Best Charts to Compare Actual Values with Targets – What is your take?

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Yesterday we have a post on using thermometer charts to quickly compare actual values with targets. Today we follow up the post with 10 charting ideas you can use to compare actual values with targets.

I have added my comments to each option along with useful links to learn how to make such a chart.

There is a poll too, at the end.

(1) Gauge / Speedometer Chart

Gauge / Speedometer Chart - Comparing Performance using Charts

What is good about this approach?

  • Familiar metaphor thus easy to understand
  • Easy to construct
  • Good for communicating one data point

What is bad?

  • Takes too much space
  • Bad design choice for most professional situations

Tutorials to make Gauge / Speedometer Chart

Tutorial 1 | Tutorial 2

(2) Thermometer Chart

Thermometer Chart - Comparing Performance using Charts

What is good about this approach?

  • Familiar metaphor thus easy to understand
  • Easy to construct
  • Good data to ink ratio

What is bad?

  • Do not say anything about trends
  • Not appropriate when actual values exceed targets

Tutorials to make Thermometer Chart

Tutorial 1 | Tutorial 2

(3) Bullet Chart

Bullet Chart - Comparing Performance using Charts

What is good about this approach?

  • Comprehensive
  • Aesthetic and very good data to ink ratio

What is bad?

  • Difficult to construct in Excel
  • Takes time to read the first time

Tutorials to make Bullet Chart

Tutorial 1 | A bullet chart alternative

(4) Area Chart

Area Chart - Comparing Performance using Charts

What is good about this approach?

  • Shows trend along with current status
  • Easy to construct
  • Easy to compare

What is bad?

  • Not good for small data sets

(5) Line Charts

Line Charts - Comparing Performance using Charts

What is good about this approach?

  • Easy to construct
  • Shows trend along with current status
  • Easy to read and understand

What is bad?

  • Looks too simple

(6) Column Chart with Markers

Column Chart with Markers - Comparing Performance using Charts

What is good about this approach?

  • Easy to compare & read
  • Easy to construct

What is bad?

  • Not good for small data sets

Tutorials to make Column Chart with Markers

Tutorial 1

(7) Partially Overlapped Chart

Partially Overlapped Chart - Comparing Performance using Charts

What is good about this approach?

  • Easy to construct

What is bad?

  • Difficult to compare

(8) Traffic Lights

Traffic Lights - Comparing Performance using Charts

What is good about this approach?

  • Familiar metaphor thus easy to understand
  • Easy to construct (with Excel 2007 Conditional Formatting)
  • Good for tables

What is bad?

  • Do not tell the entire story, so should be used only in tables or with other displays

(9) Pie Charts

Pie Charts - Comparing Performance using Charts

What is good about this approach?

  • Familiar metaphor thus easy to understand
  • Easy to construct (with Excel 2007 Conditional Formatting)
  • Good for tables

What is bad?

  • Works when targets are 100%
  • Cannot show when actual values are more than targets
  • Pie charts can be hard to read

Tutorials to make Pie Charts

Tutorial 1

(10) Using Text – Just say the thing

Using Text - Just say the thing - Comparing Performance using Charts

What is good about this approach?

  • Easy to read
  • Highest Data to ink ratio
  • Very easy to construct

What is bad?

  • Too simple
  • Leaves the finer details out

If you are reading this post on email or feed reader, please click here to access the poll.

More Resources and Tutorials

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26 Responses to “Get busy this weekend, with OR XOR AND [Excel Homework]”

  1. Stef@n says:

    first solution for AND
    The two numbers are in A1 and B1
    = SUBSTITUTE (SUBSTITUTE (A1+B1*9*9, 9, 1), 8, 0)
    regards
    Stef@n

  2. Stef@n says:

    next solution for OR
    =1*SUBSTITUTE (A1+A2;2;1)

    regards
    Stef@n

  3. Stef@n says:

    last solution for XOR
    =1*SUBSTITUTE (A1+A2;2;0)

    regards
    Stef@n

  4. Irvine says:

    Or you could make use of the VBA logical operators!

