Display a specific task's start date in a task report column

[Katie-C]

I received a request to pull the planned start date of a task on our templates called "Archiving" into a column on one of our task reports. I am fairly new to Workfront and imagine that the options are either a bit of text mode on the report or a calculated field on our current project custom form that simply displays the task's start date (which I can then easily add to the report), but don't actually know if these options are possible and if so how to implement. Please advise! Thanks in advance  

[skyehansen]

I'm not clear on what you're asking.

Is your task report supposed to show a list of all the archiving tasks and their planned start date?

Or is the task report supposed to show other tasks, but then no matter what task it shows, it also contains the start date of the archiving task in the same project?

[Lyndsy-Denk]

@skyehansen I'm thinking the former.

In that case, I'd create a Task report that filters to tasks named "Archive" and include a column that shows the planned start date.

However, you might elevate this approach by applying milestone paths to your projects and marking the Archive tasks as a dedicated milestone. The reason I lean toward milestone paths is that many users have permissions to rename tasks and if they change the name of the task, your report won't include it. Also, we're human and typos exist, which would also exclude the task from your report. A milestone flags a task regardless of title so that your filter captures data without being so subject to human behavior.

[Katie-C]

Hi there, 

Sorry for the delayed response! The latter - exactly as you stated (it's an existing task report that shows other tasks, but  they want me to add a column that contains the start date of the archiving task in the same project). The start date of the Archiving task on each project is a relevant date for them to keep in mind when working on other tasks from the same project. 

[skyehansen · Accepted solution]

hi Katie, you should read up on collections.  

https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/workfront/using/reporting/reports/text-mode/reference-collec... 

Understanding the concept of "collections" is pretty critical to your working knowledge of workfront. At its simplest, this means understanding that a project can contain more than one task, issue, document, project user, and so on (i.e. a collection of tasks, issues and so on). And it means understanding that if you are referencing (looking for answers in) a collection of some sort, certain things will either not work, or need a little finagling.

Calculated fields are one place where referencing collections won't work. So, you won't be able to create a calculated field where the calculation references a collection of tasks and then pulls out your Archive task date. So it's imperative that you understand how to reference a collection from a report -- this will make your reporting more flexible.

With that said, here is some sample textmode below.

displayname=Archive Date
listdelimiter=<p>
listmethod=nested(project.tasks).lists
textmode=true
type=iterate
valueexpression=IF(CONTAINS('Archive',{name}),IFIN({status},"CPL", "DED",CONCAT("Completed ",{actualCompletionDate}),CONCAT("Due ",{plannedCompletionDate})))
valueformat=HTML

If you compare it to the "Add a collection column in a report View" section of the article I sent you to, you'll see I'm following the standard syntax, and have made two changes. 

1) the collection I am referencing is the "project.tasks" collection

2) the valueexpression I'm using states that if the name of the project.task contains "Archive", then if the task is complete/canceled, the cell will display "Completed <actual completion date>", otherwise it will display "Due <planned completion date>" -- this is a commonly used piece of text mode that I pretty much copy from one report to the next.

Hope this is helpful.

[Katie-C]

Thank you for pointing me towards collections as an area to learn - very helpful!

Yes, the text mode worked. I was looking for the planned start date of the Archiving task, so I just tweaked that from the planned completion date. Perfect - thanks so much!!