Issues converted to Projects

[JillAc]

Hi, I had some advice about what to look at for Issues to make them clearer, but I'm still unable to figure out how to tell which of the Issues have an associated Project (the Issue was converted to a Project when it came in). Here is a screenshot of the Issues. I know which ones were converted, because this is only 2 days of stuff, but in the future, when we are really using this, I cannot figure out how to quickly tell. Second related question, it seems that the Due Date for the Issue isn't updated based on the Due Date for the Project that was created to finish that Issue. Is there a way to automate this, or do I have to always change the Issue Due Date based on the Project Due Date? Thanks for all your help, you can't imagine how much this forum has helped me through this launch period. Jill Jill Ackerman

[MattMa1]

Hi Jill -- you can create a resolving object column in your views and reports like what we do (shown below) and this not only will show you when there is a resolving project, but also the name of that project and a link to it. This has been critical for us as an organization to know what has been converted, what it connects to, and quick access to it. Matt May Stream Companies

[VincentGo]

You can also add the column [Resolving Object Type], which shows if the resolvable is a Project (PROJ), Task (TASK), or Issue (OPTASK). We add filters to our reports to filter out all the issues being resolved by Projects (since they are essentially the same request twice in the system, and we're choosing to work it as a project instead of a request). The filter is [Resolving Object Type] is NOT "Proj". You can do the opposite and also only see the issues being resolved by Projects. Vincent Goodwin The Capital Group Companies

[VincentGo]

As to your second question: No, the issue's [Planned Completion Date] isn't linked to the project's [Planned Completion Date]. There are other fields that remain in-sync when there's linked by Resolved By relationship (such as [Status] - if you change the lead task/issue's [Status], the status on all the "resolvable" tasks/issues get updated too), but not the [Planned Completion Date]. There is an Idea Exchange idea for this though... https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115001245447-Option-to-Link-Planned-Completio... Vincent Goodwin The Capital Group Companies

[JillAc]

OMG that's it, Resolving Object & Type. THANK YOU. There are so many fields, I can't quite figure out how to find the ones I want. I search through Help but I never seem to find the article that I'm looking for, I'm sure it's me not using the right terminology. I upvoted the idea to connect the deadlines between Issues and Projects. It's at 23. I hope it can get more votes. Jill Ackerman

[JillAc]

One more question on this topic, again, couldn't find it in Help and my Implementation Manager is on vacation. Plus, I have laryngitis so I can't call the Help Desk!! 🙂 Yesterday, Dana submitted a Request. I got the Request and converted it into a Project. The Custom Form from the Request came along into the Project. All is peachy, I assigned people to work on the Tasks and aside from the ridiculous due date with everyone out for the holiday, all is good. Today, Dana went back to her Request and updated the Custom Form because she had new information. Dana saw the Project Name, but since I had renamed it, she didn't know what it was (why would she?!) so ignored it and went straight to the Request Name she recognized. That new information did not migrate to the Custom Form in the Project so nobody working on the Project can see her new and fabulous information. This seems like a real world situation that would happen all the time. How do you manage it? Did we do something wrong? Should I not have renamed her badly named Request? We can all see that they are linked (thanks to the above new column I have in my View!) so that can't be it? Thanks! Jill Ackerman

[MichaelLe]

What you are experiencing is what I refer to as the "Conversion effect". When WF converts an issue to a project it can only transfer the information a single time. So if you change info on the issue after that it will not update the project because the conversion already happened. You could In theory convert the issue to a new project but you will then have to kill the first project. Maybe Eric Lucas or Doug Den Hoed could chime in? Michael Lebowitz Marketing Analyst Michael.Lebowitz@guidewellconnect.com T 904-436-4240 | M 904-200-1364 Fax 904-565-6156 4800 Deerwood Campus Pkwy DCC 800-4-272 Jacksonville, FL 32246

[Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore]

Thanks Michael, Yes, this is a common situation, and I can suggest several ways to deal with it: Overstate : change nothing, but train everyone to avoid the situation by being mindful not to update the original Issue once it has been converted to a Project Overkill : do not preserve the Issue when it's converted: can't incorrectly update what isn't there, so instead, email/call with the info Overshare : do not preserve the Issue when it's converted, but then also grant access to the resulting Project to the originator of the Issue (noting that this can be Too Much Information in many situations) Overcompensate : preserve the Issue, and with some reporting (either Issue vs its Project, or Project iteration of its originating Issues' details via text mode trickery) it might be possible to show discrepancies so they can be manually synchronized Overturn : preserve the Issue, but leverage our UberCalc solution to automatically synchronize such updates from the Issue to the Project (some assembly required)

[VincentGo]

