Managing a complex project often comes down to one thing: being able to see what’s going on without having to jump between multiple screens, reports and records. As projects become larger, the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) can contain hundreds of Actions and Checklist Items, making the way that information is presented almost as important as the information itself.
That’s where the Project Grid in Mission Control comes in. Available from the Project Overview Component, the Project Grid provides a dynamic, flexible way for project managers and team members to view and interact with the key activity layers that make up their project Work Breakdown Structure.
Rather than forcing every user to work with exactly the same project view, the Project Grid provides tools for grouping, filtering, sorting, editing and configuring the information that matters to them. In this Feature Focus, we’ll take a closer look at what the Project Grid is, some of its key capabilities, and how you can use it to make managing project work a whole lot easier.
What is the Project Grid in Mission Control?
The Project Grid is a tab available within the Mission Control Project Overview Component. Access to the Grid is controlled through the user’s Role record using the View Grid Tab setting, enabling organisations to determine which users have access to the functionality.
At its core, the Project Grid gives users a dynamic way to interact with the activity layers within the project’s Work Breakdown Structure. Depending on the selected Data Source, users can work with Actions and Checklist Items together, Actions only, or Checklist Items only. The selected Data Source is remembered for each individual user, so people can return to the view that best suits the way they work.
That flexibility is important because different people need different things from a project plan. A Project Manager might want to see Actions grouped by Milestone and Action Owner to understand where work sits across the project. A team member might simply want to concentrate on the work assigned to them. Someone responsible for delivery oversight may want to focus on high-priority Actions or remove completed work from their view.
Instead of creating separate project plans or reports for each of those scenarios, the Project Grid lets users manipulate how the same underlying WBS information is presented. Users can group information, apply quick filters, edit records directly, change sorting, configure more sophisticated filters and control which columns appear.
The result is a much more interactive approach to project management. Your WBS isn’t simply something you look at; it becomes something you can actively work with.
Key Features of the Project Grid in Mission Control
One of the most useful Project Grid features is Group By. Users can drag fields from the Grid into the Group By area at the top of the screen, immediately reorganising the information around those fields. For example, you could group your Actions first by Milestone and then by Action Owner, giving you a clearer picture of responsibility within each stage of the project. Group By selections are also remembered on a per-user basis.
Then there are Quick Filters. Every displayed column has a Quick Filter underneath its header, letting you temporarily narrow the dataset. If you only want to see Actions where Priority is set to High, for example, you can enter “High” into the Priority Quick Filter. Removing the filter value returns you to the full dataset. It’s a simple feature, but when you’re working with a large WBS, it can make finding the information you need considerably faster.
The Project Grid isn’t limited to viewing information either. Inline Edit lets you double-click into an editable cell and update the record directly from the Grid. By default, those changes aren’t committed until you click Save, and Mission Control displays a warning icon when unsaved changes exist. If you prefer changes to be committed immediately, Auto Save can be enabled from the Grid settings by setting Enable Auto Save to TRUE.
There are also a number of functions available directly from the Grid. Depending on the record, users can access the Resource Assignment Wizard, Log Time component, Checklist Item Manager, Issue Manager, Action Splitter and Edit Modal, as well as delete records. Some icons also change colour to provide useful visual information — for example, indicating that an Action has Contributors, related Checklist Items or unresolved Issues.
Sorting gives users another way to personalise the WBS. Mission Control applies default sorting to Actions and Checklist Items, but users can create custom sorting across as many as three columns. Holding Shift while selecting additional column headers enables multi-column sorting, and those custom selections are remembered for each user. If you want to return to the standard arrangement, Clear Sort takes the Grid back to its default sorting behaviour.
For more detailed control, the Grid also supports Filters across Phases, Milestones, Actions and Checklist Items. Action-level filters can incorporate Action, Checklist Item and Contributor information, opening up some very practical possibilities. You might choose to display Actions where you’re the Action Owner, where you’re a Contributor, or where you’re the owner of a related Checklist Item. Filter logic can be adjusted, and filters can be saved as Preset Filters and shared with other users.
Finally, organisations can control the columns displayed using Salesforce Field Sets. The Action Grid Fields Field Set determines the fields available for Actions, while the Checklist Item Grid Fields Field Set controls the Checklist Item view. That means the Grid can be configured around the information your organisation actually needs rather than forcing everyone to work with a fixed set of columns.
How to Use the Project Grid in Mission Control
A good starting point is deciding what level of the Work Breakdown Structure you need to work with. Using the Data Source option, select whether you want to see Actions and Checklist Items, Actions only or Checklist Items only. Because Mission Control remembers this choice for each user, you don’t need to keep reconfiguring the same basic view every time you return to the Grid.
From there, think about how you want the project information organised. If you’re managing a large project, grouping can make the WBS much easier to navigate. You could drag Milestone into the Group By area, for example, and then add Action Owner as a second level. You now have a view that lets you work through each Milestone while seeing how its Actions are distributed across the project team. If that becomes your preferred way of working, the Grid remembers your Group By configuration.
Next, use Quick Filters when you need to investigate something specific. Perhaps a project review raises concerns about high-priority work. Rather than scrolling through the entire WBS, enter the relevant value into the Priority Quick Filter and concentrate on those records. Once you’re finished, remove the value and continue working with the complete project.
For more permanent or sophisticated views, move beyond Quick Filters and use the Grid’s Filters functionality. You can filter at the Phase, Milestone, Action and Checklist Item levels and adjust the Filter Logic to create the dataset you need. Once you’ve created a useful combination, it can be saved as a Preset Filter. Because Preset Filters can also be shared, teams can establish common project views instead of requiring every person to recreate the same filtering rules themselves.
As you review your project, you can make updates directly within the Grid using Inline Edit. Double-click the relevant cell, make the change and then click Save when you’re ready to commit your updates. If your team regularly makes a high volume of individual updates and doesn’t want to manually save them, Auto Save can be enabled so each change is committed immediately.
You can then tailor the experience further through sorting and column configuration. Custom sorting lets you organise Actions and Checklist Items around the fields that make the most sense for the work you’re doing, while Field Sets enable administrators to determine which fields appear in the Grid. The result is an interface that can reflect both organisational requirements and individual working preferences.
Conclusion
A Work Breakdown Structure can contain a huge amount of valuable information. But having the information isn’t enough. Project teams also need an efficient way to find it, organise it and act on it.
That’s the real benefit of the Project Grid in Mission Control. By combining flexible Data Sources with grouping, filtering, sorting, Inline Edit, Auto Save, Field Sets and direct access to key project management functions, the Grid gives users multiple ways to interact with the same underlying project structure. Rather than forcing every user into one predefined view, it enables people to configure the information around what they’re trying to accomplish.
For Project Managers, that might mean grouping Actions by Milestone and owner to prepare for a status meeting. For individual team members, it could mean filtering the project down to the work that’s relevant to them. For administrators, configurable Field Sets provide another level of flexibility by determining which information users can see and work with.
Ultimately, a flexible user interface like the Project Grid makes a complex project WBS more manageable. When people can quickly get to the right information, organise it in a way that makes sense and update it without constantly moving between different screens, managing project delivery becomes easier.
And that’s exactly what the Project Grid is designed to provide: a flexible, interactive workspace for viewing and managing the work that drives your projects forward.
Mission Control is a comprehensive Salesforce Project Management software application. Make sure you check out our other Project Management Best Practices.
