How to auto-assign project roles to workflow steps?
Background
Company-level workflow admins can now auto-assign project roles directly to workflow steps. This streamlines workflow setup by reducing manual effort, ensures automatic synchronization with the latest team structure, and guarantees team members assigned to specific project roles are always included at the correct workflow step. Here are some questions that are frequently asked.
If I want Workflow Assignees to update automatically via Project Roles, what do I need to do?
Roles existing prior to this feature (previously free-typed into the Company Level Workflow) are now referred to as “custom roles”. To continue using these, follow your typical step-assignment process.
However, to enable automatic assignment—where workflow step assignees are directly tied to the individuals assigned via Project Roles in the Project Directory—select the desired role from the Project Roles drop-down menu when configuring your Workflow Template at the company level.
How does this feature help prevent disruption when workflow changes are made?
When using auto-assigned Project Roles, any new steps added to a company-level workflow automatically includes the correct assignees at the project level without manual intervention. This ensures workflows stay consistently configured and do not break or stall due to missing assignees.
If you're still using custom roles (free-typed labels such as "Architect" or "PM"), manual updates to each project's workflow will be required every time a step is added or modified.
What happens if I configure a workflow using Project Roles and those roles are later removed from the directory or lose permissions to respond?
Depending on the stage of the workflow, the following scenarios may occur:
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The workflow becomes blocked.
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The project's workflow preset is marked as unconfigured.
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The affected step becomes overdue, triggering a notification to the Workflow Manager.
What if a Project Role from the Company Admin tool is deleted (for example, the "Program Manager" role)?
Project Presets using the deleted Project Role will become unconfigured. Any in-flight workflows currently assigned to the deleted role will display Assignment Required: Assign a user or role error message. Additionally, the step will become overdue, and the Workflow Manager will be notified.
If I change the person assigned to a specific Project Role, what exactly gets updated?
Both the project-level workflow template and any workflow steps currently in-flight (but not yet answered) will automatically update to reflect this change.
If I change the role assignment at the company level (for example, from Architect to Project Manager), what happens?
Future projects using this template will reflect the updated assignment. Existing project templates will also update, including workflow steps that are in-flight but have not yet occurred.
However, if a workflow step is already assigned (for example, to Architect) and currently in-flight, the existing step assignment will remain unchanged. You must manually update the assignee for that step if needed.
See Add Assignees section in Create a Workflow Template.
What if I update the assignees tagged to Project Roles (within the Directory) during an in-flight workflow?
The current workflow step will automatically update to reflect the newly assigned individuals in the Project Role.
If a new user is assigned to a workflow step via Project Roles, do they get notified immediately?
No, the newly assigned user will not be notified immediately. Notifications occur once the specific workflow step is actively assigned to the user.