More Dynamic & Interactive Dashboards

Imran Qurashi · 02/05/21

Dear All,

I love the Smartsheet Dashboards which are very dynamic with real time information. However what would be even more awesome if we could use variables or options in the Dashboard to change the displayed information similar to Microsoft BI.

For example if we are displaying the daily Sales figures for a particular month in a report widget how can we change the month? Instead of coming out of the Dashboard to update the report for a different month, it would be great if we had an interactive variable in the Dashboard to change the month. I know this is very complex to implement but it would be amazing.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks,

Imran

Andrée Starå · 02/05/21

@Imran Qurashi

Sorry about that! I see now that It can be interpreted in more than one way.

Here's what I meant.

Andrée Starå · 02/05/21

Hi @Imran Qurashi

I hope you're well and safe!

I've developed a workaround for a couple of my client solutions, but it's quite advanced. Basically, you'd use a form to select what you want to show and then reload the dashboard, and then everything would be updated to reflect the selection (metrics, charts, reports).

Would that work/help?

Also, Please submit an Enhancement Request when you have a moment.

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic weekend!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please help the Community by marking it as the accepted answer/helpful. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

Imran Qurashi · 02/05/21

Thank you @Andrée Starå for your swift reply and all your help.

That sounds like a great idea. Not sure how this will work exactly but I guess you are suggesting to use the form as the front end interactive tool before displaying the dashboard.

Should I add a link to the form in the Dashboard where the options can be selected and then return back to the Dashboard to see the results? I guess this will require a refresh on the Dashboard?

Once again thank you for all your help.

Imran

Andrée Starå · 02/05/21

@Imran Qurashi

Happy to help!

With one dropdown, the form is shown in the dashboard, so for example, my client can select the employee he has a review with, submit, and refresh the page, and everything about that employee is shown.

I've also started with the form and then automatically loaded the dashboard after submission.

Make sense?

Imran Qurashi · 02/05/21

Sorry but I am a bit lost - I am not sure what you mean by "With one dropdown, the form is shown in the dashboard"? Does this mean there is a dropdown in the Dashboard or within the form itself?

Really sorry about this but is there any screenshot (you can blur sensitive data) or example you can send me?

Thanks,

Imran

Andrée Starå · 02/05/21

@Imran Qurashi

Sorry about that! I see now that It can be interpreted in more than one way.

Here's what I meant.

Imran Qurashi · 02/06/21

Thank you @Andrée Starå for the screenshot - this was very helpful.

Andrée Starå · 02/06/21

@Imran Qurashi

Excellent!

You're more than welcome!

Christy Burnett · 02/11/22

I love this idea and I am trying to do the same thing. I can't figure out how to add the form to the dashboard though or have the other widgets use that form data to refresh with specific information. Do you need to have dynamic views?

Ami Veltrie · 03/29/22

@Andrée Starå I'm trying to follow your suggestion but unclear on how to structure the form so that it captures what to filter on for every widget. Can you send a screen shot?

Abhiraj Joshi · 04/22/22

Hi @Andrée Starå Can you give a bit more information on how you have structured the back end sheet of the form.

Regards,

Abhiraj Joshi

Matt Tancock · 04/28/23

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/278369#Comment_278369

Hello there ! Ive been tasked with making our dashboards more interactive and filterable. How do you utilize the entry on the embedded form to filter what's shown in the dashboard though ? I have managed to build the form and embed it directly into the dashboard but dont understand how when they select an option and hit "submit" that will make the columns filter ? are you able to share more insight into what you did here to complete the filter ?

Volodymyr L · 05/30/23

Yes, it works. But SOOOO Long - like you have to wait and refresh 20 sec

Dashboard - you fill the form -> it has to appear in From sheet. Then your data sheet has to get the update from Form sheet. And It takes forever

dsherwin · 12/04/23

I setup some dashboards using this method as well and it does take a long time for all the data and metrics to refresh and update. Is there any plan to incorporate this functionality within Smartsheet without having to build this workaround?

Christina09 · 12/18/24

@Andrée Starå could you please share a demo of this workflow?

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