Optimum partnered with a leading cybersecurity company to streamline and automate their annual budgeting and resource planning process. The goal was to make it a more real-time and collaborative effort, capturing required information from over 70 departments and sub-departments, each with about 15 complex sheets of information. This resulted in over 1,100 sheets needing to be created and populated within a tight deadline.
To handle this volume and complexity, Smartsheet was selected as the ideal solution. It effectively streamlined information collection and collaboration, meeting the client’s pressing deadlines. The project is now fully complete, and the client is thrilled with the outcome.
Here are some valuable lessons we learned that can help you in your Smartsheet implementations.
What is Smartsheet?
Smartsheet is an award-winning, cloud-based project management, work automation, and collaboration platform. It provides real-time insights into key performance indicators (KPIs), critical trends, and summary reports through easy-to-build visual dashboards and scorecards. For this project, Smartsheet was the perfect tool for creating a collaborative space for both the accounting team and business users to access and update budget information.
Lesson #1: Cell Linking
Cell linking in Smartsheet allows you to pull data from and push data to other sheets. In this project, data was pulled from input sheets to generate 10 reports, which then integrated with the reporting software DOMO. Creating these links was straightforward and enabled the generation of detailed reports in minutes, resulting in an efficient budgeting system.
Pro Tip: When creating a cell link, Smartsheet assigns a generic name using the referenced sheet name. Always rename your cell links for quick identification, saving you significant time.
Lesson #2: Design is More Important Than You Think
The complexity of this project was due in part to the vast amount of information in each sheet. The client initially provided templates used in previous years, which included current year data and areas for the next year’s projections. Optimum redesigned these sheets to be more user-friendly by adding company branding, color-coding, headlines, and collapsible sections. This made the sheets easier to view, navigate, and work with.
Pro Tip: Use the Hierarchy feature to divide large amounts of information into manageable sections. For this project, collapsible sections were used to separate current year details from next year’s input areas, enhancing user experience.
Lesson #3: ‘Save As’ is Your Friend
After creating the templates and setting up the workspace, we needed to efficiently replicate the process for over 70 departments. The ‘Save As’ feature was invaluable here. It allowed us to copy sheets, folders, and workspaces quickly. We could create an entirely new department in about 15 minutes using this feature, only needing to update department-specific information.
Pro Tip: Create a folder containing sheets with references needed across multiple workspaces. This allows company-wide links to be maintained while creating new links within the new workspace or folder, saving hours of implementation time.
Additional Insight: Smartsheet Control Center
This project was both fun and challenging due to the tight schedule and the use of Smartsheet’s basic package. However, Smartsheet also offers a more comprehensive product called Control Center, which helps set up new projects and processes automatically with standard components. This makes it easy for teams to get started quickly.
About Optimum: Your Platinum Smartsheet Partner
Optimum is an award-winning, Platinum Smartsheet Partner, serving clients in multiple industries in the US and Canada. Our certified consultants define, automate, and optimize processes and implement advanced Smartsheet solutions for IT PMOs, Marketing, Procurement and Legal, Product Development, Asset Management, Merger & Acquisition, and many other business functions and departments.
From development of customized templates, advanced dashboards, and automated workflows, to the full implementation and support of Smartsheet Control Center, Resource Management, Dynamic View, Data Shuttle, Bridge, Connectors, and custom API Development, our team helps clients maximize their ROI in Smartsheet and increase user adoption and productivity of their teams.
Reach out today for a complimentary discovery session, and let’s explore the best solution for your work automation and project management needs!
Contact us: info@optimumcs.com | 713.505.0300 | www.optimumcs.com
