Manage project by workload instead of duration

Pierre Andrieu

Hello all,

 

in our company we used to work by workload instead of duration / capacity.

This is really important for us as we're a consultancy company and selling man days and not duration.

What is the best way to work like that ?

For the moment the workaround is:

- I use is to put a duration then calculate the allocation % based on workload

This is very difficult to work like that.

Thanks of your help

Pierre

Pierre Andrieu

Hello

Does anyone know if it's possible ?

Maybe my requirement is not clear ?

Thanks

Pierre

Kennedy Stomps

Hi Pierre--

 

Currently we don't support calculating allocation % automatically--is this what you're asking? If not, can you share a screen shot of your sheet and provide a little more detail on what you're looking to accomplish so we can better assist you?

 

Pierre Andrieu

Hello Kennedy

 

Smartsheet manage project with duration driver. It means that a task is = duration * % Allocation

 

We 're not managing our project by duration but workload (because we're selling workload)

To create a task i would like to put a workload and allocation % an then smartsheet must propose me a duration / schedule.

 

Thanks of your help

 

NB: Microsoft project is working like that too if it can helps in comprehension of my need.

Pierre Andrieu

Hello

In other words I'll like to fix the workload and the % allocation and then the chart/duration is calculated automatically.

Rgds

 

Kennedy Stomps

Hi Pierre--

 

Thanks for getting back with me and explaining what you're looking for in a little more detail. Currently, Smartsheet is only able to automatically calculate Duration, Start Date, and End Date, when two of those three values are entered in a sheet. We don't have a way to automatically calculate duration based on workload and % Allocation. I've passed your feedback on allowing more flexibility in the values used to automatically calculate duration in dependency-enabled sheets to our Development team to consider for a future update. We appreciate your input!

 

Pierre Andrieu

Thanks of your feedback Kennedy.

I'll follow this request as it is  very important for us in terms of project management.

 

Rgds

Pierre

AH

I second this request. It would be better to manage workloads according to hours and availability and for resource allocation and duration to calculate accordingly. Competitor products have this functionality.

Colin Silvester

I would also urge SmartSheet to consider implementing this functionality as soon as possible.

The projects I manage always involve multiple tasks assigned to various members of the team. Our projects and tasks tend to be assessed in terms of workload (= man days or man months). However, the duration a project or task will take to complete will depend upon the number of people assigned to it. At this time, Smartsheet doesn't have the functionality that enables me to plan tasks according to available capacity vs workload.

After a quick look around the Interweb I found a competitor to SmartSheet that says that "Resource Management and Workload" is being planned and is on their roadmap:

https://www.teamwork.com/roadmap

The lack of ability to plan work according to workload and capacity is the single biggest issue I have with SmartSheet. If Teamwork can get this functionality implemented (and it works!) before Smartsheet, then I'll be forced to switch to Teamwork.