Using Smartsheet to create Time Off Request Calendar, Dynamic View, Form, Report, in Dashboard

Lynn.McEnaney

Hi all,

Through some trial and error I created a Time Off Request system for my team (80 people)

I started with grid rows: Employee Email (text), Supervisor Email (text), Division (drop down), Time Type (drop down: Vacation/Personal/Admin/Comp
OR Sick/Bereavment/Jury Duty), Start Date (date), End Date (date), Partial Day Off? (checkbox), Specifics (text), Created Date, Note for Supervisor (text), Supervisor Approval (drop down: Submitted, Approved, Declined), Past Date (Check box formula: =COUNTIFS([End Date]@row:[End Date]@row, @cell < TODAY()), Void/Cancel Request (checkbox)

On that grid I have 5 automations: 1. Alert Supervisor/ Change Cell- when Time Type = Sick/Bereavment/Jury Duty Change Supervisor Approval to "Approved" 2. Alert Supervisor- when Time Type = Sick/Bereavment/Jury Duty Alert supervisor and employee that this is approved. 3. Request Approval when Time Type= Vacation/Personal/Admin/Comp request Supervisor Approval- inform employee of Approved or Declined status 3. Move a row- when Void/Cancel Request is checked then move to new Sheet (Grid of CANCELLED REQUESTS) 4. Alert- when Void/Cancel Request is checked then alert Supervisor and employee that this request has been cancelled. 5. Move a row- when Past Date is checked then move to a new Sheet (Grid of PAST REQUESTS) 5. Move a row- when Supervisor Email is "Declined" then move to a new Sheet (Grid of DECLINED REQUESTS)

Off of that grid I created a form: 1. Division (drop down, single select) 2. Employee Email, 3. Supervisor email, 4. What type of time off are you requesting (drop down, single select), 5. Start Date, 6. End Date, 7. Does this request contain a partial day off? (drop down, single select), 8. If you would like to add any extra information for your supervisor please do so here (text box).

I then went into Smartsheet Calendar 1: Choose a Source- the original grid as my source, 2: Choose a View- Monthly View, 3: Map Columns Task Name:Employee Email, Task Details: Supervisor Approval, Task Start Date: Start Date, Task End Date: End Date, Group Data by: Division, 4: Additional Columns- no information added here, 5: Time & Design- Open Date: Today, Number of Periods: 4, 6: More Options- Name: Calendar- Time Off Requests, Start Day: Sunday, Start Month: January, Weekends: Ignore weekends, Allow attachements: Yes, Allow comments: Yes

After this I created 2 Dynamic Views:

1. Employee Request with Option to Void: General Restrict view by current user: Employee Email, New Item submission: do not allow, Export to .csv file: do not allow. View Display Display Comments: Yes, User can add comments: Yes, Displayed Fields: Employee email, time type, start date, end date, note for supervisor, supervisor approval status, void/cancel request. Details Panel: Employee email (read only), time type(read only), start date(read only), end date(read only), note for supervisor(read only), supervisor approval status(read only), void/cancel request.

2. Supervisor Approval: General Restrict view by current user: Supervisor Email, New Item submission: do not allow, Export to .csv file: do not allow. View Display Display Comments: Yes, User can add comments: Yes, Displayed Fields: Employee email, time type, start date, end date, note for supervisor, supervisor approval status. Details Panel: Employee email (read only), time type(read only), start date(read only), end date(read only), note for supervisor(read only), supervisor approval status

Once all of these were set and tested I created a Dashboard: "Time Off Request Dashboard" with the link to the Time Off Request Form entered as a "Shortcut Widget", a "Web Content Widget" with the Calendar displaying Submitted/Approved Time Off Requests which can be filtered by Division, a "Rich Text Widget" explaining how to use the Dynamic View boxes as an Employee to Void/Cancel a request or as a Supervisor to Approve or Decline a request, the 2 Dynamic Views as "Web Content Widget"

This has worked well for our team! I hope this helps anyone out there trying to use smartsheet in a similar way. Please note that this is only a Request System and is in no way linked to a Timesheet submission system (also something I am trying to create in smartsheet but is infinitely more complicated- if anyone has advice on this please, please, please contact me)

Cheers, folks!