Two new PPM Functions: Successors and isCritical, available now!

Morgan Kozol · 10/18/21

Hi Community,

We’re excited to announce the launch of two new PPM formula functions available now in Smartsheet: Successors and isCritical.

The Successors function (type: numeric) allows users to calculate the direct successors of a task and return a collection of values that will occur as a result of the referenced task. Successors are the direct tasks with a dependency after the date-driven event for that particular task has occurred - in other words, the task(s) that can begin after one finishes.

The isCritical function (type: logic) allows users to determine whether the row they are currently working on is on the critical path; whether or not the task is going to affect the final end date for the entire project. This formula, commonly used with the IF function, will return one value when true, and another when false.

These two new formula functions will help project, program, and portfolio managers more effectively plan out, report on, and quickly mitigate risk in large-scale, dependency enabled project sheets. If you have feedback or suggestions on how we can improve the formula experience in Smartsheet, please fill out an Enhancement Request for our product team to review.

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Cheers,

Morgan

Paul Lambert · 02/17/22

Hi Morgan,

What are the requirements for the IsCritical to work? I've set this up on various project plans, all of which have dependencies enabled and populated. No tasks are identified as critical, which would not be expected since there's always a critical path.

The successors function works great!

Regards,

Paul

Patti Petitclerc · 04/14/22

Hi Morgan,

I'm with Paul, I set up the IsCritical formula on a very extensive 3 year project, which has dependencies enabled and populated. Only one small section of tasks in year 2 show as being critical (23 tasks out of 3,000+). When I switch to Gantt view it shows the critical path very clearly starting from the beginning of the project.

I really like this idea and look forward to seeing it in action.

Best,

Patti