The Data

Visualization
Handbook
 Table of Contents
Introduction page 3

Introduction

Page 2

1 2 3 4 5

The Art of Data Know Your Purpose Craft Your Message Visualization Assets Pro-Tips
Visualization and Data Page 14 Page 18 Page 47
Page 4 Page 9

Outro page 49
 Welcome to your story.
Every story is unique. It’s an opportunity to inspire, advise and enlighten. We want you
to discover the story hidden within your data, so you can become the author that ignites
imaginations and turns information into knowledge.

You will be taken beyond your spreadsheets and presentations, and taught how to
create compelling data visualizations. You will discover how to approach your data, how
to make the most of elements within data visualizations, and decide which visualizations
tell your audience the best story.

3 • Chapter 1: The Art of Data Visualization

 55.6

1 97.2
The Art of
Data Visualization

182.1

4 • Chapter 1: The Art of Data Visualization

 Why Visualize?
Today we receive 5X as much information as we did in 1986. This means how you share your
data will drastically determine the size of your audience. Researchers have found that colour
visuals increase the willingness to read by 80% and that we get the sense of a visual scene
in less than 1/10 of a second. Data visualization makes it easy to recognize patterns and find
exceptions while interpreting the data at a faster pace. It allows access to challenging data
sets, it allows exploration, can be fun and provides useful information in an efficient way.
“The more you
leave out, the more
5x 1/10 you highlight what
90%
you leave in.”
SECOND

THE AMOUNT OF THE AMOUNT OF TIME IT OF THE WORLD’S

INFORMATION WE RECEIVE TAKES TO GET THE SENSE DATA CREATED IN 2
COMPARED TO 1985 OF A COLOURED VISUAL YEARS ALONE

A few years ago already, a study indicated that 90% of the data in the world had been created in
the past two years alone. The majority of that data can be represented visually and most people
don’t know how to present it. The opportunity lies in becoming better visual storytellers and
utilizing the data to illuminate the message.

5 • Chapter 1: The Art of Data Visualization

 Visual Perception
People are more inclined to perceive certain visual cues
(variables) better than non-visual cues.

MORE ACCURATE LESS ACCURATE

Position Length Angle Direction Area Volume Saturation Hue

6 • Chapter 1: The Art of Data Visualization

 Selection or Do changes in the visual cue allow you to

Visual
distinguish a point from others? Do changes
Grouping in the cue allow you to group data points?

Perception
Measurement
Can you make a numeric observation from
a change?

Some visual cues, for example

Position Length Direction

Ordering Does the visual cue have a perceived order?

are better at supporting:

Steps How many distinct “steps” can be perceived

in the cue?

7 • Chapter 1: The Art of Data Visualization

 Visual Points Lines

Perception 2D position,
example: scatter plot
2D position,
example: line chart

Most quantitative analysis can be

performed with charts that use only
four kinds of objects.

These objects (and their subsequent related

charts) work because we immediately and more
precisely perceive both position and length.

Bars/Columns Boxes
2D position + length, 2D position + length (unlike bars, show
example: bar chart distribution of an entire set of values)
example: box plot

8 • Chapter 1: The Art of Data Visualization

 7.2

2.1
3.7
2 Know Your
Purpose and Data

9 • Chapter 2: Know Your Purpose/Data

 Know Your
Purpose
Before you can begin to create stunning
visualizations, you will need to make sense
of your data and find the best way to
communicate it to your audience. Use the
data to illuminate the story you are trying to
tell, and you’ll make it unforgettable.

11 • Chapter 2: Know Your Purpose/Data

 Know Your Data
Numerical Data
It is important to model your data appropriately, before
you explore it, in order to be able to answer your
business questions correctly. Data types can be used
to model certain characteristics of your data.

With SAP Analytics Cloud you can measure: AND

Dimensions
(Categorical)

11 • Chapter 2: Know Your Purpose/Data

 Measures
What do Measures represent?
Measures constitute numerical data that are
Measures can represent observations in your data or
calculated or aggregated – like the sum of
calculated values.
Revenue, average Cost, Profit-per-capita or
non-numeric data that are counted.

Measures are objects that represent

calculations and aggregate functions that are
usually applied to numeric data. Aggregating
the object must make sense for the column to How are they formatted?
be a measure.
Measures have an aggregation type associated with them.
Sales Revenue is a measure but summing up By default, SAP Analytics Cloud sets this type to sum. For
product list prices isn’t. That’s a dimension. example, if the chart includes Revenue by Country, and
You can create measures from categories by
sum is associated with Revenue, SAP Analytics Cloud
allows you to customize the prefix or suffix to indicate data
counting their elements, for example, Number
such as, units of measures, like CAD, EUR, and USD.
of Countries visited by our Customers.

