Process Street vs. Smartsheet

In the world of workflow automation solutions, Process Street and Smartsheet emerge as formidable contenders. Each offers distinct features and benefits tailored to diverse business needs. 

Process Street specializes in checklist-based workflows, enabling teams to standardize procedures and enhance productivity. Meanwhile, Smartsheet offers a more spreadsheet-focused approach. 

But that’s far from what really sets these two apart.

As we embark on a thorough comparison between these two platforms, we’ll explore their core features, customization options, scalability, security measures, implementation processes, support resources, and overall user experiences to help businesses make informed decisions about their workflow automation solutions.

Executive Summary

Process Street Executive Summary

Process Street is a no-code project management, process, and compliance software that empowers organizations to make their workflows fun, fast, and faultless. 

It streamlines workflows, standardizes procedures, and improves efficiency. Offering customizable and AI-powered checklists, project management and compliance-focused templates, and automation tools, it enables teams to collaborate seamlessly, track progress, and maintain consistency in their operations, driving productivity and effectiveness across organizations.

Smartsheet Executive Summary

Smartsheet is a work management platform that allows users to streamline workflows, automate repetitive tasks, and visualize data in real time. 

With flexible project management tools, Smartsheet enables teams to coordinate efforts efficiently, ensuring alignment and accountability across projects. Through its comprehensive features, Smartsheet allows organizations to achieve operational excellence and drive business growth.

Background of the Products

Process Street’s Background

Process Street was founded in 2014 by Vinay Patankar and Cameron McKay and has grown to serve over 500,000 users who rely on it for their process management needs.

After all, that’s what it was made for. Born out of a necessity to simplify and streamline repetitive business and project tasks, Process Street revolutionizes business process management and compliance through intuitive checklists, automation, and collaboration features. Since its inception, Process Street has garnered recognition for its innovative approach to workflow optimization.

Smartsheet’s Background

Brent Frei and his father, Dan Frei, founded Smartsheet in 2005. Initially launched as a simple online spreadsheet tool, it evolved into a comprehensive work management platform. 

The company is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, and has grown rapidly over the years, attracting millions of users from various industries worldwide. Smartsheet went public in 2018, trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “SMAR.”

Core Features and Capabilities

Process Street’s Core Features

• Project organization: Create projects to group related tasks together and maintain clarity and organization
• Checklist templates: Utilizes pre-designed checklist templates for various business processes, from employee onboarding to content creation.
• Customizable workflows: Designs tailored workflows to suit your specific business needs, with drag-and-drop simplicity.
• Task assignments: Assigns tasks to team members, complete with deadlines and responsibilities.
• Task approvals: Implements approval processes within workflows to ensure quality control and compliance.
• Conditional logic: Creates dynamic workflows that adapt based on previous responses or conditions.
• Form fields: Incorporates customizable form fields within checklists to gather specific information or data.
• File uploads: Allows users to upload files or documents directly into checklist items for reference or verification.
• Role-based permissions: Assigns different levels of access and permissions to team members based on their roles.
• Task due dates: Sets deadlines for tasks and receive reminders to ensure timely completion.
• Task dependencies: Establishes task dependencies to ensure that certain tasks can only be completed once others are finished.
• Audit trails: Keeps track of all actions taken within checklists for compliance and auditing purposes.
• Training and onboarding: Streamlines employee training processes with structured workflows and documentation.
• Customer support: Accesses comprehensive customer support resources, including documentation, tutorials, and dedicated assistance channels.

