Change Task Status depending the predecessor status

[GTN53]

How to change the status of a task based on the status of the predecessor task ?

See atteched file.

Is there a way to have a task status controlled by the status of it's predecessor? Specifically what I am looking at doing is when a task status is marked complete the task that is dependent upon it could change to a Custom Status. For example we have a testing task that has an approval process tied to it that when it is moved to Awaiting Testing the approval process is kicked off. When the development task is completed then the testing task can be started; but all we are doing on the testing task is alerting the approver to test and reject or approve the task. If what I am asking for is possible then this process can be fully automated. My vision is that the staff member assigned the development task would complete that task and the approval request would automatically be generate without requiring manual intervention just to move the testing task to the custom status called "Awaiting Testing"

[NicholeVargas]

You would need Workfront Fusion to automatically change task statuses based on predecessors. If you don't have Workfront Fusion, it would need to be a manual process of changing the task status. There are email notifications that can be triggered to let a user know their task is ready to start or I'd recommend a custom dashboard to surface both predecessor and successor task statuses. 

[GTN53]

Hello Nichole, Thank you for your reply. We unfortunately don't have Fusion. How do I enable an email notification when a task is ready to run?

Regards,

Gilles

[NicholeVargas]

In the section for Information about work assigned to me, there is an email notification for "All Predecessor Task Completion to Task Dependents" that can be activated (it is inactive by default), which would send an email to the task assignee when all predecessors of their tasks are completed.  You can view the list of all available email notifications here. 

[GTN53]

Thank you very much Nichole, the solution you gave me works very well.

Do you know if it's possible to custom the content of the email notification ? We would like to remove some fields which are not necessary in the notification.

Regards,

Gilles

[NicholeVargas]

Unfortunately, you cannot customize the content of any default email notifications. The only customized emails you can send are Reminder Notifications - which would require an email template to be built. 

You could build a report that shows all tasks that are Ready to Start (predecessor task is complete) and set up automatic report deliveries every day or so - that is a way to customize the body of the email. Although, that would only trigger based on the day/time(s) you select. 

[GTN53]

Hello Nichole, we are using your solution with notifications but it doesn't seem to work with reviewer licenses. Is there a special setting for users with a reviewer license to receive the notification "All previous tasks of my tasks are completed" in the "Information about the work assigned to me" section?

[NicholeVargas]

That's because a Review license is not designed for completing work. The maximum access a user with a Review license can have on a task is View (versus Manage), which means they won't have the ability to make changes / mark a task complete - more information on access to Workfront objects here. 

If you are needing a Review license holder to view certain information associated with a task, you could create a custom dashboard that pulls in assigned tasks where the predecessor task is complete, and set that dashboard as their default landing page (or custom tab) OR have someone tag this user in a direct update letting them know that certain review work is required. 

[GTN53]

Thank you for your reply. but my goal is not to ask the owner of a review license to update a task, only to have the system send him a message when the previous task is completed. Once notified by this message, I will indeed always have the possibility of adding a link to a report which will display the task with the necessary rights so that it can indicate that its task is completed.

[NicholeVargas]

There isn't a way to trigger a notification to a user with a Review license for this specific action, so the next best option would be to tag the user directly in an update. You can create a report that pulls in tasks specific to this user based on the predecessor relationship and even add conditional formatting so it sticks out, and add that report to a dashboard, but the user would need to regularly check that dashboard. 

[GTN53]

Having no other recourse than to use a license with greater rights than those of the reviewer, do you know if Workfront has a 1st level license at a very low cost which would allow you to use the functionality of sending a message when the previous task is completed.

[skyehansen]

Is there some reason this testing task has to be a separate task? My first thought is that if the approver only needs to be alerted (and does not have to show planned hours/capacity), I would ask the people on the development task to set their task status to Awaiting Testing, and kick off the approval process there. Then have the tester approve and set the task to complete. If the custom status already equates complete, then they wouldn't even have to make the extra step to change the status. Just approve and move on with their life.