Chart Type Overview

Question 1

Column Charts

Answer 1

• Good for representing categories
• Best used when they are less than 10 data points
• Best for categories with shorter labels

Question 2

How is a bar chart different than a column chart?

Answer 2

The bars are horizontal rather than vertical

Question 3

When is a bar chart useful?

Answer 3

• Larger quantities
• Categories with lengthy labels

Question 4

When is a line chart useful?

Answer 4

When showing over time
- Trends
- Patterns
- Fluctuations in data

When using many data points

Just writing a long sentence to left justify

Question 5

How are area charts similar to line charts?

Answer 5

They are simply line charts with the area below the chart filled in with a color

Question 6

What is the difference between an area chart and a line chart?

Answer 6

A line chart typically focuses on a trend whereas an area chart emphasizes the magnitude of the change.

Question 7

What are area charts useful for?

Answer 7

Good at portraying part to whole

Question 8

Example of use for an Area chart

Answer 8

Regional sales represented by an area chart can help stakeholders intuitively understand and compare the degree each product region contributed to total sales for each month.

Question 9

What is a stacked area chart?

Answer 9

• A variant of the area chart called a stacked area chart, where the data points from multiple categories are stacked on top of one another.
• This can be useful when emphasizing the total across several categories.
• For example, you could use a stacked area chart to illustrate the total orders over a period and demonstrate how each product region contributes to the total.

Question 10

When is a pie chart useful?

Answer 10

• When you want to portray data as a proportion of a whole
• When there are not so many categories that the pie chart is made up of a bunch of tiny slices. In that scenario a bar chart might be best.

Question 11

When to use a table

Answer 11

When you need to see detailed data

Question 12

What are combo charts?

Answer 12

• Line and stacked column chart
• Line and clustered column chart

Question 13

When would a line and stacked column chart be useful?

Answer 13

• A total across the series of data and how each individual part contributes to the total.
• Example, you could create a line and stacked column chart for the sales team, using columns to visualize total monthly sales, each stacked by different product regions, and a line representing the order quantity.

Question 14

When would a line and clustered column chart be useful?

Answer 14

• To track and compare different metrics over the same period.
• Example: you might have columns representing the sales of each product region by month, with a line indicating the average order quantity across all regions

Question 15

How is a treemap chart similar to a pie or donut chart?

Answer 15

• It is useful for illustrating proportions of a whole.

Question 16

Why might you use a treemap instead of a pie or donut?

Answer 16

It may display a larger number of categories in your data without being as cramped in a donut or pie chart, making it easier for users to read.

Question 17

What is a data well?

Answer 17

It is where you drag the various columns to for each of your charts.

Question 18

What is another way to populate your chart with columns, instead of dragging the columns to the data well?

Answer 18

• Simply click on each column you are interested in and PowerBI will automatically place it in the appropriate box in the data well. It will decide what should go in legend, x axis, y axis, etc.
• If you don’t like the assignments Power BI made, just move the fields around in the data well.

Question 19

How can you drill down in a chart?

Answer 19

For example,
- Month in the Category section of the data well
- Underneath Month put Order Status in the Category section of the data well.
- Now if you click on the drill button on the chart, you can drill down on month to see how the order status for that month is broken out.

Question 20

What kind of data do Treemaps represent?

Answer 20

Hierarchical data

Question 21

What is a KPI

Answer 21

• Quantifiable measurements that help an organization gauge its performance over time.
• These indicators are related to the organization’s critical success factors and are often tied to strategic objectives
• KPIs serve as a navigational tool that helps a company determine whether it is on the right track to achieving its goals.