Step by Step Guide on Business Graphs and Reporting

Business graphs and reports are crucial to track and analyze the performance of companies. Get inspired to take advantage of graphs and charts to take your business to the next level.

In this post, I’m going to show you exactly how to use graphs in reporting business performance efficiently.

These graphs and business reports are the same types we produce for our clients so they can pinpoint ways to improve their performance to up to 95% every month.

So if you want to get more sales, higher profits, and stronger company dynamics, you’ll benefit from this comprehensive guide on Business Graphs and Reporting.

Let me be your guide through this important aspect of running a business.

When to Use Graphs and Charts

The human brain is a powerful tool capable of creating and processing a large amount of information. Moreover, humans can easily understand and interpret data through visuals. This makes graphs and data visualization a necessity, especially for businesses.?

In this digital age, there are a wide variety of tools you can use to tell the story of your business and its performance through data.?

• Graphs
• Tables
• Charts
• Diagrams

The aforementioned are just a few out of the many visualization tools that businesses use in viewing and analyzing data. These are usually data charts presented in business meetings. Graphs and charts are used by presenters to either summarize or analyze data reports. Creating reports for business meetings and potential clients can eat a big amount of time, particularly in business. Thus, graphs and charts are visualization tools and are the best way to quickly present data in a clearer view.

For a basic lowdown, here are the occasions when you should use graphs and when not to:

Use graphs once the message or story is contained within the shape of the data sets or once the display will show relationships among whole sets of values.?

Use tables if you wish to see values of the data, compare with other values, give precise values or give each summary and detail values.

Importance of Charts and Graphs in Business

These visualization tools are widely used because they can help break down even the most complicated data gathered to provide clear information and can be easily understood without reading lengthy reports. They additionally reveal correlations that might be missed in reading. It helps simplify a report.?

Learning to use both graphs and charts in business is essential as it can make your reports both comprehensible and straightforward. They simplify and clarify data, especially if you are loaded with too much work.?

Charts and graphs are most beneficial once you have to be compelled to quickly convey the relationship between two data sets, two aspects of your business. For instance, website visits and sales. They are efficient in shedding light on insights for easier comprehension and comparison. Processing information for timely decision-making is so much more effective than listing down lengthy details of more than 5 pages.?

Clear, compelling, and easy-to-read charts and knowledge visualizations will strengthen and lend credibility to a presentation and facilitate others to perceive complex data efficiently.?

Charts vs Graphs

A chart combines text, symbols, and/or graphics to indicate the connection between multiple data sets. It enables you to visually compare sets of data and help understand and remember information compared to reading a lengthy narrative about its comparison with other sets. In distinction with graphs, a chart conveys data sets in a very straightforward format that helps viewers perceive them.?

The graph, on the other hand, is a type of chart. But not all charts are graphs. Graphs specialize in data and depict trends over time. That isn't true of every type of chart. It shows relationships in quantitative data by giving form to those relationships. Graphs logically represent data on many dimensions supported. The first purpose of graphs is to indicate relationships among variables and this could embody everything from profit and loss-related data to sales and marketing figures.?

Types of Charts for Business Reports

These are the different types of charts you will see in business reports that will help you make better data-driven decisions:

Line Graph

A line graph shows changes, trends, and progress of one or more categories of data over a specific period. One use case of a line graph is the tracking of a hotel’s guest numbers over a quarter.

Bar Graph

Bar graphs show disparate data sets and larger changes. They are either vertical or horizontal. With them, you can compare categories of data. The longer the bar, the greater the value. One axis shows the categories, the other shows the values. One use case of bar graphs is showing sales by store (retail) or shipments by location (logistics).

Area Chart

An area chart is largely a line chart. However, the area between the x-axis and the line is filled with a color or pattern. It helps show part-to-whole relations, like showing individual sales reps' contribution to total sales for a year. It helps you analyze each overall and individual trend data.

You can also differentiate different data sets with different colors (eg. showing sales in different regions). They are best in comparing two to four variables of data.

Stacked Bar Chart

This should compare many different things and show the composition of every item being compared. This type of chart is best for showing part-to-whole relationships.

Mekko Chart??

You can also find this as a marimekko chart. This type of graph will compare values, measure each value's composition, and show however your data is distributed across all values. It works similarly to a stacked bar chart, but the mekko’s x-axis shows another dimension of your values.?

Pie Chart

This chart shows a static range and the way data values represent a part of a whole. It mostly shows comparisons and proportions. They are very effective for visualizing a few categories of data based on one variable. Each slice of the pie shows the percentage of the value over the whole category. For example, you can use this to show your audience demographics by age, social status, or area of residence.?

Scatter Plot Chart

Scatter plots use dots to depict how different items settle around an average based on two to three variables. With this, you can quickly and easily compare competing variables. It can also reveal trends of distribution within your data. Use this only when you have many different data points, wherein you highlight similarities or outliers in the data set. They show correlations between variables but not necessarily causation. They offer insights for further investigation into your business performance.

Bubble Chart

A bubble chart is comparable to a scatter plot therein it will show distribution or relationship. With a third data set, that is indicated by the bubble size. They are effective in showing how different values compare to each other in such that larger bubbles represent larger values. One use case for a bubble chart is showing the customer bases of a business, showcasing populations of clientele.?

Waterfall Chart

Use a waterfall chart to show how an initial value is affected by intermediate values - either positive or negative - and resulted during a final value. It reveals the composition of a number. An example of this in action is the influence of different departments to company revenue and profits.

