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Project Intake Process

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Level 2
Hi everyone, I attended the Networking Session for Agencies at Leap last week but they only covered the first 2 topics that were submitted. One that I saw in the presentation deck that we didn't have time for was project intake. We used Custom Forms for project intake for about a year with very low adoption and poor quality of the data submitted (complaints that the form can't be printed and it is too many clicks to get into the data). We're considering reverting back to the old process - a Word Document! I know this is not the right thing to do so hoping others managing work through the creative process can offer advice. How does your team submit project brief information? What is your approval process for that brief before the work is assigned? Thanks in advance, Dianne Dianne Keohane Globoforce www.globoforce.com www.workhuman.com
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Level 2
Hello Dianne, Our intake process is: Client submits request (via custom form) Project intake: As Workfront Admin, I review the custom form to make sure it was submitted to the correct queue and by the correct custom form category. I follow-up with the client for clarification whenever necessary, then I create a project from the request and assign it to the appropriate primary point of contact (POC)/project manager (PM). When I create the project, I make sure I add the project to the appropriate portfolio or program, and make any other adjustments as needed. POC/PMs receive notification when the project has been made active, then they make additional assignments within the project to include appropriate team members, etc. Creating separate queues for different categories of work has been very helpful in our instance. For example, we have one queue that is exclusively used for requesting work from our in-house printing department. The main event, our "MarCom Request Queue", includes five custom forms - one for each of our MarCom teams (Communications, Video, Photography, Web, and Creative). We designed all of our custom forms to optimize our reporting capabilities. When I worked with teams in creating their forms, I also asked them what type of information is important to them to be able to report on in the future (in addition to what our executives wanted), and built their forms with that information in mind. Utilizing Portfolios & Programs is also very helpful. "Programs" for us equals "Campaign", so we're able to run campaign reports and create dashboards that allow our account managers to see all the projects different teams are working on for the campaigns they oversee. Learning how to customize filters, views, groupings , and dashboards was a game changer for me. Everyday I send a report to all staff documenting new projects that came in for the day (most of our staff also have dashboard with this information, but I export the report as a PDF and email it out for added assurance). The report breaks down by "category" (AKA project type based on how we set up our forms). The report includes a couple columns that pull information from fields we added to our custom forms, but most of it is default information that comes together when the project is created. I am happy to show you more via a Zoom call if this is helpful and you'd like to further discuss. Don't give up! Bridget Cusick bridget.cusick@crs.org Bridget Cusick Project Portal Coordinator Catholic Relief Services Baltimore, MD