Are you looking for ways to save time and get even more out of Smartsheet? I’m betting that the answer is a resounding yes! In this post, we are going to look at four out-of-the-box solutions that you can set in motion right away. We will also look at some examples of when these automations can be used.
What’s in it for you?
Automated workflows do the heavy lifting for you so you can get back to the work that really matters. Some of the benefits include:
Fewer meetings: use automations to prompt updates from your team members, saving valuable time for everyone
Fewer things on your to do list: Smartsheet will action next steps, so you don’t have to keep track
Fewer emails: you won’t need to send email reminders. Just set up the workflow once and forget it
Let’s dive in!
Workflow #1 | Alert Someone
It’s as simple as it sounds. This automation alerts someone via email, Slack or Teams when certain criteria are met.
How would you use it?
Let someone know (including yourself) that a row has been added to your sheet. This is very handy if you use an intake form to populate data in your sheet. You won’t be caught by surprise if new data has been entered!
Let another team know when it’s their turn to action an item. I’ve used this in the past to alert accounting when a contract was signed. The alert let them know it was time to send an invoice.
Workflow #2 | Move Row to Another Sheet
Another simple workflow. This one moves an entire row of data to another sheet if a certain set of criteria has been met. The row will move in its entirety and will no longer be available on the source sheet.
How would you use it?
In sales operations, you can move contacts from a Leads sheet to an Order sheet when the customer agrees to the purchase
On a sports team, you can move players from the Tryout sheet to the Player sheet.
You can move information from an Agenda sheet to an Agenda Archive sheet. You will still have access to the resolved items but they won’t live on your main tracking sheet
A note on Move Row: Make sure you look toward the bottom of the sheet where this row has been moved to. Often, several rows will be “skipped”, placing your data near the bottom of the destination sheet and you don’t want it to be overlooked.
Workflow #3 | Update Request
This workflow is probably my favorite as it uses a form to gather information. Your collaborators don’t have comb through layers of data in your sheet but will simply click a link and submit information. What they submit populates in your sheet. It’s so handy!
How would you use it?
In the above scenario where accounting has been tasked with sending an invoice, you can use an Update Request to ask if payment has been received. The information provided by accounting can help your sales team know if continued sales to that client are viable
Send update requests to people who have been assigned a task. Their response will help you determine status
Update player stats after a game
Here's an example of the Update Request form that the recipient receives. You can see how slick this is!
Workflow #4 | Record a Date
Smartsheet can record a date of when some criteria that you specify has taken place. You’ll need to a have a column field ready to receive this data so don’t forget to have this in place prior to creating the workflow! This automation is particularly useful if you have several collaborators in your sheet – Smartsheet can track data points for you.
How would you use it?
Record a date when a status changes to a certain value. Among other things, this is a great information you can pull into reports (for example
A bonus point for the Record a Date automation is to let you know that there is a column type called “Created Date”. If you employ this column type when creating a new column, the system will populate this field with the relevant date. It’s pretty neat!
How about you?
How are you planning to use these tips? Or do you have other ideas? What’s your favorite time-saving automation? Please share in the comments below so we can all learn from one another!
If you have any questions on how to deploy any of the above solutions, we are here to help. We offer an Automations Package where we will help you set up 5 automated workflows for a package price. We will start with a discussion of what your process currently looks like and help you design effective solutions. For more information, please get in touch!
Thank you for this helpful post! I was appreciative of the examples. What a creative approach. Thank you!