Using Contacts to Collaborate

Now that updated Contacts have arrived, are you ready to make your collaboration shine? Here are some ways teams are using Contacts to make collaborating in Smartsheet easy and convenient.

Saving Time with Automated Alerts

The Stevens Pass Alpine Club (SPAC) uses Smartsheet to keep their team of elite ski racers organized and at the top of their game.     

Coach Dave Lyon keeps a contact list of all athletes, parents and volunteers in Smartsheet. Each race calendar is organized in a sheet with alerts set to automatically update everyone when something changes.  

When Lyon or one of his coaches gets word that a race has been delayed or canceled, they simply update the race calendar. Everyone shared the sheet receives an alert email from Smartsheet on their mobile phone, becoming instantly aware of the change.

How to Automate Alerts: 

If you are the sheet owner or have Admin access to a sheet, you can create automated alerts just like the ski club.  

• Start by clicking on the Alerts tab at the bottom of the sheet, then click 'New Notification'.  
• Click the first link in the notification (me) to identify which of your contacts you would like the alert sent to. You can set the alert to send only to you, everyone who has been shared to the sheet, or anyone in between. 
• Next, click the second link in the notification (once a day) to set how often the alert is sent. Choose from right away, once an hour, once a day or once a week.  
• Now, you can customize the type of information you’d like to be alerted of in your sheet. You can be notified when changes are made to certain columns (SPAC stays on top of race times this way) or other updates like new attachments, new discussion notes, or adjusted sharing permissions.

Communicating Efficiently with External Clients

The Eisen Agency, the largest PR firm in the Greater Cincinnati Area, uses Smartsheet to organize their clients' activities and plans.  

President Rodger Roeser uses Smartsheet as a collaborative workspace for both agency employees and clients. Agency members attach and share files like advertising comps and press releases to sheets for clients to review. Everything is archived and kept current in Smartsheet for easy access and reference.

“Having all of our efforts documented in Smartsheet not only keeps my team and their projects on target, it has greatly improved my client conversations,” explained Roeser. “For example, when I bill a client each month, I have them reference their sheet so there’s no question about the amount of work my team is putting into their account. I can’t tell you the last time a client contested an invoice.”

Sharing clients to sheets saves the Eisen Agency time and keeps their clients up to date – and happy.

How to Share Your Sheet:

Smartsheet magic comes to life when you share your sheet with other people.

• If you are the owner of a sheet or have Admin access, get started by clicking the Sharing tab at the bottom of your sheet.
• Click Share to open up the Sharing form and enter the email addresses of the people youwant to share your sheet with in the Share To field.  Remember to separate multiple email addresses with a semicolon!
• Now all you have to do is set a permission level for your new collaborators:
  • Viewers can view and export the sheet, but can’t make any changes to your sheet itself.
  • Editors are able to make changes to the information in the rows of your sheet.
  • Admins have the ability to manage your sheet and update dependency settings.

[Learn more about Sharing permissions in Smartsheet]

Demonstrating Team Progress

The marketing department at Animation Mentor smoothly navigated a company rebranding by using Smartsheet to assign tasks to their team this past spring. Smartsheet kept the team on track and team members focused on what pieces of larger projects they were responsible for – due in part to the winning combination of a Contacts ‘Assigned To’ Column and the Reporting functionality.

“Our art director is constantly fielding update requests from other departments on the status of her team.  With reports she’s able to easily summarize her team’s activity by running a quick report across all of their department sheets,” explained Associate Producer Lindsay Talbot.  

“Working like this in Smartsheet has given us the ability to easily collaborate and work together, and it’s increased the quality of the work we produce.”

How to Use This Same Approach with Your Team:  

Just add a Contact column type into any sheet and assign tasks to team members' email addresses. Then, run a Report to quickly search across all different sheets for tasks and responsibilities assigned to individual team members.

With today’s Smartsheet update, it’s simple to add any new team members to your Contact list.

How are you using Contacts to work with your team in Smartsheet?  Give us a shout and let us know!