Chandler, Ariz., has been using Smartsheet technology to manage IT projects. The system, which the company terms an “intelligent work management platform,” offers department heads, governance committee members and others a detailed look into hundreds of city projects.
It’s not alone, there; other municipalities including Salt Lake City and Minneapolis use Smartsheet for tasks including permitting and addressing homelessness. The North Central Texas Council of Governments also uses it, to track research and information projects. Now, Chandler may do more with the platform.
“The city is exploring additional solutions, such as expanded grants management, and is interested in leveraging Smartsheet AI capabilities to automate formula creation and routine tasks,” Greg Hayes, Chandler’s IT portfolio manager, said via email.
The platform, which the city began using in 2024, hinges on creating automated workflows that send real-time notifications related to project launches, approvals and reminders, replacing manual follow‑ups, Hayes said. Portfolio and departmental dashboards provide at‑a‑glance views of progress, helping leaders quickly understand what is on track, what is at risk and where decisions are needed.
“Before Smartsheet, answering questions about project status often required calls, emails and visits to multiple departments. In the past, when we had to get information or look something up, it could take a couple of hours or a couple of days, depending on the request,” Hayes said. “Now we can just look in Smartsheet, and within a couple of seconds find the information that is needed. We're always looking at ways to serve our community better, and Smartsheet has enabled us to do that in some pretty significant ways.”
Graham Stroman, Smartsheet’s vice president for North American public sector and verticals, underscored the importance of a centralized view into projects as a way “to understand priorities, capacity and progress across their initiatives.”
“IT projects are increasingly cross-department and cross-agency, fundamentally changing how work is managed in the public sector,” Stroman said via email. “Many delays start with small, everyday issues, such as missed handoffs, stalled approvals, or unclear ownership. In government environments, those problems often go unnoticed because project information lives in technology silos.”
Chandler’s first Smartsheet deployment focused on IT project and portfolio management, and creating a single intake process using standardized forms, Hayes said. IT project requests are now routed into the same system, “enforcing consistent data collection from the start,” he said.
“Governance committees made up of city directors and department leads can review the full portfolio in one place and see the status of more than 150 active projects immediately,” he explained. “That means everyone has a seat at the table.”
