Navigate the project page in Resource Management

All users can see the project brief for projects they are a part of. 

From the project page, you can:

• Set a project budget in time, fee, or expenses (non-labor costs). This is your estimated goal to meet your targeted profitability or deadline.
• Add people to the project and create a work plan that fits the estimated budget.
• Create work items and assign project responsibilities and due dates to your team.
• View real-time progress of the project and monitor your budget and allocation.
• Use quick links to project reports to analyze the data behind the work progress

Project brief

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Project brief for a linked Smartsheet project, showing the workload risk summary

The project brief is the project's landing page. It displays an updated synopsis of the project, including the project description, people currently working on the project, a visualization of the project timeline, and progress of current work. All project properties are also visible on this page. The project brief updates automatically to reflect the project's progress.

The project brief includes:

• Client name
• Project name
• Project start and end dates
• Project owner
• Project description (up to 2,048 characters, including line breaks)
• Clickable links in the description
• Workload risk summary - Uses AI to surface project risk due to over- or under-utilized resources (for Smartsheet projects enabled for Workload Tracking or Resource Management projects) 

Project status and reports

Status for the project's work, time, and fees appear on the left side of the project page brief. The show dropdown filters what data is displayed in this menu pane.

You can see information about:

• The entire project (default)
• Non-phase specific
• Specific phase

Quick links to the time + fees and budget reports are at the bottom of the left pane.

You can use the project brief in weekly team meetings as an agenda and a way to record and communicate each person's responsibilities.

Schedule

The schedule displays project phases and people scheduled to work on the project. Click anywhere on this schedule to access the project schedule tab. Right-click (or CTRL + select) to save the schedule image for sharing with your team or other key stakeholders

Worklist

The Worklist shows project information:

• Current project status 
• Phases
• Team members

Information for each team member:

• Percent allocation
• Work items

And project assignment information:

• Project assignment dates
• Status of each assignment

You can edit the project timeline and any associated assignments. You can create phases and assignments, and see the impact of those changes on the project's time and fee status.

By default, the schedule auto-zooms to fit the length of your project. Use the sliders at either end of the phase or assignment bars to change dates.

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Adding items to the project schedule

To add phases:

1. Select the schedule where you'd like the phase to begin and then select Add Phase.
2. Choose from one of the default phase names or create a new phase name. The phase automatically extends to the end of the project, but you can edit it as needed.

To add assignments:

1. Select an empty date slot or phase and then select Add Team Member. 
2. Select a team member from the list. You can also choose a placeholder if you don't have a resource in mind. The assignment starts on the current day (or the project start date if it’s in the future) and extends to the end of the project or phase, but you can edit it as needed. 

To add descriptions of work:

• To add work to an existing assignment, select a team member's assignment and then choose Work Item. Enter your details in the text box.
• To add a description of work without assigning it to a team member, select a blank portion of the schedule and select Add Work Item. Enter text to create a new work item that starts on the current day (or the project start date if it’s in the future) and extends to the end of the project.

Resourcing Administrators, Project Managers, and People Schedulers can use the project worklist to manage tasks and assignments, but can't create worklists.

Use the worklist to:

• See all the work, its status, and who it’s assigned to
• Create and edit project plans 
• Indicate who should work on what and when
• Add work items for key deliverables or milestones

Before you can use the worklist, you must set up a project.

Phases 

Phases break a project into different kinds of work. Add phases first, then add work items to each phase.

To add phases to the worklist

1. At the top left of the Worklist, select Phase. A new phase row appears at the bottom of the worklist.
2. Name the phase. Use the Enter key to add more phases; select anywhere on the screen when you’re done.  
3. To edit the phase, select the new row. The properties pane opens in the right sidebar. 

To adjust phase dates

1. Select the start or end date on a phase row to open the calendar. 
2. Select the new dates from the calendar. 

Set the dates for each phase as you create them; the next phase you add will start immediately after the previous phase ends.

Add work items to the worklist 

Work Items define project deliverables, expectations, and responsibilities for the project, phase, or person.

To add work items

1. Hover over a person, then select Work Item.   
2. In the right pane, fill out the Work Item properties.  

Hovering over a row activates + Work Item at the bottom of the project or phase grouping so you can add details about the item.

To assign work items

1. Select the Work Item row to open the Work Item details.
2. Select Assign Team Member.

Or: 

• Hover over the work item and then select Assign. 

