Update Colors of a Bullet Chart

jrudd

I am currently utilizing a bullet chart to visualize the number of worked hours comparitive to estimated hours for multiple groups working on a project.

Is there a way to update the worked hours bar to help quickly identify the groups that are over or approaching the estimated hours?

I have attempted to set the color rules on the card based on a beast mode for each group called "Scoped Hours Progress" but the bars remain blue.

MichelleH

@jrudd Unfortunately, color rules only apply to fields that are actively used in the card. As a work-around, I suggest changing your card to an Overlay Bar chart and creating a separate beast mode measure for each Scoped Hours Progress value. Then you can create an "is always" color rule for each beast mode.

DavidChurchman

Michelle's suggestion is good, but the bullet chart is designed for this type of situation. You could create BeastModes for each range, per Michelle's suggestion, and then use them as the different target ranges on your card (range 1, range 2, etc.). "Worked Hours" would be the same color throughout the chart, but would punch through the different ranges of Within/Approaching/At/Over. I suggest around 50% transparency on the colors of the target ranges to keep them from overpowering the main bullet line. Using a bullet chart this way has the advantage of double encoding the information with color and position, making it more accessible.

MichelleH

@jrudd Unfortunately, color rules only apply to fields that are actively used in the card. As a work-around, I suggest changing your card to an Overlay Bar chart and creating a separate beast mode measure for each Scoped Hours Progress value. Then you can create an "is always" color rule for each beast mode.

DavidChurchman

Michelle's suggestion is good, but the bullet chart is designed for this type of situation. You could create BeastModes for each range, per Michelle's suggestion, and then use them as the different target ranges on your card (range 1, range 2, etc.). "Worked Hours" would be the same color throughout the chart, but would punch through the different ranges of Within/Approaching/At/Over. I suggest around 50% transparency on the colors of the target ranges to keep them from overpowering the main bullet line. Using a bullet chart this way has the advantage of double encoding the information with color and position, making it more accessible.

jrudd

Thanks for the quick responses. I will take a look at these possible solutions this week.

calvert_schaefer

@jrudd unrelated to your question but how did you setup your data labels in this bullet chart ? I am currently building one and for some reason my Actual Value and Target value show the same label but when I hover the values are different which is the expected result

jrudd

@calvert_schaefer

Sorry for the delayed response. Below is a screenshot of the general setup we use for these types of visualizations.

We don't normally add the Target Value, instead rely on the Actual and Range values to display. You can set the data label position to default or one of the values. The Actual value will not show though if it were to overlap/cover the Range value.

Overall I think this solution in combination with a detailed hover works for most cases.