This is a guest post by Myles Arnott from Clarity Consultancy Services – UK.
- Part 1: Introduction & overview
- Part 2: Dynamic Charts in the Dashboard
- Part 3: VBA behind the Dynamic Dashboard a simple example
- Part 4: Pulling it all together
In this the final post we are going to pull it all together to create our final Dynamic Dashboard model.
The dynamic dashboard VBA example can be downloaded here [Mirror]
Firstly a quick recap of what we have covered so far:
- How to structure a workbook with user friendly front page and user notes
- Using a structured inputs or driver page
- How to create a range of dynamic charts
- Some simple VBA to move items around a page based on the user’s parameters
Ok, so lets get to work to combine all of the above into a workable model. There is a lot to cover here so as Chandoo often says, may be time to grab a coffee!
First things first you need to bring all of the charts that you want to have in your dashboard into the spreadsheet and label up the tabs accordingly.
Homepage
I find that for a model that has multiple tabs a homepage allows any user to easily understand the contents and easily navigate to the page they are interested in.
Obviously you can make the homepage look entirely how you want. I use this design as my standard layout with a relevant title, business logo and contents structured to suit the model.
I use the free form shape to draw my boxes. This can be a bit fiddly to achieve but I think that the end result is worth the effort.
Links are achieved by inserting hyperlinks. I choose to reformat these to change the color and remove the underlining. [related: create a table of contents sheet in excel]
The help sheet is courtesy of John Walkenbach. Of all of the possible user note solutions I have encountered this to me offers the simplest and most user friendly approach. I use this in all the models that I develop for clients.
Now on to the central point of the model: The Dynamic Dashboard
There are three key parts to the dashboard, the driver area, the report area and the chart location matrix.
Driver area
This is the user interface which allows the user to hide, view or position a particular chart.
Each title is hyperlinked to the page containing the chart in question. Each location cell is a named range with data validation to control the inputs. I have also added an input message via the data validation function.
The named range relates to the chart eg: Chart one is CH_1, chart 2 is CH_2 etc.
The validation list is based on a named range Position_Range (in the Inputs tab)
The input message is defined in the Input message tab within the validation function menu.
Report area
This is your dashboard, the area to contain your charts. It is simply an area defined and formatted to be the container for the dashboard charts that the user chooses.
The Chart Location Matrix
The entries for this matrix are made in the inputs tab and pull through to the dynamic dashboard tab. Each cell of the matrix in the dynamic dashboard tab is a named range. These named ranges are referenced in the VBA. I will discuss this later in the post.
This matrix defines where each chart will be placed. Getting these positioning references correct takes a little bit of trial and error but is pretty simple to achieve.
Now onto the images themselves. The images that the model moves around are pictures of the charts in each tab. This is achieved using the camera tool. Chandoo has written an excellent post on the camera tool so I will not repeat that here.
I have then renamed the images by selecting the image and changing the name in the name box.
As you can see the chart below is called Chart4. You will also notice that in the formula bar it refers to =’CH4′!$B$2:$F$17. This is the image that it has taken from the CH4 tab.
The final step is to add a hyperlink back to the chart page so that the user can navigate to the relevant page by clicking on the image.
So now we have a structured model, images of our charts and everything in place to put in the VBA.
The VBA
The basics for the VBA were covered in part 3 – VBA behind the Dynamic Dashboard a simple example.
Location
Unlike in part 3, as we would like to avoid clicking on a button every time we want to update the layout, the VBA is located in the Dynamic Dashboard sheet itself rather than in a module.
The event target
It important to restrict the event function to specific cells. This stops the macro running completely every time any cell is changed in the sheet. In this case I have restricted it to the cells where the user chooses the chart’s position.
Variables
We need to define the variable in the VBA so that Excel knows where to put the images we have moved.
To do this we firstly define the variables and then link them to the named ranges in the chart location matrix.
To manage the loop code I have also used “I” as the current iteration and “ix” as the last desired iteration.
Moving the charts
This is based on the VBA used in part three of the post.
Loop
To avoid having to rewrite the code for each chart we instead use a loop that continues to loop as long as the current iteration “I” is less than the last desired iteration “ix”. I.e. loop for the eight charts and then stop.
