This topic describes how Alibaba Cloud DevOps Projex uses project templates to standardize project delivery. By synchronizing settings from a template to projects, you can ensure consistent configurations across teams and reduce repetitive setup tasks.
In large-scale project management, you often need to apply a standard delivery process to all projects. Alibaba Cloud DevOps Projex lets you enforce these standards by using templates, ensuring all projects follow the same delivery specifications.
For organization managers: This ensures that standards apply uniformly. Subsequent changes to the template are automatically synchronized with all projects created from it. These standards cannot be modified within a project. This restriction guarantees compliance.
For project managers: Once a delivery standard is set, they only need to follow it without manually updating project settings when the standard changes. This approach ensures compliance while allowing projects to customize certain work item settings for specific needs.
To meet these needs, Alibaba Cloud DevOps Projex provides new capabilities for synchronizing project template settings.
Settings that can be synchronized from a template to its associated projects include: project fields (synchronized by default), automation rules, work item types, work item fields, and workflows (synchronization is configurable). enterprise administrators can use templates to define development process standards, and configuration changes are automatically synchronized to all projects created from that template.
Enable or disable template synchronization
After you create a template, the synchronization settings for each service are as follows:
Service | Sync configuration |
project field | Enabled by default and cannot be disabled. |
project status | Enabled by default but can be disabled. |
automation rule | Enabled by default but can be disabled. |
notifications | Disabled by default and cannot be enabled. |
role and permission | Disabled by default and cannot be enabled. |
navigation | Disabled by default and cannot be enabled. |
work item type | Enabled by default but can be disabled. |
work item field | Enabled by default but can be disabled. |
work item status | Enabled by default but can be disabled. |
work item content template | Disabled by default and cannot be enabled. |
Configuration items with synchronization enabled, such as project status, display a blue sync icon in the navigation pane on the left, indicating that the item is synchronized with associated projects.
You can enable or disable template synchronization based on your collaboration needs, for example, for project status settings.
Enable synchronization: All projects created from the template automatically synchronize with changes made to the template. Settings inherited from the template cannot be modified within the project.
Disable synchronization: Projects created from the template can modify the settings inherited from the template.
On the General settings > Project status page of a project template, a green Synced label appears next to the page title and a Syncing button is displayed in the upper-right corner when synchronization is enabled. This indicates that the service is in a synchronized state.
Create a project from a synced template
On the Select a project template page, choose a template that has synchronization enabled (indicated by a sync icon next to the template name). For such templates, configuration changes are automatically synchronized to the project, and these synchronized settings cannot be modified within the project. After selecting a template, click Create project from this template.
How synchronized settings work in a project
project field: Synchronized from the template by default and cannot be customized within the project.
project status: If project status synchronization is enabled in the template, projects created from it do not support reordering, configuring transitions, adding, or deleting statuses.
On the Project status page, the status transition matrix includes three statuses: To Do (default), In Progress, and Done. Transitions are allowed between all of these statuses.
automation rule: If automation rule synchronization is enabled in the template, rules synchronized from the template cannot be modified in the project, although they can be copied. You can add new rules within the project, and these project-specific rules can be reordered, edited, and deleted.
On the Automation rules page, the rules list displays rules synchronized from the template, marked with a Synced label. These rules cannot be edited, deleted, or reordered, but can be copied. Rules added within the project can be edited, deleted, and reordered.
work item type: If type synchronization is enabled in the template, projects created from it do not support adding, enabling, disabling, or deleting types.
On the Work item settings > Requirement page, the type management list includes a default Product Requirement type, which is enabled.
work item field: If field synchronization is enabled for a work item type in the template, projects created from it do not support reordering fields, setting required fields, editing option lists, modifying default values, changing the visibility of fields, or deleting fields.
You can add new fields within the project, and these project-specific fields can be fully configured. However, if a field with the same name is later added to the template, the template's field configuration will override the project's custom configuration. Existing work item data in the project is not affected.
On the Fields tab for the Product Requirement type, the field list displays fields such as priority, project, iteration, participants, watchers, label, planned start date, and planned completion date, along with their type, required setting, and default value settings.
work item status: If status synchronization is enabled for a work item type in the template, projects created from it do not support reordering statuses, setting transition steps, adding or deleting statuses, or setting a default status. Transition rules inherited from the template cannot be edited, but you can add new transition rules within the project.
On the Workflow page, the Product Requirement work item type includes the following statuses: To Do (default), Selected, In Design, Design Complete, In Development, Development Complete, In Testing, Testing Complete, and Done. A matrix on the page displays the transition relationships between these statuses. A notification at the top indicates that the workflow is inherited from the template and its settings cannot be modified.