Best chart to show contribution to total value?

[PmlChile]

Hello, first post here.

What would you use as a chart in excel to show contribution to total value ?

I have 45 millions US$ for "Third-Parties Total Cost"

I have 50 different services (or "contract number" that sums 45 millions ), I want to show % or values of each contract and i'm looking a fancy way to show. Stacked bar could do it but i'm thinking something to impress my boss? a pareto chart also.

thank for your suggestions

 

[Chihiro]

Stacked bar could do it but i'm thinking something to impress my boss?

In my opinion you are going about it from wrong direction.

For the visual, you should always think... what does it add to the data? Does it help tell a compelling story based on data?

Generally speaking I'd recommend following principles outlined by Edward Tufte (though I don't always follow it myself )

Principles of Graphical integrity:

1. The representation of numbers, as physically measured on the surface of the graph itself, should be directly proportional to the numerical quantities represented
2. Clear, detailed and thorough labeling should be used to defeat graphical distortion and ambiguity.Write out explanations of the data on the graph itself. Label important events in the data.
3. Show data variation, not design variation.
4. In time-series displays of money, deflated and standardized units of monetary measurement are nearly always better than nominal units.
5. The number of information carrying (variable) dimensions depicted should not exceed the number of dimensions in the data. Graphics must not quote data out of context.

Principles of Data-Ink

1. Above all else show data.
2. Maximize the data-ink ratio.
3. Erase non-data-ink.
4. Erase redundant data-ink.
5. Revise and edit

Remember, when creating data visualization, you are not promoting yourself, but the data and the story it tells.

If you need specific help on your data set. I'd recommend that you upload sample workbook.

 

[r1c1]

Hello, first post here.

What would you use as a chart in excel to show contribution to total value ?

I have 45 millions US$ for "Third-Parties Total Cost"

I have 50 different services (or "contract number" that sums 45 millions ), I want to show % or values of each contract and i'm looking a fancy way to show. Stacked bar could do it but i'm thinking something to impress my boss? a pareto chart also.

thank for your suggestions

Follow what @Chihiro said.

If you need some inspiration, here are few things you could try.

• Make a pareto chart - show 20% contracts that contribute 80% (or most) amount and combine others to a single column "Others"
• Show contracts in descending order of value in either a table (with some conditional formatting) or column charts
• Try Treemap chart, see if it provides any value or looks like a bunch of lego blocks.
• Whatever you do, don't make a 50 sliced pie or donut chart. In fact don't make a 50 of any chart unless it's a table.

Good luck.

 

[Krishh]

Personally I use Sunburst if i have more than 2 layers of contributions lets say Revenue=Apple/Samsung=Apple-XR/XS/X, Samsung-S10/N10/S9 etc. In case you have only 1 layer like at brands level or at category level or at location level please use pie of pie (to accommodate high and low data distribution for high level of data dispersion or donuts chart in case data population are not highly dispersed.

End result should be less of design but more of quick observation ...