Can I use this template to plan and manage a wide range of IT projects?

Yes, the AI within Visor can produce custom IT project plan templates for you to plan and manage a wide range of IT projects including (for example):

• Infrastructure upgrades
• Procurement
• Cloud migrations
• Cybersecurity or data security
• System implementation
• Process development
• User management

Simply use the “Add details” section within the Smart Template screen in Visor when creating a new workbook and add some instructions to the AI to guide it on the kind of IT project you are planning, and any other details it can use to make the best possible IT project plan template for you.

Can I create high-level views that include all of my IT project plans, or all of my organization’s IT projects?

Yes, within Visor you can easily create visualizations that include multiple projects.

You can group the data (typically tasks) within any criteria in a dropdown field, for example priority, assignee, product, strategic aim, initiative, and more.

This enables you to look at all projects from many useful angles. For example, you can create a single view that shows the capacity and commitments of a team member, team, or resource type across all projects. Or a view you can use to report up to your CEO that shows progress across all your IT projects in a single multi-project Gantt chart.

Visor is a project portfolio management tool that’s easy to use. With the help of AI you can use it to create powerful, crystal clear visualizations, plans, and trackers for all your IT projects in one place.

Can I use import projects from apps like Jira?

Yes, Visor has bi-directional integrations with Jira, Asana, Salesforce, and other apps. This enables you to use your project data from these apps in your IT project plan templates.

The bi-directional integration keeps Visor in sync with your apps to preserve your single version of the truth and prevent manual updates. You can even import multiple projects to create portfolio views that incorporate all the teams, projects, or products in your organization or business unit.

Visor’s project portfolio management functionality enables you to get a complete view of all your projects in holistic visualizations, so that you can plan, track, manage, analyze, and share all your projects more effectively and ensure resources and are optimally deployed across your teams and organization.

What formats or view types can I use as IT project plan templates in Visor?

Visor has a range of view types which you can choose from to plan and track your IT projects. You can also use multiple views simultaneously (for example, you can use the Gantt chart view to plan and view project progress, the Kanban board view to manage task progression and completion, and the dashboard view to analyze project progress and KPIs at a high-level).

Here is the complete set of view types you can use in Visor:

• Gantt charts
• Dashboards
• Kanban Boards
• Timelines
• Table Views

Can I organize my IT project plans using sprints in Visor’s template?

Yes, you can organize and visualize your IT project plans in sprints using Visor’s IT project plan template.

What time increments can I use to plan and view my IT projects in Visor?

You can use the following date ranges in your IT project plans in Visor:

• Sprints & Days
• Weeks & Days
• Months & Days
• Months & Weeks
• Quarters & Weeks
• Quarters & Months
• Years & Months

Can I create multiple views of my IT project plan with different time increments?

Yes, you can also create multiple views of the same project that use different time increments, simply by cloning a view (like a project plan Gantt chart or roadmap) and selecting a different time increment from the “Zoom” dropdown menu.

This enables you to create a mix of long term and short term views of your IT projects that you can draw on at any time for different purposes. For example, your CEO might want to see a long term plan, while meetings with your team executing the plan would typically require something more detailed and shorter term.

Using Visor means you have a variety of perspectives to view your plan by – that stay in sync with your latest plan and project progress – without any extra work to create them or keep them updated.

Can I add story points in Visor’s IT project plan template?

Yes, in Visor you can add story points and other time and effort estimates to the tasks in your IT project plans to help you ensure your plans are feasible, achievable, and properly resourced.

Can I add milestones to IT project plan templates created in Visor?

Yes, you can easily add tasks as milestones or set existing tasks to be displayed as milestones in Visor’s Gantt chart view. These milestones can be color coded based on criteria such as priority, status, assignee, or any other relevant criteria.

Adding milestones in Gantt charts helps you to highlight and identify which tasks are critical steps on the journey to the successful completion of your sprint or project.

Can I use Visor’s IT project plan template to create varying views of my plans for different stakeholders?

Yes, using Visor you can easily create multiple versions of your IT project plans that are tailored to different audiences, or better suited to specific tasks or processes, all while using the same real-time data.

Creating multiple – but synchronized – versions of your project plans enable you to ensure that you have the best view possible for specific teams, stakeholders, or purposes (such as planning meetings, sprint retrospectives, or presentations to senior stakeholders).

Some of the attributes you can modify to create multiple custom views of your IT project plans include:

• “Zoom” or Timescale: Quarters and months for your executive board and sprints for your engineering team.
• Data Groupings: Group data by the assignee for your team views and by the strategic initiative for your executive board
• Levels of Task: Choose to show all task levels for personal views, epics to tasks for team views, and epics only for senior stakeholder views

Creating multiple views of your project plans for different team members, teams, stakeholders, or purposes is quick and easy. All views are synchronized and use the same underlying data source, which means you can have many different views of your projects without having to manually reorganize or update data.

Can I use Visor’s IT project plan templates for free?

Yes, upon registering you will have a 14-day free trial of Visor’s Team plan, giving you access to all of Visor’s premium visualization types. After this trial period you can choose to select a Team or Starter plan, or continue on the Visor Free plan.

Why is using a Smart Template to create IT project plans better than creating your own plans from scratch or using generic templates?

Smart Templates in Visor are powered by AI, which uses your data, your prompts, and its learnings from thousands of human-created visualizations.

This enables it to produce IT project plans and other visualizations infused with best practices and fully customized to your precise requirements and objectives.

The difference between Smart Templates and regular templates for IT project planning is akin to the difference between wearing a finely tailored, top-of-the-line suit to an ill-fitting, under-sized, off-the-rack shabby suit and trying to make it fit like the professionally tailored version – it’s possible. Still, it will take you lots of time, effort, trial-and-error, and frustration to get there.

Using Smart Templates for IT project planning gets you off to the best possible start, saves you hours per IT plan created, and saves you heaps of frustration. It’s a genuine game-changer in your ability to plan and visualize your sprints, projects, and portfolios of projects.

Can I nest epics, user stories, tasks and subtasks (or other parent and child relationships) in Visor’s IT project planning template?

Yes, IT project plans created in Visor have comprehensive task-nesting support. Nesting is made easy in Visor. You can nest records below another record using:

• Drag-and-drop
• Keyboard shortcuts
• The record settings drop-down menu

If you import projects from apps like Jira, Asana, or Salesforce, Visor can maintain your nesting in full, so you don’t need to waste time manually re-nesting your project data.

What other templates are available in Visor?

Visor has a wide range of templates, which you can find in our Templates Library.

Templates in Visor are generated by AI based on your responses to a short series of questions, which enable the AI to understand what you are trying to achieve and produce a ready-configured template to suit your needs. This means that you are not limited to the set of templates we offer in our library, as the AI can meet needs that we haven’t listed or even considered.

How do I access AI-powered Smart Templates in Visor?

When you first log in to Visor, after entering your email address and how you want to use Visor, you will see a screen that asks, “What is this workbook for?” On this screen, there is a “Use Smart Template” button. 

You can then pick from a range of popular template categories, or click “Other” to ask the AI to create something different to the available options. You can use the free text box to supply additional information to help the AI create a set of visualizations (or templates) that will best meet your needs.

To access Smart Templates if you already have a Visor account, simply click the New Workbook button within an existing workbook, or Create a new workbook from the workbook list screen. Then when you’re asked “What is this workbook for?” click the “Use Smart Template” button.