🪄 AI Insights

With AI Insights, a description or list view becomes a dashboard containing metrics, charts, tables and insights. The AI selects widgets, fields and filters, while smenso calculates the numbers itself. You can further customise the finished insight by giving instructions or manually using the widget editor, save it, print it and show it as a presentation. This article explains the process from the initial draft to the finished insight.

How AI handles your data

• The AI designs, smenso calculates: The AI selects the widget type, fields, filters and settings. smenso calculates every number in the dashboard from the tasks. If a number is incorrect, a different field or filter was usually selected than intended (for example, Planned costs instead of Actual costs). In that case, name the field explicitly in your instruction.
• No individual entries: The AI only receives field names, statistics and widget settings, not individual entries.
• People are anonymised: The AI only sees people as “Person A”, “Person B” and so on. Instructions containing specific people’s names therefore cannot be implemented. Instead, write, for example, “Deliveries per person”.
• Read-only: Insights display data; they do not change tasks. The AI rejects an instruction such as “Set all overdue tasks to Done” and refers you to the list instead.

Create a new insight

Requirement: AI is enabled in the workspace and you have permission to see AI features. Guests cannot see AI features. You can then find the Insights tab in the project.

On the Insights – a deep dive into your data page, the project’s Saved insights are shown on the left and the Create new insight area is shown on the right. There are three ways to proceed.

Method 1 – From a description

1. Select the Description tab (“Tell the AI what you want to see”).
2. In the What would you like to see? field, describe what the dashboard should show, for example, “What is the progress? Distribution by status, completed items per month and a traffic light for overdue items.” All tasks in the project are used as the basis; the number is shown below the heading.
3. Click Get suggestions with AI.

As a starting point, the Mission Control, Finances, Dates and Progress templates insert an example instruction below the field. Replace placeholders in square brackets, such as [Time period, e.g. the next 3 months], with your own information. If the field already contains text, Replace text? asks whether the template should replace it. You can use Attach to add an image, such as a screenshot of an existing report.

The AI also creates a suggestion without a description: it then selects what it considers meaningful. While it is creating the insight, a progress bar (“The AI is planning your dashboard …”) shows the current status.

Method 2 – From a list view

1. Select the List view tab (“Calculates based on a saved view”).
2. Under List view, select the required view. The number of fields and entries is shown below it.
3. Click Get suggestions with AI.

The insight then calculates based on the fields and filters in this view.

Method 3 – Start from scratch

Start from scratch (“Start with an empty template”) starts without a suggestion. You can then describe the required widgets individually in the dashboard’s input field, and the AI adds them.

Review and save the suggestion

The suggestion appears with the note Not saved next to the title. Below the title, you can see the source (“From a description”), the number of entries and the fields used by the insight for its calculations. Use the plus icon (Add field) to load additional fields into the insight. The window is similar to Insert column in the list and contains the Standard fields, Flavors and In dashboard tabs.

If you like the suggestion, click Save. Only saved insights can be reopened, used and customised later. You can change or discard anything before saving.

The structure of an insight

The insight header contains the title on the left and the following icons on the right:

• Settings: Discoveries menu (see below).
• Edit insight: layout mode with widget editor (see below).
• Explain widgets: explanations below the widgets. The adjacent menu provides Explain with AI.
• Print: opens the browser’s print dialogue.
• Presentation (icon with the tooltip Explore – show insight as presentation): displays the insight as slides (see Presentation from AI Insights).
• Save: saves the insight. If there are changes, Unsaved changes appears in the header.

To the right of the dashboard are the Saved insights list and the Colour scheme selector. If you open another insight or leave the page, you receive one warning about unsaved changes.

