Weekly Input for multiple data points at multiple sites

AshleyOrd

We have been tasked to gather weekly meter data: multiple meters (3-10) for each utility (water, electricity, natural gas) at each of the 60 plants. 

What is the best way to gather multiple data points from mulitple plants all at once? We are unsure how to format this correctly. 

The plants will have to entrer Meter Name, Meter Number, Meter Reading for each utility every week. We do not have each plant's specific number of meters, nor do we have their meter names. It would be nice to gather this data from them first then have the sheet formatted using this data for them to select each time based on which plant they are at. 

Does it make sense for each plant to have a worksheet or each utility (electricity, water, natural gas) to have its own sheet and the plant is a drop down selection? 

How can we set this up to use the task reminders with the weeks set? but then how do they add multiple meters to that particular week?  Or do we just use web forms to add new rows for each meter and have these sent out on a recurring basis through Outlook? 

Shaine Greenwood

Hello Ashley,

I edited your tags for better parity with the subject matter of your post.

The way that you structure your solution will mainly depend on the number of entries you're expecting each week. The more entries logged, the larger your sheets get. Larger sheets are more difficult to navigate and do at time reduce performance of Smartsheet. 

If you expect a lot of entries, you might consider having a sheet for each utility and create dropdown options for the 60 plants.

You can later create reports that pull the data together as you need (by plant, for example). More on creating reports in our help center.

Otherwise, if you don't expect a lot of entries weekly, you can put everything on one sheet, and create three forms for the same sheet (one for each utility). More on Forms here. You can still apply filters to your sheet to only show the data relevant to you at the time.

I also want to note that we do have consultants on hand that can work with you to build a custom solution. More on this here: https://www.smartsheet.com/custom-consulting