Home > Articles > Home & Office Computing

This chapter is from the book

Viewing Grouped Data with Stacked Charts

Stacked charts—whether column, bar, or area charts—have features similar to their unstacked counterparts. An obvious difference is that the data displayed in a stacked chart is shown cumulatively.

With stacked charts, you can set the transparency of the data series. The transparency slider shown in Figure 5.9 applies to all the data series. The series cannot be individually set.

Figure 5.9

Figure 5.9 Adjusting the transparency for your data series.

Transparency plays a more important role with a regular area chart than it does with a stacked chart because valuable data can be easily obscured with a regular area chart (see the lower-left corner of Figure 5.10).

Figure 5.10

Figure 5.10 Various ways to represent data by using the Area Chart and Stacked Area Chart components.

Xcelsius 2008 has the Stacked Area Chart component, but there is no option to automatically represent data based on its relative contribution, as shown in the top-right corner of Figure 5.10. To do this, you need to prepare your spreadsheet data so that the data is represented in terms of its relative contribution. Mathematically, this is straightforward. In the current example, you simply divide each of the values for the department by the total quantity for the quarter. Because the quantities for the quarters add up to 100%, the maximum limit for all the quarters is the fixed value 1. This is what gives this kind of stacked area chart a horizontal plateau.

You still need to make a further adjustment to the scaling for your Y-axis. Use of auto-scaling will push the maximum value on the Y-axis to a number greater than 1, to something like 1.2. To regain control, you need to set your scale to manual and peg the minimum and maximum values to 0 and 1, respectively (see Figure 5.11). In addition, you have the choice of setting the number of divisions along the Y-axis or the size of the division. Both of these approaches are equally suited because your scale is fixed.

Figure 5.11

Figure 5.11 Setting the chart scaling for displaying relative contribution.

Avoiding Needless Data Series Congestion

bestpractices.jpg

One of the challenges of presenting information in a dashboard setting is that graphical displays can easily get overcrowded with data. The List Builder component allows a dashboard user to cope with this situation by enabling him or her to select which data series to display and in which order.

The Stacked Area Chart component is useful, but it is even more useful when combined with other components, such as the List Builder component (see Figure 5.12).

Figure 5.12

Figure 5.12 A List Builder component lets you choose which data series to plot on a display.

In the bottom-right corner of Figure 5.12, the data is displayed in tabular form, using the List View component. List View components have several benefits:

  • They are scrollable.
  • The column widths are individually adjustable.
  • You can sort the data on any column by clicking the appropriate column header. You can toggle between sorting in ascending order and sorting in descending order.

List Builder components are great for when you want to cherry-pick certain pieces of information. Say, for instance, that you want to compare the sales performance of two managers.

There are circumstances in which you may want to see the totality of all the data but want to lump the smaller data values into one big group. You might, for example, be analyzing sales and want to see the detail for your four or five biggest customers and also see the combined total of all the remaining customers. Having a slider to magically set the dividing line between showing details and grouping the remainder would be very convenient.

Dynamically grouping or lumping data is especially important when it comes to Pie Chart components. Figure 5.13 shows an example of this.

Figure 5.13

Figure 5.13 Dynamic data grouping lets you control how much detail you want to see.

The framework for implementing dynamic data grouping is straightforward. In your underlying spreadsheet, start by having your data sorted from largest to smallest (see column C in Figure 5.14).

Figure 5.14

Figure 5.14 Populate columns F and G with only the data needed based on the input cell.

Place an input cell (see cell C4 in Figure 5.14) whose value is set by a slider or some other selector-style component, such as a Dial or Spinner control.

Calculate the total amount of sales or whatever you are displaying for the top-tier customers or items displayed in your Pie Chart component (see cell C2 in Figure 5.14). This is based on the value in the input cell, as set by your slider- or selector-style component. In this example, subtract the top-tier sales from the total sales to get the sales for “all others.”

Populate a portion of the spreadsheet (such as columns F and G) with information needed for the Pie Chart component. You can use a formula like this:

=IF(A10<=$C$4,C10,"")

where cell C4 is the location of the input cell that is set by the slider.

Drilling Down with Pie Charts

bestpractices.jpg

What good is having lots of data if you can’t get to the underlying details? The quantity of sales in the previous example may be annual sales, which is composed of monthly data. It would be convenient to examine the breakdown of sales on a month-by-month basis. This is accomplished using the drill down feature that is built into many of the Xcelsius 2008 visual components.

In your Pie Chart component’s properties panel, go to the Drill Down subtab of the Behaviors tab. Click the Enable Drill Down check box (see Figure 5.15). You need to specify whether you want to drill down based on position, value, row, column, or status list. You need to specify a destination range and, depending on the type of drill down, a source range. For this example, you want to choose the position—that is, which slice of the pie you want to examine—so it is not necessary to specify the source range.

Figure 5.15

Figure 5.15 Setting drill down options.

You also need to tell Xcelsius whether you want to drill down whenever the mouse passes over a slice in the Pie Chart component or when the slice is clicked.

Because you only need to find out which slice is selected for drill down, the destination range is a single cell, namely the position. It would be a good idea to set the location for this nearby the input cell set by the slider (in this example, cell C5).

To get the drill down data, it’s just a matter of extracting the particular row from the monthly data based on the input cell (C5 in this example). You could display the retrieved data on a Bar Chart component.

There’s just one problem: If your tabular data follows a left-to-right chronologic sequence (such as January, February, March, and so on), the bar chart displays the most recent month at the top. The result is a sequence of dates that reads downward as December, November, October, and so on. To have the bar chart show a January, February, March, and so on sequence, you need to reverse the retrieved data (see Figure 5.16).

Figure 5.16

Figure 5.16 Notice that the extracted data needs to go from right to left.

When this is corrected, the dashboard renders as expected (see Figure 5.17).

Figure 5.17

Figure 5.17 A Pie Chart component with drill down to the monthly data.

As a little extra added touch, you can create a miniature isolated slice, as shown in the upper-right inset of the bar chart in Figure 5.18. This helps provide feedback on what slice of the pie chart is being revealed in detail within the bar chart.

Figure 5.18

Figure 5.18 XY charts displaying representative demographic data.

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020