Customise an insight with an instruction

The What should be changed? input field is below the title. Press Enter or click the arrow icon to send the instruction. Examples:

• Add: “Add a metric with the total shipping costs”, “Add Mission Control”
• Change type: “Turn the pie chart into bars”, “Turn this into a rose chart”
• Table: “Sort the table by due date, earliest first”, “Also include the Recipient column”
• Thresholds: “Critical only from 15% above plan”
• Remove and arrange: “Remove the status distribution”, “Move the forecast right to the top”
• Title: “Rename the dashboard to October delivery report”

After the change, the insight reports what the AI did, for example, “Mission Control was added at the top; the existing widgets were moved below it.” You can use Undo to reverse the change, including across multiple steps. This does not use any additional credits.

Follow-up questions and rejections

• Follow-up question: If a term matches multiple fields, the AI asks instead of guessing—for example, when you say “costs”, it asks whether you mean Shipping costs, Planned costs or Actual costs. Click one of the options. Each follow-up round uses credits again, so precise field names in the instruction are helpful.
• Rejection with an alternative: If something is not possible, such as cards or invented fields, the AI says so and, where possible, offers an alternative that you can apply with one click.
• Appearance: The AI does not implement purely visual requests such as “Show the values on the bars”, “Make the corners rounded” or “Legend at the bottom”. Use the widget editor for this.

Input and settings are locked while the AI is working.

Widget types

The dashboard is a 12-column grid. The AI selects the widget type itself. However, you can also specify a type explicitly, for example, “... as a donut chart”.

Limitations

• A chart can have a maximum of 2 groupings and 4 metrics. With 2 groupings, exactly 1 metric is possible.
• Pie and donut charts show exactly 1 grouping; sunbursts show exactly 2.
• Cumulative (“... cumulative”) is only available with a time axis and only for sums, counts and metrics derived from them, not for averages, medians, minimums or maximums.
• The AI only adds target and reference lines if the value is included in the instruction (“Budget €1,000”).
• The current month or week is considered incomplete and is displayed with dashed lines or in a lighter colour.
• A maximum of 50,000 entries is used per calculation.

For instructions that violate these limitations, the AI asks a follow-up question or suggests a suitable alternative, such as sum instead of average.

Describe filters and time periods

Describe filters in natural language:

• “only open” or “without completed” – status is not completed
• “overdue” – due date is before today, open tasks only
• “in the next 14 days”, “last 3 months”, “this month”, “last quarter” – time periods that move relative to today
• “only Northern delivery area”, “shipping costs over €5”, “without due date” – filters on values, numbers or empty fields

Relative time periods remain relative when saved: an insight created today will show different figures next month. Weeks run from Monday to Sunday. A fixed date (“Q3 2026”), on the other hand, remains fixed.

Edit widgets manually

You can customise individual widgets without sending an AI request. This applies to size, appearance and many data options.

1. Click Edit insight in the insight header. The widgets receive a handle for moving them and a bin icon (Delete widget).
2. Click a widget. With the keyboard, focus the widget and press Enter.
3. The Edit widget panel opens on the right. It shows the widget type at the top and contains the title, Size in grid (Width and Height) and the type-specific settings.
4. Click Save to keep the changes. Close editor closes the panel.

Use Change with AI at the bottom of the panel to switch to instructions. The input field already contains the widget’s name.

Settings by widget type

• KPI tile: Format (Full, Compact), Decimal places, Sparkline (Line, Bars, Off), Subtitle, Status bar at top, and in the DATA section Target, Monitor from, Critical from and Trend by (Week, Month, Quarter).
• Bar, stacked, line, area: CHART TYPE, LABEL (Off, In bar), SHAPE (Alignment, Corners, Width, Stack), AXES AND GRIDLINES (Gridline, Axis labels with Automatic, Every, Every 2nd, Label position, Gridlines), Legend (Top, Bottom, Off) and Cumulative.
• Pie and donut: Label (for example, Name and percentage), Legend, Hole, Total in centre, Semicircle, Corners, Spacing, Sorting, Number (All, Top 3, Top 5, Top 10) and Combine small slices.
• Forecast: Uncertainty band, Points, Axis labels, Horizon (periods) from 1 to 6, Method (Automatic, Linear, Moving average), By (Week, Month) and Reference line.
• Table: Rows (Normal, Compact), Stripes, Data bars for numbers, number of rows (5, 10, 15), Sort by and Direction.
• Traffic light: Traffic light (Label with text, Icon only), Show only notable items, Critical first and the number of rows (All, 5, 10). Change the traffic-light rules using Change with AI.
• Insights: SOURCES, that is, the widgets whose numbers are used to create the sentences.

