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choose better software
About Smartsheet
Smartsheet is an online work execution platform empowering organizations of all sizes to plan, manage, automate, and report on work.
Dashboards can be a nice way to have an overview with links to different sheets if you have a project with several documents, and are willing to spend the extra time and money to set it up.
It's also sometimes difficult to tell where user error plays a role in mathematic mistakes. I'd like to see more effort put into these areas.
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Filter reviews (3,358)
Facilitates the communication of the strategic planning team
Comments: Smartsheet's visual appeal makes it an excellent tool for monitoring the status of several projects and tasks at once, streamlining the management of complicated workflows and allowing for the coordination of multiple current activities. The collaborative and organizational power of Smartsheet is unmatched.
Pros:
Distributed teams can benefit greatly from using Smartsheet to keep track of their projects and activities. One of its many benefits is that it can be used by groups of any size to keep track of who is accountable for what, when it's due, and what its current state is.
Cons:
By integrating with Float or some other resource management platform, an automation system for assigning roles to individuals and visibility across teams of the available resources in real-time could be created, both of which would be extremely useful when attempting to strategically plan the timelines for individual projects.
Efficient Project Management with Smartsheet
Comments: My overall experience with Smartsheet has been positive. It has significantly improved project visibility and collaboration within our team. The platform's flexibility adapts to various project types, from simple task tracking to complex project timelines.
Pros:
Smartsheet is a versatile project management tool that combines the simplicity of a spreadsheet with powerful project management features. The ability to create dynamic and collaborative workspaces using familiar spreadsheet interfaces is a standout feature. The automated workflows and customizable templates streamline project planning and execution. Real-time collaboration and update notifications keep the team aligned and on track, fostering productivity.
Cons:
The learning curve for more advanced features can be steep. Customization options, while powerful, may be overwhelming for new users. Improved onboarding resources could mitigate this challenge.
Smartsheet - IS THE BEST!
Pros:
I've worked on Smartsheet for many years and have always said it's like Excel but on steroids! My favorite part of Smartsheet is the automation alerts we can create.
Cons:
That you can't have multiple font colors in one cell. Sometimes the data we enter into a cell needs to have a specific font color which Smartsheet does offer. However, it doesn't allow us to have 2 different font colors in the same cell like Excel has. It would be great to have this feature!
Not Necessary for Our Business
Comments: Smartsheets works well for what it is but was never a must-use product in our repertoire.
Pros:
Smartsheet worked well overall and had great automation capabilities
Cons:
Personally, I don't see the need for Smartsheet with so many other products on the market.
A tremendous tool for efficiently managing and coordinating our research projects.
Comments: I also valued Smartsheet's robust reporting functionalities. The platform facilitated the generation of real-time reports, offering valuable insights into the advancement of projects, allocation of resources, and identification of potential bottlenecks. These reports played a crucial role in keeping stakeholders well-informed and facilitating data-driven decision-making.
Pros:
Smartsheet's collaborative tools were very impressive. The feature of sharing sheets with team members, assigning responsibilities, and setting permissions ensured a synchronized understanding among all individuals and facilitated their effective contribution. By improving communication, the danger of miscommunication or duplicated efforts is minimized, which is essential for keeping the project on track.
Cons:
Smartsheet's adaptability is a strong point, it can also result in discrepancies in how various team members configure and oversee their sheets. In the absence of explicit instructions, this might lead to a dearth of uniformity among projects, hence complicating the task of upholding a unified project management methodology.
Smartsheet - Great interactive tool
Comments: Very good overall experience. Great tool to use to keep up to date in the moment for many people. Keep tracks of pictures, notes, deadlines and much more.
Pros:
Great interactive tool for working with any individuals for projects. Even multi company uses to avoid email big down
Cons:
Filtering for specific items in the list has to be set up by an admin. Ideally filters can be done easier without having up adjust the sheet. However, once it’s set up it works well. Filtering is done in one list (not the same as excel spreadsheet) harder to find what you want to filter
My Experience With Smartsheet
Comments: We have had an easy time managing and planning projects and tasks thanks to Smartsheet.
