Workfront - Review 2022 - Miller Ellow1983

Workfront, formerly AtTask, is a high-end project management application that also tackles work direction more generally. Information technology's designed for enterprise-size organizations, rather than small businesses. This online system enables employees to manage tasks, track the progress of projects, balance resources, sentinel budgets, and even review and approve work. Workfront looks formal and businessy, and it is. It's expert at managing very large workloads. If that doesn't describe your business, Workfront probably delivers more than than you need.

For smaller organizations, particularly those with a flat org chart and ethos of openness and visibility, I recommend instead looking at collaboration tools that are less rigid, such every bit Editors' Selection Asana. Another very skillful pick that lies somewhere betwixt Asana and Workfront is Editors' Choice Podio, which is also suitable for businesses ranging from the pocket-sized to the large. For enterprises, LiquidPlanner remains the Editors' Selection, although on average it's more expensive than Workfront, depending on the setup and customization needed.

Pricing and Plans

Workfront doesn't list prices on its website because, like many enterprise tools, the cost varies based on each organization'due south setup and installation. I asked a visitor representative to share some ballpark figures of how much a typical organization can expect to pay.

"Pricing starts at about $xxx per user per month," my contact explained. "Prices depend on the type of users/permission level granted to different people in the account. Workfront is bachelor in iv parcel tiers, depending on how sophisticated a client'southward work management needs are."

Y'all can request a free trial of the tool to requite it a spin, merely information technology requires filling out a form and having Workfront contact you to gear up it upward.

It's difficult to compare Workfront's estimated cost to that of other enterprise-grade apps because not many of them charge flat rates. LiquidPlanner is one of but a few that does brand its prices known. LiquidPlanner, an Editors' Option that rivals Workfront in sophistication, charges $69 per person per calendar month for its Enterprise business relationship.

Nosotros can expect to other similar services to get a crude idea of prices, however. For case, Podio Premium, the highest tier of service before the Enterprise account, charges $24 per person per month. Trello, a popular kanban app that doesn't exercise nearly every bit much as Workfront but which shares a few similarities, charges an estimated $20.83 per person per month (when paid annually) for its Enterprise account.

Workfront Overview

Workfront initially came nearly as a projection management application. Information technology all the same is rooted in projection management, merely information technology has boosted functionality that extends its capabilities beyond simply managing projects and the tasks they comprise. For instance, information technology includes a proofing organization for uploading, reviewing, and approving documents and media files. Merely a few project direction applications include these types of tools.

Every bit an enterprise-class projection management and work management tool, Workfront also reports on several big-pic aspects of managing very big teams. For example, its resource management tools let project leads and managers to see whether certain team members are overloaded with work, also as which employees accept room in their schedules to take on more work. Many project management applications that are designed for smaller businesses don't provide these kinds of insights considering they aren't necessary.

Although I maintain that Workfront suits large enterprises best, representatives from company have told me that their smallest customers accept only xx to 30 team members. In other words, it is possible for pocket-sized businesses to apply the product. It'southward also worth pointing out that at that place are more than flexible tools that meliorate cater to the needs of pocket-size businesses.

I mentioned Asana and Podio earlier, and I want to point out how they differ from Workfront in their basic ideology. Both Podio and Asana permit the account holder and team members to mold the tool to their specific needs. With Asana, you determine how to use the tool. Sometimes I liken Asana to a deck of cards. You decide what game to play and what the rules are. That'south quite dissimilar from having a board game that comes with a set of rules that you're supposed to follow, which is closer to what you get with Workfront.

Podio is dissimilar, but it'due south still very nimble. Podio offers you a suite of apps for different functions, such as business development, sales and CRM, PR and communication, and software development. At any fourth dimension, yous tin completely change what's in your Podio account by adding or subtracting apps. That's not at all what you become with Workfront, which is built to your customized needs in advance.

