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#1
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Fishing For Chart Ideas
Up front, here's a sample of what I came up with:
http://vfdrake.home.comcast.net/~vfd...excel/crwp.pdf I am looking for suggestions to improve this chart, or other ways to present it. A bit of verbose description is required though, so if you are so inclined please read on... We have data for 50-odd companies and the industry as a whole, and want to show where we stand relative to the fray. There are two key metrics to consider: "Combined Ratio" (CR). Values less than 100% are considered best (less is better). Our target is to be under the industry average CR by at least 4%. "Written Premium Growth" (WP). Values above 0% are good (more is better). Our target is to beat the industry average. So I tried an x-y chart, with CR (reversed*) on the x-axis and WP on the y-axis. This puts the ideal range in the upper-right, which most will recognize as "the quadrant where everything is 'positive'". I removed the legend for posting, but here's a description of what things mean: - big fancy icons are for my group - red icons are companies that consistently perform well - blue icons are everyone else - bold axis lines are industry averages - dashed line is our CR target==4% less than average - light green shading is our target area per definitions of CR and WP above * The first pass had CR plotted low-to-high and was well received internally but the real audience (board level) was confused because the target area was in the upper-left quadrant. I can appreciate this and so changed the sense of the x-axis, but the more I stare at this chart I feel it isn't telling the story so well, but I have run out of thoughts on how to improve it. I am loathe to add more clutter than there already is. Given the ultimate audience I do want to make choices carefully. So, any ideas? |
#2
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Fishing For Chart Ideas
Hi smartin,
Perhaps the BCG matrix here http://www.edferrero.com/ExcelCharts...2/Default.aspx will give you some ideas? Ed Ferrero www.edferrero.com |
#3
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Fishing For Chart Ideas
In general the story can be well told by your chart. I have one correction
and a handful of uncluttering steps you can take. 1. Looks like you put the CR target at 104% (to the left of the average) when it should be at 96% (to the right of the average). 2. I would use labels on the bold lines to indicate "Average" or "Target". 3. I would use light gray solid lines for the gridlines and medium gray solid lines for the outer borders. Dashed lines can be distracting, despite using "less ink". 4. I would use average and target lines which are less bold, perhaps dark gray instead of black, and thinner than you've used. 5. I would use simpler markers. Lighter blue diamonds for typical companies, the red circles are good. For the ones I want to highlight, if there are only a handful I'd use a single style (large dull-green square), and put a label on each. - Jon ------- Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP Peltier Technical Services, Inc. http://PeltierTech.com/WordPress/ _______ "smartin" wrote in message ... Up front, here's a sample of what I came up with: http://vfdrake.home.comcast.net/~vfd...excel/crwp.pdf I am looking for suggestions to improve this chart, or other ways to present it. A bit of verbose description is required though, so if you are so inclined please read on... We have data for 50-odd companies and the industry as a whole, and want to show where we stand relative to the fray. There are two key metrics to consider: "Combined Ratio" (CR). Values less than 100% are considered best (less is better). Our target is to be under the industry average CR by at least 4%. "Written Premium Growth" (WP). Values above 0% are good (more is better). Our target is to beat the industry average. So I tried an x-y chart, with CR (reversed*) on the x-axis and WP on the y-axis. This puts the ideal range in the upper-right, which most will recognize as "the quadrant where everything is 'positive'". I removed the legend for posting, but here's a description of what things mean: - big fancy icons are for my group - red icons are companies that consistently perform well - blue icons are everyone else - bold axis lines are industry averages - dashed line is our CR target==4% less than average - light green shading is our target area per definitions of CR and WP above * The first pass had CR plotted low-to-high and was well received internally but the real audience (board level) was confused because the target area was in the upper-left quadrant. I can appreciate this and so changed the sense of the x-axis, but the more I stare at this chart I feel it isn't telling the story so well, but I have run out of thoughts on how to improve it. I am loathe to add more clutter than there already is. Given the ultimate audience I do want to make choices carefully. So, any ideas? |
#4
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Fishing For Chart Ideas
Thank you for the good suggestions.
Jon Peltier wrote: In general the story can be well told by your chart. I have one correction and a handful of uncluttering steps you can take. 1. Looks like you put the CR target at 104% (to the left of the average) when it should be at 96% (to the right of the average). 2. I would use labels on the bold lines to indicate "Average" or "Target". 3. I would use light gray solid lines for the gridlines and medium gray solid lines for the outer borders. Dashed lines can be distracting, despite using "less ink". 4. I would use average and target lines which are less bold, perhaps dark gray instead of black, and thinner than you've used. 5. I would use simpler markers. Lighter blue diamonds for typical companies, the red circles are good. For the ones I want to highlight, if there are only a handful I'd use a single style (large dull-green square), and put a label on each. - Jon ------- Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP Peltier Technical Services, Inc. http://PeltierTech.com/WordPress/ _______ "smartin" wrote in message ... Up front, here's a sample of what I came up with: http://vfdrake.home.comcast.net/~vfd...excel/crwp.pdf I am looking for suggestions to improve this chart, or other ways to present it. A bit of verbose description is required though, so if you are so inclined please read on... We have data for 50-odd companies and the industry as a whole, and want to show where we stand relative to the fray. There are two key metrics to consider: "Combined Ratio" (CR). Values less than 100% are considered best (less is better). Our target is to be under the industry average CR by at least 4%. "Written Premium Growth" (WP). Values above 0% are good (more is better). Our target is to beat the industry average. So I tried an x-y chart, with CR (reversed*) on the x-axis and WP on the y-axis. This puts the ideal range in the upper-right, which most will recognize as "the quadrant where everything is 'positive'". I removed the legend for posting, but here's a description of what things mean: - big fancy icons are for my group - red icons are companies that consistently perform well - blue icons are everyone else - bold axis lines are industry averages - dashed line is our CR target==4% less than average - light green shading is our target area per definitions of CR and WP above * The first pass had CR plotted low-to-high and was well received internally but the real audience (board level) was confused because the target area was in the upper-left quadrant. I can appreciate this and so changed the sense of the x-axis, but the more I stare at this chart I feel it isn't telling the story so well, but I have run out of thoughts on how to improve it. I am loathe to add more clutter than there already is. Given the ultimate audience I do want to make choices carefully. So, any ideas? |
#5
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Fishing For Chart Ideas
Thanks Ed, that does give me some ideas. I tend to shy away from big
areas of color though I actually tried that here thinking the audience would respond well, but I was frustrated by the built-in shading Excel offers. I had not thought about using a well-crafted image as a backdrop. Ed Ferrero wrote: Hi smartin, Perhaps the BCG matrix here http://www.edferrero.com/ExcelCharts...2/Default.aspx will give you some ideas? Ed Ferrero www.edferrero.com |
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