Page 182 - Customize-Project-Plan-by-tailoring-Smartsheet

Customize your Project Plan
   
by tailoring Smartsheet

58.1.4. Cost Accounting

Actually it would be easy to perform also Cost Accounting in Smartsheet the same way as we did this
in respect of Time Management. Just put there still some columns / fields to track costs and use than
some reports to pull figures and create charts, - done! I'm right or wrong?
From the "theoretical" point-of-view, right, but from the "practical" side, there might be also some
alternatives. But why do I claim this? I say this, because money figures always attract attention to
people. And such figures are in my opinion not just sensitive figures, but even highly confidential ones.

Maybe you still remember chapter "46.1. Sharing". There I explained how people, who usually have
"Editor" rights can look up even some very sensitive data in some cases.

At another chapter, chapter "42.1. Export", I also talked about security and confidentiality of data.
Maybe you did there in this chapter also pay attention to the link I have provided: https://help.smart-
sheet.com/articles/504696-hiding-unhiding-columns. There they say: "... Hiding is not a security
feature. While collaborators with Editor and Viewer access won't be able to unhide the columns within
Smartsheet, they can export the sheet to Excel or send it as an Excel attachment...".

For security reasons, I recommend the alternative possibility that you keep your Cost
Account in a password protected Excel file, use a password that only very few selected
people know, and provide at the Dashboard just a simple Link.

In-House
Only the link, not a file attached to the row of the project plan as well
neither attached to the Dashboard! And the file should be stored at your
company server, so on your own property, where you also have a security Just a link!
RAID (kind of "backup") system.

And again, like I mentioned already at the beginning, it's just my suggestion of considering this
alternative. But if you prefer, you can of course also proceed with Smartsheet and have then everything
stored in one (1) single system.

More information on the internet:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/protection-and-security-in-excel-be0b34db-
8cb6-44dd-a673-0b3e3475ac2d

https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2480561-embed-content-from-various-sources-in-a-
dashboard

© Hans Porzel, 10/2025 | CAPM® (PMI), PSM I® (Scrum.org), Smartsheet Prod. Cert® 2020 Page 182 / 209 pages