Likelihood to Recommend For teams and users who are very familiar with Excel and its mode of operation, Smartsheet will feel like a walkover. If you have a number of users who use Excel or Google Sheets for their personal project management then you will find this tool to be very useful and somewhat familiar.
Teams that may be used to other project management suites or styles would find Smartsheet a bit challenging to adapt to, as formulas and formatting can be challenging to adapt to.
Read full review Workzone eliminates confusion and ensures that the team uses the latest version of files by organizing these files and adding version numbers as files are being revised. The team can share these files with other team members or with clients and even set file permissions to ensure individuals get access to those files that are only appropriate to them and avoid confidential information getting into the wrong hands. The system notifies the users of the progress of their tasks, comments or calendar events through alerts.
Read full review Pros The easy to use dashboard has enabled us get comprehensive view of projects across the entire business. It has streamlined internal communication with ease of sharing information across different teams. Smartsheet automates our workflows, enhances collaboration and ensures there are no data silos. I like that it saves time for us and ensures we spend less time switching between apps. Read full review WorkZone is good at basic project management like scheduling and time management. The software can be set to send you a daily email with the list of the tasks that you need to get done for that day. Workzone allows the admin for the account to pick and choose which clients/projects can be seen by each person with an account, which allows each user to focus on the projects that they are involved in without being distracted by other things. Read full review Cons Smartsheet set up is similar to Excel, yet when you upload an Excel file, things like conditional formatting are lost. Smartsheet has its own conditional formatting, and you have to reinstate the rules. It would be great if those would apply automatically once a file is uploaded Some Smartsheet management and access rules can take some tweaking to work properly. This may be a case of offering more info to admins so they can apply these better and with more efficiency Read full review One of the reasons we left WorkZone was due to how videos/roughs were presented. While WorkZone does allow for a customizable and professional, clean looking interface; it did not offer everything we needed when it came to cross platform integration. WorkZone was also a little more pricy compared to a few competitors. WorkZone is worth the price and we loved using it, but a competitor offered an added feature that WorkZone does not offer that tipped the scales. There is no 'library'. As an AD Agency, we have worked on a lot of different spots for a lot of different clients. WorkZone did not offer a comprehensive library for us to upload content and use for presentations purposes. If WorkZone does add this feature later on down the road, it would be a great improvement and we would give serious thought about switching back. Read full review Likelihood to Renew It definitely meets our needs as far as organizing and archiving our tasks and files. As we train more staff to view it, I see opportunities for more improvement, which I am sure this program can handle. I look forward to seeing continued improvement from Smartsheet on their capabilities and functionality.
Read full review Because of time constraints, our team hasn't been able to fully implement and change our existing processes. If we can get our templates set up and maybe some better export options figured out, I think it'll be a no-brainer to renew, but until then it maybe be difficult to financially justify something we're only partially using.
Read full review Usability Smartsheet is very easy to learn. However, while I have been able to pick it easily, Microsoft Excel and Project super users that I have trained on Smartsheet get bogged down in the differences and can find it frustrating. Explaining the differences ahead of time and why Smartsheet is being chosen instead of a different software seems to counteract those reactions
Read full review WorkZone was very easy to learn, especially for the members of our team who were not as technology-savvy. WorkZone offered unlimited training as well, making it easy to transition new team members to the program, as we were a startup organization consistently adding new team members.
Read full review Reliability and Availability Throughout the use of the WorkZone software, we never had a issue with it being unavailable. This is important, considering we wanted to access our projects and see our progress at any moment. WorkZone was always available and made constant supervision of tasks and goals easy; no excuses for not checking in on the status of a project.
Read full review Performance I have zero complaints about the performance of WorkZone; for our organization's needs, it was a perfect tool for keeping track of various responsibilities and tasks. We never experienced a lag or down-time when using the software, and the simple interface made things exactly that from our end...simple. WorkZone is a fantastic tool for work management that never fails to perform, in my experience.
Read full review Support Rating I give this rating because it fills a niche in the market.
MS Project scares many away from proper task management but there are limited tools our there, especially cloud-based that are mobile-friendly. Smartsheet fills this market gap, especially for small to medium-sized businesses. IT is not fair to compare it to
MS Project , but fairer to see what gaps it fills.
Read full review The team at WorkZone is incredibly helpful and very willing to lend support when they can. Our team was constantly growing, and our new team members needed training every time someone cam on board. The WorkZone support staff was more than willing to ensure our new team members were completely comfortable using the software and set up for success.
Read full review Online Training The WorkZone trainers are wonderful! They offered us unlimited over-the-phone and online support, and the trainings were always informative. The WorkZone support team was willing to answer multiple questions and review sections of the training if need be. They were always accommodating, and trainings were scheduled very quickly for when our team needed them!
Read full review Implementation Rating It's absolutely paramount to take a few minutes to actually play with the software. It's nearly impossible to do anything wrong or make a mistake which cannot be fixed easily. Under the help menu is Live Training option. After you familiarize yourself with the commands, watch the live training for some in depth understanding of how to make the software fit your needs perfectly.
Read full review Implementation of WorkZone was very easy. We simply log into a portal online and begin to set up our projects. Access codes were sent very quickly to our team, so there was practically no delay once we signed the contract for our subscription. Training was scheduled quickly and was very helpful, especially as new team members joined our organization.
Read full review Alternatives Considered Jira and
Redmine are much more robust and technologically advanced project management solutions. I enjoy using either when managing a very large project. However, I prefer to use Smartsheet for my smaller to medium sized projects. As for
Google Drive - I would say that Google sheets and Smartsheet are almost identical in my opinion when it comes to functionality. Personally I prefer to manage smaller projects via
Google Drive , but it is a personal preference!
Read full review I selected WorkZone based on several criteria: 1. It is web based 2. It has more robust reporting capabilities 3. the price was right 4. It was easy to use and easy to train people 5. Timelines are easy to update.
Read full review Scalability We are a small organization, so the need to expand our use of WorkZone was limited. I only rate it below a 10 simply because I do not have much experience with the scaleability of the product. From the previews and training sessions, it does seem that the software can easily be adjusted to accommodate a growing workload; something we may use in future, just not at this point in our organization's development.
Read full review Return on Investment This has really opened up collaboration across teams. A lot less working in silos. It hasn't fully replaced any one tool so it means having to go to another place. Hopefully, we can eliminate a tool or two in the next six months. Read full review It has positively affected our workflow - keeping projects moving without requiring constant back and forth of emails and other communications. It has helped our team to avoid missing crucial steps in project and client management. We are definitely more efficient when WorkZone is being used and updated properly! Kirsten Lowery Senior Client Engagement Manager / Social Media Marketing
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