Chief Strategy and Product Officer, Gene Farrell shared his five tips for building a no code enterprise, discussed the impact of WorkApps and announced the new Action View enhancement. “Over the next year you’ll see continued innovation and improvements to our core view, card grid, calendar and Gantt views” 

Here at SBP we’re particularly excited about the latest software integrations, and we’re already thinking hard about how to make these work for you. 

Take your planning to the next level with Smartsheet and Lucid Spark. Users can now collaborate visually using Lucid Spark Cards, and seamlessly turn those ideas into tasks, deliverables and project plans in Smartsheet. By synching between the two platforms you can avoid project inconsistency keeping everything aligned and automated. 

DocuSign, the leading platform for e-signatures, is now available to all Smartsheet customers on Enterprise and Premier plans. You can now create documents, send them to be digitally signed, and track their progress within Smartsheet, without even having to leave your desk.  

And finally, RPA Software company Uipath has teamed up with Smartsheet to make it easier for users to retrieve, update and share their data. UiPath software allows the user to access API functionality. Collaborate on sheets, update projects, access attachments, update comments and share Smartsheet information across teams, without the need to write code. 

Want to use the latest Smartsheet innovations to keep your business running smoothly? Get in touch or sign up to our Tips and Tricks mailing list today.  

The post Exciting new Software Integrations announced at Smartsheet ENGAGE All In Conference appeared first on SmarterBusinessProcesses.

Smartsheet Document Builder saves you time and removes the steps needed to manually create documents with sheet data.

This latest update allows you to create PDFs from Smartsheet rows. With only a few clicks you can feed sheet data into an existing standardized PDF and create dozens of custom versions at the same time. Say goodbye to copy and paste!

You can also take advantage of Smartsheet’s latest integration with DocuSign eSignature, a solution that helps you save time, reduce costs, and ultimately drive your business forward.

See more

And don’t forget, you can Subscribe to our regular Tips & Tricks and get alerted about our New Tips & Tricks Webinars.

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Construction project management diverges from a typical PM role by demanding and incorporating extensive knowledge of the construction industry, a unique and complicated field. Construction PMs average around 120 responsibilities, which means they have to be more strategic and thoughtful in working with a slew of moving parts and constant change.

To ensure each responsibility is met and every architect, contractor, and supplier remains on schedule and budget, effective construction PMs should utilize tools and strategies that streamline their work. Fortunately, construction management has become more technical with the development of new tools to simplify many processes. It’s how you implement those tools that counts. These five strategies go beyond PM basics to prepare you for the intricacies of the role and direct your efforts toward success.

1. Create a flow of communication

Among the most important elements of all project management, communication is essential to every phase of any construction project. Good news and bad news are equally important when preparing and implementing a build, so you need to establish a flow of communication with everyone on the ground — and every stakeholder and supplier in the plan. This transparency will make the process smoother and will reduce the number of emails and phone calls whenever a problem arises.

One of the simplest ways to create a flow of communication is a collaborative work management (CWM) tool. By syncing discussions, attachments, and calendars, you can monitor news, budgets, and scheduling changes as they occur. A good CWM tool also allows you to relay these changes to other managers and accounting offices in real time, providing a nearly email-free method of project management. That means more time for you to spend at the construction site meeting contractors to coordinate the next stage of work.

2. Make a habit of continuous planning

Construction project managers should start planning long before actual construction begins, and continue revising and developing plans until the project ends. The design, pre-construction, and procurement stages of a construction project each require extensive planning — and each may need to be revised as the next stage unfolds. Anything can happen at a construction site. If you encounter unexpected environmental problems during the pre-construction phase, the design may need to change. Even slight adjustments can affect the overall plan and timeline.

This remains true during the actual build. You will be working with seasoned professionals, often with decades of experience in electrical engineering, plumbing, scaffolding, and carpentry. While your contractors should be trusted, they still need focused direction to coordinate their efforts with each other. You’ll often need to work with them throughout the timeline to develop and refine plans as delays and equipment failures arise. Like any PM, you will execute and monitor developments, but the planning never ends in construction project management. Collaboration shouldn’t either.

