Assign to group instead of person

MBurdman

Hello,

Is there a way to assign a task to Group A instead of just picking one person at a time?

AKnight

Hi @MBurdman!

There is not a direct way of doing this, but I have found a workaround.

1. Set up a helper sheet that has two columns (three if you want to include a description column) with Column 1 (text type) being Team Name & Column 2 (multi contact type) being Individuals Within Team.
2. List the team name and select all individuals within the team keeping one row to one team.
3. In the sheets where the team is assigned, add a cross-sheet reference that references your new sheet and the cell that has the proper individuals, make sure to name the reference with the team name.
4. In the same sheet, add a helper column with a column function that looks like =IF(Assigned@row = "Team Name X", {Team Name}, Assigned@row).
   1. This assumes your assigned column is named "Assigned", your team referenced is "Team Name X", and your newly added cross-sheet reference from step 3 is named "Team Name".
   2. You can hide this new column once it is made.
5. Then when setting up automations or filters (like current user filters), use your new helper column instead of the assigned column.

This path is great because you can easily add and remove team members from the sheet and have all instances where the team is referenced be automatically updated.

If this is too laborious for the task or you only plan on referencing the team in a couple of areas, you can also set up an automation workflow to notify selected individuals when teams are mentioned. Which would look like:

1. When (X trigger) occurs, condition with X team as assigned value → X team members notified, condition with Y team as assigned value → Y team members notified, and so on.

This path will be more work in the long run because each sheet would need this automation set up and whenever team members change then all automations would have to be manually updated, but it would be quicker to set up. This path will also make it impossible to use the "current user" filter.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions!

-Ashley

AKnight

Hi @MBurdman!

There is not a direct way of doing this, but I have found a workaround.

1. Set up a helper sheet that has two columns (three if you want to include a description column) with Column 1 (text type) being Team Name & Column 2 (multi contact type) being Individuals Within Team.
2. List the team name and select all individuals within the team keeping one row to one team.
3. In the sheets where the team is assigned, add a cross-sheet reference that references your new sheet and the cell that has the proper individuals, make sure to name the reference with the team name.
4. In the same sheet, add a helper column with a column function that looks like =IF(Assigned@row = "Team Name X", {Team Name}, Assigned@row).
   1. This assumes your assigned column is named "Assigned", your team referenced is "Team Name X", and your newly added cross-sheet reference from step 3 is named "Team Name".
   2. You can hide this new column once it is made.
5. Then when setting up automations or filters (like current user filters), use your new helper column instead of the assigned column.

This path is great because you can easily add and remove team members from the sheet and have all instances where the team is referenced be automatically updated.

If this is too laborious for the task or you only plan on referencing the team in a couple of areas, you can also set up an automation workflow to notify selected individuals when teams are mentioned. Which would look like:

1. When (X trigger) occurs, condition with X team as assigned value → X team members notified, condition with Y team as assigned value → Y team members notified, and so on.

This path will be more work in the long run because each sheet would need this automation set up and whenever team members change then all automations would have to be manually updated, but it would be quicker to set up. This path will also make it impossible to use the "current user" filter.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions!

-Ashley

B. Bee

The solution from @AKnight was super helpful. My team is shifting to assigning a "Pod" to a project rather than individuals.

As Ashley suggested, I created the POD Reference Sheet with a column for 'POD Name' and a contacts column for 'POD Members'.

In the Project Sheet, I created a drop-down column for 'POD Assignment'. Then, the next column is a contacts column for 'POD Members'. In this column, I used INDEX/MATCH to look up the POD Assignment, match it to the POD Name on the Reference Sheet, and return the POD Members from the Reference Sheet.

The column formula looks like this: =INDEX({PODS Reference Sheet Range 1}, MATCH([POD Assignment]@row, {PODS Reference Sheet Range 2})). (Range 1 = 'POD Members' column; Range 2 = 'POD Name' column)

When the 'POD Assignment' is selected on the Project Sheet, the 'POD Members' field populates. Like Ashley said, this enables the automation of notifications and the Current User filter. I can also use the same formula in other sheets where a POD is assigned.

I hope this also helps where there are too many options in the drop-down selection for nested IF statements to be practical. INDEX/MATCH is a clean solution in that case.