Pros:
Handling business projects and tasks has been easy thanks to Smartsheet. It is not only well equipped but also cost friendly customization is easy.
Cons:
All the features are great - zero problems.
Easy to adopt and powerful out of the box.
Comments: I adapted to Smartsheets from Microsoft Project without any training or research. It is a powerful tool and easy to use.
Pros:
Smartsheets has all the classic project management tools in an easy to use intuitive package. The ample suite of templates made getting started really easy.
Cons:
The dashboard portions of the application took some getting used to.
Positive Experience with Smartsheet
Comments: Smartsheet exceeded my expectations. A solution was needed in my workplace to provide swift communication to our leadership team on negative feedback collected from customer survey calls. A customized Smartsheet template was created and is in full use in our organization. This provided a simple solution to our team. Prior to the implementation of the Smartsheet, we used email communications. This format caused delays, was time consuming, caused email congestion, and were difficult to address in a timely manner. With Smartsheet, our management team was able to develop default questions with fillable blank text boxes for the survey responses within the product. The text boxes also had ample space for all word characters needed. It also had a flagging symbol that allowed our organization to identify and escalate formal complaints to our leadership team at an eye's glance. The drop-down menu feature was utilized template with frequently used answers as weel as names of pertinent subordinate staff and their supervisors eliminating need write them out manually. The availability of these components, as well as the software's ability to transfer the data into a spreadsheet immediately after submission of the entry criteria, made the process seamless. This is clearly an excellent product. It is just what our organization needed.
Pros:
The greatest highlight of using Smartsheet is the software's ability to swiftly transport data entered into an organized spreadsheet.
Cons:
I liked everything about Smartsheet. The software was simple and readily available for use without any glitches.
Manage projects with Smartsheet
Pros:
I like how smartsheet is a versatile product that creates a collaborative environment across our team to work and manage our clients projects.
Cons:
It makes project management easy , nothing to dislike towards it.
Alternatives Considered:
Smartsheet is a great Project Scheduling tool, and so much more
Comments: I love Smartsheet! It has become an indispensable tool in organizing and visualizing the work we do everyday!
Pros:
Smartsheet is much easier to use for Project Managemen than the classic Microsoft Project software I was originally trained on. It allows people to manage work with the intelligence of a project scheduling tool, but with an easy to understand and use spreadsheet interface. Since Smartsheet is a cloud product, each Smartsheet is available from any computer by just logging into the website, or even from their mobile app. Another great Project Management benefits is that the Project Manager can share a Smartsheet with their whole team to collaborate together. We also use the Smartsheet for Jira Connector which allows us to sync information back and forth between the two systems. Jira can be complicated to navigate, and the dashboarding can be really frustrating. This connector allows us to keep track of individual tickets associated with a project, and even lets us import massive data sets for analysis. Finally, we have ended up using Smartsheet as a dashboarding tool. It's actually surprisingly good as a Business Intelligence visualization tool for keeping track of our projects, and for displaying Jira dashboarding.
Cons:
Like any software there are small quirks I'd like to see changed, or hotkeys added, but overall I'm impressed with the constant cadence of feature updates and enhancements.
Alternatives Considered:
Awesome software
Comments: I love Smarsheet because it made my work easier. Now I can have collaboration from my entire company and get fast results.
Pros:
-easy to use and costumize -more than one user can modify simultaneously -you can add your company's logo -you can set group and individual reminders - Cell history, which can tell who and when it was modified. -different views: calendar, grid, card, and Gantt
Cons:
- not all reminders can be set with time to remind - can't add a conditional formatting based on time - if your Smartsheet is big, formulas added can take forever to update the information, so you need to refresh it all times, even if you change settings to save automatically.
Keeps us on track with our projects
Comments: People who already know Excel will like the ease with which they can get started, but if they're willing to dive further, they'll find many more useful advanced capabilities like automation. It has a lot of power. The preconfigured templates are excellent for getting you up and running quickly. The forms are simple to create and distribute. There is a significant amount of manual labor eliminated by the workflow automation. The design of the dashboards is superb.
