A task with Multiple Fields needs to create new tasks in Additional Project

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1

Hey Everyone!

I’m newer to Asana and really trying to work through this in my head but I am stuck.

I have two Project Boards that work together - A ‘Master’ board that operates as a client/customer index (roladex of sorts) and it is tied to a ‘Working’ board. The ‘Working’ Board is where I need the individual project tasks/subtasks to actually work out of.

In the master board the ‘task’ is a Customer/Client Name (EX. The Sam Company). Within that card there are selected fields for how the client intends to work with us, “Case Study, Webinar, Video etc.” When the fields are selected in the master card I need it to create a new task for each of the selected fields in the working board.

For example say the Sam company agrees to a Case Study and video, within their master contact card task, I would mark the two fields “Case Study” and “Video”. I need that one card to then trigger two tasks to appear in the working board within their section and with the subtasks (my process) already pre-loaded onto those cards.

I was able to get this rule working in ONE scenario. But I can’t get Asana to create two different tasks.

The master board is set up with the afore mentioned Fields (set to content in Development) set to multi-select.

The working board is setup with sections and fields that have the same categories for content in development“case study, video, etc.”

Here is what I have tried as far as rules….

From Master Board:

  1. When a task is added to the project –> Check If Field ‘Content in Development’ contains all of ‘Case Study’ –> Do this - add to additional project ‘Working board’ and move to case study section. AND Create subtasks ‘a , b, c, d etc”

Result - Task is added to working board with subtasks attached.

However if I make another rule identical to this but for “Video” the rule only works when “video” is the only field selected. It will not create a second task in the working board.

To support this I made a rule in the working board

  1. When task is added to this project –> Check if Content in Development contains any of Case study –>Move task to section case study AND Create subtasks A,b,c, etc.

Result - This doesn’t add any subtasks, but it does mark the task in the correct section.

From Master Board:

  1. When a task is added to the project –> Check If Field ‘Content in Development’ contains all of ‘Case Study’ –> Do this - add to additional project ‘Working board’ and move to case study section. AND Create subtasks ‘a , b, c, d etc”

This creates the subtasks in the master board card and links the card to the working board with the subtasks but if a second field is selected it just ignores that selection.

2

HI @Samantha_Maneri , and welcome to the Forum!

I am curious to understand if you are using one rule with different branches or entirely separate rules?

In both cases, the order matters.

For example:

If you were to have a rule using branches and the structure would be something like this:

Trigger:
When a task is added to the project

Condition 1: Check if [Custom field] contains all of: Value A
Action 1: Create subtask A

Condition 2: Check if [Custom field] contains all of: Value B
Action 2: Create subtask B

Condition 3: Check if [Custom field] contains all of: Value A and B
Action 3: Create subtasks A and B

In this case, for tasks containing values A and B, only Action 1 (creating subtask A) will run. This is because it is the first condition the rule will check for, and since it’s met - the rule will stop there.

If this is the logic you are using - you might want to flip the rule on its head and eliminate the combination conditions first (in order from most complex down). This way your rules should run correctly.

You might face a similar obstacle where you have multiple rules checking for similar/same conditions - the first rule on the list will run, and others will not.

Let me know if this is of any help at all!

3

Hi Joanna!

I did try both scenarios. The above examples of rules tried were branched rules. I tried it with just the Case Study and Video to see if I could get them to work and like you said, they only run that first condition.

This morning I did also try the individual rules where it was..

Trigger:

When a task is added to the project

Condition:

Check If [Content in Development] contains all of “Case Study”

Do This:

Add to an Additional Project

AND:

Create Subtasks A,B,C

I then copied that format into a new rule instead of a branched rule and replaced “case Study “ with “Video”

Result - it created all the subtasks for Video and Case Study within one task in both the Master and Working Projects.

A reminder, the goal is to get new tasks created with the appropriate subtasks preloaded.

4

Another thing I tried was seeing if I could get the working board to be where the new task is created instead of in the master board. The thought process here is:

  1. task created in Master Board with fields checked: Video, Case Study etc.

  2. Asana rule adds the card/task to working board

  3. working board runs rule checking the fields marked on new task added

  4. Asana reads case study and video and creates new task with subtasks tied to each

I’ve tried this a few ways and it has not worked. The result ends up being the same where it only checks one condition. This was the result for branching and individual rules

5

Hi @Samantha_Maneri,

Almost sure you could accomplish this with rules in our Flowsana integration. If that’s an option for you, let me know and I can provide more details.