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Need premade "Excel charts and graphs" for hard-to-visualize situations? We've created another Ultimate Charts (Part 4) spreadsheet template in Excel and Google Sheets that you can download and customize to your needs. It includes fully customizable sunburst charts, heat maps, bullet charts to visualize top KPIs, thermometer charts, three and four-circle Venn diagrams, filterable bell curves, milestone charts, and combo charts.

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While the content provided talks about Excel charts and graphs, it doesn't mention anything about a framework for mapping people to products and partners they manage. However, in general, many businesses use Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems to manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle. CRM systems can help in mapping people to products and partners they manage by tracking all interactions, sales, and engagements.

There are also Product Information Management (PIM) systems that can be used to manage all the information needed to market and sell products.

Remember, the choice of system or framework largely depends on the specific needs and operations of your business.

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The best part is, this spreadsheet is fully customizable - meaning any field in blue can be edited to fit any use case, whether you're in marketing, human resources, product development, or anything else. We'll now show how to use the spreadsheet template to easily plug existing data into these premade, difficult-to-create charts.

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Customizable charts have been used extensively in various industries. In marketing, they are used to visualize data related to customer demographics, campaign performance, and market trends. For instance, a heat map can be used to show regions where a particular campaign performed well. In product development, charts can be used to track the progress of product development stages, visualize user feedback, or analyze feature usage. A bullet chart, for instance, could be used to track the progress towards a development goal.

There are several alternative methods to visualize data in fields like marketing, human resources, and product development. Some of these methods include the use of sunburst charts, heat maps, bullet charts, thermometer charts, Venn diagrams, and bell curves. These charts and graphs can be customized to fit any use case and can be used to visualize top KPIs. They can also be edited to fit any field, making them versatile for different industries.

Companies like Google and Apple can utilize customizable charts to visualize their top KPIs by inputting their data into these charts. Sunburst charts can be used to represent hierarchical data in a multi-level pie chart, which can be useful for showing product category performance or regional sales data. Heat maps can be used to show patterns or correlations in data sets, useful for identifying trends or anomalies. Bullet charts can be used to display performance data in a compact, easy-to-read format, ideal for tracking progress towards goals or targets.

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Create beautiful sunburst charts

Sunburst charts are difficult to create but useful to visualize the relationship between hierarchies. Here are two sunburst charts: a single sunburst, which shows a team hierarchy across divisions, teams, roles, and team members, as well as dual sunbursts. In this example, we compare actual sales versus target sales, and how the profits and losses break out between months, weeks, and regions.

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While the content does not provide a specific real-world example of a company using dual sunbursts to compare actual sales versus target sales and analyze profits and losses, it's common for businesses in various sectors to use such visual tools for data analysis. For instance, a retail company might use dual sunbursts to compare actual sales versus target sales across different stores or regions. The inner circle could represent the target sales, and the outer circle could represent the actual sales. Each segment could represent a different store or region. This would allow the company to quickly identify which stores or regions are underperforming or overperforming. Similarly, the company could analyze profits and losses by comparing the actual profit or loss (outer circle) with the expected profit or loss (inner circle) for each store or region.

There are several alternatives to sunburst charts for visualizing hierarchies and relationships. Some of these include:

1. Treemaps: These are used to display hierarchical data as a set of nested rectangles. Each branch of the tree is given a rectangle, which is then tiled with smaller rectangles representing sub-branches.

2. Hierarchical Edge Bundling: This method visualizes hierarchical relationships by connecting nodes of a graph, which represent entities, with curved lines, which represent relationships.

3. Dendrograms: These are tree-like diagrams used to represent the distribution of a hierarchical clustering. The branches represent clusters that have been merged together, and the height of the branches tells you about the distance at which clusters were merged.

4. Circle Packing: This is a method where circles are packed together to represent hierarchical data. The size of each circle can be used to represent a quantitative variable.

5. Chord Diagrams: These are used to display the inter-relationships between data in a matrix. The data are arranged radially around a circle with the relationships between the points typically drawn as arcs connecting the data.

Google can use sunburst charts to visualize their team hierarchy by entering data related to various divisions, teams, roles, and team members into the chart. The sunburst chart will then display this data in a hierarchical manner, with each layer of the chart representing a different level of the hierarchy. This can help Google to understand the structure of their organization and how different elements relate to each other. It can also be used to compare actual sales versus target sales, and how the profits and losses break out between months, weeks, and regions.

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All these inputs in blue can be customized to match your data. This could be used by a supply chain management company to track parts by their respective groupings, an HR firm to track salaries or a sales company to account for deal sources. Just follow the path notations. Path 1 represents the innermost circle, Path 2 is the next layer, Path 3 is the third layer, and path 4 is the final layer. Also note: the sunburst charts become organizational charts on Google Sheets since Sheets does not support sunburst. But there may be instances where an org chart is preferred anyway. It functions the same way, except the tooltip column appears only when the mouse hovers over the respective entry.

