in the update stream of changes made. Additionally there are no options to add template specific fields to the update stream. This means that there are very few ways to identify when and what changes were made to a project template. If a user mistakenly removes a predecessor from a task or modifies the assignments we have no way of knowing. 

What I would like to see:
It would greatly improve project management and troubleshooting if changes made at the project template level were tracked in the update stream on the template. Additionally, it would be helpful to have the ability to add template specific fields in the update stream. This would make identifying the source of timeline related issues easier by giving some insight on when changes were made to the template. 
As a side note: I also think it would be great to have the option to track changes to predecessors in the update stream as well. 

3 Comments

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Community Advisor

5/8/23

 

Hi @Nicholas_Dias,

 

Random thought, but as a workaround...

 

Workfront does currently provide an audit trail of the actions you are describing (and much more) against the Project object. Given that, I invite you to consider changing your process to create a special "Template Project" (suitably named and protected as such) from each existing Template, ONLY make changes to such "Template Projects" going forward (thereby capturing all of the auditing goodies as you go in the update stream), and once you've landed on a version you like, use the Save As Template feature to replace the old template with the new improved version.

 

If anyone has actually tried or is using this approach, I'd be interested in hearing the pros and cons...

 

Regards,

Doug

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Employee

5/8/23

Hi @Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore , 
That's actually a pretty great suggestion. I've encountered a few folks who run a similar process. The only major con that I can think of would be the lack of consolidation of the template and the history of updates. The work around doesn't necessarily solve for situations where someone accidentally updates or modifies the template directly. However, this is a very valid recommendation. 

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Community Advisor

5/8/23

 

Thanks @Nicholas_Dias,

 

Agreed: the more I've thought it over, the more I think this "Template Project" approach has some merit; if it looks promising enough, you might also consider buttoning down the entire Template section of Workfront so that only a minimal number of users have access to create (which even then, procedurally, would be via the Project > Save As Template). I'm interested to hear how you make out!

 

Regards,

Doug