Hybrid Project Management connects Project Workspace and Collaborative Work Management (CWM), keeping project work aligned by allowing teams to break down project tasks into their own tasks and stories in CWM while enabling project managers to track progress in Project Workspace.
Learn how the integration works, whether it fits your team's workflow, how to get started, and what limitations to consider.
Table of Contents
01 - Overview
What is Hybrid Project Management with CWM integration?
Hybrid Project Management creates one connected view by linking project tasks in Project Workspace with tasks and stories in CWM. This allows teams to manage their work while keeping project progress visible to project managers.
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Team members can create and edit their own child tasks and stories when they are assignees of the relevant project tasks. This includes users who are directly assigned to, listed as resource assignees, or members of a resource assignment group on the project task.
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Real-time project task status, dates, and comments are reflected across CWM and Project Workspace
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Clear ownership boundaries are maintained between managers and teams, keeping execution accountable
Available with CWM Advanced or CWM Standard.
Who is this for?
Hybrid Project Management is designed for teams that need to coordinate project-level plans with day-to-day execution, regardless of how they manage their work.
It can support different ways of working:
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Project-led teams: The project manager owns the plan, and the team uses CWM to track its day-to-day work against that plan.
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Hybrid teams: Teams may or may not use CWM today, but they connect their stories to project tasks that has Agile phase type so the project plan reflects their sprint work.
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Agile teams: Heavy CWM users track their team's work across every project they support, and the project manager sees that work without chasing anyone for updates.
A typical flow
A project manager builds the plan and creates a project-based Board for the core team. The project manager creates the high-level work breakdown structure and due dates, but the team member who is assigned to the task knows best how to break down their tasks into actionable steps. Team members can't edit the project task itself, but they can decompose it into the supporting CWM work.
The PM opens Project Workspace and sees the child items under the project task in one view. A warning icon shows where the connected work doesn't line up with the plan, and the PM decides whether to adjust the schedule.
What do I need to turn this on?
Both apps must be installed and active on your instance:
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Collaborative Work Management (CWM) v10.2.0 or later
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Project Workspace v7.5.0 or later
Once both are active, the Project and Project task fields appear on CWM task records, and related context-menu options like Add child CWM task and Add child story become available in List view.
02 - Know before you start
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
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Project Task |
Project tasks are units of work created within a project in Project Workspace that collectively make up the project. |
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Child Project Task |
A Project Task nested underneath another Project Task. |
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Phase type |
A field on the Project Task that can be Waterfall, Agile, or Test. Phase type might affect rollup behavior |
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CWM task and story |
The work items you create in CWM. CWM tasks are sn_cwm_task records and stories are rm_story records. These are the items that connect to a Project task, where they are called child CWM tasks and child stories. |
|
Connected Work / Connected Work Item |
Connected Work is a capability that allows teams to bring tasks and stories, including project tasks, into CWM boards. In this article, Connected Work Item refers to any item brought onto a CWM board through Connected Work. |
Who counts as a Project Task assignee?
A user counts as an assignee of a project task when at least one of the following is true:
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The user is listed in the Assigned to field on the project task
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The user is listed as a resource assignee on the project task.
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The user is part of a resource assignment group on the project task.
03 - Working in Project Workspace (project managers)
This section covers how the project manager sets up the plan in Project Workspace and sees the team's work come back.
Step 1: The project manager builds the plan
The PM creates the project plan in Project Workspace and assigns resources or teams to Project Tasks. Stories and CWM tasks can then connect to a Project Task, and any Phase type works for this.
Step 2: The PM sees the work in Project Workspace
Enable connected task display in the Planner tab. Linked CWM tasks and stories appear as child items under each Project Task, so the PM sees the whole picture in one place. Anyone with read or write access to the project or Project Task, plus the sn_cwm.cwm_user role, can view and edit these items. Access to the CWM Space isn't required, but it may be helpful to share with project managers and other stakeholders.
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Only the first level of the CWM hierarchy is shown.
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Child rows can’t be edited inline in Project Workspace. To edit, click a row to open it in the side panel.
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A red warning icon appears next to a connected task row when a linked CWM task starts earlier or ends later than its Project Task. It's a flag for the PM, not a blocker, and it clears once the dates line up. Keep dates current on connected CWM tasks so the warnings stay meaningful.
04 - Working in CWM (team members)
This section covers how team members bring project tasks onto a Board, break them down into their own work, and manage it in CWM.
Step 1: Bring a project task onto a CWM Board
Team members can see project work on their Board and decompose it into their own work.
