Adobe Workfront vs. Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Workfront
Score 7.5 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Workfront, acquired by Adobe in late 2020, is a web-based project-management tool. It is designed for both IT and marketing teams, but can be implemented for any kind of project. Workfront offers all the features standard to project management platforms, as well as resource allocation, automation, and agile workflow.N/A
Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
Score 8.9 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
The Lightning Conductor is a content aggregation tool for Microsoft SharePoint Online and Microsoft Teams. Users can build rich, modern content reports based upon SharePoint lists, SharePoint Search, Microsoft Graph or Microsoft 365 Groups. Content can be aggregated from lists and libraries, and other applications such as Planner, To Do, OneDrive, and Teams.
$1,950
per year per installation
Pricing
Adobe WorkfrontLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Lightning Conductor WSP
From 1950
per year One WFE
Lightning Conductor Enterprise Edition
POA
per year Four or more WFE
Lightning Conductor Online
From 1950
per year per installation
Lightning Conductor Plus (Includes Data Viewer)
From 2500
per year per installation
Lightning Conductor Online Enterprise Edition (>10,000 users)
POA
per year per installation
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe WorkfrontLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
Additional DetailsPrices stated are minimum per installation for "stock" products. Enterprise editions can be amended to suit business needs if deemed necessary, additional costs incurred and TBD. All packages include free technical support. Free upgrades available to latest versions of tool as they are released. (online version)
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe WorkfrontLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Adobe WorkfrontLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Workfront
6.5
303 Ratings
14% below category average
Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
8.6
2 Ratings
9% above category average
Task Management7.5302 Ratings8.72 Ratings
Resource Management6.8274 Ratings00 Ratings
Gantt Charts7.2242 Ratings00 Ratings
Scheduling7.3270 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow Automation6.7272 Ratings00 Ratings
Team Collaboration6.0292 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology6.1185 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology6.3199 Ratings00 Ratings
Document Management6.6275 Ratings00 Ratings
Email integration4.8230 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Access6.1233 Ratings00 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking6.4219 Ratings00 Ratings
Change request and Case Management6.6210 Ratings00 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management6.3188 Ratings00 Ratings
Search00 Ratings8.42 Ratings
Professional Services Automation
Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Workfront
5.4
173 Ratings
31% below category average
Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
-
Ratings
Quotes/estimates5.381 Ratings00 Ratings
Invoicing5.371 Ratings00 Ratings
Project & financial reporting5.7171 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with accounting software5.462 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Adobe WorkfrontLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
Small Businesses
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Score 9.8 out of 10
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Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
SAP Ruum
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Score 9.0 out of 10
Troop Messenger
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Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
Quickbase
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Score 9.2 out of 10
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Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe WorkfrontLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
Likelihood to Recommend
5.9
(354 ratings)
8.9
(4 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(60 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(18 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(12 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
In-Person Training
5.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.9
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.3
(10 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
5.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
1.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.2
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
1.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
1.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe WorkfrontLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
I write music and sound design for multiple projects at the same time, all within the same company, sometimes as much as 8-10. It can be hard to keep track of and stay on top of notes and changes, but Adobe Workfront is great at keeping everything organized, and informing you of deadline changes as they occur.
Read full review
Lightning Tools
Having experience of SharePoint On Premise and also SharePoint Online, there isn't an out of the box app/webpart that enables you to 'roll up content' from a variety of source's (in my case SP Lists, but there are many other data sources it works with) across site collections with an easy to use and intuitive interface which is what Lightning tools excels at.
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Pros
Adobe
  • Fosters communication between team members.
  • Serves as a virtual "to do list" for me personally - I can track where I am with projects and what there is left to do, and when it's completed.
  • Sharing documents between team members that can be updated.
Read full review
Lightning Tools
  • Aggregate documents across SharePoint site & libraries
  • Filtering for owner/person responsible & due dates
  • Ease of end-user filtering on columns
  • Color-coding & other formatting
Read full review
Cons
Adobe
  • Notifications (sometimes I am emailed when I am tagged, other times I am not)
  • Certain file formats do not render correctly in Workfront Proof (eg, .XLS files)
  • It can be difficult to manage projects if you have not been assigned the correct permissions.
Read full review
Lightning Tools
  • Mobile Friendly
  • Calendar/Gantt views
  • Complex/Custom Logic
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
All that I've said already is why. I suppose the clearest way to say it is that at this point? I cannot imagine running the 300+ active projects in eMarketing without AtTask; it simply wouldn't be possible and even more; I wouldn't imagine why we'd try to find an alternative tool when we have one meeting our needs.
Read full review
Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
Usability
Adobe
I gave a rating of 10 on overall usability because Workfront is cloud based and very easy to use. Workfront also provides collaboration on projects which is critical to a projects success. The tool gives everyone high level visibility in their projects down to the smallest detail. Wonderful project management system, allows you to cut down on emails, meetings and no more spreadsheets for tracking your projects.
Read full review
Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
Adobe
Maintenance is required, but usually after work hours, Some days the proofing tool function is not operational, but this is a new function of the tool that WF is working out. the kinks on. Chrome is the best browser to use the system in and we find Firefox and Explorer lose some view functionality - Gantt Chart, Resource Grid
Read full review
Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
Performance
Adobe
Workfront's performance has been very good. Everything always feels very fast and snappy in my experience. We have integrated it with custom scripts to create folder structure for media managing our projects. It works very well.
Read full review
Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Adobe
It would be nice if the support forms were more dynamic so you could add more information to the support ticket when you enter it to reduce back and forth with the support team member. Also communication on escalated tickets isn't always great. It's gotten better over the years but still needs improvement. Other than that, initial response on support tickets is really quick and the people I've dealt with have always been very professional.
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Lightning Tools
The Lightning Tools support team responds quickly, and team members are very friendly and helpful.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Adobe
It was from my boss, not a rep from AtTask.
Read full review
Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Adobe
The training is very easy to use and you can simply choose the topics included in the course(s) that are most important to your training needs. After each training course, you are tested on what you have learned. If you need a refresher course, they provide Course Catalogs as well as instructor-led courses & workshops.
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Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Adobe
Most people learn as you go, a lot of this stuff requires trial and error throughout so my suggestion is to provide as much information in the upfront and keep it as simple as possible. You can add other tools and features as you go but everyone should have the basics down so no bad habits can start to develop. Be persistent with everyone, and don't be afraid to correct and talk through steps again so everyone is on the same page
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Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Adobe
Jira is mostly used as a bug locking tool or to track any new development for any specific region/EPIC. But Workfront has a lot of other features which are beneficial in project management. I still consider Jira and Workfront my top two options for project management and believe both have some of the other useful features which are required to manage any team.
Read full review
Lightning Tools
I haven't found another product to compare this one to. Only in SharePoint Online which has a similar App 'Highlight Webpart' ... it's far too complicated to set up and requires learning yet another language and exporting and importing via PowerShell to get any real results that would be useful.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Adobe
As I stated earlier, I didn't have to pay for Workfront myself- I'm a user under a large organization. I know it's not cheap to implement, I don't know how the price scales for a small-business, but I do like the product enough that I'm going to look into it in the future for my own company.
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Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Adobe
Our organization has thousands of users that use Workfront and it seems to hold up very well. I have not encountered any issues using it and I think it makes it very easy for multiple people to be involved in a project and keep things organized and clear for everyone involved.
Read full review
Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Workfront allowed our company to have multiple offices and work remote and still have projects continually move through the agency
  • The platform allowed streamlined project management needs so PMs could look at a higher level of timing for resourcing needs for a given team
  • Workfront's ease of integration with other tech allowed for a lot of flexibility to meet the needs of individual wants/needs so that each person could do their best work
Read full review
Lightning Tools
  • Policies easier to portray
Read full review
ScreenShots

