Auto-Allocate Team Time from Email Requests
A team member emails asking to work on a high-priority project. Notis creates an allocation in Asana, blocking time on their calendar so capacity stays visible and realistic.
Trigger
New Gmail Message Received Trigger
Triggers when a new message is received in Gmail.
Action
Create Allocation
Creates a new allocation. use when you need to schedule or assign a specific amount of a user's time per week to a task or project within a defined period.
Why this helps
Founders overcommit team capacity because work requests arrive via email and don't get formally allocated. This leads to burnout and missed deadlines.
- Time allocations are created automatically from email requests
- Team capacity becomes transparent and realistic
- Prevents double-booking by tracking who is allocated where
- Founder has visibility into team availability without manual update
Setup
Build it in a few focused steps.
- 1Connect Gmail and Asana integrations.
- 2Create an automation: 'When someone emails about needing time for a project, create a time allocation for that person and project.'
- 3Use 'New Gmail Message Received' as the trigger.
- 4Notis will extract the person, project, and duration from the email.
- 5Test by emailing yourself or a team member requesting time for a specific project and verify an allocation appears in Asana within a minute.
Questions about this workflow
How does Notis know how much time to allocate?
It looks for time mentions in the email (e.g., '20 hours' or 'half time'). If it's unclear, Notis will ask for clarification.
Can I set a default allocation amount?
Yes. Tell Notis: 'If no hours are mentioned, allocate 10 hours per week' and it will use that default.
What if the person doesn't have an Asana account yet?
Notis will alert you and suggest adding them first. Once they're in Asana, you can re-run the automation.
When this happens · Trigger
Do this · Action
Supported Triggers and Actions
Notis builds workflows that link Gmail to Asana. A trigger fires from one place; an action lands in another.
Gmail triggers
Asana actions
Email Sent
Triggers when a Gmail message is sent by the authenticated user. It polls the 'SENT' label and emits metadata including sender, recipients, subject, timestamp, and thread ID.
Add Followers to Task
Tool to add followers to a task in asana. use this tool when you need to add one or more users as followers to a specific task. this will notify them of updates to the task.
New Gmail Message Received Trigger
Triggers when a new message is received in Gmail.
Add Supporting Relationship to Goal
Tool to add a supporting goal relationship to a goal. use when you want to link a project, task, portfolio, or another goal as a supporting resource to a specific goal in asana.
Add task to section
Adds an existing task to a section, optionally positioning it before or after another task in that section; if no position is specified, the task is added to the end.
Create Allocation
Creates a new allocation. use when you need to schedule or assign a specific amount of a user's time per week to a task or project within a defined period.
Create a project
Creates a new asana project, requiring either a `workspace` or `team` gid for association, and returns the full project details.
Create a tag in a workspace
Creates a new tag, with properties like name and color defined in the request body, within a specific asana workspace (using `workspace gid`); this tag helps categorize tasks, is confined to the workspace, and is not automatically applied to tasks.
Create task in asana with specific details
Creates a new asana task; requires 'workspace', 'parent', or 'projects' for association, and 'followers', 'projects', 'tags' are set only at creation.
Create Attachment for Task
Tool to upload an attachment to a task. use when you need to attach a file to a specific task in asana.
Connect any two apps with Notis in the middle.
Not just Gmail and Asana. Any combination from 1,000+ integrations.
When this happens · Trigger
Do this · Action
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