Smartsheet’s Core Features

• Grid view: The spreadsheet-like interface allows users to organize and manage data in rows and columns, facilitating easy data entry and manipulation.
• Gantt chart: Users can create interactive Gantt charts to visualize project timelines, dependencies, and milestones, enabling better project planning and tracking.
• Card view: It offers a visual representation of tasks and projects, allowing users to prioritize and organize work with drag-and-drop simplicity.
• Forms: Users can create custom forms to collect data from stakeholders, customers, or team members, streamlining data entry and ensuring accuracy.
• Automation: Users can automate repetitive tasks and processes using Smartsheet’s automation features, saving time and reducing manual effort.
• Collaboration: Smartsheet facilitates collaboration among team members with features such as comments, @mentions, and real-time updates.
• Proofing: Review, edit, and approve media such as images, videos, and documents.
• Account administration: Admins can control who has access to what within the organization.

User Interface and Ease of Use

Process Street’s UI & UX

Process Street’s UI is simple and straightforward. Because it’s no-code, users don’t need any tech knowledge to get their workflows set up, it’s WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get).

Clean and attractive, the interface takes very little time to learn. And with training materials available, Process Street has done everything in its power to make its software accessible to everyone.

Smartsheet’s UI & UX

Smartsheet has a spreadsheet-like interface that is easy to navigate. Its grid view allows for seamless data entry and manipulation, while features like Gantt charts and card view enhance project visualization and organization. 

However, some users have reported occasional issues with performance, particularly when handling large datasets or complex projects. Additionally, while Smartsheet strives for simplicity, users may find the platform overwhelming at first due to the abundance of features and customization options.

Integration & Compatibility

Process Street’s Integration & Compatibility

Process Street offers a wealth of third-party integrations that enable its users to get the most out of the software by giving them the ability to use it in conjunction with other popular tools, including but not limited to:

• Slack
• Zapier
• DocuSign
• Trello
• DropBox
• Google Drive
• Mailchimp
• Salesforce
• Asana
• Microsoft Teams
• Shopify
• Calendly
• HubSpot
• QuickBooks
• Freshdesk

Smartsheet’s Integration & Compatibility

Smartsheet’s third-party integrations include:

• Dropbox
• Google Workplace
• Slack
• Mailchimp
• Microsoft 365
• Jira
• Salesforce
• DocuSign
• Microsoft Teams
• Evernote
• Zapier

Customization & Scalability

Process Street’s Customization & Scalability

Process Street provides robust customization features, enabling users to tailor templates, tasks, and forms to match their unique workflows. 

With customizable branding options, users can maintain consistency with corporate identity. Conditional logic and custom fields enhance adaptability, ensuring processes align precisely with business requirements for streamlined operations.

It also offers scalable solutions, accommodating the needs of businesses regardless of size. 

From small teams to large enterprises, Process Street seamlessly handles growing volumes of processes and tasks. With unlimited checklist creation and collaboration capabilities, it grows alongside businesses, ensuring efficiency and effectiveness at every stage of development.

Smartsheet’s Customization & Scalability

Smartsheet users can tailor the platform to their individual needs and workflows. With customizable grids, forms, and templates, users can design solutions that align precisely with their requirements. 

In terms of scalability, Smartsheet’s cloud-based architecture accommodates businesses of all sizes, enabling seamless expansion as needs evolve. Its flexible pricing plans offer scalability without compromising functionality, making it an adaptable solution for growing organizations.

Security and Compliance

Process Street’s Security and Compliance

Process Street prioritizes the security of user data through various measures. It employs industry-standard encryption protocols to protect data both in transit and at rest. 

With role-based access controls and audit trails, it ensures granular control over user permissions and activity tracking. Regular security audits and compliance with industry standards like GDPR, SOC 2, and HIPAA attest to Process Street’s commitment to maintaining a secure environment for its users’ data. 

Smartsheet’s Security and Compliance

Smartsheet uses features such as granular permissions, encryption, and audit trails, to provide users with control over access to sensitive information and tracks all user activity for accountability. 

Additionally, Smartsheet complies with industry standards and regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2, offering users peace of mind regarding data protection and privacy.

Implementation & Onboarding

Process Street’s Implementation & Onboarding

Process Street offers comprehensive training and onboarding resources to help users maximize the platform’s potential. This includes extensive documentation, tutorials, and video guides covering various features and functionalities. 