Funnel Chart

A funnel chart shows a series of steps and therefore the completion rate for every step. Examples of funnel charts include sales processes and conversion rates across steps.?

Heat Map

A heat map uses color to depict relationships between two data sets, offering rating information from high to low. These different ratings are displayed through varying colors or saturation. One popular use of heat maps is tracking visitors’ path across websites, showing which areas of pages they mostly spend time on.

Dual Axis Chart

A dual axis chart permits you to point out the connection (or lack thereof) between two to three sets of data . It plots data using two y-axes and a shared x-axis. They also often combine different types of charts. For instance, bar charts and line charts to show the correlation between monthly revenue and overall profits.?

Gantt Chart

This presents a timeline to manage project schedules. The horizontal axis shows the time frame, whereas the tasks needed to complete the project are on the vertical axis. The bar for every task correlates with its start and finish date. It also reflects the milestones and deadlines. You use this to determine the length of projects, the resources you will need and the order of tasks.?

Radar Chart

Radar charts are one way to represent multiple variables. You use them to compare different categories on the same scale such as strengths of competing products, markets or competitors. They are best for making a gap analysis (comparing actual and desired / target values) - showing where data overlaps and where it differs.

Column Chart

These are the same as bar charts; the length of every column corresponds with the worth of the data it represents. Use them to compare several data sets over time or different items. One use case of this chart is showcasing clients per date of closed deals.

Venn Diagrams

Venn diagrams use overlapping circles to indicate however data sets overlap. The bigger the degree of overlap between the data, the more the circles themselves can overlap. You can use for instance, in showing how many clients choose one service over the other, or both.

How to Use and Analyze Graphs in Business Reports

Graphs are very useful for business reports. They make data easy to understand and compelling to viewers. One way to find the right graph is experimenting with different charts until you find the one that best conveys your data. Consider the business data you would like to deliver, the audience for the presentation, or the business report users.

Here are our tips on using graphs for analyzing business reports:

• If you wish to analyze nominal comparisons, rankings, and part-to-whole, bar charts are the most effective type of chart to use.?
• Distribution and change trends effectively utilize line graphs and histograms to have a clearer view and understanding of the reports.?
• And for geographic purposes, maps (heat maps) are the most effective type of chart to use.

When you analyze graphs in business reports, it all boils down to the right usage of graphs or charts. You must know what graphs and charts are suited in clarifying and simplifying a business report. It does not only summarize your report but also breaks down complex pieces.?

Important Data Visualizations in Business

Data visualizations in business reports might sound exhausting the first time you hear them, but in reality, it is not. Through technology, lengthy reports can now be simplified and narrowed down into visual presentations.?

Thus, charts and graphs are a great help in data visualizations in business.?

Here are the different essential data visualizations in business:

Revenue Reports

revenue reports are key in showing the success of the company’s efforts in everything from production to distribution. You can have them made based on time period or accounts.

Time-based

Here you seek to highlight the trends (peaks and troughs of sales over a period). They are monthly and quarterly revenue reports. One type of chart to use here is a pie chart to show revenue by product. In this time-based revenue reports, you should see the following things:

• Gross Profit Margin,?
• Operating Profit Margin
• Operating Expense Ratio
• Net Profit Margin

By account

By account, this means your customer base and sales personnel. You need to analyze company revenue and growth opportunities by identifying high-performing and low-performing accounts. You can build a sales process based on usage rates, engagement levels, and most-used products. This will help target your ideal customers. When you create graphs on revenue by accounts, you find room for improvement and things in need of upgrading. Maybe you need to fix your onboarding process or change the sales team composition to make them more successful.

Capacity and Resource Planning

In any business, you need to maximize resources and capacities. You need to plan out how to use your staff and resources to bring about more efficiency and customer-centric products and services. And data visualization through graphs in business reports makes this planning stage feasible and easier.?

These are a few aspects of capacity and resource planning that you should create graphs for:

• Cost Avoidance - tracks how much costs get saved within a timeframe by procurement department
• Economic Value Added - Here you show the metric where you deduct capital expenditure from the operating profit and adjust it for taxes on a cash basis. This is necessary to examine the return on investment of the company’s investment.
• Payroll Headcount Ratio - This aims to see the percentage of the HR department and the overall workforce. With this, you can ensure the investment and positive financial gains of labor costs. And make you see if your overhead costs for payroll get too high.

Company Performance

These are data visualizations that connect directly to the company’s goals and vision. Here are some metrics you should put into business graphs:

• Berry Ratio - compares the gross profit of a company with its operating expenses to understand the amount of profit from a specific time period.
• Current Ratio - is ratio on liquidity. Here you will understand how equipped the business is to pay obligations, often within a 6 or 12-month period.
• Return On Assets (ROA) - This metric measures how well your business can leverage its assets to gain more profit. Bottom line: the higher your ROA, the better.?
• Return On Equity (ROE) - This measures the profitability of your business towards any shareholders. This is the proportion of your business’ net income to shareholder equity. The higher the ROE, the more valuable your company is going to be and the more likely you are to have long-term commercial success.

Conclusion

All the convenience that the modern world is experiencing all boils down to the presence of technology. And in this digital age, graphs are key decision-making tools for any enterprise.

Business reports with clear, detailed graphs help company leaders digest insights from their business data. And you can get the best and most efficient reporting with a data-driven system.?

Datahyv offers holistic solutions with accurate, demand-driven business reporting that are tailor-made for your business. Check out our data analytics solutions here.