Activity Plan!

Saj

Hi All,

I’m looking for some guidance on how to best structure an activity plan in Smartsheet.

I need to track and display:
Date ranges for each activity
Activity month
Monthly budget
Key points such as promos/offers
Major events happening during the same period (e.g., national holidays, International Women’s Day, etc.)
What we ran last year during the same timeframe (including date ranges)

I initially tried using Calendar View but it doesn’t allow enough space to display all the details of each activity only shows as a single small line, which isn’t very helpful. Since Smartsheet doesn’t support column merging, I also struggled to present the full info clearly in Grid View.

I attempted adding some of the activity types (offers, promos, etc.) as separate columns but I’m still unsure of the best setup to make the sheet easy to read and useful for monthly planning, ideally showing the month, the activities and the monthly budget at a glance.

Based on the attached example could anyone suggest the best approach to build this in Smartsheet?

I’d appreciate help with:
Recommended column structure
The best view (Gantt, Calendar, or timeline)
How to effectively combine monthly budgeting with activity timelines

Thank you in advance for your guidance!

mkt-plan01.xlsx

Naeem Ejaz

To create a clear, readable structure in Smartsheet for your activity plan, start with a primary sheet focused on activities and timelines. Use the Simple Marketing Calendar Template or Marketing Plan Calendar with Budget Tracker Template as a base—these are available directly in Smartsheet's template gallery and support date-driven planning with built-in automations for durations and summaries. Customize it by adding columns for your specific needs (e.g., budgets, events, historical data). Avoid over-relying on separate columns for activity types like "promos" or "offers"—instead, use a single "Activity Type" dropdown column (e.g., values: Promo, Offer, Event, Campaign) and a rich text "Key Points" column for details. This keeps the grid compact while allowing expansion for notes.

Here's a recommended column setup in a table format. I've included data types, formulas where applicable, and rationale. Assume your sheet has hierarchy (parent rows for months, child rows for activities) to enable rollups for monthly summaries.

Column Name	Data Type	Formula/Example	Rationale
Month	Text/Number	=MONTH([Start Date]@row ) or manual entry (e.g., "January 2026")	Extracts or groups activities by month for quick filtering/sorting. Use as a parent row for hierarchy to roll up budgets and counts.
Activity Name	Text	N/A	Core identifier for the activity (e.g., "Summer Promo Launch").
Activity Type	Dropdown	Options: Promo, Offer, Campaign, Event	Categorizes for filtering (e.g., view all promos). Reduces need for multiple columns.
Start Date	Date	N/A	Defines the activity timeline.
End Date	Date	N/A	Enables auto-duration calculation.
Duration	Calculated (auto)	=[End Date]@row - [Start Date]@row	Auto-populates days/weeks for timeline views.
Key Points	Text (Multi-line)	N/A	Rich text for promos/offers details, notes, or links. Use bold/italics for readability; attach files if needed for more space.
Related Events	Text or Dropdown	e.g., "International Women’s Day, National Holiday"	Lists major events (e.g., holidays) tied to the period. Pull from a linked "Events Master Sheet" via formula for automation (e.g., =JOIN(COLLECT({Events Sheet}, [Date]@row )).
Monthly Budget	Currency	N/A (or rollup: =SUM(CHILDREN()) for parent rows)	Per-activity allocation; sums to monthly totals in parent rows. Track actuals in a parallel "Actual Spend" column.
Last Year Activity	Text (Multi-line)	N/A	Notes on prior-year equivalents (e.g., "Ran Q1 Promo from Mar 1-15, 2025; Budget: $5K"). For deeper comparison, link to a duplicate "Historical Sheet" and use VLOOKUP or INDEX/MATCH formulas.
Status	Dropdown	Options: Not Started, In Progress, Complete	Standard for progress tracking.
Assigned To	Contact	N/A	Assigns owners for accountability.
Priority	Dropdown/Symbol	High/Med/Low	Flags critical activities.

This structure keeps the grid view scannable (10-12 columns max) while supporting details in expandable cells. For monthly budgeting, use hierarchy: Make "Month" rows parents, with activities as children—then apply rollup formulas (e.g., SUM for budgets) to show totals at a glance. If budgets span activities, integrate the Annual Marketing Budget Template (or similar) as a linked sheet, with columns for projected vs. actual spend by month/quarter, including variance calculations (e.g., =[Actual]@row - [Projected]@row ) and year-to-date summaries for historical trends.