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Get started planning a project

The video provides guidance on how to effectively plan a project in Workfront. 鈥 It emphasizes the importance of laying a solid foundation to ensure the project finishes on time and is successful. 鈥 Key steps include understanding five critical fields: Tasks, Assignments, Durations, Planned Hours, and Predecessors. 鈥 These fields enable quick and accurate adjustments to the project plan. 鈥

The video highlights the importance of realistic timelines, team availability, and accurate planning to create a strong foundation for project success. 鈥

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Transcript
As the Project Manager, you want to make sure you have the right plan laid out so your project can finish on time and be successful. A basic framework with steps and a timeline may already be built, especially if the project was created with a template. But changes may be needed for your specific project, such as setting a specific start or completion date, adding a new step, deleting a phase that won鈥檛 be needed, or adjusting the amount of time the project will take. In order to make these changes, you need to understand the different components of the project and how they work together. As you start planning projects in Workfront, put your focus first on five key pieces of information. One, Tasks. Two, Assignments. Three, Durations. Four, Planned Hours. And five, Predecessors. Understanding these five fields allows you to make quick, accurate changes to your project, which gets your project off the ground quickly and with a good foundation. It also allows you to make efficient, effective changes to the project while it鈥檚 live. In addition to these five fields, your organization may have additional requirements to fulfill during project planning, such as filling out a custom form or setting milestones. Make sure the project status is set to Planning before you start making changes to your project plan. The project status does two main things in Workfront. One, lets everyone know what stage of development the project is in. Two, tells Workfront when to send out notifications and when not to send them. Workfront can be configured to send in-app and email notifications when a variety of actions take place. A task is assigned, a due date is changed, etc., while the project is in the current status. The Planning project status keeps Workfront from spamming your project team as you鈥檙e adjusting the project plan. Check the project status in the header or in the project detail. Make sure you can see the information that you want to focus on. Tasks, duration, planned hours, predecessors, and assignments when you鈥檙e looking at the task list. Select a view that shows that information, such as the standard view. This is Workfront鈥檚 default view for a project task list and is a great starting point. Some organizations create customized views to use when planning projects. Finally, make sure that the start or completion date for your project is accurate. This affects your timeline planning. More importantly, make sure the project start date is realistic. For example, don鈥檛 set the start date for the Saturday of a three-day weekend. That鈥檚 not a realistic start date. And, as a part of your planning, ensure the project team has the availability to start the project on the desired date. If not, explore moving the project start date or pulling in additional people to work on the project. To set the start date of your project, go to Edit, then scroll to the Project Dates area. Make sure the Schedule mode is set to Start Date. Then you can edit the planned start date field. The planned completion date will be calculated by Workfront based on the tasks in your task list, their durations, and predecessors. By scheduling from a start date, Workfront will calculate the planned start dates and planned completion dates for your tasks so they can complete as soon as possible after the start date you set. The other Schedule mode option is Completion Date. When you choose this option, you can edit the planned completion date. The planned start date will then be calculated by Workfront based on the tasks in your task list, their durations, and predecessors. By scheduling from a completion date, Workfront will calculate the planned start dates and the planned completion dates for your tasks so they can complete as late as possible and hit your planned completion date. In either mode, Workfront will recalculate the calculated date when you add or delete tasks or change durations or predecessors. Taking time to accurately plan your project lays a good foundation for all the work to come.

Key takeaways

  • Focus on Five Key Fields: Understand Tasks, Assignments, Durations, Planned Hours, and Predecessors to make efficient and accurate changes to your project plan. 鈥
  • Set Project Status to 鈥淧lanning鈥: Ensure the project status is set to 鈥淧lanning鈥 to prevent unnecessary notifications while adjusting the plan. 鈥
  • Use Appropriate Views: Utilize the standard view or customized views to focus on essential project details like tasks, durations, and assignments. 鈥
  • Choose a Realistic Start Date: Set a practical start date that aligns with team availability and avoids unrealistic scenarios, such as holidays or weekends. 鈥
  • Leverage Scheduling Modes: Use 鈥淪tart Date鈥 mode to calculate the completion date or 鈥淐ompletion Date鈥 mode to calculate the start date, ensuring the timeline aligns with project requirements. 鈥
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