We’ve created a Project Template for our jobs (manufacturing) and all of the various tasks for these jobs will be created automatically through the template, already multi-homed into other Projects.
The main Project is the “job” itself, all the other projects that the tasks are homed in are basically departments in the company such as “design, production, install”.
I’ve noticed that when I create a test Project using the template, and then delete the test Project, all of those tasks that were multi-homed still exist, but you can’t really tell where they came from. They show up in all those “secondary” projects, they didn’t disappear when the project was deleted.
We get a LOT of jobs that we start that eventually don’t happen— we lose the bid. It sucks but that’s how business runs. So how do we use Project Templates, but make sure all the “orphaned” tasks for these lost-jobs get deleted also?
Is there a quick way to remove the multi-homing from all of the tasks?
Or, is my only option to multi-home the tasks manually? Man, that’s going to be lousy if that’s the case, we have a LOT of tasks that need to be multi-homed and the whole structure is rather intricate.
This is actually super easy. In the test project, while in list view, toggle on the Projects field (under customize), then use bulk-edit to remove the other projects from the task, then delete the project. It’s an extra step, but it doesn’t take much time at all.
I like @Christine_Bolton’s answer a lot, but I’d also ask if the project template you’re using is really the right approach–maybe you should first wait before you create and delete all those tasks.
What about one project template for “Bid” with just the initial, known tasks–instantiate that first.
Then, if you win the bid, use another “Job” project template only at that point.
There are other approaches too. Is a project needed, or could you use a parent task and subtasks, and multi-home those subtasks? Also, adding those with rules only as needed.
This is what I address with clients in engagements to ensure they are really using the most optimal workflow and saving time over and over again based on one discovery into how they do their work.