How can I know that updates (links and cross sheet references) to other sheets have been completed?

Jim Hook

I have a very complex Smartsheet application with many links and cross sheet reference formulas including several sheets that get updated by automatic workflows when the workflows are triggered. It appears to take a variable amount of time (seconds to minutes) for all the updates to ripple through multiple sheets before reports display the final data. The time seems to vary based on how busy the Smartsheet servers are. Is there any way for me to know that all the impacted sheets have been updated by the servers and reports are displaying the final data?

Genevieve P.

Hi @Jim Hook

If you have a complex set up and there are a number of events that are triggered when an update is made, then it can take a couple of minutes for all of the following changes to be reflected in the corresponding items, you're correct.

That said, the average update time for information to transfer from a Sheet into a Report is usually around 30 seconds, and there currently isn't a way to see that there's an update "pending" or on its way from the source sheet. The longest timeframe for an update to be visible in the Report should be around 3 - 5 minutes. If you are seeing a lag time longer than this then please report this to the Support team.

Thanks,

Genevieve

Genevieve P.

Hi @Jim Hook

If you have a complex set up and there are a number of events that are triggered when an update is made, then it can take a couple of minutes for all of the following changes to be reflected in the corresponding items, you're correct.

That said, the average update time for information to transfer from a Sheet into a Report is usually around 30 seconds, and there currently isn't a way to see that there's an update "pending" or on its way from the source sheet. The longest timeframe for an update to be visible in the Report should be around 3 - 5 minutes. If you are seeing a lag time longer than this then please report this to the Support team.

Thanks,

Genevieve

Jim Hook

Thanks for your comment Genevieve. I believe that time of day and maybe day of week impact how busy the Smartsheet servers are and thus how long it takes to process all the updates. Taking that into account I'm introducing status flags into my most troublesome report so I can tell when everything has been updated and it is safe to trigger workflows and to know that the workflow actions have been completed. I am relying on the assumption that both links and formulas with cross sheet references are updated at the same time when some action, like an automated workflow or simply closing a sheet, trigger updates. If updating links and cross sheet references on the servers are separate events I may still have a problem. Would you verify this for me please.

I have two kinds of reports in my app. The first I call "Action Reports" since they are used to trigger actions, mainly automated workflows on multiple sheets that process data. The second I call "Data Reports" that display data summaries from one or more sheets. I use data from an in-house app that transfers timekeeping data into Smartsheet via the API. I discovered that occasionally, if I didn't wait long enough after the API transfer for all the complex sheets to be updated, I would get a repeat of the previous week's data on some charts displayed using dashboards. I'm now building two status rows into my most complex action report. The first status shows when the data from the API transfers has rippled through the various sheets and it is safe to trigger multiple automated workflows on multiple sheets. The second status shows when the result of the automated workflows has been processed and the associated dashboards are displaying the final data for the current week being processed.

Again, thanks for your help.

Jim