Documentation
Start typing to search…

Create Team

Definition

This action allows a user to automatically create a new team within a specified Asana organization or workspace. It streamlines the process of setting up collaborative spaces by programmatically defining the team's name, description, and privacy settings without needing to perform the task manually within the Asana application.

Key capabilities include:

  • Defining the team's name, description, and parent organization.
  • Setting the team's visibility and access level (e.g., Public, Private, or Membership by request).

This action is valuable for automating onboarding processes, standardizing project setups, and ensuring new teams are created consistently according to organizational policies.

Inputs

  1. Connection
  • Purpose: This field establishes a secure and authenticated link to your Asana account. It authorizes zenphi to perform actions, such as creating a team, on your behalf.
  • Practical Guidance: You will typically select a pre-configured Asana connection from a dropdown menu. If you haven't connected your Asana account yet, you will be prompted to create a new connection. This is a static selection that you make once when building the flow.
  • Use Case Context: You would use the 'Connection' field to grant zenphi the necessary permissions to access your Asana workspace and create the new team.
  1. Organization
  • Purpose: This field specifies the exact Asana workspace or organization where the new team will be created.
  • Practical Guidance: After your connection is established, this field will present a dropdown list of all the organizations your account has access to. You must select one from this list. The team cannot be moved to a different organization after it's created.
  • Use Case Context: You would use the 'Organization' field to ensure the new team is created in the correct company workspace, such as "Marketing Department" or "Main Company Workspace."
  1. Team name
  • Purpose: This field sets the official name for the new team that will be displayed within Asana.
  • Practical Guidance: You can provide a name in two ways. A static value means you type a fixed name directly into the field, like "Q4 Project Launch Team," which will be the same every time the flow runs. A dynamic value uses the token picker (the chain icon) to insert a name from a previous step, such as the subject of an approval email or a value from a Google Sheet row.
  • Use Case Context: You would use the 'Team name' field to give the newly created team a clear and descriptive title.
  1. Description
  • Purpose: This field allows you to add a detailed description or purpose for the team, which will be visible to its members in Asana.
  • Practical Guidance: Similar to the team name, you can enter a static, fixed description or use the token picker to dynamically insert text from another source in your workflow, such as project goals from a form submission.
  • Use Case Context: You would use the 'Description' field to provide context for team members, such as "This team is responsible for all marketing efforts for the new product launch."
  1. Team Privacy Types
  • Purpose: This field determines the visibility and accessibility of the team within your Asana organization.
  • Practical Guidance: This is a dropdown menu where you must select one of the predefined options: "Public to organization" (anyone can see and join), "Private" (only invited members can see and access), or "Membership by request" (visible to the organization, but users must request to join).
  • Use Case Context: You would use the 'Team Privacy Types' field to make a sensitive project team "Private" or to make a general interest group "Public to organization."

Outputs

  1. Team id
  • Data Description: This output provides the unique numerical identifier assigned to the newly created team by Asana.
  • Workflow Utility: This ID is essential for interacting with the team in subsequent steps. For example, you can pass this 'Team id' to an 'Add User to Team' action to populate the team with members or to a 'Create Project' action to create a new project specifically within this team.
  1. Team name
  • Data Description: This output returns the name that was assigned to the team during its creation.
  • Workflow Utility: This is useful for creating clear and dynamic notifications or log entries. For instance, you could use it in a 'Send Email' action to send a confirmation message like, "The team named '[Team name]' has been successfully created."
  1. Description
  • Data Description: This output contains the full description that was provided for the newly created team.
  • Workflow Utility: This can be used for logging purposes or to include in detailed confirmation messages. For example, you could archive the team's name and description in a Google Sheet for record-keeping.
  1. Permalink URl
  • Data Description: This output provides the direct, clickable web address (URL) that leads to the team's page within the Asana application.
  • Workflow Utility: This is extremely useful for notifications. You can include this 'Permalink URl' in an email or a chat message to allow users to navigate directly to the new Asana team with a single click.
  1. Team Privacy Types
  • Data Description: This output returns the privacy setting (e.g., "Private", "Public to organization") that was configured for the team.
  • Workflow Utility: This can be used for auditing or conditional logic in your flow. For example, you could set up a condition that says if the 'Team Privacy Types' is "Private," then start a separate workflow to manage access requests.
  1. Organization
  • Data Description: This is an object containing details about the Asana organization or workspace where the team was created.
  • Id: The unique numerical identifier for the parent organization.
  • Name: The display name of the parent organization.
  • Workflow Utility: The 'Name' property is useful for adding context to notifications or logs, such as "A new team was created in the '[Name]' organization." The 'Id' can be used in advanced scenarios where you need to interact with the parent organization via the Asana API.

