Variance analysis in Power BI using Inforiver Charts

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Inforiver Charts for Power BI provides users with the capability to compare performance and benchmark with variance visualized in both absolute & % terms.?

In this blog, let us look at some of the key capabilities delivered by Inforiver Charts for performing variance analysis.

1. Horizontal and vertical orientations?

The variance chart is useful for visualizing both categorical and time series data. 2021 actuals vs plan for different subcategories using integrated variance columns is shown below.?

In the below image, 2021 actuals is compared against prior year actuals over the 12-month period using integrated variance bars.?

2. Variance plot options?

Inforiver provides several chart types – bar, column, line, area, and waterfall for visualizing variances.?

Examples:?

a) Variance line chart – Line/area charts do not have an option to display the absolute/relative variances as separate series, but they can be seen on the tooltip.?

b) Variance waterfall chart – The variance between AC and PY is visualized as a waterfall across the categories/time periods.?

3. Display absolute and/or percentage variances?

At times, visualizing absolute and relative variance in a chart might not be required. In such cases, you can disable either (or both) of these. This option is available under ‘Manage measures’ in the ‘Display’ section.?

You can also enable/display averages or totals for all the measures – performance, benchmark, absolute variance, and % variance as shown below. Notice that scale bands get enabled for enhanced comprehension of variances.?

4. Sorting by variance values or percentages?

Sorting can be done by performance, comparison, absolute variance or % variance. In the image below, the values are sorted in ascending order of % variance.?

5. Deviation?

View deviation between two data points such as first to last, min to max, etc., including dynamic deviation during runtime.?

6. IBCS-compliant charts??

Inforiver Charts can be used to create?IBCS-compliant charts for variance analysis. The below image (IBCS C04 template) shows the temporal development of different scenarios (AC, FC and PY) as a grouped column chart and the absolute and relative variances as bar and pin charts.?

C05 and C12 chart templates replicated using Inforiver Charts are shown below.?

AC (resp. FC) and PL are shown as grouped columns and combined with a horizontal waterfall chart for showing the absolute variances. Relative variances of AC (FC) to PL and PY are shown as pins. ?

Calculation schemes are visualized as side-by-side waterfalls with absolute and relative variances in bars and pins.?

7. Small multiples or trellis charts?

Using small multiples, you can visualize variances across multiple dimensions. In the below example of a sales vs forecast analysis, 3 dimensions are used – segment, region, and months.

Inforiver supports dynamic individual panel height (ranked panels) and value based dynamic row height (scaled rows) . There are several other options such as average panel, ability to freeze or repeat horizontal & vertical axis values as shown in the below image.?

For a detailed walkthrough of advanced small multiples using Inforiver Charts, read this?blog.?

8. Multi-measure chart type?

With Inforiver, each row or column or cell in a trellis chart can be customized to show a different chart type .??

On hovering over a chart, you can find the customize chart option. The available chart types will be displayed, and you can select the one you desire. In addition, you can enable/disable absolute and relative variances and change measure color.?

9. Drill down, drill up and drill across navigation?

Inforiver provides comprehensive drill down, drill up and drill across navigation for easy exploration of hierarchical data.??

In the below example, data is assigned as below:?

Axis –?Sub Category,?Quarter; Group –?Region; Values (AC) –?2021 Actuals; Compare to Prior Period (PY) –?2020 Actuals?and Compare to Plan (PL) –?2021 Plan?

Variance bars are shown for the sub categories (axis) and grouped by region. Let’s see how you can drill down one field at a time or all fields at once.?

a)?Drill down one field at a time:?On hovering over a bar as highlighted in the below image, you can drill down to view the quarterly variances for International – Soda. You can switch to other regions or sub categories from the highlighted dropdowns.

b)?Drill down all fields at once:?Instead, if you want to view the quarterly variance for all the sub categories, you can click the highlighted icon.?

In both the cases, to drill up to the previous level in the hierarchy, you can use the drill up option highlighted below.?

10. Dynamic data-level comments ?

You can add data-level comments which supports dynamic data tags and custom calculations using an excel-like formula editor. ?

11. Themes?

You can leverage themes such as Power BI, Inforiver,?IBCS?and xViz to apply one-click formatting.??

Themes can also be customized based on your needs. Support for export and import of themes is available and is shown below.?

12. KPI cards with variances?

You can insert KPI cards featuring variance presets in a couple of clicks to create stunning reports.?

The presets and customization options are shown below.?

You can also create custom calculations in KPI cards and annotations using an excel-like formula editor.?

13. Column as measure?

Often, year or month is a category in the models, and so DAX measures need to be created for each time-period (e.g., 2020 Sales, 2019 Sales) which can be further used to create variances. With Inforiver, you can bypass this step and create variances between member values (say, for Year) in a few clicks.??

In the below image, we have sales by sub category for 4 years.??

Click on column as measure as highlighted below and simply assign the measures as actuals, prior year etc., for variance analysis.?

14. Comparison measure mapping?

With Inforiver, you can add up to 5 measures as benchmark (PY, PL or FC) and choose from them for performing variance analysis. In the below example, 2014 to 2016 Sales have been assigned in the PY field. By clicking on comparison mapping, 2015 Sales can be assigned as PY and compared against 2017 Sales.

15. Pixel-perfect export to PDF ?

Inforiver Charts supports exported to PDF with the exact formatting in your report. Note that export is possible only from Power BI service.?

These are the 15 variance analysis capabilities that we reviewed so far.?

Inforiver Charts offers a lot more that what is listed above. You can try for yourself by installing the free trial version of?Inforiver Charts?from?Appsource.??

If you are interested in hierarchical variance analysis for table/matrix, read this?blog.??

Originally published at?https://inforiver.com?on Nov 16, 2022.