Non Human Resources

Kurt Jones

Hello Everyone,

 

Can Smartsheets manage not human resources? In my case I am more interested in managing machines that people/

 

Cheers

 

Kurt

Tim Meeks

Kurt,

 

Depending on what you mean by "managing machines", Yes it can.

Smartsheet is simply a tool that has project managment and spreadsheet functionality built in that allows enhanced collaboration with people. However, if you are just looking to track the project status of resources, materials, equipment, etc, it can be used.

There are also APIs that can be used to have it communicate with other systems. http://help.smartsheet.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1072100-smartsheet-api-faqs

 

And Smartsheet interfaces with a host of Apps.

 http://help.smartsheet.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1544757-smartsheet-app-gallery

 

Hope that answers your question.

 

Tim

SoniaR

Thanks Tim - that's correct.

 

@Kurt - one additional piece to Tim's response - if you're looking to use Resource Management to track non-human resources, you'll need an email address for each resource. Other customers have used dummy emails, like resource1@[companydomain].com, resource2@[companydomain].com, etc, as the email addresses will need to be invited in User Management (http://help.smartsheet.com/customer/portal/articles/795920). 

 

Best,

Sonia

Alex W

That sounds like a lame way of doing things... I can't just make dummy email addresses in my organization. It makes for an awkward conversation with IT. Not to mention an eventual security risk when someone makes several email addresses all with the same login, which is probably going to be an easy password. Then there's the drudgery of confirming those emails for each device...

 

If Smartsheet can integrate with other systems, can it import items in an equipment database as a resource?

 

I can use TeamGantt for scheduling and create "equipment" resources as I please. No email address attached. Seems like Smartsheet needs to think about this a bit harder.

Kennedy Stomps

Hi Alex-- Thanks for your feedback on this. Currently, the workaround Sonia mentioned above is the only way to assign non-human resources to a task, but our Development team is currently prioritizing updates to our Resource Management functionality and I'll pass your input along. 

Herve DEUTSCH

Hello,

I'm interested by using machines as resources for a test lab.

As this discussion dates from 6 months, I thought that maybe there is something new.

Is it possible now? And if so, can you explain how, please?

Thanks

Shaine Greenwood

Hello Herve,

 

Other than the workarounds provided in this discussion, there isn't a way to allocate non-human resources in your projects.

 

I've got your vote down for this on our enhancement request list for further consideration by our Product team.

J. Craig Williams

A word about the email addresses for non-human resources.

 

1. They do not need to be accepted to be active.

2. They do not need to be shared to anything to show up on the resource management view.

3. They only need to appear as a valid email address4

4. What the users will see and interact with will be the name provided to the 'user'.

 

Name: Confernce Room #23

Email Address: ggfasf3rbfodfg3rwer@bogus.email.com

 

works as easily as 

 

Email Address: conf_rm_23@your.company.com

 

This is a viable use of the existing resource management features.

It has no more security issues (and certainly much less) than the user sharing given to real humans.

 

I have used this for delivery trucks, computers, conference rooms, special construction equipment, and future staffing needs.

I have found no significant drawbacks to this and can not imagine a system that would provide any further benefits. Other asset management tasks can already be handled in sheets.

 

Craig 

Herve DEUTSCH

Thank you for your answers, Shaine and Craig. They help me a lot

Hervé

Shaine Greenwood

One other piece to add (not sure if it was already covered here) is that if you have a Google email address, you can easily create an alias just by adding +<string> to your email address name. For example:

 

If you sign in to YOUR Smartsheet account (considering you're a System Admin on your plan) and go to Account > User Management > Add User, you can type in herve.deutsch+computer001@gmail.com

 

Again, this can only be done if you're using a Google email account, but it might be easier for you as you create non-human resources.

J. Craig Williams

Good tip. I use that one so often I sometimes forget to mention it.

I may have gotten that from Travis on here.

 

Related to that, one can quickly make a long list of emails with Smartsheet and some simple formulas and/or drag/copy. 

 

Craig

sbtorino

There are a lot of users that want to be able to track non-human resources without dummy emails.  The work around is clunky and every time I need to add a resource I have to contact IT so they can log in to add the user to our enterprise account.  Please incorporate non-email resources soon!

rainier

Are there any updates on this functionality request? I too, would like to be able to track non-human resources without having our IT to add it for me. Thanks.

Melissa Richardson

Please!!!

This is one of my top 3 things I really need in Smartsheet. I need to track material quantities (such as lumber) for each project to align to the scheduled need dates.  MS Project offers "Cost Resources" that handle this. Without Smartsheet having this capability we do a lot of duplicate work to achieve the needed end result.