3. Observe and ask questions

There is no industry in which PMs will be found just sitting at their desks, removed from the project and his or her team. Every good project manager becomes an integral part of the process, working figuratively and literally alongside others. Construction project management requires more attention and integrated effort than most industries, because the work is so physical. Field elements can drastically affect the workflow of construction projects. There will be many times when you need to actually see an issue in person before you can resolve it.

Familiarizing yourself with the construction site and the duties of every professional working under you will make you a better project manager. Construction is a constantly evolving industry, with new equipment, practices, and advancements every year. You need to continually educate yourself and learn from others in order to administer and manage a successful project. A great deal of communication may be streamlined, but the work still requires regular site visits and conferences with the contractors and designers on the ground.

4. Use tools to monitor costs and budgets

Most PMs have to think about money constantly, but the permits, wages, materials, and equipment of construction projects in particular are often exchanged between an array of financial sources. From the initial bidding process to the project closeout, construction PMs are responsible for tracking and monitoring all costs, especially as they relate to initial budgets. Ideally, you will have an accounting department for managing contractor invoices, but even then, you have to work alongside your accountants to ensure all direct and indirect costs are recorded.

Considering every other responsibility of a construction project manager, tracking and monitoring finances manually without the assistance of software isn’t practical — or feasible. Even relatively small construction projects contain hundreds of moving parts and individual costs, so to remain effective you need to use software that can also manage costs and budgets. A good CWM tool should allow you and other collaborators to input costs, budget changes, and other calculations to keep track of your project’s finances, alleviating the need to coordinate with every participant or to calculate your budget. Additionally, integrating DocuSign reduces time spent collecting signatures for every invoice, which means you and your contractors can devote more attention to the task at hand.

5. Implement automated reporting systems

No construction project manager has the time to reply to hundreds of emails a day — or use the phone to call and address every question about budgets and progress. In addition to concentrating discussions and schedules on one CWM, you can cut down further correspondence by implementing automated reporting systems. Construction project management requires the weekly distribution of various spreadsheets and status reports, and automated delivery tools will save significant time over the span of the build. This automation will ensure the right reports go to the right people on time, allowing you to focus on other tasks and communication. Other reporting systems, like Safety and Health Management, can prevent hazards, track incidents, and streamline worksite analysis when issues do arise.

A CWM tool like Smartsheet benefits not only construction project managers, but also their teams, partners, and stakeholders. Smartsheet fosters transparency at every level for real-time updates, automated reporting, and integration with apps (like Docusign) to streamline processes that could otherwise hold up the next phase. Your software should be a tool that helps you work more efficiently. But, the skills and strategies for effective construction project management require a more in depth look at the industry as a whole, and a better understanding of how your role fits into an overall build.

Try Smartsheet for free or contact us to arrange a free initial consultation to discuss your Smartsheet optimisation – we’d love to hear from you!

The post 5 Strategies of a Successful Construction Project Manager appeared first on SmarterBusinessProcesses.

We’ve seen a wholesale change in thinking by businesses large and small, both in the US and UK, all eager to embrace low cost, intuitive cloud solutions and the improved efficiencies they bring.

Excel has always been and will continue to be the tool of choice for deep number-crunching, but as a management tool, it has limitations.  Fast growth companies need real time information and a spreadsheet type solution that provides collaboration and visibility on any platform and device.

Resistance to change is common but those who have embraced new ways of working are now seeing the efficiency and cultural gains

So what are some of these winning solutions?

• Smartsheet alongside Excel and Google sheets.
• DocuSign for Digital Transaction management for NDAs Contracts and Sign off.
• ProofHQ for Reviewing any digital copy through to approval in real time.
• Microsoft 365 implementation and integration as a cloud based solution, means we are helping clients to merge processes to work together… at low cost.
• OverDRIVE provides an Internal Web Portal, that acts like an Intranet or Digital Asset Library and works beautifully in conjunction with Google for Work Apps.

What were our clients’ challenges?

“Skilled resources are not easily acquired, so we needed to provide the existing team with better tools to allow them to do more in less time and take away their repetitive processes, replacing them with intuitive solutions that were enjoyable to work with and got immediate results”.

“ As business grew fast, increasing orders meant we had to become more efficient to fulfill them.”

“We needed Real Time information to get out to our key workers who could be out on site, or in countries in different time zones and languages, so a tool that looks and feels just like Excel, takes uploads from Excel (or MS Project) then provides an almost endless list of new solutions not found in Excel Desktop or 365 was key”.

