Resource Management Project Settings

Resource Management provides spreadsheet templates so you can add or update multiple projects at once. Download the template, fill out the fields, and import your data back into Resource Management.

Prepare your data

To add new projects

1. Go to Settings > Account Settings > Project Import.
2. Select Download Template.
3. Using a spreadsheet program, add new projects by filling in the information into blank rows.
4. Save the file as CSV UTF-8.

To update existing projects

1. Go to Settings > Account Settings > Project Import.
2. Select Export Project List.
3. Using a spreadsheet program, change the projects attributes you want to update.
4. Save the file as a CSV UTF-8.

Tips and tricks

Follow these guidelines to prepare your data and make the most out of the import process: 

• Make sure to encode CSV files in UTF-8 to prevent errors on rows with special characters.
• Each project is required to have a Project Name and Project Type. All other fields are optional. 
• Project start and end dates must be in YYYY-MM-DD format.
• You can create new clients in your spreadsheet. 
• Custom field values entered in this sheet must match available options in Account Settings > Project Custom Fields.
• To add multiple custom field values, separate each field value with a  semicolon “;”.
• To add multiple project tags, separate each with a semicolon “;”.
• Leaving fields blank applies blank values.
• To save time combine new projects and project updates in the same spreadsheet and upload them together.

Upload your updated project list

1. Go to Settings > Account Settings > Project Importer.
2. Select Choose file and  then select your updated CSV file.
3. Click Upload.

You can navigate away from the page once the upload starts. The import will run in the background and you'll receive an email when it's complete. 

If there were any errors during the import, the email will include a link to the status page. Click the link to download a list of errors with directions on how to fix them.

Column inputs and formatting

This table provides details for each column in your spreadsheet.

Expense categories make it easy to track recurring expenses, and you can use them when you create projects. You call also set suggested amounts for each category. Your team will use these categorize when they submit their expenses. 

To create company wide expense categories:

1. Go to Settings>Account Settings.
2. On the left sidebar, click Expense Categories and add your new category. 

To create project specific categories:

1. Go to Project>Project Settings. 
2. Scroll down to Fee Budget (Amounts). 
3. Select either Specify one fee budget for the entire project or Specify a fee budget for each phase. 
4. Add new expense categories as needed. Categories added here are for this project only. 

When you use Itemized Tracking for time, Time & Fee Categories can standardize how your team describes each entry. 

Time & Fee Categories can include things like travel, meetings, research, or production. Frequent, standard work activities make good categories and provide useful data in reports. 

You can create additional, project specific categories in the budget settings for each project. And in Reports, you can group data so you can see how much time is spent on each category.

Standardized categories means everyone is using the same categories; this gives you more useful data. You can add new categories at any time, but make sure they’re working for you. 

Creating New Categories

To create a new category:

1. On the top bar, click Settings and then click Account Settings. 
2. On the left side bar, click Time & Fee Categories.
3. Enter a name for the new category and then click Add. 

To create a project specific category:

1. In the top right corner of the project, click Project Settings.  
2. Under Fee Budget (Amounts) enter a new category for each line item you want to track. 
3. Enter a name for the new category and then click Add. The new category will appear in reports for this project.  

Add project tags to create unique project categories or characteristics for filtering projects on the Project Portfolio page and in Reports.

Administrators can add, edit, and delete tags. It’s good practice to have strong communication between administrators and project managers to maintain consistency between how projects are tagged and how tags are added.

If you delete or update a tag, it will be removed or updated for all projects that tag is assigned to.

In Account Settings, you can establish a list of clients. When you create a project, you can associate that project with a client from this list. Client names can  be useful when you have multiple projects per client and you want to filter on specific clients. 

Clients do not have any data associated with them other than their names. When you delete a client, they're removed from the system entirely and no longer be associated with any projects. 

1. In the top right corner in Resource Management by Smartsheet, select Settings > Account Settings. 
2. From the navigation menu list on the left, select Clients. 
3. Enter the name of the new client and then select Add. You can now associate your projects with the client. 

Administrators can create custom status labels. Team members can update their work status in the Today View from their Personal Page.

To create a new work status: 

1. Go to Account Settings. On the left sidebar, click Work Status. 
2. At the top of the screen, select a Color, enter a Name, and select a Stage for the status. 
3. Click Add. 

Status label tips

• Each status is a subcategory of three main categories, Planned, In Progress, or Completed
• Text labels are limited to 64 characters.
• Hovering a label and use the up and down arrows to reorder the status list.
• If you edit a work status label the change will show on all items using the label. 
• If you delete a label, items using that label remain unchanged; only the status label is deleted. 

Filter by Work Status

To find assignments with specific statuses filter on either the Project Worklist or the Schedule.

To filter on the Worklist

1. Go to the Project you want to work with and then click Worklist. 
2. In the top right above the Worklist, click Status and check the statuses you want to see. 

To filter on the Schedule

1. On the left sidebar in the Schedule, click Work Status.
2. Select the items you want to filter on. 

Email notifications and the Activity Feed help you stay informed about what’s going on with your projects and people.

Notifications can help you:

• Stay current on the status of your assignments or tasks
• Know if a project you’re tracking has any changes, and
• Get the rundown on what’s happened during the day.

The Activity Feed aggregates these important changes and displays them in a historical timeline on each project page and on your Personal page.
 

Activity Feed

The Activity Feed is a record of key project changes. It shows changes to people, projects, and assignments. Each change appears with a time and date stamp.

Assignments changes appear in the feed on Personal and Projects pages.

Email notifications

Email notifications mail you about important changes to your assignments or projects you’re interested in. Notifications are smartly aggregated, meaning if you make multiple changes close together, they're all sent in one email to reduce inbox noise. You can also choose to receive a daily digest of the day’s activity.

Edit your personal notification settings

In the Settings page, you can choose how often you want to receive email notifications.

To change your notification preferences 

1. Go to Settings > My Preferences.
2. In the Notification Preferences section, select any of these options:
   • Off: No email notifications. You can still see changes in your Activity Feed.
   • Immediately: Notifications go out as soon as changes are made. When multiple changes occur in a short time period, they’ll be grouped and sent in one email.
   • Daily (default): You’ll receive an email each morning detailing changes made during the past 24 hours.

Project notifications

By default, notifications are enabled for all projects.

If you’re resourcing or planning a tentative project and don’t want to alarm or overload your team with notifications, Administrators and Project Managers can mute notifications on the Edit project information page.

Following a project

You can follow the projects you’re not assigned to and get updates in your personal Activity Feed. If you're set to do so, you'll also receive email notifications about project changes.

To follow a project 

1. Go to the Projects page, and open a project.
2. Select the Activity tab.
3. In the Activity Feed, turn on the Follow toggle.

Edit account-wide notifications settings

Email notifications for people in your account are enabled by default. 

If you’re an Administrator, you can set preferences in the Notifications section of the Account Settings page. Only Administrators can change notification preferences for all active people. 

There are two account-wide notifications settings:

• Enable Notifications: Notifications go to all people in your account. Each person can still set their own email notification preferences from their My Preferences page. If you disabled notifications disabled, enabling them will return each person's notification frequency preference back to its prior state.
• Disable Notifications: Disables notifications for all people in your account and hides email notification preferences from the My Preferences page.