Adobe Workfront Screenshots

Screenshot of Agile StoryboardScreenshot of Assignment RecommendationsScreenshot of Custom DashboardsScreenshot of Gantt PortfolioScreenshot of My Work QueueScreenshot of PM Portfolio Milestones

Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor Screenshots

Screenshot of MODERN SHAREPOINT LIST ROLLUP
The Lightning Conductor is a SharePoint Content Aggregator that can be configured quickly by business users. The Lightning Conductor can be used to aggregate content from SharePoint Lists such as Tasks, Document Libraries, Contact Lists, and Custom Lists making it easy to view content in one place even if it is distributed across many sites and site collections. Key data can be highlighted using conditional formatting and data-bars as shown. Content from Search and Microsoft Graph can also be aggregated with the Lightning Conductor.Screenshot of CONTENT AGGREGATION WITHIN MICROSOFT TEAMS
The Lightning Conductor Web Part can be used within Microsoft SharePoint or Microsoft Teams. Even if content is stored within SharePoint sites, it is useful to have aggregated Documents, Tasks, Announcements, Calendars or Custom Lists from multiple sites displayed in a single handy view in Microsoft Teams. The Lightning Conductor can be added as a Teams Tab in any Microsoft Teams Channel.Screenshot of BUILDING REPORTS ON MICROSOFT GRAPH
The Lightning Conductor can be used (without code) to aggregate content from Microsoft Graph as well as Search and SharePoint Lists. This example displays Microsoft Planner Plans and Microsoft Planner Tasks where users can Add new Tasks, Assign Users to Planner Tasks, Delete Tasks, and Complete Tasks. The same can be performed on Microsoft To Do items and displayed within Modern SharePoint pages or Microsoft Teams Tabs. The Lighting Conductor can also contain multiple views of content, making it ideal to display all of your tasks from SharePoint Task lists, Microsoft To Do and Microsoft Planner in a single web part or Teams Tab.

*Microsoft Graph Reports are only available for SharePoint Online and not SharePoint 2019.Screenshot of BUILDING REPORTS ON MICROSOFT 365 GROUPS
Powered by Microsoft Graph, the Microsoft 365 Group Rollup Provider enables users to aggregate content by browsing and selecting Microsoft 365 Groups. Within Microsoft 365 Groups, you’ll be able to select entities such as Drive Items, Owners, Members, Planner Plans, Planner Tasks, Events, Posts,  Sites, Lists, and Calendars.

*Microsoft Graph Reports are only available for SharePoint Online and not SharePoint 2019.Screenshot of AGGREGATING USING SEARCH
When performance is critical, search can be used for rollups. The Lightning Conductor offers three data source configurations to get to content. Object Model (Real Time Aggregation from SharePoint Lists), Microsoft Graph (Aggregation from Graph Entities such as Planner, OneDrive, Outlook), and Search. The Search Data Source enables the aggregation of content from large SharePoint lists and libraries when performance is critical. Thousands of documents can be displayed in under a second using Search.Screenshot of HIGHLIGHT KEY BUSINESS DATA WITHIN YOUR VIEWS
End users and Site Owners can highlight the data that is important to them, the data that they need to prioritize. Using conditional formatting, data bars, and icons, conditions can be configured to highlight the data that is most important. Icons and Data Bars can be any color or size desired. Examples include highlighting High Priority tasks, Showing data bars for the completion progress of Tasks, or indicating which tasks are assigned to any particular user.