> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.sameitem.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Case Study: A Master Board Across Every Project — Without Copy Automations

> How a performing-arts organization on monday.com built one control-tower board over all project boards — real items, Kanban lanes on real status columns, and automated cleanup.

## The setup

A performing-arts organization runs each production and internal project on its own monday.com board — clean ownership per team, but leadership had no single view of everything in flight. Their first attempt was the classic one: a "master board" filled by *create-item* automations. It produced the classic result — copies whose statuses no longer matched the source boards, and a master board nobody trusted.

## What they built instead

With [Same Item Multiple Boards](https://monday.com/marketplace/10000363), the key items from every project board also **live** on one master board:

* **Real Kanban lanes.** Because the shared items' status columns are real columns (not mirrors), the master board's Kanban view groups and drags like any native board — something [mirror columns can't do](/guides/mirror-column-limitations).
* **Origin labels.** An automation on each project board stamps a label column with the board's name before sharing, so every card on the master shows where it came from.
* **Automated cleanup.** Completed items leave the master board on a timer — a date-based automation removes them from the master a week after completion while they stay on their source boards, matching the org's retention preference and keeping the control tower focused on live work.
* **Bulk onboarding, in batches.** Existing in-flight items were shared to the master with [batch actions](/features/batch-actions) in small groups (\~15 at a time) to stay clear of monday API rate limits — the recommended approach for [bulk syncing](/guides/board-sync-troubleshooting).

## The outcome

One board answers "what's in flight and where is it stuck?" — without a human synchronizing it. Project teams never changed how they work; the master board is simply where their items *also* are.

## Steal this setup

1. Create the master board with a group per team or per stage.
2. On each project board: one automation to stamp the origin label, one to share the item to the master on your trigger status.
3. One automation on the master to remove items N days after completion.
4. Backfill current work with [batch actions](/features/batch-actions), \~15 items per batch.

Full pattern write-up: [How to build a master board that stays in sync](/guides/master-board).