Resource Management Question

Tim Stutzman

Hello,

Using the PMO SmartSheet template, I have created a PMO to organize all of our Information Technology projects.

It is working well and rolling up to the Portfolio Level. What I am struggling with and need advise on is my IT team has a lot of little projects that they can complete in 1-2 weeks and usually requires only one member in the team. I'm trying to avoid creating a lot of SmartSheet project plans for projects that only last up to 2 weeks and typically only have one member working on the project, but I would like to have that time roll up in the PMO so it can be seen on the Portfolio Metrics and be accounted for in the Resource View.

I assume this may be the case in other IT departments too where you have long very resource intensive projects, but then a lot of little ones.

Any ideas on how I can simplify and not have to create a project plan for every small project, but still have that time somehow in SmartSheet so the Resource Views are more accurate?

Any help would be appreciated.

Tim

Lizk2

Hi @Tim Stutzman,

I browsed through the templates-- Here are two I found that may work- both are low complexity, nothing too in-depth.  

I looked for “tasks by employee” or “small projects by employee/ team” templates but could not find any. If you decide to go the second route with tracking outside of PMO, you may need to get creative with how you lay these out or organize them to capture the little projects. With the right links, I think you should be able to tie into the PMO dashboard and RM. 

As I am thinking through this- it may be easier to make your own sheet instead of customizing a different template that will have reports and dashboards you do not need. Just a thought though.

Hope this helps!

https://app.smartsheet.com/r/template-gallery/templates/01a6d194-c817-4619-95a8-daeb994f2b82/Individual-Task-Management

https://app.smartsheet.com/r/template-gallery/templates/cc495e17-c3c6-4d08-a7e7-45b2c85d7d4f/Simple-Project-and-Resource-Management

Thanks,

Liz

Tim Stutzman

Thank you @Lizk2! This is very helpful.

Lizk2

Hi @Tim Stutzman,

I am having the same issue. Here are some thoughts I am working through as we try to figure this out too-

I'm thinking about creating a new project in the PMO template just to capture the small projects in one place. So I would duplicate/ copy the project folder, like you do now for larger projects, then you could schedule these smaller projects, assigning the appropriate people. And instead of Phases, maybe have each small project (ie. IT project 1; IT project 2). See screenshot below. You would have to be specific in how you name the line items in the schedule so when you are in RM, you would know what each person is working on since it would be under one large, IT small projects overview.

The only other thing I was thinking was to try and create a simple sheet/ schedule outside of the PMO template for those smaller projects, then tying it to the PMO portfolio data. I'm not sure if that is possible yet, but having a separate sheet outside of the PMO would help track RM in one central location. If you don't care about these small projects showing up in your dashboard this may be easier to do, and not tie into the portfolio at all.

Hopefully that makes sense and is helpful. If you figure something out, please let me know!

Thanks!

Tim Stutzman

Hi @Lizk2

Thank you for your response! I really appreciate it.

I had the same idea as your first recommendation. Copying the project template and put all small projects as a line.

In your second recommendation, what sheet/schedule were you thinking of using specifically?

Thanks,

Tim

Lizk2

Hi @Tim Stutzman,

I browsed through the templates-- Here are two I found that may work- both are low complexity, nothing too in-depth.  

I looked for “tasks by employee” or “small projects by employee/ team” templates but could not find any. If you decide to go the second route with tracking outside of PMO, you may need to get creative with how you lay these out or organize them to capture the little projects. With the right links, I think you should be able to tie into the PMO dashboard and RM. 

As I am thinking through this- it may be easier to make your own sheet instead of customizing a different template that will have reports and dashboards you do not need. Just a thought though.

Hope this helps!

https://app.smartsheet.com/r/template-gallery/templates/01a6d194-c817-4619-95a8-daeb994f2b82/Individual-Task-Management

https://app.smartsheet.com/r/template-gallery/templates/cc495e17-c3c6-4d08-a7e7-45b2c85d7d4f/Simple-Project-and-Resource-Management

Thanks,

Liz

Tim Stutzman

Thank you @Lizk2! This is very helpful.