Custom Templates configuration behavior in Gitlab-ee Starter level is confusing
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Problem to solve
Documentation regarding the Gitlab-ee features concerning custom project templates is inconsistent and don't match the instance behavior.
Target audience
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Devon, DevOps Engineer, https://design.gitlab.com/research/personas#persona-devon
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Sidney, Systems Administrator, https://design.gitlab.com/research/personas#persona-sidney
Further details
The online document at https://about.gitlab.com/features/ section entitled "Built-in and custom project templates" suggests starter supports custom project templates.
This lead our devops guy to assume that our Gitlab-ee instance had support for custom project templates. He asked for my support troubleshooting, as the documented steps to configure custom project templates weren't working on our instance. I also found that the online documentation did not match the behavior of our Gitlab-ee instance.
Not until I discovered the table of features at https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/self-managed/feature-comparison/ did I see that custom project templates are not available in starter.
The online documentation https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/admin_area/custom_project_templates.html says to look in Admin/Settings/Custom Project Templates, but that link does not exist in starter. What does exist is Admin/Settings/Templates, and that page displays as mostly blank, rather than providing an error message or comment regarding the feature being disabled in starter.
We thought our instance was just mis-configured, and I spent most of a day digging into it before realizing, with help from support, that it was a feature our license simply didn't enable.
Our instance offered Admin/Settings/Templates, but this link isn't mentioned anywhere in the online documentation. What does get mentioned is Admin/Settings/Custom Project Templates. This is confusing, and I still don't know what the Admin/Settings/Templates page is supposed to be doing.
Proposal
I suggest that either the Admin/Settings/Templates link be completely removed, or that it be enhanced to indicate at what license level the feature is enabled.
I suggest the online documentation be updated to discuss exactly what Admin/Settings/Templates is supposed to be for, and what license levels enable it. If this is, indeed, where Custom Project Templates are to appear, then either the code or the documentation needs to be changed to match the other.
I also suggest the online features and pricing pages be made consistent with regard to the availability of templates and custom templates through the various license levels. The features page suggest custom templates are functional in starter, but the pricing page indicates otherwise.
What does success look like, and how can we measure that?
The documentation is consistent regarding the functionality of custom templates (instance and group) on all of the marketing materials.
The Gitlab-ee starter instance no longer displays a mostly blank page under Admin/Settings/Templates.
What is the type of buyer?
Gitlab-ee starter self-hosted instances