Choosing the Best Chart Type for the Data

Bar or Column

Bar Chart

Column Chart

Bar/Column: displays data as a series of vertical or horizontal bars. This type of chart is best suited for showing data for several sets over a period of time (for example, last year's sales figures for AZ, CA, OR, and WA).

Chart Orientation: select either Horizontal or Vertical orientation.

* When you have a measure in the Color parameter, you can have only one parameter. If you already had dimensions in the Color parameter or a different measure, the new measure will replace those parameters.

Stacked Bar or Column

Stacked Bar Chart

Stacked Column Chart

Stacked Bar/Column: includes at least three series of data, each series represented by a color stacked in a single bar (for example, sales for 2014, 2015, and 2016).

Chart Orientation: select either Horizontal or Vertical orientation.

Show Chart as 100%: select when you want to show the Stacked Bar/Column chart as 100% stacked.

* When you have a measure in the Color parameter, you can have only one parameter. If you already had dimensions in the Color parameter or a different measure, the new measure will replace those parameters.

Column & Line

Use a combination chart to compare two different types of data in the same chart.

Column and Line Chart

Stacked Column and Line Chart

Y Axes Overlap: Select when you want the bar and line axes to overlap.

If you do not include the second axis, you will not see the Line information.

Waterfall

Use a Waterfall chart to understand how an initial value is affected by a series of intermediate increase or decrease values.

Waterfall Chart

The initial and the final values are represented by columns attached to the baseline, while the intermediate values are denoted by floating columns. The columns are color-coded to show Increase, Decrease, and Total values.

The initial and the final values are represented by columns attached to the baseline, while the intermediate values are denoted by floating columns. The columns are color-coded to show Increase, Decrease, and Total values.

For more information on waterfall charts, see Waterfall Charts.

Stacked Area

Use a Stacked Area chart to show percentage of total sales for a limited number of regions.

Stacked Area Chart

Line

Line Chart

A line chart is best suited for showing data for a large number of groups (for example, total sales over the past several years).

Time Series

Time Series Chart

Each point on a time series chart corresponds to both a time and a quantity. This chart type can be used to view sales revenue trends of a product throughout a range of years.

Box Plot

A box plot chart displays data based on the five-number summary: the minimum, the maximum, the median, and the first and third quartiles.

Box Plot Chart

Use a Box Plot chart to summarize annual sales amounts according to geographical regions. For each country, plot a box that shows the range and distribution of the regional sales amounts within that country.

A box plot chart usually includes two parts: a box and a set of whiskers.

In addition to the minimum and maximum values used to construct a box plot chart, another important element is the interquartile range (IQR). The IQR is the distance between the upper and lower quartiles (Q3-Q1).

Heat Map

Heat Map Chart

A heat map (or heatmap) is a data visualization technique that shows magnitude as color in two dimensions.

The variation in color in a heat map may be by hue or intensity, giving visual cues to the reader about how the phenomenon is clustered or varies over space.

Histogram

Use a Histogram chart to indicate the number of data points that lie within a range of values.

Histogram Chart

Radar

Radar Chart

The Radar chart places numeric values, increasing in value, from the center of the radar to the perimeter. Radar charts are particularly useful for determining how specific values relate to group data.

Tree Map

Tree Map Chart

A Tree Map chart displays data as a series of hierarchical rectangles, where the surface area of each rectangle is proportional to the size of a value from the data object; the larger the rectangle, the greater the value that it represents.

In a tree map chart, the Label dimensions are shown as nested groups, with the first dimension as the outermost group.

Use the Size measure for size and color, or add a separate Color measure.

Bubble

Use a Bubble chart to show the number of products sold in a certain region; the larger the bubble, the greater the number of products sold in that region.

Bubble Chart

When you have a measure in the Color parameter, you can have only one parameter. If you already had dimensions in the Color parameter or a different measure, the new measure will replace those parameters.

Cluster Bubble

Cluster Bubble Chart

In cluster bubble charts (also called packed bubble charts), the size and the color of the bubbles are used to visualize the data.

The positioning of the bubbles is not significant; however, the chart is optimized for compactness.

Scatterplot

Scatterplot Chart

The scatterplot chart allows the user to consider a larger scope of data for the purpose of determining trends. For example, if you input customer information, including sales, products, countries, months, and years, you would have a collection of plotted points that represents the pool of customer information. Viewing all of this data on a scatterplot chart would allow you to speculate as to why certain products were selling better than others or why certain regions were purchasing more than others.

When you have a measure in the Color parameter, you can have only one parameter. If you already had dimensions in the Color parameter or a different measure, the new measure will replace those parameters.

Bullet

Bullet Chart

A bullet chart is a variation of a bar chart, and is similar to progress charts. The bullet chart compares a single, primary measure (for example, current year-to-date revenue) to one or more other measures (for example, compared to a target), and displays the result as a threshold or set of ranges.

For bullet charts, the Color element uses thresholds. You can compare a measure to a number range or to another number.

Numeric Point

Numeric Point Chart

Donut or Pie

Donut and Pie charts show the percentage of parts in a whole or values as ratios to a whole.

Donut Chart

Pie Chart

Both donut and pie charts display data as sections of a circle or donut, and both are usually used for one group of data, but can be used for multiple groups of data.

Donut charts display the total numerical value in the center and the dimensions as different sized colored sections of the donut, with the size of the section representing a percentage of the total.

For example, for a donut chart showing sales by region, the total number of sales (the numerical value) is in the center and the regions are the colored sections.

A pie chart displays data as a pie, each section or pie wedge filled with color or patterns. Each pie wedge represents a subset of a total value. For example, the percentage of total sales divided by regions.

Marimekko

Marimekko charts use varying heights and varying column widths to depict data.

Marimekko Chart

Show Chart as 100%: select when you want to show the chart as 100% stacked.