While working on Tableau, I received a requirement to analyze how different measures, such as Sales, Discount, and Profit, contribute to overall performance. A regular bar chart or line chart couldn’t show the impact of each measure in a single view.
For this data visualization, I used a Multi-Measure Waterfall Chart because it clearly shows how each measure, like Sales, Profit, and Discount, adds or reduces value.
With this, we were able to visualize positive and negative contributions in a sequence, to identify which areas are adding value and which are reducing it.
In this Tableau tutorial, I will explain the multi-measure Waterfall chart in Tableau and how to create it for multi-measure comparison in a single chart.
Multiple Measure Waterfall Chart in Tableau
In Tableau, a multi-measure Waterfall bar chart is a visualization that shows how multiple measures like Sales, Profit, and Discounts contribute step by step to the overall total. In the multi-measure Tableau Waterfall chart, each bar represents either a positive or negative change, to see which measures add value and which reduce it.
The multi-measure Waterfall chart creates a view where each bar’s start point is the end of the previous one, showing the total impact of each component in Waterfall chart format.
Create a Waterfall Chart With Multiple Measures
In this example, to create a multiple-measure waterfall chart, we will use the Tableau superstore dataset.
In the Tableau Waterfall chart, we cannot add multiple measures. Waterfall chart works with only one measure at a time, so multiple measures need the data to be restructured first. For this, we will combine the measures before starting the chart.
Now, connect Tableau to the data source and follow the steps below to create a multiple-measure Waterfall Chart in Tableau.
1. Select the data source table and multiple measures (like Sales, Profit, Discount) -> Right click on the dropdown -> Select Pivot.
While we are pivoting the multiple measures, it’s creating two new fields, i.e.
- Pivot Field Names: This field shows the names of the columns we combined in the pivot.
- Pivot Field Values: It shows the actual numbers or data from those columns.
- Add the Pivot Field Names to the Columns and Pivot Field Values to the Rows. This will show the pivoted measure in the bar chart.
- Add the dimension for which you want to see the measures. In this chart, we will show Profit, Sales, and Discount for the Category.
- Now, right-click on the Pivot Fields in the Rows -> select Quick Table Calculation -> Running Total. This will connect bars in sequence, showing how the value increases or decreases the total.
- To give a different color to each measure, add the Pivot Field Names to the Color card in the Marks section.
- For the waterfall effect, change the Marks type to a Gantt bar chart.
- Add the Pivot field Values to the Size card and edit the formula in the Marks section. Edit the formula as “ -SUM([Pivot Field Values])“.
With this, the chart measures will be displayed in the waterfall chart format.
- To remove the column divide and grid line, right-click on the chart and select Format.
- In the Borders Format, select-> Columns -> Column Divider -> Pane as None. Then, in the Rows tab, select the Row divider as None.
- To remove the lines, click on the lines icon, then select all lines as None.
- To show the values of the measures on the bar, click on the Label card and select Show mark labels.
With this, we have completed the Tableau Waterfall chart, which allows us to compare multiple measures.
This way, we can create a multiple-measure waterfall wall chart in Tableau by pivoting the measure values and using the Gantt chart.
Conclusion
In this Tableau tutorial, we have learned how to create a Waterfall Chart with multiple measures in Tableau. In the above steps, we pivoted the field values so that different measures like Sales, Profit, and Discount could be combined into one field. Then, we applied a running total calculation and used a Gantt bar chart to create the waterfall effect.
The Multi-Measure Waterfall Chart allows us to see how each measure adds or reduces value, step by step, and how they contribute to the overall performance.
You may also like to read:
- Create a Circle Timeline Chart in Tableau
- Create Diverging Bar Chart in Tableau
- Create a Control Chart in Tableau
I am Bijay Kumar, the founder of SalesforceFAQs.com. Having over 10 years of experience working in salesforce technologies for clients across the world (Canada, Australia, United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, etc.). I am a certified salesforce administrator and expert with experience in developing salesforce applications and projects. My goal is to make it easy for people to learn and use salesforce technologies by providing simple and easy-to-understand solutions. Check out the complete profile on About us.
