Cross-Link Dependencies

Jeff K.

2 issues

 

How to cross-link dependencies between separate project management sheets

How to see these cross-link dependencies in a summary sheet

 

I looked into these 3 sites for cross-linking dependencies, but I've hit a wall with resource management

 

https://www.smartsheet.com/blog/support-tip-cell-linking-master-gantt 

 

https://www.smartsheet.com/comment/34120

 

http://help.smartsheet.com/customer/portal/articles/765753-parent-rollup-functionality 

 

In conclusion, I thought the best way was to create a master project sheet and then cell-link the rows of the master to individual project sheets, a more top-down approach than the sites listed. It's simpler this way to set dependencies between different projects.

 

However, creating a cell-link between the individual sheets to a master sheet will cause my resource viewer to state that all of my resources are over-booked.

 

Is there a way to turn-off the resource for the master/summary sheet?

 

Is there a way to show cross-linked depenencies if I do the "bottom-up" approach as suggested by the sites?

Zack S

Hello Jeff, 

 

Resource Management can be enabled or disabled on a sheet by sheet basis, so for your top-down method you could turn Resource Management off on the master sheet, so those rows aren’t counted a second time. To do this you can right click on any column header and select Edit Project Settings > Resource Management > Uncheck Resource Enabled. 

 

The bottom up approach wouldn’t really allow you to have cross sheet dependencies, as there isn’t a functionality for this in Smartsheet. I’ll be sure to add your vote for this functionality to our enhancement request list. The predecessors in a sheet will only control the rows that are on the same sheet, so there wouldn’t be a way to for a task on one sheet to affect a task on another sheet. 

 

 

Let me know if you have any questions. 

Jeff K.

How about a way to visually see linked cells from a sheet?

 

 

Zack S

Hello, 

 

When you've created cell links, there will be a blue or black arrow in each cell that is linked, in order to denote that they are linked. The blue arrow will point in toward the cell if it is an inbound link, and it will show the black arrow pointing out from the cell if it is an outbound link. 

 

Let me know if you have any additional questions. 

 

-Zack

Jeff K.

Thanks for the tip,

 

I meant a way to visualize/map the sheets which are cell-linked to the sheet I'm viewing, rather than individually finding out which sheet is cell-linked to a particular cell

Zack S

Hello Jeff, 

 

Thank you for the clarification and sorry for my misunderstanding. We don't have an overall way to view or map the cell links that have been created by sheets, but this is a great idea. I'm not sure I've heard this specific vote before, but I'll be sure to add it to our enhancement request list for our product team to review. 

 

 

Thanks for the input! 

Deb S

Is this functionality available yet? I would like to see this feature so I can see which projects have dependencies on other projects.  For example, I'd like to see:

 

Project App 1, task Install Software is dependent on project Infra 1, milestone Server Builds Complete. 

Project App 2, task install Software is depended on project Infra 1, milestone Server Builds Complete.

Project App 3, task Test Interface is depended on project App 2, milestone Interface Development Complete.

Minnaar Fourie

The suggestions/features mentioned here are key in programme management where integration is important for the purpose of critical path analyses. 

Deb S's scenario will be vital also when a huge sheet have to be broken down into separate but integrated smaller sheets.

another vote from me!

 

davidmartin95826

Hello,

I'm also interested in the functionality that Deb S and Minnaar Fourie mentioned above.

Thanks,

David

Andrée Starå

Hi everyone,

Please submit an Enhancement Request when you have a moment to have your vote added

A New Way to Submit Your Feature Requests

To make your Enhancement / Feature Request count, send in the form above because there isn’t a guarantee, it will be registered otherwise.

Original Post: https://community.smartsheet.com/announcement/new-way-submit-your-feature-requests

Have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant @ Get Done Consulting