Reservations/Scheduling & WAITLISTING

Chrissy Johnson

First time posting, and I'm not sure if I'm doing this correctly, or if this is the right place, please have patience.

I have a workspace, with a form, and a sheet (although it's definitely not NEAR as optimal or helpful as it should be), along with a few other sheets/resources (past appointments, contact lists, specific sheets, etc.). Anyway - what I need to do is figure out how to optimize the form, sheet, report, dashboard, etc., to all work and flow together.

My most pressing and important question right now: In the form that I have created, it asks the person to fill out their AVAILABLE DATES (usually a few months in a row), and their PREFERRED DATES (usually from the beginning of a month to the end the same month). If their preferred dates are not reserved for someone else already - I assign them those dates, and then start the work on the task list of getting them set up for their assigned/reserved dates, etc. But, a lot of people don't get their first option - and instead are placed on a waitlist for the entirety of their AVAILABLE dates. Then, if time becomes available - I offer them the sooner time, and if they accept - then I start the process and tasks. If they do not, I skip them and go to the next person in the waitlist for that month.

How can I manage these reservations & WAITLIST -- and then use my process/task list to go down the line of all of the necessary steps, etc.? Is there ANYONE that can help me? I feel like reserving & waitlisting requests should be a VERY simple and frequently used concept - but, I can't find any way of doing it.

Alternatively - if there is NOT a way to house this whole concept/project within SmartSheet - has anyone used a process/app/tool/resource/etc., that could work in CONJUNCTION with SmartSheet that could help this process??

PLEASE HELP ME!!!

Zachary Hall

Hi @Chrissy Johnson,

This is the right place for this type of question. That being said, without knowing your exact methodology I can only make some suggestions to try to help.

• If you don't have it already, I would have a column tracking when the form was submitted (Column Type should be "Created Date"). You can use this later to determine which request was first. You could also create one that lists the last modified date if you want to track that as well.
• I would create a Drop Down List column for Status. You could list the status of the request there. Examples would be:
  • New Request
  • In Process
  • Waitlist
• From there I would create a report from that sheet with the information I needed and choose to Group by the Status with the "Created Date" as the way they were sorted. That way you can look at the group you need to work next.

There are a lot of things you can eventually do to make this process easier/better, some involving automation, some using formulas within your sheets, but I would recommend by starting to organize what you are currently doing in a way that makes sense and is easier for you. The other functions might feel overwhelming if you haven't started with a good foundation.

I hope this helps. If not, perhaps others will be able to provide some different pointers. Always feel free to reply if we aren't quite understanding what you are looking for as well!