Testing the Service

Considering Workfront is meant to handle extremely large teams managing hundreds of projects, it's difficult to create a mock account to test the service. Therefore, I had Workfront requite me admission to a dummy account that came pre-populated with data. I logged into this dummy account using five different profiles, that of a business partner, projection manager, squad fellow member, executive, and story possessor (a term used in Scrum piece of work methodology). These roles are non necessarily what y'all'll detect in every Workfront business relationship, equally roles can be customized, but they illustrate what is possible.

As mentioned, every person using Workfront must be assigned a role in society to receive the correct permissions levels. Unlike many other business concern collaboration tools, Workfront presents a unique interface to each user depending on his or her permissions. A somewhat new feature in Workfront is the power to assign more than one role to a person, seeing as employees sometimes end upwards wearing different hats. It's also possible in Workfront to indicate how much fourth dimension someone spends in their differing roles so that the organization (and everyone using it) has a clear and accurate representation of each person as a resource. This information comes in handy with resource- and capacity-planning tools.

When signed in as a business partner, for example, I could easily see a Client Dashboard, and I had tools for making and checking in on requests. When signed in as the projection manager, however, I saw a lot more detail that wasn't visible to the business partner, such as timesheets.

Depending on the user'southward role, she can create projects, create tasks, assign tasks, edit details, enter estimates for budgets, so forth. Workfront is highly customizable.

Features

It'due south easiest to see customization in activity in the dashboards surface area. Y'all can create dashboards that show any modules, graphs, or other data y'all choose.

In Workfront, every project tin can have a score based on an intake form filled out by the person requesting the project. Workfront automatically ranks projects based on their scores to give the project managing director a hand at prioritizing piece of work.

All the usual features for projection management are in Workfront, from a calendar populated with due dates to a team view, so you can encounter simply how heavy or light each member's workload is. Similar to LiquidPlanner, Workfront has tools for helping to rebalance workloads automatically when certain team members go overloaded or unexpectedly take leave. Timesheets are included, too, but not a timer that y'all can launch to automatically track time spent on that job, which LiquidPlanner has.

Like most project direction platforms, Workfront lets you lot upload files, but it goes a few steps further by offering version control and bank check in/out functionality. Proofing tools come included also. A new HTML5 proofing viewer lets you view files without switching to another app, and and so search their text and marker them upwards so that you can provide feedback to your collaborators quickly and hands.

If you view any person'south profile in Workfront, you lot tin run into updates, what the person is working on, requests on his plate, accomplishments, and more. Amongst the updates, you tin also meet the total discussions that have taken place.

While Workfront has appropriate tools for hosting team discussions and conversations (and saving those discussions for future reference), it does not have a built-in chat app, which some teams may want. Seeing as team conversation has become integral to modernistic work environments, it makes sense to offering it inside the same app being used for other primary business organization functions. Many project management and workplace collaboration apps—Podio, Zoho Projects, Volerro, Clarizen, ProofHub—have integrated conversation.

Workfront has plenty of other functionality and features, which you tin can explore on the company's site. A few additional ones worth mentioning are Gantt charts, resource management tools, request management tools, utilization reports (which show budgeted, planned, and actual hours spent on projects), and a kanban board view.

Apps and Integrations

Workfront has iPhone and Android apps to aid proceed squad members continued no matter where they are. From the mobile app, y'all can keep up to date on the progress of work, also as time tracking, asking submission, and approvals.

Workfront offers an open API, so that organizations can connect to other tools that they already use. Contempo developments take made information technology easier for teams to connect with Slack, Microsoft Office 365, Adobe Creative Cloud, and other business services.

Enterprise-Grade Work Direction

With tools that support both project direction and work direction, Workfront is designed for big businesses that demand a lot of formal structure in their workflows. Smart tools for managing resources and planning work are complemented by permissions levels that help encounter the needs of a wide variety of employees.

Smaller businesses that value transparency and greater flexibility may find that a more than nimble workflow management tool, such every bit Asana, improve fits their needs. Podio is another splendid pick for those want an online piece of work hub that offers more than just work direction features. Finally, LiquidPlanner is another excellent high-end choice for enterprises. All iii—Asana, Podio, and LiquidPlanner—are Editors' Choices.