Report to see if a specific task is missing within a project

[Kiesner10]

Hi all,

I'm wondering if there is a way to filter a report to see if a specific task is missing within a project? We have incorporated new tasks into a template and need to audit existing projects to see if those tasks are missing (and keep track of new projects that are created to ensure they are using the correct templates with the new tasks). 

Thanks!

Jack 

[Richard_Le_ · Accepted solution]

Hi Jack,

You can achieve this using an exists filter in your project report. Try the folLowing code:

EXISTS:a:$$EXISTSMOD=NOTEXISTS
EXISTS:a:$$OBJCODE=TASK
EXISTS:a:name=INSERT NAME OF TASK HERE
EXISTS:a:projectID=FIELD:ID

Using this filter in a project report would return all projects that do not contain a task with the name "INSERT NAME OF TASK HERE"

Best Regards,

Rich. 

[Kiesner10]

Hi @Richard_Le_ @Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore - Thank you both very much for your responses to my question! It does appear that this code may do the trick. I'm fairly green with text mode beyond the basics, so I'm wondering what else I can add to the filter to pull in projects within a specific status and that are for a specific team (we have a field on our project form that asks what team the project is coming from). I tried the filter below (with additions I added in bold to filter for a specific team and status) but an error message displayed that said "Invalid Parameter: Search Parameter value "project:status". Any thoughts on what I may be doing incorrectly here? Thank you again for your help!

DE:project:Agile/Home Team=CEM: Consumer Experience Management CG: Commercial Group MMI: Medicare/, Medicaid/, Individual
DE:project:Agile/Home Team_Mod=in
EXISTS:a:$$EXISTSMOD=NOTEXISTS
EXISTS:a:$$OBJCODE=TASK
EXISTS:a:name=Submit to KM team any new/updated knowledge generated during strategy phase
EXISTS:a:projectID=FIELD:ID

project:status=CUR MEA PLN ONH PLA
project:status_Mod=in
OR:1:DE:project:Agile/Home Team=CEM: Consumer Experience Management CG: Commercial Group MMI: Medicare/, Medicaid/, Individual
OR:1:DE:project:Agile/Home Team_Mod=in
OR:1:EXISTS:a:$$EXISTSMOD=NOTEXISTS
OR:1:EXISTS:a:$$OBJCODE=TASK
OR:1:EXISTS:a:name=Check knowledge base for supporting information (if not found, submit ticket)
OR:1:EXISTS:a:projectID=FIELD:ID
OR:1:project:status=CUR MEA PLN ONH PLA
OR:1:project:status_Mod=in

[RandyRoberts]

One little trick I sometimes use when executing an EXISTS filter with another filter or two is to set up the other filters in "wizard" mode by selecting fields from the dropdowns. Then I turn it into text mode and paste in my EXISTS statement.

Using an EXISTS statement with OR choices can get tricky because text mode isn't cumulative. If you have for example an exist statement that looks for something missing and you want to combine that with another condition OR another condition (as opposed AND another condition) you have to repeat your EXISTS statement in the second (OR) part as well.

I don't have any examples of this on hand but if someone else has one, it would probably help several users to post an example here (::cough, cough:: Doug or Richard).

[Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore]

Hi Jack,

Riffing off Rich's excellent answer...

If (more specifically) you're auditing to ensure the Template Task still exists on the Project -- even if the PM renamed it for some (perfectly good) reason -- you could also go a level further, like this:

EXISTS:a:$$EXISTSMOD=NOTEXISTS
EXISTS:a:$$OBJCODE=TASK
EXISTS:a:templateTask:name=INSERT NAME OF TEMPLATE TASK HERE
EXISTS:a:projectID=FIELD:ID

Regards,

Doug