In this post, I would like to show how you can display changes between dates.
I tweeted this gif on my twitter but I think the best way is to present the solution on the Superstore dataset so you can easily replicate it too.
STEP #1: Show sales on a bar chart per month
- After you connect to the Superstore data, add Order Date to Columns. Depends on what you want to show, select a Continous Date. I used Month Continous Date.
- Add Sales to Rows
- Add Year(Order Date) to Filter
STEP #2: Create Fake Date field
Fake Date
DATETRUNC(‘month’, [Order Date])+15
Why did I add 15? On average, 1 month is 30 days long so in order for the variance line to be between 2 months, the fake x-axis must be shifted by 15 days (30/2).
Note:
If you have years:
DATETRUNC(‘year’, [Order Date])+182
If your date is an integer data type:
[Date]+0.5
- Put this Fake Date next to the Month (Order Date) field in Columns
- Select Dual Axis
- Synchronize it
- Set Gantt bar on the second Mark
- Then hide the axis of Fake Date
STEP #3: Calculate the variance between dates
Variance
(ZN(SUM([Sales])) – LOOKUP(ZN(SUM([Sales])), 1))*(-1)
- Put the calculation to Size of the Gantt bar
- You can use this calculation or Variance% calculation on Label
- Plus you can use color to highlight the direction of change
That’s it! I think it’s surprising how quick, simple, and powerful solution it is.
If you have any questions, reach out on Twitter @IvettAlexa
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