What is Tableau Bullet Chart?
Tableau bullet chart is a data visualization tool that enables you to quickly compare the performance of a primary measure against another or multiple measures. It looks like a variation of a bar chart and was initially designed by Stephen Few to replace dashboard gauges and meters. It displays bars with additional enciphering displaying the progress of your measure towards a goal. Tableau bullet chart enables you to visualize additional information contained in a compact space and hence is beneficial for displaying your visuals in a space-constrained dashboard.
Tableau bullet chart extensively uses color shading and bold lines to represent a featured measure. These charts can be a good choice, especially when you require meeting goals at regular intervals of time. You can visualize your current measure, goal, and previous measures in a single chart. In addition, you can also use these charts to compare forecasted vs. actual KPIs and gauge any measures compared to qualitative measures. For example, you can compare the consumption of electricity in your household with the average electricity consumption to determine if it is overconsumption or underconsumption. A sample Tableau bullet chart looks like the one provided below.
Table of contents
Key Takeaways
- Tableau bullet chart enables you to quickly compare the performance of a primary measure against another or multiple measures.
- Tableau bullet chart enables you to visualize additional information contained in a compact space and, hence, is highly useful for displaying your visuals in a space-constrained dashboard.
- Tableau charts can be a good choice, especially when you require meeting goals at regular intervals of time where you can visualize your current measure, goal, and previous measures in a single chart.
- You can create a Tableau Bullet chart by using the in-built bullet graph icon under the Show Me toolbar.
- We can customize the appearance of a bullet chart and add interactivity to it.
Components
The key components of the Tableau bullet chart include:
- Vertical bar/axis – It shows the target for each measure
- Goal bar/Target line – It displays the target or goal in a horizontal line
- Base – The base starts with 0
- Color shading – It helps in making a distinction of which measures meet their goal
- Annotations – Display text annotations to provide additional information on the chart
How to create a Bullet Chart in Tableau?
To create a bullet chart in Tableau, you may follow the instructions outlined below:
Step 1: Open Tableau public on your machine and connect to your dataset from the Tableau interface.
Step 2: Drag the Sales Price to the Columns shelf and the Product to the Rows shelf. Expand the view to the Entire View. Tableau will display the view below.
Step 3: Drag the Purchase Price to the Details on the Marks card.
Step 4: Navigate to the Analytics pane and drag Reference Line to the Tableau view to add a reference line.
Step 5: In the Edit Reference Line, Band, or Box screen, provide the choice of options as shown below. Click on OK to save the changes.
Now, your Tableau Bullet chart is ready for visualization. You can view the purchase price using the Target line shown below.
Examples
In this section, we will demonstrate different use cases that you can refer to when creating Tableau Bullet charts.
Example #1 – Bullet graph as a “pace” chart
In this example, we demonstrated how to create a bullet graph as a pace chart in Tableau. Pace charts are helpful in creating visualizations to display progress toward the goal for different KPIs. To demonstrate this example, we have used the Pace Charts dataset, which has multiple KPIs along with current values and target values for each of the KPIs.
To create a bullet graph as a pace chart in Tableau, follow the instructions outlined below:
Step 1: Import your dataset, i.e., Pace Charts, into the Tableau interface using the File Navigator.
Step 2: On the Data pane, click on the down arrow next to the Search text box and select Create Calculated Field.
Step 3: In the Calculation Editor, specify the field name and logic to populate the field.
Step 4: Drag the newly created field Target % to the Columns shelf and Parameters to the Rows shelf. Tableau will create a bar chart, as shown below.
Step 5: Add a reference line to the chart by navigating to the Analytics pane and dragging the Reference Line to the Tableau view.
Step 6: In the Edit Reference Line, Band, or Box screen, specify the choices, as shown below.
Tableau will update the view by adding a goal line as shown below.
Step 7: Right-click on the horizontal axis and choose Format.
Step 8: In the Format pane, choose the Numbers – Percentage as shown below. It will update the horizontal axis values in percentages.
Step 9: Create a calculated field Pace by specifying the logic provided below. We assume we are into the 46th week of a total of 52 weeks.
Step 10: Change the view from Standard to Entire.
Step 11: Add another reference line to the view by navigating to the Analytics tab and specifying the configuration choices in the Edit Reference Line, Band, or Box screen. Drag the field Pace to the Details on the marks card.
Step 12: Create a calculated field by specifying the logic outlined below in the Calculation Editor screen.
Step 13: Drag the Pace KPI to the Colors on the Marks card. Now, your Bullet graph as a pace chart is ready for visualization.
Example #2 – Make a modern, rounded bullet graph in Tableau
In this example, we will demonstrate making a modern, rounded bullet graph in Tableau using the Branded Footwear Sales dataset. It contains a collection of data that includes information on the sales of branded footwear products such as the number of units sold, the total sales revenue, the location of the sales, the type of product sold, and any other relevant information.
