Chapter 5: Charts

Spreadsheet-Based Decision Support Systems

Prof. Name name@email.comPosition (123) 456-7890University Name

2

Overview

5.1 Introduction 5.2 Creating Charts with Chart Wizard 5.3 Working with Chart Options 5.4 Creating Dynamic Charts 5.5 Summary

3

Introduction

Creating a chart using the Chart Wizard

Customizing charts using various chart options

Creating dynamic charts

4

Creating Charts with the Chart Wizard

Charts are used to take data from a table and transform it into a graphical illustration

They are useful for displaying data patterns or results

To create a chart, we will use the Chart Wizard– Insert > Chart from menu

– icon from standard toolbar

5

The Chart Wizard

There are four main steps in using the Chart Wizard:– Step 1: Chart Type

– Step 2: Source Data

– Step 3: Chart Options

– Step 4: Chart Location

Chart Type = bar graph, scattered graph, pie chart, etc Source Data = data range or various series Chart Options = title, axes, legend, gridlines, etc Chart Location = object or chart sheet

6

Figure 5.1

Table of data = Number Sold and Revenue Generated from various Car Models

We create two charts: bar graph of Number Sold and pie chart of Revenue Generated

7

Step 1: Chart Type

Each chart type has a set of chart sub-types.

First we will select Column as our chart type.

We can now choose a sub type that is either a 2D or 3D– Clustered Column– Stacked Column– 100% Stacked

Column

8

Step 2: Source Data

Source Data can be defined by a Data Range or with Series

Data Range is the main data table we initially highlighted to be graphed.– Rows = comparison is made

among rows of data from the table

– Columns = comparison is made among columns of data from the table

9

Step 2: Source Data (cont’d)

Series are the rows or columns of data from the table which are being compared.

Series can be – Added

– Removed

– Named

10

Step 3: Chart Options

Tabs of the Chart Options step include:– Titles

– Axes

– Gridlines

– Legend

– Data Labels

– Data Table

11

Step 3: Chart Options (cont’d)

Titles options include chart, category (X) axis, and value (Y) axis titles

12

Step 3: Chart Options (cont’d)

Axes options include Category (X) and Value (Y) axes– Automatic = default

– Category = any grouping of axes values

– Time-scale = dates or time units

13

Step 3: Chart Options (cont’d)

Gridlines options include Category (X) and Value (Y) axes– Major gridlines

– Minor gridlines

14

Step 3: Chart Options (cont’d)

Legend options include showing or hiding the legend, and placement of the legend

15

Step 3: Chart Options (cont’d)

Data Labels options include showing or hiding data values and labels

16

Step 3: Chart Options (cont’d)

Data Table options include showing or hiding the data table

17

Step 4: Chart Location

The chart can be completed as– A new chart sheet; name is given

– An object in a current sheet; name of sheet is selected

18

Figure 5.6

From the bar graph we see that the Aco3500 sold the most cars

19

Figure 5.7

We repeat the Chart Wizard steps to create the pie chart of Revenue Generated

We see that the Cam3200 generated the most revenue

20

Working with Chart Options

After creating a chart using the Chart Wizard, we can return to any of the Wizard steps by simply right-clicking on the chart.

The Format Chart Area option also allows us to modify the general patterns, font, and properties of the chart. – Format Plot Area

– Format Data Series

– Format Axis

21

Figure 5.9

Data table shows plant growth based on minerals added or removed from the ground

Growth Minerals-1000 -10-512 -8-343 -7-216 -6-125 -5-64 -4-27 -3-8 -2-1 -10 01 18 227 364 4125 5216 6343 7512 81000 10

22

Figures 5.14 and 5.16

Create the chart

Chart Options can be used to switch x and y values for better data analysis Minerals

-1500

-1000

-500

0

500

1000

1500

-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15

23

Creating Dynamic Charts

A chart is linked directly to the Data Range specified in the Source Data step of the Chart Wizard.

If any points in this range of data are modified, the chart is automatically updated to reflect a new corresponding data point.

There will be three main Excel concepts used to create a dynamic chart: – Defining names

– OFFSET function

– COUNT function

24

Dynamic Charts (cont)

Create some range names using the OFFSET and COUNT functions and set the Series of the chart to these dynamic ranges.

– =OFFSET(initial_data_location, 0, 0, COUNT(entire_column), 1)

The rows_to_move and columns_to_move parameters are set to 0 because we are only interested in the column in which our reference_cell ( = initial_data_location) is located.

The width is again set to 1, since we are interested only in one column. The height parameter is found using the COUNT function.

– The COUNT function will review the entire column of the relative data and count how many cells have numeric values.

– Thus the height of our range becomes dynamic as the amount of numeric values in the column increases.

25

Figure 5.17

Months and Units Sold may be dynamic values

26

Figure 5.18

The dynamic ranges are created for each column using the OFFSET and COUNT functions

27

Figure 5.19

The Series are set using these dynamic ranges

28

Figure 5.20

The chart is now dynamic

29

Summary

Excel Charts allow you to illustrate your data in order to perform better analysis.

There are four basic steps in the Chart Wizard:– Step 1: Select the Chart Type and options.

– Step 2: Verify or change the Data Range and define all Series.

– Step 3: Determine the Chart Options.

– Step 4: Choose the location of the chart.

A chart can be modified after it is created by right-clicking on the chart or different parts of the chart. You can change basic settings as well as formatting.

A dynamic chart can be created using the OFFSET and COUNT functions to create dynamic ranges used as Series in the Source Data.

30

Additional Links

(place links here)