Introduction of self

J. Darren Smith

Evening all,

My name is Darren Smith and I am a park ranger at a US Army Corps of Engineers lake in South Central Kentucky. We are moving from Microsoft Access to Smartsheets as a way to keep up with our customers and their permits/license/trespassess/ etc. Just getting started and really don't have a clue what I'm doing.

Prior to working for USACE, I was a college professor teaching recreation management and sport administration. Spent 15 years teaching students how to use Microsoft products in the sport business realm. I know Access and Excel pretty well. Smartsheets…. not so much. Hoping to learn from many of you along the way.

virgh

Because you are an expert with Excel, I am sure that you will quickly get comfortable with sheets, forms, and reports. Automations and dashboards may take a bit more time, but these are a big part of what makes this software so much better than the others.

My advice would be to take a good look at the INDEX-MATCH formula. It's the logical evolution of the Excel function for VLOOKUP. I have it memorized because I use it so very often.

Also, the power of the @row references where you just refer to the value along the current row and do not have to call it out - pure joy.

Keep us posted on your progress, and welcome to Smartsheets!