Additionally, it offers personalized onboarding sessions and dedicated customer support to ensure users receive tailored assistance to quickly get started and effectively utilize Process Street for their business needs.

Smartsheet’s Implementation & Onboarding

Smartsheet prioritizes a seamless implementation and onboarding process to make sure users quickly get the most out of it. Its extensive documentation streamlines initial setup, while personalized onboarding sessions and dedicated customer support provide tailored guidance. 

However, some users may encounter challenges in configuring advanced features or integrating with existing systems, requiring additional assistance. Despite occasional hurdles, Smartsheet offers comprehensive training resources and proactive support to address user needs effectively.

Support & Community

Process Street’s Support & Community

Process Street has all its bases covered when it comes to its support options for assisting users. These include chat and email support, a Facebook chat option, a community forum, video tutorials, and a collection of help articles that break down every feature and integration. 

Unfortunately, Process Street does not offer 24/7 live support. However, it does have 24/5 support (only unavailable over weekends), and when it is available, the team of enthusiastic support specialists is always happy to help.

Smartsheet’s Support & Community

Smartsheet has a dedicated support team that provides timely assistance via email, chat, and phone and resolves issues efficiently. 

Additionally, Smartsheet provides comprehensive documentation, tutorials, and training resources to empower users with self-service options. The platform also hosts user forums, webinars, and community events, facilitating knowledge sharing and collaboration among users.

Pricing & Total Cost of Ownership

Process Street’s Pricing

Process Street is a subscription-based service with different pricing tiers, which you can find information about on the pricing page.

Smartsheet’s Pricing

Smartsheet is also subscription-based. Find up-to-date pricing info on the pricing page.

Pros & Cons

Process Street’s Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Massive library of customizable templates.
• Dedicated project management features.
• Compliance management.
• AI-generated workflows.
• Real-time collaboration features.
• Scalable for businesses of any size.
• Offers secure data handling and storage.
• It has a mobile application.
• Great for employee onboarding.
• It has excellent analytics features.

Cons:

• The Startup pricing tier is a bit expensive and has limited features.

Smartsheet’s Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Lots of templates to choose from.
• Customization is really easy.
• It allows users to export in various formats.
• Excellent at processing and analyzing data.
• Great community that helps answer questions.

Cons:

• It has more limited features than other similar tools.
• The larger the spreadsheet, the laggier it gets.
• Can be confusing for people who aren’t great with spreadsheets.
• It doesn’t offer many collaborative features.

Case Studies or Customer Testimonials

Process Street’s Case Studies

• Salesforce uses Process Street for its client onboarding.
• This entrepreneur uses Process Street to make customized workflows for property management companies.
• Process Street helped Leverage increase its own efficiency and that of its clients.

Smartsheet’s Case Studies

• Smartsheet helps Universal Creative make new theme park rides. 

Conclusion & Recommendations

Conclusion: Process Street

Process Street is a robust, easy to use, and dedicated business process and project management software. 

Though a bit pricey for small businesses with a very limited budget, it works for organizations across industries and makes process management simple and worry-free. It’s highly customizable and offers a lot of scalability for growing businesses.

Best of all, it has an incredible team of support specialists who are always ready and enthusiastic to help.

Conclusion: Smartsheet

Smartsheet is an excellent, spreadsheet-focused work management solution that helps businesses keep track of their data.

Though complex for those who are not used to working with spreadsheets, it does a great job helping businesses stay organized so they don’t waste time recovering lost data. 

And with lots of integrations with business process management tools, it helps to streamline all forms of business operations.

Additional Resources to Help You Make a Decision

Additional Process Street resources

• Process AI
• Request demo
• Blog
• Free templates
• Ebook: The Complete Guide to Business Process Management
• The Employee Onboarding Podcast
• Community page
• Help center

Additional Smartsheet resources

• Demo request
• Contact
• Content Center
• Knowledge base
• Technical support