In this blog post, we cover:
Layout - 5 steps to understand how the Sankey chart is structured
Actuals and comparisons - understanding the numbers used in the Sankey chart
Layout
Step 1: Revenue
The first step is understanding how the company generates revenue. In the StarSchema.co.uk example, revenue comes from two sources:
Step 2: Profit
Next, the chart details all the profit subtotals. An exclamation mark (!) is used to signify the end of each branch in the profit flow:
Step 3: Expenses
This step covers adding in the expense groupings, which reduce profits:
Step 4: Identifying levels
In this stage, we identify each level in the Sankey chart. For instance, in the example, there are six levels. Level 1 includes "B2B revenue → Revenue" and "B2C and other revenue → Revenue."
Step 5: Numbering each relationship and end-point
Finally, we number each relationship and endpoint. Starting from the top of each level, work downwards until all relationships are numbered. For example, in the chart, "B2B revenue → Revenue" is numbered as 1, while "B2C and other revenue → Revenue" is numbered as 2.
Actuals and comparisons
You'll also need to understand the actual and comparison figures which appear on the Sankey chart. The below example shows Year-To-Date (YTD) vs Prior Year (PY) overall:
It's worth documenting the various permunations upfront to ensure a shared understanding; reducing any ambiguity results in a smoother implementation. In the example followed throughout this series, we'll cover a example with 40 different permutations. For each of these 40, there is a Sankey based on standard colours and variance colours, making 80 sankey diagrams in total. The table below shows 3 examples:
Actuals | Comparison | Foreign Exchange Rate |
Current Month Actuals | Budget | Actual fx rate |
Current Quarter Actuals | Top Down Forecast | Underlying fx rate |
Year-To-Date Actuals | Bottom Up Forecast | Fx only |
If you’d like to dive deeper into how constant currency reporting works, check out this detailed white paper on the subject: Understanding Constant Currency in Management Reporting.
Conclusion
Now the requirements are understood, you can complete the input tables which form the basis of the solution.
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