Sankey-like chart to Show Spend Change from Country to Country

[Garrhet]

I am trying to create a chart to represent spend transitioning from country to country, there's about 8 countries on current side, and 7 on proposed side. I would like a chart that connects the data representing the spend at current country, a connector showing the spend increase or decrease, and then spend at the proposed country. 

I really like how Sankey looks but, I cannot get it to include more than one variable.

IE: USA to Mexico, Spend at USA is $1,000, Spend at Mexico on same product $700, Savings of $300
USA = $1,000 - Connector Showing Savings of $300 - Mexico $700

^This is what I would like to see visually, again similar to a Sankey.

Issue is Sankey only allows 1 Variable, so instead it shows:

USA = $1,000 - Connector Shows $1,000 - Mexico $1,000

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[v-sgandrathi]

Hi @Garrhet,

I wanted to follow up on our previous suggestions regarding the issue. We would love to hear back from you to ensure we can assist you further.

Thank you.

[v-sgandrathi]

Hi @Garrhet,

we haven't heard back from you regarding our last response and wanted to check if your issue has been resolved.

Should you have any further questions, feel free to reach out.
Thank you for being a part of the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum!

[v-sgandrathi · Accepted solution]

Hi @Garrhet,

Thank you for providing the reference image and outlining your concern.

If you want to display multiple variables (such as initial spend, savings, and final spend) in one flow-style visual, it's important to note that the standard Sankey visual in Power BI only supports a single value field for flows between nodes. This means it can't directly show multiple values like starting spend, reduction, and final spend in a single connector.

To address this, you can introduce intermediate nodes to break up the flow, rather than combining all values in one connection. For instance, instead of:

USA -> Mexico

you could use:

USA -> Savings ($300)

USA -> Mexico ($700)

This approach ensures the Sankey diagram shows the total outgoing value from USA as $1,000, while also visually indicating that $300 is savings and $700 continues to Mexico. This method is commonly used to depict reductions or reallocations in Sankey diagrams.

If you need to replicate the exact visual layout from your image, clearly showing the start value, change, and final value—the standard Sankey visual may not fully meet that need. In such cases, you might consider using custom visuals from Power BI AppSource, which sometimes offer more flexibility, or combining different visuals (e.g., a Sankey for country movement and another to highlight value changes).

If you can share a sample of your dataset structure, it would help identify the best way to model the flows for your desired visual outcome.

Thank you.

[v-sgandrathi]

Hi @Garrhet,

The behavior you're experiencing is typical for the standard Sankey visual in Power BI, as these charts only allow for one value field to show the flow between Source and Destination. This means the same value is always used across the connector (e.g., USA -> Mexico = $1,000), and it's not possible to display multiple values like original spend, savings, and final spend within a single connection.

To illustrate your scenario (such as USA $1,000 --> Savings $300 --> Mexico $700), you might need to adjust your data or visualization method. One way is to use the final spend as the Sankey flow, so the USA to Mexico connection would be $700, while the $300 savings could be shown with tooltips, labels, or a separate visual like a card or table. Alternatively, you can model savings as a separate node in the Sankey, for example: USA -> Savings ($300) and USA → Mexico ($700), to show how the spend is split.

If you want to clearly display initial spend, reduction, and final spend, a Waterfall chart might be more effective, as it’s designed to show changes between values (e.g., $1,000 start -> –$300 savings -> $700 final spend).

In summary, since Sankey visuals in Power BI only support a single flow metric, it's best to either reshape your data to show the final value and present savings separately, or use a Waterfall chart to better illustrate spend changes between countries.

Thank you.

[Garrhet]

This doesn't really solve my problem, as even with a waterfall it is messy and doesn't allow for multiple variables to consider. 

I found an image online that is basically what I want the chart to look like, any thoughts?