Why Not Smartsheet?

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Bottom line: Smartsheet is a good collaborative grid. Steelman needs a relational system of record: 55 linked business concepts, enforced uniqueness, per-role financial security, atomic workflow steps and a traceability chain from heat certificate to invoice. We built the most complete Smartsheet version we could (Aug 2026), and it hit hard platform limits. That is why the ERP runs on PostgreSQL.

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56 → 40

entities squeezed into grids

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175

relationships held only as text IDs

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8 of 14

Phase One requirements blocked

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readiness failures

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📊 Side by side

Need	Smartsheet	Steelman ERP (PostgreSQL)
Linked records	No foreign keys; links are typed-in IDs and cross-sheet references	233 enforced relationships, composite keys for project membership
Unique numbers	No unique constraint; only one auto-number per sheet, and it can't accept an external value	Unique keys and partial unique indexes; external numbers held as verified aliases
Hiding financials	No column permissions; a hidden column can be unhidden by any Editor	Server strips financial fields per role; commercial files restricted
Quote → Job in one step	No transactions; automations and forms run separately and can race	One database transaction: accept quote + open exactly one Job
Line items & totals	Formulas per row; totals copied between sheets	Header + lines; totals computed in SQL views, GST rounded once
Material traceability	Many-to-many chains (heat → lot → nest → project) need hand-kept junction sheets	Enforced chain with quantity, grade and thickness checks
Audit & history	One Created/Modified history per sheet; restore-from-export loses history	Immutable trigger audit per record; the app can't edit or delete it
Concurrent edits	Last write wins	Version check (409), row locks, idempotency keys
Integrations	Power Automate connector can insert rows but has no update-row action; Data Shuttle reads files, not SharePoint lists	Direct API, outbox pattern, staged importer with reconciliation

🔍 The evidence

Each point below comes from the August 2026 Smartsheet build and its audits. Expand for detail.

🧩 1. The data model had to be bent to fit
🔢 2. The Job Number couldn't be built as specified
🔒 3. Financial data couldn't be secured
⏱️ 4. Workflow logic lived outside the tool
🔌 5. Integration paths were missing or premium
↩️ 6. No safe rollback
🚧 7. Phase One stalled at the gate

✅ Where Smartsheet still fits

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Good at

Simple trackers and task lists
Gantt schedules
Quick dashboards for a small team
Spreadsheet-style editing with no build </aside>

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Not built for

Many linked record types with enforced integrity
Row- and field-level financial security
Multi-step transactions and approvals
Audit-grade history and traceability </aside>

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The Smartsheet work wasn't wasted. Its evidence registers, requirement IDs, field lists and decision gates fed straight into the native catalog and the current project plan. The decision recorded in docs/source-decisions.md: don't use Smartsheet tables as the backend.

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📁 Source documents