Audit trail of who has been sent documents

Jmalthouse

We are in the middle of creating a document management platform & policy. We are working on a highly confidential project and must have an audit history on who has been sent what documents, and when. We would like our workflow to look like this:
Employee asks for approval to send documents to a specific person/company
Manager approves that request
Document is sent via smartsheet - with an audit trail

I know I can set up the form to request to send, and have the manager approve the form. However I am getting stumped on how to create an audit trail of who has been sent the document. I thought there would be an audit history on each row, but doesn't appear to be. Doesn't look like "sending" a file is something that is tracked on the activity log. Any ideas?

Mike Ferringer

Hi Jmalthouse.

Are you familiar with using Proofs in Smartsheet? It is normally used to send a document for review and approval with option to add comments and/or edit. The proof is attached to a specific row. You can allow download of the document if desired. It will keep track of who the document was sent to and by utilizing the "Approved" feature, you can designate that as indication that they have received it and reviewed it. It will also maintain version history in the event that changes are made to the document. I'm attaching a screen shot of a proof that I sent to an alternate email that I use for Smartsheet testing. Do you think this could work?

Attaching a link on Proofs: https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2480181-use-proofing-to-collaborate-on-content

2024-05-18 07_09_09-Window.png

Brian_Richardson

How are you storing and then sending the documents? Attached to Smartsheet? Linked to a Google Drive?

If attachments, you can use Bridge to send the row including the attachment and then write to a "log sheet" that you create when that send is successful. Here's the endpoint:

https://smartsheet.redoc.ly/tag/rows#operation/rows-send

And here's the new Learning Track for Bridge:

https://help.smartsheet.com/learning-track/bridge

Jmalthouse

@Mike Ferringer This sounds like it would be perfect. However, I am wondering if I can send to third parties outside of my company/smartsheet account? I just did a quick test and it looks as though I can only track: Pending, approved, and needs changes? Do you know if I can have a log kept of who the document has been sent too? Even if they don't need to approve… just view the document?

For example, if my manager has approved me sending a drawing to our consultant… so I send the line item via smartsheet for them to view / download. Will it log that? Or does it only log when it has been sent for approval?

Brian_Richardson

As long as your account allow it you can invite external emails to proof. Proofing doesn’t “send” the document, so it doesn’t track that. What it tracks is who is invited to view and markup and approve the document, when the last change was made, and when final approvals are in.

Jmalthouse

@Brian Becnel Thanks!! Looks like this is an add on feature? Any idea if there is an additional cost?

Andrée Starå

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/437131#Comment_437131

Hi,

I hope you're well and safe!

You need to upgrade to the Enterprise Plan.

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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