One of the modern alternatives to traditional project management tools like Microsoft Project is an online project management solution by the name of Smartsheet. Traditional tools focused more on schedules and tasks whereas Smartsheet focuses more on the collaborative aspects of project management. But yes, you can also manage tasks and schedules in Smartsheet. That just means the even the collaboration functions are built into Smartsheet whereas in Microsoft Project you will have to use some other means for it.
You do not have to install any software on your computer to use Smartsheet as it is a web application. So you can access it from anywhere, your home, office, from the road, and on any device; everything that you need you can find it online.
What Does Smartsheet Do?
Essentially, Smartsheet uses sheets, which are basically spreadsheets and they form the basis for everything. But Smartsheet has all the collaboration functions incorporated into it and that is the main difference between Smartsheet and other spreadsheet programs like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets.
This is what you can get from Smartsheet, which is beyond the functionality of a standard spreadsheet:
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Collaborate: All the members of the project team could be invited to collaborate on a sheet, that is they could either view or edit it.
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Set up alerts: Notifications and reminders could be set up for the tasks within the sheets.
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Attach files: Files could be attached to the overall sheet or to a row in the sheet. You will find the files stored on the Smartsheet servers and they are made accessible for when the collaborators log in to Smartsheet and view the sheet.
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Have discussions: Discussions could be set up for the whole project or for certain tasks in it. You will find these discussions too stored in the sheet.
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Request updates: From within the sheet, requests could be sent to the collaborators to give updates on the progress of their assigned tasks.
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Set up web forms: You could set up survey or feedback forms and the responses given by the users could be put into a sheet automatically.
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Publish the sheet: Via an external URL, the sheet could be made available so that anyone can see it.
Get Started With Smartsheet
You will get a 30-day free trial from Smartsheet to try out its features and there are a couple of ways you can sign up:
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With your e-mail address: First, visit www.smartsheet.com, put in your e-mail address, and click on Try Smartsheet for free. Then you will receive an email from Smartsheet to confirm your e-mail address. Just click on the Confirm Email button and you will be asked to set up your password. After that, you are in and all set to go.
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With Google: You can log in to your Smartsheet account directly from your Google account, skipping the confirmation e-mail and password setup. Then you will use your Google account details to log in. On the Smartsheet homepage just click Or Sign Up with Google and Smartsheet will ask you permission to access your Google account. As soon as you accept, you can move right in.
You can use the Smartsheet as a single user would do and set up as many as ten sheets as a part of the free trial. You cannot publish web forms with the free trial as only paid users can have public URLs.
You can switch to the team plan from the single user plan to try out the additional features such as reporting, user management, and resource management.
How Much Does Smartsheet Cost?
If you want to continue using Smartsheet after your trial has expired, you can log in to Smartsheet and click the Upgrade button at the top of your browser window. There will be three plans for you to choose from:
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Basic: You will be charged $14 per month (if you pay annually) for this plan and it will give you a single user license. Holding that license, you will be the "owner" of sheets. There can be an unlimited number of "collaborators". Mainly this option could be considered by the project manager working on their own. 10 sheets could be set up for your projects and you can store up to 3GB of documents online.
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Team: A small team of project managers could use this plan to set up their own sheets to manage their own projects. It will cost you $13 per user, but you must have at least three users, thus your cost will come up to $39 per month (if you pay annually) at least. Each user can store up to 15 GB of documents online and set up 50 sheets. You also get some extra features like reporting, user and resource management, and priority support from Smartsheet.
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Enterprise: If you are a large organization with 25 or more project managers, then this plan is suitable for you. You get unlimited sheets and storage and all the features of the other plans. This plan doesn't have a set cost, you will have to contact Smartsheet to discuss custom pricing.
Conclusion
So this is all that you need to know about Smartsheet, before actually beginning to use it. Next, you can just visit the website and give it a try. See how it suits you.
