Project Templates
Project templates are an extremely useful way to quickly create projects that you do frequently. Templates can be used to create a new project or insert tasks into an existing project. When an existing template is reused, its tasks and associated fields (duration, category, etc.) will be copied into the indicated project.
Administrators can access and edit existing project templates clicking Project Templates stack icon at the top right of the Task List.
To create a new project template from an existing project, hover the cursor over the name of the project in the Task List, click the ⠸ menu to the right, and choose Save project as template.
Enter a name for the new template. By default, saved templates do not remember the responsible parties for tasks within the template, on the assumption that you will assign the responsible parties each time you utilize the template. If you would like the saved template to remember the responsible parties from the original project, click the checkbox next to Save responsible parties with template. Click Save Template.
When you save a project template, the following items (if used) will be saved:
- Name
- Task names in the proper order, with indentations
- Task descriptions
- Task categories
- Task durations
- Task work
- Task dependencies
- Show on calendar
- The relative position and spacing of all tasks in the project
Templates can be also be created from scratch, edited and deleted from the Project Templates page, in the same way as other projects on the Task List. Only Administrators can view or edit the Project Templates page, though Managers can create new templates from the Project List or use existing templates.
Once saved, dates for project templates are shown only for their relative spacing of tasks; specific dates for new projects will be determined based on start/end date when the template is used to create a new set of tasks.
Edits made to templates only affect new projects created using the revised template (previously created projects are not affected).
If you have previously saved project templates, these can be used to insert tasks into a new project (via the “Add Project” page) or to add tasks to an existing project (via the “Add Task” button on the Task List, after selecting a destination project/task using the left checkboxes). Once on the respective page (Add Tasks or Add Project), to copy all the tasks from an existing project template, select the template from the drop-down list. To schedule the project forwards from a start date, select “starts on” from the drop-down menu and then specify the start date for the first task in the template, if you would like a date other than today. To schedule the project backwards from an end date, select “ends on” from the drop-down menu and then specify the end date for the last task in the template.
To repeat the tasks in the template on a weekly or monthly basis (contained within a single project), click the “repeats” checkbox below the list of templates and choose the repeat frequency and the end date.
Click Save and Add Tasks.
Workzone will automatically copy the tasks from the template you have selected into the specified project and will return you to the Task List. You can then edit any of the tasks to adjust dates, add/delete tasks, etc.