Copy work items in the worklist

You can duplicate a work item, copying it to either the project or a phase in the project. Copy work items when:

• You have multiple people working on the same thing. Copy the work item multiple times and assign each copy to the people working on it. 
• You have similar assignments across many project phases, such as a design review. Copy the work item for each phase and edit the dates.
• You need to move a work item. Copy the work item to the new phase and delete the old work item.

To copy a work item

1. Select the work item you want to copy on the Worklist.  
2. At the bottom of the right details pane, select Copy. 
3. Select the project or phase where you want to copy the work item.

Delete work items from the worklist

Only Resourcing Admins and Portfolio Editors can delete work items. Deleting a work item deletes the entire row and all its contents, including the assignment. Time already tracked to the assignment is not deleted.

1. Select the Work Item row. 
2. At the bottom of the right pane, select Delete. 

Add people to the worklist

To add a team member to a phase

There are two ways to add a team member to the worklist:

• Select the project or phase, then select + Add Team Member from the right panel.
• Hover under the last phase or project entry and select Team Member. Your team directory appears in the right panel. 

To add a team member to multiple phases

1. At the top of the Worklist, select Team Member. 
2. In the right panel, select the Phases you want to add team members to. You can also select the whole project. 
3. At the bottom of the panel, select Add Phases. 
4. Select the Team Member you want to add.

All assignments have start and end dates. Depending on whether the person is assigned at the project or phase level, assignments will inherit the project or phase start and end dates by default.

Specify work status in the worklist

You can specify a status for each work item. Resourcing Admins, Portfolio Editors, and the person assigned to the work can change status throughout a project. 

Use status to identify items that need attention. You can customize status settings to suit your organization’s unique vocabulary.

Status appears wherever a work item appears. Learn more about work status.

Shift dates in the worklist

Project and phase dates change. If you have defined phases and assignments, you can shift dates without editing each item.

To shift dates

1. In the Worklist, select the project or phase name. It’s in bold at the top of the project or phase section. 
2. In the right pane, select Shift Dates.
3. Enter a new start date, and then select Save

Shifting a project moves all phases, assignments, and task due dates.

When you add a work item to a person's project assignment, they'll see it on the Today view of their personal page. 

Add a work item to a project

1. In the top navigation, select Projects, and then select a project. 
2. Select Worklist.
3. Select + Work Item for the entire project of the specific phase. 
4. In the panel that opens, select a work item either for the entire project or a specific phase.  
5. An editable row appears. Enter the work, outcome, or deliverable.
6. Select the row, and use the panel on the right to edit the work item assignment, dates, phase, notes, and task list. 

You can only get notifications for Resource Management projects that are connected to Smartsheet. Learn how to connect a project sheet to a Resource Management project.

Sheet automations for connected Resource Management projects can help you:

• Know the status of your assignments or tasks
• Know if a project you’re tracking has any changes
• Identify who made a change

The Sheet Activity log aggregates these important changes and displays them in a historical timeline. You can also download the log to analyze the information. Learn more about the Sheet Activity log. 

If your project isn't connected to Smartsheet, you can create a project sheet from the Resource Management project. Learn how to import your project into Smartsheet. 

Get email notifications

Email notifications alert you about important changes to your assignments. 

Create sheet automations in your connected project plan sheets to receive notifications similar to the Daily Digest emails and Follow Project capabilities.

New to sheet automations in Smartsheet? Check out the Automations guide. 

Create a template project like any other project.

Use naming conventions that make it clear the project is a template. For example:

• Project Name = TEMPLATE: X-Project
• Project Type = Tentative
• Project Tag = TEMPLATE

Duplicate the template to create a new project. 

To duplicate a project:

1. Go to the template's project page and select Project Settings.
2. On the left sidebar, select Create a Copy.

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If you have repeat projects with the same client, create a template project with the bill rates you charge that client and label it accordingly. Save it as an Internal or Tentative project type, so it’s clear it’s just a template. Now, you can copy this project every time you need that specific rate card. 

1.  Gather the total hours for each person in the first project.
2. Create a new project.
3. In the new project, add each person with the total number of hours they worked in the old project.
4. Change the date they worked on the project to a date in the past. 

You can tag projects with the same custom field or tag, so when you view the schedule or reports, you can filter to see data associated with all projects with that tag or custom field.

You can't merge projects in Resource Management.