Support Analytics Blog

I borrowed the illustrations below from the latest copy of Information Management in an article by Aaron Hursman.

The first info graphic below shows how the stop light-type chart tends to distract by showing too much.  You can make out the red circle, but since there is so many other colors and circles, it distracts from being able to focus on a few important points.

On the other hand, the graphic below shows how efficient it can be to highlight only exceptions or radical numbers.  The downside is you lose the yellow colored circles that may denote a potential problem.  One solution for this would be to have it interactive where one could select Red, green or yellow.  I know this isn’t a real example, but sticking with the concept, this method can really help to key the audience in on specific areas you want them to focus on.

With the visualization below, you can see how the artificial glare in the pie chart distracts the reader and actually makes it look like it’s a segment or grouping.  Adding “flash” or other bling to charts is rarely a good idea.  One other quick question, where is the slice for “Closeout” in blue?

I would agree that the graph is an improvement over the table below.  However, I’m still not a huge fan of the bullet charts when you put many of them together.  I just find myself going back and forth from the chart to the legend.  Maybe it’s just me with a bad short term memory.  This chart is good for an analyst, but for someone at a higher level it may be too much.  Actually, I favor percentages when illustrating a comparison to prior year or plan.  The takeaway here is that the chart is better than the table, but know your audience and try to add value by pointing out the areas of excellence or concern for the audience.

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A big thank you to Support Analytics’ newest advertising partner – TIBCO Spotfire.  If you are involved with data visualization and read most of the popular blogs and books on the subject, you have probably seen TIBCO Spotfire in action.

With TIBCO Silver Spotfire you can be viewing interactive dashboards in your browser or on an ipad in minutes.  Best of all, they are offering a free trial with no obligation.  Check out there offer by clicking here.  They also run a great blog on business intelligence and analytics called Trends and Outliers.

So I recently stated that I was done blogging about the poor data visualizations in BusinessWeek.   I never said I wouldn’t blog about a good infographic from them.  This post shows my non-biased nature and willingness to forgive and forget.

Here are some of the things that I like about this visualization:

• The shading of the states indicates the amount of funding the state received (darker = more received)
• The fat lines with the circles indicate the routes receiving money
• The dotted lines with circles are for the proposed routes

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This visualization allows me to quickly see where the high speed rails are located and where the future routes may end up.  In creating data visualizations, I really like the shading technique that differentiates between current/historical (actuals) and projected/forecasted/pro forma numbers.  Usually, the projected numbers/bars/columns are shaded a lot lighter.  Anyway, this is my make-nice post with BusinessWeek to highlight that not everything they are publishing is garbage.

Over the last few years, it’s no secret that I’ve pulled some good and poorly designed data visualizations from the BusinessWeek magazine.  Since Bloomberg took over the magazine the chart/graphs and data/info visualizations have declined significantly.

Here’s my promise to the readers of this blog – this will be the last chart that I pull from BusinessWeek because it was poorly designed.  Take a look at the bar chart below that was shown in the October 18/24 issue that I just picked up.  Folks, this isn’t even charting 101, this is a pre-requisite.  A multi series 3-D bar chart, really?  I’m disappointed and they should be embarrassed because they need to be better than what’s shown below.  I probably won’t renew my subscription that I’ve had for at least 5 years, not because of the charts, but because I find less and less interesting articles with each new issue.  Then, throw in the awful charts and my choice is an easy one.

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Tip: Four line graphs for each segment with time on the x-axis would be a much better choice than this even if this one wasn’t in 3-D.  Boring? Maybe.  Effective? Yes.

What better way to start the day then to check up on the Fantasy Football league.  As I checked my team and league standings, noting that I took down an undefeated team this week with the help of Tom Brady and Anquan Boldin, I noticed an article by Dave Richard, Senior Fantasy Writer that utilized Tableau Public.

The interactive data visualization below allows one to see how each player (filter by position) stacks up against the opposing team’s defense each week.

Here is the tracker.  I would love to hear your feedback in terms of if you think this is useful or not.

I can check all of the boxes to just filter by the running backs I have on my team as shown below.  This could help me plan for bye weeks and upcoming matchups. Also, I can quickly see that Hightower and William are both on a bye week at the same time. 

Next, you can see that hover option that gives a forecast of the points the person is expect to get along with the opponent.

