Using Kickstarts to Create New Projects with Tasks and Custom Form Data

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
February 15, 2019
4 replies
1104 views

Hi. I hope this is a new question; our team was unable to find precedent for it. Here is our scenario: A group of users is new to Workfront (and we are new to Kick-Starts). They want to import a number of their active projects into WF without keying them in manually. This group has its own project template and custom form associated with that template. Their projects are at various stages of completion. For each project they import, they would like to populate tasks in a way that conforms to their existing template (including assignees, some dates, comments) AND populate response values on their custom form. Some task assignees may not already be Plan license users of WF. They don't want to track financials, approvals or timesheet info at this point. I'm trying to map their data to tabs and columns in the Import Data Kickstart spreadsheet. (My analysis consists of exporting some data and trying to duplicate the mappings on the import spreadsheet.) These probably aren't all my questions, but to help me get started a little faster, could you please answer: Using the Kick-Start Import functionality... 1) Which of these checkboxes do I need to select at a minimum to satisfy their requests as outlined above? On the generated blank Excel file... 2) Which tab and columns correspond to the task updates column for each individual task, and how do we sort them in a desired sequential order (if a task has more than one update?) 3) Can we set a particular value to indicate that this project is based on the same template they created in WF (in case we want to later report on "all projects based on template with refID#: x" )? 4) If an imported task is assigned to someone not yet already in Workfront, do I need to first create that person either on the front end or setting values on the User tab? (For assignees already in Workfront, I'm assuming I need to refer to them in the import sheet them using the ID in the database (i.e. value from ID column in an exported USER tab). 5) For Custom Form Data, which tabs and columns will need to be populated in order set their responses on their Custom Form? I was unable to find where by poking around in exported Custom Data tabs. 6) If the form already exists as part of one template, do I need to recreate the form (all its labels and options, including display logic) as data in my import spreadsheet or can I reference the existing form? 7) If I can reference the existing form, because it's already defined as a Project-level object do I need to use a particular tab/column in the importer setting to explicitly tell Workfront that the form for each project must be placed under the Project Details area? Thank you. Any level of response detail is appreciated. Best, M.L. de la Rosa Genentech

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EXP_-_DustinMa

Level 8

Hello M.L., It's certainly possible to do, and each row will relate to a single task, or object. For instance, on a 'TASK task' sheet in the doc, you'll have a column for setProjectID, you'll reference the project you want the task to be created on. If you're creating that project in the same kickstart, you'll reference the value you entered in the 'PROJ project' sheet on the doc under 'ID'. I would highly recommend doing the following on a Friday: Open preview (https://yourdomain.preview.workfront.com) and log in. Delete everything except 1 of each type of object (1 task, 1 issue, 1 project, 1 template, etc etc etc.) Then you can go and do a kickstart, export all the data, and you'll only have the minimum information you need to create each object. That said, I'd recommend the following objects to include in your kickstart: Project Template Template Assignment Template Task Custom Data Task Issue User Concerning your additional questions..: 2) This is done by setting various values, such as "setParentID" if using child/task relationships. You can also add in something like "setWBS", but you will need to fill out the "setParentID" if you want the setWBS to 'stick'. It'll just make it easier to map things out on the sheet instead of in your head. 3) When you create a project from a template, or attach a template after it's created, the Project Details -> Overview tab will show the template at the bottom. 4) Yes, you'll need to create that person. Now, they don't need to be assigned to an access level, but they also won't receive emails/notifications for work assigned to them. But going back to the main point, you'll need an ID to attach the assignment to (and yes, that is precisely how to get the ID, or you can use the example I suggested of including the User object in an export, though that does mean you probably don't want to delete all the users out of the system, but maybe create a separate user only kicstart export!) 5) [DE:Custom Field Name] - Easiest way to explain this is with a help article just below, but essentially DE: is Workrfont's way to show you're calling to custom data. https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/articles/216607018-Importing-Data-into-Workfront-via-Kick-Starts#importing-a-record 6) You'll have a column (or can create one) called "setCategoryID" to set the custom form on the object. You'll then need to follow step 5 above to reference each field on that form, and apply the data to it. 7) You'll be on the 'PROJ project' sheet, so no need to specify the project object, you're already on it. (Note, you have to have a separate sheet for each object, or WF doesn't know what you're doing.) I'd recommend reading up on the following help article to get you and your team going: https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/articles/216607028-Kick-Start-Scenario-Simple-Project-and-Task-Import-Preparation- Best of luck! Dustin Martin Assigned Support Engineer Workfront

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Mylah_DAuthor

Level 4

Thanks so much, Dustin! Lots of things for us to try out now. The "DE" information was rather clarifying. When you say " (Note, you have to have a separate sheet for each object, or WF doesn't know what you're doing.) ", Did you mean that one can't import data from a task-level custom form on the same sheet as the Project-level custom data? Or did you mean that, when using Kickstarts to import custom form data, one PROJ sheet can only contain custom data for a single unique project ID at a time (i.e. limit kickstarts to upload custom data for just one project at a time? Best,

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EXP_-_DustinMa

Level 8

Hi M.L. When you open the excel doc, you'll see several tabs across the bottom (at minimum 2, the object + preferences tabs.) These are the sheets I'm referring to. Excel limits the import to 50,000 rows (including the blank row at the top + the header row for each column, so 49,998 usable rows.) This means you'll see tabs across the bottom such as: PROJ project | TASK task | CTGY category and so-forth. The first 4 letters call to the the object code, the word is so you can tell what object it is. (Note: CTGY / Category = custom form.) This means that all your project data needs to be on the PROJ sheet. All your task data needs to be on the TASK sheet. When you are on the task sheet and want to reference the project, you'll have a column for "setProjectID". This is the "ID" column on the PROJ sheet. One big thing to remember is that Kick-starts don't update information, it can only create information. This means you can't update a custom form on a task or project for example, you can only create a new project with a new custom form. Best of luck! Dustin Martin Assigned Support Engineer Workfront

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Mylah_DAuthor

Level 4

Thanks, Doug. That confirms how we understood it over here. I just wanted to make sure there was no rule that for example, the ProjectID column on the PROJ tab could only contain a single identical ProjectID per upload. Best, M.L. M.L. de la Rosa Genentech

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