11 • Chapter 2: Know Your Purpose/Data

 MEN’S WOMEN’S

Categorical

PRODUCT TYPE
The dimension Product
Type may include the
(Also called “nominal”) values Men’s Clothing
for discrete values. and Women’s Clothing.
VALUE VALUE

Dimensions
A dimension reflecting
Ordinal the outcome of a survey
Dimensions constitute categorical data result may include the
The dimension
such as year, product, country and members have a set
values Agree, Neutral,
Disagree that have an
salary range. default order. implicit order.
AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE

What do they represent?

Interval The dimension Salary can

be categorized into the
Each value in the following salary ranges:
dimension represents <$20k, $20 - 40k, $40 -
a range of values. 80k, >$80k
<20k $20 to $40 to >$80k
40k 80k

11 • Chapter 2: Know Your Purpose/Data

 31%
30%

18%

3 Craft Your
21 %

7%

Message
10%

10%

22%
28%

20%

11 • Chapter 2: Know Your Purpose/Data

22%
 Craft Your Keep these Then ask
Message questions in mind: yourself:

By exploring your data you

now have a better sense of
1. 1. What questions do you want to
answer with your data?

what you want to tell your What is the overall 2. What kind of relationships exist
audience. It is time to craft that goal of your data in your data? What are the best
message and discover which analysis? techniques for displaying these?
Do you need a chart (overview), a
visualization best articulates
table (details), or maybe both, to
your information.
convey your message?
2. 3. Can you highlight specific data
Who is this message points to better get your message
across?
intended for? What
do you know about 4. How can you incorporate a
your audience? summary of your message in your
chart titles to emphasize on your
overall message?

11 • Chapter 3: Craft Your Message

 Know Your Get to know your audience then use precognitive attributes to create
great data visualizations that resonate with them. Precognitive attributes
mean the image is being processed without any conscious effort.

Audience
Communicating in this way means there is no need for explanation on top
of the visualizations. It is also important to note that just because you have
good visualizations that doesn’t necessarily mean you have a good visual
story. Reward your audience with the experience and knowledge that led
them to you in the first place.

Every piece needs to be pulled together to

create a cohesive story with a beginning,
middle, and end. Entertain them.

11 • Chapter 1: The art of data storytelling

 “It is important to
know your audience’s
background and the Think about what you want to communicate

domain of your data.”

with your data. What insights do you want
to bring to light? Keeping your audience
in mind, you do not want to include any
unnecessary noise to obscure the meaning of
your message. It is easy to misrepresent data
by choosing the wrong visualization type.

Every little detail matters

in connecting with your
audience.

11 • Chapter 3: Craft Your Message

 4.8

5.3

4
4.1

24.9

Visualization
Assets

18.1

8.4
“Don’t forget – no one
else sees the world the
way you do, so no one
else can tell the stories
that you have to tell.”
Because every story is unique, what you choose to tell should be
unique and specific to your story as well. Select your tools carefully,
they will be the plate your knowledge is served on. Here’s how to
select the right chart type based on the goal of your message.
 Selecting the Right Visualizations

Change Over Time Comparison Ranking Part-To-Whole Distribution Correlation Geographical

Shows how a measure changes Shows the comparison of Shows the top or bottom N Shows how the categories Shows how a measure is Shows, whether there is a Information and
over time, and allows the user categorical values, where the values to emphasize the largest, contribute to the whole value spread across its domain potential correlation between
Maps
to highlight temporal trends data does not have any intrinsic or smallest values two measures
order, for example, a list of Shows the geographical
products distribution of measure values

Line and Area Charts: High- Bar Chart: Used for comparing
lights potential trends in data categorical values

Bar Chart: Set to % scale Box Plot: Shows distributions

for different categorical values Choropleth Chart: Highlights
Bar Charts: Shows categorical Scatter Plot: Highlights
Column Line Chart: compares Waterfall chart: Highlights the values in decreasing or geographical data by colouring
potential correlation of two
two measures over cumulative effect of sequential increasing order measures geographical areas according
a period of time data to their measure values
Stacked Bar Chart: Shows Heat and Tree Map: Shows the
overall measure total distribution of measure values

Cluster Bubble: Shows the Bubble Chart: Displays values

Bullet: Indicates progress Trellis: Shows partitions of a value of a measure based on that consist of three variables Geo Bubble Chart: Highlights
towards a goal dataset across multiple views two dimensions geographical data by showing
Pie Chart: Compares Radar: Sees the distribution of them as bubbles on a map
percentage values values across dimensions

Time Series Chart: Shows Merimekko: Communicates

trends over time through width
Change
Over Time
Shows how a measure changes over time, and
allows you to highlight temporal trends.

