Dashboard and Sheet Not Updating Cell Referencing

Adam Hutchinson
Adam Hutchinson ✭✭✭
edited 12/09/19 in Formulas and Functions

I have a sheet with multiple countif formula referencing data from multiple sheets. 

From this single sheet, I have created a vital live data dashboard for multiple users to view and make decisions based on it.  

However, when I log back into my for some reason I see the totals in the dashboard reflect old data, and when I go into the sheet I see the totals there have reverted back to a previous (and incorrect) set of totals.  Within 5 seconds it switches to the correct totals.

Currently, the only way to ensure people have the correct data is to log into the  sheet regularly which is not feasible.

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  • Chris McKay
    Chris McKay ✭✭✭✭✭✭

    Hi Adam,

    I'd suggest building a report with the data you require and letting Smartsheet do the work of refreshing the data. Point your Metrics widgets and Charts to the Report instead of the original sheets.

    Another advantage to this is that it's easier to manipulate the data you are displaying because you're changing the criteria in one location, not multiple sheets.

    Kind regards,

    Chris McKay

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  • Adam Hutchinson
    Adam Hutchinson ✭✭✭

    Thanks for taking the time to reply Chris,

    Trying to understand your proposed work around...

    How do you point the metric widget to the report data?  As I can see, you can only select data for the metric widget from a sheet. 

    In my case, I have 8 country offices working on a product - each has a different sheet assigned to their country.  On a separate sheet I am counting the total number of unfulfilled product items by country (from their separate sheets) and totaling the items on this separate sheet.  I am linking the metric widget to this single sheet.  It is these country totals that are reverting back to a previous total, until I open the summary sheet again. 

    Or are you suggesting I use a report to display totals instead of the (nicer looking) metric widget?

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  • Chris McKay
    Chris McKay ✭✭✭✭✭✭

    Hi Adam,

    Apologies for not being clear (I usually try to be). Yes, I was suggesting the use of a report instead of the Metric Widget. I know it's not as clean, but when you're dealing with cells that pull data from other sheets with formulas calculating totals, Smartsheet sometimes stops short.

    Kind regards,

    Chris McKay

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