A recommendation is only useful once the chart exists in your report. Every chart in Chart Compass names its visual in Power BI, Tableau and Excel, and lists which field goes where. This lesson shows how to use both.
The two parts you need
On the best fit (and on any alternative you press) look for:
- The fields list. Each well and the column that goes into it: X-axis: Month, Y-axis: Revenue, Target.
- The tools row. Three names side by side, under Power BI, Tableau and Excel.
The well names follow Power BI (X-axis, Y-axis, Legend, Values, Size, Category). In Tableau, X-axis means Columns and Y-axis means Rows; in Excel, they are the horizontal and vertical axes.
In Power BI
Take Budget against actual and Against a target. The best fit is a Bullet chart, with Category: Department, Value: Actual, Target: Budget.
The tools row says Bullet chart (AppSource), or a bar chart with a target line. So you have two ways:
- In the Visualizations pane, choose Get more visuals, search for a bullet chart and add it. Drop Department, Actual and Budget into the wells with the same names.
- Or use the built-in Clustered bar chart with Department on the Y-axis and Actual on the X-axis, then show Budget as a target mark on each bar, for example with Error bars in the Analytics pane, both bounds set to Budget.
When a chart is built in, the name is exactly what you see in the Visualizations pane, such as Line and clustered column chart for the column and line combination. Charts that Power BI does not have, like the box plot and the Sankey diagram, point to an AppSource visual.
In Tableau
Tableau names follow Show Me where it has the chart (Histogram in Show Me, Bullet graph in Show Me), and describe how to build it when it does not (Dual axis, one mark type Bar and one Line for a column and line chart). For a line over time, the tools row reminds you to use a continuous date on Columns, so the months join up into one line.
In Excel
Excel names are menu paths: Insert, Line; Insert, Statistic, Histogram; Insert, Combo. Select your table with its header row first, then follow the path. For charts Excel lacks, the row says how to fake them, such as Bar chart with the target as an error bar for a bullet chart.
A few you will build often
| Chart | Power BI | Tableau | Excel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Line chart | Line chart, with the date on the X-axis | Line (continuous), continuous date on Columns | Insert, Line |
| Column and line | Line and clustered column chart | Dual axis, one Bar and one Line | Insert, Combo |
| Donut chart | Donut chart | Pie with a circle on top (dual axis) | Insert, Pie, Doughnut |
| Histogram | Clustered column chart on a binned column | Histogram in Show Me | Insert, Statistic, Histogram |
| Scatter plot | Scatter chart | A measure on Columns and one on Rows | Insert, Scatter |
| Waterfall | Waterfall chart | Gantt bars with a running total | Insert, Waterfall |
Check it against the drawing
Chart Compass draws the chart with your data. When your version is done, compare the two. If yours looks different, the usual causes are a field in the wrong well, a sum where you wanted an average, or months sorted A to Z instead of by date.
Next, the chart map, for when you want to browse.