Focus Areas
Line and Area Charts Column Line Chart Bullet Time Series Chart
 Quarterly revenue

Line and
in Million USD

Area Charts
Suggestions
The Line Chart displays measures over a time period.
Line Charts are used frequently to show trends and 1.
relationships between them. The Y-Axis always shows Create a time hierarchy to
a measure value, and the X-Axis denotes a time allow drilling up or down to
dimension such as Month, Quarter, or Year. Days, Months, and Years

Revenue over time 2.

Used for in Million USD
Add a moving average line to
smooth the trend over time
• Trends
• Data over time
3.
• Temporal patterns and correlation
Add a forecast or linear
• Period-over-period
regression to emphasize
current or future trends

4.
Consider an Area Chart for
showing cumulative totals

22 • Chapter 4: Visualization Assets

 Column
Line Chart Gross Margin by location
in Million USD

The Column Line Chart is a combination of a Line

Chart and a Column Chart. This chart type displays
one measure as a column and a secondary measure
Suggestions
as a line. The two measures are displayed over a Time
1.
Dimension which may include Years, Quarters, or
Use this chart type to show
Months. This chart is great for showing the relationship
two trends of different types
between two measures over a period of time such as
(for example, Returning
Gross Margin and Sales Revenue, or Net Income after
Customers and Sold items)
Tax and Tax Rates.
over time

Used for 2.
Other options for showing
• Trends
change over time include Bar
• Data over time
Charts or Tables
• Temporal patterns and correlation

22 • Chapter 4: Visualization Assets

 Bullet
A Bullet chart can be used to indicate progress towards
a goal. It is used to compare primary and secondary
(comparison) values. This type of chart allows you to
display data based on pre-defined thresholds.

Sales Revenue per Quarter

Used for
Sales Revenue
2017-Q1 0 10,000,000 20,000,000 30,000,000
• Current values
• Level of progress Sales Revenue
2017-Q2

Suggestions
0 10,000,000 20,000,000 30,000,000

Sales Revenue
2017-Q3 0 10,000,000 20,000,000 30,000,000
Establish thresholds for the

Sales Revenue
measure you are working with
2017-Q4 0 10,000,000 20,000,000 30,000,000

22 • Chapter 4: Visualization Assets

 Time Series
Chart
Revenue
Show trends over time in a Time Series Chart. Choose in Million USD
the time series chart to easily filter by different time
periods. This chart has the ability to forecast future
values based on historical data within the chart.

Used for
Suggestions
• Forecasting future sales
Use this chart where the X-axis
is time

22 • Chapter 4: Visualization Assets

Comparison
Shows the comparison of categorical values
where the data does not have any intrinsic order,
for example, a list of products.

Focus Areas
Bar Charts Waterfall Trellis Merimekko
 Revenue per location and product
in Million USD

Bar Chart and

Stacked Bar
Chart Suggestions
Sales Revenue per Lines, YearQuarter for Actuals
Actual
1.
Bar Charts are probably the most frequently used Use data labels to improve the
chart type. Focus the attention of your audience to readability of data values
important details by:
2.
• Ranking data from largest to smallest or vice versa Customize hierarchies to
allow drilling from a high-level
• Filtering out data that isn’t important for your
Revenue per location and product overview to more specific
message in Million USD
details; users easily drill up and
• Grouping data by combining values in a chart – if down
there are too many categories, you can group less
relevant categorical values together into an Other 3.
group (for example, “Other Drinks”) Use Color to clearly
differentiate separate
categorical values in your
Used for dimension

• Comparing categorical values

22 • Chapter 4: Visualization Assets

 Waterfall
Chart
Suggestions
A waterfall chart is used to show the cumulative effect Cash Flow from Operational Activities
in Million USD
of temporal (or other sequential) data. It is useful to
visualize the fluctuation of a value in positive and 1.
negative values. Show how you arrived at a
291 43 net value
771

Used for 2.
267 Break down the cumulative
• Cumulative effect
effect of positive and negative
• Deviations and differences contributions

256
3.
Visualize a starting quantity

22 • Chapter 4: Visualization Assets

 Trellis Layout
of Multiple
Charts Sales Revenue per Country and Lines

Accessories Leather Sweat-T-Shirts

The Trellis Layout, also known as Small Multiples,
contains a set of charts based on the same set of
data and use the same axes. This allows the viewer
Suggestions
Australia 1,928.93 Australia 88.71 Australia 2,782.24
to make categorical comparisons of different values
within a dimension.
Used to compare values within
Denmark 314.88 Denmark 4.00 Denmark 429.89 a category.
Used for
• Comparison
• Identifying patterns across multiple categorical values India 4,535.78 India 46.09 India 4,894.04

22 • Chapter 4: Visualization Assets

 Merimekko
Revenue/Quantities sold by state
in Million USD

The Merimekko Chart is a bar style chart type that

communicates through width, rather than height alone.
It is a two-dimensional stack chart that allows for each
bar to communicate two measures using the size of the
bar.

