Linking and Syncing Smartsheet Sheets with Projector Projects

Owned by Chris McFarlane (Deactivated)
Last updated: May 28, 2024 by Erich Belzer
3 min read

To link a Projector project to a Smartsheet sheet, update the Task Management Approach to “Smartsheet Integration” and select an available Smartsheet template.

Note that changing the task management approach for a project that already has a task plan (e.g. an existing DTM project), will delete the existing task plan and replace it with the contents of the newly linked template.

Linking - What happens when a project is Smartsheet enabled?

The System (Projector) does some behind the scenes magic when the project is created and each time the project setup is saved with a new template.

  • A new Smartsheet “sheet” is generated from the selected Smartsheet template 

  • The current Projector project is then linked to the newly created Smartsheet sheet

  • A Smartsheet <> Projector “sync” is executed to push project data to the sheet and sheet data to the project

Two-Way Syncing - How does it work?

  • Projector project data → Smartsheet sheet (task plan)

    • Working days and holidays 

    • Role updates

      • New as of Aug 19, 2023 - On the initial synchronization after linking, but not on subsequent syncs, roles from the linked Smartsheet sheet are created in the Projector project. If a resource is assigned to the role and the resource name matches with the resource display name in Projector, the newly created project role will be assigned to the resource in question.

        • Requirements

          • the Assigned To text must match the expected string pattern with a resource display name in plain text followed by a role name in parentheses. (Only the Role name needs to be in parentheses.)

          • the Assigned To resource text exactly matches an active resource’s resource display name. Case insensitive is fine here. [Active resource: has at least one active day starting from today.]

          • The Assigned To resource text exactly matches an inactive resource’s display name. Role will be created using text in parentheses, and unassigned. [Inactive resource: has no active day starting from today.]

    • Task type updates (task types are cleared if a type is missing)

    • Updated role resource assignments

    • Task % complete (future enhancement)

    • Undeleted & repaired tasks in necessary

  • Smartsheet planning data → Projector project

    • Task name & duration

    • Task assign to (role) & allocation %

    • Task start and end date (duration is calc’d by Projector)

    • Task type

    • Open/closed for time

  • Projector does some work behind the scenes

    • Makes task plan data available to:

    • Emails are generated as appropriate