Change Custom Item Type Using Automation
When progressing through our workflow, I'd like the ability to change the Custom Item Type using automation rules. I'm not seeing that as an option and wondering if I'm missing it or is there another way to change the item type based on a trigger (status change in our case) without having to do so manually?
Use Case: A project request comes in as a Request CIT. The request goes through our process and eventually receives approval. When the status changes to Approved, the CIT would change to our Project Profile CIT as the information we need to see and update is different than what was used during the request approval phase. There are a few more scenarios where we'd want to change the CIT to another CIT throughout the project before it closes.
Hi Justin Clark,
First of all, I think that might be a great suggestion to submit as an idea for a new action (if you haven't already).
Second, since there is no current way to do this via automation - maybe think about a different structure?
All just an idea! Feel free to take it or leave it!
I like the direction Devree is headed here and taking a different approach since automation isn't available at the moment.
Perhaps another way to think of it differently could be Custom Field permissions. I would honestly worry with changing the Custom Item Type too many times and losing information (mainly from Custom Fields) - additionally there are a few times when I change the CIT and it actually deletes the original item and makes a brand new item (meaning I lose the date created, Author info, etc). But I'm very picky about clean data as our directors expect a lot of reports and ways to slice and dice our data - so I need the data to stay intact.
You could do this scenario with Spaces or Folders, I'll use Folders for simplicity:
1. New request comes into the "Requests" Folder
- Custom Field Boxes A, B, C are shown
- Workflow is set to "Requests Workflow" in the Requests Folder (helpful link)
2. Once status changes to "Approved" in the request workflow, it triggers an automation to move locations (or add to a location, helpful link here)
3. Item is now added to "Active Projects" Folder (or moved if you'd like it completely changing locations)
- Custom Field Boxes D, E, F now appear as well because the permissions are set at the Folder Level
- Workflow can also change to "Projects Workflow" in the Active Projects Folder
- Only users who need to be in the Project Folder are able to see this now that it changed locations (helpful link)
4. Similar scenario: Status Changes, Triggers Moving Locations, This changes the permissions available and visibility
- Ex. Item moves to "Legal Review" Folder
- Custom Field Boxes G, H, L, A, W now show because they're location based/permission based (ie A can be in 2 folders)
- Workflow changes to "Legal Team"
We've done this a few ways for our team, using both folders or space level permissions. I also will set up Table Views in each Folder (and set as the Default View and Filters so it's easy to access) - this view correlates to the Team using the Folder and what they want to monitor/analyze.
Another option we use is basically what Devree mentioned, of a Parent Project (or Task) with Subtasks. We've found this to be the most useful for our team.
Structure Example:
NEW CREATIVE REQUEST (Parent Task)
- Subtask: COPYWRITER CIT TASK
- Subtask: DESIGNER CIT TASK
- Subtask: MANAGER CIT TASK
We then can have the tasks either done in parallel or when one is Complete it triggers the next to start (there's a few ways to do this in Wrike).
This has also been helpful for tracking bottlenecks or where a request has broken down. Again, our directors loooooove data, so I need to be able to show the Copywriter, Designer, Manager all completed their tasks on time - if we use ONE task and keep changing hands/workflows (or in your example, changing the Custom Item Type), I would lose all of this information (or it's much harder to report on in a clean and simple way). I actually think changing CITs would possibly lose some of our "Time Spent" records too which we rely heavily on.
Hope that makes sense! I'm still trying to play around with Custom Item Type vs Blueprint and figure out the simplest way to tackle it. Good luck!
I actually second the idea of an automation being able to change a custom item type. Based on the info received via an Intake Form, I want to be able to decide which CIT I use to display the information based on what is relevant. For now I have to manually decide and make that change.
This is absolutely required.
Create a meeting through Outlook and include our Meetings folder in Wrike as an attendee. Wrike folder gets a task created automatically for time tracking with all attendees (who use Wrike) added as an assignee automatically. We have a custom task type for Meetings that shows the relevant fields and uses the correct workflow...however...there's no way for the meeting to automatically use this task type. Someone has to manually change every single meeting to the correct task type. Very painful.
Rohan V Community Team at Wrike Wrike Product Manager Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover
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I def. have a need for this as well. In part because new items created in some contexts are the wrong type. But I also could see using automation to route newly created tasks to different types.
Thank you for your feedback, Jules Bowie. I will pass it on to our product team. 👍🏽
Basudha Sakshyarika Community Team at Wrike Wrike Product Manager Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover
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