Converting multi-answer dropdowns into a dashboard visual analytics... thing?

Jhamilton1

Hi everyone!

I'm extremely new to Smartsheet and am trying to figure out if I can capture some soft analytics (aka qualitative data) and turn it into a useful dashboard for my team. Right now, I'm trying to keep the spreadsheet as simple as possible by having drop-down options where users can select multiple responses. But does that limit my ability to convert it into analytics?

Example: We publish a story. The spreadsheet has a column for department (for what department published that story). In this case, two departments were a part of it, so the user selects two options (Ex: purchasing, accounts payable) from the dropdown.

If I create a dashboard to display the number of stories coming from each department, would it actually work properly? Or, will the data not populate as it is a multi-answer dropdown?

Hoping this makes sense! Otherwise, not sure if Smartsheet is the right solution for me.

KPH

Makes sense and the short answer is "yes".

While reports do have limitations if a column is multi-select*, you can still create create reports and charts if you create an intermediate sheet to manipulate the data. There is a smartsheet function called HAS that lets you check if a drop down has a particular value selected. You can combine this with other functions such as AND and OR to summarize your data however you want it. You can then present this on your dashboard as a report or chart.

*You cannot group by a column that is a multi-select drop down.