The new charting experience (Build manually, Build with AI, built in aggregation) is a big step forward. Charting straight from a source sheet without a metrics sheet removes a lot of helper work. This post is about the next layer: the analysis and formatting features that would let teams stop exporting to Excel or Power BI for everyday reporting.
The problem
Many teams keep their data in Smartsheet but still build charts elsewhere because the chart widget can't handle common reporting needs. Today the formatting options cover titles, legend position, gridlines, series colors, and data labels, but not benchmarks, trends, axis control, or mixed chart types. Every workaround (helper columns, helper rows, extra reports, stacked chart tricks, screenshots from Excel) adds clutter and maintenance, and static screenshots go stale.
Our use case
We track CSAT scores for several clients plus an overall average in sheet summary fields. Leadership wants one glance to show which clients are above or below the average. Charting from a sheet summary report either makes every client its own series (legend dependent) or, with rows and columns switched, forces every bar to one color. Getting anything close to a benchmark view requires helper rows and a stacked column workaround in a sheet our team works in every day.
More use cases across teams
- Utilization vs target (professional services): weekly utilization with the target line behind it, colored by whether each week hit target.
- SLA compliance (operations and support): percent resolved within SLA against a 95% goal. Values sit between 90% and 100%, so auto scaling distorts the view.
- Budget vs actual (PMO and finance): spend by month as columns with percent of budget consumed as a line on a second axis.
- Ticket volume vs resolution time (service desk): counts and hours on two very different scales.
- Project margin: margin by project against a company target, with projects below it flagged.
- Capacity planning: stacked hours per person with available capacity as a line to spot overbooking.
- Training or compliance completion (HR): 100% stacked bars showing complete, in progress, and not started by department.
- Quality and defect rates: defect rate by week against a control limit.
- Trend over time: CSAT, utilization, ticket volume, burn rate, and on time delivery all need trendlines to separate direction from noise.
What we're asking for
Benchmarks and comparison
- Reference lines from a fixed value, a cell, a sheet summary field, or a calculated value like average or median.
- Conditional bar colors by rule (above or below a value or reference line), plus the ability to color individual bars within one series.
- Combo charts so each series can be columns, a line, or an area.
- Secondary axis for series on different scales.
Trend and analysis
- Trendlines (linear and moving average), toggled per series.
- Simple forecast extension on trendlines.
- Moving average as an aggregation option in the new chart builder.
Formatting control
- Axis min, max, and interval set manually.
- Number format and decimals on axes and data labels, independent of source cell formatting.
- Data label content and position (value, percent of total, series name; inside, outside, above).
- Sort order control by value or custom order.
Chart types
- 100% stacked bar and column.
- Waterfall for budget bridges and variance explanations.
- Funnel for pipelines and intake stages.
- Histogram and box plot for distributions like cycle time or score spread.
- Bullet charts or gauges for compact actual vs target KPIs.
Data sources
- Sheet summary fields as a direct chart source in the new builder, with a color per field.
- Cross sheet references to sheet summary fields, so KPI math doesn't have to be rebuilt in multiple sheets.
- Scheduled snapshots of sheet summary fields (weekly or monthly) into a history table, so KPIs can be trended over time without Zapier, the API, or manual copying.
Why sheet summary matters here
Sheet summary is the natural home for KPIs, but today those values can't be charted without a report, can't be referenced from other sheets, and only show the current value with no history. Even with trendlines, there's nothing to trend unless someone copies the values by hand. Items 17 through 19 together would make sheet summary a real reporting layer.
Impact
- Less reliance on Excel and Power BI for day to day reporting
- Cleaner sheets with fewer helper columns, rows, and metric sheets
- Dashboards leadership can read at a glance: above target, below target, trending up or down
- A stronger case for keeping reporting inside Smartsheet
Related ideas (please vote on these too)
[Enhanced Charts: Stacked Bar Charts, Percentage Breakdowns & Y-Axis Controls]
[Chart Dashboard Widget using Sheet Summary data fields]
[Dual axis / combo chart post]
[Enable Cross Sheet References to work with Sheet Summary]