Used for
• Analyzing marketing and sales data Suggestions
Merimekko Charts make it
possible to detect relationships
between categories and their
subcategories

33 • Chapter 4: Visualization Assets

Ranking
Shows the top or bottom N values to emphasize
the largest, or smallest values.

Focus Area
Horizontal Bar Chart Cluster Bubble
 Horizontal
Bar Chart
Sales Revenue per Country

The Horizontal Bar Chart allows you to sort and rank

data based on their importance. For example, we may
want to sort Countries based on Sales Revenue. This is
very useful to highlight and focus attention on most
important values.
Suggestions
Used for Often categorical values (in this
• Emphasizing top or bottom values in a chart case Countries) that contribute
less to the overall measure value
might be filtered out or grouped
together in another category

33 • Chapter 4: Visualization Assets

 Product revenue per state

Cluster
in Million USD

Bubble
The Cluster Bubble Chart is another way to show the
value of a measure based on two dimensions. This is a
great way of seeing the relationship between values or
to compare values.

Used for
Suggestions
• Showing the value of a measure based on two
Product revenue per state
dimensions in Million USD Hover over each bubble to
display the tooltips that contain
more detailed information

33 • Chapter 4: Visualization Assets

Part-to-Whole
Shows how the categories contribute to the
whole value.

Focus Areas
Part-to-whole Pie Chart
 Part-to-Whole
A Part-to-Whole relationship shows how to measure
Revenue over time and location
values that make up the whole of something (for in Million USD
example, Number of containers sold) compare to one
another and how they each compare to the whole.

Used for Suggestions

• Comparing hierachy levels 1.
• Showing the portion that each segment makes up in a Stacked area charts are used
category for multiple data series with
part-to-whole relationships.

2.
In addition, they are also used
to show a cumulative series of
values.

33 • Chapter 4: Visualization Assets

 Pie, Ring, and
Funnel Charts
Suggestions
Pie, Ring (Donut), and Funnel Charts are used to
What locations are meeting revenue targets?
discern part-to-whole comparisons to either highlight in Million USD 1.
545.72 Million $ Limit use of Pie Charts to a
a portion of the data or to compare values for different Amount
categorical values. These chart types are generally small number of slices (no
not recommended if they include too many segments, Location California 25.23% more than 5 slices). Do not use
Account Revenue
as the viewer will have a difficult time differentiating a pie chart if the slices are of
Range OK
between too many different colors. similar size

100 300
2.
Used for 8.70% Consider showing data labels
66.07% for ease of reading
• Comparing percentage values in proportion to the whole

3.
Highlight only the most
important slice if possible

4.
Compare with using a bar
chart or ring (donut) chart –
the viewer is more likely to
perceive the length of a bar
over the size of angular slices

33 • Chapter 4: Visualization Assets

Distribution
Shows how a measure is spread across
its domain.

Focus Areas
Box Plot Heat and Tree Map Radar
 Box Plot
Revenue per product
in Million USD

A Box Plot visually displays statistical distribution of a

measure within a dataset. It is often used to also show
the range in values for each categorical value. The lines
on the box plot refer to the minimum, first quartile,
median, third quartile, and maximum range of variation.
The dots on the box plot are visual representations of
the outliers.

Suggestions
Used for
1.
• Comparison
Compare data distribution for
• Distribution of values
several categorical values
• Identifying outliers
2.
Show distribution of medians
in data

33 • Chapter 4: Visualization Assets

 Heat Map

Heat Map and

Tree Map
In a Heat Map the categorical values are contained
in a matrix of tiles; based on a single measure, these
tiles have different shades. In contrast, in a Tree
Map, two measures are considered. Larger values are
represented by larger tiles and darker shades.
Suggestions
Used for Only use this if the resulting
Tree Map Heat Map shows visibly
• Showing the distribution of measure values
different color intensities (it will
confuse the viewer if the heat
map segments are of similar
color intensities)

33 • Chapter 4: Visualization Assets

 Radar
Radar Charts are useful for seeing the distribution of
Brand comparison index
values across dimensions and what the outliers are.
They can be used to see which dimensions are scoring
high or low for a particular dimension, making them
ideal for displaying performance.