The variable “I” is also passed to the position part of the VBA to select the relevant image to move:
ActiveSheet.Shapes(“chart” & i).Select
Ok So here is the full code:
Dim Topleft_T As Integer
Dim Topleft_L As Integer
Dim MiddleLeft_T As Integer
Dim MiddleLeft_L As Integer
Dim BottomLeft_T As Integer
Dim BottomLeft_L As Integer
Dim Topright_T As Integer
Dim Topright_L As Integer
Dim Middleright_T As Integer
Dim Middleright_L As Integer
Dim Bottomright_T As Integer
Dim Bottomright_L As Integer
Dim Hide_T As Integer
Dim Hide_L As Integer
Dim View_T As Integer
Dim View_L As Integer
Dim i As Integer
Dim ix As Integer
‘Define the position values (based on named ranges)
Topleft_T = Range(“Top_Left_T”).Value
Topleft_L = Range(“Top_Left_L”).Value
MiddleLeft_T = Range(“Middle_left_T”).Value
MiddleLeft_L = Range(“Middle_left_L”).Value
BottomLeft_T = Range(“Bottom_left_T”).Value
BottomLeft_L = Range(“Bottom_left_L”).Value
Topright_T = Range(“Top_right_T”).Value
Topright_L = Range(“Top_right_L”).Value
Middleright_T = Range(“Middle_right_T”).Value
Middleright_L = Range(“Middle_right_L”).Value
Bottomright_T = Range(“Bottom_right_T”).Value
Bottomright_L = Range(“Bottom_right_L”).Value
View_T = Range(“View_T”).Value
View_L = Range(“View_L”).Value
Hide_T = Range(“Hide_T”).Value
Hide_L = Range(“Hide_L”).Value
‘Set ix to be the number of charts
ix = 8
‘reset i
i = 1
”Select the shape and position it
Do While i <= ix
ActiveSheet.Shapes(“chart” & i).Select
If UCase(Range(“CH_” & i).Value) = “TOP LEFT” Then
Selection.ShapeRange.Top = Topleft_T
Selection.ShapeRange.Left = Topleft_L
ElseIf UCase(Range(“CH_” & i).Value) = “MIDDLE LEFT” Then
Selection.ShapeRange.Top = MiddleLeft_T
Selection.ShapeRange.Left = MiddleLeft_L
ElseIf UCase(Range(“CH_” & i).Value) = “BOTTOM LEFT” Then
Selection.ShapeRange.Top = BottomLeft_T
Selection.ShapeRange.Left = BottomLeft_L
ElseIf UCase(Range(“CH_” & i).Value) = “TOP RIGHT” Then
Selection.ShapeRange.Top = Topright_T
Selection.ShapeRange.Left = Topright_L
ElseIf UCase(Range(“CH_” & i).Value) = “MIDDLE RIGHT” Then
Selection.ShapeRange.Top = Middleright_T
Selection.ShapeRange.Left = Middleright_L
ElseIf UCase(Range(“CH_” & i).Value) = “BOTTOM RIGHT” Then
Selection.ShapeRange.Top = Bottomright_T
Selection.ShapeRange.Left = Bottomright_L
ElseIf UCase(Range(“CH_” & i).Value) = “VIEW” Then
Selection.ShapeRange.Top = View_T
Selection.ShapeRange.Left = View_L
ElseIf UCase(Range(“CH_” & i).Value) = “HIDE” Then
Selection.ShapeRange.Top = Hide_T
Selection.ShapeRange.Left = Hide_L
End If
i = i + 1
Loop
End If
End Sub
Closing Thoughts
We now have a model that provides pertinent summary information to aid management decision making. It combines a high level of flexibility within each report and then allows the user to choose which reports to include and where to position them. This allows an enormous amount of flexibility over the message to be communicated.
I hope you enjoyed the post and please feel free to make comments and suggestions on the model.
Finally a huge thank you for Chandoo for agreeing to host this post for me.
Download the complete dashboard
Go ahead and download the dashboard excel file. The dynamic dashboard can be downloaded here [mirror, ZIP Version]
It works on Excel 2007 and above. You need to enable macros and links to make it work.
Added by Chandoo:
Myles has taken various important concepts like Microcharts, form controls, macros, camera snapshot, formulas etc and combined all these to create a truly outstanding dashboard. I am honored to feature his ideas and implementation here on PHD. I have learned several valuable tricks while exploring his dashboard. I am sure you would too.
If you like this tutorial please say thanks to Myles.
31 Responses to “Beautiful Budget vs. Actual chart to make your boss love you”
Would be considerably easier just to have a table with the variance shown.
On Step 3, how do you "Add budget and actual values to the chart again"?
There are a few ways to do it.
Easy:
1) Copy just the numbers from both columns (Select, CTRL+C)
2) Select the chart and hit CTRL+V to paste. This adds them to chart.
Traditional:
1) Right click on chart and go to "select data..."
2) From the dialog, click on "Add" button and add one series at a time.
One more way to accomplish it is just select the columns into chart. Press Ctrl+C and then press Ctrl+V
Regards
Neeraj Kumar Agarwal
Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to work for me in Excel 2010. The "Var 1" and "Var 2" columns cannot combine two fonts to display the symbol and the figure side-by-side.
Secondly, there is no option to Click on “Value from cells” option when formatting the label options. The only options provided are Series Name, Category Name or Value.
