Summarize Columns in a REPORT, not a Worksheet

Ken Hankoff

I've looked far and wide, and haven't found a way to summarize column data in a Report.  My team uses a single "Status Tracking" Smartsheet, which has a large number of columns.  For some of the columns in that worksheet, I have created Summary Rows with Count or Average Formulas, so I can determine the number of records for a given record type.  This functions just fine in a worksheet.  However, I have also created some reports, which are based off of the Status Tracking sheet, so that I can narrow down the number of columns to a much smaller subset for executive consumption.  Problem is, I still want to display the number of records in the report iself, so that Executives could see how many records are "On Hold", or "In Process", etc.  

I've not found a way to do this in a Report.  Am I missing something?  I can do it in a Sheet, and can even display that record in the Report, but it doesn't update according to the Report filters.

 

Suggestions??

Richard Rymill SBP

Hi Ken, do not despair, we understand your issue and this is quite possible but you will need to go about this a different way. 

You need to create a dashboard of your stats within your sheets or another "SkyView" sheet which will arrive by Cell linking possibly from multiple sheets which can then be "reduced" by using a Report and even drive SmartGraphs for a second view.

We did that for the Health Service and it gave them real time stats in a variety of views. Happy to show you a PPT on this and discuss the differences you would need to address.

Let me know if that interests you.   Richard Rymill

James Welsh

Richard,

 

Can you elaborate on this?  I am also intersted in exploring this functionality.

 

James

 

Deliverance

I am also very interested on this. I used cell linking to duplicate all my data to a new tab but starting in column 12 so I could put a summary table using formulas in the columns which are in the screen view.

 

I would much prefer a more simple solution.

My table would have rows with rep name (10), and columns for the status of particular column. To be specific, a column for contract status has a drop down for Complete, In Progress, QA Complete. I want a count of each status for each rep.

 

I accomplished this as above with formulas on the side of the linked data but what a clunky way to achieve it. Isn't there a way to do a sort of Pivot Table to get this data?

Ken Hankoff

Hi Richard,

 

I'm intrigued, but not convinced that the method you suggest would be practical, given the number of records.  I'm happy to meet with you and see your powerpoint.  If we can agree on a date/time, I can supply a link to a webex session, where you could share the ppt, and we could chat concurrently via telephone.

Richard Rymill SBP

Hi to Ken and to james Walsh and "deliverance". 

It is always nice to be able to share a good solution, as so many have done with us. I am quite happy to walk you through some screen grabs and some sanitized Demo Smartsheets to see how closely the methodology will match your needs. My colleague JamesR and myself we came up with this, all within Smartsheet and it worked well for our client, but as always the devil is in the detail. 

Happy to set half an hour on one side next week for anyone who wishes to discuss on a screenshare with no onward commitment at all as we do like to support the discussions in here. My email address is richardr@smarterbusinessprocesses.com or look in my profile.

Regards to all and always happy to hear of great design solutions that use the tools we have already.