This getting started article will help system administrators and project managers to create and manage Portfolio Planning Workflows using the TDAdmin interface. The user must have administrator permissions to access TDAdmin.
Overview
Portfolio Planning Workflows are used to stage submitted project requests through a series of steps in which they can be reviewed, evaluated, and approved or rejected. Workflow steps are created and defined in the Workflow Template section of Portfolio Planning (see this article for more information).
Submitted project requests can either be automatically assigned to a workflow via an automation rule or manually by opening the request in TDNext.
Where to Find This
This feature appears in the TDAdmin interface as part of Portfolio Planning.
Navigate to create/edit Portfolio Planning Workflows as follows:
- TDAdmin > Portfolio Planning > Workflows
Using Portfolio Planning Workflows
Creating a New Portfolio Planning Workflow
- To create a new workflow, click the +New button on the Portfolio Planning Workflows page. Each workflow must have a name and can optionally have a description.
- Name the workflow and click Save.
A new screen will display, in which you can:
- Edit the workflow’s general information.
- Add/configure workflow steps. Note that all previously created workflow steps in the Workflow Template will automatically be added to a new workflow, where they can be configured and activated as required for the particular workflow.
The following sections describe the configuration of workflows and workflow steps in detail.
Configuring Workflow Steps
When a new portfolio planning workflow has been created, all steps in the workflow template at that time will be automatically added to the workflow, in an inactive and unconfigured state. Users can determine which steps will be active in a particular workflow, and how the actions in those steps will be configured.
To configure a workflow step:
- In TDAdmin, navigate to Portfolio Planning > Workflows.
- Click the Name of the desired workflow.
- Click the Steps tab.
- Click Edit to configure the relevant step.
Workflow Step Options
The below fields can be used to customize what actions are available when a workflow step is active:
- Active – Whether the workflow step is active.
- Approve Request – Indicates if the project request can be approved at this step, i.e. a fast track that will skip all remaining steps and mark the request Request Approved.
- Reject Request – Indicates if the project request can be rejected at this step, i.e. a fast track that will skip all remaining steps and mark the request Request Declined.
- Return to Requestor – Whether the request can be sent back to the requestor during this step. If this action is available, the request will be marked Unsubmitted and sent back to the requestor to edit and/or provide more information through TDClient.
- Reject Step – Indicates if an approver can reject the workflow step.
- Forward – Whether the request can be forwarded during the step. This allows another user to access and contribute to this workflow step. The user to whom this project request is forwarded will have the same permissions on this project request as the reviewers/approvers do. Once this step is completed, that user will no longer have those permissions. Project requests can only be forwarded to another TeamDynamix user that has access to the Portfolio Planning application.
- Edit – Whether the request can be edited during the step. If this is disabled, required sections cannot be enforced for this step.
- Sections – When the Edit action is available, a Sections link will appear in the Sections column. Click on this link to see a list of project request sections that can be made editable and/or required. Select the appropriate sections and click Save.
- Assignments – The list of default reviewers/approvers for the workflow step.
- Assignment Options – The list of people who may be selected as reviewers/approvers for the step upon approval of the previous step.
Note: The Assignments and Assignment Options columns cannot both be blank because workflow steps require responsibility. If nothing is supplied for Assignments, then the approver is required to select an item from Options upon step approval. If there are no Assignment Options, then the approver cannot be changed. If both are provided, then the step has default responsibility that can optionally modified.
- Scorecard – Allows for a specific scorecard to be selected and associated with the workflow step.
Adding a Workflow Step
When a workflow is created, all current steps in the workflow template are automatically added to the workflow. If a particular workflow needs additional steps, or if steps were added to the template after the workflow was created that the user wishes to add to the workflow, this can be done as follows:
- In TDAdmin, navigate to Portfolio Planning > Workflows.
- Click the Name of the desired workflow.
- Click the Steps tab.
- Click the Add button on the toolbar and select both a Step and an Order.
The steps listed are those which have been added to the workflow template but have not yet been added to the workflow itself.
- Optionally select a Scorecard to be associated with the step.
- Click Save.
Editing the General Information of a Portfolio Planning Workflow
To edit a project request workflow:
- In TDAdmin, navigate to Portfolio Planning > Workflows.
- Click the Name of the desired workflow. The detail page will open to the General tab.
- To change the active status of a workflow, the Activate/Deactivate button in the toolbar can be used.
- Click the Edit button and modify the Name or Description of the workflow.
- Edit the Active status.
Note: In order for a workflow to be active:
- At least one step must be active.
- A Ready for Reporting step must be selected, and this step must also be active.
- At least one active step must allow Reject Request.
- At least one active step must allow Approve Request.
- Select the Ready for Reporting step to specify that requests using this workflow will be included in reports after the selected field has been completed. In many workflows, the Ready for Reporting step is first, so that when it advances to the second step, planning and other project management activities can start to take place.
- Click Save.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Why do workflow template steps work the way they do?
A. Each workflow template step creates a status for a project request. The same step may be used for several workflows, and you may want to report on all the project requests in a certain step across workflows. This is why template steps are created separately from workflows. However, once you have created the workflow, that workflow "locks in" the steps available when it was created, so the workflow won't be modified/changed after its creation.
Q. What does "Ready for Reporting" mean?
A. "Ready for Reporting" means that, after that workflow step, the project request should start showing up in the capacity planner and other parts of TeamDynamix. The idea is that the request now has "correct" information in it, and that information is whatever is needed for making a decision. The idea behind "Ready for Reporting" is that people should not make decisions about project requests before the request's information is accurate.