Workfront Configuration and Administration
Scope and hierarchy
Workfront administration is split between system-level Setup and group-level administration. System administrators configure global defaults in Setup: company info, customer preferences, schedules, timesheet and expense profiles, job roles, approval processes, and layout templates. Groups carry their own administrators, statuses, teams, and sometimes their own layout templates and schedules. A frequent exam trap is confusing system settings with group settings: a group administrator can manage members and group-specific configuration but cannot change global customer preferences or create system-wide access levels.
Objects that drive behavior
Know how business units are represented: companies are financial/legal entities, groups are organizational units used for sharing and administration, teams are working units for work assignment, and job roles describe skills used in resource planning and assignments. Layout templates control what users see in the UI; access levels control what they can do; sharing controls which specific objects they can reach. These are independent controls, and a user needs all three to succeed.
Worked rule of thumb
When a request asks where to configure something, ask: does it apply to everyone or to one group? If everyone, use Setup > System or Setup > Preferences. If one group, check group settings and group-level layout templates. If it is about what a person can see on a specific project, check sharing, not Setup. Remember that changing a layout template does not grant access, and granting access does not add fields to a layout.