Templates to Update Project Data Overview (Smart Excel)

Smart Excel templates are special template files that deliverable and activity owners can use to update project data. Rich text metrics do not display in Smart Excel templates.

Use a Smart Excel template with Accolade field codes representing Accolade data to do the following:

  • Display metrics, matrices, and metadata in deliverable, activity, and gate documents.
  • Update project metrics, matrices, and/or metadata when a version of a document is published to Accolade.
  • Use formulas to manipulate metric values and perform data validation checks.
  • Edit deliverable or activity details, such as start dates and status notes.
  • Add or remove activities attached to deliverables.
  • Display a project's resource plan in a deliverable or activity document and request project resources (if running the resource planning functionality in Accolade).
  • Work offline and upload information to Accolade later.

Base Templates

Each Accolade release contains a set of base templates you can use to build templates for your business.

The Process Document - Smart Excel <version>.xltx file is available or on the Base Templates Reference Page. The template contains the basic worksheet structure required to create Smart Excel templates to update project metric, matrix, and metadata values. The worksheets you use in each template depends on the project data the template updates.

  • Sheet1 - Contains the data that displays to the deliverable or activity owner and eventual readers of documents based on the template. This is the only worksheet that someone who is not building the Smart Template components interacts with. You can add more display worksheets to the template, if necessary.
  • SGM_MetricTransfer - Manages the display or update of metric data in a single project.
  • SGM_Metadata - Manages the display or update of project metadata.
  • SGM_RelatedProjectMetrics - Manages the display or update of metric data in projects related to the project the template is included in.
  • SGM_DeliverablesActivities - Manages the addition or removal of activities, or the edit of a deliverable or activity.
  • SGM_Notes - Contains Sopheon recommendations and suggestions for using the file to create Smart Excel templates.

The Resource Plan Template - Basic <version>.xlsx file, also available on the Base Templates Reference Page, applies if you are running the resource planning functionality in Accolade, and contains the worksheet required for a deliverable or activity owner to create a resource plan request. A deliverable or activity owner with enough information can enter pool names, resources, and so on, for each resource request. See Creating Excel Templates to Request Resources.

Administrators and Process Designers use the worksheets in the template to build the display and map the Accolade data. Deliverable and activity owners interact only with the display sheets to view and update project information and save it back to Accolade. Depending on the template design, it is possible that deliverable and activity owners can update project data using a Smart Excel template that they cannot update through the project pages within Accolade.

See the following to get started: