Updates/Communication - Advice on Best Usage

[MichelleJa]

Hi Everyone, I'm hoping to receive some advice on how others with large sized projects handle the communication via updates. We average around 100 tasks and 10-15 people per project, so they are small. This past year, we decided to merge certain projects since the output was all relative to a single marketing campaign. This upped the task count and people count (not by much though). The big complaint we have is the Updates section, how conversations get lost in there, and how they have to hunt for the information they need inside there. I know there are some large project people out there, so I'm wondering how do your teams communicate or get through the communications inside Workfront? Thanks! Michelle Michelle Jackson

[SkyeHa]

I don't think there are any good solutions, but I think what can help is deciding what should go into a communication/update,and where that should live, as well as giving priority to training your users on your solution and inviting their feedback. In other words, having standards. For example, here are some thoughts we've had. * information that's "needed" should live on a custom form field in a custom form--not in an updates free-for-all. * certain people should only be communicated with on certain objects--e.g. your requestors might be locked into their initial request without visibility to the whole project, or specific task holders might ignore the project if they can get all the information out of their specific task, or everyone might only communicate on milestone tasks, whatever makes sense. * "crucial" updates are different from "FYI/CYA" information (kept for historical record)--and one might tag specific people on a certain type of update while not tagging anyone in other types. Also, updates should contain a structure (give specific information such as problem + solution + involved decision makers). * updates should not be created in lieu of a meeting (in other words, don't hold long conversations in here. Similarly, don't clutter e.g. just saying "thanks" or other non-informational updates) * Lastly, reporting and dashboards can sometimes help. A while ago, Narayan and Doug discussed how to format reports and provided a few notes reports (see "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqIEE2o6v5M" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqIEE2o6v5M and I'm not sure where the notes package is, but I'm sure information is in the youtube about it) -- this functionality specifically targets being able to see recent updates / updates ordered by time / updates tagging the user in question, etc. -skye

[NRYNR]

Hi Michelle, I've recently found hashtags to be the most effective method of organizing updates, primarily because they can come from so many different places in the application (docs, users, tasks, issues, projects). By adding hashtags to updates, you can get really creative in how you report on Notes so that you see the things important. I can think of a ton of applications, but some that come to mind are: #ACTION means this update has an action item that should be turned into a task or issue (wouldn't that be a nice feature to have?) #IDEA means there's something valuable here that we need to track as an idea for possible later action #QUESTION means you need a response You can see hashtags in action here on the new "https://ddh.my.workfront.com/report/public/view?publicToken=x6u1T7zd_sSOvZHnld5V2RdX8DuVMK5IYPythkqdZKOcdD9pcZ2nP9-8hvZTuraI3FeBUmydswzTRTfnheRC0M5CV4CAZ9rg&endcap" Workfront-Powered WFPro web site in the "Latest Notes" section. Clicking on hashtags here reveals the notes report for that particular tag. @Skye Hansen , your work with us in WARP on Notes reporting wasn't in vain, and is going to serve as a great foundation for future "hashtag" capabilities when one of us has the time! Thanks, Narayan Narayan Raum - Admin @ Truist Financial, WF-Pro.com Creator Lean More at the WFPro Post https://tinyurl.com/TheWFProCommunityPost #WFPro

[AshleyNe1]

Hi Michelle, I agree with Skye that information that is needed should live on custom forms so we have several custom forms that are required for certain steps in a project. We use the tasks to house the different topics in the updates versus using the updates at the project level. So we have a parent tasks called email with several child tasks under it. All updates/comments pertaining to the email are done at the Email parent tasks. This keeps the information pertinent to the group of people that need it versus scrolling through the updates at the project level.I hope this makes sense. Ashley Thomas

[MichelleJa]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I'm going to take these and talk to our communications team. It's wonderful to be able to get fresh perspectives, and I think using a combination of the hashtags/updates at the parent level and improving our custom forms will improve our current issues. Michelle Jackson

[GiselleSeo]

Some time ago, I saw a thread that someone created an "All Comments" dashboard. This may work for you as it helped me and once I shared it with my team, they were pleased as well. You will need to create a new "Note" report... 1) Navigate to "Reporting" from global nav bar and click on the "Reports" tab 2) Click "+ New Report" and scroll down and click on "Note". The report will open up and you will see the default fields: "Note Text", "Project: Name" and "Entry Date". You can add more columns like "Owner: Name" so you know who made the comment and "User:Name" to see who was tagged, etc. 3) Click on "Report Settings" to name it and select other features like allowing the view, group and filter to be changed, etc. 4) Customize the groupings, filters, sorting, etc. 5) Save and close You have to then share it with others in order for them to see it within the projects. 6) Click on "Report Actions" and then "Sharing" and start typing companies, groups, teams, etc. Now here is where I get a little fuzzy on what I had to do next, but I think you just navigate to the "More" tab within the project and click on the dashboard name (in my case, "All Comments") and it should run the report. Otherwise, you may have to add it to the project or project template by doing these steps... 1) Navigate to the "More" tab and click "Customize Tabs" 2) Click the "More" tab again 3) Click "+ Add Custom Tab". Here is where you type in the Tab Label (I just went with the same name as the dashboard, "All Comments") and the Dashboard name. Click "Add Tab" to complete. Hopefully I got all the steps right. If there's anyone out there that created this dashboard from that old thread, please jump in and correct me if/where I'm wrong. :) Here's a screenshot of what mine looks like within a project (I have it grouped by project and task... if a comment is made in the project's "Updates" tab or to a document then the comments are grouped as "Task: Name: No Value"): Here's what it looks like as the report itself (outside of a project): Good luck in whatever you end up doing. Giselle Quintero Cinch Home Services