For chart types, types that do not fit the widget are greyed out, with a note such as “Requires a second grouping.” or “Shows only one grouping; the second would be lost.” Bubble charts have their own metrics for x, y and size and can only be customised using Change with AI.

Widget filters

The FILTER section contains the widget’s filters, for example, Status group is not Completed. Use the × icon to remove a filter. Change or add filters using Change with AI.

Mission Control

Mission Control provides an overview of the project status: the status ring with the tasks and, optionally, milestones, consumption versus progress, effort and costs, an overall traffic light, a countdown and planning gaps. The widget is only available in projects and can appear no more than once per dashboard. Add it with the instruction “Add Mission Control” or using the Mission Control template when creating the insight.

You can largely customise Mission Control in the widget editor:

• Components: Milestones, Consumption versus progress, Effort and costs, Overall traffic light, Countdown in header, What has happened and Planning gaps can be switched on and off individually. The status ring is always displayed. If the tile is too narrow, components disappear from the right. The widget indicates which components are hidden at the current width.
• Overall traffic light: Display as a Traffic light, Label with text or Icon only, optionally with Status bar at top. Under TRAFFIC-LIGHT RULES, specify when it changes to “critical” or “monitor”, for example, when a milestone is overdue, costs exceed the budget or a percentage of tasks are delayed.
• Status ring: In the centre value (Remaining and overdue or Completed in %), Values on ring and Legend.
• Colours: Set the widget’s colours under Colours, either as Status colours or to match the insight’s Colour scheme.
• Consumption versus progress: Measure progress by Planned effort or Number of tasks. Optionally, an explanatory sentence about completed items is shown below.
• What has happened: Period Last 7 days or Last 14 days.
• Planning gaps: Counted are open tasks Without due date, Without assignee and Without planned effort.
• Effort and costs: Display Effort and Costs in Hours or Person-days, as Full or Compact, with forecast and budget shown as a line.
• Fields: By default, Mission Control calculates using the standard fields Planned effort, Actual effort, Effort forecast, Planned costs, Actual costs, Due date and Budget. If a workspace stores these values in its own flavours, select the appropriate fields here.

If the project does not contain the data for a component, the related settings in the editor are greyed out and include a note, such as “The project has no milestones.” or “The project has no budget.”

Publish a widget

Insights themselves are currently always private. However, individual widgets can be published from a saved insight. They are then available on a project’s Overview or in the home area. The Publish button only becomes active once the insight has been saved.

1. Click Edit insight in the insight header and then click the widget.
2. In the Edit widget panel, click Publish.
3. In the Publish widget dialogue, enter a Title and select one of the options under Visible to: Only me, Everyone with AI permission (everyone for whom AI is enabled and who is allowed to see AI features) or Specific projects.
4. Confirm with Publish.

The published widget is a copy. Later changes in the insight only take effect once you publish it again.

Add a widget to the project overview

After publishing, the dialogue offers Show on project overview. The widget then appears on the project’s Overview, with the options Hide, Open in Insights and Delete in the widget menu. As with other widgets, save the view so that the change is retained (see Widgets: overview, customise & locations). Published widgets can also be added later through the project overview’s widget menu.

Add a widget to the home area

1. Open Home and click Customise.
2. In the Insights group, select Widget from Insights ….
3. In the Add widget from Insights dialogue, select the widget. The list shows your own widgets and widgets published by others, with the note “Published by you” or “By …”.
4. Under Project, select the project whose tasks the widget should calculate and click Add.

