Version Control of Project Plans/Sheets?

Ivana · 11/04/19

Hello, I am wondering if there is a way in Smartsheet to version control the sheets. Basically, we are using each sheet as an individual project plan. However, as projects progress, the plan will (usually) slip and/or have to be updated, so we need to amend it. Since there seems to be no way in Smartsheet to baseline the original plan (is there?), we want to be able to at least version control the project plan.

What we've been doing is that every time we had to update a project plan, we'd "save as new", and create a new version of the plan by using an internal naming convention (for example, if the original project plan is called ProjectName v1.ddmmyy, the updated version will be called ProjectName v2.ddmmyy).

However, this way is not really handy from a resource management point of view, because resources will still be allocated to the old plan, as well as the new versions of the plan - meaning that more often than not they will show as over-allocated, but that's not the case. We would really like to avoid this, as one of the reasons for choosing Smartsheet in the first place was to improve our Resource Management.

Therefore, is there a neat solution for version control of our project plans that doesn't mess up resource management? Can you perhaps tell in the resource overview not to account for specific sheets?

Any suggestions are welcome. Thank you.

PPS Solutions · 11/04/19

HI Ivana, there currently isn't a way to do what you are looking for using the Out Of the Box functionality although I am told that "Baselining" is on the roadmap and that should give you what you need.

Until then we offer this workaround to our clients - add in extra columns for capturing the "snapshot" of the plan before you move to the next version. Typical extra columns should be Baseline Start, Baseline Finish, Baseline Duration. If you are using Costs add in a column for saving the Cost baseline and if you want to preserve the Resource Profile in detail the add in columns for capturing the Assigned To value and the %Allocation column (if you are using that for %Effort).

So add those columns in; copy the "Current" data across, lock those columns and hide them and now update your plan with the new estimates. If you need to have multiple Baselines saved then just repeat the process and add another set of columns in per baseline.

So, no need to Save As New and have multiple sheets

Hope that helps.

Dan

Ivana · 11/04/19

Hi Dan, Thank you for your clear response. I will try to implement this solution and propose it to our group. Thanks again.

Paul Newcome · 11/04/19

This is essentially what I do. I have two sets of columns. One set of Projected and one set of Actual.

I actually prefer having them on the same sheet because it allows for a lot of metrics to be pulled and a lot of historical data to be tracked.

Riyaz M · 08/01/20

Any update on the mentioned "baselining" (in the original response up top) ?

Kylee Johnson · 12/17/20

Also interested on an update for version control options and the ability to baseline projects. @PPS Solutions

Version Control of Project Plans/Sheets?

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