Precision BioSciences Uses Smartsheet to Optimize Project Resources and Help Advance Gene Editing

Founded in 2006, Precision BioSciences is a clinical stage gene editing company utilizing its proprietary ARCUS platform to develop in vivo gene editing therapies for high unmet need diseases. 

Even though Precision BioSciences operates with a lean team of fewer than 100 employees, it manages complex programs spanning early clinical and preclinical stages. As the company’s program pipeline matured and progressed through regulatory submissions, tracking timelines through separate Smartsheet grids by individual groups became more challenging.  Communication gaps between departments required program managers to cross-reference various individual grids and maintain all timelines. “If a preclinical study needed to be scheduled, our non-clinical, regulatory, and manufacturing teams all had to be informed and aligned,” says Pete Broglie, Associate Director for Program and Process Management at Precision BioSciences. “My job as a program manager is to make sure all the teams are talking to each other and we have realistic timeline expectations.”

Streamlining Program and Resource Management with Smartsheet 

Smartsheet, the intelligent work management platform, was already in use when Broglie joined Precision BioSciences, and he quickly saw its potential. “I immediately took advantage of all of the Smartsheet trainings that are widely available and incredibly valuable,” he says. “I dove headfirst into SmartU, I utilized the YouTube channel, and just soaked up as much information as I could. And I felt like my capabilities as a program manager grew exponentially.” 

Smartsheet soon became the backbone of the company’s program management. The company relies on Smartsheet to track information for different parts of all programs (including Research, Regulatory, and Clinical), including personnel and facilities. The platform’s flexibility allowed Precision’s Program Managers to build interconnected timelines for different functions and programs, linking dependencies and automating updates through automated workflows in Smartsheet. Smartsheet also streamlines material tracking, especially for programs with external vendors. The solution specifically tracks supplies, expiration dates, and certificates of analysis with automated alerts and conditional formatting to avoid any potential delays in data delivery. 

Smartsheet dashboards and reports are central to the company’s communication. Updated project data is accessible to all team members so they have full awareness of the milestones and current progress of each project. 

To more efficiently manage projects, Precision BioSciences uses Resource Management by Smartsheet, which helps balance workloads and drive more effective resource allocation. The solution’s advanced reporting features link resource data to the core app, building dashboards and grids based on hours input by team members.

Accurately Managing and Forecasting Project Resources 

Resource Management by Smartsheet has enabled Precision BioSciences to allocate resources intelligently. This gives the company better visibility into who is available and what employees are working on at any given time, helping balance workloads and improve productivity while fostering transparency and trust. 

“Using Resource Management, if someone is above 100 percent utilization, I get an alert on a dashboard so I can reach out to them to make sure they’re not getting burned out or if they need help or possibly need to flex resources from another part of the organization,” Broglie says. “Conversely, if someone reports less than 40 hours, it initiates a conversation and maybe we can take that 4-6 hours to put that person on another project or flex them as a resource to help another team.”

Precision BioSciences is working to use Resource Management to proactively forecast workloads and staffing needs and address any skill gaps. Broglie explains, “We're working to build out forecast models, so if our senior leadership team sees an opportunity to initiate a gene editing project and need a specific number of FTEs for research and another number for manufacturing, we can make sure to plan for that. We can also make sure we’re not going to burn out our team and not have them go from 100 percent to 160 percent utilization, but also, if we can see we will need some help, we can focus on hiring the right people with the right skills. Or, if we have a big deadline coming up, we can front-load our resources so we’re not scrambling to find people at the last second.”

Accelerating Lab Operations 

Automated workflows in Smartsheet are helping Precision BioSciences reduce manual tasks. “In my previous company, putting together a dashboard took me about 6 months. With Smartsheet, it only took me about a week and a half,” says Broglie. The company also benefits from automated material expiration alerts to ensure uninterrupted lab operations. “With Smartsheet automation, we track all our expiration dates and we don't have any delays in our data based on expiration of reagents.” Broglie says.

Smartsheet has also streamlined the company’s sample tracking process by automating and integrating multiple work streams based on different investigative procedures. 

“As soon as a sample comes into Smartsheet, it goes through a workflow, and then it automatically goes to the next group of workflows once it’s completed and the team member has completed their analysis,” says Broglie. “It’s a very seamless process.”

Gaining Better Program Visibility 

Smartsheet dashboards give Precision BioSciences instant visibility into program status, enabling real-time decision-making. For instance, during the filing of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for a Hepatitis B program (PBGENE-HBV), the company used Smartsheet to track reviews and completion across modules, flagging delays and facilitating cross-team coordination. “It gave an instant snapshot for our senior leadership to see where we were with different modules. It made it easier for us to say, ‘we're 30 percent or 40 percent of the way done.’” 

Broglie adds, “Smartsheet dashboards help us see not only what projects are coming down the pipe this week, but also next week and the week after that. With that information, I can go into Resource Management and determine where to allocate people based on their availability. It makes it easier for us to utilize resources to accomplish the overall goal.”

In the near future, Precision BioSciences plans to deepen its use of Smartsheet, particularly in resource forecasting and automation. The company is also focused on building out more sophisticated forecast models to support new gene editing projects, ensuring that resource allocation remains balanced and sustainable to keep pace with growth.

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