Automation and subtasks

[Olof Nysten]

I'm setting up my most advanced automation workflow yet.

The workflow is going to handle preboarding of employees.

A manager "orders" an employee to HR. Depending on what he/she enters, a number of sub-tasks is going to be created, for example "order computer". As the summary of the main task is the employee name I want to copy the summary so that the sub-tasks summary is "Order computer for {main tasks summary}". I also want the fields of the sub-task to be shown in the "main window", not the sidebar.

Is that possible?

[Jack Brickey · Accepted solution]

Yes this is possible. I recommend you familiarize yourself with smart values. 

give it a try and come back with questions if you hit roadblocks.

FWIW, I have a similar process for Onboarding new employees but I chose to use a checklist addon as it works better for my use case and is easier to setup and maintain.

[Olof Nysten]

Thanks for your reply

I don't think I can use checklists as I want to distribute the subtasks to different departments. Or is it possible?

[Jack Brickey]

In the app I use I can @mention in the task but not assign. It may be possible with other apps but unsure. If assignment is important then sub-tasks are the way to go for sure. What I have done for Onboarding is to create multiple tasks and assign to the owner of all checklist tasks, e.g. HR, IT, Hiring Manager, Facilities. I use smart values in Automation when creating tasks to include new employee name, hiring manager and start date in summary and custom fields.