Time Off in Workfront

[joshh79242137]

Hey Folks, I want to draw attention to a couple of Ideas on our Idea Exchange, to see if there is big enough interest from the community. We are in the process of releasing a new feature that will give you an icon and tool-tip warning when you are assigning work to someone who has time off scheduled during the planned dates of the task/issue. With that announcement, I have received several emails from people saying that you really wish the system would NOT automatically move the dates of a task out when the assigned to user has time off scheduled. So, I'm looking into it. But, in order to gauge interest, I want to ask that if you would like this (most likely as a setting), please go vote for this idea: >https://experience.workfront.com/s/idea/0870z000000PSNiAAO/detail Another big request has been to send notifications to the project owner and/or resource owners when a task assignee adds time off after they have been assigned. Please see that idea here: >https://experience.workfront.com/s/idea/0870z000000PSRWAA4/detail Thanks! Josh Hardman Product Manager, Workfront

[DavidCo3]

Hi @Josh Hardman - awesome to see some focus on PTO-related topics! I've submitted a vote for the second idea (notification when PTO is added and affects an existing task schedule). However, I'm not a fan of the first idea....I think it's better to let the task dates move to ensure enough time is allowed for the work to be done. If the system was changed to allow assignments to be made against users with PTO booked and the dates didn't change, then we could end up in a lot of trouble. Having the dates change tends to prompt the PM/RM to sort it out. If this feature is to be added, please make it a setting as you suggested. Perhaps a project-level setting (configurable via template) so that we can have different rules for different projects if need be. David Cornwell

[Heather_Kulbacki]

I've upvoted both. Ideally we'd prefer the first option, the ability to turn off the shifting dates. Obviously not everyone would want that, so the option to turn it off would be fantastic, but it would also be helpful to send notifications to either a project owner or a specified person (maybe a traffic manager) when a task is assigned to someone who has time off during that task's planned work. I've tested out the new feature in Preview and it's great if you're assigning one task at a time. But we generally select multiple tasks and bulk edit to make our assignments - I noticed once that is done, I still had to click into the assignment column for every task to see who had time off during the planned dates. At least a notification upon the bulk edit save, that one of those tasks conflicted with someone's time off would help.

[JeanCh1]

This is much needed. Currently we are using a project and task to recognize peoples time off in the schedule so that we can have it reflected but not automatically adjust dates. Would be great to just have users maintain it in a calendar. Jean Chapdelaine NovuHealth

[AnthonyPernice]

I like both ideas. Regarding the first idea, we have very few situations where we don't have an alternate assignee, there's no need to readjust (potentially) dozens of inter-related tasks because one person is going to be out of pocket for awhile. Regarding the second idea, it would be great for the project owner to be made aware that adjustments need to be made to accommodate PTO while still delivering work on time. Anthony Pernice Healthcare Consultancy Group

[BrittanyJo]

Hi @Josh Hardman , We would also love to get a notification when PTO is added and affects an existing task schedule AND have the ability to shut off the automatically shifting dates. We will not allow our users to enter PTO into Workfront currently because our timelines are very rigid and often are traveling together to meet specific production deadlines that are not flexible, so if time gets pushed back the entire schedule has to be adjusted to still meet that same deadline. We very rarely have someone enter PTO who isn't already assigned to a large number of projects also, so the proactive warning not to add the person to a task is only going to help us with a small number of projects due to how far out many of our schedules are. So long story short, until the shifting dates can be turned off, we cannot utilize any of the PTO functionality. Thanks so much, we're exciting some work is being done in this area! Brittany Jones Project Manager, Marketing Operations DICK's Sporting Goods

[PatriciaMo1]

same situation here. The option to turn-off the shifting dates is key in our use case. Patricia Moreno McCann Health

[JenniferSo1]

Ideally for Prudential, we would like an automation to our Outlook calendar. Our users use Outlook to manage their schedules, inclusive of when they are in the office. Having to manage time in multiple systems leaves room for error and is not the best user experience. WF has been able to synch meetings etc between WF Calendar and Outlook, taking it once step further to have it synch out of office would be ideal. Jennifer Sofo Prudential Financial - Prudential

[AnthonyPernice]

@Jennifer Sofo - agree 100%! We're actually looking at a Fusion connector to do just that, managing PTO via a request queue. Anthony Pernice Healthcare Consultancy Group

[Christina_Jarosz]

Jennifer - we've looked at WF Fusion to see if there was a way to integrate it with Workday or Legato . On another note - has anyone managed to integrate time tracking at all into WF? It's a major obstacle to expanding our user adoption at the moment. Christina Jarosz Ascensus

[Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore]

Hi Christina, If you're looking to load Time from those other systems into Workfront, I suggest you consider kickstarts, Fusion, or our "https://store.atappstore.com/product/excel-updater/">Excel Updater solution. Regards, Doug Doug Den Hoed - AtAppStore Got Skills? Lend a hand! https://community.workfront.com/participate/unanswered-threads

[TamBo64]

Great if we can choose which roles to automatically notify when that feature is activated. Tammie Bouchard National Safety Council

[TamBo64]

This is our situation as well. Tammie Bouchard National Safety Council

[Sheri_Whitten]

Hi @Josh Hardman , I've up-voted both ideas. We'd definitely appreciate the ability to turn off the shifting dates! And notifications to both the project owner and resource manager, when a task is assigned to someone who has PTO during that task dates, would be ideal. Right now, we've opted out of using the PTO calendars for anything other than office-wide holidays and are using a separate project to monitor PTO. It's very cumbersome, but better than the project shifting task dates. Now, at least our creatives can see when they are over-booked and work to shift their tasks. Like @Heather Kulbacki , I've also tested out the new feature in Preview, and agree with her - it is great if you're assigning one task at a time, but I always either select multiple tasks to bulk edit or use the Staffing tab to assign users by role. A notification in those instances would be better for me. Thanks! Sheri Whitten Gordon Food Service

[joshh79242137]

Hey everyone, thanks for all of the great discussion here. I love seeing how some of you are using this today and getting around some pitfalls, and what others would need to make it more useful. Just one thing to point out... some of you have mentioned seeing the time off warning on the staffing tab of a project, which also has the same view under the People area. Well, good news, it's already there! You may not see it if you are not currently using time off in Workfront, but you will see a grey bar on each individuals line for the dates they have entered time off. Thanks again, and keep it coming! Josh Hardman Product Manager, Workfront

[VicAl]

Hi Josh, Love both these ideas!!!! I'm with David, I like the shifting dates because I like the truth in my plans �� . It tells me if I need to reassign or move a task or just let the date move. Deadlines don't change, but my plan should show me where I'm tracking. I can see how a setting would be useful so if you don't want the dates to move, you have that option. My only concern is the unintended consequence that PM's don't know (or forget) their project plan is set to NOT move the dates, then they discover they're in trouble at the moment of vacation time for some person. For that reason I don't ever want to allow our PM's to turn off the date shift. I want them to know the truth and work around it accordingly (by reeling in the date or reassigning etc.). Perhaps there could be a way to set the option at both the global level and the project level. For example, in the global Setup the Admin would have to allow this switch to be available. If so, the PM's would have the option at the project level to turn it off. Just a thought.