Chart Types
IBM® Cognos® Report Studio provides
many types of charts for presenting your data in a way that is meaningful
for your users.
You can select from a variety of chart types (such as pie, bar, line, gauge, scatter, and so on) and you can select from a variety of chart configurations (such as stacked columns, 3-D pies). Combination charts allow you to use more than one chart type within your chart.
Some chart types are not supported for Microsoft Excel output or appear differently in Excel. For more information, see Limitations When Producing Reports in Microsoft Excel Format.
- Choosing a Chart Type and Configuration
To choose a chart type, consider what you want the chart to illustrate. Different chart types and configurations emphasize different things. - Column Charts
Column charts are useful for comparing discrete data or showing trends over time. - Line Charts
Line charts are useful for showing trends over time and comparing many data series. - Pie Charts
Pie charts are useful for highlighting proportions. - Bar Charts
Bar charts are useful for showing trends over time and plotting many data series. - Area Charts
Area charts are useful for emphasizing the magnitude of change over time. Stacked area charts are also used to show the relationship of parts to the whole. - Point Charts
Point charts are useful for showing quantitative data in an uncluttered fashion. - Combination Charts
Combination charts plot multiple data series by using combinations of columns, areas, and lines within one chart. They are useful for highlighting relationships between the various data series. - Scatter Charts
Scatter charts use data points to plot two measures anywhere along a scale, not only at regular tick marks. - Bubble Charts
Bubble charts, like scatter charts, use data points and bubbles to plot measures anywhere along a scale. The size of the bubble represents a third measure. - Quadrant Charts
Quadrant charts are bubble charts with a background that is divided into four equal sections. Quadrant charts are useful for plotting data that contains three measures using an X-axis, a Y-axis, and a bubble size that represents the value of the third measure. - Bullet Charts
Bullet charts are a variation of bar charts. They compare a featured measure (the bullet) to a targeted measure (the target). They also relate the compared measures against colored regions in the background that provide additional qualitative measurements, such as good, satisfactory, and poor. - Gauge Charts
Gauge charts, also known as dial charts or speedometer charts, use needles to show information as a reading on a dial. - Pareto Charts
Pareto charts help you to improve processes by identifying the primary causes of an event. They rank categories from the most frequent to the least frequent. These charts are frequently used for quality control data, so that you can identify and reduce the primary cause of problems. - Progressive Column Charts
Progressive column charts, also knows as waterfall charts, are like stacked charts with each segment of a single stack displaced vertically from the next segment. - Microcharts
Microcharts are smaller versions of column charts, bar charts, and line charts that you can use in crosstabs and dashboards. Microcharts include column microcharts and bar microcharts, which are available in stacked and 100 percent stacked configurations, and win-loss charts and modified line charts that contain the following: - Marimekko Charts
Marimekko charts are 100 percent stacked charts in which the width of a column is proportional to the total of the column's values. Individual segment height is a percentage of the respective column total value. - Radar Charts
Radar charts integrate multiple axes into a single radial figure. For each figure, data is plotted along a separate axis that starts at the center of the chart. - Polar Charts
Polar charts are useful for showing scientific data. - Range Indicator Charts
Range indicator, or metrics range, charts are useful for showing a target range and a tolerance range. - Chart Configurations
Chart configurations specify the grouping type of the columns, bars, lines, and areas in a chart. Some examples are standard, stacked, and 100 percent stacked charts.
Parent topic: Charts