
- CRACKED FORECAST BAR HOW TO
- CRACKED FORECAST BAR SERIES
- CRACKED FORECAST BAR DOWNLOAD
Change the Maximum amount from 500 to 450 on the Y Axis.In the legend, delete the Max Invisible and Max Outline.
Remove the horizontal line on the X axis. Change the fill color of the Actual column to a light gray.
These are all optional, according to your taste:
CRACKED FORECAST BAR HOW TO
See the video if you don't know how to do these things. To make things just a bit cleaner, you can do a little more formatting.
CRACKED FORECAST BAR SERIES
Using the slider for the Series Overlap, slide the indicator all the way to the right so that it reaches 100%. This is the one that looks like three columns. Click on the Series Option icon on the Format Data Series pane. Now that we've formatted the columns to be the way we want them, we want to overlap the columns so that they are essentially combined into one column per data point. For the Max Outline column, choose No fill, Solid line, a light gray color, and select a dash type, if desired.Īt this point, your chart should look similar to this: Overlaying the Columns. Make the width the same as the widest width you've used so far. This essentially makes the border invisible. Moving on to the Max Invisible column, again choose No fill, but this time, make the border color the same as the chart background. If you have more than one target column, follow the same procedure as in Step 4, but use a different color. Select the Fill & Line button, which looks like a tipping paint can. That will bring up the Format Data Series pane. We will leave the bar that shows the actuals alone, but moving on to the first target bar, right-click on it and then choose Format Data Series. Remove the gridlines by clicking on any one of the lines so that they are selected and hit the Delete key. I will detail how mine is formatted in the section below, but for now, your chart should be looking something like this: With the chart selected, go to the Chart Design tab on the Ribbon and click the button that says Switch Row/Column. You'll notice that the data points are listed along the X axis, and we want the regions listed there instead. This opens a drop-down menu, and you can select 2D Clustered Column Chart. From the Insert tab on the Ribbon, click on the icon that shows a column chart. Select all of the data in your table, including the header row and column. I recommend you watch the video as it will likely help you to follow along. This is the exact same data as the Max Invisible column, and we use it to create that nice perforated border that you see above. This ensures that the invisible line won't overlap the largest number in your data set. In my example, I added 50, but if you are working with larger numbers you might need to add a number in the thousands or millions. Add a cushion to the formula so that none of your target lines are at the very top of the chart. This is used to cover the vertical lines of the target bars in the column chart. In this column, a simple formula using the MAX function returns the largest value in your data range. In my example, I include both budget and forecast numbers, so I have a total of five columns in my data set. You can have more than one set of target numbers. These are represented by the horizontal lines.
These are the gray filled bars that you see in the chart above. Start with Your Dataįor this type of chart, you are going to need at least four columns of data. The chart can also be quickly converted between a column (vertical) or bar (horizontal) chart, which makes it more versatile than some other solutions. However, using only the primary axis will prevent errors and reduce maintenance as the data changes in the future. There are alternative solutions that use a secondary axis. The advantage of this technique is that it only uses the primary axis. Here's an example: Bar Chart that displays Actual versus Budget and Forecast In this tutorial, I'll explain how to format a column or bar chart to achieve a cleaner look (and impress the boss). While you can compare these numbers side by side, it looks a whole lot cleaner to overlay these numbers, especially when there are lots of target goals to fit onto the chart. Column Chart that displays Actual versus Budget and Forecast When the boss wants to know if we've hit our goals for the month (or quarter, or year, etc.) it's always a good idea to give him or her a visual report in the form of a chart that shows each goal in relation to the actual numbers achieved.
CRACKED FORECAST BAR DOWNLOAD
Actual Vs Targets Chart.xlsx Download Charting Actuals vs.