Migrating From Smartsheet to Excel: Project Reports and Dashboards

If you rely on Smartsheet reports to monitor and control projects, you already know the value of having multiple views of the same data: a clean status view for leadership, a detailed task view for the team, and a risk view that makes problems impossible to ignore. The challenge is that Excel lacks Smartsheet's built-in Report Builder, so people often copy data into separate tabs, create inconsistent versions of the truth, and lose confidence in their numbers.

In this hands-on session, the focus is on creating Excel equivalents of the most common Smartsheet reports used for project monitoring and control. Starting from a single project tracker built as an Excel Table with data validation to control column inputs, participants create report-style views using filters, PivotTables, slicers, formulas, conditional formatting, and charts. A simple dashboard worksheet consolidates key project signals in one place, including overdue work, tasks due soon, workload by owner, progress by phase, and items at risk. Slicers provide interactive filtering across PivotTables and the dashboard, giving stakeholders a point-and-click way to focus on the data that matters to them.

The emphasis is on a repeatable, Smartsheet-inspired reporting workflow in Excel: update one source table, refresh multiple report views, and communicate project status clearly without rebuilding reports every week.

Objectives
Learners will have the opportunity to:
1. Set up an Excel Table-based project tracker with data validation to control consistent data entry across key columns
2. Create Smartsheet-style report views in Excel using filters and targeted criteria (owner, status, dates, priority)
3. Summarize project data with PivotTables for status, workload, and progress reporting
4. Add slicers to PivotTables and dashboards for interactive, point-and-click filtering
5. Build formula-based indicators for key signals such as overdue work, due-soon items, and risk flags
6. Assemble a simple dashboard worksheet using summary metrics, charts, and slicers for quick project monitoring

Topics:
Module 1: Smartsheet vs Excel and Source Table Setup
- Smartsheet reports vs Excel equivalents: what translates cleanly, what requires a different approach
- Designing the source table so that report views update with minimal maintenance
- Data validation for consistent data entry
   - Dropdown lists, date constraints, and input rules compared to Smartsheet column types
   - Preventing free-text inconsistencies in status, priority, and owner columns
   - Custom validation messages and error alerts

Module 2: Filters and Report-Style Views
- Filtering and sorting as "report views" in Excel
- Creating common Smartsheet-style report views in Excel
   - Overdue and due-soon tasks
   - Tasks by owner
   - Tasks by status or phase
   - High-priority and at-risk items

Module 3: Formulas and Conditional Formatting for Reporting Logic 
- Core formulas for reporting logic
   - Date-based flags (overdue, due soon)
   - Status-based indicators
   - Simple rollups and counts
- Conditional formatting for visual monitoring (RAG status, overdue highlights, risk flags)

Module 4: PivotTables and Slicers
- PivotTables for summary reporting
   - Workload by owner
   - Progress by status/phase
   - Counts by category
- Slicers for interactive reporting
   - Adding slicers to PivotTables for point-and-click filtering
   - Connecting slicers to multiple PivotTables and charts
   - Using slicers on dashboards to create interactive views for stakeholders

Module 5: Charts and Dashboard Build
- Charts for project monitoring
   - Progress visuals and workload snapshots
- Building a dashboard worksheet
   - KPIs, summary tables, charts, and slicers linked to the source table

Module 6: Sharing, Permissions, and Putting It All Together
- Sharing and control basics
   - Version control, protected ranges, and avoiding duplicate report copies
- Review of the full reporting workflow: source table to report views to dashboard
- Hands-on time to refine templates and apply concepts to participants' own projects