Visualizing Data

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 In business, you may be called upon to give
presentations in which you present the results of
specific analyses or present data to stakeholders.
Often times, you are given the data in raw form. It
is important to know how to organize this data so
that you can then choose the appropriate visual
form for presentation. Why should you be
concerned with visualizing data? Well, the topics
you will learn about in this course will make you
accustomed to the terminology of statistics.
However, when you are presenting data in a
business setting, not all persons in the room will
have the same level of knowledge. But most will
be able to look at a chart, a graph, or some type
of visually and have an “Ah Ha!” moment when
they can SEE the big picture.
In this section, we will look at
creating the following in
Excel:
1. Frequency Distribution and
Histogram
2. Time Series Graph
3. Pareto Chart
Frequency Distribution and
Histogram

Histogram

• is a bar chart for grouped

numerical data in which you use
vertical bars to represent
frequencies or percentages in each
group.
Frequency Distribution

• summarizes numerical values

by tallying them into a set of
numerically ordered classes.
• To create a useful frequency
distribution, you must think
about how many classes are
appropriate for your data and
also determine a suitable width
for each class interval.
In general, you should have at least 5
classes and no more than 15. To
determine the class interval width, we’ll
use the following formula:
Interval Width = (higher value –
lowest value) / number of
classes
 Sales
The data below shows the sales (in thousands) 5
13
of 39 U.S. National Parks in Column A. We have 27
28

decided to use 6 classes, and the class 36

41

boundaries are provided as well. 46

52
52

 Construct a frequency distribution and

61
64
66
histogram for the data using 6 classes. 70
75
77
1. Insert the following data into column A in 77
94

Excel 106
132
143

Sales: 169
183
196
217
220
5 13 27 28 36 41 46 52 233
233
236

52 61 64 66 70 75 77 77 265
308

10 13 14 16 18 19 21
338
402
94 462
6 2 3 9 3 6 7 505

22 23 23 23 26 30 33 40 520
539

0 3 3 6 5 8 8 2 650

46 50 52 53 65 76 77
760
775

2 5 0 9 0 0 5
2. Enter the class upper boundaries for the first seven
classes in cells B2:B8. The numbers are 133.50,
262.50, 391.50, 520.50, 649.50.
3. Click on the DATA tab. In the analysis group, click on
Data Analysis.
4. Select Histogram and click OK.
5. Select the input range (Acreage data).
6. Select the bin range (B2:B8); Excel will add one
class.
7. Select the output range (any unused cell on the
worksheet)
8. Select the chart output (look in the lower left corner).
9. Click OK.
10. Edit the chart title and axis labels. To eliminate the
spaces between the bars, right click on one of the
histogram bars and select “Format data series…”,
then move the gap width slider all the way to the
left.
Your final result should look like this:
 Time Series Graph
Times-series graph

• plots the values of a numerical

variable on the Y axis and plots
the time period associated with
each numerical value on the X
axis.
• A time-series plot can help explore
trends in data that occur over
time.
Using the time series sheet, we are
provided with sales for a 5 year period.
Construct a time series graph for the
data.
1. Insert the following data into Column A
Year
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2. Insert the following data into Column B

Sales
150,000
200,000
300,000
100,000
50,000

3. Highlight the data in both columns

4. Click Insert, the Scatter, then choose
Scatter with Straight Lines and Markers
 Your
output
should
look like
this:

As a business person, we would interpret this as

having strong sales as we approached 2003 but a
visible dip in sales during 2004 and 2005. As a
manager, your response is “WHY and HOW do we
fix it?”
Bar Chart

• compares different categories

by using individual bars to
represent the tallies for each
category.
Pie chart

• uses parts of a circle to

represent the tallies of each
category.
Pareto Chart

• In a Pareto Chart, the tallies

for each category are
plotted as vertical bars in
descending order, according
to their frequencies.
• A Pareto Chart can reveal
situations in which the
Pareto principle occurs.
Pareto Principle

• exists when the majority of items

in a set of data occur in a small
number of categories and the few
remaining are spread out over a
large number of categories.
• These two groups are often
referred to as the “vital few” and
the “trivial many”.
• With a Pareto Chart, you can
separate these so you can focus
on the important categories.
 Sample Data Table:
Types of Errors Discovered During Surgical Setup
Frequenc Percen Cumulative Cut
Error Type y t % off

Wrong Supplier 67 36.8% 36.8% 0.8

Excess Count 45 24.7% 61.5% 0.8

Too Few Count 35 19.2% 80.8% 0.8

Wrong Size 10 5.5% 86.3% 0.8

Wrong Sterile
Instrument Set 9 4.9% 91.2% 0.8

Missing Item 8 4.4% 95.6% 0.8

Damaged Item 6 3.3% 98.9% 0.8

Other 2 1.1% 100.0% 0.8

Total 182 100%

In this example presenting the data using a Pareto
Chart displays how three (3) of the error types
account for 80% of all errors: Wrong Supplier,
Excess Count, and Too Few Count
 Getting the Data
Step 1 Ready
• Prepare the Data.

