Need a way of editing certain things on the Team level

We have a few teams that are loaded with dozens of projects, and we’ve discovered a few processes that are native to Asana that we really need to get functional in all of the projects in those teams.

In those teams, the projects are all carbon copies of each other, created from the same Project Template.

We would really benefit if we could mass-edit all Projects that were created from that Project Template. I realize this could get really weedy, really quick, with unintended consequences.

Again, not necessarily needing to add it to every project in the team, but at the very least, every project that was created from the same Project Template. Essentially, sort of like how a database layout works. You can rearrange the layout of a database or add functions to it, and it will take effect across all the records in that database. That’s what we need to be able to do with Asana by adding the things I’m listing below.

However, there should be some functions we should be able to do on a mass level without breaking things. Such as:

Add/remove a rule to all projects
Add a Section to all Projects
Add a Task Template to all Projects
Edit a Common Task Template across all projects.

I suppose another way of approaching this would be to say that we really need that Project Template to retro-actively edit all projects that were used to create it.

Hey

So I 100% think this is needed and would love to see it in place.

There is this thread already on the topic which I think is linked to your suggestion which you can vote on -

I think there was another thread also but cannot find for now.
But the more votes on features we desire the higher up the priority list it goes for the Asana team so make sure to check out the features being requested and voting for ones that you think will benefit your team :slight_smile:

Hi @Matt5 , as a workaround to the above, I have implemented the below to various clients:

  1. Create a blank ‘Master’ project - this will essentially act as your ‘database’. Place this in a public team for the time being, accessible to all.
  2. Add one single rule to each of your carbon copy projects which will be Trigger: Tasks added to this project, Action: Add to ‘Master’ project plus perhaps additional ‘default’ actions like set status to ‘Not started’ etc or any other actions specific to that carbon copy project such as default assignee. The less rules, the better - these should be low maintenance! Make sure that either you or at least one member of your organization is a member of the carbon copy projects at all times to make sure this rule always runs.
  3. Multi-home all the current tasks in all your carbon copy projects into your ‘Master’ project (this is done manually, only once, for the initial setup - multi-select 50 at a time… get everyone to help!)
  4. Make a note of all the other rules (if any) in your carbon copy projects and then delete them all.
  5. In the ‘Master’ project, set up all the rules that you want to be triggered/actioned (applied) to all your carbon copy projects (the rules that you likely deleted in step 4). For better performance, it helps to add to each rule the trigger ‘Task added to this project’ along with the trigger you want and set both of these to ‘When all these triggers happen’ (not any).
  6. Update your project template to match the rules of step 2.
  7. Rename your Master project to anything you want… :smiley: and make it private if you need to.

:exclamation:You may want carry out all the above during non-working hours to avoid any disruption to workflows. Careful between steps 4 & 5, you may prefer to do them in reverse order.

:white_check_mark: So from now on, all your tasks in your carbon copy projects will be automatically multi-homed to the Master project from which you can edit the rules (up to 50) that will ‘control’ all your carbon copy projects. If you need more than 50 rules, check this workaround!

:bulb: Also, from now on, any global custom fields (added to the org library) that you add to your ‘Master’ project will also show up in the Task Details of all your tasks in all your carbon copy projects. Simply add that field to the projects that need them to appear in the list/board view, or add the field to your updated project template.

I find this is a very clean and efficient way to manage ‘carbon copy projects’. Hope it helps you too :wink: