Ask Lou

Charts, overlays and year over year

Chart a KPI the way that tells its story, lay two KPIs over each other, compare years, and see where the next period is heading.

Chart types

Choose how each KPI is drawn: line, area, bar, waterfall, combo (the KPI as a line with its change as bars), gauge (this period against the last), or a table. Colors in the taskbar changes the chart palette.

Options

  • Show Change: the change from one period to the next.
  • Prior Year End: adds last year's closing figure for reference.
  • Data Labels: the value on each point.

Overlay: two or more KPIs on one chart

Under Multi-Select, choose Overlay and pick two or more KPIs to chart together. Ask Lou suggests pairings that read well together, such as related ratios. One chart can hold up to two different kinds of measure (a percentage and days, say), each on its own axis.

Year over year

Year over Year draws each year as its own line, month by month or quarter by quarter, so you can see whether this year is running ahead of last. The period tiles become one Average per Year card. It's available in monthly and quarterly views, and not with an overlay.

Forecast

Turn on Forecast to add a tile projecting the next period, from your last 12, 24 or 36 months, allowing for seasonality. It needs at least three periods of history. For a full forecast of your statements, see Your three-statement forecast.