Combining multiple views of a project plan in one

In our previous solution, we had five project plans for users to choose from. This caused reporting issues as our milestones did not align between project plans. Has anyone combined project plans into one template and allowed the user to see the appropriate tasks for their chosen project plan by perhaps a filter?

Example, in our next launch, we'd like to slim down our project plans to three - Simple (core milestones for reporting), Detailed (for newer PMs and those that prefer to use every task), and then Agile. I would prefer to have the core milestones in each project plan appear in each filtered view.

Has anyone tried this approach? Any best practices you can share please? Thank you in advance.

Heidi

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Paul Newcome

I have a "Master Project Plan" that covers 12 different services. I use a Project Charter for every project that includes a series of checkboxes (one for each service).

Then in the Project Plan I include every line item I need for all services. Then I include 13 more checkbox columns (one for each service and then an extra). Across the top row each box is linked to the project charter so that if that service is checked as needed on the charter, that top checkbox in the corresponding column is checked in the project plan.

This next step gets very tedious but only needs done once and really pays off in the long run...

You will need to manually enter a formula in each row in each column that references that same column's cell in row 1.

=[Column Name]$1

This will check the box for that line item if the box is checked in the top row which is pulled from the charter.

It could take a while (I have over 1,000 rows and 12 columns to evaluate), but it is worth it once you are done.

Then in that final checkbox column I use an IF/COUNTIFS to say that if any of my service boxes are checked on that row, then check this box.

Then I create a "Needed" filter to show only those rows that have the main box checked.

It is a tedious setup, but to me it is very much so worth it.

Just make sure that you have the Project Plan and Charter saved into the same folder and users will save the folder itself as new so that the two sheets stay linked together.

I use the charter to track additional information such as projected go live and contacts and whatnot. If you don't need all of that and only need the checkboxes, you could get rid of the charter and use the Sheet Summary fields.

Paul Newcome

I am not very familiar with resource management within Smartsheet, so I can't really speak to that. If you can give me a basic rundown of how you want to use it and what you currently know about it, we can most definitely have a conversation about various impacts.

Adding rows is as easy as adding rows. If you are adding a new section to the end of the Project Plan, I suggest having one empty row between the two to keep any of the checkbox formulas from pulling down. Then they can manually check the main box to have the new row included in the filter. They can also manually un-check boxes in the main box column to remove rows that they don't need for that specific project.

For example... Some of my Project Plans have an option of either A or B, both of which have their own associated line items. When a user creates a new Project Plan, they simply un-check the boxes for whichever they don't need and reapply the filter to "hide" or "remove" those rows from that particular project's PP.

All comments

Paul Newcome

I have a "Master Project Plan" that covers 12 different services. I use a Project Charter for every project that includes a series of checkboxes (one for each service).

This next step gets very tedious but only needs done once and really pays off in the long run...

You will need to manually enter a formula in each row in each column that references that same column's cell in row 1.

=[Column Name]$1

This will check the box for that line item if the box is checked in the top row which is pulled from the charter.

It could take a while (I have over 1,000 rows and 12 columns to evaluate), but it is worth it once you are done.

Then in that final checkbox column I use an IF/COUNTIFS to say that if any of my service boxes are checked on that row, then check this box.

Then I create a "Needed" filter to show only those rows that have the main box checked.

It is a tedious setup, but to me it is very much so worth it.

Just make sure that you have the Project Plan and Charter saved into the same folder and users will save the folder itself as new so that the two sheets stay linked together.

heidi_flores86196

Thank you, Paul, for the quick reply. What a brilliant idea! We are using Control Center with one blueprint so we are trying to condense to one project plan with our next release. A couple of follow-up questions:

We will have common milestones with these three plans for reporting reasons and attempt to use resource management this go around on the common tasks. Are you able to use resource management with having multiple plans on one sheet?
Can users easily add rows or do they need to un-filter to see everything and then add a row? For our Agile plan, adding additional Sprints may be necessary. Unless I ask up front, how many sprints does your project plan include (and then place a limit on 10, for example) to pre-load the rows into their plan.

I appreciate your time and insight.

Heidi

Paul Newcome

heidi_flores86196

Thank you, Paul. This has helped me see my vision more clearly. I'll tackle resource management next week. When there's a will, there's a way with Smartsheet! I really appreciate your time!

Paul Newcome

Happy to help! 👍️

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