Disable License Request Features

Tim Starkey

I had posted a rant response on another thread to this. I can't seem to find it. I think it might have been the one from @sheetsmartsarah , link below.

Can we turn off the "upgrade" banner on my unlicensed user accounts? — Smartsheet Community

It says I do not have permission for this. Is it being merged? This is an important issue, and I 100% feel like enterprise users should not have the upgrade banner. Whatever page I was on had a response from Smartsheet acknowledging the concern, but now roadmap on addressing it. I would like to follow this topic.

Tim Starkey

Ok... found it. Not sure why the other link above didn't work... but the thread I had posted on was here:

Disable License Request Features — Smartsheet Community

Its the same topic, so wondering if it should be merged... it has 131 upvotes, and this one has 51 upvotes. So it seems like a popular topic.

Cathy Fraser

I agree that it should be removed.

Stefan

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/387469#Comment_387469

Another annoying detail:

In an enterprise account I currently help to configure, we created custom upgrade info and welcome screen sheets and activated them.

Today I tested with a brand new email address invited to join the account. Upon first login the individual welcome info was not displayed, but infos and suggestions by Smartsheet. :-(

And most annoying, clicking on the request license links creates a 30 day trial licensed for the email address. This is unwanted (maybe understandable for Smartsheet) in a managed environment. The email address subsequently receives automatic follow up emails from Smartsheet which also not wanted.

Hope this will be changed soon!

Stefan Siebenkittel

MPath

Currently 182ups

Cleversheet

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/423063#Comment_423063

This is unconscionable.

Samuel Mueller

Just found out this pops up every time an unlicensed user navigates to a sheet. Stunning and frustrating that this is the experience for our collaborators.

SWojo

When a new collaborator first creates a login and tries to access the sheet which was shared with them, Smartsheet asks if they want access to their organization's workspace. This is actually asking if they want to request a license. This creates a large amount of illegitimate license requests which have to be cleaned up and cause confusion. Smartsheet should either be more upfront with the messaging or somehow indicate the collaborator has access to the shared sheet, but to "click here if they wish to have a license to expand their user capabilities".

Tim Starkey

Some suggestions in hopes you do reconsider.

Some possible Smartsheet concerns:

• User engagement - expanding your portfolio of products to more users
• and of course, Opportunity to upsell (it is a business)
• Capability awareness - you would not want 'limited' users thinking Smartsheet is less capable
• Potential for users on a limited platform to become less engaged/invested

Some possible Enterprise concerns:

• User engagement - We certainly want our staff utilizing it as much as possible to streamline work and improve consistency
• Right sizing the solution (budget) - tailored solution with limited licenses
• Process control, Quality control
• Reduction of admin/overhead time

I assume a solution needs to address both parties concerns. I am not opposed to there being some indicator that the user does not have a fully licensed account. But as its currently implemented, its rather demotivating, and can lead to added admin/HR issues dealing with requests. Also, it sounds like there may be a potential breaching of the process control if a user can get a trial license and create alternative workspaces and sheets that they can share with other users in the enterprise. (I don't know how this works... haven't tested it out)

So... suggestions:

• replace the blue "limited access" and the "upgrade" (once is enough) with a designation of account type (licensed, collaborator, etc), using language that better aligns with the intended users role. It could have a hover menu that leads to an upgrade message... but maybe less "impulse buy" language.
• Grey out menu items (import for example) that require a license. Add a little "requires license" icon next to it.
• Allow enterprise accounts to turn off the upgrade option (suggested by others)
• If trial licenses are a thing, make sure that admins are notified of the trial license status, and that materials developed are sandboxed from the enterprise.

Solar Eric

The lack of ability to disable this unwanted feature does not honor the way this product is pitched by the Smartsheet sales team. This absolutely feels like a cash grab. I would suggest that anyone who bumps into this thread in the future rate their mobile all negatively and add this as the reason why in their review.

Tracy Smalley

Agree with all the comments above. This is a big waste of time for those of us who manage licenses, and very confusing for users who don't know that they don't need a license to work in Smartsheet. Please remove the button.

isoltech

For management of licensing, I agree with with the comments above. Users don't understand if they need a license or not until we ask them questions what they are using Smartsheet for. I get lots of email requests every week from Smartsheet for users requesting licenses which is very frustrating in only have to delete those emails. We have our own operating procedures in place that requires our users to request access to Smartsheet which each request has to be approved by management.

This feature within Smartsheet makes it confusing to our users to follow our company operating procedures which is also required for our auditing procedures. In addition, it makes more administrative work for our team which lessens our productivity with our minimal staff. This thread has been going on for several years now for this request. I ask Smartsheet would at least provided the option to disable this ability for users to request licensing through the application. Thank you.

Cleversheet

Anybody else inclined toward mobilizing a user rebellion of some sort on this topic? Of all the wishlist items I'd bet this is most annoying to be unheeded by the Smartsheet dev team.

Samuel Mueller

another update would be nice too, the last one was over a year old

Solar Eric

@Cleversheet I am open to a group escalation from administrators. Perhaps beginning with all of our account reps?