@TheQ47... the emoji font also has normal English letters, so if you use that font, then you should be ok. I am assuming your computer doesn't have that font or hasn't been upgraded for emoji support.
Reg. Excel 2010, you can manually link each label to a cell value. Just select one label at a time (click on labels, wait a second, click on an individual label) and press = and link it to the label var 1 or var 2.
I am using excel 2010, please explain how to apply Step 12
Regards
Neeraj Kumar Agarwal
Hi Neeraj,
"Value from cells" option is only available in Excel 2013 or above. In older versions, you have to manually adjust the label value by linking each label seperately.
Read this please: https://chandoo.org/wp/change-data-labels-in-charts/
Sir, you are just awesome.
Your creativity has no limit.
Regards
Neeraj Kumar Agarwal
Hi Chandoo,
I just found your website, and really love it. It helps me a lot to be an Excel expert 😉
Currently I am facing with a problem at step 11:
Var1 Var2
D30%
A5%
B0%
B4%
B7%
C10%
C13%
D27%
I42%
Though at mapping table, I used windings, here formula uses calibra. How I can change it? I am able to change only the whole cell. In this case numbers will be Windings too.
Thanks for your help!
Hi Mariann... Welcome to Chandoo.org and thanks for your comment.
If you wanted to use symbols from wingdings and combine them with % numbers, then you need to setup two labels. One with symbol, in wingdings font and another with value in normal font. Just add the same series again to the chart, make it invisible, add labels. You may need to adjust the alignment / position of label so everything is visible.
[…] firs article explains how you can enhance your charts with symbols. You can simply insert any supported symbol into your data and charts. To some extend you can […]
You're a good person, thank you to share your knowledge with us, I will try to do in my work
Great visualization of variance. My question is that is this possible in powerbi?
How would you go about it?
HELLO, WHY CANT I FIND VALUES FOR LABELS IN EXCEL 2013
Dear chanddo sir,
What to do if we have dynamic range for Chart. How this will work. can you able to make the same thing works on dynamic range.
Sir Chandoo,
Good Day!
First, I'd like to say that I am very grateful for your work and for sharing all these things with us.
I tried to do this chart but it seems that the symbols don't work with text (abs(var%),"0%") unless we keep the Windings font style.
The problem is, it converts the text into symbol as well and you wont see the 0% anymore. I'm using Windows 7.
WOW - Segoe UI Emoji
This is the greatest discovery for me this month 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
Here's my two-cents:
https://wmfexcel.com/2019/02/17/a-compelling-chart-in-three-minutes/
Sir This is awesome chart, and very easy to made because of your way to explain is very simple , everyone can do. Thank you
one problem i am facing, I hv made this chart , but when i am inserting data table to chart it is showing two times , how can i resolve this
in this chart when i am adding new month data for example first i made this chart jan to mar but when i add data for the apr month graphs updated automatically but labels are missing for that new month
Hi Renuka,
Please make sure the formulas for labels are also calculated for extra months. Just drag down the series and set label range to appropriate address.
So I am playing with the Actual chart here - but amounts are bigger than your - you have 600 as Budget - my budget is 104,000 - is there a way to shorten that I am unaware of
thank you - I LOVE YOUR SITE
Thanks for the tips and tricks on Excel. In the Planned versus Actual chart examples, you use multiple values (ex. multiple Categories in above). How can this be done when we have only 1 set of values? For example if I have only this:
Planned Actual
SOW Budget 417480 367551
How can I create a single bar chart like the one above?
Thank you Chandoo.
This one is just perfect for my Quarterly Review presentation on Operational Budget against Actual Performance for the Hospital I'm currently working with.
Just Subscribed today (10 minutes ago)
Is there a way to make the table of data into a pivot table to be able to add a slicer for the graph due to many different categories and months?
Hi, I tried to modify you template with something appropriate for me, and I found a problem. this template was modified by me started with excel 2010, then 2016 and finally 2019. Same thing - somehow appear an error - or didn't show the emoticons for positive percentage or doubled the emoticons for some rows. I suspect to be from excel. if is need it I can sand you my xlsx for study. Please help if you can.
Hi Chandoo,
Could you please check the Var Formula in Step1. You have mentioned budget-actual and when i did this i got different values but when reversed like actual-budget i got the actual value what you have demonstrated in step1.
Please share your view.
This is a great chart (budget vs. actual). However, in trying recreate it, I cannot color in the UP Down bars individually, and they all become formatted with the same color. I'm using Office 365. Look forward to the feedback.
Thanks.
Dan
pls explain in detail step 7
While in the Excel sheet you have used following formula for Var
Var = Actual - Budget
But
in the note, you have written
Var = Budget - Actual
Good Presentation and Data information.thank you so much chandoo.