    Define the following as custom functions
    Public Function BITXOR(x As Long, y As Long)
    BITXOR = x Xor y
    End Function

    Public Function BITAND(x As Long, y As Long)
    BITAND = x And y
    End Function

    Public Function BITOR(x As Long, y As Long)
    BITOR = x Or y
    End Function

    and then use them such:
    A B =BITOR(A,B) =BITAND(A,B) =BITXOR(A,B)
    0101 0100 0101 0100 0001

  5. Stef@n says:

    an another solution for AND
    =1*SUBSTITUTE (SUBSTITUTE (A1+A2;1;0);2;1)

    note:
    the binary numbers are in A1 and A2 !
    regards
    Stef@n

  6. Shair says:

    I was obviously playing hooky at the beach during the bit-wise math lesson – you lost me at “Understanding bit-wise operations” 🙂

  7. Anup Agarwal says:

    After looking at the above solutions, I find my solution silly, but still:

    For the following formulae,
    Row 1: headers,
    Row 2: OR
    Row 3: AND
    Row 4: XOR

    Column 1: Input 1
    Column 2: Input 2
    Column 3: Result

    OR
    {=SUM(IF(MID(A2,ROW(OFFSET($A$1,0,0,LEN(A2),1)),1)+MID(B2,ROW(OFFSET($A$1,0,0,LEN(B2),1)),1)>0,1,0)*10^(LEN(A2)-ROW(OFFSET($A$1,0,0,LEN(B2),1))))}

    AND
    {=SUM(IF(MID(A3,ROW(OFFSET($A$1,0,0,LEN(A3),1)),1)+MID(B3,ROW(OFFSET($A$1,0,0,LEN(B3),1)),1)=2,1,0)*10^(LEN(A3)-ROW(OFFSET($A$1,0,0,LEN(B3),1))))}

    XOR
    {=SUM(IF(MID(A4,ROW(OFFSET($A$1,0,0,LEN(A4),1)),1)+MID(B4,ROW(OFFSET($A$1,0,0,LEN(B4),1)),1)=1,1,0)*10^(LEN(A4)-ROW(OFFSET($A$1,0,0,LEN(B4),1))))}

  8. Hui... says:

    @Anup
    Please don't consider your solution silly
    Firstly, You are the 3rd person to submit an answer
    Secondly, The best formula/function is the one that you know and understand.

  9. Michael Azer says:

    I think I have a very tedious solution, which people won't have the patience to do except in small numbers.

    I used the same problem setup as "Anup Agarwal"

    AND =IF(AND(MID(B2,1,1)="1",MID(C2,1,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(AND(MID(B2,2,1)="1",MID(C2,2,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(AND(MID(B2,3,1)="1",MID(C2,3,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(AND(MID(B2,4,1)="1",MID(C2,4,1)="1"),1,0)

    OR =IF(OR(MID(B3,1,1)="1",MID(C3,1,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(OR(MID(B3,2,1)="1",MID(C3,2,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(OR(MID(B3,3,1)="1",MID(C3,3,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(OR(MID(B3,4,1)="1",MID(C3,4,1)="1"),1,0)

    =IF(OR(AND(MID(B4,1,1)="1",MID(C4,1,1)="0"),AND(MID(B4,1,1)="0",MID(C4,1,1)="1")),1,0)&IF(OR(AND(MID(B4,2,1)="1",MID(C4,2,1)="0"),AND(MID(B4,2,1)="0",MID(C4,2,1)="1")),1,0)&IF(OR(AND(MID(B4,3,1)="1",MID(C4,3,1)="0"),AND(MID(B4,3,1)="0",MID(C4,3,1)="1")),1,0)&IF(OR(AND(MID(B4,4,1)="1",MID(C4,4,1)="0"),AND(MID(B4,4,1)="0",MID(C4,4,1)="1")),1,0)

