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.

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Comments

Devree Czupinski

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?

A project comes in as Request CIT
Once approved, either - create a new item from blueprint (automation action) and the new item would be the Project Profile CIT --- or --- create a subitem from blueprint or create subitem (can specify the CIT here) (automation actions) and then the next step kicks off as a subitem as the Project Profile.
Then you could keep the original plus the extra CITs underneath the project as the project progresses?

All just an idea! Feel free to take it or leave it!

_Admin _

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!

Alison O'Donnell

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.

Matt Balaam

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

Hi folks 👋

Thank you for sharing your comments and providing detailed information on how changing the Custom Item Type via automation could be beneficial. We understand this could be a an advantage for some of our users. As you might know, this feature isn't available right now.

Rest assured, our Product Team is aware of this suggestion. If there are any updates in the coming months, I'll be sure to keep you informed. Thanks again!

Jules Bowie

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.

Basudha Sakshyarika

Thank you for your feedback, @Jules Bowie. I will pass it on to our product team. 👍🏽

Florian Kislich

Hard to believe this still isn't possible yet.

I still have to wait before I can use custom items types more than for testing because there's no way to create new items by default with a CIT instead of a generic task.

In my use case I have tasks created automatically by incoming emails, and I want to tefine a CIT by the folder they are assigned to.

Rohan V

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, @Florian Kislich. We'll keep you in the loop if there are any new updates.

Sara Wood

Adding to this thread that this would be an amazing addition to automations and custom item types. It would allow us to create piped conditional processes that selectively show or hide fields (based on CIT).

Rohan V

Hi @Sara Wood 👋 thanks for adding your support to this thread and explaining your use case. I’m forwarding your feedback to the responsible team. Also, please add your upvote to the post above in case you haven’t already, as this will help us assign a status once this post gains 60 upvotes.

Justin Clark

Hey _Admin _,
I read your idea last year, but it didn't quite fit with the scenario I was looking at during that time. However, I'm now setting up a space for a new group and I think it might apply to their need but needed to better understand how you're setting custom field permissions at the folder level such that only certain fields show in the project info panel when they move between folders.

Scenario: I have 3 folders and will move a project with custom fields A, B, C, D, E in them. Using workflow automation, a project will move from folder 1 to 2 and then 2 to 3. Each folder represents a different team that needs to see different portions of the overall data set. When the project is in folder 1, all data is visible. When it moves to folder 2, only fields A, B, C are needed; D and E shouldn't be visible. Moving into folder 3, fields B, C, D, E should be visible, and A is not needed.

Where do I go to set up the visibility permissions at the folder level for custom fields? I see the permissions by user settings within the custom field properties, but not sure where that exists on the folder level.

Thanks!

Meredith Selden

We have a different CIT for each type of "intake" but it all comes from one request form. If the client fills out the request form wrong it ends up in the wrong area/team with the wrong CIT - we use an Automation from a Workflow status change to automatically move it to the appropriate team/folder, make all the adjustments to it using Automations for the team who should've received it .... but the only thing we can't do is make it the new team's CIT so it @mentions an Admin to convert it. Please put this on your roadmap with the other planned Q4 CIT updates!

Florian Kislich

@Undine Ozolina This is one issue we discussed in our meeting today.

Florian

Pietro Poli

Yes please!