Create Your User Guide

Now that you have set-up your workspace, it’s time to document your workflow and processes in a user guide. All champions should contribute to your user guide, as it will define your organization’s unique goals and guidelines for using Portfolio Manager. 

This lesson is for your Champions and contains suggested topics to cover in your user guide. Use our LP Playbook Word Document template to help you get started.

Be sure to explain the “why” behind using Portfolio Manager. This is a great opportunity to remind your team the reason behind the change and your desired outcomes. Highlight any important metrics that will be measured so team members understand how their role will impact these metrics. 

Explain the different responsibilities of both Champions and Team Members.

• Champions will be responsible for managing and monitoring projects and teams. This includes: adding and prioritizing new work, identifying target finish dates, setting different custom data fields, applying ASAP scheduling, reviewing time tracking data, etc. 

• Team Members will be responsible for task management. This includes: logging progress and estimating work, keeping tasks statuses up to date, etc. 

Share guidelines for estimating and updating progress within assigned tasks. It’s important for team members to review their estimates and track their time as they go. Teams typically update their tasks daily for a more accurate schedule.

Have team members set their schedule and they’ll never be overbooked. Within the Availability settings in My Profile, add Working Times to tell Portfolio Manager when to schedule their tasks and add Time Off to ensure work isn’t scheduled when team members are not around to do it.

Help the team navigate change. Include a one-page “cheat sheet” to highlight the most important points for daily task management. You want to empower team members with information to get the team on board. Be sure to let them know where they can get additional help (Your Portfolio Manager Champions, Academy, or Portfolio Manager Support) and provide feedback.

This section is important for outlining how you have set-up the workspace so team members understand where projects will be added and how they will be scheduled for work. Clearly explain which projects live within each package by including a screenshot of your package structure to help team members visualize the workflow. 

Most teams have Org Admins or Workspace Managers add and prioritize packages and projects, while Project Managers will add projects and tasks. Team members should also be able to add tasks as work comes up if it’s not already accounted for.

It’s imperative that they update the Task Status if the status has changed for any reason. Remember, you want to customize Task Status to reflect how your team works together and the steps they go through to get work done.

You have already defined your own Custom Data so you can categorize and track in any dimension you like. Explain the Custom Data fields that have been added, when these fields will be used, and who will be updating them.  

Be faithful about updating your user guide when expectations or processes change so team members know they are getting the most accurate information.

Your user guide will serve as a companion to the Portfolio Manager Academy, which your team can always access to learn about different features and functionality. Reference helpful Academy lessons within your guide so your team starts going to the Academy to discover more about Portfolio Manager. For example, within the section that outlines Availability settings, include the lesson Availability & Vacations.