Description
This requirement implies that the vendor provides a set of commonly used charts that can be applied to datasets easily, saving the user or consultant from having to configure them manually. This saves time and effort by providing standard chart-types like pie, bar, and line graphs, which can be directly utilized to customize dashboards using dimensions and data in the system.
Example Use Case
Scenario: A global retail corporation is using CPM software to monitor sales performance across various regions. The company wants to compare the sales data of different products by region, product type, and time period.
Solution: With CPM software supporting pre-defined chart-types, the company can create a dashboard to visualize this data. They can use bar graphs to compare the sales of different products, pie charts to show the share of each region in total sales, and line graphs to track changes in sales over time. This facilitates an accurate and comprehensive view of business performance.
Considerations
Most products offer the basics - bar, pie, line. Nothing exciting there. At minimum, the product should allow you to select one of those charts and visualize it with a particular data set before committing it to a dashboard.
There are countless types of charts with different use cases. Review the following and ask the vendor if they include these if the use case is important to you:
| Chart Type |
Definition |
| Bar Chart |
Used to compare quantities of different categories with vertical bars representing data, where their height is proportional to the represented value. |
| Column Chart |
Displays information in horizontal bars instead of vertical, useful for comparing data across categories. |
| Line Chart |
Shows trends over time or categories with points plotted and connected by lines, making changes over a period clear. |
| Pie Chart |
Represents parts of a whole as slices of a pie, showing what proportion each category contributes to the total. |
| Area Chart |
Like a line chart, but the area under the lines is filled with color or shading to emphasize the magnitude of change over time. |
| Scatter Plot |
Displays values for two variables for a set of data with points, showing the relationship between the variables. |
| Histogram |
Like a bar chart but for continuous data, with bars representing the frequency of data points within ranges or intervals. |
| Bubble Chart |
A variation of a scatter plot where data points are replaced with bubbles, and the size of the bubble represents an additional dimension of the data. |
| Stacked Bar Chart |
Similar to a bar chart but stacks data on top of each other within the bars to show the total and the composition of the total. |
| Radar Chart |
Displays multivariate data in the form of a two-dimensional chart of three or more quantitative variables represented on axes starting from the same point. |
| Heat Map |
Visualizes data through variations in coloring to show patterns, variances, or density of data across a range. |
| Tree Map |
Uses nested rectangles to represent hierarchical data as parts of a whole, with the size of each rectangle proportional to the value it represents. |
| Waterfall Chart |
Shows a running total as values are added or subtracted, useful for understanding how an initial value is affected by intermediate values. Often used in visualizing subscription revenue. |
| Box and Whisker Plot |
Summarizes data using five statistics (the minimum, first quartile, median, third quartile, and maximum), highlighting outliers and data variability. |
| Gantt Chart |
Illustrates a project schedule, showing the start and finish dates of the various elements of a project. |
Questions to Ask a Vendor
- Wide Range of Charts: Does your software offer a wide range of pre-defined chart-types? Can you give some examples?
- Interactive Features: What level of interactivity do the charts on the dashboard offer? Can users manipulate the charts easily?
- Selecting Dataset: How do we select a dataset for the dashboard? Do we pick dimensions and accounts, or create a metric?