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While it's challenging to predict future trends with absolute certainty, we can anticipate that data visualization in business strategy will continue to evolve and become more sophisticated. We might see more use of interactive and real-time dashboards that allow users to manipulate data and view results instantly. AI and machine learning could also play a larger role in data visualization, helping to identify patterns and insights that might be missed by human analysts. Additionally, as virtual and augmented reality technologies mature, they could be used to create immersive data visualization experiences. However, these are just predictions and the actual trends may vary.

There are several alternative methods to visualize data in the field of HR and sales apart from sunburst charts. Some of these include:

1. Bar charts: These are simple and effective for comparing quantities of different categories.

2. Line graphs: These are useful for showing trends over time.

3. Pie charts: These are effective for showing proportions of a whole.

4. Scatter plots: These can show correlations between two variables.

5. Heat maps: These can represent complex data with color gradients.

6. Bullet charts: These are useful for visualizing progress towards a goal.

7. Venn diagrams: These can show overlap between different categories.

8. Organizational charts: These can represent hierarchical relationships, such as the structure of a company.

Remember, the best method depends on the nature of the data and the message you want to convey.

Global companies like Apple or Google can utilize sunburst charts in their supply chain management to visualize and track parts by their respective groupings. This can help in identifying bottlenecks, inefficiencies, or opportunities for optimization in the supply chain. For instance, the innermost circle (Path 1) could represent the primary suppliers, the next layer (Path 2) could represent the secondary suppliers or the transportation logistics, and so on. This allows for a comprehensive view of the supply chain, making it easier to manage and optimize. It's important to note that Google Sheets does not support sunburst charts, but they can be converted into organizational charts which serve a similar function.

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Create customizable heat maps

This template also includes heat maps. The brand heat map example compares multiple brands and their regional sales data. The lighter colors represent the highest values, while the darker colors represent the lowest value. The entire table of data is then compared to find the lowest and highest values of all entries.

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Amazon is a prime example of a company that has successfully used heat maps to improve their business strategy. They use heat maps to track user behavior on their website. This includes where the user clicks, how long they spend on a page, and what parts of the page they interact with the most. By analyzing this data, Amazon can make changes to their website design and layout to optimize user experience and increase sales.

Some alternative methods to heat maps for visualizing complex data sets like regional sales include:

1. Scatter plots: These can show the relationship between two variables and can also be color-coded to represent different regions.

2. Bar charts: These can be used to compare sales across different regions. Stacked bar charts can also be used to show the breakdown of sales by product within each region.

3. Line graphs: These can be used to show trends over time, with different lines representing different regions.

4. Bubble charts: These can be used to represent three dimensions of data, with the size of the bubble representing the third dimension.

5. Geographic maps: These can be used to show sales data directly on a map, with different colors or sizes of markers representing different levels of sales.

Companies like Apple and Google can utilize heat maps to visualize their regional sales data by representing the data in a color-coded format. The highest values, which could represent the regions with the highest sales, are represented by lighter colors, while the regions with the lowest sales are represented by darker colors. This allows for a quick, visual comparison of sales data across different regions, making it easier to identify trends, patterns, and areas of interest.

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The temperature heat map is a more traditional heat map, where a series of numerics and dates are plotted out in different colors. This numeric column could be anything; sales data, part sizes, salary information, etc.

Track top KPIs with premade bullet charts

Bullet charts can be used to analyze and compare a series of KPIs across their target value, actual value, minimum, maximum, and average. Enter the metric name, its unit, the actual performance, the target performance, the minimum threshold, the maximum threshold, and the average threshold, and the charts go to work. Compare the actual bar in the center against the perpendicular target line to see how far over, or under, the actual is from its target. To utilize these hard-to-create charts for your KPIs, you can download and customize this template with your own data right now.

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While the content does not provide a specific real-world example of a company using bullet charts, many companies across various industries use bullet charts to analyze their performance. For instance, a retail company might use bullet charts to compare actual sales against forecasted sales. The actual sales would be represented by the bar in the center, and the forecasted sales would be the target line. By comparing these two, the company can easily see if they are meeting, exceeding, or falling short of their sales targets. Similarly, a manufacturing company might use bullet charts to track production output against targets, or a marketing team might use them to compare actual website traffic against their target.

There are several alternative methods to bullet charts for visualizing KPIs. Some of these include bar graphs, line charts, pie charts, and heat maps. Bar graphs are useful for comparing different groups or tracking changes over time. Line charts are great for showing trends over a period of time. Pie charts can be used to show proportions of a whole. Heat maps can visualize complex data in a simple, easy to understand format. Other alternatives include sunburst charts, thermometer charts, Venn diagrams, and bell curves. Each of these methods has its own strengths and weaknesses, and the best one to use depends on the specific data and the message you want to convey.

Companies like Apple and Google can utilize bullet charts to analyze their KPIs by entering their metric name, its unit, the actual performance, the target performance, the minimum threshold, the maximum threshold, and the average threshold into the chart. The chart then compares the actual bar in the center against the perpendicular target line to see how far over, or under, the actual is from its target. This allows them to visually analyze and compare a series of KPIs across their target value, actual value, minimum, maximum, and average.

