Applies to

Smartsheet
  • Business
  • Enterprise

Capabilities

Who can use this capability

Sheet Owners and Admin can enable workload tracking. Sheet Owners, Admin, and Editors can view the workload heatmap and edit the workload schedule.

Workload tracking in Smartsheet

Use the workload heatmap and workload schedule directly in project sheets to view who is available and address resource over-allocations. 

PLANS

  • Smartsheet
  • Business
  • Enterprise

Permissions

Sheet Owners and Admin can enable workload tracking. Sheet Owners, Admin, and Editors can view the workload heatmap and edit the workload schedule.

Workload tracking is available to users with a Smartsheet Business or Enterprise plan. It is also available to users who have a Resource Management account that have Smartsheet Authentication for Resource Management activated.

If you have a Resource Management plan and use workload tracking, your project data is visible in Resource Management to admins and other users with account-wide access. 

On project sheets, you can enable workload tracking, which will calculate the availability of the resources assigned to work on the project. You can calculate availability from all the assignments on projects where workload tracking is on. It is best practice to turn on workload tracking for all committed work so project managers can have the most accurate picture of a person's availability. An allocation % column is on each project plan sheet. This column can specify how much of a person's time can allot to the project assignment. 

The option to track your team's workload appears when:

  • If starting from a blank sheet, you add two date type columns and a contact type column
  • If starting from Gantt view, a project sheet template, or project assistant template, then immediately upon opening the sheet
  • If you open an existing sheet with data that includes two date type columns and a contact type column

Selecting Try it out on the nudge opens the Resource Management Panel to begin workload tracking. Selecting Dismiss  on the nudge closes it out and, it won’t appear again across all of your sheets for 3 days. Checking the box for Don't show me again  and then selecting Dismiss permanently removes the nudge from all of your sheets. 

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workload tracking nudge for the resource management panel

A project sheet is typically a sheet with a start date, end date, duration, % complete, and predecessors column. However, Smartsheet will automatically configure the additional needed columns to make a sheet a project sheet using Resource Management in the background if you agree to configure workload tracking. 

Workload heatmap

After you turn on workload tracking for your project in the Resource Management panel, the panel will show a workload heatmap that highlights over-allocation. The workload heatmap allows you to identify staffing issues. A red bar indicates when resources are over-allocated, prompting you to take action to resolve any staffing issues.

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grid view with workload heatmap visible

Workload heatmap colors

ColorMeaning

Red

Over allocated

Dark Gray

Fully allocated (100%)

Medium Gray

Partially allocated (1-99%)

Light Gray

Available, 0% allocated

Blue

Assignments related to the current project sheet

Workload schedule

You can expand the workload heatmap into a full screen workload schedule to see over-allocation conditions in detail. Here, you’ll see which other projects are contributing to over-allocation and can either modify project assignment to resolve the issue, or collaborate with other project owners to change assignments for their projects. You can only edit assignments on the workload schedule that pertain to the sheet you have open. 

You must save the sheet before assignment changes in the grid reflect in the workload schedule. However, when you make assignment changes on the workload schedule, the changes will automatically sync to the grid. However, you do not need to save the workload schedule, as assignment changes immediately sync when saved.

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workload schedule

Workload schedule colors

ColorMeaning

Red

Over allocated

Medium Gray

Assignments related to other projects

Light Gray

Available 

Blue

Assignments related to the current project sheet

Set up the workload heatmap and workload schedule 

  1. Open your project plan sheet
  2. Select the Resource Management panel icon
  3. Enable workload tracking on the project sheet
  4. Review the workload heatmap to see people assigned to work in the project plan and to ensure nobody is over-allocated.

Over-allocation indicators are more likely to show up when workload tracking is turned on for other projects resources are working on. Other project managers should turn on workload tracking for their projects. This improves the visibility into all the work resources have on their plates.

  1. Expand the workload heatmap into the full screen workload schedule to see which other projects are taking up time and contributing to over-allocation.
  2. Adjust project assignments on the workload schedule or in the project sheet to resolve over-allocation. Be sure to work with other project managers to adjust assignments on their projects when necessary.
  3. Routinely review the workload heatmap to identify other staffing issues throughout the project’s lifecycle. 

You can't track Workload for external free collaborators at this time. You should make them unlicensed users in admin center to track their workload.

Turn off workload tracking

In the Resource Management Panel, select the ellipses menu, then select Turn off workload tracking. The workload tracking data will be archived and no longer visible. 

 

Archived projects are hidden from the workload schedule. If you have a Resource Management account, login to your Resource Management account to view archived projects on the Resource Management schedule. 

Switch Resource Management accounts

If you have multiple Resource Management accounts, you can switch the project to a different account if needed. 

  1. Select the ellipses menu. Select Turn off workload tracking.
  2. In the Resource Management Panel, select Track workload.
  3. Select the account you want to use for the project. 

Upgrade to Resource Management capabilities

Smartsheet's Resource Management capabilities provide enhanced and expanded profiles for capturing a person's skills, role, discipline, part-time availability, and more. This information enables Resource Management to surface skill-based staffing recommendations, plan around people's schedules, and more.

 

 

Resource Management automatically creates user profiles (Unmanaged Resources) when they are assigned to a project that utilizes workload tracking. Resource Management is working behind the scenes to power workload tracking. If you choose to upgrade to the Resource Management capabilities, this data will be available for you. Learn more about Unmanaged Resource profiles.  

 

 

If you are already using Resource Management by Smartsheet, then the data from the workload tracking will automatically sync to your Resource Management instance. 

 

 

Want to try Smartsheet for Workload tracking? Learn how to set up a free Smartsheet trial

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