How to Build Client-Level Dashboards in Smartsheet Control Center

Managing Client Portfolios in Smartsheet Control Center

Last time, we looked at how to automate project portfolios in Smartsheet using Control Center.

But as your portfolio grows, a new challenge appears:
how do you give teams a clear, client-level view across multiple projects?

You can build reports filtered by “Current User” so teams only see their own projects. That works, until someone needs to focus on a single client. At that point, things start to break down.

This is where Control Center can go a step further.

The Goal: A Client-Level Dashboard

What you’re really aiming for is a dedicated dashboard per client, showing:

• Key client information
• Assigned team
• All active and archived projects
• Project value and progress
• Visual summaries (charts)

To get there, you need to structure your data differently.

Step 1: Build an Account Portfolio

If you’re using the Smartsheet Salesforce connector, this is straightforward—just configure a new pipeline.

If not, it is common to build your account portfolio manually. Otherwise you could populate it via:

• API
• Bridge
• Data Shuttle

As with project portfolios, you can control which accounts are processed by the control center using a filter field (e.g., only include accounts with at least one active project).

Step 2: Create Client-Level Project Sheets

This is the key piece and where things get more advanced.

Because reports can’t dynamically group data by client in the way you need, you’ll provision dedicated sheets per client thanks to the control center.

Typically:

• One sheet for active projects
• One sheet for archived projects

These should mirror your project portfolio structure, but only include relevant columns.

Step 3: Structure the Sheet for Automation

To make this work:

• Add an auto-number column starting at 1
  → This defines the order of projects per client
• Pre-create enough rows to handle the maximum expected projects per client
• Add a Client Name column
  → Populate it via the metadata sheet using a column formula

Step 4: Pull Project Data Dynamically

Use an INDEX/COLLECT column formula to bring in the projects unique reference number:

=INDEX(
  COLLECT(
    {Project Unique ref},
    {Account Name Column},
    [Account Name]@row
  ),
  [AutoNumber]@row
)

This effectively builds a client-specific project list, ordered by your auto-number column.

For the remaining fields, you can use Smartsheet’s new table interface  + reference feature to quickly generate the corresponding formulas (instead of writing INDEX/MATCH manually for each column).

Step 5: Build Reports

Create reports based on your client-level sheets:

• Active projects report
• Archived projects report
• Any additional views relevant to your workflows

Step 6: Create the Dashboard

Finally, assemble everything into a dashboard:

• Embed your reports
• Add charts (e.g., project value, progress)
• Include key client information

Once deployed, each account in your portfolio links directly to its dashboard—giving teams a clean, focused view ahead of client reviews, QBRs, or OGSM sessions.

A Quick Reality Check

This is not a beginner setup.

What I’ve outlined here covers the core mechanics, but in practice:

• There’s significant configuration behind Control Center
• Dashboard design varies heavily by use case
• Data structure decisions early on matter a lot

If You’re Considering This

If your teams are struggling to get a clear client-level view across projects, this approach can make a big difference—but it needs to be set up properly.

If you want help designing or implementing it, feel free to reach out via the form below.