Indexing the way to go?

JPackard

We have a master list, utilizing Smartsheet to build a CRM, that will be completed by form entry or by sheet entry and can be completed by different team members who contact the same business.

1 - looking for ways to report cell history specific to a business filtered by business name

2 - looking for a way to group multiple entries with different spellings (123 Main LLC vs 123 Main)

These are my largest hurdles to completing this project for management review to then proceed forward. This is complex and hard to convey - anyone have any thoughts?

Jgorsich

For 1, giving each contact a unique row and a unique row ID is absolutely the way to go - then, once you filter by whatever column you want to (in your case, business name), you've got the full history.

For 2, it REALLY depends on your particular situation (in my experience); it is a toss up between essentially these choices:

A) Force the use of a drop down list of approved entries only - makes entering a first time contact difficult.

B) Allow the users to enter any value they want BUT have the form do a double check to see if it is a first time entry and make them confirm that a unique value is INTENDED before they can click confirm. (note - this effectively ALSO forces you to go with C, but just with slightly fewer headaches)

C) Allow users to enter any value they want and try to handle it after - this can become a nightmare really quick, particularly using only the built in Smartsheet formulas.

Personally, if you were talking about having an intended first time entry once a month or less, I'd got with A. More frequently and I'd go for B. I'd recommend trying to avoid C.