Finally, this interactive chart allows a quick comparison between any number of players.  Below you can see my two quarterbacks and for week 6 I may want to go with Cutler because Tom is going against a top rated defense in the Ravens.

It has been no secret that I have been a big fan of BusinessWeek (BW) over the last few years.  Many of the data visualizations have given me material for this blog whether it’s praise or constructive.  Ever since Bloomberg took over the reigns and redesigned the magazine, the data visualizations have been down right terrible.

As you can clearly see below, the charts and graphs went from mediocre to downright awful.  I never would have looked to BW for innovation on the data visualization front like I would The New York Times, but this material should be embarrassing. 

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I get it that this area isn’t the focus for BW, but at least bring it up to par.   Josh, call me and we’ll get this straightened out.

The image below appeared in the redesigned issue of BusinessWeek after Bloomberg acquired the magazine.  I will honestly say that I studied it for a few minutes and read the text a few times before I really understood what the data was showing. 

I think the psychedelic layout of the bubbles adds a confusing element to the visualization that is unnecessary.  There are a bunch of different ways to show this data that would be more straight forward and easier for the readers to understand.

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Do you think the visualization layout/design adds or takes away from the data?

If you ever sat through a live presentation that contained at least one chart, chances are that you have heard the term “eye chart”.  This is an expression used to make light of the fact that people sitting farther than about two feet away probably can’t see or make out the details of the chart due to its size.  Technically, it refers to the chart that is used by physicians or others to judge a person’s vision.  Personally, I’ve heard this term way too much and it prompted this post.

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Over the past few years I have accumulated a bunch of different resources that I find extremely valuable.  Most of these utilities/products are for Excel, but not all of them.  Historically, you could find an ad or link to these products scattered throughout my blog pages.  I have combined all of the affiliate products I support onto one page that is called e-Store.  Now the main pages of this blog should appear less cluttered.

You can find this page by clicking here or by clicking on the e-Store link in the header of this blog.  There are some great utilities, Excel add-in products and e-books that you should check out.  Many of them will make life easier and some will enlighten.  Here is a summary list of what is available.

1. Waterfall Chart (Excel Add-in)
2. Box and Whisker Chart (Excel Add-in)
3. Dot Plot Chart (Excel Add-in)
4. Learn Excel Formulas (Tutorial)
5. Dashboard Reporting with Excel (Tutorial)
6. MicroCharts (Excel Add-in)

If you have any products that you would like to have included on this new page, please contact me.  The links above contain affiliate products that, if purchased, generate a small commission for Support Analytics.

A special thank you goes to Elissa Fink of Tableau for providing me with a demo of Tableau Public.  With being a big fan of Tableau desktop, it should be no surprise that Tableau Public impressed me for many of the same reasons I like the desktop version.

Today is the official release of Tableau Public and the latest version of Tableau Desktop 5.1.  Below you will find some quotes from today’s press release:

SEATTLE, WA, February 11, 2010 – Tableau Software today launched a new product that brings public data to life on the web. Tableau Public, available for free, lets anyone who posts content to the web easily create interactive visualizations and publish them to blogs, web sites, Twitter feeds or anywhere online. Instead of viewing static charts or tables, Tableau Public lets people answer questions and share data interactively on the web.

Current alternatives for sharing data online are clumsy. Typically, data is pasted into tables and lists, or posted as files or catalogs that are difficult to use. Available at Tableaupublic.com, Tableau Public is helping to solve this challenge – bringing data to life on the web for ordinary people. With its interactive visualizations and dashboards, Tableau Public helps people start conversations based on data that is useful, beautiful and shareable. No special plug-ins are required, all that’s needed to see and use the data is a web browser.

In conjunction with the general availability of Tableau Public, the company is also releasing today Version 5.1 of its Tableau Desktop and Tableau Server product suite. Version 5.1 provides more analytic richness, better publishing, and increased scalability and performance. Analytical features include reference bands that provide context to a user’s analysis, bullet charts to evaluate related data, and intelligent data labels to call out the most critical data. New publishing features include rich formatting, streamlined toolbar design, more filter options, and a flexible layout.

I have yet to try out the newest version, 5.1, but I did see that it will have the ability to produce Stephen Few’s famous Bullet Charts without any tricky workarounds.  I can tell you that I’m excited to start using version 5.1.

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