To make a Tableau rounded bullet graph, follow the instructions outlined below:
Step 1: Import the Branded Footwear Sales dataset into the Tableau public desktop.
Step 2: In a new worksheet, click on the down arrow next to the search bar to create a calculated field.
Step 3: In the calculation editor, create a calculated field, Sales2020, as provided below.
Step 4: Repeat the above step to create another calculated field, Sales2021.
Step 5: Create a calculated field Rounded Tips.
Step 6: Drag Sales2021 to the Columns shelf and Product to the Rows shelf.
Step 7: Drag the Product to the Filters pane and apply filter options.
Tableau will update the chart based on the information below.
Step 8: Add a reference line to the bullet chart by dragging the Reference Line to the Tableau view.
Step 9: In the Edit Reference Line, Band, or Box screen, specify the choices as provided below.
Tableau will create a bullet chart with a goal bar, as highlighted below.
Step 10: Drag Measure Values to the Columns shelf and Measure Names to the Filters pane.
Step 11: Change the Marks type from Automatic to Circle for Measure Values.
Step 12: Right-click on the Measure Values on the Columns shelf and choose Dual Axis.
Tableau will update the view, as shown below.
Step 13: Right-click on an axis and choose Synchronize Axis option.
Step 14: Adjust the size of the circles so that they align to the edges of the bar by clicking on the Size on the Marks pane.
Step 15: Right-click on the view and uncheck Show Header to remove the header in the view.
Now, your Tableau modern, rounded bullet graph is ready to be viewed.
Example #3 – Toggle between Tableau bullet graphs and pace charts
In this example, we will use the visuals created as part of Example 1 and the ‘how to create section’ to demonstrate a toggle between the Tabeau bullet graphs and pace charts.
Follow the instructions outlined below to create a similar toggle yourself in Tableau:
Step 1: Click on the New Dashboard icon to navigate to a new dashboard sheet.
Step 2: Drag the Example 1 and Bullet Chart sheets to the Dashboard view.
Step 3: Select a layout container and click on the down arrow to choose the Floating option from the context menu.
Step 4: Adjust both the Example 1 and Bullet chart containers so that they are superimposed on each other.
Step 5: In the Layout pane, choose Background as white.
Step 6: Select the Bullet chart container and click on Add Show/Hide Button from the context menu.
Step 7: Drag the “X” to the right of the view. Click on the down arrow and choose Edit Button.
Step 8: In the Edit Button, click on the Choose button to select an image. Click on OK to save the changes.
Now, you can toggle off the button visible in the view.
Step 9: Now click on the Hide option.
Tableau will now hide the Bullet chart container and Example 1 will be visible in the view.
Step 10: Repeat the steps 7 and 8 for Example 1. Specify the choices as shown below.
Now, the toggle functionality is ready for use. Hold the alt key and then click on the toggle button.
Tableau will switch to a Bullet chart visual.
Step 11: Click on the Presentation Mode.
Now, you should be able to click on the Toggle switch to move between the visuals.
Important Things to Note
- Tableau bullet charts can be a poor choice if your datasets are not measured over regular intervals of time.
- Similarly, avoid using bullet charts if you intend to compare performances across multiple categories.
- Always follow Tableau bullet chart best practices for effective bullet chart visualization.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Advantages
• Ability to concise information in a compact dashboard making it an effective visualization tool
• A very useful tool to compare forecast values against actual numbers
• You can use this chart to gauge a quantitative measure against quantitative measures
Disadvantages
• Tableau bullet chart may become very complex if you use multiple measures
• There may be better choices than a bullet chart for user interaction, though it supports user interactivity.
Yes, you can customize the appearance of a bullet chart in Tableau. These include:
• Applying Color coding of different bars comprising the bullet chart
• Adjusting the size of the bars and target/vertical line in the bullet chart
• Adding labels to the graph and customizing the Title and other details
• Adding formatting options such as reference lines and other analytical information available in Tableau.
There are multiple options you can choose from to add interactivity to a Tableau bullet chart. They include:
• Using Tableau parameters to dynamically manipulate the values. Tableau will generate the bullet chart as per the selection.
• Using filters to narrow down the data results and apply any calculations on the filtered data.
• Creating user actions such as hovering or selecting the dashboards or Tableau worksheets.
Yes, there are some best practices you can follow to design effective bullet charts in Tableau. These include:
• Where possible, for accurate representation, use a single measure
• Use robust and transparent color coding to represent the bars in the bullet charts
• Use reference lines, labeling, and appropriate sizes for accurate visualization in the view
• Don’t clutter the bullet chart with a lot of information and limit it to the required details only
Yes, you can create a bullet chart with multiple categories in Tableau. However, it is not recommended as it can be very overwhelming for the users to make any clear determination. As an alternative, you can consider using a bar chart to represent such data sets.
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