Complex Project With Phases Template

Complex projects call for a phased approach to ensure development happens on time, on budget, and to spec. Complex project management requires project managers to identify and understand dependencies that impact other parts of the project. Roadblocks in these areas could slow or even halt work, so you must be ready to adapt or work around them to keep the project moving forward.

Wrike makes managing large, complex projects easy. The Complex Project With Phases Template comes pre-configured with 5 folders that represent project phases and tasks with dependencies that can be viewed in the Gantt chart view. By taking advantage of some of Wrike’s most powerful features, this template gives a bird-eye view that will help you manage complex projects as smoothly as possible.

This template demonstrates how to manage a project with multiple phases. The guide below will show you how to:

• Break your project down into tasks and assign them
• Plan your project and track performance using the Gantt chart
• Review project progress using the dashboard

Start by defining the phases of your project. Use folders to represent each phase. This template comes with 5 sample phases to get you started:

• Initiation
• Planning
• Development
• Testing
• Launch

Feel free to add, rename, or delete any of these phases and customize this template to meet your needs.

Next, break down each phase into actionable items called tasks. Tasks can be assigned to one or more members of your team. This template includes some sample tasks for the first 2 phases that can be renamed or deleted as needed. To assign a task, select it from the list, click Add assignee, and select a member of your team. If the person is not in Wrike yet, simply add their email address and an invitation to join Wrike will be sent to them.

After a task has been assigned, click on the date selector to set the start and due date.

To get an overview of progress, click on the event name in the folder tree on the left, and then click on the Gantt Chart view. This displays the project and all tasks and dependencies on an interactive and dynamic timeline. You can focus on one phase or view the entire project. To adjust the length of any task, simply drag the due-date marker. Milestones are fixed and must be rescheduled independently.  

Use the preconfigured dashboard to see which tasks have been started, are overdue, or due this week. To customize this dashboard, click New Widget at the top of the screen and select  any one of our helpful widgets. These widgets are configured to display a variety of data, so you can get all the critical information you need at a glance.