Smartsheet

It does help us track projects and the alerts we've set up help keep users aware of deadlines. So for that, Smartsheet works well. We've found a workaround for the one area we've paid extra for--the reporting--that is deficient. The biggest selling point is its approachability: anyone that is familiar with a spreadsheet application should be able to intuitively understand how SmartSheet basically works. That at least removes the biggest obstacle for a project management solution being ignored: the difficulty of use.

Puntos a favor

SmartSheet allows individuals and teams to work projects together, plotting milestones and critical paths, tracking tasks, creating alerts, and using gantt charts to quickly view how various team members are allocated and intersect. It does a good job of integrating with Office 365, allowing you to share links to files in OneDrive and to Skype within SmartSheet. The revamped interface makes it closer to working in Excel, which is the really the whole premise to Smartsheet: providing a familiar spreadsheet interface for working projects. To that end, there is a wealth of functionality for formatting cells to indicate project stages, task completion, etc. You can even apply conditional logic to have cells change color when a task reaches a certain stage. There are good controls for determining levels of access, so you prevent changes to your sheet except by authorized persons. Overall, it's a good tool for managing projects.

Puntos en contra

The reporting functionality we paid extra for is a joke. Instead, we've resorted to pulling data into Microsoft's Power BI to create reports and visualize data. And like many other Cloud-based services, there's a core product and then tiers of functionality that cost significantly more. Smartsheet is a capable product, but I'm frankly unsure it's cost is justified by its maturity. I've had the feeling I've been paying for what's coming, not for what's already there. But since we've invested in it, I guess we'll stay the course.

Project management is a very important part of any Business operation and as such, its important to explore options. Smartsheet appeals to us because we have a strong background with Microsoft Excel and adopting it has been easy.

Our goal is finding a project management solution that works for our teams and ensuring that they actually use it. While everyone has their personal preference, SmartSheet was a better fit as a lot of our teams already use Excel extensively.

Puntos a favor

SmartSheet is a good project management tool that has an interface similar to Excel.
Pros:

1. Multiple Project Views - Project managers will appreciate the multiple viewing options such as Gannt and Kanban, standard spreadsheet and even a calendar view. Many options for different managers.

2. If Spreadsheets are your thing, SmartSheet is worth a try - If you and your team use spreadsheets a lot, you may appreciate that SmartSheet is based off the concept of spreadsheets, you can adopt and add different sheets for a variety of projects. So whether basic or advanced, a host of users can easily adapt to Smartsheet if they know how to use a spreadsheet, even to the point of adding formulas and formatting of cells. This is a huge selling point which makes SmartSheet a good option.

3. As Good as Project Management tools get - As a project management tool Smartsheet covers the basics. You get milestones, task management, comments, collaboration and project management and as mentioned before the view options.

4. You can add collaborators to a project for free - A good thing is that you can add multiple “users” to access Smartsheets without paying extra. If you do need to give them more privileges, there are options to set them up.

5. Support for Smartsheet is stellar - There is a thriving community of users and help guides and videos if you ever find yourself stuck and not sure what to do.

6. Smartsheet also integrates well with Microsoft Office 365.

Puntos en contra

There is not a lot to gripe about SmartSheets other than on occasion, the app can lag or suffer an error and finding what error it is and how to fix it can be a little frustrating.

There is a limitation with exporting reports. If you want to display data in a visual way, you may need to manually extract the data and then add it into another application. If the reports feature could be improved and maybe export in a usable format it would be a solid winner.

We have used Smartsheet for quite a few years to help manage projects, day-to-day items, operational calendars, and other items at our higher ed institution. This tool has been a tremendous help with making it easier to collaborate with other companies, as well as increase the efficiency with certain tasks among our department and other departments at our institution. Smartsheet is a very easy tool to learn and use and provides a great amount of functionality in one place to collaborate across groups. I would highly recommend this product to companies, large or small, if they have multiple projects that they need to manage frequently. The ROI for this product is good if you use it all of the time. If you don't, it can end up being an expensive tool for collaboration while there are many alternative competitors out there that may be a better option financially.

Puntos a favor

Smartsheet provides a very robust collaboration tool among teams and teams from other companies. The ability to show timelines, comments, attachments, and dates - all in one place - make it very easy to stay on track with projects. This tool also provides a very nice mobile and app platform to work off of while out on the go. We utilize the professional (paid) version to encompass all of the features that we need and are no longer offered in the free version, such as the ability to email directly from the sheet, send for updates, and utilize the reminder functions. Emailing directly from the sheet is a great feature since it allows you to send the comments, attachments, and info from the line all in one easy-to-read email. You can also cc yourself on the email so that you know that it was sent.

Puntos en contra

One of the things about Smartsheet that could be updated is the ability to copy info from one sheet and create a new sheet. For example, my team utilizes this tool for registration for certain programs at our university. The ability to copy the entire sheet (with all of the info and attachments) onto a new sheet and update the dates, or minimal information, would be a great function to have. The other option would be to allow more functionality in the free version (which was previously there). The update to only allowing email sends from a single line in the professional (paid) version now is a bit challenging when we only budgeted for a certain amount of licenses for the academic year (and we all know how stingy higher ed budgets are right now)

I love the webinars on new services and the ability to become certified to use this tool- its such a time saver and I love that if I think of something I need to do on my commute home- I can just pull it up on my phone. Overall I would recommend it to my text company too- I would rather use Smart sheet as a project management tool than any tool designed for math brains that isn't as freestyle.

Puntos a favor

I love this software. I love the pick up and go aspect where I can access it on all my devices. I love the automatic saves- because I am terrible at remembering to save, and I love the ability to attach files and tag people for projects. I used the software at my previous company for creative project management and now I'm using it like agile for product development builds. Its great for tracking and overall roadmapping. I wouldn't use anything else when I can do everything I want right here!

Puntos en contra

All the issues I've had have been solved in new releases but it would be wonderful if I could build graphic pages in the software- I'm hoping that comes soon. Like a mobile photoshop or powerpoint or image tool.

One of my team members was able to create a content calendar for a broad editorial group within the platform and it worked great and had excellent adoption from a cross-functional team. Vet it carefully for your particular needs before making an investment -- SS has a lot to offer for the right projects.

Puntos a favor

SmartSheet provides a lot of great features: easy-to-use "card view", quick Gantt charts and easy entry of tasks. I really like the simplicity of the tool as it feels very much like Excel at first blush. The two levels of access -- one for power users and one for light editors -- helps keep the tool in a very affordable price range. I absolutely love the ability to create a web intake form within minutes that can be published live for use without a login to the system. The form is highly configurable and is a great way to grab structured feedback or details from individuals.

Puntos en contra

SmartSheet is not a fantastic project management tool for software development. While the web-based intake form is decent for reporting bugs and it is a relatively simplistic tool, tracking items from beginning to end and creating validation loops should be easy but is not. Granted, we were using the tool for something it wasn't technically designed for, but much of the functionality is available within the platform for "light" development teams. Unfortunately, the implementation of specific task-driven items simply wasn't where it needed to be.