When comparing 2 sets of data, one question we always ask is,
- How is first set of numbers different from second set?
A classic example of this is, lets say you are comparing productivity figures of your company with industry averages. Merely seeing both your series as lines (or columns etc.) is not going to tell you the full story. But if we can shade our productivity line in red or green when it is under or above industry average… now that would be awesome! Something like below:
The above chart tells us where we are lagging and where we are good. It will let us ask poking questions about the gap and find answers (may be removing coffee machine from 2nd floor last May was a bad idea!)
So how do we create such a chart?
PS: This chart and article is inspired from a question asked by arobbins & excellent solution provided by Hui here.
Creating a shaded line chart in Excel – step by step tutorial
1. Place your data in Excel
Lay out your data like this.
2. Add 3 extra columns – min, lower, upper
If you look at the chart closely, you will realize it is a collection of 4 sets of data. See this illustration to understand.
Write formulas to load values in to min, lower (green) & upper (red) series.
- Min is minimum of productivity and ind. average
- Lower (green) is difference between productivity and ind. average (or NA() if negative)
- Upper (red) is difference between ind. average and productivity (or NA() if negative)
3. Create a stacked area chart from this data
Select all the 4 series (productivity, min, lower & upper) and create a stacked area chart.
This is how it looks.
4. Format the productivity series as line
Right click on productivity series and using “Change series chart type” option, change it to line chart.
5. Make the min series transparent
Select min series and fill it with “No color”
6. Format lower & upper in green & red colors respectively
And you are done!
Optional: adjust series formatting, add grid lines etc.
As a bonus, you can add vertical grid lines (so that we can understand the red green changes easily) and format the horizontal axis. You can also move around the legend and remove the words “min” from it.
This will make the chart look really awesome.
Is this the only way to compare productivity with industry averages?
Although our shaded line chart is an excellent way to visualize differences between 2 series of data, I kept thinking if there are other ways to compare this.
After a bit of doodling & drawing inspiration from various charts I have seen earlier, here are 4 more options we can consider.
Option 1 – Productivity vs. variance wrt Ind. average
This chart shows the variance (industry average-productity) at bottom so that we can easily look at overall trend & understand how we fared with respect to industry.
To create this chart, you just have to calculate the variance in a separate column and create a column & line chart combination (column for variance & line for productivity). Once such a chart is ready, go to fill options for the column chart and check invert colors if negative option and set up green & red colors!
Option 2 – Productivity vs. better or worse indicators
This chart just shows whether productivity surpassed industry average or not in a boolean state (green for yes, red for no)
This chart is a combination of line & column chart with same principle as above (invert if negative option).
Option 2 (made using Excel 2010 Sparklines)
You can create this chart very easily with Excel 2010 sparklines. Line chart for productivity and win-loss chart for better or worse indicators.
Option 3 – Collapsed Productivity vs. variance wrt Ind. average
Since the color is already telling us whether variance is negative or positive, we can collapse both to same side of axis (thus saving some space & reducing redundant information).
To create this chart, we need two series of data – positive variance & negative variance as 2 sets of areas on the chart.
Option 4 – Collapsed Productivity vs. better or worse indicators
Well, this is same as option 2 but collapsed.
Download Example workbook
Click here to download the Excel workbook containing all these examples. You can also see detailed steps for making the shaded line chart in it.
How do you compare one series with another?
I must confess that I never made shaded line chart until today. For smaller data sets (<15 items), I usually compare by making column charts or thermo-meter charts. These are easy to make and easy to understand. For larger data sets, I try to make dynamic charts so that I can choose which series to include in comparison or make indexed charts.
Now that I learned how to set up shaded line charts, I will try them in my upcoming projects & consulting assignments to see how they fare.
What about you? Which types of charts do you use to compare one series with another? Please share your techniques & implementations using comments. I would love to learn more from you.
Compare often? Check out these charts
If you compare apples to apples (or to an occasional bushel of oranges) for living, then check out these charting tutorials & techniques.
WARNING: After learning these techniques, Suddenly you will become incomparably awesome in your office.
27 Responses to “9 Box grid for talent mapping – HR for Excel – Template & Explanation”
Great stuff! I can understand how to add a slicer to the pivot table, but how do you implement the departmental selector on the 'Filter' formula scheme?
Just saw this on your Youtube channel, and it’s areat idea...!
