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Krishna Singh Krishna SinghSoftware Engineer at MindtreePublished Oct 4, 2020 Building a chart in Excel in and of itself is not a terribly difficult thing to do. The hard part is getting your mind around which types of chart to use in which situation. Excel has 11 major chart types with variations on each type. For most business dashboards and reports, you will only need a handful of the chart types available in Excel, including the following:
What Are Graphs and Charts in Excel?Charts and graphs elevate your data by providing an easy-to-understand visualization of numeric values. While the terms are often used interchangeably, they are slightly different. Graphs are the most basic way to represent data visually, and typically display data point values over a duration of time. Charts are a bit more complex, as they allow you to compare pieces of a data set relative to the other data in that set. Charts are also considered more visual than graphs, since they often take a different shape than a generic x- and y-axis. People often use charts and graphs in presentations to give management, client, or team members a quick snapshot into progress or results. You can create a chart or graph to represent nearly any kind of quantitative data — doing so will save you the time and frustration of poring through spreadsheets to find relationships and trends. It’s easy to create charts and graphs in Excel, especially since you can also store your data directly in an Excel Workbook, rather than importing data from another program. Excel also has a variety of preset chart and graph types so you can select one that best represents the data relationship(s) you want to highlight. Tired of static spreadsheets? We were, too.Although Microsoft Excel is familiar, you were never meant to manage work with it. See how Excel and Smartsheet compare across five factors: work management, collaboration, visibility, accessibility, and integrations. When to Use Each Chart and Graph Type in Excel Excel offers a large library of chart and graph types to help visually present your data. While multiple chart types might “work” for a given data set, it’s important to select a chart type that best fits with the story you want the data to tell. Of course, you can also add graphical elements to enhance and customize a chart or graph. In Excel 2016, there are five main categories of charts or graphs:
There are also four minor categories. These charts are more use case-specific:
Another popular chart is a waterfall chart, which is essentially a series of column graphs that show positive and negative changes over time. There is no Excel preset for a waterfall chart, but you can download a template to help make the process easier. For a full walkthrough, read What Is a Dashboard?Dashboards track KPIs, metrics, and other data points in one visual, central place. They give you a high-level view of work, helping you make quick decisions and keeping everyone up to date. A dashboard’s visual nature simplifies complex data and provides an at-a-glance view of current status or performance in real time. Dashboards are made up of tables, charts, gauges, and numbers. They can be used in any industry, for almost any purpose. For example, you could make a project dashboard, financial dashboard, marketing dashboard, and more. Excel Dashboards Do’s and Don’tsLet’s first start with the Dont’s! Here are some of the things I recommend you avoid while creating an Excel dashboard. Again these would vary based on your project and stakeholder but are valid in most of the cases.
. Dashboard ExamplesDashboards are a collection of widgets that give you an overview of the reports and metrics you care about most. Dashboards let you monitor many metrics at once, so you can quickly check the health of your accounts or see correlations between different reports. Dashboards are easy to create, customize and share. Others also viewedExplore topicsWhich of the following chart types displays comparisons among individual items or values?Bar charts illustrate comparisons among individual items. In a bar chart, the categories are typically organized along the vertical axis, and the values along the horizontal axis.
Which of the following chart types is used for comparisons among items or comparisons over time quizlet?Which of the following chart types illustrates data changes over a period of time or shows comparisons among items? Column charts illustrate data changes over a period of time or show comparisons among items.
Which of the following chart types is used for comparisons among items for comparison over time?Combination charts are useful for showing a comparison of two measures over time. Combination charts include a column chart and a line chart, both on the same x-axis.
What chart displays comparisons among individual items or values at a specific period of time Excel?Bar − A bar chart illustrates comparisons among individual items.
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