Update custom field for 1 task automatically based on other tasks completed in 1 project

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Searched the forum and tried to find my case, but without success. This is my situation

In Asana we have a sales pipeline that gets automatically filled with new assignments. Each assignment is a task in that sales pipeline.

When an assignment is ready to be worked on, I turn the task into a project in Asana using a template. This template consists of certain stages with corresponding tasks e.g. onboarding, execution, quality check, delivery, etc.

The original task from the sales pipeline is also reopened and added to the project as well through a project reference field. Next that task is dependent on the completion of the last task of the last project stage (blocked by FS). That way the task in the sales pipeline gets automatically completed when the project is finished so the sales pipeline is kept up to date.

What I would like next is to see the status of the project in the sales pipeline for that specific task. Once a certain phase of the project is completed (e.g. all the tasks in the onboarding phase have been done and the project moves to execution), I would like to have a custom field ‘project stage’ show this for the related task in the sales pipeline. How can this be achieved?

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Hello @David_van_Dam and welcome to the Asana Community Forum! We are so excited for you to be here. Thank you very much for your feedback, and let me try to help you with your question. So, to automatically update project stage status in your sales pipeline, you may consider using Asana’s multi-homing and rules automation, and below is a step-by-step guide to set it up:

Step 1: Create Global Custom Fields

  1. Create “Project Stage” custom field - Click Customize > Fields in your sales pipeline project

  2. Add field values: “Onboarding,” “Execution,” “Quality Check,” “Delivery,” “Complete”

  3. Create “Pipeline Task” yes/no field to identify the multi-homed task

  4. Add both fields to your organization’s field library for use across projects

Step 2: Set Up Multi-Homing

  1. Open the original sales pipeline task in the task details pane

  2. Navigate to the Projects field and click Add to projects

  3. Type the delivery project name to multi-home the task

  4. Set “Pipeline Task” field to “Yes” on this multi-homed task only

Step 3: Create Milestone Tasks

  1. Add milestone tasks to your delivery project template: “Onboarding Complete,” “Execution Complete,” etc.

  2. Mark each as a milestone when creating the task

  3. Set dependencies so each milestone depends on completion of tasks in that stage

Step 4: Build Automation Rules

  1. Click Customize > Rules in your delivery project

  2. Create rules for each stage:

    • Trigger: “Onboarding Complete” milestone marked complete

    • Condition: Pipeline Task = Yes

    • Action: Set Project Stage = “Execution”

  3. Repeat for each project stage

Heads up on automation, though: there isn’t a native trigger that checks an entire section’s completion. So here are some workarounds:

  1. Manually complete the stage milestone when the section is done, which then kicks the rule

  2. Or make one gate task/milestone that depends on the tasks in that stage, then complete the gate when ready

Let us know if these worked for you. If you’d like to have native triggers for “section complete,” you can also add your voice here, so others can upvote it: https://forum.asana.com/c/forum-en/product-feedback/20

In the meantime, have a great day and enjoy your Asana experience! :asanacurated: :blush:

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Thanks a lot for looking into my issue Elluz!

Maybe I am misunderstanding your solution, but I don’t see how this can work as I cannot see how I can use a condition for another task than the one that is being adjusted.

So when milestone task for a certain stage gets completed, the condition ‘pipeline task = yes’ will check if that milestone task has that custom field set to yes. It won’t check the actual pipeline task.

I have asked the AI function in Asana to help me with this as well, and it answers it can’t be done with rules at the moment. So therefore wondering if I am missing something or did not explain my situation clearly enough. Could you perhaps show a quick example of how you would set this up? Thanks!!

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Hello David. You’re absolutely correct, and I sincerely apologize for the confusion. I will recreate the workaround I gave you and get back to you with updates. In the meantime, since there’s no native way yet to use rules to update a custom field on your sales pipeline task when a milestone in your delivery project is completed, other workarounds can be manually updating the “Project Stage” field on the sales pipeline task as you progress through project phases, or using third-party automation platforms like Zapier that can monitor Asana task completions and update fields across different projects. Thank you very much for your patience and understanding. Have a great day, David!

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Hi @David_van_Dam,

FYI you could very likely accomplish this using a FlowAgent; fill out the form in that post if you’re interested in trying it out.