Creating a Smart Chart

📄 Summary: What You’ll Learn in This Article

This article explains how to create a Smart Chart in the Marmind Dashboard module using the four-step Smart Chart Wizard. It guides you through selecting a chart type, defining filters and hierarchy levels, choosing KPIs, and customizing chart grouping and formatting—so you can build dynamic, context-sensitive visualizations that update automatically.

Step-by-step guide to create a smart chart in the dashboard module

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Who Should Read This?

This article is most useful for:

Team Leads / Department Heads
Users who want to create customized dashboards to monitor performance or KPIs for their team or area of responsibility.
Project Managers
Those who need to track project progress, budgets, or timelines using visual dashboards.
Analysts / Power Users
Users with a deeper understanding of the data and hierarchy structures, who regularly build and share insights via charts.
System Trainers / Internal Champions
People responsible for onboarding others or maintaining best practices around dashboard usage.

✔️ Prerequisites: What Should You Know Before Getting Started?

🎚️

Level: Easy

🔑

Access required: Depending on your organization settings

The following prior knowledge is useful for this article:
- Basic Navigation in Marmind
- Understanding of Hierarchy Contexts
- User Permissions and Access Rights
- General Concept of Dashboards and Charts

Overview

Smart Charts dynamically recalculate based on the selected hierarchy context and are the recommended chart type in Marmind. When you click “Create Smart Chart”, a 4-step wizard opens to guide you through chart setup.

Step-by-Step Guide on how to create a smart chart

Navigate to the Dashboard module.
Click the blue button in the top-right corner.
Select “Create smart chart” from the dropdown menu.
The Smart Chart Wizard will open.

Smart Chart Wizard: Step 1 (Chart type)

On the first page, choose the visual format for your chart. Click one of the options to highlight it.

Common Chart Types:

Bar Chart: Compare activities side-by-side (e.g., cost by market).
Stacked Bar Chart: Compare grouped data with color-coded segments.
Line Charts: Visualize trends over time.
Stacked Line Chart: Similar to line charts but layered for comparison.
Pie Chart: Show percentage share of a KPI (e.g., spend type).
Benchmark Tile: Compare a KPI to a benchmark (e.g., actual vs. plan).
Live Value Tile/KPI tile: Show current KPI value with or without trend comparison.

You can preview your selection. Click Continue to proceed.

Smart Chart Wizard: Step 2 (Filter selection)

Use the hierarchy togglers at the top to select one hierarchy level.
- Only one hierarchy should be selected to avoid nested hierarchy issues.
Below the togglers, you'll see a list of included contexts.
Use filters on the right to refine your data (e.g., by name, category, tag, or custom fields).
- Click “Add filter” to apply custom filters.
- This is useful if you want to pre-filter for certain values in your final chart.

Click Continue to proceed.

Smart Chart Wizard: Step 3 (KPI Selection)

Use the search bar to find available KPIs (currently: Budget, Costs, Variance).
Select the granularity (interval) for KPI values:
- Months – Recommended for accurate timeline analysis.
- Quarter / Year – Also available and calculated automatically.
- Day / Week – Not used in BMW's setup (results in empty charts).
Use the checkboxes to select one or more KPIs.
- Compatible KPIs can be combined (e.g., Budget + Variance).
- Budget aggregates top-down.
- Forecast aggregates bottom-up.

Click Continue to move to the final page.

Smart Chart Wizard: Step 4 (Data)

Choose how to group your data:
- Date (X-axis) – Adds a timeline (Month, Quarter, Year).
- Groupings – Group by variables such as:
  - Marmind Objects
  - Target Audience/Action category/Product
  - Folder / Channel / Activity Categories
  - Budget/Spend Type
  - Custom fields (must match selected hierarchy)
You can choose up to 2 grouping variables.
Set a timeframe under "Date/Time":
- E.g., “Current Year”, “Last Quarter”, or Custom Range
Add indicators (only when Date is selected):
- Variance (absolute or %)
Choose how the chart will appear:
- Diagram (visual chart)
- Data Table

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You can remove a grouping by clicking the “x” next to it.

With the Button “Show diagram” or “Show data table”, user can select if they want to add the chart via a diagram or via data table as default view.

Smart Chart Wizard: Step 4 (Formatting)

Chart Title:
- Change title, font, size, format, and color.
Series:
- Edit chart series (Bar, Line, Area, etc.).
- Adjust color, opacity, and data point label positions.
Legend:
- Show/hide legend, choose position and styling.
Horizontal Axis:
- Customize label font, color, slant, and order.

Click Show Diagram or Show Data Table to preview your chart.

After configuring all settings, click “Save” to add the chart to your dashboard collection.
The chart will appear in the next free space in your dashboard grid.
To exit without saving, click the “X”.
Use Back / Continue buttons to navigate through the wizard at any time.

🧠 Pro Tips

Always select a matching hierarchy for custom fields to ensure consistent results.
Be cautious with multi-select custom fields — values will be duplicated per selection and totals may exceed the actual budget or costs.

❓ FAQs

Why is my smart chart showing no data?

There are a few common reasons:

You selected a regular chart type, not a smart chart.
The selected KPI interval (e.g., Day or Week) isn’t supported.
The hierarchy selection is too broad or incorrectly filtered.
You grouped by a custom field not matching the hierarchy selected in the filters. There are a few common reasons:
- You selected a regular chart type, not a smart chart.
- The selected KPI interval (e.g., Day or Week) isn’t supported.
- The hierarchy selection is too broad or incorrectly filtered.
- You grouped by a custom field not matching the hierarchy selected in the filters.

Can I combine multiple KPIs in one chart?

Yes, you can select multiple KPIs as long as they are compatible (e.g., Budget and Forecast with Variance). They will be visualized as different series in the same chart.

Can I edit a smart chart after saving it?

Yes, if you're the Responsible Person for the chart collection, you can edit, update, or delete charts anytime. Others may only view or copy the chart, depending on the sharing settings.