Best Of

Hello @Cathy Salscheider ,

I am happy to carry on to assist you.

Many, many, many years ago I built a full Commission tool from Access (SQL) database and Excel (VBA). This is way before the age of Advanced Tech (e.g., Azure, AWS, JIRA, SNOW) and ICMs (e.g., Callidus, Xactly, Varicent, CaptivateIQ). Since then, I have stood up Xactly, Callidus and Varicent. Best advice is to get comfortable with ICM continuous improvement and resource push/pull.

Below is what I have built in Smartsheet.

1) Annual IC Plan Component Review and Change Requests
2) Annual IC Plan T&Cs Review and Change Requests (e.g., IC, Legal, HR)
3) IC Tool Learning Center for Administrators (can be scaled for End Users)
4) IC Ticketing Tool for Administrators (can be scaled for End Users)
5) IC Tool SPRINT Platform Migration and Continuous Improvement (DevOps SSOT)

The question you have to ask yourself is "Am I ready for an IT or Finance Audit?". Any deviations (High/Medium/Low) will require repair and have a short period to implement that repair. Public Company readiness has extra bells and whistles.

Are you IT Ready?
1) US GDPR Compliance
2) EU GDPR Compliance
3) Non-US and Non-EU Compliance (e.g., LATM, APAC)
4) Local Country or State Work Councils (e.g., France, Germany)
5) Company Data Security and Privacy Standards
6) Environment (e.g., DEV, QA, PROD) Access Audit Logs

Smartsheet Valuable Attributes for Consideration
1) Data Shuttle to consume external data (e.g., HRIS, CRM)
- OneDrive, SharePoint, Box
- PowerAutomate has some viable functionality but is limited
2) DataTable to assign unique RecordIDs for data ingestion and audit trail
- Filter large data sets at ingestion or ad hoc
3) DataTable connection to Smartsheet
- Supplements Activity Log search target restriction of Collaborators only; instead of Field for Field entry combo logic.
4) For Simple graphics, Sheet Summary or Reports to build Dashboard Widgets
5) For Complex graphics, Data Shuttle Offload into PowerBI AND pull in as Dashboard Web Content Widget
6) Forms are great for the below and can automate scalable drop-down options.
- Innovation requests
- Focus Group Testing of innovation
- Ticketing tool
7) Smartsheet Automation is great for Notifications, Proofs, Archiving. You must make sure you track limitations.
- For example, a Smartsheet has a limitation of 500K records. Building an Archive Automation requires monitoring.


1) Gather Requirements
- Administrative costs
2) Assess Requirements vs Smartsheet Functionality
- Prebuild DevOps costs
3) Assess Requirements vs External Functionality to Supplement Smartsheet Pitfalls
- Prebuild DevOps costs
4) Assess Additional tech stack or people costs
- Prebuild DevOps costs
5) Identify Timeline for Build SPRINTS vs Resourcing
- Build DevOps costs
6) SPRINT Reporting
- Administrative costs
7) Focus Group for End User Beta Testing
- Administrative costs
8) Change Management
- Postbuild DevOps costs
- Do not let perfection prevent action. Great is the continuous improvement of basic functionality.
9) Rollout Strategy (e.g., Communications, Change Champions, Adoption Evangelists, Enablement, Hypercare)
- Administrative costs
- You can use the same Focus Group