Leeds Bradford Airport makes project and portfolio reporting effortless with Smartsheet

When your flight takes off on time and the terminal runs smoothly, it’s thanks to countless projects happening behind the scenes. At Leeds Bradford Airport, the Portfolio Management Office (PMO) team is pivotal to making it all happen. This regional hub has been connecting Yorkshire to the world since 1931, welcoming over 4 million passengers a year, with plans to grow to 7 million by 2030. With great routes, competitive airlines, and a focus on customer experience, the airport plays a vital role in serving a thriving region.

The PMO team helps plan, guide, and deliver change across the airport—everything from expanding the terminal to replacing phone systems or maintaining Airport Infrastructure. The team not only oversees the process and reporting but also gets hands-on—writing business cases, supporting teams new to project work, and even managing some projects themselves. “It’s the most varied portfolio I’ve ever been responsible for, which is exciting,” says Cathy Evans, Head of Portfolio Management Office at Leeds Bradford Airport.

Flying blind on project priorities

With around 50 projects running at any given time, the PMO team at Leeds Bradford Airport must prioritise carefully—starting with maintenance, compliance, and end-of-life systems, before moving on to strategic projects or nice-to-haves. But without clear visibility, that was difficult. “At first, we tracked everything manually in a monster spreadsheet,” recalls Cathy Evans. “Then we tried a PPM tool, but after 18 months, it still wasn’t giving us what we needed—that clear, high level portfolio view we required for strategic visibility and decision making. In the end, the team switched to the tool they had wanted all along: Smartsheet.

Within just a few months, Leeds Bradford Airport moved all its projects into Smartsheet with help from Cheetah Transformation, a Smartsheet Platinum Partner. The team then set up dashboards to report on individual projects and the overall portfolio, refining them as they went. “I love how intuitive Smartsheet is—it’s easy to get started, see where the data goes, and build dashboards that actually work,” says Cathy. 

“It gives us the freedom to keep improving things without needing extra support or worrying about breaking anything. It allows the PMO to be more value add for both the projects and senior management.  The whole experience has been fantastic.”

She adds, “Cheetah Transformation was instrumental in helping us get up and running quickly. They understood our goals from day one and provided the right mix of structure and flexibility to make it work for our team.” 
Cheetah Transformation echoed the value of the collaboration: “It was a real privilege to support Leeds Bradford Airport in building their Smartsheet solution,” Rob Eberstein, Managing Director, shared. “Working closely with Cathy and the PMO team, we delivered a solution that blends structure with flexibility—providing real-time visibility, simplified reporting, and the confidence to scale in line with their future growth plans.”

Fast-tracking project reporting

The dashboards are built to save time—for both individual project managers and the PMO team. A great example is the custom-built closure report, which gives a clear snapshot of each project’s status, including progress, risks, changes, and budget details. It shows project managers exactly what’s needed to close things out, and once everything is balanced, the PMO and finance teams sign it off. “Before, closing a project meant writing a document, getting everyone to review it, checking that risks were closed and plans were up to date, then confirming everything with the finance team—this process, on average, took a week per project,” recalls Cathy. 

“Now, everything’s in one place, easy to track, shareable and even printable when needed. We’ve probably saved the equivalent of a full-time role each year just on closures.” To speed things up even further, the PMO team built a report that shows who has—and hasn’t—updated their projects, making it easier to follow up and keep reporting on track.

A clear view

Beyond just saving time, Leeds Bradford Airport now has full visibility across its entire project landscape—from the fine details of individual tasks to the bigger picture of the full portfolio. For the PMO team, that means they can triage more effectively, quickly spot what needs attention, and guide efforts where they’re needed most. 

“I get a bit giddy when it comes to dashboards—I love tweaking things, moving widgets around, and getting everything just right. I like being able to see exactly how we’re tracking each month—risks opened and closed, how many projects are active, how much we’ve spent. It all just clicks into place. And having this real-time view of our entire portfolio has been a game-changer,” shares Cathy. “I can track risks, spending, and productivity at a glance. It’s a level of visibility we’ve never had that before.”

Right now, the team is rolling out Resource Management to make it easier to plan and track who’s doing what. Project teams will be able to flag when they need help, and managers can assign the right people to support them. Timesheets will then capture how much time is actually spent on each task, making reporting more accurate and helping the airport invest more confidently in its people.

Laying the groundwork for take-off

Next on the list is a full document management system—bringing in version control, formal review workflows, and a searchable library to streamline how project documents are handled from start to finish. As Cathy puts it: “We’re not the biggest airport, but we handle a lot—and we’ve got plans to handle even more. Smartsheet helps us run complex projects with clarity and control, so we can grow without losing our grip.”