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Weekly Status via Last Condition Note

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Level 2
I want to get a short blurb by project from the Project Manager. My thought is to pull in the Last Condition Note and have PM's post it as an update but it will be wrong if the PM has to make another update. My second thought was to create a custom form but my concern is that I'll lose the historical status's as the PM will have to overwrite the status every week. Has anyone developed a way to give a weekly status blurb that is preserved in the system? Ryan Eide
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Level 10
Hi Ryan, Unless you use the API this might not help a whole lot, but it might spawn an idea or something. Essentially we use Issues (with a custom form) to hold the historical information. We use the API to take relevant data directly from the project plan (Deployment Date (attached to a Milestone), Target Date, Forecast, Budget etc. – sample attached) and place it into two forms (a Project Form they use to view and manage data, and an Issue form we use to keep the historical data). So the process goes like this: PM updates their project plan. PM goes to the Project Form to enter an Executive Summary (I tell them 3-5 bullets – keep it brief). Project form contains fields we populate from the plan. They don't have to enter anything else. When ready, in the same form the PM checks a box that will trigger the API API runs: Creates an Issue with a form virtually identical to the project form Moves data from the plan to the Issue form (dates, budget, etc.). Moves Exec Summary from the project form. Close the Issue (so they don't have unnecessary Issues in their Issue List). Move the data from the previous Status Issue to the Previous Status fields in the Project form i. This gives the PM a glance at previous and current fields directly in the project form (so they don't have to chase the previous Issue etc.) API generates an email to the PM with a Status table (attached). PM verifies the data in the email table and forwards to all Stakeholders. I've tried sending a link to a WF dashboard, links to the email table etc. But you'll be surprised how many people won't perform one simple click. So I found our best readership results happen when we put it directly in front of their face in an email. Hope this gives you some ideas. Current Status Previous Status Status Date 6/19/2019 6/10/2019 Project Health Yellow Yellow % Complete 37.27% 35.49% Target Imp Date 8/22/2019 8/22/2019 Current Project Plan Imp Date 11/19/2019 11/19/2019 Project Close Out Date 12/6/2019 12/6/2019 Total Budget $250,000.00 $250,000.00 Total Forecast $327,492.66 $327,351.02 Actuals to Date $57,371.08 $33,593.07 Executive Summary • NNSI Completed ordering materials. • Some materials received, more on it's way. • Change Order has been submitted to address the date shift. Waiting on Approval. Next Steps: • Approve Change Order • NNSI to begin Cat6A cable installs Vic Alejandro, MPM, PMP, CSM | IT Program Manager Denver Water | t: (303-628-7262) | c: (303-319-6473) http://www.denverwater.org INTEGRITY | VISION | PASSION | EXCELLENCE | RESPECT ------Original Message------ I want to get a short blurb by project from the Project Manager. My thought is to pull in the Last Condition Note and have PM's post it as an update but it will be wrong if the PM has to make another update. My second thought was to create a custom form but my concern is that I'll lose the historical status's as the PM will have to overwrite the status every week. Has anyone developed a way to give a weekly status blurb that is preserved in the system? Ryan Eide

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Level 1
Good day everyone. This is the exact issue my team is having. Would you be able to show or give me an sample of what your API looks like? Thanks Ronyelle Stallworth Securus

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Level 10
Hi Ryan, Bookending Vic's suggestion, I invite you to consider our API-less "https://store.atappstore.com/automatic-weekly-status-reporting/">Automatic Weekly Status Reporting technique (simple but effective), and at the other end of the shelf, our "https://store.atappstore.com/product/executive-status-report/">Executive Status Report solution (professional grade). Regards, Doug Doug Den Hoed - AtAppStore Got Skills? Lend a hand! https://community.workfront.com/participate/unanswered-threads

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Level 2
We have our PMs complete a status update weekly or monthly. They use the New Issue button to create an issue and fill out the attached custom form. Because it is a new issue, the history is retained in the system. Here's how we set that up. Project Template We created a project template that only has queue setup information on it. Some of the queue topics have custom forms, others we left as is. We use this not only for status updates, but also risks, questions, and decisions. Each project that needs to report this way has the template attached. Then when the New Issue button is used, status update is selected. Report attached to layout I created a report that pulls all the status updates (based on category ID) and then attached that report as a tab on the project layout. This allows anyone to see what's been reported on the project without having to scroll through the update feed. (The PPM Status tab is a dashboard containing several reports, including the most recent status update, risks, issues, questions, decisions, expenses, and baselines. That's probably a separate discussion.) I'm happy to chat over WebEx if you want to see more details/specifics. It was all out of the box functionality. Tami Johnson SAIF Corporation 503.373.8702

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Level 2

Hi Tami,

I wanted to see if you're still available to show how your team does weekly status reports? I've been playing with a way to export to PDF a custom form but it doesn't look right and has no colors that I can bring in so the report is very "vanilla." I also can get certain elements of our Word version of our weekly status report but because of cross-object limitations, I can bring in project info but not issue info kind of thing.

I've also tried a dashboard with several reports which shows me status but the system limitation of not being able export dashboards but that's the closest I've been able to get it.

Thanks,

Tim

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Level 2

Hi Tim, yes, I'd be happy to chat and show you what we do. Just shoot me some of your available times. I'm in PDT timezone.

tamjoh@saif.com

Tami

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Level 2
Thank you Vic, Doug, and Tami. Tami, that was exactly what I was looking for. Quick and easy initial implementation. Thank you as well for the meeting offer, I'll reach out if I run into any issues but I think I'll be able to get that done. Vic and Doug, that's a little more advanced than were we are at right now but thank you for sharing and it gives us some ideas to grow into. Thank you all again. Ryan Eide