If you’re tired of rebuilding the same onboarding projects for every new customer, you’re not alone. B2B implementations are repetitive but never exactly the same. Whether you’re running SaaS onboarding, complex integrations, or multi-team deployments, you need a faster way to spin up solid, consistent plans—and tweak them on the fly. This guide walks you through how to create reusable project templates in Baton so you can stop wasting time reinventing the wheel and start getting customers up and running faster.
This is for folks who actually manage implementations: onboarding leads, project managers, customer success teams, solutions architects. If you spend your days chasing tasks, wrangling spreadsheets, or hunting down status updates, this is for you.
Why bother with project templates in Baton?
Before jumping into the how-to, let’s get real: Templates aren’t magic. They won’t fix broken processes or make bad data good. But if you do a lot of similar projects (think: onboarding 50 customers a year, or more), templates are a huge time-saver. They help with:
- Consistency: No more remembering which steps are “optional” or who owns what. Templates lay it all out.
- Speed: Spin up a new project in minutes, not hours.
- Training: New team members can jump in without needing tribal knowledge.
- Quality: Fewer dropped balls, clearer handoffs, less firefighting.
But don’t over-template. If every project is wildly different, or if your process changes every month, templates can become more hassle than help. Start simple and iterate.
Step 1: Map out your typical implementation
Don’t open Baton yet. First, sketch out what your “average” project looks like. This is where most people skip—and regret it later.
- List the major milestones: What are the big deliverables or phases? (Kickoff, technical setup, training, go-live, etc.)
- Break them into tasks: What needs to happen for each milestone? Who usually owns each one?
- Spot the variables: Which steps change? Which are always the same?
- Decide what’s template-worthy: Only include what’s common to most projects. Edge cases can be added later.
Pro tip: Look at a few recent projects. Copy the best parts. Skip anything that caused headaches.
Step 2: Build your template skeleton in Baton
Now, log in to Baton and head to the Templates section. (If you don’t see it, you might need admin rights. Ask your Baton admin instead of banging your head against the wall.)
Create a new template
- Click Templates in the sidebar.
- Hit Create Template (or similar—Baton’s UI changes sometimes, but the option is obvious).
- Give your template a name you’ll recognize later (don’t call it “Template 1”).
Add milestones and tasks
- Milestones: Add your main phases (from your earlier mapping exercise).
- Tasks: Under each milestone, add the tasks that need to happen.
- Assign owners (roles work better than specific names).
- Set estimated durations or dependencies if you use them.
Use placeholders
- For anything that changes per customer (like names, dates, or links), use placeholders. Baton supports variables (e.g., {{CustomerName}}), so you can fill these in when you launch a project.
Reality check: Don’t try to capture every possible scenario. Start with the 80% case. You can always add more templates later.
Step 3: Add details (but not too many)
This is where most templates go off the rails—trying to be perfect from day one. Don’t overload your template with every possible instruction. Aim for just enough detail that someone new could pick it up and not screw it up.
- Task descriptions: Write short, actionable instructions. Bullet points beat long paragraphs.
- Attachments: Add key docs or links, but don’t attach your whole knowledge base.
- Dependencies: Use them if your process has true “can’t start X until Y is done” steps. Otherwise, skip—overcomplicated dependencies make templates brittle.
- Checklists: For multi-step tasks, use checklists inside the task, not extra tasks.
Ignore the urge to map every edge case. If you have one customer a year who needs a custom integration, handle that outside the template.
Step 4: Test your template with a real project
Don’t assume your template works—prove it. Use it for your next new customer. Here’s what to do:
- Create a project from the template: Baton lets you select your template when creating a new project.
- Fill in the placeholders: Update customer-specific info. If you forgot a key placeholder, note it for next time.
- Assign owners: Double-check that roles map to real people.
- Walk through the project: Are any steps unclear? Are you missing key info, or is anything redundant?
Pro tip: Ask a teammate who didn’t build the template to run the project. If they get lost, your template needs work.
Step 5: Improve your template based on feedback
Templates shouldn’t be set in stone. After a couple of runs, you’ll spot what works and what doesn’t.
- Remove busywork: If a step is always skipped, delete it.
- Clarify confusion: If teammates keep asking, “What does this mean?”—rewrite it.
- Add missing steps: If you keep adding the same task manually, bake it in.
- Split templates if needed: If you find yourself making tons of changes for different customer types, create separate templates for each scenario (e.g., “Standard Onboarding” vs. “Enterprise Integration”).
Set a recurring reminder to review templates every quarter. Otherwise, they’ll rot—and nobody will want to use them.
Step 6: Roll out templates to your team
Once you’ve got a solid template, make sure everyone knows when (and how) to use it.
- Document where to find templates in Baton and when to use which one.
- Train new team members using the template as your “source of truth.” It’s easier than explaining the process from scratch.
- Encourage feedback: If someone finds a better way to do something, update the template. Don’t let it become a museum piece.
What works, what doesn’t, and what to ignore
Some honest takes after seeing a lot of teams use Baton templates:
- Works well: Templates for repeatable processes (onboarding, integrations, migrations). They save time, reduce mistakes, and help new hires get up to speed.
- Doesn’t work well: One-off, highly customized projects. Templates become more trouble than they’re worth if every project is unique.
- Ignore: Obsessing over perfection. Templates are a starting point, not a straitjacket. Don’t spend days on edge cases you’ll barely see.
A few gotchas to watch out for
- Permissions: Not everyone may have rights to create or edit templates in Baton. Figure this out early, or you’ll waste time.
- Over-templating: If you have too many templates, nobody remembers which to use. Keep it simple.
- Stale templates: Processes change. If your template hasn’t been updated in a year, it’s probably more confusing than helpful.
- Placeholder mistakes: Double-check your variables. Nothing says “we don’t care” like a project plan littered with {{CustomerName}}.
Keep it simple—and iterate
Reusable project templates in Baton are a practical way to make B2B implementations less painful. Don’t aim for perfect—aim for useful. Start with your most common process, get it working, and improve as you go. The best templates are living documents: updated when needed, ignored when not, and never treated as gospel. Keep it simple, listen to your team, and let your templates save you time—not create more work.