Ticketing Solution Use & Building the Sheets/Forms

kfkfkfkf_343

hello! i have created a form to receive marketing requests. many fields required but many not, as the submitter will not have all of the necessary info at the time of making the request. i have thus shared the sheet with all users as editors so they can provide that additional info as they acquire it and created a checkbox column called "all info now provided". when that box gets checked, it is automated to lock the row. disallowing a submitter to change the info they have provided.

question 1: does an alternate setup of Smartsheet scream out to you as you read the above scenario that would be a better design to accomplish what i'm trying to accomplish?

so with backend access to the sheet as editor, all submitters have access to each other's submissions and could inadvertently change the wrong row. so i then thought that i would make a sheet for each submitter. and create a summary sheet that essentially copies every thing to it for all of the submitters.

question 2: in this instance, are sheet changes bidirectional? meaning, if a change is made in either sheet, is it reflected in both sheets? including comments and attachments? because i would want the submitter to communicate in/work with their personal sheet, but my department would communicate in/work with the summary sheet because there would be too many individual sheets to monitor and organize.

any help here would be appreciated. and if anyone knows of other instances of how to better set up what i need, i'm all ears!! 😁

Paul Newcome

If users enter their email address into a contact type column, you can generate a report that is based on "Current User" so that when people access the report they only see the forms they have submitted.

kfkfkfkf_343

hi paul, ty for your quick response. do you mean that instead of sharing the backend sheet with submitters, i would create custom reports for each user and share that instead? and because the report and the sheet are bidirectional, they can work in the report and my dept can work from the sheet?

Paul Newcome

You would only need to create a single report. There is an option to filter the report on a contact type column. Setting that filter to "Current User" will automatically adjust what rows are shown depending on who is logged in.

kfkfkfkf_343

Hi Paul,

what is the value for current user? i have to enter a value here. if i enter my own email address, as i am logged into the sheet, nothing appears. also, does that mean each submitter would set this filter in the report each time they wanted to view their data?

Andrée Starå

Hi @kfkfkfkf_343

I hope you're well and safe!

This is how it should look for one of your contact columns.

Did that work/help?

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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kfkfkfkf_343

Hi Andree, Ty for this. i have simulated this. I then had another user test it. I shared the report with the current user contact filter set up with editor permissions. tester was able to see the correct data but not able to modify any of the cells in the report until i shared the backend sheet with her as editor. only then could she modify the report. but this defeats the purpose of what i'm trying to accomplish, or rather, avoid. i don't want her to have access to the master sheet with everyone's submissions. and if the sheet must be shared with her as an editor, then i can't prevent her from working within it and the report won't let her edit unless she is an editor. am i missing something?

Andrée Starå

@kfkfkfkf_343

Excellent!

Happy to help!

Which Smartsheet Plan do you have? If you have Enterprise or higher, you could use the premium app, WorkApps.

Is that an option?

kfkfkfkf_343

no, i have the business plan.

kfkfkfkf_343

@Andrée Starå & @Paul Newcome

i have simulated this. I then had another user test it. I shared the report with the current user contact filter set up with editor permissions. tester was able to see the correct data but not able to modify any of the cells in the report until i shared the backend sheet with her as editor. only then could she modify the report. but this defeats the purpose of what i'm trying to accomplish, or rather, avoid. i don't want her to have access to the master sheet with everyone's submissions. and if the sheet must be shared with her as an editor, then i can't prevent her from working within it and the report won't let her edit unless she is an editor. am i missing something?