How to handle template change requests

[DannyBe]

Hello Workfront Community –

Our team is inquiring about how other Workfront teams handle template change requests. We receive a large number of proposed template edits/builds from our users and it usually entails a long back and forth process. Often users submit proposed changes in written form or via excel spreadsheets that include errors, lack of information, or do not consider the effects of predecessors/dependencies. We’ve tried to combat these back and forth conversations by creating a guide, but users have seemed to struggle with the guide as well.

What process have other admins found best for handling template changes?

[Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore]

Hi Danny,

One approach is to invite the person proposing improvements to create a Project using the existing Template, and then modify that Project as needed (right in Workfront, for that subtle but important whiff of reality), using the Task Descriptions (or a dedicated Custom Data text parameter) to annotate their comments. Rinse and repeat as needed, then -- once vetted and approved -- either convert that (final) project into a (new) template, or -- if it would be more beneficial -- manually make the approved adjusted changes (once) to the original template, and the use our Sync Template solution to automatically push out those changes to the desired projects (multiple changes, multiple projects, multiple times).

Regards,

Doug

[CalvinFold]

We do a number of things:

• We just do the back-n-forth dance as you describe because most of our planners don't "get it" until they try out the changes. So it's very iterative.
• The couple of planners who do understand are group leaders and have authority over their templates, so we give them access to edit their templates themselves.

We do not do it the way Doug mentioned (take an existing project and convert it to a decent template). Too often our planners do something wrong and make some subtle change to the settings, permissions, rates or one of dozens of possible things and then the templates don't work as expected or report-out correctly. Since we don't a full grasp of every nuance of the voodoo we have been basing every new or tweaked template off the originals created during deployment. At least not for admin-deployed templates.

[ChloeWY]

We have template update meetings where we invite a group to review the template and agree on changes.

[ChrisGi]

In the past I would instantly take the requests and add them in, but then it meant we had a lot of projects with different workflows - which is a problem for us as many are 3-4 months long.

Now, I go through a quarterly request round asking for submissions into a pre-defined google sheet. I make it clear that requests are not automatically done, and a review will take place to check the feasibility first.

So, I go through a request round, apply the template changes at one time, then I update all the teams of those updates at the same time.

[JenniferMiklasz]

I have users submit an Admin Request with the details, then I send them and Excel version of the template and ask them to markup any changes to that. The Excel file is then uploaded to the Admin Request.