Creating many Work Packages at once from a template

When to use bulk create

Bulk create is the fastest way to set up several similar Work Packages all in one go. Instead of running the create form ten times, you pick a template once and tell Project Commander how many copies you want.

Reach for it when:

• You're building a housing development and need one Work Package per plot
• You're refurbishing a multi-storey block and want one Work Package per floor
• You're rolling out the same standard scope across a list of sites
• You've got a repeating handover process that runs at every project milestone

Walking through the bulk create flow

Click the + Bulk Create button in the top-right of the Work Packages list. A two-step dialog opens.

Step 1 — Pick a template

The first step shows a searchable list of templates available to the project. There are three kinds you might see:

• Global — available to every project in the company
• Project-specific — available only to projects they were assigned to
• Private — not shown unless your current project was explicitly added

Find the template you want and click Next.

Step 2 — Configure the batch

The second step is where you decide how many Work Packages to make and what they should be called.

• Count — how many Work Packages to create from the template
• Name Pattern — a text pattern that generates each name. You can use {template.name} to drop in the template's name and {n} for the copy number, starting at 1
• Start Date — the start date for the first Work Package in the batch
• Days Between — how many days to add between each Work Package's start date
• Address — an optional site address that gets applied to every new Work Package

For example, if your template is called Foundations, your pattern is {template.name} — Plot {n}, and your count is 5, you'll get:

Foundations — Plot 1 Foundations — Plot 2 Foundations — Plot 3 Foundations — Plot 4 Foundations — Plot 5

If you set the Start Date to today and Days Between to 7, each Work Package is scheduled to start a week after the previous one — useful when you're staggering teams across plots.

Click Create when you're happy with the setup. A confirmation tells you how many Work Packages were created.

What gets copied across

Bulk create copies everything that was inside the template when it was saved:

• The Work Package type (the name comes from your pattern instead)
• The description and notes
• The full sub-package tree, including each sub-package's required trade, skill level, estimated duration, and weather sensitivity
• Any default cost codes or value fields

What doesn't get copied: operative allocations and dependencies. Those are specific to the original Work Package and you'll add them to each new one as you go.

A worked example

Say you're working on a 10-plot housing development. You've already saved a Plot Construction template with sub-packages for groundworks, frame, roof, first fix, plaster, and second fix.

1. 1

   Open the project's Work Packages list.

2. 2

   Click + Bulk Create.

3. 3

   Pick the Plot Construction template and click Next.

4. 4

   Set Count to 10, Name Pattern to {template.name} — Plot {n}, Start Date to your first plot's start date, and Days Between to however many days you want between plots starting.

5. 5

   Click Create.

You've just created 10 fully scoped Work Packages, complete with sub-packages, in a few seconds.

Next steps

• Templates — to save and manage the templates that power bulk create.
• Sub-packages — to understand the tree structure that gets copied across.
• Creating Work Packages — for the manual create flow when you only need one.