Sending An Update Request after 30 Days

Lauren Ford

Hello!

I'm trying to send an update request to be alerted during the following time periods:

• 30 days after the initial row was added
• 60 days after the initial row was added
• 90 days after the initial row was added

I have an "entry date" field to build off of to serve as the date the row was added. Is there a way to do this through the "update request" workflow feature? Is this what the condition of "entry date" is "not in the last 30 days" would suffice?

Or is this something that a formula has to be created for? If so, how would one do that?

Any help would be great!

Thanks,

Lauren

Paul Newcome

"entry date" is "not in the last 30 days" would trigger at 31, 32, 33, 34, etc. days as they all meet that criteria.

The way I would suggest setting it up is adding 3 columns. One for 30 days, one for 60 days, and one for 90 days. If you set them all to Date type columns, you can use a formula of

=DATEONLY([Created Date]@row) + ##

Then just enter the appropriate number of days.

From there you can set your Update Requests to trigger on those date columns so that it will only send one per row at each of those specified dates.

Paul Newcome

Smartsheet will autofill as new rows are added as long as there are two rows of the same hierarchy above or below it that already have the formula in it.

Paul Newcome

"entry date" is "not in the last 30 days" would trigger at 31, 32, 33, 34, etc. days as they all meet that criteria.

The way I would suggest setting it up is adding 3 columns. One for 30 days, one for 60 days, and one for 90 days. If you set them all to Date type columns, you can use a formula of

=DATEONLY([Created Date]@row) + ##

Then just enter the appropriate number of days.

From there you can set your Update Requests to trigger on those date columns so that it will only send one per row at each of those specified dates.

Lauren Ford

Thanks so much!

How would I continue this formula for an entire column to auto-populate when a new row is added?

Paul Newcome

Smartsheet will autofill as new rows are added as long as there are two rows of the same hierarchy above or below it that already have the formula in it.

Lauren Ford

Ok last question...

The formulas worked great. I new rows are added at the top of the sheet so I'm hoping that the formulas will work themselves out.

I just want to make sure that I set up the logic correctly. Does the image below look right?

Is the Trigger correct? And the condition should be based on that specific date that appears in the column due to the formula which would be "today", right?

I really appreciate your help on this. I would have never figured it out myself.

Paul Newcome

You are going to want to set the trigger itself to look at the 30 day column then make your condition of the Student Status being blank. You would then duplicate this automation and just change the date column in the trigger.

Lauren Ford

Ok so I'd need to create a separate automation for each x-Day alert rather than having it all in the same automation?

Paul Newcome

@Lauren Ford I believe so. Multi-tiered Automatons aren't my strongest point when it comes to Smartsheet. I learned automations back when you HAD to set up one for each. Since the release of the multi-tiered automations, I haven't needed to set anything up that required it.

@Andrée Starå would be the guru to ask on this one. He is definitely much more knowledgeable than I am when it comes to these.

Andrée Starå

Hi @Lauren Ford

@Paul Newcome Thanks for the kind words!

Lauren,

How did it go? Do you need more help?

I hope that helps!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

Lauren Ford

Hi there! Sorry for the delay. As far as I know it did work in my testing phase. I ended up doing a single tiered automation for one project and a multi-tiered automation for another one. I just rolled it out to actual users so I'm crossing my fingers that everything goes well. If I have any questions, I'll certainly reach out!

Thanks again for all of your help!

Lauren

Andrée Starå

@Lauren Ford

Excellent! 

Happy to help! 

Nicole_B

@Lauren Ford how did you set up your trigger to look for "today"? I'm attempting to accomplish basically the same thing, but for the trigger specifically it doesn't allow you to use conditional logic, just asks me to pick specific text.

I also tried using the conditions to look for follow up date is today, but the update request did not send.

@Andrée Starå

Andrée Starå

Hi @Nicole_B

You need to select Any Value, and then add a Condition Where Follow up date is today.

Make sense?

Did that work?

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic day!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Erin G.

Hi,

I am trying to do something similar. I did set up 90, 180, 270 day date columns using the formula @Paul Newcome recommended. I want to send a reminder any time there are rows where "Completed" is unchecked, "Assigned To" to is populated and the status is the drop down option "Pending request from collaborators". "Date Last Action" is the date column driving the reminders.

Paul Newcome

@Erin G. You would set the trigger to be date based and then select the appropriate date column. Then you would set your conditions to correspond with the additional criteria you have listed out.

Erin G.

Worked great! Thanks @Paul Newcome