I use it to collect the status of various projects. Before we moved to Agile, a lot of us used it for project planning. In the PMO, I created a master list of all the projects in the company and basically just started compiling statistics on them, such as the project managers assigned to each project, what sprint they were in, and things like that. We are using its enterprise version.
The Gantt chart feature was incredibly useful. Smartsheet does a really good job of creating Gantt charts. Before moving to Agile, a lot of us used it for project planning. We basically used it to create a project plan, and we were able to add Gantt charts just like Microsoft Project.
Export to Excel feature was also very useful. I used it to export to Excel and gather project status. I also used it to customize forms and collect project status and other information from users. Basically, I used it very much like Excel, except it is way more robust.
The fact that you can have different access groups is definitely a pro for Smartsheet. It also has the ability to integrate with a lot of tools. You can integrate it with other major tools like Jira and Microsoft Teams, which is incredibly useful.
The downside of Smartsheet is that there are some security concerns. Security is quite good
with the enterprise version, but there are some loopholes. It should be easier to restrict the users within the organization from sharing sheets outside of the domain. We were able to restrict people from sharing sheets with anyone who was not in our domain, but it could be easier. We also found it hard to restrict certain user groups from adding attachments to sheets. We have analytical groups in our company who should not be allowed to add attachments because they can attach sensitive information, which is something we don't want. The ability to prevent certain features of Smartsheet for a user group is not there. I couldn't find a way to do that. This is where there is room for improvement.
It already has a really powerful Export to Excel feature, but it can have an Excel add-on. It can have something just like an Excel integration or something that would make it easier for people who aren't really familiar with Smartsheet but are more familiar with Excel.
The sign-in process was actually confusing. The way to set up single sign-on wasn't too easy in the beginning, and it was hard to get hold of customer service. They should make it easier to set up SSO.
Smartsheet's customer service definitely needs to be improved. They create a ticket, and then it disappears. It is very hard to understand to whom that ticket is assigned.
I have been using it for almost three years.
It is 100% stable. It probably went down only once or twice in the last almost three years.
I don't know about scalability, but it has the ability to integrate with a lot of tools. We have integrated it with Microsoft Teams and Jira. These are the two most powerful integrations that are helping it scale. The fact that you can integrate it with other major tools like Jira and Microsoft Teams is incredibly useful. The Microsoft Teams integration is very useful because if a certain project manager or a scrum master is required to enter a status for their project, they receive an instant message in their Microsoft Teams inbox. This is a really nice feature.
In terms of the number of users, we have 5,000 people, and only a fraction of those people use it. We have around 2,000 users. The security concern is the reason why a large portion of them aren't allowed to use it.
Smartsheet's customer service definitely needs to be improved. It has been a few months since I've talked to them. They're easy to get ahold of, but it has been the general consensus in our company that they create a ticket, and then it disappears. It is very hard to understand to whom that ticket is assigned. Their customer service definitely needs to improve, but for the most part, it has definitely improved over the past year since I've used it.
Its initial setup was extremely straightforward. It is very easy to use in terms of the learning curve.
Its licensing is on a yearly basis. I was responsible for negotiating the price with the Smartsheet team, but I don't remember what the price was. Its standard license probably was around 5,000 to 6,000 a year. The enterprise version is significantly more expensive.
We did not really evaluate other options. We use Microsoft Project, and we tried using Jira for a project management solution. Now that we're fully Agile, we don't really have the need for project plans, but we still use Smartsheet.
It is a really robust tool, and it has really improved. They've improved its user interface a lot. Before using this tool, I would advise evaluating the size of your organization and your security needs. If you don't have too many people using Smartsheet, or if you have less than 50 licensed people, it is completely acceptable to go with the standard implementation. It isn't at all bad for a small startup in terms of pricing. Similarly, if there isn't really a huge need for security, you don't need to go with the enterprise version. It is significantly more expensive. Because we're a fairly large organization compared to startups, we went with the enterprise solution, which provides a slew of features. It is more than okay to go with the basic version of it.
I would rate Smartsheet an eight out of ten. There are some small flaws, but it is definitely a very powerful tool.