Pros:
Using Smartsheets is the best way for me to keep track of my progress, interact with my clients, and make my work visible to my boss. Tracking progress and keeping track of projects and todos has been a big help to me with the aid of Smartsheet. Increasing the level of transparency for the company's top brass as well as its customers.
Cons:
There isn't anything I don't like about Smartsheet at this stage in our journey. We've only scratched the surface of what Smartsheet can achieve for our teams, but the value and efficiency it's provided us go well beyond what a shared spreadsheet or file could ever provide.
Smartsheet platform, designed for dynamic and collaborative work in project monitoring.
Comments: Smartsheet is a modern and flexible tool for managing activities related to a project of any size and degree of complexity. Its implementation of automated workflows is based on a philosophy oriented towards simplicity, making repetitive processes free through code that generates value for the user, in addition to incorporating mechanisms for sending alerts, managing requests for approvals and updates, configuring recurring workflows such as service requests, daily deadline reminders, and much more.
Pros:
One of the most important characteristics of Smartsheet is the ability to manage any type of project without having to adapt to the tool itself, but rather the opposite, Smartsheet adapts to the client's needs, with the multiplicity of templates that we can take advantage of to generate effective, collaborative planning and perform real-time monitoring, in addition to having a fairly complete dashboard to have the reports that are really needed.Its simplicity in the designed architecture and usability allows the learning curve to be very fast and end users have no problem being part of the team that contributes and generates value.
Cons:
Smartsheet may be an underrated platform with some interesting third-party integration opportunities, but its usefulness in tracking projects of any kind has proven effective.It adapts to the needs of the organization and our clients, with a multitude of templates that we can use to generate real planning, and that connect with the management of resources, both human and material for comprehensive monitoring.
Alternatives Considered:
A Complete Package for all your Project Management needs
Comments: Effective workflow management and project handling is a big plus and since we switched to this tool I have saved hundred of hours due to its ease to use and automations. I would highly recommend this to handle your projects and work flow.
Pros:
The overall user experience is very simple yet covers all the project management aspects along with adaptive to fit the very specific requirements of different tasks and teams. Highly customizable and powerful tool to improve efficiency and simplifies the project work flow. Workflow Automation is time saving which is the most required in my daily work routine allows me to focus more on other things and I can rely on the tool.
Cons:
I would not list any cons. Its just there are still some features which needs to be improved more to make it a complete package such as text formatting and the real time update feature can also be improved/tweaked to make sure the other users/team gets up to date information. There were some projects where sheets size limits was an issue but that could be managed
Our team uses Smartsheet for constant project tracking
Comments: With the SaaS solution Smartsheet, we've been able to build robust, individualized dashboards and perform integrations and data collecting from a single or several databases connected to customer relationship management tools like Jira and Salesforce. The ability to design individualized forms for content filtering has proved invaluable, as has the incorporation of features such as comments, reminders, attachments, and optimizations.
Pros:
Every aspect of our sales activities is immediately managed through Smartsheet. Smartsheet serves as a central hub for all customer data entry for both our in-house and external marketing teams.
Cons:
The customer service has a lot to be desired, with slow response times and ineffectiveness even when dealing with simple issues. There are a variety of aspects that might affect the overall usability, including visibility and user experience.
Smartsheet is a highly effective tool for project management
Comments: Smartsheet's greatest strength lies in the fact that it provides a unified hub for all of our data, communications, and project management needs. It has simplified the procedure and eliminated any ambiguity.
Pros:
Smartsheet can be used to facilitate efficient project management. Using automation, we were able to pinpoint resource-intensive workflows and make adjustments there. Smartsheet's user-friendliness and lack of steep learning curve make it a natural choice for us to transition from our previous solutions. The technologies' applicability extends far beyond the realm of project management.
Cons:
There is nothing about Smartsheet that I find wanting. By utilizing this system, we have been able to save numerous hours of work time for our staff. For a company of our size, purchasing licenses for everyone who needs them is a major financial burden.
