Big Picture Setup
Hey Folks,
Total Newbie here, just started the trial, and very excited, I think this program is very much what I've been looking for in terms of flexibility and usability.
Background: I do sales and project management for residential HVAC projects. These are "projects with dependencies" and the basic workflow involves me launching/prepping projects for execution, and then an installation team hitting the field and doing the work, sometimes over months in several stages with a bunch of dependencies and prerequisites. For the actual project management part this software looks perfect.
I have a problem I'm trying to see how to solve optimally. Any advice would be appreciated!
#1: Currently I see a "project" as being one job that includes my prep tasks, and the install team's tasks in the field... so I'll have a bunch of design and administrative tasks to do, and there will essentially be an "install" task assigned to one of the install teams, I would presume assigned to a separate task "owner". However, I need to easily be able to check my overall available install teams' schedule... we have 2-3 teams, I need to be able to quickly see when they are all booked and on what, in one master view. Is there a way for me to see multiple "user" calendars at once in one view, ideally in a calendar view? So that would be multiples tasks, for more than one "user", across multiple projects... all in one calendar view?
Incidentally I'm not seeing how to create new 'users' either...
Thanks in advance and best wishes!
Not sure about that, but it seems you will need Professional Service extension for this...
I believe the calendar view will help you here. First, I have made some assumptions that all your projects are in one folder, and will attempt to duplicate that in my test folder, and have two projects set up as A and B that have a few tasks set up in both. Each project has one task assigned to two different people, that will simulate your install teams.
Next, if you have the new Wrike Experience, you will be able to select the 3x3 menu grid in the top right hand corner, and select calendars.
If you do not have the new Wrike Experience, then the calendar option should be along the top of your screen.
You will need to create a new calendar, name it something like Install Teams Schedule. Put it in a Space that makes sense for your set up depending on who will need to see the calendar. Hit Create.
Once it is created, you will then need to add layers. Each layer will represent one of your scheduling teams. I will set up two layers, but you repeat these next steps for as many teams as you have.
Once you click the "Create a Layer" Button in the middle of the screen the new window will open up and will have three parts. On the left side you will add a name and will select "Smart Based on Tasks" The name will be the name of your first install team.
In the middle section, you will select the task Source. This will be the parent folder that all your projects exist in. You will also select the check box to include tasks from subfolders, which will include your projects, and pick a specific assignee that represents your 1st install team.
The right section you will want to leave Full Duration selected. You will then hit save in the bottom left hand corner.
To create a second layer you will want to hover over your Install Teams Schedule Calendar and hit the little plus sign.
The same window will pop up, enter the name to make it different then the first, and select the user that represents the 2nd install team, Everything else stays the same.
If you have more then two teams repeat the steps of adding the second layer as many times as you need to get all your install teams together.
Once you have added all the teams tasks, your calendar will now show all the tasks that are assigned to your install teams specific for the install tasks.
Hope this helps.
-Ryan
Robert Brown Hit submit before I was finished, I have completed my suggestion. Hope it helps.
That is super helpful, thank you! I'll play with it.
Couple of simple followups:
-Can you point me at where I can add other users? I'm struggling to find that.
-And, I'm getting very excited about having this become my master task manager... is there an easy way for my daily "to do list" to summarize the total duration of tasks I've assigned myself for a given day? I can see how to get it to display the individual times, so this isn't a dealbreaker, but it would be convenient if I could see at a glance that next wed I've already given myself 10 hours of work to do, for example.
Are you talking about sharing the calendar with other users?
Also, your "to do list" are you referring to where you can find your to do list broken out into time periods? Have you looked into Dashboards and setting up a dashboard set out with your to do tasks set out in time chunks. So for example you could have a widget that shows all over due tasks, a second widget that shows you tasks due today, or this week. A third widget could be set to show you tasks a certain number of days out. To help set up what you need you could talk to your CSM, or if there are certain widgets.
Here is some a resource from Wrike, that may also help.
https://help.wrike.com/hc/en-us/articles/209604469-Dashboards
I am also willing to answer any other questions and give pointers, but without understanding fully what you are looking for, it is hard to point you in the right direction.
-Ryan
Hey, you've been amazing, thank you very much. I am in touch with my CSM now and she too is amazing. Great community and great support, thanks again!