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Re: PMO Efficiency - Workspaces and Automated Backups

We make separate workspaces for each project so we can color code the header bar and add a project logo. Otherwise it is difficult for PMs to tell which project they are working on as all the plans/reports/dashboards all look the same and they manage many at once, flipping between tabs. The downside of this is that I need to add each project separately to my cross-project reports. If all projects were within one workspace in separate folders the reporting across projects is easier.

I also find it makes access/sharing more difficult because, in my case, I have new team members join that need access to old projects and I need to add them one by one.

So consider you access/sharing needs, color coding, reporting.....

KPH

2 ·

Auto-Create Child Rows WITHOUT Bridge or API

This initial solution is based on form submissions being made and each form submission triggering the creation of a set of "template" child rows per submission WITHOUT the need for a 3rd party app, the premium add-on Bridge, or the API.

So if your form submissions look like this:

Your working sheet could look like this:

There are a number of modifications that can be made such as the number of children, the number of levels, column data in the child rows, etc.. The below is just the basics to help everyone get started.

So here we go...

On the sheet where your form submissions will be made, you will need two sets of columns. One set that has the data to be pushed over, and another set that collects the data from the form submissions. You can leverage custom field titles in the form so that the form looks decent but the sheet stays easier to organize/manage. You are also going to need an auto-number column.

At the top of the form sheet and utilizing the primary column, you will put in your parent/child "template" set.

There are a number of formulas that can pull in the most recent form entry into that parent row, but for the sake of this example I have used

=INDEX([Form Field A]:[Form Field A], MATCH(MAX([Auto-Number]:[Auto-Number]), [Auto-Number]:[Auto-Number], 0))

Of course that same formula is tweaked and used in the B and C columns pulling from the corresponding Form Field columns.

The final step is creating a Copy Row automation. Set it to trigger whenever the A column changes (or a different column or combination of columns used in the top row of the template to accommodate your needs). The action would be to Copy Row to your Working Sheet.

Additional screenshots are below. This is just the base idea and can be expanded on in a number of ways, but accommodating every single possibility just isn't feasible in a single post.

Paul Newcome

17 ·

Re: Can't a System Admin recover a deleted sheet for someone?

@Matt Rasmussen if the user is active and their sheets/resources have not been deleted, a Smartsheet Sys Admin CAN transfer their owned sheets to someone else. The kicker is that they ALL have to transfer to the same person. Once that one person owns the other user's sheets, they can individually reassign ownership to other licensed users.

This is done via User Management in the Admin Center. Go to Manage Licensed Users, and Transfer Owned Items is a menu option for a user.

Jeff Reisman

1 ·

Re: Automation Workflow Not Running

Hey @gjohnson.pcpro

Using a cell looking at a cross-sheet reference will have the same issue, as source of that cell's change is the same thing.

What I would likely do here is set up a Time Based workflow instead, running once a day at the end of the day (e.g. 9pm) where it adds the date if the Current Stage is your criteria and the Date column is blank. Will that work for you?

Cheers,

Genevieve

Genevieve P.

1 ·

Re: Automation Workflow Not Running

Hi @gjohnson.pcpro

How are the cells changing in your Current Stage column?

Actions that modify a sheet (including Record a Date) cannot be triggered by inbound cell-links or cross-sheet references. The Note on this Help Article has more information: Action blocks: Specify what automation is triggered

Genevieve P.

1 ·

Re: Multiple Approvals Based on Selection in Multi-Select Field

Hey @UrbanLawrence

Are you using the same Approval column for all your different requests?

You'll want to set up individual columns to record the different types of approval. That way it won't be registered as "Approved" for that row, since the associated column is set to "Submitted". Otherwise, the "Approve" in a single column will assume it's an Approve for all workflows - does that make sense?

Cheers,

Genevieve

Genevieve P.

1 ·

Re: NEW! Dashboard center alignment and mailto links!

The mailto is pretty nice, any chance we can get this same functionality on forms too?

Samuel Mueller

2 ·

Re: Folder-level permissions

This is a greatly needed enhancement. We manage very large Programs through Control Center with multiple workstreams and projects under that Program Workspace. The folder tree and artifacts are extensive with many being confidential. Like other commenters, because of the time-consuming process of giving access at each artifact level, we end up giving most people access to the entire Program workspace and confidential data they really should not have access to.