Setting Your Workfront Instance Up for Success with S.M.A.R.T. Goals

When designing a new Workfront instance or revamping an existing one, success begins with clarity. One key to achieving this clarity is limiting your initial configuration goals to three core items. Keeping the scope manageable ensures your implementation team can deliver value quickly and effectively.

Select No More Than Three Core Goals

By narrowing your priorities, you can avoid overwhelming users and maintain focus on what matters most. Here are examples of impactful early goals:

• Bringing Visibility to Core KPIs: Use Workfront's dashboards and reporting tools to surface metrics that drive decision-making, such as project completion rates, budget variance, or team capacity.

• Increasing User Engagement: For existing instances, prioritize training and workflows that make Workfront indispensable to daily operations. Highlight time-saving features like automated task assignments or streamlined approvals.

• Understanding "Time to Live" for Projects: Create calculated fields and reports to track how long projects truly take from inception to delivery, identifying bottlenecks and opportunities for process improvement.

  
  

Focusing on goals like these ensures a strong foundation for your Workfront system and keeps your team motivated with tangible, early wins.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals: The Key to Sustainable Success

Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound—this framework ensures your Workfront configuration aligns with your organization’s needs while avoiding common pitfalls. Regardless of your goals, ensure they align with this framework:

Specific

Define clear objectives for your Workfront instance. Are you aiming to improve project visibility, standardize workflows, or simplify resource management? Pinpointing specific goals allows you to configure Workfront features and settings to achieve precise outcomes.

Measurable

Establish metrics to evaluate success. For example, track improvements in project turnaround time, reduce approval bottlenecks, or measure user adoption rates. Workfront's robust reporting tools make tracking these KPIs straightforward, ensuring you stay on target.

Achievable

Set realistic expectations based on your team's resources, technical expertise, and timeline. While Workfront offers powerful capabilities, trying to implement too many features at once can overwhelm users. Prioritize achievable milestones to build momentum.

Relevant

Align your configuration with your organization’s strategic objectives. Avoid setting up unnecessary features that don’t contribute to your goals. Every setting, custom field, and dashboard should serve a purpose tied to your team’s success.

Time-bound

Assign deadlines to your goals. Whether you’re launching a new instance or refining an old one, having a clear timeline keeps the project on track. Regular milestones also help you assess progress and make adjustments as needed.

Conclusion

Adopting the S.M.A.R.T. approach when designing or rebuilding a Workfront instance ensures you get the most value out of the platform. By setting clear objectives, measuring progress, and aligning configurations with business priorities, your organization will gain a system that drives efficiency and results.

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.