Generic "Forms" embedded in a sheet?

JacobT

HI,

I am pretty new to Smartsheet so, please forgive me if the solution to this question is obvious to most.  

Our company is developing some project management sheets to help us in our transition to paperless. We have put together a template that we feel pretty satisfied with to get going and as we start each project, we can save a copy of the template as "Job X". That part is working well. Within that sheet, however, are some hyperlinks to some other sheets that we would like to use for logging of model/serial numbers of equipment, ordering of material from our own supply room, etc... The problem is that, no matter where you click on the hyperlinks from (original template or any of the saved job versions), it goes to the template version of the link and any info put onto the sheet is saved to the template. What we would like is either, for the hyperlinks to open a version of the secondary sheets that are already assigned to the same job that the main sheet is saved as (without having to manually save each of them as the job), OR to link to the secondary sheet that can be filled out and sent to the other relevant parties, then be not filled out for the other sheets that are also linked to it. 

I tried to see if Web forms would work but I'm not sure how it would. For instance, our material order sheet is @200 items and is currently saved as a simple sheet. Ideally, we just want the field installers to be able to open the "material sheet" link, punch in some numbers for the quantities of items they need and send it to our shop manager. Then, when another installer opens the same link from another job, it is blank. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jacob

Richard Rymill SBP

Jacob

From what I can understand, you could well be better NOT using a template for this activity but a Folder (in a workspace or standalone) which contains you Master sheet with all the info in it like tasks, Links, attached docs and even Dependencies if relevant, so all you have to input is the Start date for the work to cascade downwards.

But ore importantly in this folder you can have Reports that USE the master sheet so you have a prepared workflow that can be activated on demand and retains the info, Connections and Links you want it to retain.... when you "Save as new" and answer the questions asked carefully. 

The Web form idea will work well for your contractors to order stock if you make the stocklist a dropdown menu. Easy to use on a phone or tablet and each order is listed in a new row on the sheet. 

Careful design of your workflows will pay dividends very quickly. 

Hope that helps RichardR