Welcome everyone! I'm Laura DaVinci, Senior Director for Every Learner Everywhere at WICHE, and I am based in Virginia, USA.
I use Smartsheet extensively to manage large-scale higher education initiatives involving grants, contracts, data-sharing agreements, project plans, stakeholder communications, and cross-functional teams. A big focus of my work is creating systems that help move work from reactive operations to proactive strategy.
Lately, I've been exploring how AI, APIs, and automation can reduce administrative overhead by:
- Turning meeting outputs into actionable tasks
- Automating project tracking and follow-up workflows
- Connecting Smartsheet with Microsoft 365 tools
- Improving visibility across complex, multi-partner projects
One thing I've learned is that the technical challenge is often not building the automation itself, but designing processes that people will actually adopt and maintain over time.
I'm excited to learn from others who are using MCPs, agents, APIs, and AI to make work more intelligent and efficient. I'm particularly interested in practical automation patterns, and real-world examples that have successfully reduced manual project management effort.
Looking forward to learning from everyone and sharing ideas along the way!
