Software for Summary Projects and Cross-project Multi-user Work
A Summary Project in Rillsoft Project bundles several independent projects into one overarching view and enables multi-user work, cross-project capacity planning and consolidated reporting on a shared data basis. The function is delivered via Rillsoft Integration Server or Rillsoft Cloud – the file-based standalone setup does not support Summary Projects.
As soon as several teams work in parallel on parts of an initiative or several projects load the same resource pool, individual project files reach their limits: mutual locks, diverging versions, missing overall view. The Summary Project solves exactly this problem.
What is a Summary Project?
A Summary Project is a container that connects several independent projects. Each subproject remains a fully featured project with its own file, its own directory and its own access rights. The Summary Project itself provides the shared view – with all views from the Gantt chart to personnel utilization to capacity balancing – and allows cross-project task links as well as cross-project evaluation.
| Element | Role in the Summary Project |
|---|---|
| Subproject (independent project) | Standalone project with its own editing – one team per project |
| Summary Project | Consolidated view, cross-project task links, shared capacity balancing |
| Portfolio | Analysis and steering layer above several Summary Projects and individual projects |
Prerequisite: shared resource pool
For cross-project capacity balancing to work reliably, the projects bundled in the Summary Project must use the same resource pool. Only then are utilization, bottlenecks and free capacity evaluated consistently across all subprojects. Projects with a different resource pool can technically be added, but require manual synchronization and significantly reduce the meaningfulness of the capacity view.
Three ways to build a Summary Project
1. Create a new Summary Project – from several already saved projects. In the Summary Project properties a meaningful name is entered, the source directory is selected and the desired projects are flagged. Per project you optionally control whether it is loaded read-only and whether the associated baseline plans are loaded too.
2. Automatically split an existing project – if a large project is structured by subprojects, Rillsoft Project handles the distribution in one step: each subproject is stored as an independent project in the chosen directory and is automatically linked into a Summary Project. Three conditions must be met:
- At least one subproject exists
- The top project level contains no separate tasks
- The top project level contains no attached documents
If these conditions are not met, the split function is disabled and the planner sees in advance what still needs to be cleaned up.
3. Connect a single project to an existing Summary Project – for example when a new sub-initiative is launched whose results should run inside an existing programme view. The project stays independent and at the same time appears in the Summary Project.
Multi-user work without mutual locks
| Before (one large project) | After splitting into a Summary Project |
|---|---|
| Only one planner can write, others wait | Several planners work in parallel on their own subprojects |
| The file becomes the bottleneck | Subproject teams work independently in their own directory |
| Overall view only from one file | Overall view from Summary Project + portfolio, consolidated at any time |
| Schedule and resource risks surface late | Bottlenecks are visible across projects already during planning |
Subproject teams focus on their area without being slowed down by locks or waiting times of other teams. The project lead sees the progress of all subprojects in the Summary Project – without merging files.
Cross-project capacity planning and task links
The strengths of cross-project capacity planning unfold inside the Summary Project:
- Utilization of the shared resource pool across all subprojects
- Bottlenecks and free capacity per role and employee become visible in a consolidated way
- Cross-project task links (Finish-to-Start, Start-to-Start, Finish-to-Finish, Start-to-Finish) – including delays with positive or negative values
- Simulations on the Summary Project show the impact of a schedule or resource change on all subprojects at once
The Summary Project therefore becomes the working level for programme managers, technical leadership and the PMO that need to steer several projects as one initiative.
Access rights: directories and folder roles
Each subproject lies in a directory in Rillsoft Integration Server. Folder roles define – tenant- and directory-specific – who is allowed to do what, with inheritance from parent directories to subdirectories.
Permission groups per directory:
- Directory structure – create, modify, delete, restore directories
- Projects – read, create, modify, delete, restore, lock/unlock
- Email notifications – project changes, milestone changes, negative remaining effort, cross-project links
- Feedback – capture and approve time entries
- iCalendar and Timeline – access to calendar and web modules
Typical role model for a Summary Project:
| Stakeholders | Folder rights |
|---|---|
| Programme/project lead | Write rights on the Summary Project directory, read rights on all subproject directories |
| Subproject team | Write rights on the own subproject directory, read rights on neighbouring subprojects (if needed) |
| PMO and controlling | Read rights on Summary Project and portfolio, no write rights on subprojects |
| Administration | Manage directory structure and role assignment |
This keeps it visible who is reading and writing in the Summary Project, without neighbouring teams accidentally writing into other subprojects.
Summary Project in the portfolio – compact as one project
In the portfolio a Summary Project is shown as one project. The individual projects linked inside it appear below this entry as subprojects – analogous to the classic project/subproject hierarchy.
Advantages of this representation:
- Compact portfolio view – even a Summary Project with ten or more individual projects occupies only one row at the top level
- Consistent hierarchy – a Summary Project in the portfolio looks like a normal project with subprojects, the familiar handling is preserved
- Expand on demand – individual subprojects are directly accessible by expanding the entry, without overloading the view in its collapsed state
- Evaluate several Summary Projects together – in the same portfolio several Summary Projects and individual projects can be analyzed side by side, without the list becoming hard to read
The portfolio therefore stays readable even in large programmes with many subprojects – the functional bundling inside the Summary Project is reflected visibly in the portfolio.
Merge and archive a Summary Project
Once the subprojects are finished, the Summary Project can be transferred back into a consolidated single project and archived. The initiative remains as a compact reference – available for follow-up evaluations, plan-versus-actual comparisons and as a template for future projects – while the active planning area only contains running initiatives.
Summary Project features at a glance
- Several subprojects stay independent and are linked into one cross-project view
- Multi-user work without mutual locks – every team works on its subproject
- Cross-project capacity balancing on a shared resource pool
- Cross-project task links with delay (positive/negative)
- Three build paths: create new, split an existing project, connect a single project later
- Optional read-only loading of single subprojects and loading of baseline plans
- Folder roles with inheritance for project, document and notification rights
- Compact portfolio view – Summary Project shown as one project with its individual projects as subprojects
- Part of the multi-tenancy concept – one Summary Project per business unit or subsidiary
- Merge and archive after project completion
- Available with Rillsoft Integration Server (on-premise) or Rillsoft Cloud (hosted)
Summary Project within the Rillsoft platform
The Summary Project is a building block of the multi-user architecture – backed by central user management, user and folder roles and multi-tenancy. On the next layer the Summary Project fits into multi-project management and capacity planning and forms the basis for realistic programme management on a shared data foundation.
This is how Rillsoft helps companies steer large initiatives with multiple subprojects and multiple planners reliably – without the friction of classic single files.