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Add a project task to your Board through Connected Work.
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Choose the Project Task table, then use the condition builder to filter which project tasks to bring in.
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The Board refreshes and shows each matching project task as a connected work item, with its existing Assigned to, State, and Start and End date values.
*Adding a project task to a Board doesn't pull in CWM items already linked to that project task elsewhere. Each Board keeps its own set of connected items. In Project Workspace, all of them show up together under the project task.
Step 2: Team members add child CWM tasks or stories
From the Board, team members can create work under a Project Task they're assigned to.
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Select Add child CWM task or Add child story from the project task's context menu.
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The project task must have no existing child project tasks. Otherwise, an inline error notification appears instead of the new item.
*Only assignees of the Project Task can create child items. That means you're listed in Assigned to, listed as a resource assignee, or part of a resource assignment group on it. Add child CWM task and Add child story still appear for everyone, but a non-assignee gets an inline error and nothing is created.
Step 3: Team members manage their work in CWM
Team members never have to leave CWM to do their work. From a Board, they can:
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See the Project and Project task each work item supports (add these columns from the Board's List view via Personalize)
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Track Project Tasks assigned to them or their group from My Work or a CWM board by filtering task type to Project task. For a group assignment, they see their own share of the work.
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Change or remove a work item's Project Task connection from the List view. Here's how:
| I want to… | Do this | What happens |
|---|---|---|
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Move an item to a different Project Task |
Select the new Project Task in the Project task column. |
The Project column updates automatically. The dropdown excludes Project Tasks that already have child Project Tasks. |
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Change only the project |
Select a different project in the Project column. |
The Project task value is cleared. |
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Remove the connection entirely |
Select Un-indent item from the item's context menu. |
The Project task, Project, and parent fields are cleared. |
05 - Limitations and behaviors to know
Before you plan around this integration, check these current limits and behaviors:
Connection limits
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A Project Task that already has child Project Tasks can't accept CWM connections, and this applies to everyone, including the Project Task's own assignees. The Project task dropdown on a Board excludes such Project Tasks.
- Starting with the CWM September Store Release, CWM tasks and stories can connect to child Project Tasks, not only top-level ones.
- Other Connected Work items such as Incidents, Catalog Tasks, or Change Requests cannot be connected to a Project Tasks in a CWM Board
Visibility limits
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Project Workspace shows only the first level of the CWM hierarchy.
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Child rows can’t be edited inline in Project Workspace. To edit, click a row to open it in the side panel.
Rollups
It depends on the type of work and Project Task:
| Work item | Project Task with Agile Phase type | Project Task with Waterfall or Test Phase type |
|---|---|---|
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Stories |
Sprint dates and status roll up to the Project Task's planned dates and status. Percent complete updates as stories are completed. |
No data rolls up. |
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CWM tasks |
No data rolls up. |
No data rolls up. |
*Sprint date rollup currently works only for stories tracked against the classic rm_sprint table. Stories on CWM-native sprints don't roll their sprint dates up to the Project Task. Percent complete updates regardless of sprint type.
On the roadmap: configurable rollups so dates, status, and percent complete from both stories and CWM tasks will be able to roll up to any Project Task regardless of its Phase type.
What happens to connected CWM tasks and stories if I remove or delete a Project Task?
In both cases, the connected CWM tasks and stories are not deleted. They move to the top level of their Board, and their Project and Project task fields are cleared. If you remove a Project Task from a Board, you can reconnect the items to it later, and they automatically return under that Project Task.
Does a CWM task or story return to its original parent item if the Project Task it was connected to is later deleted?
No. Suppose a CWM task has a parent CWM task, and you later connect it to a Project Task. If that Project Task is deleted, the item stays on the Board as an independent, top-level item. It does not return to its original parent.
To learn more about how deletion works, check the product documentation.
With Project Workspace and CWM connected, project managers keep the plan and teams keep their tools, and everyone sees the same picture.
Other resources for Project Management and CWM:
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Want to go deeper? Check the product documentation for step-by-step setup instructions.
- Watch SPM Academy - Hybrid Project Management to explore the feature with our experts through an overview of key capabilities and a demo walkthrough
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Read Project Workspace in SPM to learn what Project Workspace is and what types of projects you can manage.
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Check Playbooks in Project Workspace: Guided Project Execution for how playbooks guide project execution, and how they differ from project templates.
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Use the CWM Quick Start Guide for why to use CWM, implementation guides, and best practices.
