Creating Basic Visualization
Introduction to visual elements: Bar charts, Pie charts, Line charts, Tables, Tree map, Decomposition tree, Matrix and KPI.
Welcome to this section of our Power BI course! Here, we will introduce you to the most common visual elements like bar charts, pie charts, line charts, Tables, Tree map, Decomposition tree, Matrix and KPI and more. These visuals help you represent data in a way that’s easy to understand and analyze. We need to understand what options we have in order to present the best possible data story.
This section will cover the following visualizations:
• Bar and Column Charts
• Pie Charts
• Line Charts
• Tables
• Tree Map Visual
• Decomposition Tree
• Matrix
• KPI
Bar and Column Charts
• What is a Bar Chart? A bar chart uses horizontal or vertical bars to show comparisons between
different categories or groups.
• When to Use? Use bar charts when you want to compare Fact table data with dimensions, like
sales by product, revenue by region, or the number of students in different courses, if you have 15
courses then bar charts are better.
• Example: Comparing Sales for different products.
1. In the Report View, Drag and drop a visualization (Bar chart) from the Visualizations pane.
2. Drag fields from the Fields pane to the visualization’s fields (Product name, Sales Amount).
2. Pie Charts
• What is a Pie Chart? A pie chart is a circular chart divided into slices to show the proportions of different categories within a whole.
• When to Use? Use pie charts when you want to show the percentage or proportion of each category, like the market share of different companies or the percentage of students in different departments. Pie charts work best when there are only a few categories (2–6). If you have too many categories, the chart can get confusing.
• Example: Showing the Sales amount by Category.
3. Line Charts
• What is a Line Chart? A line chart displays data points connected by a line, showing trends over time.
• When to Use? Use line charts to track changes over time, such as stock prices, temperature changes, or website traffic.
• Example: Showing a company’s Sales over the last few months.
4. Tables
• What is a Table? A table displays data in rows and columns, similar to a spreadsheet.
• When to Use? Use tables to show detailed data, such as sales transactions, customer lists, or inventory records.
• Example: Displaying a list of sales ID, Customer name, category, product name, quantity, sales amount.
4. Tree Map Visual
A Tree Map is a chart that shows data as rectangles. Each rectangle represents a value, and the size of the rectangle shows how big or small the value is compared to others.
When to Use a Tree Map? To compare many items at once. To see which items are the most or least important.
Example: Imagine you are showing sales of different products. In a tree map:
5. Decomposition Tree
The Decomposition Tree allows you to break down a big number (like total sales) into smaller parts, showing you how different factors contribute to the total.
Example:
Imagine you have the following data tables:
Let’s say you want to understand how much each region contributed to the total sales.
1. Start with Total Sales: In the Decomposition Tree, the first value is your total sales.
2. Break Down by Region: You can break down the total sales by Region (from the Customer Table). Now, you see how much each region (North, South, East, West) contributed to the total sales.
3. Break Down by Product: Next, you can break it down further by Product (from the Product Table).
6.Matrix
The Matrix is like a table with rows and columns, but it summarizes data. It is very useful when you want to display data like totals or averages in a structured format.
When to Use? To display totals and compare data across categories. To summarize data in rows and columns for easy comparison.
Example:
Suppose you want to see the total sales for each product in different regions.
1. Rows: You place the Product Name (from the Product Table) in the rows.
2. Columns: You place the Region (from the Customer Table) in the columns.
3. Values: You place the Sales Amount (from the Sales Table) in the values.
Your Matrix might look like this:
KPI:
KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator. In Power BI, KPIs are used to show how well something is performing compared to a goal or target. They help you quickly see if things are going well or if something needs attention.
Card Visual in Power BI
A Card Visual in Power BI is used to display a single number or value. It’s perfect for showing key figures, like total sales, total profits, or the number of customers.
Example of a KPI: Let’s say you have a Current Sales: $50,988.
1. In the Report View, Drag and drop a visualization (Card) from the Visualizations pane.
2. Drag fields from the Fields pane to the visualization’s fields (e.g., Sales Amount).
More Visualizations:
Here is a simple table having some more visualizations that explains when to use different types of charts in Power BI, along with easy examples:
| Chart Type | When to Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Area Chart | To show changes over time, especially for trends. | Track how the number of website visitors changes each month. |
| Stacked Area Chart | To show changes over time and compare multiple categories. | Show how sales of three products change over the year. |
| Ribbon Chart | To show how rankings or categories change over time. | Show how top-selling products change from month to month. |
| Waterfall Chart | To explain how a starting value is affected by changes. | Show how profit changes with revenue, expenses, and taxes. |
| Funnel Chart | To show a process with stages and how values decrease. | Show how many customers go from visiting the site to buying. |
| Scatter Chart | To compare two numerical values and see patterns. | Compare student grades to hours spent studying. |
| Doughnut Chart | To compare parts of a whole, like a pie chart but with a hole. | Show what percentage of total sales comes from each product. |
| Map | To show data based on geographical locations. | Show sales by country or city on a map. |
| Gauge | To show progress toward a goal. | Show how close you are to reaching a sales target. |
| Q&A Visual | To type a question and get a visual answer from your data. | Ask, “What are the total sales for this year?” and get a chart. |