Used for Suggestions

• Identifying which dimensions score high or low for
particular dimensions 1.
The data series with the
highest values covers the
largest area

2.
The values of a series are
connected with a line

44 • Chapter 4: Visualization Assets

Correlation
Shows whether there is a potential correlation
between two measures.

Focus Areas
Scatter Plot Bubble Chart
 Scatter Plot
Additional Chart Types Used For Showing
Correlation:

The Scatter Matrix shows several Scatter Plots Sales behavior analysis Suggestions
in a Trellis layout in order to compare several
Scatter Plots in one chart. 1.
Use the color to show groups
of points, but limit the number
Used for of colors used; too many
colors or shapes will impact
• Showing the correlation of two measures
the readability of a chart

2.
Keep the aspect ratio square

3.
Create a Geo Hierarchy on top
of location data (for example,
States, Cities) to enable
drilling up to higher levels of
geographical detail

44 • Chapter 4: Visualization Assets

 Bubble Chart
To see the correlation between three measures,
use a Bubble Chart. The size of the bubbles
How does discount affect sales?
indicate the third measure. The larger the in Million USD
measure is, the larger the bubble.

Used for
• Displaying values that consist of three variables

Suggestions
The difference with the XY
chart is that the size of the
points in the bubble charts are
adjustable

44 • Chapter 4: Visualization Assets

Geographical
Information
and Maps
Shows the geographical distribution of measure values.

Focus Areas
Choropleth Chart Geo Bubble Chart
 Choropleth
Map Satisfaction rate across different states in the United Stated
Suggestions
1.
Satisfaction rate
Use the Choropleth Map for
A Choropleth Map uses differences in shading, 13%
locations of similar size, as the
coloring, or the placing of symbols within predefined
11% size of the area coloured may
regions to indicate measure values in those areas.
9% overemphasize larger areas
(for example, Canada covers a
7%

Used for much larger area than Japan

5%
despite being much smaller in
• Rates 3% terms of population)
• Densities
• Percentages 2.
Make sure your measure
values are normalized by the
geographic properties, for
example, by the population of
a geographic area

3.
Remember that the granularity
of your regions (counties, for
example) will impact the signal
(aggregated measure values)
from your data

44 • Chapter 4: Visualization Assets

 Geo Bubble
Chart
Sales performance by Store in the Bay area

The Geo Bubble Chart shows measure values in the

form of bubbles on a map. The larger the measure, the
larger will be the bubble on the map. Suggestions

Used for 1.
Use to show values on a map
• Comparing measures across different geographical areas and to create an animation
over time

2.
Use Geo Bubble or Pie Charts
on maps to show measure
values if the relative size of the
underlying regions cannot be
compared

44 • Chapter 4: Visualization Assets

 5 71%
88%
Pro-Tips

57%

42%

38%

19%

44 • Chapter 4: Visualization Assets

 Pro-Tips
1. 2. 3.
A great visual design standard
Less is more. Make every pixel Avoid decorative use of Avoid three-dimensional
will accelerate understanding and
and word count. graphics. chart types.
consumptions of your data. It’s that
simple. For your business to reap
the benefits of data visualizations,
organizations need to create
a visual design standard that
0 50 100 150
incorporates best practices.

0 10% 20% 30%

0
The International Business
Communications Standards (IBCS), 4. 5. 6.
is a non-profit organization that has
established a rather comprehensive and Avoid pie charts. Start bar charts at zero. Use bullet graphs instead
of gauges to save space.
detailed visual standard for designing
both reports and presentations. It is
highly recommended that anyone who
develops reports, either as a data
professional or business analyst, should Key Data

use the IBCS Web site: www.ibcs.com.

1991 1992 1993 1994

7. 8. 9.
Use sparklines to show trends Show time going from left to Use color only to highlight
on the X-axis. right on the X-axis. or accentuate meaning.

44 • Chapter 5: Protips
 Show the world
your data.

Your visual mind is a powerful asset and unshakable ally for the
discovery, exploration, and presentation of ideas. With simple pictures,
a little practice, and solid tools, you can turn data into information,
information into insight, and insight into action. If you want to look like
a data visualization genius, simply leverage the genius of the visual
mind.

“The greatest value of a picture is when

it forces us to notice what we never
expected to see.” - John Tukey

44 • Chapter 5: Protips
 Improve
your data
visualization.

To know more about SAP Analytics Cloud,

please visit: www.sap.com/analytics-cloud

And request a product demonstration today:

www.sap.com/registration/request-demo.html

55 • Chapter 5: Protips
Follow us

www.sap.com/contactsap

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