Document Tracking Help

laura.sandoval

Hello community :)

We are looking to create a sheet or workspace in SmartSheets that has certain capabilities for document tracking and I was hoping someone could help answer these questions. We have several clients that require documents that need to be stored throughout their engagement with us and we would like to know if certain features are possible. Appreciate any insight on this!

• Security: these are classified documents with sensitive information, is it guaranteed to be safe and protected? We need to make sure they are easily accessible and highly secure due to the regulations of the business. 
• Audit trail: Will it show who did what with the documents and the time/date? 
• Archiving documents: after the engagement is done with the clients, how are the documents archived? 
• Or another note, if we need to stop using SmartSheets, do we need to remove all the documents? Are they deleted or do we have to move them over to another platform? This is a question due to the sensitive nature of the documents.
• Accessibility and Storage: Is it easy to upload documents and to access them? For example, for one client they may have up to 15-20 different documents…how could that be done in practical terms?
• Would we create rows per client and different columns for each type of document? I’m just wondering how it could be done on SmartSheets. Currently we have the documents in folders in Google Drive.
• Is there a way to automate it with workflows if there is a certain document missing?
• Added Automation Question: I’m not sure if this is something that can be done but if certain documents are missing, is there an automation workflow that can generate a message letting the person know which docs are missing?

Hope this makes sense and thank you in advance!

Andrée Starå

Hi @laura.sandoval

I hope you're well and safe!

Please see my comments/answers below.

• Security: these are classified documents with sensitive information, is it guaranteed to be safe and protected? We need to make sure they are easily accessible and highly secure due to the regulations of the business. 

[Andrée Starå] In general, yes, and there are features that can secure it even more, and the structure can also be set up to make it even more secure. I'd recommend reaching out to Smartsheet and having a check on the following page.

https://www.smartsheet.com/legal/privacy

https://www.smartsheet.com/trust

• Audit trail: Will it show who did what with the documents and the time/date? 

[Andrée Starå] Yes, you can see what happened with the document (who viewed/downloaded it).

• Archiving documents: after the engagement is done with the clients, how are the documents archived?

[Andrée Starå] You can delete them all or archive and remove access to everything. Check the two links I shared in a previous answer.

• Or another note, if we need to stop using SmartSheets, do we need to remove all the documents? Are they deleted or do we have to move them over to another platform? This is a question due to the sensitive nature of the documents.

[Andrée Starå] You can export it all, and for the other parts, I'd point to my previous answer.

• Accessibility and Storage: Is it easy to upload documents and to access them? For example, for one client they may have up to 15-20 different documents…how could that be done in practical terms?

[Andrée Starå] Yes, they can drag and drop to different rows or add multiple at one time, and they can also use the file explorer/finder to upload.

• Would we create rows per client and different columns for each type of document? I’m just wondering how it could be done on SmartSheets. Currently we have the documents in folders in Google Drive.

[Andrée Starå] It depends. Not knowing the details, but my preferred solution in my client solutions is adding one document per row so it's easy to register that it's been added and have reminders and other workflows trigger automatically.

• Is there a way to automate it with workflows if there is a certain document missing?

[Andrée Starå] Yes, see the previous answer.

• Added Automation Question: I’m not sure if this is something that can be done but if certain documents are missing, is there an automation workflow that can generate a message letting the person know which docs are missing?

[Andrée Starå] Yes, if it's on a row-by-row basis, it can be set up to trigger and inform, and you could even send an Update Request asking them to add it directly to the correct row.

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic weekend!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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laura.sandoval

This was very helpful thank you!! Do you know how many documents can be in a sheet and/or row or column? I'm wondering what the max capacity is?