PROJECT DURATION - OVERIDE DEFAULT

GDM-MIKE

I use a smartsheet to manage engineering tasks

I have columns that calculate task duration based on work types

I now want to convert this to a project sheet and have the task duration driven by an existing column

Example: I would like my "Planned Hrs" column to determine the task duration

Does anyone know how to have the Duration column get the value I have in another column?

Mike

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Paul Newcome

You would go into the project settings and adjust which column the duration is running from.

L_123

To get to project settings right click on any column header and project settings will be an option in the dropdown.

GDM-MIKE

Thanks for the answers to my query.

I will try these solutions

GDM-MIKE

Paul,

I change the Duration setting to my column (Hours Remaining)

It did what you said but it automatically changed my data from Hrs to Days which means my Gantt chart is now way over stated

Example: 3.012 became 3.012d

Andrée Starå

Hi Mike,

You'll have to write it like 1h 30m.

More info: https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/765737-project-sheet-columns-start-date-end-date-duration-complete-and-predecessors#Duration

Hope that helps!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

Paul Newcome

Andree's response is correct. Give that a try and let us know.

GDM-MIKE

Thanks everyone for the input.

I thought I might show what I am trying to achieve

I am wanting to use my task sheet to schedule tasks

I have 5 engineers with multiple tasks in front of them, and always new task added wanted 2 days ago :-)

The task priorities change often so I was looking to use Gantt View with my sheet set as a project sheet

The task sheet works well at the moment but is limited to a list, with a due by Date

I have several columns which calculate the "Planned Hours" for each row (Task) based on the type and complexity of the work

I had planned to use the Planned Hours to set the duration and hoped to set the "Complete Date based on when it is required to be finished, letting the start date be driven by the Planned hour and the Complete date

A lot of the tasks have a planed Hours under 1 day, and there is where I seem to run into trouble

See if the attached image makes it clear what I am trying to achieve

Smartsheet Capture -1.JPG

Paul Newcome

Unfortunately the biggest hitch in your system is that we currently cannot use formulas in dependency columns including duration. It would be a really great feature though, so feel free to submit a Product Enhancement Request.

GDM-MIKE

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your response, I have sent off a product enhancement request

"Formulas in dependency columns including duration"

GDM-MIKE

Anyone got any ideas for a workaround?

I have attached another screenshot of my sheet

Smartsheet Capture -3.JPG

Paul Newcome

Andree or someone with more experience would need to confirm as I am not very familiar with the API, but I feel like there could be a way to automatically read the data in a cell and then insert said data into another cell on the same row either through the API or a 3rd party app such as Zapier.

If that is possible, then you could have your Planned Hours column working up your calculations and then use either the API or Zapier to pull from that column and insert into the Duration column.

Again... I am not very familiar with either of those. Just kind of throwing out some ideas at his point.

Aside from the above... All I can think of (for now) is to keep your Planned Hours column calculating and then manually enter the result into the duration column.

GDM-MIKE

Thanks Again for your input Paul.

I am thinking the same at the moment.

Manually enter the planned hours into duration. This will at least test the theory of what I am trying to achieve for now and then I can look to automate

Paul Newcome

Happy to help (sort of)!

The easiest way I can think of for manual input is to work everything else out first then copy/paste the entire column over. It will pull the value but not the formula. That should help save you from having to manually enter a ton of additional data.

Andrée Starå

Yes, it's probably possible with Zapier or the Smartheet API, but I'd have to check to be sure.

@Mike, Let me know if Pauls method is sufficient or not.

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