Do you use dynamic items, a concept introduced in TIBCO Spotfire 4.0 and discussed in a previous tip of the week? These items, that is, sparklines, icons and calculated values, are available in Graphical Tables and Text Areas intended to provide dynamic information in a condensed format. In TIBCO Spotfire 4.5, a fourth dynamic item is obtainable; the bullet graph.
A bullet graph offers a visual comparison of two values on an axis. One value is represented by a horizontal bar along the axis, and the other value by a line placed vertically to it.
Let us give a hint of how bullet graphs can be useful to, at a quick glance, get an overview of the current situation. Do remember that the bullet graphs are dynamic, that is, respond to changes like filtering!
Below you have sparkline columns in a graphical table presenting on a monthly basis Sales and Cost respectively for a number of different fruits and vegetables.
Assume you are interested in comparing total Sales and Cost figures over the period, but only on a very sketchy level. Instead of displaying and comparing the actual Sales and Cost amounts, which you can do by means of adding a calculated values column, add a bullet graph column! Let the bar in the bullet graph illustrate Sales and the vertical line Cost. (How to add dynamic items to a graphical table is described in the tip of the week titled Information at a Glance with Graphics Tables.)
Open the Bullet Graphs section in the Bullet Graph Settings dialog (in the Graphical Tables Properties dialog, the Axes section, add a Bullet Graph, then select the Bullet Graphs section in the opened Settings dialog). Specify what to display as the bar in the bullet graph via the Calculate values using selector, what to indicate by the line via the Calculate comparative values using selector, and which colors to use:
As you can see in the graphical table below, the resulting bullet graphs tell us Sales exceed Cost for all types of fruit and vegetables. It seems selling all types is moneymaking, and selling bananas generates highest sales amount.
Now let us elaborate this a little bit further. Say, if you consider other expenditures, you have to add 20% to the cost prices to cover up for extra expenses. Is selling all types of fruit and vegetables still profitable? To answer the question, add another bullet graph to the graphical table where the vertical line shows Cost multiplied by 1.2. (To enter the expression, right-click the selector to open the Custom Expressions dialog.)
If you look at the added bullet graph column below, it is obvious at a quick glance you would lose money if selling only bananas, as expenditures and purchase prices are not covered. Instead it seems you should go in for selling more pears!
Finally, bullet graphs can be added also to text areas in the same way as other dynamic items. Note that in text areas, a scale is added.
To learn more about bullet graphs and other dynamic items, please consider taking any of the Mentored Online Training courses.