The solutions Smartsheet provided in response to our clients’ challenges

• Secure access of key data for dissemination and feedback  on any device. 
• Audit trail discussion on any row or sheet.
• Uploads of any file type for review and use. 
• Collaboration, Reminders, Alerts that solve a host of needs.
• Automated Reports and Graphs that provide Real Time status 
• Planning projects has never been easier and no “ology” needed. 
• Resource planning has never been easier 
• Even those who are hooked on MS Project find that working Smartsheet alongside for collaboration and feedback makes their lives easier and results quicker.

If you can identify with any of the above, contact us to arrange your free 1 hour consultation to discuss your challenges.  We’d love to hear from you!

Empower your business with smarter business processes

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By working together intuitively, these Apps deliver the full package of benefits to your teams, improving efficiency, collaboration and visibility on ANY Platform, ANY Device & ANY Browser

Smartsheet – a Work Management Solution, ideal for users of Excel who need to collaborate more efficiently

Smartsheet is an incredibly flexible work management tool that not only provides great solutions for users of Excel but is also capable of driving large complex project plans for project planners

Detailed project planners will be delighted to hear of the new upgrades, namely duration in hours and minutes, as well as critical path. These new features will bring Smartsheet to the next level in terms of project management and team collaboration, giving project managers and owners more control to coordinate even bigger, more complex projects quickly and efficiently.

For Smartsheet users wishing to fully benefit from these new features, see details of our Smartsheet training courses and online support sessions

Top Tip: Smartsheet is great for driving your workflows forward and provides instant access and integration with the supportive Apps, ProofHQ, DocuSign and OverDRIVE and Data stores… Dropbox, OneDrive, Box and Evernote.

OverDRIVE for Digital Asset Management (DAM)

OverDRIVE is a cost effective, intuitive, visual and smart way to provide users and teams with simple and powerful intranet web access to corporate data and information.

Many businesses report that access to their corporate digital assets is difficult, documents hard to find.  At last there is a solution, not just for Google users but Microsoft users too.

Like our other technology pillars, OverDRIVE works with any platform and any device.

OverDRIVE provides the ability to easily create project workspaces to manage the documents, digital assets, contacts etc., relating to any number of projects at any time.

Top Tip: Smartsheet can merge data into Google docs e.g. quotes, invoices,HR contracts etc.,  all visible via OverDRIVE. Proof reviews in ProofHQ can be accessed from OverDRIVE

ProofHQ for Proof Review and Approval

ProofHQ is an online proofing solution for Marketing & Admin teams of any size in any industry who need to deliver marketing projects faster and more efficiently.

Deciding to use ProofHQ isn’t difficult. It measurably speeds up project delivery and significantly reduces management time, revisions, errors and costs. Because, unlike email and hardcopy proofing, ProofHQ enables review teams to collaborate simultaneously on creative content.

ProofHQ simply streamlines approval workflow – and can be used across all media including print, digital and audio-visual.

Top Tip: Smartsheet can drive the workflow and track progress of multiple Proof reviews with live links to ongoing or concluded proofs, then on to the creatives or printers for output.

DocuSign – The Global Standard for electronic signature and Digital Transaction Management

DocuSign helps businesses of all sizes easily and securely sign, send, and manage documents in the cloud, with unmatched availability and legal enforceability, eliminating the hassle, costs and lack of security in printing, faxing, scanning & postage.

Eliminate Paper Clutter:  It’s time consuming and costly to print, mail, fax, and overnight documents and these processes are prone to error. With DocuSign, you can sign and send with the click of a button and gain instant visibility into the status of your documents. You reduce the clutter for you AND your recipients, whilst also lowering the environmental impact of doing business.

The Smartsheet DocuSign integration offers our clients further workflow efficiency benefits, e.g. send one person listed in a Smartsheet an envelope for signing which includes tenancy contracts or contracts of employment at the click of a mouse.

Choosing one or a range of our complementary work management solutions will provide you with vastly improved efficiencies, collaboration and visibility.

Integrating Smartsheet with your other Applications has been dramatically improved and now API 2.0  offers a whole range of opportunities to link applications together to remove even more steps from your traditional processes by automating your workflows and updating data in several places with just one entry.

