Automatic numbering for Work Breakdown Structure

Mike Litterio

@Alex Fedotov Thanks! This looks great - going to give it a try. QQ - What is the formula for the "WBS Code" column? I don't see that in your post.

Suelen Miranda

@Alex Fedotov Great job, simple and elegant!

@Mike Litterio For "WBS Code" you can use the formula he put in "b" 5 - Parent row number, it worked perfectly for me.

Chris Albig

@Alex Fedotov @Suelen Miranda I have copied a problem with my formula in that my top-level WBS # is not changing. My Project Plan has 6 base parents, however the WBS Code for each is 1 where i feel they should increment. Can either of you help me understand what might be causing this?

I copied+pasted the formulas and took no liberties other than moving columns...

This feature is truly a godsend, and I'm so excited to use it; a feature that really needs to be added to Smartsheet.

Henry

• @Alex Fedotov Please let me know if there is a formula for "Row ID" column , thank you!

Hsharma

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/299187#Comment_299187

Hello Alex, want to do exactly what you are doing however the instructions are not clear to me as I am new to Smartsheet. I do not see option to add formula for the auto number field

Pete B.

This is great, I'm making some progress, but stuck on the last step. How do I go about adding both formulas to the "Parent row number" cell?

Daniel Kumar

Hi @Alex Fedotov, what formula did you use for the WBS Code?

And how did you actually use both formulas for the Parent row number.

Best,

Daniel

Jim Mika

I have the same issue as Chris in that the leading WBS# is always 1. Did anyone find a solution to this?

Kurt Robohm

The 5.b formula should be added as a formula for WBS code (#3), then this works fine!

Thanks for providing the basic structure! Got me out of a jam.

Kurt Robohm

I have tried a number of ways to be able to set high level numbering to increment after 1, but no joy. Seems that the schedule has to be setup so that every branch starts with a 1, thus all child tasks would be 1.1, 1.2, 1.3....

Would be nice to be able set the numbering so that you can have say, 1, 1.1, 1.2, then 2, 2.1, 2.2, etc.

Kurt Robohm

Found a template that provides complete solution that will number things correctly. Here it is:

https://app.smartsheet.com/b/launch?lx=AoXtVB0iMz0XS5D-MVU5jl2F3tjZfBYMXSEruozjq1E

Olga Bykov

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/299187#Comment_299187

@Alex Fedotov, thank you so much! Your solution works perfectly! And thank you for specifying that auto-numbering in the Row ID column must start with 1, I had an issue with the newly added rows WBS Codes and adding this condition solved it, thank you! 👍️

Alex Fedotov

Hello Comunity,

Due to, probably, some tech issues, I've not been receiving any email notifications, and the first one that I've got is the one from @Olga Bykov above.

Olga, all, glad that the solution was helpful.

After having read the questions I figured out the source of confusion - the last 5.b should have be in the WBS Code column - a formatting error. In addition to that Row ID is just a regular column of the predefined type "Auto number" - there can be only one such column.

In total, you would need these columns

1. Row ID - Auto increment column starting with 1. This is a regular column with of a predefined type "Auto number"

1. Row number
   1. Formula - MATCH([Row ID]@row, [Row ID]:[Row ID], 0)
2. Level
   1. Formula - COUNT(ANCESTORS())
3. Child index
   1. Formula - COUNTIFS(Level:Level, Level@row, [Row number]:[Row number], AND(@cell <= [Row number]@row, @cell > [Parent row number]@row))
4. Parent row number
   1. Formula - IF(ISBLANK(PARENT([Row number]@row)), 0, MATCH(PARENT([Row number]@row), [Row number]:[Row number], 0))
5. WBS Code
   1. Formula - IF(ISBLANK(PARENT()), [Child index]@row, PARENT() + "." + [Child index]@row) .@Chris Albig this update in bold should account for your case with multiple zero-level entries. The formula used to be IF(ISBLANK(PARENT()), 1, PARENT() + "." + [Child index]@row) .

Hope this helps folks.

Manju_V

Just save the Smartsheet, the Index number will be automatically corrected in order you have the index!

Nick Van Maele

Hi @ALAIN-STEPHANE ,

The link to the 2019 post no longer works.

Any chance you could reshare the approach to create an automatic WBS numbering system?

Thanks in advance,

Nick