Forum Discussion

VinceC's avatar
VinceC
New Member
9 years ago
Solved

Which visualization to use?

Hello all.

I need some help choosing a visualization which best demonstrates the following scenario;

In the year 2013 our office had 50 printers, of which 10 were retired before 2014.  In 2014, we had 65 printers, consisting of 40 from 2013 and 25 new ones.  I have more data for subsequent years, however, you get the idea. Please suggest and explain which visualization works here.

Thank you!

Need Help
  • v-sihou-msft's avatar
    v-sihou-msft
    9 years ago

    VinceC

     

    I think it depends on your underlying data rather than choosing which visual. I suggest you make your granularity into each printer level in your source table. And add a flag column to tag if this printer is new or not. Then you can create a measure to count printers, put this measure into any general chart (column/line/bar), drag flag column as Legend and put Year on X-axis.

     

    Regards,

4 Replies

  • TomMartens's avatar
    TomMartens
    Super User
    9 years ago

    Hey,

     

    this is a quite broad question to ask, for this reason first go to this website

    http://www.sqlbi.com/p/power-bi-dashboard-design-course/

    and download the freely available pdf document that you find at the bottom of the site.

     

    Then create some sample visuals and consider if the visual emphasizes your thinking. You have to use different visuals for different messages. For example "In the age of digital transformation the number of printer is growing by 62.5%"

     

    Regards

    • VinceC's avatar
      VinceC
      New Member
      9 years ago

      Thanks Tom for providing some information and pointing me in the right direction. Coincidentally I registered with SQLBI yesterday to start learning DAX as well. I am new to Power BI, started learning it on the job. I really like it and believe it has a lot to offer.  I realize the question may seem a little broad, however, I was hoping someone could suggest the name of one or more relevant visuals so that I can look at those first since I am pressed for time.

       

      Thanks

  • v-sihou-msft's avatar
    v-sihou-msft
    Microsoft Employee
    9 years ago

    VinceC

     

    I think it depends on your underlying data rather than choosing which visual. I suggest you make your granularity into each printer level in your source table. And add a flag column to tag if this printer is new or not. Then you can create a measure to count printers, put this measure into any general chart (column/line/bar), drag flag column as Legend and put Year on X-axis.

     

    Regards,

    • VinceC's avatar
      VinceC
      New Member
      9 years ago

      Thanks v-sihou-msft! I like your idea of flagging new/old printers.  This could provide some insight about perhaps eliminating the old printers, especially if they have low usage.  It could show us also whether new printers with low usage were needed in the first place.  At the end of the day we are trying to keep our costs down. We pay a rate per mono/colour page.  Ultimately, if people don't print as much we save, however, printing is necessary sometimes.  I know the default setting when a print job is initiated is that it prints in black & white (mono), so that helps.  However, I'm looking for ideas on how to curb uneccessary print jobs, or even flag high usage printing locations.

       

      Thanks so much!