Example Use Cases

  1. Automate Project Kickoff Automatically create a dedicated Asana team as soon as a new project is approved in a management system, ensuring a collaborative space is ready immediately.
  2. Standardize Client Onboarding Generate a new, private Asana team for each new client added to your CRM, pre-populating it with a standard structure for consistent service delivery.
  3. Streamline Departmental Setup When a new department is created in your HR system, instantly provision a corresponding team in Asana to facilitate internal communication and task management.
  4. Manage Temporary Working Groups Quickly spin up teams for short-term initiatives, events, or task forces based on a simple form submission, and use the outputs to invite members and share a direct link.

Example

Scenario: A project management office (PMO) needs to standardize the creation of new project teams in Asana. Currently, project managers create teams manually, leading to inconsistent naming conventions and privacy settings. The goal is to automate the creation of a private team whenever a new project request is approved via a Google Form.

Steps to Implement:

  1. Set the Workflow Trigger: Begin the zenphi flow with a "Google Forms - On new submission" trigger. This will start the automation every time the official "New Project Request" form is submitted.
  2. Configure the 'Create team' Action: Add the Asana "Create team" action to the flow.
  • Connection: Select your pre-configured Asana connection.
  • Organization: Choose the primary company workspace from the dropdown where all project teams should reside.
  • Team name: Use the token picker to dynamically insert the project name from the Google Form submission (e.g., [Form Response] - Project Title).
  • Description: Use the token picker to insert the project summary from the form (e.g., [Form Response] - Project Description).
  • Team Privacy Types: Select "Private" from the dropdown to ensure the team is accessible only to invited members.
  1. Add a Notification Step: Following the "Create team" action, add a "Send Email" or "Send a chat message" action.
  2. Utilize the Action Outputs: In the notification action, use the outputs from the "Create team" action to provide clear information. For the email body, include the Team name token and the Permalink URl token to give the project manager a direct link to the newly created Asana team.

Outcome: This automation completely eliminates the manual process of creating Asana teams. Every new project team is now created instantly and consistently with the correct naming convention and privacy settings. The project manager is immediately notified with a direct link to the new workspace, saving time, reducing errors, and ensuring governance over the company's Asana environment.

Best Practices

  1. Use Dynamic Naming Conventions Instead of hardcoding team names, use tokens from triggers or previous actions (e.g., a project name from a form). This ensures every team has a unique, consistent, and context-rich name, making them easier to identify and manage within Asana.
  2. Leverage Outputs for Subsequent Actions The Team id output is crucial for building comprehensive workflows. Use it immediately in subsequent steps like "Add user to a team" or "Create a project in Asana" to populate the new team with members and tasks, making the automation far more powerful.
  3. Choose the Correct Privacy Setting Carefully consider the purpose of the team when selecting the Team Privacy Types. Use "Private" for confidential projects or client work. Use "Public to organization" for open, cross-departmental initiatives to encourage transparency and collaboration.
  4. Always Provide a Clear Description Use the Description field to provide context for the team's purpose, goals, or key contacts. This information is visible within Asana and helps new members quickly understand why the team exists and what it is responsible for.

Updated about 2 hours ago