Jill, there is an Idea Exchange idea to also make it clearer that an issue has converted to a request. https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115003984253-Add-an-update-to-the-update-feed... We also have a Notes report that filters just for issues that have been converted for projects. We check every other day to see if people are commenting on the original request. Vincent Goodwin The Capital Group Companies

[JillAc]

Hi Doug Are you saying that I can delete the Issue after it's converted into a Project with no bad side effects? I love that solution, but I would have never thought to do it, deleting is very scary! It's easy enough to put the Requester onto the Project in some format so they can still have access (I think, need to figure out permissions and access which is another maze but I'm getting there!) Jill Ackerman | Director, Direct Marketing Lindblad Expeditions 96 Morton Street | New York, NY 10014 Ph. 212.261.9080 | Fax. 212.265-3770 jilla@expeditions.com | "http://www.expeditions.com/"> www.expeditions.com

[Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore]

Hi Jill, As attached (from Setup > Project Preferences > Tasks and Issues), Workfront is designed to let you choose whether or not to keep the original Issue when it gets converted to a Project (or Task), and can even add the Primary Contact to the Project automatically. I've found this approach works well where the conversion is effectively an "escalation" as it simplifies Workflow to consider the Project to BE the Issue, but now graduated into a Project, and (of course) it's ok for the Issue submitter to have access to the Project. Conversely, where the latter is NOT desired, it's likely wiser to preserve the original Issue and use the Resolving Object features As Designed to relay arms length status back to them as work progresses. Which of those constitutes Bad Side Effects is likely up to the person drinking the medicine.

[JillAc]

Doug that was a life changing moment when I changed that option to not keep the Issue when it's converted to a Project. THANK YOU. Jill Ackerman

[Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore]

"You take the blue pill -the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill -you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes..." Happy to help, Jill. Regards, Doug Doug Den Hoed - AtAppStore Got Skills? Lend a hand! https://community.workfront.com/participate/unanswered-threads

[MichaelGe]

Hi all, We'd like to have an Issue deleted when it is converted to a project. However, we already have hours logged to the Issue and we receive an error when we try that. We don't want to lose the hours already logged to the issue and would like those hours applied to the newly created project instead. So is it true that we can't convert the issue to a project if there are hours already logged? If that's a known 'no-no' shouldn't there be a nice message stating that instead of the error message below: Many thanks in advance, -Mike Michael Gerrol Dell-RSA Security - IT

[Christina_Jarosz]

Michael, You want to change your timesheet & hour preferences to "Move any logged time to the project where the task or issue resides (If this task or issue is later restored, the time remains on the project)" It's under the very last section of 'When deleting tasks of issues...'. It should solve your problem. Christina Jarosz Ascensus

[MichaelGe]

Hi Christina, I got excited when I saw your response! So I tried that - but it only creates a project if I select the checkbox: 'Keep the original issue and tie its resolution to this project'. If I unselect that checkbox, and If there are Hours already logged to the issue I still get the error: "Let's try that again. The following error occurred: Service Error Message." Appreciate your help.... Does anyone else have that problem? -Mike Michael Gerrol Dell-RSA Security - IT

[SkyeHa]

I just created an issue, logged a couple of hours on it, and then converted it to a project without keeping the original issue. There were no service error messages and my logged time is showing up in my new project under actual hours. So I think it's possible. Although how our settings differ or whether you have an issue with your permissions profile, would be a different question. -skye

[MichaelGe]

Just woke up and I think I just figured out why! The hours that were on the issue were on a timesheet that was already submitted and approved. I will test this out when I get back to work - but I think this could be another Senior Moment! 🙂 Michael Gerrol Dell-RSA Security - IT

[MichaelGe]

Sorry to say that wasn't the problem. One of the Issues had hours logged only for this week and that wouldn't convert. Then I 'deleted' all of those hours logged to the issue, tried the conversion to project and that failed too! Rights shouldn't be an issue since I'm an Admin. -Mike Michael Gerrol Dell-RSA Security - IT

[SkyeHa]

honestly, I would take it to the sandbox and try to replicate the error by either copying the issue and trying to convert that to project, or recreating the issue from scratch and trying to convert that to project. If you can do it with something else but just not that issue, you can start to narrow down the... uh... issue. -skye

[MichaelGe]

Hi Skye - thanks for your reply! I have been working in our sandbox and this happens on every issue that we try to convert which has HOURS logged to that issue. When you copy an issue it copies everything except the hours, which is to be expected. That works OK. But so far, every issue which has hours logged to it could not be converted to a project. Has anyone else been able to replicate this? If no one else has this problem then I think i will have to open a support ticket. Thanks again! -Mike Michael Gerrol Dell-RSA Security - IT