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Planview Customer Success Center

Requests End-To-End Webinar Q&As - December 4, 2019

Question Answer
What do the colors mean next to the requests on the cards? If the Group By field is a lookup list your admin has configured to use a different color for each list option, then that color is used on each card in the lane that corresponds to the list item. Otherwise, it's a system-generated color used to differentiate the lanes (for example, when you Group by Gate Status, which is not a list that can be configured with colors).
So the dagger was replaced by the double asterisk? Yes, a few customers expressed concern that the "dagger" icon might be offensive to some users, even though it is a standard footnote icon. Instead we are using 2 asterisks (**) to identify a field that is required to have a valid value in order to submit the request.
On the Requests screen, in the Show field, can there be a "All" option that can toggle all or none instead of checking each option? That is a great idea, please enter an enhancement request!
Can send back to prior gates, but will there be an option to send back to the originator/creator? Currently the approver has to put on hold and send email notice to the originator/creator.

There is no option to send directly back to the requester as there might be information on the request from a later gate that would not be appropriate for the request to see and would cause the request to go through the workflow from the start/initial gate.

The recommended approach is to place the request On Hold, writing a note and selecting to Notify the requester on the On Hold confirmation modal, and within that note telling the requester what you are looking for and asking them to place the request Back in Progress when they are done. When the requester places the request Back in Progress, it will return to the same gate it was previously at and go through approval process again at that gate, including notifications to the gate approvers as appropriate.

Can the activity log or a status listing be exported to reports? Want to see about creating a report that shows how long requests are sitting at each gate to see if there are bottle necks. In 2020 we will be rolling out our new reporting module, which will support additional reporting on request analytics, such as how long requests tend to stay at a gate, how long an approver typically takes at a gate, and so on. In the meantime, we have provided several fields that can track the overall progress of a request: Cumulative Gate Time, Cumulative Hold Time, and Current Hold Time. See Requests: Out-of-the-Box Fields for definitions.
Returning requests back multiple gates is frequently requested. Is this something that is on the roadmap? If not, is it possible to add it? If we understand the question correctly, you want to send a request back to a gate that is not the directly predecessor of the current gate? You can currently send a request back to any gate the request has previously gone through. So if your request has 4 gates, and the request has traveled through gates 1-3, you can send the request back to gates 3, 2, or 1.
Can you copy fields from one entity to another? No, for example you cannot copy an Available Field from requests to an Available Field on projects. You will have to create each field separately.
Does mapping work for user defined fields as well? Yes, you can map UDFs from a request to an associated entity, provided the fields are the same type (for example, if the request field is a money field then the corresponding associated entity field must also be a money field).
Does the global permission supercede the local? A global permission means that it is applied to every instance of an entity. For example, permission to View all requests. So in that sense, if you have given a user/group/unit a team profile that gives the ability view a specific instance of a request, and then you give the same users a global profile to view all requests, then they will be able to view all requests. Permission profiles are additive.
Can you associate requests to each other? The use case behind this if 2 separate people submit a similar request. I'd like to reject one and associate it to the other one. You currently cannot associate a request with another request. We do plan to look into expanding associations in the future.
I noticed that in the new requests we are limited to 200 characters for the request description.  We weren't limited in the legacy requests.  Is this intended? This limitation has been resolved in the December release with the Description field size enlarged to 4000 characters, consistent with other entity Description fields.
Can you clarify whether or not a request can be associated with an existing project?  Looking to have the requester select the project from a drop-down of existing projects. Yes, requests can be associated with existing projects. In the Association tab on your request (make sure one is configured for project) use the Add button to bring up a list of projects to choose from.
Can you create a task while a request is still active in the workflow ? Yes, you can associate an entity at any gate, provided the Associations section is enabled.
Is the confirmation pop-up after selecting "submit", optional/configurable? No. Curious what your use case is for changing this text :)
If I turn on Allow request to be sent back to any gate, Can I limit who is allowed to send request back to any gate? No, that is a setting on the category, there is not way to limit that action to certain users.
Is there a way to put a request on hold, have the originator make changes and then re-start the process again at gate 1? I want to make sure each gate approver is able to see the updates/changes. No, there is no way to specify a different place to put a request back In Progress. If we really need the request to flow from Gate 1 again, we suggest rejecting the request to take it out of the workflow, make a copy, and submit.
Can I report on the criteria selected in scoring as it relates to a particular request? Do I need to wait for the new reporting? I like the example of the chart with the colors based on selected scoring criteria values found at: https://success.planview.com/Planvie...Business_Value under Manage Workflow You can currently report on basic scoring information, Bubble chart support for scoring criteria (like the image in Manage Workflow) will come with the new reports.
If the data changes in a request gate, will the new data be used with the Gate Skipping logic? Yes. When all approvals needed to move to the next gate are complete, the gate skipping logic is invoked and current field values are evaluated as needed.
Can we allow rejected requests to be placed back to previous gate or back in process? Just wondering why rejected requests do not have this option. No, once a request is rejected it cannot re-enter the workflow. You can, however, make a copy of the rejected request (including the content of its various sections) and submit it. The main reason we "freeze" the request after rejection is for governance and historical tracking. 
What is the end result of mapping fields between requests and another entity, such as projects.  Is the data copied from one to the other?  If so, which is the source and which is the target? If you are in a request and map request fields to, say, project fields, then the request field is the source and the project field is the target - the request field data can optionally be copied into the project field when creating a project from within the request and at any time for its associated projects.