Smartsheet - Functionality and Communities make this an indispensable application
Comments: Overall, my experience with Smartsheet has been wonderful. The extremely active Community has made all the difference in the world, answering questions within an hour or two. The staff are also active in the Community and you can see their passion for the application and truly helping their customers. Smartsheet is highly worth the investment.
Pros:
Smartsheet has so much going for it. It truly fits the new technological world that we live in by providing more than just the basics. Being a cloud-based application (SaaS), and compatible with mobile devices, makes it more functional across the board. It mostly touts itself as a project management tool, which is very true. Most project managers utilize certain applications that require the project to be saved down to a file, which is not easily shareable. Smartsheet can handle the same project management tools and live in cyberspace that can be utilized by numerous people, which different levels of access (viewing, editing, administering) and different views (tasks, gantt, kanban, etc.), and allow people to make comments, add attachments, and more. The most use I have made of Smartsheet within my organization is using it like a spreadsheet. I'm able to have numerous sheets for different departments where they have access to only their own sheets and update only what they need to update. Then I can create a new sheet that combines information from all of the sheets that will auto-update from the original sheets. I can also create reports and dashboards (with charts, metrics, etc.) based on information from all the different sheets. It's quite functional and utilizes much of the same fundamental logic that Excel provides. The Smartsheet website has an extremely detailed (and searchable) Help section and very active Community. Even includes videos to help guide!
Cons:
Smartsheet does have some limitations. Most specifically, it isn't Excel and it isn't Project, so users shouldn't expect it to do everything those applications can do. However, there are times when it seems obvious that a particular functionality should be included that isn't. With that said, Smartsheet does a great job of listening to the Community and is constantly improving the application with enhancements to help the Community with its most voted on requests. Another thing that is frustrating is when an error pops up. More often than not, the error is written in a way that doesn't tell the user how to fix the error. Again, when this happens, I just reach out to the Community and get the answers I need.
Collaboration made easy
Comments: Smartsheet saves us time and makes it easier to collaborate and share updates across all of our projects. We appreciate the constant improvements and the walk through introduction when bigger changes are rolled out.
Pros:
Smartsheet has been a lifesaver for group collaboration. My team runs multiple projects simultaneously, and the scopes of these projects are constantly changing. Smartsheet allows for the team to update their pieces of the puzzle and send alerts about changes in one environment. We've actually replaced endless back and forth emails with the comments function in the comment section so that all pertinent information about an issue exists in the platform itself for easy reference. We can track our gantt chart, program data, and group communications in one place. I= We're also utilizing Smartsheet for people outside of our organization. Smartsheet allows us to select the type of visibility that clients have to data (through settings or via dashboards) so we can control the story that we're sharing with our clients. This has been a big time saver as it eliminates the need for extra reporting on data that is already avilailable online. Our clients have shared positive feedback about Smartsheet forms which we've been using to collect survey data and for event registration. The forms have allowed us to cancel our account for SurveyMonkey (which we used for several years previous to Smartsheet).
Cons:
The main pain point I have with Smartsheet is the fact that not all of my favorite Excel formulas work in Smartsheet. The formulas also don't always work the same way as they do in Excel so there's a bit of a learning curve. Smartsheet needs to allow a Time function. We use Smartsheet to register individuals for events, and right now we're having to program Time as a text. This means we can't use formulas to change times based on Timezones. I also still miss when the recent sheets appeared as tabs at the top of the webpage. The new recent tabs menu works well, but I found the tab view easier to navigate.
Quick points
Pros:
·Being able to share a spreadsheet with other users in real-time. · Like that users can complete a form to populate a spreadsheet to include uploading documents and that update requests could be sent to that user if a correction needs to be made or additional info is needed. The user then make the change(s) to the cell requested.
