Forum Discussion
Line Chart – Step Change Not Clearly Visible for Small Value Differences
Hi bchappidi,
Thankyou danextian Ritaf1983, for you helpful insights.
The main issue seems to be with the data itself. In your example, there’s a noticeable difference between the two datasets, such as Test A and Test B. For Test A, the value changes over time are larger (for instance, "+2 std dev" increases from 6.63% to 11.99%), making the step changes more apparent. On the other hand, Test B shows only slight changes (like 10.34% to 10.63%), so the step line appears almost flat, even though it is still changing.
Also enable the Data Labels option in the line chart. This will display the exact values at each point, making even small changes easier to see.
Thank you.
Hi bchappidi
The visibility of a step is relative to the other lines in the chart. Wouldn't it be misleading if a small change appears just as prominent, or even more so, than a larger change in another line? That said, you can also enable the zoom sliders, so users can zoom in to better observe smaller steps if needed.
Thanks danextian for your response.
Let me clarify the analytical requirement a bit more.
The goal is for users to visually identify when a static input (like Tracking Error) changes, by seeing a clear step change in the line graph as the standard deviation (STD - -1 STD, +1 STD, -2 STD, +2 STD) values are being calculated based on these static inputs.
Portfolio: TEST B
Static values are below — for example:from Jan 2019(starting month), Tracking Error = 1.50%
from oct 2021 on wards New Tracking Error = 3.00%
This results in a change in the calculated STD values. In the graph (as shown in the sample file/report I shared), this is clearly displayed as a step change, allowing users to visually identify when a new static input has been applied.
Portfolio: TEST A
Static values are blow — for example:
from July 2017 (starting month), Tracking Error = 0.60%
from july 2019 on wards New Tracking Error = 0.95%
Also had a change in static values/inputs , but the difference in the resulting STD values is small. Despite the change, the line appears continuous and smooth, so users can't clearly see that a change occurred.What I need is for the line graph to show a step change when a new static value is applied in a given month, even if the calculated STD values (-1 STD, +1 STD, -2 STD, +2 STD) are only slightly different from the previous month.
I’d really appreciate any suggestions or guidance on how to achieve this in Power BI.
Thank you!
As already mentioned, the prominence of a step is relative to all other lines in the chart. I would just use field parameters to select which measures are visible to minimize the gap between the min and max Y-axis values.
