This getting started article will help clients and technicians to submit and process project request using the TDClient and TDNext interfaces. The user must have the permission to submit project requests and view the service catalog in TDClient as well as have TDNext access to the Portfolio Planning application.
Overview
Project requests are business cases that connect needs or problems of various stakeholders from your institution to strategic goals or directions. These items can be requested by those both with and without TDNext access to request projects for creation. The requestor (the person creating the project request) will fill out general project information as well as more specific project sections to form a project request, and then submit that request for approval by the project request's evaluator (the person responsible for approving or rejecting the project request). It is important to note that once a requestor has submitted a project request, they will no longer be able to edit it unless that project gets rejected and returned to the requestor.
Project requests must originate from the Client Portal. You may notice that there is an option to create a new project request in the Portfolio Planning application, but this option will redirect you to a Client Portal.
Features
- Creating and submitting project requests
- Managing and approving project requests
- Staffing approved requests to create a project
Where to Find This
Creating and submitting project requests
This feature appears in the TDClient interface through services for users with project needs to create project requests.
Navigate to create/submit requests by following these paths:
- TDClient > Services > [Project Request Service]
Alternatively, those with access to Portfolio Planning in TDNext can initiate project requests here:
- TDNext > Portfolio Planning > +New > Project Request
Managing and approving project requests
This feature appears in the TDNext interface for portfolio planners and subject matter experts to review, collaborate on and approve project requests.
Navigate to manage and approve requests by following this path:
- TDNext > Portfolio Planning > Project Requests
Staffing approved project requests to create a project
This feature appears in the TDNext interface for portfolio planners and subject matter experts to review, collaborate on and approve project requests.
Navigate to manage and approve requests by following this path:
- TDNext > Portfolio Planning > Project Requests
Where to Start
Starting the Project Request Process from the Client Portal
Client users and TDNext users can access a TeamDynamix Client Portal and navigate to the service catalog. By selecting a service that is tied to a project type, requestors will see any custom request form that has been created. After the required information is added, the request is submitted by the requestor.
Each section of the request must be marked as complete before the request can be submitted. Clicking the Save button on the initial form does not submit the request.
More information can be found in Submitting Project Requests
Project Request Approval Workflow
After the project request is assigned to the appropriate project request approval workflow, either by default or manually by the evaluator, it then goes through each step of the workflow.
After the project request has reached a terminal step in the workflow, it is either rejected or approved as follows:
- Rejected requests are retained in the system for reporting purposes.
- Approved requests then go into the existing pool of approved requests and can be found in the Portfolio Planning application.
More information can be found in Managing Project Requests.
Staffing an Approved Request and Turning it Into a Project
Once a project request has been approved, it can be staffed and turned into a project. Staffing is performed by any TeamDynamix user with the staff all project requests permission. Once the project request is staffed it is then a project, and is no longer accessed in the Portfolio Planning application, but now it can be found and managed in the Projects application.
Projects created through project requests may be set as inactive. As such, the user assigned as the new project's manager may need to enter their management console and activate the project. For instructions on activating an inactive project, see the Finding and Activating an Approved Project Request article.
To staff a project request:
- Navigate to TDNext > Portfolio Planning > Approved.
- If necessary, change the search criteria and click the Search button.
- Click the Name of the project request you’d like to staff.
- In the Request Explorer window, click the Actions button, then select Staff from the dropdown.
- Click the checkbox if you wish to have the resulting project to be active.
- If desired, change the Start Date and End Date for the project.
- Set the initial Status for the project.
- Set the initial Health for the project.
- If desired, assign the project to a Portfolio and/or Program by typing in the respective name or using the Lookup button.
- To apply a Project Template, click the project template Lookup button, by typing in the name of the template or using the Lookup button.
- Click the Next button.
The system allows you to staff one person into multiple roles, such as if someone is performing multiple job duties on a specific project. When you do this, it will have some effects on the project after it has been created. The following should be considered when you staff one person into multiple roles:
- If resource requests are normally sent for this user, a request will be sent for each role.
- Two resource records will exist for the person on the newly created project. Each one can have its own schedule.
- Tasks on the project must be assigned to a specific resource + functional role.
- Time entered by this resource must be applied to a specific functional role.
- If the project manager desires, they can merge the schedules for a resource staffed in this way on the Resources page of the project.
To add resources or a manager:
- Continuing from the project information page, the Resources page will display.
- For each Role listed, add a resource by clicking the Lookup button in the Person column and selecting a user.
- Make one resource the project manager by clicking the Manager radio button of the appropriate resource.
- If no role forecasts were added to this request, assign a manager using the Manager lookup.
- Click the Next button.
The project has now been created successfully.
Gotchas & Pitfalls
Remember that requests that have not been submitted can only be edited in the client portal. Once requests have been submitted, they can only be edited in TDNext > Portfolio Planning.