Process Pipeline – Property Sync to Projects

When a Process Board is configured as a Project Pipeline, custom properties defined on process items (cards/tasks) can automatically flow into the linked project. This sync covers both custom (extended) properties and first-class project properties (built-in fields such as Portfolio, Tier, and Owner).

This article explains when and how the sync happens, which project fields it targets, and how to name your process-item custom properties so that they map correctly to first-class project fields.

Property sync occurs in two scenarios:

When a card is moved into a column configured with Create Project mode, the system:

1. Creates a new project from the card.

2. Copies matching custom properties from the card to the new project's custom properties.

3. Copies matching custom properties into the project's first-class fields (e.g. Portfolio, Tier, Owner).

4. Calculates project start/end dates from the card's Start Date and End Date custom properties.

5. Copies documents attached to the card into the new project.

When a card is moved into (or updated within) a column configured with Create or Sync mode, and a linked project already exists, the system:

1. Merges the card's custom properties into the project's custom properties (updating values that have changed).

2. Copies matching custom properties into the project's first-class fields.

3. Copies documents from the card to the project.

4. Posts a notification message listing which properties changed.

Note: The sync runs as a background job. Changes are attributed to the user who moved the card.

Custom properties are matched by Key or Label name between the process item and the project's custom property definitions. If a process item has a custom property with the same key or label as a project custom property, the value is copied across. The matching is case-insensitive.

In addition to custom property sync, the system inspects each process-item custom property and checks whether its Key or Label matches a known first-class project field. The matching is:

• Case-insensitive – "Portfolio", "portfolio", and "PORTFOLIO" all match.

• Whitespace-insensitive – "Start Date", "StartDate", and "start date" all match (spaces are stripped before comparison).

• Checked against both the property's Key and its Label – either can match.

• Change-aware – during ongoing sync, only properties whose values actually differ from the current project values are reported as changed.

If a custom property is a Cascading Option, each level of the cascade is evaluated independently. The Key and Label of each cascade level are matched against the first-class property names listed below. This allows a single cascading option property (e.g. an "Organisation Hierarchy" cascade) to set Portfolio at level 1, Sub-Portfolio at level 2, and Driver at level 3 for example.

The tables below list every first-class project field that the sync engine can set, grouped by data type. To enable auto-mapping, name your process-item custom property Key or Label to match the value shown in the Property Key / Label to Match column.

Text / Option / Rich Text / Valued Option Properties

Date Properties

Number Properties

Yes/No Properties

Project-Picker Properties

Person Properties

¹ Configurable field names – These labels are defined in your workspace's Admin > Setup configuration. The table below shows the typical defaults. Check your workspace setup for the actual values.

Typical Default Field Name Values

When an ongoing sync detects that one or more properties have changed, a notification message is posted to the project's channel and the card's channel. The message includes:

• The name of the source card.

• A list of all property names that changed (both custom properties and first-class properties).

• The user who triggered the sync.

• A link to open the card and a link to open the project.

If documents were also copied, a separate notification lists the copied file names.

1. Start Date and End Date are handled separately during project creation through dedicated date calculation logic (not through the first-class property sync). They are not overwritten during ongoing sync via this mechanism.

2. Description appends, not replaces – if the project already has a description, the synced value is appended after a blank line. All other text fields are replaced.

3. Read-only properties on the process item (visibility mode set to "Read Only for Everyone") are excluded from the sync.

4. Validation is applied – the sync will only set a first-class field if the value exists in the workspace's configured options (e.g. a Tier value must match a configured tier). Invalid values are silently skipped.

5. Person properties must contain a valid user ID. The system looks up the user and adds them to the appropriate role list on the project. If the user is already assigned to that role, they are not added again.

6. Name your custom property Key or Label to match the values in the reference tables above. The match is case-insensitive and ignores spaces, so "ExternalReference", "External Reference", and "external reference" all work.

7. Use Cascading Options to map multiple first-class fields from a single property. For example, a cascading option with levels named Portfolio, Sub-Portfolio, and Driver will set all three project fields from one card property.