Project Close Out

[AaronGo]

Does anyone have a best practice for closing out a Project in WF? I need to close a project, because we're done, but I have Tasks are still not at 100% and I need to review them before I mark them complete. While I do this review I need to project to be at a state where no one can log hours or make any other updates. Or is there a way to close a Project while leaving the Tasks not 100%, this way I can make a Report that shows the Tasks that didn't complete while making sure no one can log hours or update the Tasks? Thanks in advance for the help, Aaron

[EricLu2]

Hi: The first thing we do is have the PMO close down all projects. We have an approval workflow on a “Close Project” task such that when the task is set to “In Progress”, it lets the PMO know and we take it from there. We created a project status called “Soft Close”. It equates to “Dead” status. When someone wants to shut down a project, I put it in Soft Close. That stops anyone from charging to it or modifying it. We see tasks that are not 100% complete on nearly every project that should close. It is my experience that that merely means someone didn’t update it. We haven’t closed projects that didn’t have deliverables complete, we just have people who won’t update the percent complete. Once I’ve validated everything is as it should be, and all invoices against the project are paid, I move the project to a status called “Completed/Hard Close” (which equates to Dead). Does that help at all? Eric

[AaronGo]

Eric, This does help, this is good stuff. So you just have different custom status you can report against to show what Projects are closed. And you have a task on your Template to trigger a Project closing, I like that. I'm going to try an put some of this in use, we are about to close out or first major Project in WF so I'm trying to come up with a good way to do it. Now if a Project is Dead can i make updates to the Tasks? So, for instance, if I have a task that's 90% done but I'm going to transfer to a new Project because I have a new funding source, can I make an update that says the work got moved? Thanks for the tips, Aaron

[EricLu2]

Hi: We have WorkFront configured so that no one can change anything on a dead project except to add documents. [cid:image001.jpg@01D2F0D1.EAB49520] If I need to change a dead project, I move it to a custom status Not Yet Approved (which equates to Rejected), make a change, and immediately move it back to Soft Close. Keep the questions coming! Eric

[AaronGo]

Ok, I see where you're going with this. I think I can make a status between soft and hard close so that updates can be added. Now once I move it hard close can I make it so that most of the users don't see the Project, and the Tasks/Issues won't come up in a search? And I can't add documents at all, WF isn't ITAR compliant. At least not yet. Oh and it you keep answering I can keep asking :) Thanks, Aaron

[EricLu2]

The only way you can get rid of visibility to a closed project is to go to Sharing and remove everyone’s rights / privileges to see anything on it. If you delete everything from Sharing, then only SysAdmins will be able to see it. ☺

[AaronGo]

Now is there a way to remove the Sharing with a status change? I have a few things I'd like to trigger with a status change. Aaron

[EricLu2]

Nope.

[AaronGo]

Dang :( Maybe I can write a custom API for that. I have a guy that's a pretty good coder over here. Thanks for all your help, this has me going down the right path now. I have can have a clean Project close out and still capture all the data for some Reports. Aaron

[EricLu2]

You know, you might be on to something there. I do wish that changing statuses would trigger things. I am not aware of how to mass edit sharing privileges, but the API might allow something. Good thinking! Eric

[Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore]

I agree, Eric: Aaron, having a Status change cause other behavior (e.g. around Sharing) within Workfront is a very interesting idea. If he's not already done so, I'd encourage your Handy Guy to watch this recent video about API Event Subscriptions -- you've got a bonified usecase in hand. Once you get it going, I suspect the Dev team would be very interested in hearing how you made out with it. Good luck! Regards, Doug

[AaronGo]

I haven't reached out to my guy yet, I just came up with the idea. I will send him that link, thanks Doug. It just seems to me that you should be able to trigger more things with status change. You know when I set a status do that. Like have the approval attach when I set the status not attach the approval then set the status. Unless I'm missing something. This is great stuff, thanks guys, Aaron

[WillSc]

Aaron, Like Doug said, this sounds like an excellent use case for Event Subscriptions. Right now, this functionality is only available in Preview environments, but it will be in Production in late July. The way you would use this for your use case is that you would configure an endpoint of some kind to accept outbound calls from Workfront. You would then configure a Workfront Event Subscription around Project Updates. Your endpoint would then get notified whenever a project is updated in your Workfront instance and filter out the relevant updates that signify that sharing settings need to be updated (in this case, probably a status change). It would then use the Workfront API to update the sharing settings on those projects. The video Doug shared is a great start. Here is another more technical document around how to configure Event Subscriptions: https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000135574-Event-Subscription-API You'll want to share this with your technical guy. He should be able to make sense of it. If you have any questions or feedback, please reach out to me. willschmidt@workfront.com

[BenettaPe]

I move my projects to a custom created state "transitioned". I have also created a task "Project Manger to Close Project" on all projects. Once the Project Manager has reviewed it - they have the authority to move it to "completed" status. Just as an FYI, pretty much following what Eric has provided to you already.