Having question about Dashboard and Report

Amiri

Report issue: I have couple of sheets that has similar column name but when I import them to a report the same name columns doesn't align in the report. I need help understanding how to create the report and avoid multiple columns from different sheet with same names.

Dashboard : Dashboard doesn't allow me to change color of particular bracket or bar. I need support on building the first Dashboard.

Kerry St. Thomas

In order for the columns from multiple sheets to appear as the same column on a report, they must be named identically, and they also must be the same column type. If one sheet has column "Department" that's a Dropdown List type and another sheet has column "Department" that's a Text/Number type, they will show up as separate columns on a report.

In terms of customizing dashboards, expand the "Series" section of your chart widget, and change the colors of individual data series. More information about Dashboard customization can be found here:
https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2482275-apply-custom-formatting-to-your-chart

Good luck!

Kerry St. Thomas

The nature of the data needs to be chartable in order for you to use it as a chart. If you're using a column of Project Status, I'm guessing you have lots of rows with "Pending", "In Progress", and "Completed" (or some variation thereof). Before you put this together for a chart, I might suggest there's one more step: aggregating the info. So you'll want to pull all your statuses together somehow. If you have Pivot, you can use a Report to combine the sheets, so that ultimately you can use Pivot to count the total number of each status and then chart THAT. If you don't, you'll need to set up a KPI sheet that can use formulas to effectively do the same - count the total rows for each status.

Think about this hierarchy built in a pyramid - sheet, report, dashboard. Sheets are the foundation - there are a bunch of sheets. Those bunches of sheets are where your data live. Next up is reports - they pull those sheets together, so that you can combine information. That's where your WORK lives (because you can interact with multiple sheets using a report). And dashboards? That's just the pinnacle. The icing on the cake. It's where your DATA CONSUMPTION lives - where people LOOK at the data and make decisions based on the high-level view a dashboard provides.

Good luck!

Kerry St. Thomas

In order for the columns from multiple sheets to appear as the same column on a report, they must be named identically, and they also must be the same column type. If one sheet has column "Department" that's a Dropdown List type and another sheet has column "Department" that's a Text/Number type, they will show up as separate columns on a report.

In terms of customizing dashboards, expand the "Series" section of your chart widget, and change the colors of individual data series. More information about Dashboard customization can be found here:
https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2482275-apply-custom-formatting-to-your-chart

Good luck!

Amiri

Hi Thomas,

That worked. Thanks ! I need one more help is there way to do selective columns in Dasbhoard from different sheet? I did the way with a report to pickup for example project status from different sheet in one report but when I import the Report into Dashboard Chart it gives error.

Kerry St. Thomas

The nature of the data needs to be chartable in order for you to use it as a chart. If you're using a column of Project Status, I'm guessing you have lots of rows with "Pending", "In Progress", and "Completed" (or some variation thereof). Before you put this together for a chart, I might suggest there's one more step: aggregating the info. So you'll want to pull all your statuses together somehow. If you have Pivot, you can use a Report to combine the sheets, so that ultimately you can use Pivot to count the total number of each status and then chart THAT. If you don't, you'll need to set up a KPI sheet that can use formulas to effectively do the same - count the total rows for each status.

Think about this hierarchy built in a pyramid - sheet, report, dashboard. Sheets are the foundation - there are a bunch of sheets. Those bunches of sheets are where your data live. Next up is reports - they pull those sheets together, so that you can combine information. That's where your WORK lives (because you can interact with multiple sheets using a report). And dashboards? That's just the pinnacle. The icing on the cake. It's where your DATA CONSUMPTION lives - where people LOOK at the data and make decisions based on the high-level view a dashboard provides.

Good luck!