Smartsheet Tutorial for M&A Integration Team Members

Objectives

1. Understand how to use Smartsheet for your M&A integration work plan development
2. Discuss tips and best practices that will help us produce quality plans
3. Confirm key steps and focus for the next phase of plan development
4. Reconfirm planning scope
5. Confirm Acquired Co. sub team members
6. Show you where to get help if needed

Overall Workplan Ownership

• Team Leads (2) own the workplan and will be responsible for updates and ensuring completeness
• The IMO will work thru the Team Leads for all workplan issues & needs

Assigning Workstreams & Initiatives (helpful hints)

• It is easier to assign out entire workstreams to leads and/or sub team leads as a “whole” and have them manage initiative detail & assignments
• It is OK to assign initiatives to others, but Leads are responsible for the plan completeness & readiness (but better to have fewer involved in the plan development early on)

Supplemental Workplans

• Some projects like IT infrastructure initiatives or plant openings/closures may need more detailed project plans
• It is OK to have tools outside of Smartsheet but overall workstream still needs to be included in Smartsheet (you can attach detailed project plan for reference) 

Smartsheet Basics

Acquirer and Acquired Co. will use the online spreadsheet system hosted by Smartsheet to build & maintain integration workplans.

• Anyone that has a “sheet” shared with them can work on it, no matter what company they work for.
• It is similar to Excel®
• Columns of data hold categories of information, e.g. Start Date or Status
• Rows hold information on each task/objective/initiative
• A “cell” holds a single piece of information

Cell data can be entered in the following ways:

1. Text or numbers that are typed in
2. Data selected from a list
3. Checking a box
4. Automatically completed data, based upon other cell data

          Duration is automatically calculated from the start and finish dates...