Become a Champion

Project Templates

Project templates allow you to quickly copy project items such as tasks, estimates, actions, meetings, milestones, and project costs from an existing project over to a new one. This can be a big time saver when you are working on projects that are similar or repeated often.

You can choose to mark an existing project as a template; however, we recommend creating separate projects to be specifically used as templates (e.g. Blog Template, Brochure Template, Newsletter Template). This will keep your active projects separate from template projects, and make them easier to adjust when needed.

Creating a New Template

Creating a project specifically to be used as a template:

1. Go to Projects > Manage.
2. Fill in the details for the template.
3. Make sure that Save as Template box has been checked.
   
4. Click Save New.
5. Select the Tasks that you want to use with the template.
6. Click Save.

Once the project template has been created you can build out the remaining items for the template including:

• Estimates
• Actions
• Meetings
• Milestones
• Project Costs

Marking an existing project as a template:

1. Go to Projects > Manage.
2. Take the desired project into edit mode by clicking on the edit icon create.
3. Check the Save as Template box.
4. Click Save Edit.

You can see your list of available template projects by clicking on Tips/Links and clicking on the Template List link. To remove a project from being a template, follow the steps above and un-check the Save as Template box then click Save Edit.

Templates and Project Schedules

When a template is applied to a new project, each scheduled item (action, meeting, and milestone) or project cost will be entered based on the number of days between the item and the start date of the project. For example, if the project starts on Monday and you apply a template that has a milestone scheduled the day after the project starts it would be placed on the Tuesday. An action that is due 3 days after the project start date would appear due on the Thursday, and so on.

Note: When a template is applied to a new project, action assignees and meeting invitees will be carried over from the applied template. You will need to manually adjust these on any of the following pages: Project Schedule, Project Calenders, Action Assignment, or Availability.

If a new project starts on a different day of the week than the applied template, you will have the option to move the start date of the new project to match the template schedule. This helps to avoid weekends when carrying over scheduled items from a template.

Applying a Template to a New Project

To apply a template during the creation of a new project:

1. Go to Projects > Manage and enter in the new project details.
2. Click Save New
3. Within the Project Task pop-up:
   1. Click on Use Project Templates.
   2. Select the Client the template is under.
   3. Select the template Project.
   4. Select which items to copy from the template (Tasks, Estimates, Actions, etc.).
   5. Click Save.
   

Applying a Template to an Existing Project:

You can apply a template to a project that already exists in your account by:

1. Going to Projects > Manage.
2. In the table of active projects click on the apply icon playlist_add next to the project.
3. Select the Client the template is under.
4. Select the template Project.
5. Select which items to copy from the template (Tasks, Estimates, Actions, etc.).
6. Click Apply.

Reviewing Your Project Schedule

After applying a template to a project, you will want to review and adjust your scheduled items and make sure that each is falling on the correct start/due dates and is assigned to the right personnel. You can make manual adjustments to these items on any of the following pages found under the Traffic menu: Project Schedule, Project Calenders, Action Assignment, or Availability.

What’s Next

Review how to work action assignments in our Day to Day series Using the To-Do List.