About Dynamic Report Scope

Typically, you create a report in Smartsheet with entire workspaces in scope. You must ensure the projects are created in those workspaces to appear in the report. In addition, the report pulls rows from every sheet in the workspace that meets the criteria (whether you want them or not).  

Dynamic report scope allows you to report on data across your project portfolio even when projects are not in the same workspace. And you can use dynamic report scope to include or exclude specific templates in each project. 

When you use dynamic report scope, the report scope will be updated to include the specified templates in all the active projects—those already created and those you create later.

Create a dynamic report scope

Before configuring dynamic report scope, you’ll need to create the portfolio report(s) you want to update. Dynamic report scope only works for existing reports; you can not create new reports with dynamic report scope. 

The report should be a single, portfolio-level report across all projects. The report cannot be part of a blueprint. A portfolio report could be My Tasks, Unassigned Tasks, or Engineering Tasks. 

Learn more about the Report Builder.

Once you’ve created your report (s), use the steps below to configure dynamic report scope:

1. In Control Center, go to Manage Program and edit the blueprint you want to work with. 
2. Click through to the Blueprint Components screen and enable dynamic report scope. 
3. Click through the Blueprint Builder to the dynamic report scope settings page. 
4. Use Search to find and select the report you want to change 
   Click Refresh if you don’t see a newly created Report.
   
   When adding reports, keep the following in mind:
    
   • You can add up to 50 reports. Click + Add report to add a configuration.
   • Click x Remove report to remove a configuration.
   • Use portfolio-level reports only. Do not use reports that are in the Blueprint Source Folder. 
   • Reminder: If your report doesn’t exist, create it in the Portfolio level workspace before using dynamic report scope.

5. Select the template sheets that you want to be included from each project.

6. Click through the Blueprint Builder to the last screen to save your changes. If you exit the Blueprint Builder midstream, your changes will not be saved.

Once you’ve created your dynamic report scope, your portfolio level reports will be automatically be updated when projects are provisioned, archived, or deleted. For projects that are already provisioned before setting up a dynamic scope report, those projects will be added the next time a project is provisioned, archived, or deleted.  

See Repair a dynamic report to update the report without having to provision, archive, or delete a project.

Things to keep in mind when using dynamic scope reports:

• When you use dynamic report scope, any manual changes you have made to the target reports Where? criteria will be overwritten when dynamic reports are updated.
• It can take up to two minutes for your changes to propagate through to your reports after you provision, archive, or delete a project.
• Dynamic Scope Reports are currently limited to 5,000 sheets per report. If your selections exceed this limit, consider using multiple reports.
• Create a unique report for each program, or the data in the report will be overwritten with data from the latest project provisioned. 

Edit a dynamic report scope

You may need to adjust the included templates or add/remove reports in your dynamic report scope settings. To do this, navigate to the dynamic report scope settings in your blueprint (s), make your desired changes, and save those changes.

Changes will be applied the next time projects are provisioned, archived, or deleted.

Repair a dynamic report 

If the dynamic report needs to be updated to reflect the latest settings or to ensure that it includes all the latest projects, use the Update Reporting tool. 

To update your reporting:

1. Log in to Control Center and open the program that contains the project needing updates.
2. Select the pencil icon on the far right of the project row.
3. Select Update Reporting.

You can only update one project at a time.

Remove projects from dynamic report scope

As a project reaches the end of its life cycle, you may want to remove it from your reports. To do this with your dynamic scope reports, configure an option in your Archiving workflows to remove projects when they are archived.

• Create a new Archive workflow or edit an existing one.
• Click through to the Project Filters and Actions section.
• Check the box to Remove project sheet(s) from Dynamic Report.

Projects that have been deleted in Control Center will be automatically removed from dynamic reports.