Hi Laura,
I know a few ways to see planned/estimate/actual per project. Which of them I would recommend depends on whether you're after:
a chart, a grid, or both
something on-screen only, or that can be exported to pdf or Excel
a single project, a portfolio of projects, or a filterable list of projects
all tasks within those projects, or a filterable list of tasks within those projects
a single role, a filter of roles, and/or a filter of people
reporting by task role, by person, or by task role then by person matching on their primary role, or their secondary role(s)
a preset timeframe (eg current month), the ability to scroll time by that timeframe, and/or the option to select a start and end date
a report that opens automatically to some preset standard combination of options, or that must first be selected (eg prompts), or both
a "destination" report in a special location within Workfront (eg a Project custom tab with "the" report on it) or a report component you can place many times on multiple dashboards
front loaded estimates (eg 20 hours accounted for "upfront" based on either a task's Planned Start Dates or Projected Start Dates; conservative, best for short tasks), eveny distributed estimates (eg 20 hr task over 10 days is 2 hrs per days; best for part time long tasks), or "shaped" estimates that consider the relatively new in-task allocation adjustments
tasks that all have only one person assigned (more planning; better reporting) or multiple assignees (simpler planning, tougher to report)
summing time to the month, or week, or day, or hour
"fancy math" to prorate tasks that overlap beyond the preceding time unit (eg if our 20 hr 10 day task example is planned for 5 days in this month, and 5 in next month, each month gets 10 hours, each week gets 10 hours, and each day gets 2 hrs) -- warning, this one is difficult, elusive and extra
accounting fot users' schedules and PTO (same warning, doubled)
illustrating overallocations (same warning, doubled again)
grand totals horizontally, vertically, or both
a burn-down against some opening total, and if so, the definition of that total and the formula or source to determine its duration
cumulative numbers, or a chart, or both
simply viewing the resulting data, or clicking the data to then edit it elsewhere in Workfront, or editing it in-place (several restrictions apply)
This is one of my key areas of interest within Workfront, and I am keen to learn more about What Really Matters to others striving to visualize their data in this manner. So, by copying, pasting, and then annotating the list above, I invite you and future contributors to state for each bullet point which options you (M)ust Have, Would (L)ike to have, and (W)ouldn't use, like this:
a chart (M), a grid (W), or both (L)
And of course, if I've overlooked any bullets, please add them to the bottom of your response list, too.
Regards,
Doug
