Every business and investor understands the importance of accurate, comprehensive, and visually appealing data visualization. Charts play a prime role in that aspect and among them, one stands unique for its ability to reveal cumulative results from a sequence of actions over time—the waterfall chart. But what is behind its apparent simplicity? What is the purpose of a waterfall chart? Below, we delve into these questions.
Understanding the Basics of a Waterfall Chart
A waterfall chart, often known as a bridge chart or a flying bricks chart, is a specialized form of data visualization. It helps to understand how an initial value enhances or decreases through a series of changes, leading to a final value. It provides an intuitive and straightforward visualization of the sequence of events.
Essentially, a waterfall chart breaks down the cumulative effect of sequential data. It starts with an initial value, showing successive additions and subtractions in floating columns, and sums up both to receive a final value. With this, complex data overflows suddenly become comprehendible at a glance.
The waterfall chart consists of a series of columns standing for the variation from one period to the next period. The columns can be both positive and negative, showing decrease, increase, or total sequentially.
Essentially, a waterfall chart provides a visual narrative of the journey of a variable from an initial to a final state, capturing all the accumulations, deductions, and final totals. This makes it an indispensable tool in business and finance.
Delving Into the Purpose of a Waterfall Chart
The waterfall chart is primarily used to distinguish and visualize the contribution of different elements to an aggregate whole. It demonstrates a starting point, positive and negative changes, and an outcome—all of which combine to depict a ‘story’.
In the corporate world, these charts serve an essential purpose. They help in revealing the underlying reason behind a net change figure. Consequently, rather than focusing only on the net changes, they dig deeper into the key drivers and influencers that led to the change.
Specifically, waterfall charts guide the audience to comprehend an entity’s evolution. The charts show a total adjusted value, decrement, increment, and the total value through a period. Hence, the viewer can easily see what major elements have affected the change.
By breaking down quantitative data into digestible bits, a waterfall chart simplifies understanding of the cumulative effect of sequential positive and negative values, enabling the observer to examine the transition of values and the connection between them.
Breaking Down the Construction of a Waterfall Chart
Constructing a waterfall chart is a fairly straightforward process. The process begins by determining the initial and final values which will be used as the baseline for the chart. The next step involves assigning corresponding values for each contributing factor.
Each rectangular column in a waterfall chart represents these contributing factors. The height of the columns represents the size of the factors. Stacked columns conjure the cumulative effect. The color of the column is based on whether the set factor has a positive or negative impact on the base value.
The first column usually depicts the initial value. The subsequent columns, floating on the baseline, represent changes—positive, negative, or total. The last column signifies the final result from the initial value and changes.
When constructing a waterfall chart, it is essential to note that the sequencing of the factors greatly impacts how the story unfolds. The order of presenting the individual components can make significant differences in the way the outcome is understood.
Altogether, a waterfall chart is a potent tool for presenting a visual narrative of data. It not only helps in making complex data more digestible but also aids in telling a compelling story of data evolution, thereby becoming an indispensable asset in today’s data-driven world.
