Preparation time : 10 minutes
Level : Intermediate
Objective: Building a Waterfall Chart (or Waterfall Chart)
How to turn a simple chart into a bar...
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... in a more powerful visualization adapted to cumulative data?
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Popular with businesses, the Waterfall graph makes it easy to visualize the steps that lead to a final result, such as changes in revenue or costs. In this article, we'll show you how to create this type of chart on Tableau Desktop.
Data required
- 1 data set, such as the accelerator Profit insights by Devoteam,
- 1 key metric, such as profits or sales,
- 1 dimension, such as categories.
Step 1: Preparing the data
- Drag the selected dimension into the Colonne, for example the field Product class,
- Swipe the field Profit Customer in the tab Etiquette of the landmark,
- Click on the measure, here Profit Customer, then select Fast calculation > Cumulative total,
- Drag and drop this field in the Data panel and name this new field Cumulative total,
- Swipe the field Cumulative total in Lines.
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Step 2: Building the Waterfall Chart
- Select type Gant diagram in the frame of reference,
- Place the measurement Profit Customer in the Mark Size tab,
- Reverse the columns in the field by preceding them with a “-”,
- Trier the Product dimension classified by Nested,
- Add a Total per line by dragging and dropping the value Totals from the Analysis to tab Overall Total Lines.
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Step 3: Refining the chart
- Swipe the field Profit Customer in the tab Etiquette of the landmark,
- Create a calculated field and name it colour,
- Type this formula:”[Profit Customer] >0”,
- Drag this field into the tab colour of the landmark,
- Adjust colors if necessary,
- Format the graph.
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Advice
Here is a list of tips for building a waterfall chart:
- If your data includes positive and negative values, use colors to make it easier to read.
- Don't forget to add the Overall total because it is the end point that represents the culmination of cumulative contributions, it must therefore be highlighted to highlight the overall impact.
