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One of our favorite things to do is shine the spotlight on some of our most active Community members. One such member is @Suvrutt_Gurjar!
Read on to learn more about Suvrutt, including why he contributes to the Community, how it helps him create better apps, and several pieces of valuable advice for app creators.
Have additional questions for Suvrutt? Add a comment on this post!
1. Where do you reside in the world?
I reside in Pune, India.
2. What is your job and how does it tie into AppSheet?
I am an AppSheet partner and develop apps for customers across the world, mainly in the manufacturing and service industry.
3. What is your experience with the Community?
I have been associated with the AppSheet community since around mid-2016. I have learned - and still learn a lot - about AppSheet features from community posts.
4. What do you get out of the Community? What compels you to contribute?
Contributing to the community is a continuous โgive and takeโ process.
Contributing helps meet two objectives: helping a community member in whatever way I can and in the process, I also get an opportunity to test and sharpen my own AppSheet skills.
5. How does the Community help you on a day-to-day basis?
The AppSheet community is one of the most responsive communities I have ever come across.
For me, the community is a one-stop forum to know the latest happenings in the AppSheet world. Modern IT-enabled platforms, such as AppSheet, evolve rapidly. So the community lets me know the most recent and upcoming feature releases, if there are any issues to be aware of, and how the new features are embraced in innovative ways by the community.
AppSheet is unique in that it interfaces with multiple other platforms - databases, cloud providers, integration platforms. Its own features list is rich, with QR/barcode scanning, reporting, API/webhooks, and more.
Additionally, the AppSheet community is very diverse in its expertise because professionals from almost all industries and business professions contribute.
As a result, the AppSheet community is home to discussions amongst members with diverse expertise on all of AppSheet's rich features, which gives me daily insights to create better apps.
6. What advice do you have for new Community members?
- The community is a treasure of insightful posts by many experienced AppSheet app creators. Search by keywords for an issue resolution you're looking for and most likely, you'll find answers. At the least, you'll be pointed in the right direction. Additionally, look through AppSheet's support documentation. There are some excellent help documentation and sample template apps out there.
- When asking a question, give sufficient details and if possible, share relevant screenshots (of course, without any confidential data).
- Almost all community members contribute for the love of the platform. Whenever possible, please encourage each other by marking the posts as solutions and liking the posts.
- When you are confident, feel free to contribute to the community with your own solutions and tips and tricks, since each new useful post makes the community richer.
7. How did you start using AppSheet and what did you use it for?
I used to work extensively on spreadsheets for around 15 years, until I came across AppSheet in mid-2016. I realized that AppSheet is the right platform to take spreadsheets to the next level in day-to-day business for almost all industries.
Since then, I mainly use AppSheet to solve complex business operations requirements from my customers.
8. Can you share your favorite thing you've created with AppSheet?
For one of our customers, we developed an automated โLoading Schedule & Production Plan.โ Jobs are queued up with specific dimensions, such as location, date, start time, and end time. The scheduler required the system to automate any changes to the plan whereby, in the event of a job being removed, for example, all subsequent jobs will be brought forward and reinserted to the plan for that day.
Similarly, if a job's end time exceeds that day's end time, the portion of the job over the allowed time is automatically inserted as the first job on the following day. In turn, all subsequent job data is updated accordingly.
This functionality was built for both the โLoading Schedule & Production Planโ separately, however, there was some crossover between the plans operationally, which was also addressed with some additional functionality. We used a complex mix of data change actions to achieve this challenging functionality.
9. What advice, or tips and tricks do you have for app creators using AppSheet?
Here are some of the approaches that have worked best for me:
- To understand any existing or new features, create a test app around it to understand how it works. Based on the requirements, I believe one can find multiple uses from a single feature.
- Create a concise personal library of your own sample apps where you have successfully tested a feature. This app library can be handy for future reference.
- Visit the community regularly and study the questions others have. The "Tips & Tricksโ section of the community has some very useful posts by experienced community colleagues.
- Last but not the least, visit AppSheetโs support page for help articles and sample apps. They have loads of good information, templates, and tips.
10. What's a fun fact about you?
I am fascinated by astronomy. As of late, I am an amateur follower and reader of the subject.
