Project Number Help

[AmyZa]

We've been using the reference number for a project as an identifying job number since our implementation. This was working OK--but after only 6 months in, the number is already 6 digits long, so we're on the hunt for another solution. Does anyone have any recommendations on how you populate job numbers that don't require a manual effort?

[EricLu2]

We use the project reference number. Ours has been six digits for some time. Is six digits too much for your purpose? Thanks, Eric

[pco88]

We didn't use the reference number because a.) it does not appear sequential to relate to the object type (eg projects only) and so difficult to remember and can't recall which projects went before or after the reference number. 2.) It can progressively grow to more than 6 digits as you stay longer in Workfront. We've sent a feature request for autonumber generator since the start of our implementation. If more people request this, this hopefully makes it to an enhancement to the app. We currently generate a number outside of Workfront but moving away from that app as well and what we're thinking of doing is generating the number through Sharepoint (autonumber in a form) and having that as a link within the project form. So when a project manager creates the project and loads the project form, they just click the sharepoint link in the project form and gets generated a docket number for their use. They just need to paste the project name into the sharepoint form and submit the form so they'd have ownership of the docket number. Sharepoint can log who entered the form, the docket number and then the project name.

[AmyZa]

It is. We're running into issues where they're trying to shorten files names--while keeping all pertinent information. Also the PMs are used to having the project numbers burned into their brains, and 6 numbers is stretching their mental capacity, since they're used to 4 digit numbers. :-)

[AmyZa]

I will also submit a feature request for it. Hopefully some additional support will get it moving faster. It's shocking to me that it's not a standard feature.

[pco88]

Hello - the idea exchange is now open. I've submitted a request of autonumber - project numbers under the Others section. Please vote! https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115001218447-autonumber-field-docket-numbers

[ShellyLo]

We generate our project numbers outside of Workfront as well. Our project numbers are 2 letters, 3 or 4 numbers, then the fiscal year (ex. RM-103-18). The 2 letters also tie into the Programs we set up so it helps with reporting options. Shelly Long, PMP, CSSGB Marketing Traffic Manager Pier 1 Imports Accelerate to Excellence

[AmyZa]

For an immediate solution, I created a custom form with fields for a year, campaign number and job number. This form lives on all projects. Then I created a report titled "Next Job Number" and every time we resource a job, we also manually give it a job number (and fill in the year and campaign number, if applicable) and include the job number in the project name. It's working well, but it would be amazing if we didn't have to take the extra step.

[KarenRu]

Hi Amy, This was a big deal for us- and I was actually surprised that WF didn't have a feature that generated job #'s for the marketing/creative industry, because we live and die by job #'s! During the sales process- I obviously didn't dig deep enough to understand what they meant when they say they generated reference #s- which doesn't really satisfy our need. Sooooo during implementation we decided on a custom field, on our "OFFICE USE ONLY FORM". We concatenate: the portfolio the job is in (which maps to our business units), our fiscal year (17) and then we truncate the reference # to the last four numbers. So for example- a typical job # for us would look like: FAS 17-0223. We understand the job#'s won't be in any sequential order. Which at first was a bummer for folks who were used to relying on the job# to give them an idea of how many jobs we've done. Now, folks just need to utilize the job# as a way finding device- nothing more. And Amy- my team felt the same way- 6 numbers were too long! and one could imagine that WF would get into 7 and 8 digit numbers very quickly. I'm only hoping during the course of a fiscal year we won't end up with any duplicate numbers.....but I guess we'll cross the bridge if/when it happens. Hopefully in the meantime- WF adds the auto job# generator!!!

[KatharinaVo]

Hi All, We recently set up WF in our departement and I was also wondering why there are no automatically generated project #s. Are there any updates for this issue? Thx

[EricLu2]

Hi: There is a autogenerated Reference Number for every project. They are unique to each project. That is what we use as the Project Number. You can go to Project, Project Details, Overview: [cid:image001.png@01D2EB30.E71730E0] Hope that helps. Eric

[KatharinaVo]

Thanks Eric, but all objects have an reference # (projects, tasks, files) and therefore not appropriate for us. We are looking for #s like 170001 (year and increasing digit)

[EricLu2]

Ah, okay. Yeah, you are right, there is no capability available. Search the forum for this topic, however, I remember people offering ideas on how to generate something somehow. There was prior discussion on this you might want to see. Thanks! Eric

