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Can a reviewer get a task completion update?

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Level 3
Hi Everyone, Question....we have internal clients here at our college that have reviewer licenses. I know they are limited to what they can see and get updated on. However for particular projects (ie: an email blast), we would like for them to get notified when a task is completed on a project (the reviewer in question did submit the request). For instance we have a "send" task that a worker will complete when she sends the email blast. How can I get the reviewer to get notified of that. Reviewers are getting notified when the project is open, complete and when documents are uploaded. For some reason I thought they get notified on tasks as well but it is not happening. Any info will be helpful. Thanks! Mike Mike Marando Excelsior College
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Level 10
Hi Mike, Well the quickest way might be to have them hit the Subscribe button at the top of the Task. Is it just one particular Task you want them to be notified on? Or maybe do that at the Project level if they want to be notified on everything. Vic Alejandro, PMP, CSM | IT | Sr. IT Project Manager Denver Water | t: (303-628-7262) | c: (303-319-6473) "http://www.denverwater.org/"> http://www.denverwater.org INTEGRITY | VISION | PASSION | EXCELLENCE | RESPECT

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Level 3
Hi Vic, Thank you. I definitely don't want them to see everything. Can they subscribe to a task if they can't access a task? Because this person is a reviewer which means they can't be tasked or click into a task. That's the challenge. I just want her to get notified when this specific task is done. I don't know if I am going crazy or not, but I could have sworn reviewer-access folks who submit requests for projects, get notified when tasks are done on the production schedule (ie: design, copyediting, etc) but they can't click into them. Because I got emails from these folks in the past asking "what am I supposed to do with this notification?" And I say "nothing, that's just telling you that particular task is done". Maybe something else happened to trigger that. If we have to send this person a note manually the email blast went out I guess we can do that. I was just hoping to auto trigger it without increasing this person's license. Thanks again Mike Mike Marando Excelsior College

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Level 1
Our team would also like to know more about this functionality. We have tested various scenarios that appear to show the system has built-in logic preventing Reviewers from receiving these notifications. We have Reviewers that need to be informed when they have been assigned to a task, and then when it has been marked complete. No need for them to edit the task or report directly into the system. Chris Taylor SecureWorks

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Level 3
Hi Chris, That is exactly what we are looking for. We try not to assign reviewers to tasks because although we can key their name in, once they click into it they do not have access. I wish there was an error indicating that you can't even key their name in. But either way, I want to be able to share the project with reviewers for the purposes of being notified when tasks are complete. Thanks for your input, Mike Mike Marando Excelsior College

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Level 4
One way I work-around the "reviewer" limitations when I want a particular review to receive an update and/or notification of changes is to add an 'Issue'. If you add the activity as an issue and assign it to the reviewer, as long as their notifications are turned on to receive updates to "issues they are on", then this should work for what you are trying to achieve. Jaclyn Reiter, PMP, SA Equifax, Inc.

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Level 3
Thank you Jaclyn for your help. So do you mean at the task level? In other words, click into the specific task I want her to get notified of (we will call the task "send email"), assign her to the issue, and then when the "send email" task is complete she will get notified? -Mike Mike Marando Excelsior College

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Level 10
Yeah that was the other thing I was going to mention. Backing up Jaclyn's comment. Workfront allows Reviewers to work Issues, but not Tasks. So if you assign an Issue to a Reviewer they can assign people and even change the Status (though I don't think the get notified about the assignment). On Tasks they don't get notified, nor can they change things on the Task. Also, if you have an Issue (Request) that gets converted to a Project, then yes that Reviewer (Primary Contact) should get notified on every change in Status to that Issue (and the Project Status reflect back on the Issue Status). Thus, if the Project goes to Current, the Issue will change to In Progress. When the Project is Complete, the Issue goes to Closed and the original Requestor (Primary Contact) will be notified of those changes. Answering your other question about the Subscription, as I don't use that feature much I'm not sure if they'll get notifications if they don't have access to the Task. But if that is the case, you can easily give them access to the Task (at least View). Feel free to give me a call if it's easier to chat. Vic Alejandro, PMP, CSM | IT Program Manager Denver Water | t: (303-628-7262) | c: (303-319-6473) "http://www.denverwater.org/"> http://www.denverwater.org INTEGRITY | VISION | PASSION | EXCELLENCE | RESPECT

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Level 3
Hi Vic, Thank you for your feedback. I tested Jaclyn's suggestion and it seemed to work. I am going to test it a little more. Although it does add an extra step (assigning the user to the issue), it's worth it because I want the reviewer to know exactly when this particular task is done, not so much the project (that is important but it is secondary). This is actually good to know if we want a reviewer to look into something, we can always assign them to an issue. I will let you know if I need to chat more. Thanks again Mike Mike Marando Excelsior College

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Level 4
I did a bit of testing, and whether it is a task or an issue, if you include the 'Reviewer' on a direct update, then they will get a notification no matter what. I attached some screenshots. So, if you open the Issue up, and type a message in "Update Status" that the email is sent, change the status to Closed, AND click the little double headed icon to include the person, they will definitely get the notification. Same exact functionality for a task. The difference between issue and task is that a Reviewer can update an issue if you want that type of collaboration. Like Vic, I don't use the "Subscribe" option at all, so, I am not familiar with how that is supposed to work or when people receive updates. Check out the attached screenshots and I hope this helps... Jaclyn Reiter PMP Equifax, Inc.

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Level 3
Hi Jaclyn, Thank you very much this information is a big help. I like the fact that the reviewers, if assigned to an issue associated with a task, get notified when the task is complete. We are trying to make it as automatic as possible. In the past I have stayed away from including reviewers on threads in tasks because they try to click into them and don't have access. It's good to know they have more access in Issues, so maybe I will only include them on threads in there (or the general projects area). Thanks again for your help! Mike Mike Marando Excelsior College

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Level 1
Vic, Regarding your comment about subscribing at the project level and being able to see notifications for everything. We attempted to do that and found that the subscribe only works for the level subscribed to. If you subscribe to the project, you only see notifications for updates applied to the project, and not updates applied to tasks or subtasks of that project. Similarly, subscribing to a parent task won't get you notified for any updates applied to subtasks of that parent. If there is a way around this we'd like to know. Thanks, Lee Toole BancorpSouth, Inc.

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Level 10
Hi Lee, Thanks. Yeah that won't work then for Mike (though it sounds like he has a solution now anyway). Good to know though. It would be consistent with the limited experience I had with it. I think I subscribed to one Project but never saw anything come through. Your explanation would make perfect sense as to why. Thanks. Vic Alejandro, PMP, CSM | IT Program Manager Denver Water | t: (303-628-7262) | c: (303-319-6473) "http://www.denverwater.org/"> http://www.denverwater.org INTEGRITY | VISION | PASSION | EXCELLENCE | RESPECT

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Level 5
I am a little late to the thread, but we use approvals on tasks to (a) notify our review license users and (b) for them to confirm either receipt of information or agreement that work is complete. Since approvals allow you to choose from only one or all resources assigned to the approval this might be an option as well for notification purposes. Tracy Fox Project Manager / Workfront SysAdmin Sykes Assistance Services Corporation