An easy way to overcome the "ugliness" of pivot tables and get it to look nice (in the format of the Output sheet), would be to simply build a sheet with the nice map at the top, a pivot underneath it and a slicer next to formatted map and then reference each of the 9 cells in the formatted map to the “related” cell in the Pivot.
Keep up the good work!
/Claus
Thanks Claus. That is a great idea 🙂
Hi Chandoo,
This is great! Curious how to make additional columns operate the same as the Department column (ex. have a "manager column") that would allow you to sort a 9 box by manager, area, or team in addition to department?
Feel free to email me if needed! mfry01@minnetronixmedical.com
Happy New Year
Madison Fry
I am curious about the smae thing. I would like to populate the 9 box with other views as well by adding additional columns. IE., I would like to add location, region, etc. Thank you.
This is great, thank you!
How can i see the whole data set of all the teams in the output table. Need a formula that will pick up all the employees
Hello,
Love the template. Thank you. Question - the drop down to pick a department on the Output tab does not seem to work on the downloadable template. Am I doing something incorrectly?
Thank you!
Hi Heather... Thank you. I am using Excel 365 to make the calculations. If you are using an older version of Excel, then the drop-down filter won't work.
Hi
I was able to follow your 9 box grid and modified based my needs. However, you tutorial did not show how to you create the filter for the "Pick a department. Can you kindly share how to create that filter that updated the grid. Thank you.
I am working on this project but I am struggling with the data validation for the department. I copy the worksheets data entry and output as the managers want to see different tabs for each managers.
I updated the source reference for each tab but It does not update the grid based on the new source. The list was updated but it does not populate the grid based on the performance and potential listed.
In addition the hyperlink Update Data and View Talent Map no longer works. Can you please help me.
I keep getting this error message in the pivot table:
This formula is invalid or incomplete: 'The expression is not valid or appears to be incomplete. Please review and correct the expression.
The following syntax error occurred during parsing: Invalid token, Line 1, Offset 14, ‘.
Hi, I used your 9-box excel template with excel 365. First off, thank you so very much. It is incredibly helpful!! My only question is that the boxes aren't big enough for all of the employees (specifically the middle which we call 'Core Employee'). Is there a way to make the boxes larger? Even though it is in excel, I am not able to increase row height (like I normally do in a speadsheet). Any ideas? Thanks again, Jody
Hi Chandoo,
Thanks for the great content. Re. 9 box grid, pls advise how do I increase the size of the box to accommodate more names?
Hi Chandoo,
I figured it out. Excel 365 has the format row height on the ribbon. Thank you
Merci Chandoo pour le modèle proposé,
j'ai une question et un souhait est il possible de développer davantage ce modèle en insérant la photo de chaque employé.
Hi Chandoo!
Great tutorial and tool, thank you! Your tutorial didn't include how to create additional filters on the "Output" tab. Could you please share how you did it?
Can this be done exactly in google sheets?
Hi Chandoo,
Thanks for the video it was really helpful. Is there any way to multi select the dropdown to display multiple or all departments rather than just one at once?
Hello Prish
I have Microsoft 365 and I am struggling to make the boxes larger/unable to increase row height; any idea how you made this work? Specifically in the Output tab where the map is?
Many thanks
Hello Jody, I have Microsoft 365 and I am struggling to make the boxes larger/unable to increase row height; any idea how you made this work? Specifically in the Output tab where the map is? Many thanks
Is there a way to change the 9 box wording descriptions, i.e. Work Horses, to our own internal langauge?
You can edit the file. The descriptions are textboxes.
Hi Chandoo, this is awesome and has worked perfectly. Due to a big organisation the 9 box grid on the output file is too small. I tried adjusting using the row/width ribbon under the format ribbon however it doesn't seem to work. Is there an easier way to adjust this?
Thanks!
When I drag the formula, it doesn't work, and the order I use with the data changes. In the beginning, the order is it is " candidates," " potential," and " performance," but when it goes to another column, it is " Potential," Performance," and "Candidates."Can you help me? Thank you very much, sending love from vietnam
Hi- I am working on the 9 grid project and I am trying to expand the box since I have over 100 names on a few of the columns. How do I do that?
Hi, Thank you this is great stuff and really useful.
As well as department as demonstrated on your clip, how can I display all candidates on the grid at once?
Many thanks in advance