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Navigate to an existing project or create a new project (choose Select a project from the top left side and select + Project from the dropdown menu) and select Work packages from the left side. With these steps completed, we can create the project plan. Repeat these steps to add additional custom columns. Project status) to one of the attribute groups on the left side (e.g. In the tab Form configuration drag and drop the create field (i.e. Green, Yellow, Red), select For all projects to activate this custom field in all projects.Īs a next step, select Work packages and then Types from the side menu on the left side and select a type for which the value can be set. Next, enter the values which users should be able to select (e.g. Project status) and change the Format to List. Make sure the Work packages tab is selected and click on the displayed link or button to create a new custom field. To do this, go to Administration and select Custom fields from the side menu. This can be done through custom fields in OpenProject. As an example we are going to create a column Project status. OpenProject allows you to create your own columns - similar to Excel. To use this type in all newly created projects, activate Type activated for new projects by default. Click on the green + Type button, enter a name (e.g. to display Projects in the list view), go to the Administration, select Work packages and then select Types. If you would like to use additional types (e.g. Create your own typesīy default, you can create Phases, Milestones and Tasks in OpenProject. You can create your own custom columns directly within OpenProject. Moving from Excel to OpenProject is straightforward. Project plan in OpenProject Customize OpenProject to display project information to show the entire project plan or to only display the milestones). You can save different views to quickly access different aspects of your projects (e.g. This allows you to see the number and names of included milestones right away.
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To directly display milestones associated with a project in your plan, use the Enterprise cloud or Enterprise on-premises edition and add relations (such as “includes”) as columns to the table view. To keep track of the progress, you can use OpenProject’s workflows and update the status. These project members are notified by email in the event of changes to the deliverables they are being assigned to. This allows you to display the project names, phases and milestones you tracked in Excel before directly within OpenProject.Īdditionally, you can assign users to the different projects, milestones and work packages. OpenProject can display custom columns in the work package table - allowing you to use the same column names in OpenProject and replicate your Excel spreadsheet, which makes OpenProject a powerful Excel alternative. Project plan in Excel Transfer your Excel spreadsheet to OpenProject - and start to collaborate Let us take a look at an example of a project plan in Excel and see how it can be replicated and improved in OpenProject. OpenProject closes the gap by allowing users to create custom table views very similar to Excel while providing full collaboration and professional project management features. When taking the next step from a rough project plan to actual project collaboration and implementation, OpenProject is the optimal solution. While initial top-down project planning may be possible in Excel, effective project execution is not due to the lack of collaboration, user management and workflows. While there are templates to address this, Gantt charts with complex dependencies often cannot be displayed in a good way. Excel also offers limited options when it comes to Gantt chart creation: Easy visualization is therefore not possible.Users are not notified about projects, milestones or work packages they are assigned to. Due to the lack of automation, no effective assignment to project members is possible.While it is now possible for more than one user to work on a spreadsheet at the same time, it becomes increasingly challenging with the rising complexity of a project. Excel provides only limited collaboration.However, while widely used, Excel has several limitations when it comes to effective project management: When companies introduce project management, it is only logical that many start out with Excel. The application is often already installed and users are already familiar with it. Excel is a widely used standard application.