Referencing sheets

tcanelli41471

I am trying to decide between one sheet vs multiple sheets.  I currently have one sheet but it has over 50-60 columns and there are sets of data that will be used by different areas.  I know I can filter what is needed (to a point) with reports but it still doesn't give me the end result I need.

Here is the breakdown in a nutshell:

Main sheet - registration data (name, address, phone, etc).

I would like to have sheets for:

Outbound calls - referencing name, phone from main sheet with added columns for caller name, call complete, needs call back, ready for transport, evacuating (yes/no)

Transportation - referencing main sheet for name, address and referencing outbound call sheet for ready for transport, evacuating yes needs transp

location check in - references various columns from all sheets above, plus columns for check in data

 

If I keep everything in one main sheet and create different reports, the users still need access to the main sheet and can get to the data by clicking the row edit feature.  

Any guidance would be appreciated.  Thanks

Chris McKay

My advice (given my experience) would be to split the sheets out. 50-60 columns combined with row after row of data will eventually slow Smartsheet down.

Also bear in mind that Smartsheet has a 5000 cell-link limit for each sheet, so if you are looking to use formulas to reference data elsewhere, the columns/rows thing will also potentially cause issues.

It's also best-practice for data security reasons. See the data people don't need to see away from prying eyes. Even with the reports being formatted and filtered to show the data you want, I've had issues with report data not being visible to users without access to the underlying sheets.

Just my 2 cents worth.