Smartsheet launches Portfolios & Scenario Planning tools
Thu, 7th May 2026 (Today)
Smartsheet has launched Portfolios and Scenario Planning for its work management platform, aimed at teams managing related projects and shifting priorities.
The new tools are intended to address a gap between faster decision-making and limited visibility across organisations running work through multiple systems. Static reporting and manual coordination can leave leaders without a clear view of progress, risks, and the impact of changes elsewhere in the business.
Portfolios groups related projects in a single view, giving managers and project leads a standardised way to set up projects, monitor progress, and roll up key metrics across connected work.
The feature uses templates and automated project creation to reduce repetitive setup. It also includes a central project list and roll-up reporting to help teams track work, prioritise activity, and keep leaders updated.
The launch targets teams managing several initiatives at once, including internal functions such as employee onboarding and IT ticketing, as well as project management offices and product launch teams. The aim is to bring more consistency to project creation and provide a clearer view of how multiple projects are performing together.
Scenario planning
Scenario Planning focuses on changes that affect timing and resourcing. It lets teams test different options without altering live plans, so they can compare the impact of timeline changes, resource shifts, and allocation adjustments before making a decision.
This is intended to reduce the need to duplicate sheets or manually rework plans when priorities change or a resource becomes unavailable. Once a preferred option is chosen, the selected scenario can be applied to update the original plan.
The new functions are part of a broader push by software suppliers to offer more real-time oversight of project execution. Businesses have been looking for ways to connect planning, reporting, and resource management as work becomes more distributed across platforms and teams.
AI integration
Smartsheet said Portfolios can also be queried through its MCP Server and direct integrations with AI assistants, including Claude. In practice, users can ask for information on overdue tasks, project risks, or overall project health drawn from portfolio reports and project lists.
Customer feedback featured in the launch highlighted the appeal of reducing manual administration. "This portfolio has been a game changer so far for us. I just put in the request, and it auto-creates the different workspaces for us. No one has to worry about going in and adding anything. They just click on their project, and they can get to work," said an EAP Customer.
Scenario Planning was presented as a way to improve communication and comparison across teams when project plans shift. Smartsheet said it allows side-by-side review of options using the same underlying data, with the aim of helping teams align before making changes to active work.
An early user cited clearer visibility into milestones and project effects. "The new Scenario Planning enhancement makes it much easier for us to compare milestones and understand project impacts at a glance. It's a meaningful improvement to how we plan to communicate across different teams," said an EAP Customer.