Using different combinations of charts, measures, groups, filters, and breakdowns in your visualization enables you to create a range of powerful event data transformations for meaningful and actionable analysis.
This article focuses on how you can use Groups and Breakdowns, in particular, to examine and represent event data in your visualization to improve your analysis.
Groups and Breakdowns are both derived from the same attributes: event data and bid sheet columns. However, how you apply these attributes — either as a group, a combination of groups, or a breakdown — affects how your data is visualized.
Scenario Summary visualization
For this example, we are using the preconfigured Scenario Summary visualization to start. We created three different scenarios to evaluate the pre-discount cost allocations based on different business rules.
- Low Cost Baseline
- 1 Winner per Business Unit
- Even Lane Split - 4 suppliers
In each of the following sections, we explore how different groups, breakdowns, and combinations of both can be used to visualize event data in a bar chart.
Scenario Summary with one group selected
First, we want to compare the pre-discount cost of each scenario.
The preconfigured Scenario Summary visualization provides this view by default if you have configured and evaluated scenarios.
The group attribute, Scenario Name, is selected from the Groups list. This displays the three scenarios against the Pre Discount Cost measure, providing a high-level comparison of the pre-discount cost of each scenario.
Scenario Summary with two groups selected
By selecting additional groups, we can split the data into subgroups. For example, we can visualize the data by scenario and lot name.
To do this, we select a second attribute, Lot name, from the Groups list. The two attributes, Scenario Name and Lot Name, combine to form the data points displayed in the visualization.
Scenario Summary with three groups selected
By selecting another group, we can add more granularity and split the data into further subgroups. For example, as we are already looking at how the data is grouped by scenario and lot name, we may want to visualize the data by scenario, lot name, and bidder name.
To do this, we select a third attribute, Bidder Name, from the Groups list. The three attributes, Scenario Name, Lot Name, and Bidder Name combine to form the data points displayed in the visualization.
Scenario Summary with a breakdown
At this point, it may be useful to understand how the data, already grouped by scenario, lot name, and bidder name, is broken down by round. There are two ways we can do this.
We can select a fourth attribute, Round Name, from the Groups list. The four attributes, Scenario Name, Lot Name, Bidder Name, and Round Name combine to form the data points displayed in the visualization.
Although the visualization provides a comprehensive breakdown of the data by creating a data point for every scenario, lot, bidder, and round combination, we can see that the bar chart is becoming dense with information.
To better visualize the increasing combination of attributes, we can use a breakdown to create a multi-series visualization. Instead of the Round Name attribute combining with the Scenario Name, Lot Name, and Bidder Name attributes to form new data points, a new series is created for each Round Name.
Each round is represented with their own color in the visualization. You can click the round names in the legend above the bar chart to show or hide the corresponding data in the visualization.
You can select as many group attributes as you want when creating your data series; however, you can only select one breakdown at a time. You cannot use the same attribute as a group and a breakdown at the same time.