Workflows · 3 of 10

From brief to approved asset

Creative teams lose time in two places: chasing the brief that should have come with the request, and chasing the reviewer who should have answered by now.

In plain terms

A form captures a complete brief and starts the project for each format automatically. Production and review happen in Workfront, and the approved asset comes out the other end still labeled with the campaign, brand, and market it belongs to.

Three systems, one flow

This workflow crosses three systems, and the build works when each does only its own job. Planning holds the brief and its labels. Workfront Workflow holds the production, the versions, the review, and the approval decision. AEM Assets — Adobe’s digital asset manager, when you have it — holds the approved file.

Press Play to follow a brief through, or switch to Without AEM to see where the asset ends up when there is no AEM license.

Figure 1. Brief to approved asset. Blue is Planning, gold is Workfront Workflow, grey is outside both — here, AEM Assets.

The whole flow

Press Play, or select any box in the diagram, to follow a brief one step at a time.

What the brief needs

Build the request form on the Deliverables record type, so the brief and the record are the same thing. These are the fields that let production start without a follow-up email.

Brief field checklist

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AudienceconnectionTo an Audiences record type. A brief with no audience goes back to the requester.
ChannelconnectionWhere it runs. Drives specifications and, often, the project template.
MessageparagraphWhat it has to say, in the requester’s words.
Formatsmulti-selectWith a multi-select, the automation can create one Workfront project per format chosen.
MarketconnectionAlso required: a brief with no market goes back too.
Needed bydatePaired with a second date field, it also puts the deliverable on a timeline.
BrandconnectionTravels with the approved asset into AEM, so the file stays findable by brand.

Setting it up

Build the request form on Deliverables with the fields above, and conditional fields by deliverable type.
Prepare one Workfront project template per deliverable type — email, social, print — with the review steps built in.
Add the automation: on submission or acceptance, create the connected Workfront project from the matching template, one project per format if the form uses a multi-select and the automation is set to create one project per choice.
Run review as Workfront proofing. Documents live on the project; proofs carry annotated, multi-round feedback; approvals record a timestamped decision. External reviewers take part as proof reviewers, not as Planning users.
Connect the approved asset. With AEM Assets, connect the Deliverable to the AEM file, so campaign, brand, audience, and market metadata travel with it into the content supply chain. Without AEM, the asset stays in Workfront Documents and the Deliverable carries the status and the link.

A status is not a review. Do not build a review workflow out of Planning fields. A single-select that says “In review” with no proof behind it records an opinion about where the work is — not who reviewed what, which version, or when.

Planning is not where files live. Planning has no attachment field, and record cover images are for recognition in table and timeline views, not storage. Approved assets go to AEM Assets, Workfront Documents, or the DAM you already run.

Keeping production moving

A daily or weekly pass over the production view:

Pull Deliverables in production statuses and bring in each connected project’s health.
Return incomplete briefs — no audience, no market, no needed-by date.
Surface stuck work: in review beyond the service-level agreement, a proof with no reviewer activity, a project overdue.
Rebalance by proposing reassignments against current load.

# A production pass

12 new briefs processed
  9 projects created from templates (email 4, social 3, print 2)
  2 returned — missing audience and market
  1 escalated P0 — executive offsite materials, needed in 4 days

Stuck in review
  Holiday banner suite — 7 days, proof open,
    no reviewer activity since day 2
  Q3 webinar deck — 5 days, pending copy approval

With AI in the loop

The Planning AI Assistant can generate a brief from an uploaded document, which helps when requests arrive as slide decks. For first-draft copy and variants, GenStudio for Performance Marketing is the Adobe path when licensed; otherwise a Fusion scenario can write a draft into a Draft copy paragraph field. A person edits before anything reaches production.

Don’t do this

Review as a dropdown

Approval belongs to Workfront proofing and approval processes, which keep the version, the annotation, and the timestamp. A Planning field keeps none of them.

Planning as a DAM

No file field, no versioning, no renditions. Connect to AEM Assets or the DAM you have; do not design an asset library around Planning.

One project for four formats

If the formats have different templates and reviewers, create one project per format. The multi-select plus a one-project-per-choice automation does it.

External reviewers as Planning users

Agencies and outside reviewers join as proof reviewers in Workfront. They do not need to see your plan.

Limits worth knowing here

Published Planning limits that affect this build. Adobe revises these, so confirm before you design around one.
What	Limit	Why it matters for creative
AEM asset connections	AEM license	Connecting records to AEM assets and folders needs AEM Assets, plus Admin Console onboarding.
Paragraph fields per record type	20	Briefs are text-heavy. Message, notes, and draft copy each spend one.
Paragraph field length	10,000 characters	Enough for a brief; not for pasting a whole deck.
Records per record type	25,000	High-volume production teams can reach it on Deliverables. Archive by period.
Automation conditions	5 values	Across all conditions in a rule — keep the template-matching logic simple.

Sources

Adobe Workfront Planning documentation — terminology, request forms, automations, object limitations: Experience League article index
Planning API reference, versions 1 and 2: developer.adobe.com/wf-planning
Package contents and entitlements: Adobe Workfront product description