Talk to us about Managing the Changes within your organisation and about application integration set-up and  onsite and remote training and consultancy.  We’d love to hear from you.

Request a demonstration or trial licences

The post Our Favourite Four Technology Pillars for Business Efficiency and Success appeared first on SmarterBusinessProcesses.

Welcome to OverDRIVE – a cost effective, intuitive, visual and smart way to provide users and teams with simple and powerful web access to corporate data and information.

OverDRIVE lets you quickly build a project workspace or web portal using documents and data from your favourite cloud applications.

OverDRIVE provides the ability to easily create project workspaces to manage the documents, digital assets, contacts etc relating to any number of projects at any time.

OverDRIVE is a welcome addition to our ‘Big Four’ toolkit  Our complementary solutions including Smartsheet, ProofHQ and DocuSign, ensure our clients have the very best intuitive, business efficiency solutions, helping them streamline workflows and improve transparency.

Contact us to arrange a product demo, free trial or book your free initial consultation. We’d love to hear from you.

The post OverDRIVE, a smart way to provide powerful web access to corporate data appeared first on SmarterBusinessProcesses.

As recently appointed DocuSign partners we’re delighted to be helping our clients simply ‘get work done’, saving time, reducing costs and accelerating sales.  See how DocuSign works  

Provides customers with a delightful experience with the convenience of anywhere, anytime, any device access for completing documents – including mobile

DocuSign is the global standard for electronic signature and digital transaction management, eliminating the hassle, costs and lack of security in printing, faxing, scanning, overnighting,and driving around town to sign and return documents.

Helping you work (and live) the way you want  – from anywhere, anytime, on any device, DocuSign gives you peace of mind that you can transact business completely digitally safely and securely on the DocuSign Global Trust Network.

DocuSign is a welcome addition to our ‘Big Four’ toolkit  Our complementary solutions including Smartsheet, OverDRIVE, and ProofHQ ensure our clients have the very best intuitive, business efficiency solutions , helping them streamline workflows and improve transparency.

Contact us to arrange a product demo, free trial or book your free initial consultation. We’d love to hear from you

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DTM has emerged as a new category of cloud services designed to digitally manage document-based transactions. It removes the friction inherent in transactions that involve people, documents, and data to create faster, easier, more convenient, and secure processes.

Organisations that embrace the digital future can speed execution, lower operating costs, reduce errors, and provide superior customer experience. By staying digital, these companies avoid the traditional pitfalls of lost or missing data and documents, breakages in processes, and lack of visibility into workflow.

Transitioning to a fully digital business needn’t be a challenge, whether you’re a small business or an enterprise. The technology available has empowered us to achieve our goals, be it developing new solutions and products or delivering a better service to customers.

3 Reasons to take your business digital

Learn more about digital transformation at DocuSign’s annual conference – DocuSign MOMENTUM’15 – in London on 1-3 June. Join us to exchange inspiring ideas about how to integrate and cultivate digital processes. Get in touch so we can arrange to meet up – we’d love to see you !

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Why a paperless award? And what is it exactly?

The Paperless Partner Awards honor the best and most creative DocuSign partners who are helping people experience the power of DocuSign and partner APIs. According to DocuSign, the winners are “the most creative developers who have taken significant steps toward ridding the world of paper.”

We won the “Rookie of the Year” award for building one of the best integrations of 2014. It was an honor to be recognized alongside companies like Intuit, CongaMerge, and Informa Software. And while we were thrilled to win the award, the most rewarding part has been partnering with DocuSign to solve our customers’ pain points.

From the start, we’ve had a regular dialogue with DocuSign’s sales and partner teams. We solicited customer feedback, brainstormed use cases and integration scenarios, made a proof of concept, and iterated upon our first version of the integration. The result was a strong partnership with DocuSign and a powerful app that allows our joint customers to eliminate a labor-intensive workflow.

“Gathering signatures has always been a clunky, inefficient process that slows down projects. Our integration turns this time-consuming workflow into two simple clicks, allowing people to save hours of manual entry and spend that time where it really matters,” said Dan Reid, director of product management – partners, API, and marketplace at DocuSign.

