The goal of a project management template is to provide a structure to your project, so that you can get more done (and finish the project, of course) in less time. Project management is a crucial part of any business. It doesn’t matter whether you are working for a large company or a small startup, project management is essential. Unfortunately, not all project management practices are created equal. One of the parts of project management that people struggle with is coming up with a project management template. This is because there are many different approaches to project management. Some of them can be quite simple, but lacking in features. Others are complex, but have a steep learning curve. The reality is that there is no such thing as a blanket project management template that works for everyone, every time. Typically speaking, the best approach is to take an existing project management template and adapt it to your needs, which is what this Project Tracker template is designed to do for you. Here are some template features and highlights, by table:

Projects

• Name. The name of the project. Most projects names are/should be short and recognizable.
• Category. All projects vary in nature. This field allows you to categorize them as you see fit.
• Client. This is a linked field to the Clients table, which ties clients to projects in order to keep track of which project relates to which client.
• Project lead. For every project, there’s usually a Project Lead. This linked field ties to the Team table in order to display each respective Project Lead.
• Project team. Even if there if there’s an instance where there isn’t a Project Lead, there’s always a team for the project.
• Kickoff date. The date that the project is set to commence.
• Due date. The date that the project is expected to conclude.
• Budget. The budget allotted for each project, using any currency.
• Completed. A checkbox to toggle whether the project has been completed or not.
• Notes. A general purpose field to capture notes about or related to the project at hand.

Views

• All projects. Displays all projects, sorted from the earliest to latest due date.
• Completed projects. Displays all projects that are marked as complete, sorted from the earliest to latest due date.
• Incomplete projects. Displays all projects that are marked as incomplete, sorted from the earliest to latest due date.
• High budget. Displays projects that have a budget of over 10,000 of any currency, sorted by biggest budget to lowest.
• By Category. Displays projects in the form of a kanban view, grouped by project category.

Tasks

• Name. The name of the task at hand.
• Description. A short description of what the task entails/what it consists of.
• Completed. A checkbox to keep track of whether the task has been completed or not.
• Assignee. This is a linked field to the Team table, which links team members with the person assigned to each respective task.
• Estimated days. The estimated number of days the task is expected to take.
• Project. This is a linked field to the Projects table. This field simply links the task to its respective project.

Views

• All tasks. Displays all tasks, with no sorting applied.
• Completed tasks. Displays all tasks that are marked as complete.
• Incomplete tasks. Displays all projects that are marked as incomplete.

Clients

• Company name. The name of the company.
• Contact person. The main point of contact at the company.
• Contact email. The contact person’s email address.
• About. A small blurb about who the company is and what they do.
• Company website. A URL field that points to the company’s website.
• Projects. This is a linked field to the Projects table with all associated projects for each respective client.

Views

• All clients. Displays all clients, sorted alphabetically from A to Z by the company’s name.

Team

• Name. The team member’s full name.
• Photo A picture of the team member.
• Role. The team member’s role.
• Email. The team member’s email.
• Lead on project. This is a linked field to the Projects table, which displays which project the team member is a Project Lead for.
• Projects served as team member. This is a linked field to the Projects table, which displays which project the team member is part of.
• Tasks. This is a linked field to the Tasks table, which displays the tasks that the team member is involved with.
• Number of tasks. This formula field calculates the number of tasks the team member is assigned to.
• Number of projects. The number of projects the staff member has worked on as part of the team.

Views

• All members. Displays all team members, with team member names sorted alphabetically from A to Z.
• Experienced. Displays team members that have served on more than one project, sorted in alphabetical order.
• New team member. Displays a form that can be used when adding a new team member.