In this article, we will review how to import/link the PPM Express project to the Smartsheet sheet. Also, we will review how to import Resources from Smartsheet to PPM Express.
In this scenario, we consider that you are importing/linking projects/resources from Smartsheet to PPM Express for the first time.
Linking PPM Express project to Smartsheet sheet
To link the PPM Express project to the Smarthseet sheet perform the following:
1. Open the PPM Express project that you would like to link to the Smartsheet sheet and press the Link Project button.
2. On the 'Link to Project' tab select the Smartsheet option.
3. Open the Connection drop-down and select the 'Add new connection' option.
4. As you select the 'Add new connection' option, the window will be opened where you can sign in to Smartsheet and add the connection. Please refer to the 'How to add Smartsheet connection to PPM Express' article to add a connection.
5. When the connection is added, in the 'Select workspace' section, select the workspace from Smartsheet that you would like to link to PPM Express.
Please note: If there aren't any sheets in the workspace, such workspace will not be available in the list of workspaces. Smartsheet ‘sheets’ folder/directory, which contains personal and shared without Workspace sheets, is listed in the Workspaces dropdown and can be selected for linking. Other Workspace folders and sub-folders with sheets are not listed.
6. Select the required sheet from the workspace.
In the sheets dropdown, there are sheets from the selected Workspace that are accessible by the account, sheet templates, reports, and dashboards are not listed and are not available for linking.
The whole sheet is linked to a project, there is no option to link to a sheet part (there are no processes, items of different types and levels, iterations, etc. in Smartsheet).
If the linked sheet is moved to a different Workspace, is deleted or its Workspace is removed, or the account has lost access to the sheet or its Workspace, the sheet and Workspace names remain filled in in the corresponding fields on the Connection pane. The synchronization will be failing in this case.
If the sheet name has been changed, it will be updated during the next data synchronization.
7. Click the 'Link sheet' button.
Project linking will start immediately.
Importing Projects from Smartsheet
1. On the Projects page select to open the Actions drop-down and choose the Import Projects option.
2. On the Import Projects to PPM Express page, choose Smarthseet as the source system.
3. If you have the connection added, click on the connection name. If you do not have it added, click the Add new connection button. As the connection is added, you can import Smarthseet sheets to PPM Express.
4. In the next step, choose the sheets from Smartsheet you want to import into PPM Express by marking the corresponding checkboxes in the list.
All sheets accessible by the connection account are available for selection, the sheets are not divided by Workspaces.
Please note: By default PPM Express imports projects using their original names, but you may change the name of any project you import by clicking on its name in the Name in the PPM Express column. This new name will be displayed in PPM Express.
During the project import, the default Task field mapping is used for synchronizing the Task data. The mapping is not common for all the Sheets from the same connection, it is rather individual per project/Sheet (i.e. if the task mapping is configured for one linked Project, it will not be applied the same to the next linked/imported projects).
5. Click the Import button.
Depending on the amount of data to process, this operation may need some time. You can see the import progress on the progress tab above the selected Projects.
6. As soon as the project import is completed, you will see the Already linked status for the linked projects.
To exit the Import Projects screen, just click on the left part of the page outside the Import Project screen.
First, you will get to the step where you can add another Connection if required. After completing the first import operation, you can select another account to import your projects from Smartsheet.
Now open one of the newly imported projects and navigate to the Schedule section either by clicking on the Schedule in the page navigation menu or by scrolling down the page.
This section includes four cards where you can quickly review the task statuses, progress, and summary. All the task numbers are clickable and open the Smarthseet tasks page in PPM Express filtering out the tasks by the selected value.
You can review tasks synchronized from Smarthseet on a separate Smartsheet tasks page.
To manage your project, use the control panel in the upper right part of the project details page:
- Force sync project. This button allows manually synchronizing your project with the linked item at the source system. If it's grayed out, it means that sync is currently in progress.
- Smartsheet tasks button opens the Smarthseet tasks page in PPM Express.
- Link Project. Opens Configure connections menu for the current project allowing changing the linked item at the source system or unlinking the project completely.
Importing Resources from Smartsheet
In a very similar way, you can import your Resources from Smartsheet to PPM Express.
Please note: Some of the resources in the list may have the Already linked status. These resources were assigned to the projects you have already imported and thus added to PPM Express automatically.
1. On the Resources page select to open the Actions drop-down and choose the Import Resources option.
2. On the Import Resources to PPM Express page, choose Smarthseet as a source system.
3. If the connection is added, click on its name. If the connection is not added, select the Add new connection option.
4. On the next step, select the Resources with Not linked status for import by checking their checkboxes. Click the Import button.
If the project is linked to a sheet with some assignments, the assignments from the linked sheet will have the “Already linked” status in Import Resources.
As the import process is completed, you will see the linked status next to the Resources selected for import.
No matter of permissions that are granted for a user in Smartsheet, all users in the tenant will be available for import + contacts from the 'My Contacts' list.
In case a resource with the same name and email is imported from Smartsheet more than once (from different connections), it will be auto-merged into one resource.
If the resource is not linked and there is another resource that exists with the same name and email, the resource's Status will be “Match by name and email”.
Please note: Only Smartsheet Users and personal contacts from the 'My Contacts' list of the connection account are available for import as Resources.
All Contacts that may be in assignments are not available in the list for import. Such Contacts can be linked and added to PPM Express with the assignments of the linked/imported project.
To exit the Import Resources screen, just double-click on the left part of the page outside the Import Resources screen.
To see the assignments and the number of tasks currently assigned to each of them, navigate to the Team section of the Project. This section also shows tasks planned for this week and late tasks.
Project progress calculation
Progress for the linked Smartsheet project is calculated as the number of completed Tasks (Rows)/Total number of Tasks (Completed/Total).
Summary Tasks that have at least one child Task/sub-task are also counted in the completed and total numbers of Tasks as well as sub-tasks.
For example, the number of all Tasks/Rows in the sheet is 23, including Summary Tasks. 6 Tasks are 100% Completed from all the Tasks. As a result, the project progress is 6/23 in PPM Express.
To determine whether the Tasks are completed, the field that is mapped with the ‘Progress %’ default PPM Express field in the Task Field Mapping is used. It may be:
- % Complete (Text/Number type) field: 100% value indicates a Completed Task.
- Status (Dropdown List single-select type) field: ‘Complete’, ‘Completed’, and ‘Done’ values mapped with 100% ‘Progress %’ field value in the Transformation Rules.
- Done (Checkbox type) field: ‘True’ (means checked) value mapped with 100% ‘Progress %’ field value in the Transformation Rules.
Please note: As for now, there is no separate setting to choose how the Project progress should be calculated.
Please note: Empty Rows are not counted in the Project Progress. In case there is a value in any cell for a Row, it is counted in the Project Progress as not empty.