[pco88]

Hi Katharina, You might like to upvote this on the idea exchange. https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115001218447-autonumber-field-docket-numbers

[BrookeVa]

Hi Amy. We actually open projects in Webvantage (a different software tool) that generates a project number. We have it sync to Workfront and it gets populated through a custom form for the job number. This probably won't work for you (unless you have Webvantage already), but the way we have our process set up might be helpful in rethinking your process/structure! We actually have a team of 3 who are our "designated project openers" (AKA Admin Team). We actually do not let anyone else in the company open projects. We created a "new project request queue" with a custom form attached to it. When the project managers submit the request, it is routed to our admin team where someone will pick up the "ticket" and process the new job request. We manually add the 4 digit job description to the end of our project names. For example.. Billing Flag - Client Name - Project Name - ### R - Rockfish - Website Redesign - 1234 We continue to increase the number by one each time. We always know what number we are on because the Admin can easily go to the All Projects tab and view all existing projects and sort by date opened so you can view the last number used to identify the project. Hopefully that wasn't too confusing. If you're interested in this at all, feel free to email me and I can help explain further! In Reply to Amy Zakrzewski:

We've been using the reference number for a project as an identifying job number since our implementation. This was working OK--but after only 6 months in, the number is already 6 digits long, so we're on the hunt for another solution. Does anyone have any recommendations on how you populate job numbers that don't require a manual effort?

[GregTr1]

Up-voted the solution here: "https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115001218447-autonumber-field-docket-numbers">https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115001218447-autonumber-field-docket-numbers Looks like it's hit critical mass and will be decided upon by Workfront within 30 days. Greg Troester CHG Healthcare Services, Inc.

[pco88]

@Greg Troester , the link in your message just point directly to the main idea exchange page. If you are referring to the autonumber idea "https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115001218447-autonumber-field-docket-numbers">https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115001218447-autonumber-field-docket-numbers we're at 44 votes! Just 1 more vote to get them to consider it. Regards. Polly Co

[pco88]

We had 55 votes and Workfront said that this is something that they won't roll back now. Their reply: Thank you for your interest in this request. We used to have the numbers generated based on the objects, but we got requests from several customers that it was creating problems due to reference numbers not being unique. The requirement was to have unique reference numbers even within different object types. As a result we changed the logic, so it won't make sense for us to change it back. We apologise for causing inconvenience on your side. I just wonder, 4 years ago, whether the user base has changed. Obviously there's demand from current users that's not being met. They can keep their current reference number but there must be a calculated field that can be attached to reference the specific project object only! Polly Co

[William--]

I agree, Polly. I didn't interpret the request to roll back the functionality - the existing object-independent Ref ID should remain as is. There should be an additional object-dependent Ref ID created. The two are not mutually exclusive. Very disappointing! William English

[TamaraOB]

Our team required unique identifiers for projects and it involved a two letter code that identified the requesting group and the request ID which we wanted to identify the year and month the request was made. With the help of our onboarding consultants we created the following field on our custom form. It takes the requesting group and fills in a two letter tag and combines it with year and month and then just uses the last three numbers that workfront automatically assigns to objects in the system. Field Label: Project ID Format: Text Additional Settings Calculation: CONCAT(RIGHT(YEAR($$NOW),2),if(MONTH($$NOW)<10,"0",""),MONTH($$NOW),RIGHT(Reference Number,3)) IE: UD1802345 New Line Art Accessible Maps I removed all the specifics around our specific requesting groups so you may be able to play with creating a field in your custom form that captures the same data. We just copy and paste that Workfront generated number into project name field so that it is stationary because if you leave it in the custom form...A) its harder to find and B) it isnt static and will change when the month changes. I'd love to chat more if anyone has any questions. Tamara O'Brien Integrated Marketing Communications

[pco88]

Not discounting what you've done for your instance but I think the main requirement is it's a sequential number. If it's just uniqueness, we would and could just use the current reference number but as there is no real logic to reference numbers as it pertains to a specific object, what we're asking for is a field that is sequential and tied somehow to the project/object. Basic use case, when somebody says 18-4512 in relation to 18-3001, we know that project 18-3001 happened before 18-4512. Can't say the same for 18-ABX235 and 18-4XB128. Polly Co