Manage multiple workspaces with the Portfolio Manager tool

The Portfolio Manager tools help you manage multiple projects.  Add your project spaces as portfolio members to get the following benefits:

Look good with a branded login page, and a neutral workspace style that hides the Assembla colors and logo, and presents your own banner and header.  Just choose the preconfigured Branded Portfolio space from the catalog, or add the Portfolio Manager and Branding tools to an existing space.  (A Portfolio Manager space without the branding tool is also available in the catalog.)

Provide management access to projects without adding each manager to every team.  Team members in this portfolio space will have access to member spaces in the portfolio.

Save time by adding template spaces to the portfolio, and using them to create new projects.

See what your teams are doing.  See a consolidated view of events on the Portfolio Manager / Stream page

Monitor development status.  See consolidated ticket reports on the Portfolio Manager / Ticket Metrics page.  Please tell us about reports that you want us to add.

Make more money, and save time, with an improved billing and payment process.  Report on time entered anywhere in the portfolio with the Time tool.  The portfolio version of the Time tool allows you to report on time for any user or any set of spaces.

Simplify the way you create and pay for private subscriptions with centralized subscription management.  Add new spaces to the portfolio where you can manage the subscriptions, adding them to a shared account or fixed-price Max pack.

Simplify project approvals with a stage-gate process.  A stage gate process makes a large number of projects, ideas, or proposals easier to manage.  You can specify the requirements for moving from one stage to the next, and set up an efficient process to approve the move.  The portfolio tool gives you a place to tag each space with a stage, and sort by stage. 

Instructions for creating a Portfolio space

Create a new space at http://www.assembla.com/catalog/tag/portfolio.  Or if you already have a workspace that you want to use as a Portfolio Manager space, you can just add the Portfolio Manager tool from the Admin-Tools page in that space.

In the  Portfolio Manger page, click the 'Add New Member' subtab.  You may create a new portfolio member space, add one of your existing spaces to your portfolio, or create a Join Code that other workspace Owners can enter in their Member tool to join your portfolio.

After you have added spaces as portfolio members, you may view the workstream activity for all the spaces in your portfolio in the Portfolio Manager-Stream page.  The Ticket Metrics page provides a useful view of tasks, issues, and deadlines across all member spaces.

Use these workflow ideas, or create your own

Consulting and outsourcing management: Create a template space for your consulting and outsourcing projects.  Use the Branding tool to provide a home page and layout for clients and team members that makes you look good.  Use your own template to launch projects quickly.  Integrate the Assembla time tracking into your billing process, downloading data from the Time tool.  See team member activity and productivity using the team member report.  Engage the client in a controlled way by inviting them into the "Watcher" role with controlled tool-by-tool permissions.  Safegaurd the client's intellectual property in Assembla workspaces which you can keep indefinitely, or hand-off.

Subscription management:  Give your project managers a "join code" or a template linked to the portfolio.  They can create new projects using our monthly free trial, and you can find them in the portfolio and add them to your subscription.

Proposal portal:  Build a project template that contains proposal material and is linked to a portfolio.  Send this out to your proposers.  They can use the template to create new spaces inside the portfolio.  You can see their activity on the portfolio Stream page, communicate with collaboration and alert tools, and move them through a stage gate process to approval.  Use this for RFP management, contests, ideas, open source plugins, and project budgeting. 

Use the included tools

Use the Branding tool to give your portfolio spaces a custom header, and a home page at <your url name>.assembla.com.

Use the Portfolio tool to make a list of spaces .  You can attach existing spaces. You can attach any type of Assembla project or package to your portfolio.

Use the Staffing tool to post job advertisements on Assembla.  You can link to the job advertisement from other sites, and collect applications.  You can track, sort, and email candidates inside the Staffing tool.

Use the Time tool to report on hours worked in your projects, and export timesheet data.

These are management tools, not project team tools. We do not recommend adding work for an individual project to the Portfolio space. Instead, attach a project space to the Portfolio.