AdaptiveWork Solution Tips

Can it be done?

Solution usually consists of 3 parts:

• Capture the data
• Process/Store the data
• Present the data

A combination of features & configurations may be needed to find a solution.

Example

• Customer wants to find out the numbers of dates between contract signed and project starts.
• Possible solution:
  • Data to Capture
    • Date the project starts (standard field Actual Start Date)
    • Date the contract Signed (custom field is needed)
    • Number of dates between the above 2 (custom field is needed)
  • Data to Process
    • Capture Actual Start Date.  i.e. when the project marked as active (Workflow rule is used to set the field)
    • Calculate the numbers of dates between the #1 and #2 (Either use formula field for the #3 or Workflow rule to handle the calculation.)
  • Present the Data
    • Modify the view to show #3 
       

Levels of Complexity

Finding a solution can be challenging, especially in a dynamic tool.  It requires different level of knowledge/experience in product, use cases and technology and can be challenging.

Below is one way to look at the complexity 

1. Product feature only
   • Requirement can be fulfilled by a product feature.
   • Examples
     • Expenses requires approval (Expenses System Setting)
     • Deliverable List for Tasks (Use Action Items to module the Deliverables)
     • Users can only see what is related to them (Use Enhanced Permission, instead of Basic)
2. Visualization changes only
   • This is same as product feature but requires configuration to change UI.
   • Examples
     • Displaying hidden columns in views
     • Add filters in modular views
     • Create object layouts based on data in the object
3. Single configuration
   • Requirement can be achieved by simple configurations
   • Examples
     • Custom calculation based on fields from the same object.
     • Send email on an event (e.g. Project creation) (Workflow rule)
     • Cannot submit time entry for 10 days ago (Validation rule)
     • Voting for Requests (Like only) (Create custom action to Like a request.)
     • Associate the PO number for each Project
       • Custom field on Project to store PO number
       • Update view or property card to show the POs for Projects.
4. Multiple configurations
   • More than one configuration (with different types) items are needed.
   • Example
     • Associate PO (with meta data) for Project
     • Custom Object to represent the PO with custom fields for the meta data
     • If 1 PO to 1 Project only, create a custom field on PO to represent the association.
     • If n PO to n Project, create a custom object link between PO and Project.
     • Update view or property card for POs.
     • Update relation for Profiles to show POs.
5. Advanced configurations
   • Multiple complex configurations are needed.
   • Meta data and UI customization may be needed to ensure the implementation works as expected.
   • Examples
     • Voting for Requests (Both Like/Dislike)
       • Need to store votes for both like and dislike
       • Custom action to toggle between like/dislike/no vote
     • Project must be created with a PO of the same customer.
       • Custom action to create a project
       • Can we use standard UI operations instead of custom action?
       • Can customer associate to PO/Project changes?
       • Can user remove a PO from Project?
     • Multiple use cases work in the one Demo Gold
     • Pro Forma process
     • Approval Framework in Demo Gold
6. Multiple technology involved
   • More than 1 technology or plugins (besides AW Configuration) will be used to implement the flow.
   • Examples
     • Voting for Requests (Both Like/Dislike)
       • Custom panel to hide the complexity to toggle between like/disklike/no vote
     • SF integration using Tasktop Hub
       • Tasktop Hub to trigger project creation in AW.
       • Customization to create shadow project based on template and move the child items.
       • Scheduled workflow rule to delete the shadow projects.           

Example

• Same requirement may be resolved by multiple solutions with different complexities.
• Depending on the details and trade offs
• Leverage between effort to build and benefits in demo.

Requirements

• Multiple resources will be assigned to tasks.
• Each resource can have different cost rate.
• We want to get the total actual cost of the tasks and roll up to Project.
• Actual cost are calculated from cost rate times actual work.

Solutions

• Solution 1 (OOTB)
  • Resources submit timesheets which will sum up in actual effort and cost of each timesheet will be summed up in task/project.
• Solution 2 (OOTB)
  • Project Manager to type in the actual effort. (i.e. no timesheet)
  • The actual effort updated on task level will be proportionally divided among the resources and actual costs of individual resources will be calculated and be summed up in task level.
• Solution 3 (Single configurations with specific modelling)
  • No timesheet and individual resources report actual effort separately. (i.e. not in proportion with the total work.)
  • Each task can have 1 resource.  If a task has more than 1 resources, create duplicate tasks each resources.
  • PM will update the actual effort of each Resource Task.
  • Validation rule to prevent more than 1 resource per task.
• Solution 4 (Multiple configurations)
  • No timesheet and individual resources report actual effort separately. (i.e. not in proportion with the total work.)
  • Duplicated tasks make the WBS too messy.
  • Custom action per task resource to update the “Actual Effort” by entering the increment.
  • The custom action will create timesheet(s) for the resource. Hence the actual effort/cost will be calculated.
  • Limitation:  Each timesheet cannot be over 24 hours. 
  • More complex solution may be needed if actual effort increment is more than 24 hours.
  • More customization will be needed if we need to allow the actual effort to go backward.
     

More examples of customization

• More complex will have more questions and take more time to build.
• Less complex does NOT mean it is less effort.

Error in Dashboards under Favorites

If you found the above error in those Dashboards under the Favorites folder even you logged in as Administrator (i.e. the user has Administrator privilege enabled.  User has Admin profile does not mean the user is admin.), you can try the following steps.  It may fix your issue:

1. Open up the dashboard in trouble in Edit mode.
2. Modify the dashboard by adding a panel to it.  You can use any report for the new panel.  The newly added panel will not affect the data of other panels.  If the report you choose has filter, you need to take care of that in your dashboard too.
3. "Save and Run" the dashboard with new panel.
4. If the dashboard can display successfully, you can go back to Edit mode and remove that newly added panel.
5. If the error persists, you will need Customer Care/Support or Dev to investigate.  You can log a ticket directly for them.

Project logs/registers using custom object

The project fields always capture the latest status/data of the project.  If there are requirements to capture the historical ones.  There are a few choices: Project baseline (You can only have 1 baseline) Project version snapshot (You can create a lot of version but it can be too heavy duty for some simple cases) Use custom object for Project logs/registers/status You can create a custom object entity called Project Status which can be associated with a project.  Users can create a Project Status object on demand (through Add Relation button or custom action) and fill in the needed info (e.g. Current Status, Accomplishments, Next Step, etc) You can display the project logs/registers/status as a relation table on the project.

Custom approval process for time entries

• There have been requirements that customer would like to have a time entry approval process other than the one in the product.  However, the time entry approval process in cannot be customized. 
• In order to achieve the customized time entry approval process, we can create a custom object (timesheet approval) as a container for the time entries under approval.  We can build the custom approval process on the container.
• The approval process will be approving the Timesheet Approval custom object itself.  When it is approved, it will automatically approve the included time entries.

Document Publisher report with images

There are cases customer would like to associate an image to their items (e.g. image of the project, a picture of the defect, etc) and generate a report with it, like the one on the right hand side. This can be achieved by using configuration and Document Publisher (NOT Slide Publisher) The implementation can be complex for those who are not technically savvy,  If you need this for your demo, the best is to submit an SC Request.