Cons:
·Recently a change was made whereas a non-licensed user can no longer send update requests. We use Smartsheet to have student teachers complete some info pursuant to state law. When the student makes an error, we used to send an update request to have them correct a cell. Now only a licensed user can send those notifications, so we most likely will utilize regular emails for these changes or not use Smartsheet for this work. ·As of Monday (9.30.19), how the system used "comments" changed from a pop-up box that let you enter into a field, save that info and now click anywhere and that pop-up box disappeared. Now it opens "Conversations" which now blocks the right side of the spreadsheet and you must now click on the X to close it out. It also holds all of the comments made to the entire sheet which is more info that I need. Typically if a comment is added to a row, I just click on the comment bubble to that row instead of viewing all of the comments to the sheet. ·When an update request is sent and the person makes the correction, this information is not clearly discernible when viewing the sheet. Turning on notifications turns on too many notifications so this was not an option. The workaround is, I add a "note sent"column that I check when an update request is sent. I then review the sheet and look for rows that have "note sent" checked and now no longer have the pending update icon to look for corrections. ·Need better form controls (field limits, date fields, etc.).
Fantastic tool that is growing quickly!
Comments: I'm a huge fan of Smartsheet. I would highly recommend their annual conference - ENGAGE. It's a great mix of presentations of use cases, tutorials, hands on workshops, networking, and a glimpse into their roadmap. With Smartsheet, we've saved time on existing processes and been able to build out new processes we weren't able to streamline/automate before Smartsheet. It also is so helpful with managing data integrity and auditing when/how things are edited. We also use it quite a bit to collaborate externally - that alone has made Smartsheet worth it.
Pros:
There's a lot to like about Smartsheet. You can get simple business processes converted quickly. The automation 'designer' is so easy to use and it's quite intuitive. Permissions are easy to manage without feeling overwhelming. Their training center is one of the best I've seen. Our Account Team is also phenomenal. I can't say enough about them. They never make me feel like they don't have time to talk use cases, strategies, or even one off questions. They roll out new functionality often enough to add value but not so often that you can't keep up. Smartsheet also really values their customer's feedback - highly recommend their EAP.
Cons:
Smartsheet is great in so many ways but there are some functionality missing that would make a massive difference in the amount of processes I could move to Smartsheet - cascading dropdowns, setting a field's value with automation, setting a form field's value based on another field or formula, editing an existing item via a form (not an update request), extract time stamping from cell history to be able to report on it. I would also like to see more consistency in the functionality across different apps within the platform. Overall, I'm able to find workarounds to most of the functionality wish list and with their ability to turn out new features often throughout the year, I don't consider these as deal breakers. My other pain point (though it's also helpful in some ways, especially for small businesses) is how tiered the features are - meaning that you do have to purchase premium apps/add ons to leverage the full power of Smartsheet. That gives a lot of flexibility in how you want to scale but is also a bit of a pain as an end user, making the case for purchasing the add ons that will help my processes even more.
A powerful tool for rapid, automated, information sharing without jeopardizing privacy
Comments: I have used SmartSheet for a number of years with different project teams and different applications. The software is incredibly versatile and lends itself to every imaginable aspect of the projects, from planning and scheduling meetings to tracking and and documenting closeout requirements. The automation options along with the display variations and the accessibility via multiple device types and input devised provide meaningful, clear and up-to-date information to a large variety of people with equally varied technological backgrounds and communication styles. During the work day, my SmartSheet portal is always open!
Pros:
SmartSheet provides an easy and efficient means of sharing information in a spreadsheet style format with web-forms that are readily accessible and editable from portable devices. The information from these web-forms can be set to auto-populate on the parent-sheet where the information becomes accessible to all authorized users at the click of the "update" button. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, a employee health status sign in sheet was created on short notice and sent out to all relevant parties via email as well as by posting a QR code at the job sites which all workers can scan with their mobile devices and fill in the form on line. The relevant information gets forwarded to main sheet accessible at the main office (nearly) instantaneously. The display options of the sheets are numerous and varied, very useful for different circumstances and audiences.
