How do I remap my Smartsheet Form?

Kelsee Katsanes

I have a Smartsheet form used to collect and manage training requests. The form is set up with a client selection dropdown, followed by additional fields specific to each client. For instance, selecting "Dignity Health" in the client field triggers the appearance of Dignity Health-specific fields such as Client Host System, Business Segment, RCM Segment, and Type. Based on these selections, Dignity Health-specific courses are then displayed.

This issue affects every single client we have, resulting in an excessive number of fields in the backend view of the form. Our submission sheet is nearing the maximum column limit, and we need a solution. DataMesh was suggested as a potential fix, but it doesn't reflect changes made to the target sheet in the source sheet. Additionally, I would need to use Data Shuttle to include attachments from the source sheet to the target sheet. This doesn't address the core problem of having too many fields in the form, making it more of a temporary fix rather than a sustainable solution.

Is there a way to reduce the number of fields without compromising the integrity of our form? Can we adjust the logic so that the appropriate courses still populate based on the client, host system, and segment type? I have also requested a meeting with a Smartsheet pro, but it's been three weeks with no response. I would appreciate any advice on how to remap the form without using an excessive number of fields.

Trang Turtletraxx

Depending on how extensive your dropdown options are, one solution I've used is combining the dropdown options. This extends the list of options in the dropdown.

For example: We have a list of portfolios. Each portfolio has specific service groups and each service group has service areas. We combined the Portfolio and Service Group so it looked like Portfolio1 - Service Group1; Portfolio1 - Service Group2, etc.

In another solutions, we eliminated levels that didn't have repeated choices and did the mapping on the back end for rollup reporting.

For example: We had categories and subcategories for our risk management tool. Instead of having 2 fields - 1 for category and 1 for subcategory, we just had the subcategory field (labeled as category) and could map which subcategory belonged to which category for reporting.

Hope this helps.