Best Practices for Project Timeline Standards & Lit Codes

[JulieUn1]

Hi all, I'm new to the WF community...I'm sys admin for our platform and I have just a couple questions. 1) My boss thinks that Workfront has issued best practices around general timelines to get projects done. Is this the case? I know we have templates for various types of projects...but are there best practices...some sort of official doc? 2) We are having an issue with lit codes. We were hoping the Reference # would solve this for us...but it doesn't allow for versions. (ie. Ref #12345v2) What do other companies do for assigning lit codes? Thanks, Julie Julie Underwood Entrust Datacard

[MarkHahn]

Hi Julie, Glad to tackle this for you. 1) Workfront really doesn't have best practices around general timelines because they vary so much from company to company. We established project templates for each of the workflows we have (ie., brochure, banner ad, social post, mailings, etc.). They included a typical timeline in days which were starting points for the project but could be adjusted. Our planners know that anything needed quicker than the template shows will need some extra effort. 2) We struggled with this issue for over a year before we contracted to a 3rd party, AtAppStore, to build a project numbering API for us. Workfront just doesn't have that functionality built in. Doug Den Hoed, who is active on this community created that for us and I am sure he could help you also. I hope this helps! Mark Hahn SEI Investments Company

[Christina_Jarosz]

Echo'ing Mark's comments: 1. Keep your templates brief - they can be built out, but pairing back means a lot of headache and overwhelmed users. 2. We rename the file with V1, V2, V3 etc but we use the object # as the final reference number. Something like (Project#-Line of Business-Document#). So our piece codes are along the lines of 176392-PSG-180491. Anyone searching for 180491 will take to that version.

[JulieUn1]

HI Christina, Ok, thank you for the feedback. Regarding the list codes however...there is no way to know what version a doc is by looking the number. In your example...how would you know that you have the latest version of the doc if you had the piece of collateral in your hand? 176392-PSG-180491 Julie Underwood Entrust Datacard

[Christina_Jarosz]

Our best practice is to retain the name of the document until it is final. So only the final receives the 'naming'. So in the example below....there may be multiple versions of the same document (and each have their own reference #) but only the final receives the piece code (see top item). If there's no piece code - it's not final. This ties into our audit process - our document report will show any documents on the project - and we use the piece code field to determine final versions to move forward with.

[KatherineHa1]

We created our own 'project scheduling best practices' in case this is helpful. Sorry - no advice on lit codes! Katherine Haven, PMP VP, Director, Business Technologies - PMO FCB

[sydneyp50459827]

@Katherine Haven your Project Scheduling Best Practices outline is great! I'm in the process of collecting material from the community and help site, as well as ascent, to revamp our Workfront training program this summer. Thank you for sharing this! Sydney Peterson Diversified Communications, Inc.

[JulieUn1]

Thank you. Julie Underwood Global Digital Marketing Manager Workfront Systems Analyst O: 972.728.0384 C: 512.466.1444 "http://www.entrust.com/"> www.entrustdatacard.com