Insights

The Insights widget summarises the dashboard’s most important statements in a few sentences. Each sentence refers to the widget whose figures it is based on. The sentences are generated from the calculated values of the linked widgets. Below them, Last created on shows the date and time.

• Rewrite: Use Refresh to have the AI create the sentences again. This uses credits.
• Select sources: In the widget editor, use SOURCES to specify which widgets are included. If you change the sources, the text becomes outdated and is only rewritten when you click the button.
• Privacy: The AI only receives aggregated values from the linked widgets, not entries or names.

Explain widgets

Explain widgets displays a short sentence below each widget describing what the data shows, such as the leader or a notable trend. The first time you switch it on, the dialogue Enable explanations with AI? asks:

• Facts only: The sentences are generated from the calculated figures, without AI and without credits.
• Explain with AI: The AI additionally interprets the figures and suggests where you should take a closer look. This is only available once the insight has been saved. Suggestions are marked with a light bulb; the reason is shown in the tooltip.

If a widget is too small for the text, the explanation is shown in the tooltip behind a speech-bubble icon in the widget header. When printing, the widgets are numbered and the explanations appear at the end on separate pages under “Widget explanations”.

Discoveries

If there are gaps in the grid, smenso fills them with the most notable fact not yet shown by a widget, such as a trend or record. This happens without AI and does not use credits. Use the Discoveries menu (Settings icon in the header) to select the display:

• smenso Insights: with an octopus showing the fact
• Neutral: number and sentence with an icon
• Off: The gaps remain empty.

Colour scheme

To the right of the dashboard, use Colour scheme to select the insight’s colours: smenso, Accessible, Subtle or Print-friendly. Traffic-light colours remain the same in all schemes. Next to the selector, More actions opens the Colour mixer with New colour scheme in colour mixer or Open as template in colour mixer.

In the Colour mixer, describe the desired colours using an instruction, for example, “In our corporate colours #EAA7CA and #12263A”, “More contrast for printing” or “Easy to distinguish for red-green colour blindness”. Alternatively, set them manually:

• Set the Name and Base colour.
• Under Harmony, select a rule (Analogous, Complementary, Triadic, Square, Monochromatic, Shades). A click regenerates all Series colours except colour 1 and the locked colours.
• Click one of the six Series colours to adjust it. Colour 1 is the primary colour.
• The preview shows a bar chart and a forecast, optionally in greyscale for printing. A note indicates when colours are difficult to distinguish, including for red-green colour blindness.
• Click Save to apply the colour scheme.

Manage insights

The Saved insights list shows all insights in the project, most recently edited first, with the edit time, person and number of widgets. Use Search insights to search the list. Insights are currently always private; a lock icon (“Private, visible only to you”) identifies them. Only individual widgets can be shared using Publish. The four filter icons next to the search field (In project and Global, as well as Private and Public) cannot yet be configured. They are intended for later: Global will then show insights from all your projects (like views that are available only in one project or globally), and Public will show shared insights. The More actions menu for an insight contains Mark as favourite, Rename and Delete.

Related articles

• How smenso AI works
• AI Insights in the portfolio
• Presentation from AI Insights
• How AI credits work
• Frequently asked questions about AI in smenso
• Widgets: overview, customise & locations
• Widgets in the project overview

FAQ

Why does a number not match my expectation?

The AI usually selected a different field or filter than intended. Check the settings and the FILTER section in the widget editor. Name the field explicitly in the instruction, for example, “with Actual costs instead of Costs”.

Why is a table empty?

A filter is probably too restrictive, such as a fixed date range. Describe the filter again, for example, “Show all open tasks from today onwards”.

Can the AI change tasks?

No. Insights are read-only. Make changes to tasks as usual in the list or in the task details.

Why do the explanations contain “Person A” and “Person B”?

The AI only receives anonymised information about people and therefore does not use real names.