Blueprint Customization based on Project Request
Currently we have our request form set to apply one of six blueprints based on a custom field we have for Deliverable (email, web/print design, etc.).
For example: Sally completes a request form and selects "email" as the Deliverable, creating a project from the email blueprint. However, after discussing with Sally, we discover that there are more components to the project (or maybe she selected the wrong Deliverable), so the tasks from the blueprint no longer match with the scope of the project.
It would be great to have one master blueprint and apply different tasks based on Deliverable, which PMs could edit to automatically populate a specific set of tasks. Currently, even with using blueprints, there is a lot of manual entry and editing of tasks. Thanks
I have started trying to see how we can make projects based on request from a Blueprint. I like this idea and will need to investigate further to see how this fits our process.
We have a request form for campaigns that prompts the submitter to indicate the Deliverable medium through a multi-select question:
Each item maps to a Blueprint Task with associated subtasks that get deployed if that item is selected in the request form. The request form creates a project for the campaign, and adds additional blueprinted tasks and subtasks for each Deliverable indicated.
We do have several templates in blueprints that are used in different request forms. For example, for a new product feature request. Once it is submitted, it creates a project and duplicates the pre-project phase template that has fewer tasks compared to the active project template.
We are evaluating this at the moment too. It seems a very good combination request form plus blueprint. It should be more published by Wrike, I think it could help a lot of users.
This is something that we will definitely utilize in the future. I've been setting up many forms and didn't realize this could be done.
We use very complex blueprints that act as a Component Library. The Request form generates a project, the user adds general information about the scope, start date, end date etc. Then they are taken to a page on the form - that allows them to select the "subfolders" of the project based on the specific needs and requirements. PMs spend less time deleting what they don't need, or tasks that are not applicable - based on the components they actually need for the project. In addition, by using the blueprint to assign effort to every task, a job role for resource mgmt, and additional valuable custom fields (such as client reviews or task descriptions) - we have standardized the way we work, as well as being able to report and apply filters as needed!
That's super helpful, Sherry B - thank you! Do you have a screenshot of the blueprints and request form you could share? I like the idea of using folders and assigning those based on the deliverables selected!
Sara Davis - sure do!
The first part of the form - we ask the user to select their client & brand - which will map to the correct folder in the spac. Then we use checkboxes to add each unique "subproject" - but don't worry they come in as subfolders when the form is submitted (form should be set to "create project" - these may be hard to see - but generally gives the idea of what we do!
Thanks for sharing, Sherrie Besecker - that looks like it was fun to set up! 😅
I have not used Blueprints yet, but I want to learn how to use them!
Hi Heather Hernandez, please don't hesitate to let us know if you have any questions 🙋🏻♀️
We use a project request with a assignment field and the assignment field is the determining factor on which blueprint is used.
Sherrie Besecker that looks awesome and not too dissimilar from what we have.
We have a 3-tiered process for each service. Each of these has say 60% of the exact same tasks, 20% additional tasks for premium packages (for example, premium clients get a monthly meeting where standard clients don't), and 20% task description changes (for a standard client we might write a 400-word blog, for a premium client we write 1,500. Or, the same task for SEO strategy has an additional 30m of effort hours added per tier).
Before Wrike, before blueprints, we manually assigned tasks and manually edited these details. I cringe thinking about it!!
So we use the blueprint to select the blueprint at onboarding:
We also have one-time/add-on blueprints:
Within our request form, we also have some customizations such as adding the account manager as a folder. This makes it easy for a specialist to know who they need to contact if they have questions, but also makes reporting and monitoring a breeze. Now "Bob" doesn't need to sort through all folders and projects to find his own clients, he can just look at the folder or dashboards and reports filtered down directly to his client list.
BONUS: This is new, but we also started colour-coding our blueprints so when a specialist is working on a task, they have a quick rule of thumb as to how deep they should go with this client (effort hours help too, of course).