Gauge chart – Creating Reports

Gauge chart

Often, business reports need to tell the report consumer what is happening at a glance. The gauge chart is designed to do just that. Much like a dial you might find on the dashboard of your car, the gauge chart is a semi-circular arc showing a single value that progresses toward a target value.

Minimum, maximum, and target values are set using the visual configuration where data fields are applied to each on the Visualizations pane. You can use conditional formatting to change the color of the gauge depending on whether it is higher or lower than the Target value.

The data value compared to the minimum, maximum, and target is shown by color shading on the gauge. The visual is plotted such that the left-most side of the gauge will show the minimum value, while the right-most side of the gauge will show the maximum value. The target value and the current value will be shown somewhere between the minimum and maximum values.

Figure 9.21 – Gauge visual showing gross and net revenue

While gauge visuals only really show one value, they communicate things such as progress toward a goal. It’s important to have a balance of different visuals so as not to overwhelm the report consumers and use the best visual for the requirements in your data story.

Waterfall chart

The waterfall chart visual is similar to a line chart; however, it combines bars to indicate increases or decreases in value. Typically, the x axis shows time, such as months in a fiscal year, while the y axis is used to show increases or decreases in value that happen during those months. For example, you can show changes to revenue each month using the waterfall visual, where the first month may have an increase and the second month has a decrease, both from a starting value and then ending at a value shown on the y axis. The columns are color-coded for increases and decreases, so this visual is useful to communicate these changes in a value over time.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Shopping cart

close