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Compare actual performance with thermometer charts

The thermometer charts in this spreadsheet template function similarly to the bullet charts, where actual revenue and target revenue can be compared to find the percent completed, and how much the actual revenue is over or under by, with customizable thresholds to highlight bad, to average, to target performance.

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While the content does not provide a specific real-world example of a company using a thermometer chart, it's common for many businesses to use such charts to visualize their performance. For instance, a company might use a thermometer chart to track its annual sales performance against its targets. The chart would show the target as the full thermometer and the actual sales as the filled portion. This provides a clear, visual representation of how close the company is to meeting its sales targets. However, without specific examples in the content, it's difficult to provide a more detailed answer.

Some alternative methods to thermometer charts for visualizing the comparison between actual and target revenue include bullet charts, bar charts, and line graphs. Bullet charts are particularly useful as they can display multiple measures at once, including the target value and actual value. Bar charts can also be used to compare actual and target revenue by representing each as a separate bar. Line graphs can show trends over time, which can be useful for tracking revenue targets.

Global companies like Apple and Google can utilize thermometer charts to compare their actual revenue and target revenue by entering their data into the charts. The thermometer charts function similarly to bullet charts, where the actual revenue and target revenue can be compared to find the percent completed, and how much the actual revenue is over or under by. They can set customizable thresholds to highlight performance from bad to average to target. This visual representation can help them quickly understand their financial performance and make necessary adjustments.

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Instead of sales numbers and reps, these headings could be changed to visualize anything, like a project's risk levels from "intolerable" to "acceptable", or a company's "actual" monthly expenses against its "budgeted" monthly expenses for multiple months. By the way: the Thermometer charts look better on Excel over Google Sheets, so if you plan to share these charts with external stakeholders... just saying!

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Ultimate Charts can be used in global companies like Apple or Google for various purposes. They can be used to visualize complex data sets, track key performance indicators (KPIs), and compare actual performance against targets. For instance, they can be used to visualize a project's risk levels or a company's actual monthly expenses against its budgeted expenses. They can also be used to create heat maps, bullet charts, and other visualizations that can help in decision making. However, it's important to note that the effectiveness of these charts may vary depending on the platform used. For example, Thermometer charts are more effective on Excel than Google Sheets.

Ultimate Charts can be customized to represent different types of data by changing the headings and the data they represent. For instance, they can be used to visualize a project's risk levels from intolerable to acceptable, or a company's actual monthly expenses against its budgeted monthly expenses for multiple months. The customization depends on the data you want to visualize and how you want to represent it. Remember, the appearance of some charts like Thermometer charts may vary depending on the platform, such as Excel or Google Sheets.

Thermometer charts in Excel have a more polished and professional look compared to those in Google Sheets. This makes them more suitable for sharing with external stakeholders. Additionally, Excel offers more customization options, allowing you to tailor the charts to your specific needs.

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Sort data with customizable Venn Diagrams

Venn diagrams help track interrelated nouns or numerics and where they overlap with one another. In this example, the three-circle Venn diagram counts team resources that overlap across multiple departments, while the four-circle Venn diagram counts the number of customers that use each product offering.

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To change how each noun or numeric is counted below, change the reference type from "yes" or "no" to "1" or "0", "x" or "y", "y" or "n", or whatever your preference, and the formulas recognize those parameters in the table below.

For example, mark all "yes" entries with "X" and "no" entries with "Y", and the diagram will update accordingly. For more flexible and designful Venn Diagrams to share with external stakeholders, you can also check out our Venn Diagrams template, which is available in Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, and Google Slides.

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Create plenty more charts...

There are a series of edge cases where you might need additional charts and graphs in Excel or Google Sheets that are difficult to build from scratch. The following charts are not common in other templates but are often the best way to highlight your data, like in situations where you want to showcase data on a curve, show progress on a timeline, or compare competing metrics across three dimensions. They are:

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Bell curves: this template includes both one that finds an overall score across 9 unique categories, and one with a filter to highlight a specific value on the curve across any of ten total categories.

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Milestone charts: a timeline tracks activities and those responsible across time. It could be customized to track days of the week, projects and tasks, or tasks and dependent sub-tasks.

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Combo charts: these charts track two metrics against each other as a bar chart, with a third metric layered across as a line chart. In this example, revenue is compared against expenses to visualize the change in profit margin across time.

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To easily visualize your datasets with hard-to-create charts and graphs, you can download and customize this Ultimate Charts (Part 4) template in Microsoft Excel or Google sheets right now. For more, go check out our Ultimate Charts (Part 3) template for premade Marimekko charts, Bubble charts, and Pareto analysis charts. And for more common chart types, you can check out our previous Ultimate Charts (Part 1) and Ultimate Charts (Part 2) spreadsheet templates. They include abstract and fully customizable pie charts, bar charts, treemaps, and everything in between.

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