Using waterfall charts
Use a waterfall chart to visualize a sequential summation as values are added or subtracted. In a waterfall chart, the initial value goes through a (positive or negative) change, with each change represented as a bar. The final total is represented by the last bar. Waterfall charts are also known as bridges because the connectors between the bars bridge the bars together, showing that they visually belong to the same story.
Waterfall charts are most commonly used to present financial data, because you can show change within one time period or from one time period to another. This way, you can visualize the different factors that have an impact your project cost. For example, you can use a waterfall chart to show gross sales to net income within the same month, or the difference in net income from last year to this year, and the factors that were responsible for this change.
You can also use waterfall charts to present statistical data, for example how many new employees you hired and how many employees left your company within a year.
The icon for a waterfall chart is as follows.
The following screenshot shows a waterfall chart.
To create a basic waterfall chart visual
-
Open Amazon QuickSight and choose Analyses on the navigation pane at left.
-
Choose one of the following:
-
To create a new analysis, choose New analysis at upper right. For more information, see Starting an analysis in Amazon QuickSight.
-
To use an existing analysis, choose the analysis that you want to edit.
-
-
Choose Add (+), Add Visual.
-
At lower left, choose the waterfall chart icon from Visual types.
-
On the Fields list pane, choose the fields that you want to use for the appropriate field wells. Waterfall charts require one category or measure in Value.
-
(Optional) Add drill-down layers by dragging one or more additional fields to the Group/Color field well. For more information about adding drill-downs, see Adding drill-downs to visual data in Amazon QuickSight.
To understand the features supported by waterfall charts, see Analytics formatting per type in QuickSight. For customization options, see Formatting in Amazon QuickSight.
