One screen on the plant floor: metrics and the safety board
A screen on the plant floor should give people something useful to notice. It might show where recorded work is open or illustrate a fix with before and after photos. Sheets beta includes metrics for a closer review and a safety board for a shared display. The TV board defaults off and needs setup for the facility before it can be used.
Choose what the screen should help people do
Start with the conversation you want the board to support. A supervisor may want to point out a recorded fix during a shift handoff. A committee member may want people to see which areas still have open work. Those are specific uses that can guide the setup and the choice of where the display belongs.
A board does not replace the record or the person responsible for it. Someone walking past a screen will see a summary. The people managing the work still need to open the underlying item, check the current status and keep the follow-up accurate. Give the team a clear way to raise a question about what appears on the board.
The metrics page serves a different reading pace. It lets a signed-in user choose a facility and review workload, closure and reporting activity over a selected period. Use that view when you need the definitions, dates and missing-data context behind a number. A quick glance at a wall display cannot carry the whole explanation.
Read the scope before comparing the numbers
The metrics dashboard distinguishes daily snapshots from live lists. Its daily series covers recorded sheet work and form actions for the facility. The open-by-area view reads current sheet records and excludes form actions. Its area counts include new, assigned and in-progress records, leaving out On Hold. The TV board uses that same status selection for its area counts. Those are different populations and different moments in time, so their totals should not be treated as interchangeable.
The selected period also matters. The dashboard tracks whether completed days have stored snapshots, and it withholds complete-period totals when coverage is missing. A period comparison is available only when both equal-length windows have coverage for every completed day. A gap is information about the data available for review; it should not be read as a day when nothing happened.
Use the same care with measures of closure. Read the displayed definition and time window before using a number in a meeting. Verification activity can overlap with closed work, and some measures use a trailing window. Ask what changed in the records before explaining a movement as an improvement in the way the site works.
A useful number comes with a scope, a date and a question worth asking.
Understand what appears on the safety board
Once configured, the safety board rotates through its available screens. These include open work by area, fixes recorded this month and leading numbers. The fixed-work cards use records with both before and after photos. A closed record without that pair does not become a photo card, so the display is not a complete list of everything closed.
Reporter thanks are a separate option and are off by default. When enabled, the board uses first names from nonanonymous reports. Review that choice with the people responsible for the facility before turning it on. A recognition screen should be an intentional part of the workflow, with the team understanding what information it displays.
The board can also show a participation-by-shift screen when suitable shift data is available. Treat that label with care: the current grouping uses the scheduled shift of the record's owner. It is not proof of which shift witnessed or reported an issue. Use it as a prompt to inspect the records, rather than as a ranking of teams.
Set up the facility and check the actual display
Sheets being available in beta does not turn on a plant-floor TV. The TV board defaults off for each facility and needs setup. Sheets notifications and public forms also default off and need their own setup. Review the facility selection, its board setting and the intended display access together. Decide who will maintain the source records and who will check the screen as part of normal operations.
Choose a location where people can read the screen without interrupting work. Check the actual display size, viewing distance and the time people have to look at it. This is a practical setup review for your team, not a promise that every television or network arrangement has already been tested. Confirm the device and connection during the pilot.
Make data readiness part of that same review. Check area labels, the records behind the photo pairs and whether headcount-dependent measures have the information they need. The board can show Not available for missing metrics. Keep that meaning visible instead of asking people to infer a value from an empty or incomplete display.
Use the display to start the next conversation
A useful review can be small. Pick one area with open work and ask which item needs attention. Pick one visible fix and ask whether the record explains what changed. If a number looks surprising, go back to its scope and the underlying records. The purpose is to make the next conversation easier to start and better informed.
Keep routine board use within the site's operating arrangements. The safety board route gives way to the muster screen when an active event is detected. That behavior is not a claim that an emergency message has reached anyone. Display setup and the site's emergency procedures still need their own review.
Begin with one facility and a clear owner for the display. Sheets is in beta, and configuration should be part of the walkthrough. The feature page explains the shared records behind the work; the beta article describes the broader limits. Use those pages to agree what the pilot needs to demonstrate before expanding to more screens.