Smartsheet: Projects

Name: Smartsheet: Projects
Author: Darren Mullen

Learn the fundamentals of creating and managing projects in Smartsheet

Preview the first lesson free — get full access to all 3 lessons.

Course: On-Demand

Hello, my name is Darren Mullen, and in these lessons you will learn about projects in Smartsheet, including how to create a project the various sheet views related to projects and how to utilize baselines and project plans. The simplest way to create a project sheet in Smartsheet is to right click in the white space of a folder or workspace in the Smartsheet browse view and choose project. Upon giving the project sheet a name you can open this sheet and it will contain columns related to the project. It will also default to the Gantt chart view. However, I will set the view to grid for this lesson and explain the columns used in a Smartsheet project. In a project sheet the task name is the primary column as it will be the main descriptor for each row. The duration column will display how long a task takes in working days based on the start and finish date, which are the next two columns in this example. I will put some dates in these columns and you will see how the duration is calculated. You can see here with a start date of October 4th and a finish date of October 6th, it calculates the duration as three days, the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth. The predecessor's column is used to create dependencies between tasks. This is done by clicking on the edit icon and the predecessor's cell and entering the row number. The task name will then be pre-populated and you can choose the predecessor type. Let me show you what that looks like. We're going to make task one a predecessor of task two. So enter the row number for task one. It brings in the task name, and then you're able to choose the type of predecessor, I will explain each one. Finish to start is the default and this means that the task will start after the predecessor finishes. Finish to finish means that this task will finish at the same time as the predecessor task. Start to start means that this task will start at the same time as the predecessor task. Start to finish means that this task will finish before the predecessor starts. A lag or lead time may also be entered for the task. A positive value in the lag field will cause the task to start a specific number of days after the predecessor ends. A lead time may be entered as a negative duration in the lag column causing the task to start a specific number of days before the predecessor ends. So they've entered a lead time of three days, task one finishes on October 6th, the tasks two will start three days prior. The assigned two column is a contact column used to assign people to tasks. The percent complete column is used to enter the percentage completion of a task. The status is used to display a textual status for each task. The comments column is added by Smartsheet when creating a project to add any comments about a task. Another important set of options to know about in a project sheet are the project settings. This can be accessed from any column menu by choosing project settings. From here, you can change the assignments of the special project columns as well as choosing the working days, hours in a work day, and can even enter dates to be set as holidays or non-working days. These settings will affect a duration column as a duration calculation is based on working days and not calendar days. Now you know the fundamentals of a project sheet. Thanks for watching. Stay tuned for the next lesson, where I will show you the different project views available in sheets.

Beginner Provider : Darren Mullen 3 Lessons · 15m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

Smartsheet’s core functionality is built around managing projects. In these lessons you will learn the fundamentals of creating a project in Smartsheet, the different project-related views available, and how to leverage the baselines feature in order to measure a project’s performance.

We’ll show you how Smartsheet lets you visualize projects in different formats, such as a card format that allows tasks to be dragged between lanes to change key values in a given row. Project dates can also be conveniently viewed on a calendar view to better visualize which tasks will start and end on specific calendar days.

What You'll Learn

Create a project in Smartsheet using its core project-management functionality
Explain the different project-related views available in Smartsheet
Use baselines to measure a project's performance
Visualize projects in a card format and drag tasks between lanes to change key row values
View project dates on a calendar view to see which tasks start and end on specific days

Key Takeaways

Smartsheet's core functionality is built around managing projects.
Smartsheet offers different project-related views for working with a project.
Baselines can be used to measure a project's performance.
The card format lets tasks be dragged between lanes to change key values in a given row.
The calendar view shows project dates so you can see which tasks start and end on specific calendar days.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this Smartsheet: Projects course?

You will learn the fundamentals of creating a project in Smartsheet, the different project-related views available, and how to leverage the baselines feature to measure a project's performance.

What lessons are included in this course?

The course includes three lessons: Creating a Project, Project Sheet Views, and Baselines.

How does Smartsheet let me visualize projects?

Smartsheet lets you visualize projects in different formats, such as a card format that allows tasks to be dragged between lanes to change key values in a row, and a calendar view that shows which tasks start and end on specific calendar days.

What is the baselines feature used for?

The baselines feature is used to measure a project's performance.