Adobe Workfront + AEM — The common use cases

It’s time to connect the dots. And let Workfront do the hard yards.

Software should make life easier by speeding things up, automating tasks and reducing errors. Right? It’s amazing how often these fundamental benefits get lost between business case and implementation. At Ensemble, we help clients navigate the path from “expected” to “actual” software benefits by looking not only at the technology but also the current and future state processes as well as the user experience on the front line and back office.

Below are some commonly encountered use cases where the combination of Workfront and Adobe have made a big difference:

1. The fast turnaround case study — Finally! Time for Marketing Ops to shine

Always in the background, never in the spotlight! Finally, an opportunity for Marketing Ops to take centre stage. By automating tasks like project creation and creative submission to AEM Assets, our client was able to ensure the right steps were carried out in the right order. Human error and delays were reduced and confidence increased for all roles through visibility of resource usage and project progress.

Client: A B2B services company who present bespoke proposals to their clients for high value contracts

Challenge: Marketing support the client facing teams with highly customised, personalised marketing material which needs to set them apart in a competitive marketplace. When execution is slow, opportunities are missed, if mistakes are made, costs increase.

Outcome: Opportunities initiated in the CRM, are automatically pushed to Workfront with a unique ID. Based on different request templates the right people are involved at the right times, the priority feeds the resource plan and the workflow is managed automatically so deadlines are met. Content is automatically pushed with tags and IDs into AEM Assets using the Workfront connector to reduce lag and chances for human error. Management can get a quick snapshot at any moment of the work in the queue and the opportunities they relate to.

2. The compliance use case — Dot all the ‘i’s and cross all the ‘t’s

How do you make sure the must-have compliance tasks and approvals take place on time? Let Workfront take care of your critical processes by automating initiation steps (how), including the right people (who), approving and creating all audit and archive artefacts (what), and notifying when timescales are not met (when). Integrate upstream and downstream with your other key systems to control a smooth end-to-end experience (where).

Client: A product company operating in a heavily regulated environment in which all content must be checked for compliance periodically.

Challenge: Assets which live in AEM Assets have a shelf life and are used in several destinations served by AEM Sites. Assets must reviewed, potentially updated and approved ahead of time to prevent sites from presenting broken links, or worse, become non-compliant!

Outcome: AEM was configured to trigger Workfront workflows for both expiring assets and web pages which feature the soon-to-expire assets. The right people are included and a timescale is set through the Workfront request. Pre-defined project templates ensure steps are carried out according to the schedule and are flagged before risking site integrity or compliance. In addition, Workfront leverages AEM Assets to auto-archive old versions for the legally prescribed period. Now all expiring assets are actioned in good time before they can become non-compliant.

3. The (compulsory) pandemic use case — In a world of remote working… reporting is king

Even before remote work became compulsory, Workfront avoided the need for numerous update meetings, for the turn-up-at-the-your-desk-to-get-an-understanding-of-progress instances and for those ad-hoc “send me some words/stats for my (custom) report” requests. It also gave teams the power to learn from the past (how much effort and how long did it take?), understand where they are in the present (who is overloaded, who is free?) and plan for the future (capacity, priority and tradeoffs). In a remote work environment, this core functionality went from valuable to invaluable.

Client: A “typical” marketing team managing long term projects, ongoing campaigns and reactive, last-minute requests in parallel.

Challenge: Managing without getting in the way or burdening teams. Who is doing what and in what order? How can I see a global view of team-wide activities? Do the Creatives have all the info they need? Who needs to review and are they on it? Are there any blockers? How can I make resource assignments with confidence? And now we are all working from home….

Outcome: Different request types ensure appropriate information is gathered before a request becomes a project. A template approach ensures the projects and tasks include the correct people at the right time to keep things moving. All aspects of Review and Proofing happen within Workfront and all changes to assets are reflected in the DAM (AEM Assets) with metadata kept in sync. Holding all data on briefs, resourcing, reviews, dependencies and even priorities, structured and in one place makes it so much easier to put together meaningful reports and provide visibility for all stakeholders regardless of where they are. It also allows for continuous learning and improvement of the team.

So where/how do I start on this journey!

At Ensemble, we want to be your partner and guide you through the journey from expected to actual benefits. We advise you to start some of this right away. The earlier you start the better the data and results will be. We’ve done this before, we can help.

The first essential step is baselining…. In order to achieve the expected benefits in any area, you need to know where you stand today. Identify the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that matter most to you and then establish a 1–2 month measurement baseline. Make sure the KPIs map clearly to some critical business outcome, e.g. to acquire more leads or to reduce cost of compliance, and consider a target to aim for in the future.

The exercise of defining the KPIs themselves can be most insightful, as can discovering the current data which will be your benchmark. Once agreed upon and baselined, we can help to make sure expected improvements (and associated costs / time frame) are reasonable, identifying any additional benefits, and then commit to an implementation plan to realize the actual benefits.

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash.

By Ian Shaw and Remy Kozak. Contact us at sales1@ensemble.com.