Smartsheet AI-powered platform bridges gap between planning and results

Smartsheet has unveiled an AI-powered planning and execution platform called vsActual, aimed at helping businesses identify project deviations and take corrective measures before delays and cost overruns occur. The new platform utilizes AI agents to continuously monitor work across multiple enterprise systems, assess progress against strategic goals, and propose adjustments.

Smartsheet's chief product and technology officer, Pratima Arora, noted that while AI can enhance individual productivity, it often falls short in translating to organizational results. VsActual aims to bridge this gap by building an Execution Graph, a knowledge graph constructed from 20 years of workflow data, including nine petabytes of information.

The graph maps task, project, program, and strategic objective relationships to help AI agents understand how changes in one area affect others. VsActual connects with popular enterprise applications like Oracle, SAP, Workday, Atlassian, and ServiceNow to gather data on budgets, schedules, staffing, and project dependencies. AI agents can convert strategy documents, spreadsheets, and budget proposals into structured plans, model alternative scenarios, and monitor execution.

A drift-detection agent searches for emerging problems, while others generate executive reports and recommend changes as business priorities evolve. The system can trace disruptions' consequences across organizational hierarchies. Historical workflow data gives vsActual an edge over competitors, as it builds on AWS's Neptune knowledge graph containing 100 million nodes.

Smartsheet employs multiple foundation models based on workload requirements and cost, using AWS and Databricks as primary providers. New agentic workflows allow users to schedule recurring activities like status reports and risk assessments, while specialized agents can generate project structures, dashboards, and reports or identify data issues.

Additional integrations include ServiceNow, Microsoft Dynamics 365, HubSpot, Workday, and QuickBooks. Conversational integrations with GitHub, Zendesk, Airtable, and Monday.com are in early access, with more AI-assisted integrations planned for early 2027. VsActual operates across existing enterprise applications rather than requiring consolidation onto a single platform.

Human approval is required for consequential actions, with a human-in-the-loop approach emphasizing safety. Smartsheet has also earned ISO/IEC 42001 certification, introduced security event streaming, and added data classification capabilities to strengthen oversight of AI operations. Pricing details can be found on Smartsheet's website.