I have a question on the PMO Template Intake Sheet vs the Project Metadata sheet.

Kristin33

I am a little confused on the difference between the info on the Intake Sheet vs the Project Metadata sheet. We are using the PMO Template Set and do not need much in way of an "approval" process for starting projects (there is another system in place for that - we cannot replace it). So the questions & info needed to be asked to start are really basic (ID, Proj Name, & maybe a few others). Then on the actual Project Metadata sheet we would have need for way more info (sku count, Proj Team members assigned for different Depts, different categories of launches, etc.). What I am very unclear on is if the Intake Form/Sheet HAS TO have all of this data and feed it to the Proj Metadata or if we can just have a minimal Intake Sheet and then have it filled in on the Proj Metadata sheet for reporting? It seems a little complicated to fill it all in on the Intake Sheet (some info may come later in project but we would still want to have for reporting) and then "connect" it to the Proj Metadata sheets. So I guess I'm trying to confirm if the Intake Sheet in the PMO Template HAS TO be an exact match of the data/columns in the Proj Metadata sheet or can you have data in the Proj Metadata that just lives there?

Julie Fortney

Hi @Kristin33,

Absolutely - you don't have to display everything from your project metadata sheet on your intake sheet.

If you are using Smartsheet Control Center, you can use the projects metadata sheet to collect information from other project-level assets so you can pull them into your intake/summary sheet and create some awesome portfolio-level reports and dashboards.

www.linkedin.com/in/juliefortney-pmp-smartsheetpartner-lssblackbelt

Kristin33

Hi @Julie Fortney,

Sorry, but I'm still a little confused which sheet is driving PORTFOLIO reporting. I don't think we are using the Control Center (if that is the separate Automation Tool). But in the PMO Template Set, it seems that if we want to be able to report on Portfolio data & we link a Report to all the projects in Workspace (therefore ALL the Project Metadata sheets) - in theory, I would not need the same data to be in the Intake Summary, right?

For example, we have about 5-6 Dept Assignees for each project. At the initial Intake, those people may not be known. So originally I thought I had to create the columns for those ea to be entered into the Intake Summary Sheet & then linked to the Project Metadata Sheet. But if I just have those columns of data in the Project Metadata Sheet to be updated when info is available, I could still report on those Depts workloads across ALL Projects by linking the report to ALL the Projects in the Workspace, right? Then I don't have to have those columns on the Intake Summary too?

I do want the Portfolio Reporting for most of the project data, but most of the tutorials I have seen (although not many have been on Portfolio Reporting) link reports to Project Metadata Sheets, so I just do not understand why I would need anything beyond basic entry info on the Summary Intake Sheet.

Julie Fortney

@Kristin33 -- That's true, if you don't have SCC, you could just reference the project workspace in your reports to pull data from the metadata sheets.

I think the PMO Template Set is trying to replicate the setup you would have if you had SCC, but without the power of SCC to create the setup for you, trying to run portfolio reporting off of the intake sheet is inefficient.

Kristin33

@Julie Fortney Thank you for all your help and quick responses. We didn't have the option to add the SCC to our account due to budget restrictions, but maybe someday. But I think I had my breakthrough last night and I do see that some of the existing Portfolio reports in the PMO Template Set are all running off of the Intake Summary Sheet and most of the Project Level reports are running off of the Project Metadata, so I will work with the way the templates were built. But appreciate you walking through this with me!

Julie Fortney

@Kristin33 - You're very welcome. We gradually added features and functionality also. Once your team gets excited about the possibilities, you might find use cases that justify SCC . Our team was hesitant about change at first, but now we receive so many enhancement requests from team members that we have a Smartsheet process and special "Smartsheet Guru" team to handle them. :)