Is there a way for a team members manager to see all tasks currently assigned to that team member?

[ChrisCo4]

Currently I have an assignments report setup exactly how I'd like it, showing all tasks by user and I'd like to now provide this report to their managers per their request.

However, when I share the report with a manager, they're unable to see the tasks I see.

I have an admin account but the Managers have a Reviewer account as they usually only review proofs via ProofHQ and don't do much within WorkFront itself.

Any insight will be greatly appreciated.

[KatherineLa]

Hi Chris,

A report like you're describing should certainly be possible given a Reviewer security level. I typically describe that as the 'look but don't touch' level, and simply viewing task assignments would fall within that realm.

There are a handful of disparate things off the top of my head that could cause what you're describing though -

1. Access Level - add'l restrictions - do you have any special settings in here for viewing only certain companies/groups? If so, do the people and their managers all belong to the same company?
2. Project security settings - do the Managers have at least View access to the project/tasks in question?
3. When you built the report filters, how were they built? There are some nuances around filtering for a specific team, a home team etc that can be tricky. If you post a screenshot of the filter, we can probably help better.
4. How have you told Workfront who should see which people? IE how does it understand that Person A, B and C report to Manager D? And how (if at all) are you including that information in the report build?

Failing those options - what DO the managers see, if anything? What do those individual users see when they log in as well?

Katherine

[ChrisCo4]

Hi Katherine,

Appreciate the quick and thorough response!

Please see my comments below:

1. Access Level - add'l restrictions - do you have any special settings in here for viewing only certain companies/groups? If so, do the people and their managers all belong to the same company? All team members (incl. managers) belong to the same company and there are not any restrictions in place here that I'm aware of.
2. Project security settings - do the Managers have at least View access to the project/tasks in question? I'll have to verify this one. The one team member I'm focusing on specifically in this report creates & maintains his tasks himself (ie he isn't necessarily assigned tasks in a project or via request, he creates tasks himself on his "My Work" dashboard). But I'm still able to see these in the report created, but his Manager isn't.
3. When you built the report filters, how were they built? There are some nuances around filtering for a specific team, a home team etc that can be tricky. If you post a screenshot of the filter, we can probably help better. Please see below:
4. How have you told Workfront who should see which people? IE how does it understand that Person A, B and C report to Manager D? And how (if at all) are you including that information in the report build? Yes, the org structure & hierarchy is established within WorkFront and all users are linked to their appropriate managers.

I'm starting to transition the Managers to the new experiences as pinning the reports is easier for them to get right to them, so they're mostly in that view.

Best,

Chris

[KatherineLa]

Your answer to #2 is your culprit to start - a task created by an individual user to themselves via My Work won't show up in reporting the way that an ordinary project-based task does.

Try adding one more filter grouping that looks like mine below. That should get you any incomplete 'Personal' tasks assigned to your person in question.

https://one.workfront.com/s/document-item?bundleId=workfront-classic&topicId=Content%2FWorkfront_bas...

[ChrisCo4]

Thanks Katherine - I didn't know about the "Personal" criteria, thank you for sharing that! However, I was able to still see the ad hoc tasks on the report I built with the filters shown in my screenshot.

When I added the filter you sent over, it didn't change the format of the report and when I log in as the manager, they're still unable to view the information I see.

Any other thoughts?

[KatherineLa · Accepted solution]

I wondered about that after I hit send actually. The documentation on personal tasks does say it's 'available only to you'. As an admin, you can see anything, so you're still able to access them. If I look at a personal task I created myself, I do see the Sharing ability which indicates that security is likely still the culprit. You could train the user to go share his tasks, but that seems cumbersome.

You could have him set up one specific 'My Ad-Hoc Work' project and assign all his tasks to it, which would give you the ability to share that project with his manager as well. (This is how I manage my own workload.)

Both of those options leave open the possibility for human error though, which I dislike. From there, the next best option is to trick the report itself into thinking whoever is looking at it /is/ that user.

On the report in the upper right corner, there's a 'Report Settings'. The screen that opens up will give you the 'Run this report with....' option. Put your user into that menu, and anyone viewing the report will see what they see.

Depending on what information you're revealing in that report, be careful with the report security though. Ex. if this person happened to be HR, you might want their boss to see the employee entry/exit interviews scheduled, but probably not anyone who can find the report.

Katherine

[ChrisCo4]

The option you mentioned that allows me to "Run this report with access rights of:" myself is exactly what I was looking for!

I added myself to that field and logged in as the manager and am able to see exactly what I see - going to tinker around with a few minor things to confirm this functionality is exactly what's needed, but this is very helpful!

Thank you for all your help Katherine :)

[KatherineLa]

The wonderful thing about Workfront is there are often half a dozen ways to accomplish something.

The drawback to Workfront is there are often half a dozen ways to accomplish something. 😀

Security is often the culprit to weird behavior like you saw, just a matter of tracking down WHICH particular setting is the problem child. You'll get good at it after awhile too.

Katherine