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Operational issue due to new licensing restrictions - seeking ideas

Meredith Rhodes

Hello! I'm seeking ideas / work-arounds / the right language to convey the barriers and suggest enhancements in response to the new licensing restrictions.

Here is my context.

I used sheets to format a 'clinical trial transparency report card' (image below). This sheet curates institutional data from ClinicalTrials.gov from 2 databases that are kept up to date with several other sheets and several data shuttles. I'm collecting key dates from the public record and relevant clinical trial results manuscripts to populate a report card using a few logic formulas. There are many hidden helper columns on this sheet. All rows and columns are locked - with the exception of the dropdown menu in row 2.

I created this to embed into an internal website at my institution. The user selects their NCT number from the dropdown and the data are updated. It is immediately responsive.

When I was creating this a few years ago - I played around with using a form to update this sheet in a dashboard. It often took several minutes to update so I didn't pursue that idea. Not the user experience I was after.

NOW - it seems that this format won't work at all, because you need to be an editor to select your NCT number from the dropdown - functionally you need a license to 'select your view.'

I met with a pro-desk person today to brainstorm ways to salvage this project. Dynamic view won't work because individual cells change - and it certainly won't format into a 'report card'.

I might be able to create a form that changes the NCT number in the second row and emails a pdf of the sheet to the user… I can embed an example into our website?

I really love the functionality of Smartsheet - and the creative ways you can use it - but I'm finding these sorts of permissions limitations to be, well, limiting.

Maybe Smartsheet isn't the solution to this project anymore.

Does anyone have any creative ideas for how to keep the format of this sheet while letting the 'viewer' select their view? Do I need to make a thousand report cards and give each team viewer access to their own dashboard? Are there ways to automate the creation of a sheet when I have a new clinical trial record?

I don't know what I don't know here.

Thanks for any ideas / advice,

Meredith

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Comments

Paul Newcome

Are you able to publish the sheet? Published sheets can be edited without users being shared to them.

Andrée Starå

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/147180/operational-issue-due-to-new-licensing-restrictions-seeking-ideas

Hi,

I hope you're well and safe!

If it's sensitive information, I recommend adding a form to select the NCT number on one side and a report/sheet on the other, and set it to reload the Dashboard when the form is submitted. Then they can see the result of the request.

If it's not sensitive information, you could publish it and let users edit as before.

Would any of those options work/help?

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic day!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Smartsheet Expert Consultant & Partner / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Meredith Rhodes

Thanks, Paul - I will try this. I'm confused about accessibility given the new licensing arrangement. I'm told sheets aren't available to edit unless you have a license. But a published sheet is operable to anyone?

I don't want to be the reason that my institution suddenly is asked to pay for 100 licenses.

Paul Newcome

Sheets can be edited by paid internal members and unpaid external guests by sharing those users to the sheet.

A published sheet can be edited by anyone that has the url. This is less secure, but does avoid the need for a bunch of licenses just to change a dropdown to view data.

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