Waffles = 😋
Power BI = ⚡
Waffle chart in Power BI = 😍
So let’s make some waffle charts in Power BI. They can be a fun way to show single numbers in your dashboards.
Waffle charts in Power BI - Step by step tutorial
Step 0: Create the necessary measure to visualize
Let’s say you want to visualize a measure [Preferred Value] in the waffle chart.
Step 1: Create a numbers table
To make waffles, we need flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. I am kidding, we won’t be baking any real ones here. We just need a disconnected table to make waffles.
Our table needs to have numbers 1 to 100, row & column values. You can either type one in Excel and bring it over or create one in Power Query. The final table shall look like this:
Numbers table for waffle chart
Index has numbers 1 to 100, Row has 1 ten times, 2 ten times... and Col has numbers 1 to 10 repeated.
You can create this in Excel or Make it in Power Query too.
Step 2: Add measure to harvest the number
Create a simple [number] measure with the formula =SUM(Numbers[Index]). This will simply return Index value when used in a visual with all row & col combinations.
Step 3: Add measure to show Waffle Filled portion
Now that we have both [preferred value] and [number] measures, let’s create the final one. I call it [Waffle Filled].
[Waffle Filled]:=IF([Preferred Value]<[Number],BLANK(),1)
This measure simply returns 1 or BLANK() depending on the values.
Step 4: Let’s make that waffle – Insert a Scatter Chart
Ok, we have prepped enough. The iron is hot, let's whip up the waffle.
- Insert a scatter chart
- Add Numbers[Row] to Y axis
- Add Numbers[Col] to X axis
- Add [Waffle Filled] to size
- Click on X axis and choose "Do not summarize" option. Do the same for Y axis too.
Our waffle chart at this stage
Not edible or comparable...
Step 5: Format the waffle chart
Don’t freak out. This is not a radiation infested waffle. It just needs a bit of whacking around the edges.
- Fix the axis: Set axis limits from 0.5 to 10.5 for both vertical (Y) and horizontal (X) axis.
- Change the shape: Go to shapes format setting of the scatter chart and change the shape to square. Also set the size to -20 (try a few different values to see which works for you)
- Remove axis, axis labels, grid lines and anything else you don’t want.
Voila, our waffle is ready to eat.
Watch the recipe for waffle charts in Power BI
If you burn your fingers while cooking these yummy waffles in Power BI, watch below tutorial video. You will learn,
- How to make the numbers table
- Creation of measures
- Waffle chart with scatter plot
- Waffle Table (2 dimensional waffles) with Matrix visual!!!
Go ahead and watch it below, or on my YouTube Channel.
Download Waffle Chart Power BI Template
Click here to download the Waffle chart Template for Power BI. The file has necessary measures for waffle chart and waffle table. Go ahead and play with it.
Don't go crazy with waffles
Just as too many waffles can lead to diabetes, excessive usage of this visual can make your reports hard to read. Just use one or two to get the conversation going. If you end up making a dozen of them, then you have gone too far. Consider a stacked column chart or something else.
Your thoughts...
I had such fun creating this chart in Power BI. What do you think about Waffle Charts? Are you planning to m(b)ake a few for next report? Share your thoughts in comments below.
8 Responses to “Pivot Tables from large data-sets – 5 examples”
Do you have links to any sites that can provide free, large, test data sets. Both large in diversity and large in total number of rows.
Good question Ron. I suggest checking out kaggle.com, data.world or create your own with randbetween(). You can also get a complex business data-set from Microsoft Power BI website. It is contoso retail data.
Hi Chandoo,
I work with large data sets all the time (80-200MB files with 100Ks of rows and 20-40 columns) and I've taken a few steps to reduce the size (20-60MB) so they can better shared and work more quickly. These steps include: creating custom calculations in the pivot instead of having additional data columns, deleting the data tab and saving as an xlsb. I've even tried indexmatch instead of vlookup--although I'm not sure that saved much. Are there any other tricks to further reduce the file size? thanks, Steve
Hi Steve,
Good tips on how to reduce the file size and / or process time. Another thing I would definitely try is to use Data Model to load the data rather than keep it in the file. You would be,
1. connect to source data file thru Power Query
2. filter away any columns / rows that are not needed
3. load the data to model
4. make pivots from it
This would reduce the file size while providing all the answers you need.
Give it a try. See this video for some help - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u7bpysO3FQ
Normally when Excel processes data it utilizes all four cores on a processor. Is it true that Excel reduces to only using two cores When calculating tables? Same issue if there were two cores present, it would reduce to one in a table?
I ask because, I have personally noticed when i use tables the data is much slower than if I would have filtered it. I like tables for obvious reasons when working with datasets. Is this true.
John:
I don't know if it is true that Excel Table processing only uses 2 threads/cores, but it is entirely possible. The program has to be enabled to handle multiple parallel threads. Excel Lists/Tables were added long ago, at a time when 2 processes was a reasonable upper limit. And, it could be that there simply is no way to program table processing to use more than 2 threads at a time...
When I've got a large data set, I will set my Excel priority to High thru Task Manager to allow it to use more available processing. Never use RealTime priority or you're completely locked up until Excel finishes.
That is a good tip Jen...