---
title: "Control Center: should every project get its own workspace?"
description: Should each Control Center project get its own workspace? Check the pros and cons, compare access, reporting and enhanced global updates, plus how to choose the right setup.
image: https://www.adrienautomation.com/hubfs/Smartsheet-control-center-workspace-per-project-pros-and-cons.png
---

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# Control Center: should every project get its own workspace?

![Adrien Leduc](https://www.adrienautomation.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Photo%20profil.jpg?width=48&height=48&name=Photo%20profil.jpg)

 Adrien Leduc

October 22, 2026

When you build a blueprint in Control Center, the wizard asks where each new project should live. The Project Storage options are a new workspace for each project, a preselected workspace where every project is created, or one of two options that leave the choice to the person creating the project, who either picks from workspaces you have set up or can also create a new one.

This article compares the first two. That choice shapes permissions, reporting and clean-up long after go-live, so it is worth settling before the first project is provisioned.

## The pros of a workspace per project

- **Access is scoped by default.** Sharing a workspace gives people everything inside it and nothing outside it unless you share items explicitly. One workspace per project turns that behaviour into a clear project boundary.
- **Outside collaborators are simple to include.** Share one workspace with a client or contractor and they never see anything from other projects.
- **It fits multi-tier programmes.** In [Smartsheet's multi-tier setup](https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2482715-configure-control-center-multitier), the parent blueprint uses New workspace for each project and child blueprints use Parent Project Workspace, so a parent and its children live together.
- **It unlocks enhanced global updates.** [Enhanced global updates](https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2483474-control-center-enhanced-global-updates-overview) (EGU) lets a Program Lead publish the blueprint template so every active project is brought into line with it. That covers sheets, columns, cross-sheet formulas, forms, reports, dashboards and folder structure. EGU requires new projects to be stored in their own new workspaces, and all active projects must sit in unique workspaces. If you expect to keep improving the template after go-live, this is the strongest argument for a workspace per project.

## The case against

- **Workspace sprawl.** Hundreds of projects means hundreds of workspaces in the Browse list. Without a naming convention driven from the intake sheet, finding a project turns into a search exercise.
- **Every project starts with a fresh sharing list.** In a shared workspace, a team that already has workspace access does not need to be shared again. With a new workspace each time, access has to come from the intake sheet. Control Center reads roles from contact columns, but this won't work if the team is not picked at project creation. Standing audiences such as a PMO or finance still need sharing on every new workspace, and a Contact Group makes that easier because all members inherit the permission level.
- **Less natural grouping.** A preselected workspace lets you group projects together, for example by region, department, or year. A workspace per project gives you one box per project and nothing above it unless you build that layer yourself.
- **Enhanced global updates can overwrite local changes.** Publishing overwrites template column order, names, properties, dropdown options and formulas in every project, and forms and reports are fully overwritten. Project admins who customised their projects will need to redo those changes, so Smartsheet advises notifying them before and after you publish.

## Side by side

| Concern | One workspace per project | All projects (folders) in one workspace |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Access boundary | Sharing is scoped to one project | Everyone shared to the workspace sees every project in it |
| Standing team access | Set again on each new workspace, ideally through a Contact Group | Set once and inherited by every new project |
| Outside collaborators | Share one workspace and nothing else is exposed | Needs item level sharing |
| Admin rights | Admin on a workspace is Admin on one project | Workspace Admin covers every project in it |
| Leadership rollups | Each workspace needs sharing, or use summary views | One share at workspace level covers everything |
| Browsing and naming | Many workspaces to manage | Fewer workspaces, many folders |
| Updating live projects | Eligible for enhanced global updates, so template changes can be published to every active project | Not eligible for enhanced global updates, so existing projects are changed by other means |

## How to choose

The decision comes down to who must not see what. Settle the sharing model first and let the rest follow.

Choose a workspace per project if two or more of these are true:

- Projects have different teams or clients, or include outside collaborators
- Some projects are confidential
- Program managers should only administer their own projects
- You expect to improve the template after launch and want to push changes to live projects with enhanced global updates

Choose a shared workspace if these sound more like you:

- One team owns every project and already has access
- Leadership need access to everything
- You want to group projects by region, department or client

There is also a middle route. Control Center can hand the choice to the person creating the project, who picks an existing workspace or creates a new one. That suits a portfolio that mixes sensitive projects with routine ones, but it moves naming and access discipline into the hands of every project creator. This also means your plan needs to include more than blueprint, which can be pricy.

Are you planning a Control Center architecture and you're unsure which model fits? Get in touch through the contact form below and I can review your intake process, sharing model and reporting needs together.

 

## Keep reading

### [![](https://www.adrienautomation.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Smartsheet-chart-builder-new-and-legacy-stacked-chart-filter.png?width=3000&height=1500&name=Smartsheet-chart-builder-new-and-legacy-stacked-chart-filter.png) Smartsheet Dashboard Filters Need a New Table Structure](https://www.adrienautomation.com/blog/smartsheet-dashboard-filters-need-a-new-table-structure?hsLang=en)

### [![](https://www.adrienautomation.com/hs-fs/hubfs/OGSM-report-system-smartsheet-dashboard.png?width=3000&height=1500&name=OGSM-report-system-smartsheet-dashboard.png) Why Your Strategy Gets Forgotten by February, and How an OGSM System Keeps It Alive](https://www.adrienautomation.com/blog/why-your-strategy-gets-forgotten-by-february-and-how-an-ogsm-system-keeps-it-alive?hsLang=en)

 © 2026 Adrien Leduc · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrienleduc/)

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