Log automated workflow actions on the Activity Log

For compliance purposes, it would be helpful if the actions of automated workflows would log on the Activity log. For example, when automated messages are sent it would be helpful for the Activity Log to date and timestamp that action along with the name of the workflow.

Lots of us using SmartSheet need robust audit trails to show evidence of our compliance with certain regulations. To meet this obligation, I had to set up an additional automated workflow so that I also get the sent message and will then have to manually save each message to show regulators that it was actually sent.

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Comments

LJTexas

I agree with TKP here. The activity log tracks everything users do but not everything is held accountable. As funny as that sounds, we really need to know everything our automations are doing when troubleshooting.

theharriscompany

Would love a way to search/see what email automations went to a client without having ourselves as a a contact on the automation as well. For example, inside a sheet i'd like to go to a row for a specific client, and see all the email automations that went out for that client within the activity log. I know you can see them as part of "notifications" but that is ALL notifications to which we have hundreds and hundreds, and they are not searchable. Right now we include ourselves on all the emails as a contact so we can see what is going out but this really bogs our emails down when in reality it would just be nice if I could see these as needed within smartsheet. Right now you can filter on automations (see below photo) but it only shows you if automations have been created or updated (it doesn't even tell you which ones). So in an ideal world this could live there as well.

Screen Shot 2022-12-12 at 2.28.36 PM.png

Anthony Favara

New feature to track, monitor and manage all notifications that are being sent out via Automations.

Goal: To check and audit that we aren’t sending too many notifications to people, and verify that people we think are getting notified are actually being sent alerts.

Alexander Orsini

This is a great suggestion and one we really need. A dashboard of notifications is critical to understand the se tof information Smartsheet is generating and sending to our users.

TMC2

Smartsheet doesn't have a way to see if the email was sent, to whom the email was sent and what was the email that has been sent. We can only see when the workflow last run and work on blind faith that it actually was successful. Only to find out weeks later people aren't receiving the alerts, and there isn't a reason why they wouldn't be.

1AMJED1

I have the same issue. Before enabling an automation, I need to test it to ensure it works. While you can test with the run now and set the notifications to go to yourself, you can't see exactly what is happening in the workflow to debug it. I have a workflow now that I cannot figure out why the emails are not triggering when the workflow says it has run successfully. Having some way to view the log of the workflow run and be able to see what criteria passed/failed would be very helpful.

Jérémie Bourdon

Hello,

It would be great to add workflow / automation tasks and notifications to the sheet activity log. It would facilitate an audit trail.

Thank you for considering.

D_McKinney

I completely agree that this is a very much needed feature. Two major purposes would be served by having an audit trail of actions taken by SmartSheet automation: (1) when developing a new automation, especially one which involves multiple sheets, it would be VERY helpful for troubleshooting, and (2) for those of us accountable for results, having an audit trail is necessary to be able to prove compliance with our processes, and any applicable regulations (or even laws).

kchart

Completely agree with all of these posts. A communication trail is key to verifying that a new user is building a system that is working as designed, that processes can be evaluated and improved when necessary - an important tool in establishing trust in Smartsheet's value to our university.

tommyrossman

This is definitely needed. When we have an audit, I have no way to verify, other than saying, "Smartsheet says, 'Trust us. It was sent'". That's not reassuring to auditors.

Kelly Ospina

I strongly agree. People often say "I never got anything" and I can't prove otherwise because the automated notifications aren't in the activity log.

DPhillipsUE

Echoing others statements here, being able to verify automation with time stamping of when the message (in our case email) processed would be greatly beneficial.

mikebayne34

Without a doubt, this would be incredibly helpful. We send quarterly messages out through automation, and seeing the additional data associated around how those are configured would be greatly appreciated.

corrinanation

need this!

A.J.

It would be great if there was an action log that simply showed who an automation based notification went to, what row it was tied-to, and the date/time/time zone.

This would save us time and energy "proving" that messages were indeed sent.

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