Using a waterfall chart to analyze the cumulative effect

A waterfall chart helps you understand the cumulative effect of sequentially positive or negative values impacting a subtotal or total value. It's often used to visualize financial statements.

 

 

Getting ready

We will make use of the same Chapter 2 – Sales.qvf application used in the Comparison recipe.

How to do it…

1. In the application overview, click on the button in the top right-hand corner and click on the Create new sheet button. Name this sheet Waterfall.
2. Once inside the newly created sheet, go to the Charts asset pane and double-click on the Waterfall chart button
   
   .
3. In the properties pane to the right of your screen, click on Measures and click Add.
4. Add the following line as the measure and label it Total Commercial vehicle Sales:

sum([Commercial vehicle sales])

5. Add another line as the measure and label it Total Non Commercial vehicle Sales:

sum([Car sales])- sum([Commercial vehicle sales])

6. Add another line as the measure and label it Total...