Expand my Community achievements bar.

How do you create a frequently used links page in a project?

Avatar

Level 3

I have a Technology solution project that we are managing in Workfront. I would like to create a Section (left rail tab - or some other way) to give the project team a place to go to access frequently used links associated with this project.

I tried creating a custom form for adding links. That does work, but associates have to click thru the Project Details to get to the links. It would be nice if a links page could be accessed easily in a Section tab. Adding new Custom Sections are all Dashboards... this could work but how do I pare it down to the info of the links I need?

Thanks,

Chris

Topics

Topics help categorize Community content and increase your ability to discover relevant content.

9 Replies

Avatar

Level 10

Hi Chris,

One technique could be to:

  • Create a new Issue custom form called FAQ (e.g. with a custom checkbox called "FAQ" yes/no)
  • For each such FAQ, create an Issue, name it, check the FAQ box, and paste the relevant link in the URL of the Issue
  • Create an Issue report that retrieves the name and URL of all Issues with the FAQ set to yes
  • Drop that Issue report on a dashboard
  • On a Project (either ad hoc, or via Layout Templates), create a custom section (NWE) or custom tab (WF Classic) to that dashboard

In this fashion, Workfront should then automatically restrict the report to only those Issues that pertain to the Project being currently viewed, resulting in a tailored list of "just" the FAQ links of interest to the user within that context.

Regards,

Doug

Doug,

Thanks for the suggestion! I am a novice, so trying to follow and build a test version of what you suggest.

Will your solution allow our Project Leaders to add/subtract links as the project progresses?

The PLs may have new Links to add or old ones to remove as the project goes along.

Do you have an example of this build already? Even a screen grab would help me follow.

I built a custom form and we are just attaching it to projects as needed for now. See the attached images. 1 & 2 are the Custom form, 3 is what it looks like attached to the project.

Ideally we would have a Section (custom) tab on the left that is for links and PLs would go there to add them and associates working on the project could access them there if needed.

Thanks for your help!

Chris

Avatar

Level 10

My pleasure Chris,

Yes, the Issue based technique could easily be modified to add another custom checkbox called "Active" (yes/no), so the links that would automatically appear for a given report could be further filtered to only FAQ = yes AND Active = yes, which would allow your PM's to quickly add and remove which ones show up, over time. It also spares you having to write display logic, format urls (since the Issue url's "just work" when shown in a report), and there is no limit to how many Issues a Project can have (vs having to guess in advance on a custom form how many might be needed).

I'm tied up today, but would be happy to add a few more pointers when I have some time; also, since he is Wise In These Ways, I am tagging my colleague @NRYN R - inactive‚ in case he has any suggestions, examples, or (perhaps) even a Package that might help.

Regards,

Doug

Avatar

Level 7

Doug beat me to the solution on this one, this is where I was going with my questions about what functionality you needed. In a way, you're stealing an existing function in the system meant to do something else entirely, and repurposing here.

Just like a Project can have many Tasks underneath it, so can it have many Issues. The Issue functionality is designed for anyone on the project to file a report to the PM about things like 'rendering image in links' or 'software bug needs RAID' etc. Not a task, but a roadblock. In this model though, you're going to build a special custom form at the Issue level. Instead of asking normal Issue type questions like "How many hours will it take to fix?" or "Who are we throwing under the bus for this one?" you're going to simply ask for the link URL, and whether the link is active or not.

When your team want to add a link, they go to the Issue section of the project and hit New. Attach your form, and fill it out. That gets the data IN to Workfront, next trick is getting it back out.

You'll start with an absolutely standard Issue report. Column for 'Active', the URL and any other pertinent info (when was the link added, who added it etc) you want. Put that single report on a Dashboard. When you look at that Dashboard by itself, you'll see a summary of EVERY issue matching your filter (URL = yes, active = yes). Almost there, one more trick.

The next bit is one I wish Workfront documented better - when you take an object report (project/task/issue/risk etc) and you make it a dashboard displayed in a higher-order object then Workfront is smart enough to filter that report to only the related child objects.

Build a Project-level dashboard and display it in a Portfolio - then every time you switch portfolios it will only show you the information for projects in THAT portfolio. In your case, build an Issue-level dashboard displayed as a project-level tab. Every time you switch projects, it will reset the dashboard to only information on that project.

Avatar

Level 7

Hi Chris,

Couple questions -

  1. Are the links something that are the same project to project, or different for each project?
  2. Are the links something that will be static at the beginning of a project, or added to over time?
  3. Do the project users need the ability to add to the list of links?
  4. Are you currently utilizing Programs/Portfolios at all?

I can think of a couple ideas, but they each depend on those questions.

Katherine

Avatar

Level 3

Katherine,

Thanks for the response.

1 - The links will not be the same from project to project. They may be various websites that are relevant to the project.

2 - The links will be fluid - added and subtracted over time. For this project, we have vendors sites and Sharepoint sites to get to and they may change frequently

3 - Yes, It would be nice for all people assigned to a project to be able to update the links as needed, but if it had to be just the Project Leaders that is ok too.

4 - yes we are using Programs/Portfolios

Thanks for your help and let me know if you have any other questions!

Chris

Avatar

Level 10

Hey Chris,

As Doug mentioned, the WFPro Navigation package includes a "custom link development" capability that I believe gives you exactly what you're looking for. It's nothing custom, just Workfront configured to accomplish what you're after.

0694X00000AsQycQAF.jpgIf you'd like a look under the hood, just reach out and I can jump on a GoToMeeting with you. You're also welcome to join our weekly WFPro call where you can get expert advice from other veteran administrators.

Thanks,

Narayan

WFPro Decompression Session - This Friday at 3PM Eastern

- https://www.gotomeet.me/wfpro