In order to make the Pareto Chart in

excel, first you must have the data ready.
Once we have the values for each cause,
in the example above Surgical Setup
Errors we need to calculate the data for
the percent column and the cumulative
percentage column.
A. To calculate the percentage column
values divide each error type by the total
of all the error types.
B.
To calculate the Cumulative Percentage column in cell D9, type +C9

then move down and in cell D10,

type +D9+C10

in D11, type +D10+C11

and repeat this process through cell D16

 Step 2 • Add cutoff.
Add a column in your data table titled
“Cutoff” and insert the value .8 for all
error categories.
Your table should look like this now:
Making the Chart
Select the frequency data by highlighting

Step 1 cells B8 through B16 above and click on

the “Insert” tab above

In the the “Charts” menu click on

“Column”

Under 2-D Columns select “Clustered

Column.” (Hover over column boxes to
view type).

Click on the legend and then right click

and select “Delete” to remove the legend.
 • Add labels to the horizontal
Step 2 axis.

Click on the chart and click on

“Chart Tools” and “Select Data”

On the Horizontal “Axis Labels”

side of the pop-up box click on
“Edit” and highlight cells A9
through A16

Click “OK” and “OK” again

 Step • Resize the labels so
that they are easy to
3 read.
Right click on the horizontal
axis and select “Font” and
change the size to a size that
allows the labels to be viewed
as shown here. In this example
the size is 6.

Click “OK”
 Step 4 • Add the Percentages.

Click on the chart and click on “Chart Tools”

above and click on “Select Data”

In the “Select Data Source” pop up box in the

left hand side under ‘Legend Entries” click on
“Add”

In the popup box under “Series Values” highlight

cells D9 through D16 and click on “OK”

Press “OK” in the “Select Data Source” pop up

box

Click “OK” and “OK” again

 Step • Format percentages to
display on the secondary
5 axis.

Right click on the red bars you just

created and select “Format Data
Series”

With “Series Options” selected on

the left in the “Plot Series On” box
(on the right) click on “Secondary
Axis”

Click “Close”
 Step • Format line.
6
Right click on the red bars and select
“Change Series Chart Type”

with Line Type selected on the left, click

on the “Line with Markers” box on the
left. (Hover over box to view line type).

Click “OK”
 Step 7
• Make sure the secondary axis
is formatted correctly to 100%.

Right click on the secondary axis and select

“Format Axis”

under “Axis Options”

under Maximum change the fixed number to 1

under “Number” change decimal places to 0

click on “Close”. (If you have trouble with this,

make sure that the box “Linked to Source” is
NOT checked off.)
 Step • Add a title.
8
Add a title to the graph by double
clicking on the graph and under
“Chart Tools” under the “Layout”
tab select “Chart Title” and click
on “Above Chart”.

Edit the text to say “Surgical

Setup Errors by Type ” and
change the font size by right
clicking on the title, select font
and select font size. In this
example the font size is 10.
 Add the cut off line by double clicking on the

Step 9 chart and under “Chart Tools” click on “Select

Data” and Click on “Add” under the “Legend
Entries” side of the pop up box

under “Series Values” highlight cells E9 through

E16

then click on “OK”

in the “Select Data Source” box click on “OK”

and “OK” again
 Step • Format the cutoff
line.
10
Right click on the line you just created and
Your graph should
select “Format Data Series”
look like this:

under “Marker Options” select “None”

under “Line Color” select “Solid Line” and

change the color to “Black”

under “Line Style” change the width to 2pt.

and change the “Dash Type” to “Round Dot”
 Step • Highlight 80% of
errors.
11
Change the color of the bars to grey for the categories Wrong Size to
Other which will help to highlight the 3 error types that account for 80%
of the errors.

Double click on the graph and then double click on the bar for “Wrong
Size” and click on the bar one more time to highlight only that bar now
right click and select “Format Data Point” and under “Fill” select ‘Solid
Fill” and change the color to grey.

Follow these steps to change the bar color for the remaining bars.
Now your chart should look like this:
Step • Final touches. We like to keep
things as simple as possible, so we
want to simplify the line by
12 eliminating the boxes on it.

Right click on the line and select “Format Data

Series.”

Select “Marker Style and either make the

markers smaller or select “No Marker” like we
did.

Use the “Chart Layout” and “Axis Titles” to the

primary and secondary axis.
 And remember, just like the chart title, if you can
“click it” you can edit it. We simply added labels
and then clicked inside the labels to edit the text.
 You can also click on the labels and drag them to
the position you want. We place the labels on top
of the axis so that they are easy to read.
 If your chart shifts, simply click anywhere in the
chart until “Plot Area” comes up and then you can
drag and resize your chart to the proportions that
look best for displaying the data.
 We also lightened the grid lines by simply clicking
on them and then right clicking, select “Format
Gridlines” and changed the color to a very soft
gray.