Showing Parent Tasks in a Report?

Robert Hawkey

Hello,

I'm building a task report to show all tasks in yellow or red. The issue I'm having is the tasks are named the same across multiple sections of the schedule, for example:

• Developmental Editing
  • Task 1
  • Task 2
  • Task3
• Copy Editing
  • Task 1
  • Task 2
  • Task 3

So my report ends up looking like I have duplicate tasks. Is it possible to include it's immediate parent task in the report as well? Note that these tasks are under several levels of parent tasks so I would like to only highlight their immediate parent. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Rob

Andrée Starå

Hi @Robert Hawkey

I hope you're well and safe!

You can add a so-called helper column with the following formula and include that in the report. (Change the column name to match yours)

=PARENT(ColumnNameWithWhatYouWantToShow@row)

Did that work/help?

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

Andrée Starå

@Robert Hawkey

Excellent!

You're more than welcome!

✅Remember! Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

Andrée Starå

Hi @Robert Hawkey

I hope you're well and safe!

You can add a so-called helper column with the following formula and include that in the report. (Change the column name to match yours)

=PARENT(ColumnNameWithWhatYouWantToShow@row)

Did that work/help?

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

Robert Hawkey

Hey @Andrée Starå

I'm getting an #UNPARSEABLE result from that formula. The column with the parent task information I want to pull is called "Task Name" so I put in =PARENT(Task Name@row) and it came back unparseable. I also tried =PARENT[Task Name]@row and it came back unparseable as well. I'm putting this formula into a column I've titled "Parent".

Andrée Starå

@Robert Hawkey

You were close.

Try this.

=PARENT([Task Name]@row)

Did that work?

Robert Hawkey

That worked! Thank you!

Andrée Starå

@Robert Hawkey

Excellent!

You're more than welcome!

✅Remember! Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

Christina Bayma

I tried this workaround with the formula added to a helper column then included the column as the grouping option in my report. Almost worked. 1: My honest opinion is that we shouldn't have to keep adding helper columns. This is a ridiculous add on to the work. Please make some enhancements to rectify this. 2: My report grouped the parent rows under a "Blank" grouping header rather than with their children or as standalone rows. I already had helper columns identifying parent and children using a COUNT formula to identify Ancestors/Parents =0.