Order of operations when creating projects from a template

[Nikki_Gilland]

Is there a specific order that tasks & rules are created when a project is created from a template? When I create a new project from the template, if I have a rule triggered by “task is added to this project”, it runs on some tasks but not others. I suspect this is because the task is added to the project before the rule exists on the project.

In my ideal world, the order of operations when the project is created would be:

1. All rules/bundles from the template are added to the project
2. Wait until (1) is complete, THEN tasks are added to the project

Is there an existing feature idea to vote on for this, or does anyone have suggestions for workarounds?

[Stephen_Li]

@Nikki_Gilland - I was under the impression that tasks generally got created before the rules when instantiating a template, so it’s interesting you’ve noticed mixed behavior.

As for a workaround, check out @Jan-Rienk’s really clever tip here:

Rules in project template don't run on its tasks when project initially created

@Katelyn_Price adding to @Phil_Seeman 's excellent input. Manual rule triggers are limited to 50 tasks at a time. If you have more you can work around this by using the change of a cusom field as a trigger, which is slower with >50 tasks, but it does run.

[Jan-Rienk]

@Nikki_Gilland @Stephen_Li I have something even better.

Pre-multi-home tasks in project templates

If you want one of the following, this topic is for you: Automatically add project template tasks to specific projects (for instance: to automatically add to specific departmental processes or even kick-off sub-projects with departmental templates) Automatically run rules upon project creation. Automatically add project template tasks to specific projects You can pre-multi-home tasks in a project template, by adding them to another project: [image] When the project is created, the tasks wi…

[Nikki_Gilland]

Thanks @Jan-Rienk, this is really interesting! I’m not sure if it will completely solve the issue because some of the rules I need to run on “task is added” are referencing the project name variable. I’m not sure multi-homing to another project where the rule already exists would accomplish that, but it could work for some of the other ones.

IMO not running “when task is added” rules at project creation really negates a lot of the benefit of adding rules/bundles to templates in the first place. That’s the trigger for probably 50% of the rules we have.

[Stephen_Li]

@Nikki_Gilland - if you are an enterprise customer, you could accomplish this with a script action (basically look at the projects associated to your task[s] and exclude your rule project). It’s annoying and I 100% agree that it would be better if these workarounds were not needed, but that would address that.

[Jan-Rienk]

@Nikki_Gilland

Thanks @Jan-Rienk, this is really interesting! I’m not sure if it will completely solve the issue because some of the rules I need to run on “task is added” are referencing the project name variable.

Hmm… A two-step workaround then?

• Task gets added to project that runs a rule upon project creation, and that rule flips a custom library field
• The project created from the template has a rule that gets triggered by the custom field changing, and uses project.name variable.

I’m wondering about the reliability, depending on whether the tasks in the template don’t count, or whether the rules get added after the tasks. In that last case there might be situations where the trigger happens before the task is added.

[Jan-Rienk]

@Jan-Rienk

I’m wondering about the reliability, depending on whether the tasks in the template don’t count, or whether the rules get added after the tasks. In that last case there might be situations where the trigger happens before the task is added.

I tested this, and can confirm it is not reliable. It appears the rules are actually added after all the tasks are added.

You can use a workaround to set and run a timer field to an hour (sadly the shortest interval currently possible)

[Nikki_Gilland]

I think the using timer field in a second project (which has a rule to set and start the timer when the task is added) might be the solution for me here - that’s a great idea!