Q4 Update Request Enhancements-Thoughts on This?

[CBuckwal]

In reviewing the Q4 Update documentation, I came across the new look for requests in preview. I can still see the old request page, but there is an option to "Use New Experience." The new requests page removes the option to change the Requests page layout. We have a Requests management report for users to track their requests that is very customized to our workflows. The new Requests page doesn't really meet our workflow needs and will seem confusing to our users.

From the documentation, new Requests seems to only be available for unified experience instances after the Q4 update. Our production instance is not on unified experience, but our non-productions instances are on unified experience. We don't have Planning now, but the documentation relates that the Request page change is an attempt to bring Workfront Planning and Workfront Requests together.

Will the new Requests page be mandatory at some point? Will the "Use New Experience" option be available to my non-unified experience production instance in the Q4 update? This isn't a great change for my company so we would like to understand the mandatory timelines better for this change and know what our users see on the Request page after the Q4 update is complete. Thanks!

[JustinRenteria2]

I was about to make my own post about this too. I really dislike the new request experience. They are taking away the following functionality from us:

1. Customizing the left pane with dashboards - this is very important to us since we like to curate what users can see when they navigate to the requests area. 
2. Prebuilt filters for the request list - makes no sense that a user has to build their own filter to show only requests that theyve submitted or have open. 

We dont have planning so I really dont see the point of this change.  Seems like another thing Adobe is trying to force on the user base.  

[CBuckwal]

Thanks for your comments, Justin. Those two points you made are very concerning to my company too. Also, users in my company already report that they think the Request queue difficult to navigate as it is now. The look of the new Request page will be very confusing to the average user, especially users not seeing the request topics without going into the search bar. That's not at all intuitive and makes the user think that they have to know exactly what request type to search for. 

[AliPen]

Just to add some more feedback here, I have the same concerns that you both have brought up regarding losing the ability to customize this area. We are not on the unified experience in any environment but I am able to see the toggle in Preview. While I do think the Requests area could use some improvements, this change seems to further from the UI of other objects. 

[skyehansen]

@jerflo  -- not quite sure who to tag in on this one. Can you help direct traffic?

[jerflo]

@vazgenbabayan 

[ScottMo1]

@jerflo I am in full agreement.   The Request Enhancements are not user friendly for our teams.   We are in a manufacturing environment, and the Request are vital to the execution of our projects.   The Request Enhancements is confusing and does not make sense for the workflow of our teams.

In addition, the users have no idea what "Request Form" means.   The way we have our Request set up, they go to a project.   But even changing the Request Form to Project is not helpful to the Users the way that we utilize Request.

I also agree with the point about losing the left pane - this is used by our teams as well to quickly navigate to requests that are important to them.   The filter options are very limiting, and the summary area is now gone.

Please do not push this enhancement forward as a required upgrade - it needs a lot more work before it is user friendly.

[_Manish_Singh]

Few suggestions:

The form looks compressed in terms of width, 50% screen is empty. The form should take at least 80% space in the new window.

"+" button is nearly invisible. Change it to empty box, similar to what we have in report filter for consistency.

New request experience can be improved. Large font, more space between two queue options. It would be better if "What request do you want to submit" can be replaced with a button. The box seems more like a search rather than a new request button.

This is not necessary. Can be removed to have more space for existing requests.

[Vazgen_Babayan]

Hi everyone and thanks for the feedback! We have captured it and it already is being reflected in our priorities and solution design moving forward. I am really grateful for all the provided context, notes and screenshots - they help us a lot as we enhance the product!

I also want to provide insight into the roadmap we have for the Requests page in the context of the current enhancements. The enhancements to the Requestor experience are the first in a series of improvements planned for the overall work intake capabilities of Workfront. These include:

1. A new "request" object, which is connected with the work objects it spawns, so that there can always be a clear picture of where the request is in its journey. 

2. Ability to submit not just Issues, but other objects in the system, like Projects, Tasks or Workfront Planning objects, with approval processes gating the creation.

3. A centralized "Submitted requests area" which not only combines the Worflow and Planning requests, but also will have the support for custom views and Layout Template controls (both currently being worked on by the team).

4. The "Recently accessed request forms" capability, surfacing the recently used forms for quicker access

5. The centralized "search" picker will evolve from being just a search of existing queues toward an AI-native prompting capability, allowing to not only find the right queue but also populate the form based on the prompt or an uploaded file (also currently being worked on).

6. Redefined queue management system, evolving from queues being Projects in the system but toward a dedicated object, with enhanced routing, allowing spawning multiple objects as a result of a single request (planned for 2026).

Overall, the main objective of enhancements to the Requestor experience are targeting to greatly decrease the time it takes to submit requests, while not only preserving the same level of quality of the input, but raising it through an AI-supported experience. The improvements to the Administrator (or Queue Manager) experience are targeting the different levels of automation and approvals for the request routing and creation of target objects, decreasing the time it takes for the request to end up as a work object, reducing the need for Fusion for converting Issues to Projects.

Hope this helps provide insight into the direction we are taking with the Requests page. We are actively enhancing the page and believe that even in its current state it can provide additional benefit to the Requestors via a quicker search of the queues and recently accessed forms. At the same time, we realize that the solution is not in a state to replace the existing Requests experience, hence we have provided a toggle, which is OFF by default and allows to switch between the experiences at will. 

[ScottMo1]

Hi Vazgen - I appreciate the willingness to share what can regarding the roadmap for the Requests.   I would like to start with your last comment.   Correct, at the moment it can be toggled, but as many other functions that have a toggle - it will eventually move to the new experience without option.

Reading through your explanation, I am concerned that this is being designed with a strong Marketing Workflow influence.   What is being created may not necessarily work well for your non-marketing customers.   I would be cautious on what is being developed and launched as I don't think Adobe would like to start alienating other users.

But, in fairness to you and your team, I have not been on any development calls to understand the impact of these changes.   If you would like me to participate as a 'non-marketing' voice, I would be happy to provide feedback at anytime.