  10. Michael Azer says:

    Sorry my last post was totally messed up

    AND
    =IF(AND(MID(B2,1,1)="1",MID(C2,1,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(AND(MID(B2,2,1)="1",MID(C2,2,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(AND(MID(B2,3,1)="1",MID(C2,3,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(AND(MID(B2,4,1)="1",MID(C2,4,1)="1"),1,0)
    OR
    =IF(OR(MID(B3,1,1)="1",MID(C3,1,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(OR(MID(B3,2,1)="1",MID(C3,2,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(OR(MID(B3,3,1)="1",MID(C3,3,1)="1"),1,0)&IF(OR(MID(B3,4,1)="1",MID(C3,4,1)="1"),1,0)
    XOR
    =IF(OR(AND(MID(B4,1,1)="1",MID(C4,1,1)="0"),AND(MID(B4,1,1)="0",MID(C4,1,1)="1")),1,0)&IF(OR(AND(MID(B4,2,1)="1",MID(C4,2,1)="0"),AND(MID(B4,2,1)="0",MID(C4,2,1)="1")),1,0)&IF(OR(AND(MID(B4,3,1)="1",MID(C4,3,1)="0"),AND(MID(B4,3,1)="0",MID(C4,3,1)="1")),1,0)&IF(OR(AND(MID(B4,4,1)="1",MID(C4,4,1)="0"),AND(MID(B4,4,1)="0",MID(C4,4,1)="1")),1,0)

  11. Stephen says:

    @stefan,
    I just couldn't get your solutions to work.
    01010101010 + 01010101110 = 02020210120
    what am i doing wrong?

  12. Stephen says:

    @anup
    ...I got yours to work!

  13. Rich says:

    @Stephen - I get the same, but Stef@an's second solution for AND does work (at least for the test cases I used)

  14. Stef@n says:

    @ Stephen / Rich
    yes , you are right ! - only this works:

    OR
    =1*SUBSTITUTE (A1+A2;2;1)
    XOR
    =1*SUBSTITUTE (A1+A2;2;0)
    AND
    =1*SUBSTITUTE (SUBSTITUTE (A1+A2;1;0);2;1)

  15. Michael Azer says:

    @Stef@n - You're answer is really smart, I never knew about the substitute function before. Great Work!

  16. Stef@n says:

    Thx Michael 🙂
    yes - it is simply easy 😉
    if you add 1 and 1 - excel calculate 2
    and then you have to substitute the 2 - new = 0 respectively 1

  17. Rob says:

    Here is a good resource for people wanting to learn binary and hexadecimal.
    http://justwebware.com/bitwise/bitwise.html

  18. Kyle McGhee says:

    Three that weren't asked for:
    NOT
    =SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A1+A2,0,3),1,0),3,1)

    EQV
    =SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A1+A2,0,3),2,3),1,0),3,1)

    IMP
    =SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A1+SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A2,0,3),1,0),3,1),0,1),2,0)

    (was using Daniel Ferry's bitwise file to verify against)

  19. Q says:

    @ Kyle

    Not only takes one parameter and inverts 0 -1 and 1-0

    Took out the +A2
    =SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A1,0,3),1,0),3,1)

  20. Great solutions!

    I'll add two:

    NAND =1*SUBSTITUTE (A1+A2,2,0)

    NOR=1*SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE (SUBSTITUTE(A1+A2,0,2),1,0),2,1)

  21. John Fuller says:

    This will work for binary numbers of any size (although the text format mask will have to have as many zeroes as there are digits in the longest addend)

    Assume binary #s are in C35 & C36, then add and format as text in C37:
    =TEXT(C36+C35,"000000000000")
    -sum- = 101112211112

    AND - SUBSTITUTE 0s for 1s in -sum-, then sub 1s for 2s
    =SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(C37,"1","0"),"2","1")

    OR - sub 1s for 2s in -sum-
    =SUBSTITUTE(C37,"2","1")

    XOR - sub 0s for 2s in -sum-
    =SUBSTITUTE(C37,"2","0")

  22. Shane says:

    Just wandered by:

    AND:

    =SUBSTITUTE(A1+A2,1,0)/2

  23. Ronald Vonk says:

    Hi Chandoo,

    I am not (yet) really into bitwise calculation, but I am looking for a way to speed up my vba calculation with very big numbers. Would is ben convenient to use bitwise notation for this?

    Best regards,

    Ronald (the Netherlands)
    p.s. love your country!

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