Hello folks. 50% of 2020 is behind us. Let me share a few updates with you all. First check out this awesome double rainbow outside our house on 30th June.
MVP
I am thrilled and humbled to tell you that I have been re-awarded Microsoft MVP for 2020 year. This is my 12th year in the MVP program and it is all possible only because of you and your continued support to Chandoo.org. Thank you.
Lock down and back to normal…
Just like many other countries around the world, New Zealand entered lock down during March 2020. These restrictions gradually eased in May & June 2020 and we are finally back to normal life here. Thanks to excellent disease management by the local authorities & government here, the lock down was sharp, quick and effective.
I hope you are staying safe and healthy.
Power BI Play Date – July 2nd week
The next batch of Power BI Play Date is coming soon. I have originally planned to run this in March 2020, but kept moving the goal posts. But the course is finally launching in 2nd week of July. Check out the program details here and add your name to waiting list if you are keen.
Remote training for corporates
Are you looking to run Power BI or Advanced Excel training to your team? I am now available for 100% remote training. Find out more details here and get in touch if you want to discuss.
Excel Virtually Global conference
A bunch of Excel people are getting together and running 48hours of non stop Excel virtual conference. All the proceeds from this go to charities. I will be speaking on “how to make checklists and trackers using Excel” in my native language – Telugu.
Please click here for details and sign up. It is tremendous value.
Mangoes…
As you know Chandoo.org family moved from India to New Zealand in 2016. One of the most difficult parts of the move is giving up mangoes. While you can purchase mangoes in the supermarkets here, the sweet & pulpy Indian varieties like banganapally, alfonso or kesar are hard to to get. 🙁
With lock downs & restrictions all over the world, things looked even more ominous.
Well, I am glad to tell you that the gastronomical cravings have been sated. We bought two boxes of banganapally mangoes sometime ago and micro-dosing on them everyday. Yummy!!!
Here is me sniffing a mango before carefully stuffing it back in the box 😀
And oh yea, I have a beard now.
That is all for now. We will revert back to usual doses of Excel & Power BI goodness from Monday. Enjoy your weekend.
18 Responses to “Best Charts to Compare Actual Values with Targets – What is your take?”
Great post. I can't vote, though, because the answer I want to put down is "it depends". As with all visualisations, you've got to take into account your audience, your purpose, technical skills, where it will be viewed, etc.
I'm with Andy: It depends. Some I would use, some I might use, some I won't touch with a barge pole.
Naturally I have comments 🙂
The dial gauge, though familiar, is less easy to read than a linear type of chart (thermometer or bullet). It's really no better than the traffic lights, because all it can really tell you is which category the point falls in: red, yellow, or green.
By the same token, pie charts are so familiar, people don't know they can't read them. Remember how long it takes kids to learn to read an analog clock?
Bullet charts don't show trends.
With any of the charts that have a filled component and a marker or ine component, it makes more sense to use the filled component (area/ column) for target, and the lines or markers for actual.
[...] Best Charts to Compare Actual values with Targets (or Budgets … [...]
I voted for #6 even though I agree with the other comments that it depends.
The majority of the votes are for the #2, thermometer chart. I still have yet to understand what happens when you are above plan/goal, which was brought up in yesterday's post.
Also, I agree with Jon in that it would be better to flip the series and make the filled part the target or goal and the line or marker the actual.
I am also a fan of using text when appropriate if the data is among other metrics in a type of dashboard. Calling it out by saying actual and % achievement is a good option.
Another "it depends" vote. Are you just looking at one or are you comparing a number of targets with actuals? You didn't include a text box. The problem with sentences is that they can get lost in a page of gray text. A text box can call attention to the numbers and line them up effectively.
I'm with Jon: "Some I would use, some I might use, some I won’t touch with a barge pole" and I'm surprised that some of your readers voted for the last group.
Jon says:
With any of the charts that have a filled component and a marker or line component, it makes more sense to use the filled component (area/ column) for target, and the lines or markers for actual.
Why does this make more sense? I like 6 the way it is, although I would use a heavy dash for the plan/target marker.
"It depends" is also my take. What I usually try to drill into my clients dashboard design is the fu ndamental difference between spot results (am I on target for this month) and long term trends.. I always try to create 3 different set of graphs to represent real perormance:
- spot results vs objectives
- cumulative results vs objectives
- long-term trend (moving average) mostly) to see where we're going
[...] Best Charts to Compare Actual Values with Targets – What is your take? (tags: excel charts) [...]
[...] Related: Charting Principles, How to compare actual values with budgets [...]
[...] Excel Charting Alternatives to compare values [...]
Jon says:
With any of the charts that have a filled component and a marker or line component, it makes more sense to use the filled component (area/ column) for target, and the lines or markers for actual.
Why does this make more sense? I like 6 the way it is, although I would use a heavy dash for the plan/target marker.
I totally agree, Bob. I would normally favour a line for the target and a column for the actual, you can see quite easily then which columns break through the line, then.
[...] best charts to compare actual values with targets — den Status mal anders zeigen, z. B. als Tacho [...]
Thermometer charts: "Not appropriate when actual values exceed targets" - this is easily solved by making the "mercury" portion a different color from the border, then you can clearly see where the expected range ends and the actual values keep going.
People seem to knock gauges quite a bit in dashboarding, but trying to show comparison of realtime data between operating sites and targets for each site can easily be done with a bank of gauges that have the optimal operating points at 12 o'clock.
The human eye is great at pattern stripping, and any deviation of a gauge from the expected 12 position will quickly register with an operator and attract his attention. Using a colour background, or meter edge, will also indicate the sensitivity of a particular site.
[…] Best charts to compare actual with target values […]
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I am wondering how will the plotting work, for some of the targets which may have been achieved before time. E.g. for the month of Jul the target was 226 and the actual was 219. So the chart will show a deficit in meeting the target by 7 points but what if this 7 may have been completed earlier in month of June. So ideally it not a deficit.