Consolidated Reporting: A Window to the Possible

Reports and Dashboards Are Used Wrong

Many Workfront users never see it done the right way, but who can blame them? Traditionally, reports are dull tables of data, dropped into an inbox or on a desk every Friday for a manager to sift through and look for opportunities for action. While viable (it worked for decades), it doesn't mean in the modern working team it is what anyone *should* be spending their time on. There is a better way to use reports and turn them into a stream of active information passed between users and teams.

Workfront has a fantastic hidden capability that users interact with every single day, but hardly ever use outside of the vanilla configuration out of the box. When you're updating your tasks statuses, you're doing it, potentially without even knowing it! The secret? Inline editing. What is inline editing? Inline editing is the ability for users to move across multiple instances of data, within an object (Project, Task, Issue, etc.) and make multiple updates to that object within a single place.

Save Clicks, Save Time, Save Sanity!

The more users have to click around in a tool to do their job, the less users will use the tool to do their job. Workfront is supposed to be a catalyst for user to gain more out of each task they complete in Workfront. For every report, putting the highest number of interactions per user, per page should be the goal. Users can complete a large majority of their daily work without ever looking at a single project page in Workfront.

Don't make the mistake of forcing users to "update" each project, in the project, and in the project details section. You can put everything they need to keep track of their project and give their managers everything they need to see in a single spot. Create consolidated reporting that utilizes inline updating to make status and progression reporting a breeze.

Check Your Plans Before Building

One of the most meaningful pieces of planning users can complete when assessing their Workfront instance is where their data sits. We're talking about at what object level (where Workfront's brain thinks the data belongs) do you store your important project information? In order to enable inline editing across reporting, the setup or redesign of your Workfront instance will need to be methodical. Think about where the data you want quick reporting access to will need to be stored, when it will be available, and how it needs to be referred to while in flight.

Once you establish when and where the data should be stored, create your custom forms and custom fields to store the information at that object level and enable your users to enter in tens or hundreds of records of data within minutes, while feeding pertinent status and key metadata to all stakeholders that need access to the information automatically.

Contact Us

Ready to transform your Workfront experience? Email info@smart-forge.net to schedule a consultation with John Mitchell, owner of SmartForge, and take the first step toward a smarter system.