Negative waterfalls with positive values in empower® Charts

2 min read
October 22, 2018

Waterfall diagrams are often used to represent a temporal evolution. In empower® Charts you have the option of viewing a waterfall diagram backwards. This function makes it possible to break down a sum into its individual components. 

We illustrate the function using an example

You want to differentiate the expenditures of your company. You have a total of 1.000 Euro of expenditure. How does this amount come about? A waterfall diagram is well suited for the visual representation of this scenario. The sum is broken down into its individual components (A, B, C, D).

  1. First insert a waterfall diagram into PowerPoint. Click on “Insert" and “empower® Chart" and select “Waterfall".

    Negative waterfalls with positive values in empower® Charts

    Now a prefabricated diagram is inserted.Negative waterfalls with positive values in empower® Charts

  2. To edit the contained data, click on “Data" in the action bar and open “Edit data".

    Negative waterfalls with positive values in empower® Charts
  3. The Excel table of the diagram opens, here you can now enter the desired values and labeling. According to the above example, this looks as follows:

    Negative waterfalls with positive values in empower® Charts

  4. Place the positive values in the table; at the end the total is built with the special value x.

    Negative waterfalls with positive values in empower® Charts
    The diagram is now presented in the form of a temporal development.

  5. Since you do not want to represent a temporal development, but parts of a sum, you should change the direction of the waterfall. This makes empower® Charts possible with just one click. To do this, click on “Data" again. Then click on Waterfall Direction “Right to Left".

    Negative waterfalls with positive values in empower® Charts

    The diagram is now displayed in descending order, starting from the sum. As already mentioned, this is practical whenever the composition of a sum is to be explained.

    Negative waterfalls with positive values in empower® Charts

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