Dynamic Charts

Introduction

Small multiple charts is a term popularised by Edward Tufte. They allow comparing data series as they are repeated for different members.

In XLCubed they are useful for visualising large amounts of data, as hundreds of data points can be plotted and compared easily.

This allows users to find trends and outliers in the data more easily than by trying to study a large table of data.

Video demonstration

For a tutorial, try watching our Small Multiple Videos

UI

As mentioned previously it can be difficult to understand outliers, trends etc when the data is presented as just numbers and text as can be seen below. Using Small Multiples with this example below will guide you through creating meaningful information from the data.

As you can see the desired end point is a much easier way of viewing the data

Let's work through an example.

Category – defines the Category (X Axis) within each individual Chart, in this case a Trend over Time

The Series defines the number of data series to be charted.

In order to be able to visualise a simple trend this would be easier with Lines rather than Columns. Use the Chart Type on the Options panel of the Task Pane to change the chart style.

By dragging the Region hierarchy onto columns, and then selecting Children of All, we can split data into separate charts at Region level.

We can additionally split this by Channel by dragging the Channel hierarchy onto rows,

Now we have a graph for each Region by Sales Channel. The Scales (Y axis) are shared so that the charts can be easily compared.

More detail is available for each chart by double clicking on the individual chart eg Direct Sales / Australia Pacific, where the data is unclear because of low numbers can be further explored like this. The scale is automatically adjusted to give a clearer picture of the data. Use the back button to return to the higher level.

Manipulating the chart to show Each Product by Channel, simply drag the Products from the Series to the Rows Below you can clearly see the effect of swapping the Product (Rows) and the Channel (Series)

Additionally you can drive the data selection by using Slicers or Excel ranges.

Here we have defined a Slicer on Time at Year level and used it to drive the Categories.

Insert a Small Multiples chart by using the Small Multiples option on the ribbon, or the Insert -> Small Multiples Menu option.

After inserting a Small Multiples Chart the above windows will be displayed. The Small Multiples Charts - Task Pane is automatically displayed on the right of the sheet. The Task Pane can also be accessed from the right mouse button pop-up menu.

The Position and Size of the Small Multiple Chart object can be determined by using the

and controls.

The top left ( and which replaces when Move/Size is turned off ) symbols can be used to navigate through the Small Multiple Charts like a book.

To delete the Small Multiple chart use the right mouse button pop-up menu -> Delete option.

To Move, Size or Close the Task Pane, drag it using the window bar or use the drop down menu on