Object Conversion Utility

A lot of times the way you want work to be represented in Workfront isn’t always the way Workfront sees it. Work does not always enter Workfront in the best form for completing the work. Moreover, receiving and completing work are two separate activities.

Workfront’s native functionality lets you convert a request to a project but what if you wanted your request to be a program in Workfront?

Aurotech’s Workfront Object conversion utility goes beyond the native options of object conversion and lets you convert issues, tasks, projects and programs to all higher objects. It also lets you convert ad hoc calendar items to projects, programs or portfolios

It lets you control how work gets worked upon regardless of how it’s initiated and in the process simplifies the user interactions with Workfront, reduces the number of clicks needed to get to the right form of work and automates the workflow as work evolves from one form to another.

Source	Possible Conversions
Source	Task	Project	Program	Portfolio
Issue	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Task		Yes	Yes	Yes
Ad Hoc Calendar Events		Yes	Yes	Yes
Project			Yes	Yes

So, now an end user can submit a request to a queue, and the PM or program manager receives it as a Project or Program. A user can add an Issue to a Task or select a specific custom data field on a Task, and that action will launch a new Project, introducing workflow for the first time in Workfront project plans.

Integration Features

Control and define dynamic rules that define which object gets converted to what
Familiar syntax for rules using Workfront’s text mode
Automate native object conversions – benefit or feature?
Escalate work automatically based on defined frequency
Ability to define associated attributes at the target object like custom form, templates, etc.
Association with program/portfolio, if applicable
Decision on what happens to originating work item
Owner assignment on the target object
Polling frequency – how often to check and initiate conversion

The Problem

The Solution

Using Workfront to submit requests is great, but not everyone in your organization gets it and not everyone raises similar requests – some want projects, some want campaigns to be represented as programs. Some use Workfront but others either email you their request or send you excel spreadsheets with the information. How can you standardize and simplify this process for your team?

Using Aurotech’s Object Conversion Utility you can simplify instructions to team on submitting work requests.

For example, everyone will send submit a request in Workfront and tag what object appropriately represents their work. As an Workfront admin, you will setup rules and conditions that look at the tag and a few other attributes to determine what each request should be converted to, at what frequency and what should the target work look like including assignments, custom data, etc.

Standardization will also minimize the need for training and reduce the risk of human errors.

It’s very difficult to do manual conversion of request to project when there are bulk requests that need to be converted say after approval.

Using the Object Conversion utility, you can configure rules that trigger when an object should be converted to another object and once its defined, the conversion happens automatically at the defined frequency once the condition is fulfilled.

There is no manual effort after the initial configuration.

Integration Preview

The rules, source and target objects, frequency, etc. are all defined in a middleware called Integration Hub. Integration Hub hosts configuration settings for all Aurotech Integration offerings. Below is the page for Object Conversion utility and its divided into Rules and Log tabs.

The Rules tab provides the ability to view the list of existing conversion rules and to add, edit and delete existing rules. The Execute button can be used to run the conversion manually in special cases instead of waiting for the next run

The Log area provides a comprehensive history of all transactions that have taken place so far and also search for specific ones

Adding New Rules: New rules can be added from the Rules tab using the Add New Rule button. In the new rule screen, you can define the source and target objects, the custom form to be applied, template to be attached, etc. depending on the objects you select. Threshold Conditions is where you specify the trigger for conversion to take place.

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