I've seen a lot of ideas coming across here for modifying the report suite creation process so 'back-end' settings are copied, etc, though I think what should happen is a complete revamp of the creation tool to make it custom.
The new tool should allow for a FULL copy of a report suite OR a custom copy of settings by category, w/ checkboxes for which items should be copied:
1) Admin settings: Checkbox for URL Filters, Evar Subrelations/Expiry, Correlations, etc.
2) Menus: Custom naming and organization of reports.
3) Variables
4) Success Metrics (and participation settings, if possible)
5) Calculated metrics
6) Dashboards
7) Custom Segments
8) etc.
