TL;DR: This week’s Template Tuesdays spotlight is the Software License Scheduler template, created by Pietro Poli. Designed to manage the lifecycle of company licenses from intake through renewal or deactivation, this workspace automates expiration alerts, invoicing subtasks, and financial tracking to maintain compliance and avoid service disruptions.
Hey Community 👋
Welcome back to Template Tuesdays! Every Tuesday, we spotlight a space template, outline its key features, and show you how to start using it ✔️
Wrike’s Templates & Solutions Center provides pre-built workspaces for common organizational workflows. Accessible directly from your profile menu or when creating a new space, these templates include custom fields, dashboards, request forms, and automation rules that you can adapt to your team's specific requirements.
This week, we’re looking at an administrative and IT operations workspace: the Software License Scheduler created by @Pietro Poli 🚀
Managing software assets across multiple vendors and internal departments requires tracking renewal dates, contract costs, and administrative handoffs. Without a centralized process, monitoring upcoming expirations and coordinating invoicing can lead to missed deadlines or inaccurate record-keeping. This template consolidates your software inventory, automates renewal timelines, and tracks financial metrics in one workspace.
What’s Inside This Template?
- Dashboards: Three dashboards for operational status and financial analytics.
- Calendars: A color-coded Licenses Calendar to map out renewal schedules.
- Request Forms: A standardized intake form for new license submissions.
Pro Tip: You can install this form and its required Custom Fields separately using this template link. Additionally, thanks to a recent Wrike Labs release, you can map the template's fields directly to your existing custom fields during installation to avoid creating duplicates!
- Blueprints: Templates for License items and Invoice Activity subtasks.
- Automation Rules: Notifications for 20-day expiration warnings, 5-day subtask generation, and more.
- Custom Fields: Dedicated formula, currency, and dropdown fields for vendor and contract tracking.
- Custom Item Types (CITs): Specialized item structures for main contracts and administrative tasks.
- Custom Workflows: Lifecycle statuses to track billing and resolution stages.
How to Install This Template
- Click on your profile picture in the top right corner.
- Select Templates & Solutions.
- Under the Created by Community section, select Community.
- Search for Software License Scheduler and click Use template.
💡 Note: You can also find this template directly using this LINK. From there, it can be used to create a brand-new space or added directly into an existing one. For a step-by-step guide on installing it into a pre-existing space, check out this article. Plus, thanks to our recent Wrike Labs release, you can now map template configurations directly to your existing space setup during installation to avoid duplicates!
Workspace Overview & First Steps
When you install the template, you will see two primary folders:
- How to use: Contains template’s documentation and workflow setup instructions.
- Licenses Vault: The central repository where active license items are stored.
To review or edit the configuration of your space, click the ⚙️ icon near the Space overview button in the sidebar:
- Request Form: Review how parameters like license name, vendor, customer, and validity dates are collected.
- Custom Fields: Examine fields including 💰 Amount, 💼 Vendor, 🪙 Customer, ☑️ Renew, and the calculated 🔜 Days Left formula field.
- Custom Item Types: Inspect the item definitions for License (main records) and Invoice Activity (administrative subtasks).
- Workflows: Familiarize yourself with the workflow stages: To be Invoiced, Invoiced, To be Completed, and Cancelled.
Let’s Take a Closer Look 👀
This template relies on structured intake, calculated triggers, and automated task routing to manage license cycles:
1. Centralized License Intake
New requests enter the space through the New License Request form. Upon submission, Wrike creates a task in the Licenses Vault folder using the License Custom Item Type and maps variables like vendor names, contract terms, and costs directly into Custom Fields.
2. Time-Based Expiration & Invoicing Automations
The template uses the formula field to trigger time-based automation rules as expiration dates approach:
- 20-Day Alert: When 20 days remain before expiration, an automated comment mentions the Assignee to review contract status.5-Day Invoicing Trigger: If the ☑️ Renew field is set to "Yes", an automation triggers 5 days before expiration. It leaves a comment and creates an Invoice Activity subtask (generated via blueprint) scheduled across a 4-day execution window. If ☑️ Renew is set to "No", subtask creation is skipped.Invoiced Duplication Prompt: When a license status is updated to Invoiced, an automated notification prompts the author and assignee to duplicate the item for the next renewal cycle, update the validity dates, and set the status back to To be Invoiced.
3. Operational Dashboards & Financial Analytics
You can track administrative workloads and spending using two pre-configured dashboards:
- Licenses Overview Dashboard: Tracks operational performance with widgets including Status by License (bar chart by vendor), Vendor & Customer Distribution (treemap visualization), Administrative Tasks (pending invoicing list), and Licenses That Need Attention (priority due-date table).
- Licenses Financial Dashboard: Focuses on monetary figures, showing Total License Value due by month, Value by Vendor, Value by Customer, and Value by Assignee.
4. Licenses Calendar
The Licenses Calendar provides a visual schedule of contract expirations. You can switch between views, such as Licenses to check or All Licenses with entries based on status to identify upcoming deadlines.
Customize the Space for Your Needs
You can adapt this workspace using these configuration options:
- Pre-assign Invoicing Subtasks: Edit the License Activity Blueprint to set default assignees (or adjust the 5-day automation rule) so invoicing subtasks route directly to your administrative team.
- Expand Workflow Rules: Add operational workflow statuses such as Under Legal Review or Security Audit Pending.
- Integrate External Systems: Use Wrike Integrate to connect completed invoicing statuses directly with external accounting software.
Share With Your Team 👥
To start using the space across your department:
- Share the Request Form link with team leads and procurement personnel who submit software requests.
- Grant Folder access to IT managers and administrators handling task execution.
- Share the Dashboards and Calendar Views with department heads for visibility into upcoming renewals and software costs.
We hope this overview helps your team manage software renewals and maintain accurate asset records. Thanks to @Pietro Poli for creating and sharing this template with the Wrike Community so other users can benefit from it as well 🙏
How does your team currently manage software renewals and vendor contracts in Wrike? Let us know in the comments below! 👇
Want to share a setup you're proud of? Fill out the Wrike Community Templates Submission Form to be featured in a future spotlight! 😁
