Can we make the Project Start Date the date the project was created, and not the date the project was requested?

[ChloeWY]

In our process, new projects are requested through a request queue.  Project requests show up in the "Project Requests" project.  One of our executives then converts the request/issue into a project using a template.

The concern is requests/issues aren't always converted to a project the day they're requested.  Sometimes there's a lag of a week or more.

When the project is created, the Project Start Date by default is the date the request/issue was submitted.  Generally at least a day has past by this point, so the project is already At Risk or Late, and warning emails are sent out to colleagues on the default resource list to notify them that the project is Late.

I know our execs have the opportunity to manually change the Project Start Date when converting the project.  Is there a more automated way to do this?  We don't have fusion.

Thank you!

[skyehansen]

Unfortunately there's not a great way to automate this. I was thinking as a last resort if you have the right contract you can maybe play around with business rules to just prevent them from creating a project in the past, but I haven't played with the functionality a lot, and customers with lesser contracts may not even have access to the business rules functionality so it's not one-size-fits-all.

Here's an idea you can upvote.

https://experienceleaguecommunities.adobe.com/t5/workfront-ideas/project-set-up-planned-start-comple...

[Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore]

Hi @ChloeWY,

In addition to the Business Rules suggestion @skyehansen mentioned, from related Start Date documentation here and here and here I wondered if setting the Setup > Project Preferences > Tasks & Issues > New Task Defaults > Start Date = Today would "kick in" when an Issue was converted to a Project using a Template (i.e. "starting" the Template from "Today")...

...but as per this crusty old Issue from 2013, have now Busted That Myth, and confirmed that Managers need to override the Issue's date, as you'd observed (and feared):

Regards,

Doug

[ChloeWY]

Thank you both for your suggestions and confirming that we'll need something manual. @skyehansen @Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore 

[skyehansen]

@ChloeWY  -- just following up on this topic, because I had a chance to test extensively today. Of the 4 access levels that are able to create projects in this instance, I'm noting that only system admins have the ability to create projects and have the project start date line up with the request entry date.

For our other access levels which appear to be a group admin and two flavors of project owner (so... all are plan or standard licenses as far as I can tell), the project date is defaulting to today's date and 9AM.

Let me know if that's lining up with your instance as well -- what access level are your execs?

[ChloeWY]

@skyehansen I'm not seeing the same behavior in my instance.  My execs are currently system admins, but I went into preview and changed his access and tried, and the project start date was still the request date.  I logged in as a couple other users with different access levels too, and the project start date was still the request date.

I wonder what the difference is.  I think you're onto something if we can figure out what it is!

[skyehansen]

@ChloeWY  -- I'm afraid to submit a ticket about it on my end because what if they "fix" it and it no longer sets to $$TODAY at 9AM hahaha. I'm on cluster 3 if it's helpful.

Seems like customers are falling into three groups.

1) they see request entry date

2) they see $$NOW (i.e. today's date and time. So if it's currently 4/21 and 11AM, this is what the planned start is set to)

3) they see today at 9AM.

I'll go ahead and ping the other community advisors to see if I can get info from a wider pool, but feel like you're also within your right to contact support and ask what the expected behavior is.

[ChloeWY]

@skyehansen , thank you for all the help!  I opened a ticket with support.  I'll let you know what they say.

[ChloeWY]

@skyehansen I should have caught up on my emails before posting.  From support

"To clarify: when an issue is converted into a project, the project's start date is automatically set to the issue's original creation date. This is standard behavior intended to reflect the true timeline of when the work was first initiated. If needed, this start date can be adjusted manually after conversion, or automated using templates or tools like Workfront Fusion."

I'm not sure what they mean by automating the start date using templates, unless it's a Must Start On (which isn't what I want).

[skyehansen · Accepted solution]

@ChloeWY  -- hey I was able to run some tests in my system today and finally discovered what the deal was. I'm enclosing a screenshot of the layout template my users are all on. This is the setting you would need to toggle OFF in order for the date to be today's date -- however, I must caution you that I don't know what else toggling that setting off would do, so please treat with caution.

Specifically it's the schedule mode (labeled as "Schedule From" on the layout template), and if you have different project templates with different schedule modes configured, you would just want to make sure those are coming through accurately.

 

[ChloeWY]

@skyehansen I don't know how you found this setting or why it's in layout templates, but THANK YOU!  After a quick test, it looks like this is going to work!  

I'm going to try it out and keep an eye on the next couple new projects.  I'll update here if I run into any issues.  Thank you!

[skyehansen]

yeah! Glad that worked. The key was seeing that my users were experiencing something different from yours, and that it wasn’t affecting my own account. Layout template settings have caused similar issues before so after being able to replicate the experience by changing my assigned layout template, it was just the matter of toggling the checkboxes until I switched the timing over to what you needed.