A Handful of Dashboard Questions (Empty Data, Chart Formatting, Enhanced Tooltips)

DMurphy

I'm starting to work with Dashboards a lot as people are wanting to see graphs and at a glance analysis of project progress. Yesterday during a meeting I was asked if I could include other information on my graphs and I could only respond with "I don't know, I'm still figuring this out." So I'll bring the questions to the community to see if yall know the answers or the closest approximation of what they are wanting. We've been given the directive that we need to move away from presenting data laid out on a spreadsheet or as "flat text" and to make it more dynamic with charts and graphs, so I'm trying to avoid using the Metric widget unless that is without a doubt the best option to use in a given situation. So for some of the answers below the answer might just be "Use the Metric widget", but I'm looking for something else first.

I have several sheets collecting data about the number of records that are processed through a group's daily and monthly tasks and the time savings estimation of them running these tasks with scripts vs if these changes had to be made manually. Currently, I have several Dashboards that summarize these processes overall YTD and then break down into what is done each month. I have set up all the sheets and Dashboards for the year, they are just waiting on user input to begin filling them out. For the monthly ones, I have it separated into different pie charts by group that the script is run for and how many records were run using each script. Some groups have a dozen scripts and some only have a couple, so bar charts end up looking messy when side by side with some that have 12 places for lines and 3 or 4 bars that actually have information next to a group that only ever has one script done for them and it's just a big square representing the one thing that is done for them. Other times a group may not have any scripts run for them in a month and Dashboards doesn't seem to what to show an empty pie chart unless I'm missing some setting, so in the middle of all the pie charts there is a bar graph with the words "No data to display" in the middle of it. All of these to finally get to my first questions:

1. Is there a way to automatically filter out graphs of a Dashboard so if it is empty, it either shows an empty pie chart (an uncolored circle perhaps?) or it just doesn't show a graph for that group?
2. In bar graphs, is there a way to have it not show lines that don't have any information to be displayed?
3. Is there a way to scale a graph when you only have one source to pull from so it's not a big, gaudy block taking up the whole graph. And not the Vertical Axis setting "Scale to Data Values" because with only one source it doesn't make it look any better only taking up half the height of the graph. Like a way to make it so all bar graphs on a Dashboard have the same width bar for each thing.
4. Right now, for the months that have no information plugged in for them yet, it's just the "No data to display" bar graphs. Is there a way to make it so once there is data to be shown it will default to the pie charts I'm trying to use without me getting back into the Dashboard and editing each widget to be display how I need it to be displayed?

The other big thing that came up in the meeting is when the charts and graphs were being moused over, it would display the record count or percentage in the tooltip. I was asked if it was possible for the tooltip to display other information like the time saved, a description of the script, or how many times that script was run in the time period (I already have this information tracked on other sheets). I said I didn't see an obvious way to make that happen, but that I would do some research. So I'm doing some research. Are advanced or detailed tooltips a thing in SmartSheet? Can you import more data into a chart and it only presents the information you want displayed by default, but with a prompt, it can display something else or something additional without moving to a new sheet. I've already set up that if you click on one of the bar graphs showing the overall time saved for a group in a month, it will bring up the detail pie charts I discussed above. I'm looking for a way for them to see all the information they are looking for without having to jump back and forth between sheets and potentially losing track of where they are if I'm not there to help them navigate.

Michelle Choate 2

Wow! Detailed info and questions. The first answer to a lot of what you are looking for - this is not supported by Smartsheet at this time. In specific response to all of your questions in order:

1. This is not currently possible.
2. You can run the information through a report first, use that to filter out the content you are missing, then have the graph based off of the report versus a sheet.
3. You can create a metric sheet where all the data is pulled from that has the same horizontal axis for all of the graphs so they all look uniform.
4. You can plug dummy data in, choose pie chart, then remove the data. I think it looks even worse than the "No Data to Display" because it will be a "Missing Chart Source" but it will default to a pie chart once real data is plugged in.
5. From your last paragraph - unfortunately there is no way to have a chart show more things than what are displayed. Metric widgets are the way to go to get this info available.

Hope all this helps!

ChristianFinke

Hi @DMurphy

I can definitely relate to the challenges of making dashboards both functional and visually appealing. Michelle already shared some valuable insights, and I’d just like to add a couple of things that might help:

Handling "No Data" Displays: Instead of showing empty charts, you could use conditional formatting within a summary sheet that feeds your dashboard. This way, the widget visibility can be tied to whether data exists or not, minimizing the occurrence of “No Data” placeholders.

Tooltip Alternatives: While Smartsheet doesn't support advanced tooltips, you could use linked reports that show relevant metrics when users click on a graph. Another option is to add descriptions or summaries near key widgets to provide extra context at a glance.

Consistency in Graph Scaling: If uniformity across graphs is critical, creating a standard metric sheet (as Michelle suggested) ensures consistent horizontal and vertical axes across all graphs.
If you want to brainstorm further solutions, feel free to reach out to me at cfinke@digitalradius.com. I’d be happy to explore ideas with you!

Best of luck with your dashboards!