SmartSheet Reports have limitations that make them useless for business

Drew Goldman

We recently learned the hard way that there is a limit to how many sheets a report can access! We use the report feature to create individual task lists throughout our company.  Each task list searches all sheets for names in an Assigned To column and refines the search looking for a value of "Needs Action" in the Status column.  Those reports stopped working last Monday and SmartSheet still has not found a resolution.  

 

Use caution when planning to use the Report function for your implementation of SmartSheet within your company.

 

 

Note from tech support: "we are experiencing a Smartsheet based issue when trying to load Reports that are pulling from a large number of sheets"

Travis

Hi Drew, apologies for the inconvenience this has caused you! The reporting issue is not a limitation of the feature but rather a temporary issue that our development team is working to resolve. 

 

I will post here when this issue is resolved - thanks for your patience! 

Chuck Muirhead

I have reports that pull from almost 100 different sheets and it works flawlessly.  I have also created hidden columns within each of these sheets that have coding identifiers, that expand the possibilities of reports.   I think the report feature is very useful in the business environment and users should not shy away from expanding what reports can do for your organization.

Kyle Morgan

This sounds very similar to the issue(s) that I have been experiencing. Coincidentally, our reports stopped functioning on the same Monday (after the system update).

Incomplete data, scheduled reports not sending and assorted random problems.

I have been in contact with tech support for 2 weeks and there is no solution in sight. The blow to our productivity is now tangible.

Smartsheet response to inquiries made in the early morning are usually rec'd in the evening around 8pm (well after normal business hrs) and have basically withered down to "Our Operations team is still looking into this issue, I'll keep you updated when they have any news."

I have been a Smartsheet user and supporter since July 2014. The reporting functionality was the thing that influenced my decision to choose them. Now, the thing that brought me to them is causing me to seek out alternatives. I currently track over 150 different projects (all on individual sheets) and am gearing up to add an additional 90+ projects. For the first time since becoming a Smartsheet user, I am second guessing my decision to put my faith in the platform. I truly hope that they can find a solution quickly.

I hope that this did not come across as a complaint, I truly believe that Smartsheet is a valuable tool and I hope to remain a loyal customer. But, if it is no longer useful to me then the choice has pretty much made itself.

 

Travis

Hi Drew, the reporting issue you posted about was fixed on Feb 26th. If you are still having trouble, please email support@smartsheet.com and they can help you out. 

 

Kyle, the issue you mentioned is different (your reports are not being emailed to users). This is the only instance of this issue we have encountered. Because this is unique to you, it is taking longer for us to diagnose. Please continue to work with your Support rep on this. 

Drew Goldman

TTravis,

No it is not fixed.  This continues to be a disruption to our work flow.  I'd love to continue endorsing SmartSheet but this continued loss in critical functionality is making it difficult. Please check in with your tech support team to get on the same page. 

 

Travis

Thanks for the update, Drew. I just spoke with the Support team and they said we are switching reporting servers by the end of this week which should fix this problem.

 

Thanks for you patience!