The Award-Winning Smartsheet and DocuSign Integration

Smartsheet’s integration with DocuSign lets you quickly collect electronically signed documents in just a few clicks. First, connect your Smartsheet list of contacts to one or more DocuSign templates. Once you do that, it’s saved as a reusable workflow you can use again at any time.

Then, instantly send these documents to one or hundreds of recipients from your sheet, and each person will receive a unique file to review, complete, and sign. All the signed documents are automatically stored in the appropriate Smartsheet row.

Sign Anything. Coordinate Anything.

With the Smartsheet and DocuSign integration, getting a signature for a contract, NDA, or proposal is easier than ever. Customers are already using the integration to help launch programs faster, stay in compliance and run more efficiently, and hire and on-board more employees.

No more fax machine. No more paper.

DocuSign integrates perfectly with Smartsheet.  Benefit from our Reseller discount and buy your DocuSign licenses through Smarter Business Processes here

Talk to us about application integration, set-up and training here OR Contact us to discuss your requirements or to arrange a DocuSign demo or Free Trial  here  We’d love to hear from you! 

The post Smartsheet Wins DocuSign’s Paperless Partner Award appeared first on SmarterBusinessProcesses.

As part of the relationship, DocuSign has provided Special Olympics with its Digital Transaction Management (DTM) platform and eSignature solution to empower athletes, guardians, coaches, and doctors to electronically sign required documents like medical releases and participation forms – anytime, anywhere, on any device, securely.

Janet Froetscher, CEO of Special Olympics said, “Reducing barriers to entry is critical for Special Olympics and why we’re grateful to DocuSign for providing us with this capability,” . “We continuously look for ways to transform the way we serve our millions of athletes around the world. With DocuSign, athletes, guardians, coaches, and doctors will be able to complete required health screenings digitally, without the need for paperwork.”

See more about  today’s announcement of DocuSign’s partnership with The Special Olympics 

For more information about DocuSign – Contact us here – we’d love to hear from you

The post DocuSign Enters into Sponsorship Agreement with Special Olympics appeared first on SmarterBusinessProcesses.

DocuSign helps businesses of all sizes easily and securely sign, send, and manage documents in the cloud, with unmatched availability and legal enforceability

As DocuSign Partners, Smarter Business Processes specialise in integrating DocuSign with other best of breed SaaS solutions like Smartsheet, ProofHQ and Evernote

With UK clients from Inverness to Southampton and US clients from Seattle to Miami and as far as Hawaii, we create workflows that pull all these fantastic solutions together to deliver amazing solutions

Find out more about Smartsheet Workflow integration with DocuSign

Contact us to arrange a Free initial consultation  or demonstration here

OR Call us on +44 (0)1937 529 362 – we’d love to hear from you

The post Smarter Business Processes add DocuSign to their Workflow Toolkit appeared first on SmarterBusinessProcesses.

SmartStats are providing  CEOs, VPs and stakeholders with a one glance, one page, real-time sky view of their business operations.

Smartsheet is dramatically improving workflow operations for Departmental Heads, typically saving them a day a week or 20% or more

We at Smarter Business Processes have developed SmartStats to deliver very high level views of real-time data, produced from your departmental workflows.

Using Smartsheet for workflow, Departmental Managers are finding double digit efficiency savings , helping them to drive their businesses forward with the help of our SBP consultants, advisors and trainers.

Click here to arrange your initial free consultation

Find out more about:

• Smart Timesheets
• Work Management Accelerator Program
• SmartMove Program – for Smartsheet customers looking to migrate 50 or more users from another project management software

“NHS Highland already use Smartsheet extensively to drive efficiencies in the organisation but as Head of Health and Safety, I urgently needed a solution to track and monitor the progress of our respiratory protection programme to test and face fit all our Frontline staff with Masks that protect them from common airborne diseases such as influenza.
We asked Smarter Business Processes to build us a register system using Smartsheet which they completed in very short order. We are delighted with their SmartStats solution which now provides us with the register management Process, top level Statistics and Visibility that we needed to progress this important work. Thanks to Richard and his Team for a well designed workflow solution and appropriate visibility at all levels”.  Bob Summers – Head of Health and Safety, NHS Highland

The post SmartStats and Smartsheet for real-time sky view of business operations appeared first on SmarterBusinessProcesses.