Cons:
The functionality is quite similar to that of an Excel spreadsheet, but my recurring stumbling block is that there ARE some differences. That being said, SmartSheet does a wonderful job of expanding the function library constantly, which makes it an ongoing task to stay up-to-date with what is new and possible (this is both a Pro and a Con since the library is so very dynamic)
Smartsheet 2 Year Review
Comments: Overall this has been a great program to use. With constrained budgets to work with, this offers tremendous bang for the buck. It is not very difficult for savvy users to become highly proficient with this product and develop organic business solutions.
Pros:
This product has revolutionized the way I manage my team. I am able to use Smartsheet to track many different projects and annual work goals for my team. My staff appreciate the increased autonomy Smartsheet has brought to us. Their goals and metrics are clear and they feel more ownership over their work. Other teams have started to use Smartsheet for their own business purposes and this is making its way through the organization.
Cons:
Some of the drawbacks about Smartsheet that makes it hard for our Data and Development Analysts to implement include the inability to paste a large number of rows into a grid. Our IT requirements also include having a test and development environment for the analysts to use and Smartsheet doesn't seem to have this. As a supervisor I would also appreciate it if the dashboard charts could be a little more Smart and pull data more dynamically from the source grids without me having to make manual adjustments. My colleagues would also like to see more ability to schedule blocks of time with the calendar integration like we do with Google Calendar. There is a workaround for this, but it isn't palatable for everyone.
A Robust Project Management Tool with Collaborative Power
Comments: Overall, my experience with Smartsheet has been positive. The tool offers robust project management capabilities and versatile spreadsheet functionality. Real-time collaboration and automation features enhance teamwork and productivity. Despite a learning curve and some limitations, Smartsheet proves to be a valuable tool for effective project management and collaboration.
Pros:
What I liked most about Smartsheet is its robust project management capabilities. The tool provides a comprehensive set of features for planning, tracking, and collaborating on projects. Its intuitive interface makes it easy to create tasks, set dependencies, and manage deadlines effectively. The real-time collaboration feature allows multiple users to work on the same sheet simultaneously, promoting seamless teamwork and communication. Additionally, the automation and integration options provided by Smartsheet streamline workflows and enhance productivity.
Cons:
What I liked least about Smartsheet are its limitations in terms of advanced formatting options and the learning curve associated with its features. While Smartsheet offers basic formatting capabilities, it lacks some advanced features found in traditional spreadsheet applications. This can be limiting for users who require complex formulas or intricate formatting in their sheets. Additionally, Smartsheet's robust functionality may require some time and training for users to fully grasp and utilize all its features effectively. However, once users overcome the learning curve, the tool proves to be a valuable asset for project management and collaboration.
Reasonably Smart Sheets
Comments: Positive on the whole, almost entirely down to the functionality of the product. I've self-taught and used forums/Youtube to learn how to do more complex builds, and managed to create a really effective ecosystem of sheets, reports and dashboards with no training. Value seems ok, ultimately you might find your bill gets quite hot if onboarding more and more users.
Pros:
Modular, customisable, fairly rapidly evolving platform. Familiar UI with many common features to Excel / MS products, so very easy to pick up and eventually master. Smartsheet is a bit lego-ish in that you can build more or less anything you want with a mid-level subscription. The user-populated forums are a really good resource, you'll find plenty of potential and actual answers by simply searching for what you're trying to achieve/fix. Free users able to collaborate with sheets/reports/dashboards without an account (although not without headaches - see below), which allows for effective collaboration on projects.
Cons:
Customer support is hit and (mainly) miss. Getting timely answers to account questions is not a reliable process and effective account management seems to be a service Smartsheet would rather upsell than provide as a standard offering. Some basic functionality is missing, as verified by a few searches on user forums. That said, Smartsheet do roll out updates fairly regularly which can hit the spot, depending on what you're hoping for. Being able to share with non-account holder colleagues as 'free users' has been great, albeit the onboarding process can be clunky and confusion prevails with Smartsheet encouraging all new users to request a paid account through the main admin, or creating a free trial account, which then needs downsizing to a 'free user'. This part could be much, much more transparent. Data security. Smartsheet is particularly shifty about where it stores data, and we never managed to get assurances that all our data could or would be stored in the EU, which is a fundamental requirement.