Calculate Date for Status Change

jennifer.cooper15596

Does anyone know how to capture or calculate the current date that a status has changed on a task?  I'm trying to capture the dates that each task is moved through the status phases of To Do, In Process, Done.

Mike Wilday

There is no "automatic" method that I am aware of. You can manually check a field by right-clicking on it to view the cell history. Or if you have a business or enterprise account the activity log would provide you with some data as well. 

jennifer.cooper15596

Thank you.

Tony Coleman

Agree with Mike.  The only workaround would be to have the status showing as a workflow, with a Date column for each status.  So instead of 1 column with the current status in a dropdown, you would have 3 columns each populated with a date (entered by someone) as they move through the workflow.   Not ideal perhaps, but you can still report off it - i.e. display all records without a date in 'Done' & 'In Process' shows the list of jobs sitting in 'To-Do'

You might even be able to show via a nested if statement calculating how long a job has been sitting at the status for.

Mehmet Zengin

Hey,

Craig had a solution which may provide a foundation for yours.

http://ronin-global.com/2016/12/11/smartsheet-fixed-date-upon-completion/

Mike Wilday

Craig's solution works if you want to pay for a third-party application. I have Used Tony's solution of including a Date Completed column instead of a check box to indicate completion. 

 

J. Craig Williams

The drawback to formulas in the GUI is that other changes to a completed task's row may result in the Completed Date being updated.

If you enter the date directly, then be aware that typing "t" will enter today's date.

I had several customers that had requirements to prevent revisionist history. They required tasks to be marked off when completed, not later next week. This was important for determining time to implement. "I finished that last week" was not an acceptable answer due to what-should-happen-next blocking.

Craig