Multi-Project: Best Practice

Modified on Mon, 17 Jun, 2024 at 4:24 PM

When making plans for a multi-project implementation of ManagementStudio, it's worth reviewing the guidelines below to ensure the features of multi-project are understood and catered for.

Which Items Can be Shared Between Projects?

Item Type	Can it be shared?	Comments
User Migrations	Yes	See notes on Custom Fields below
Applications	Yes	See notes on Custom Fields below
Devices	Yes	See notes on Custom Fields below
Mailboxes	Yes	See notes on Custom Fields below
Bespoke	Yes	See notes on Custom Fields below
Deployment Units	No
Links	No	In most cases these can be re-created by connectors
Connectors	No	These can be replicated in new projects if needed
ESMs	No	These can be exported and imported into the new projects, but some edits may be needed depending on the Evaluators and Actions
Scripts	No
Emails	No
Blueprints	No

Best Practice Guidelines

Custom Fields (CustomFlagX, CustomPropertyX, CustomListX etc) are common across Shared Assets. This means that they cannot be re-used in different projects.
Drop-down lists in the Details tab do not carry over into child projects.
It's generally suggested NOT to share the assets which are the main target (these should instead be exported and imported into the new project) but to share the non-targeted assets. For example:
- There's an existing Windows 10 project in ManagementStudio
- A new project for a Windows 11 transformation is required
- The apps will need re-testing for Windows 11
- Recommendation: Don't share the apps, instead export them, then import them into the new project
- This allows the app custom fields to be re-purposed
- Share the User Migrations and Devices from old project to the new project
- If required, add connectors to the new project to create user-app-device links

For further guidance on multi-project best practice please contact your ManagementStudio Consultant, or raise a support ticket.