6 Replies Latest reply on Jan 3, 2014 2:44 PM by Karl Brown

Time Blocks in Bullet Graphs

Karl Brown Jan 1, 2014 8:31 AM

I am trying to use a bullet graph to display time blocks overlayed with event durations. I can get the time blocks shaded correctly, but am at a loss on how to display the event durations over the time blocks. There may be multiple events, one event, or no events during a given time block, and I would like to shade the area between each start and end time. My goal is to achieve something similar to the attached image. Thanks in advance for any help.

Time Block sample.png 307.2 KB

1. Re: Time Blocks in Bullet Graphs

Ramon Martinez Jan 1, 2014 10:59 AM (in response to Karl Brown)

Hello Karl,

Welcome to the Tableau Forums and Community

By your description, it seems the type of visual you have to use is a Gantt chart with dual axis instead of a Bullet chart.

This blog post Visualizing statistical significance in survey results and visualization by Andy Kriebel will help you to reach what you want.

If you prepare and upload a workbook with sample data, It would be easier for any helper in the community to propose a solution for you.

Best regards
Ramon
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2. Re: Time Blocks in Bullet Graphs

Karl Brown Jan 1, 2014 2:08 PM (in response to Ramon Martinez)

Thank you for the link Ramon - it was very helpful, but I am still unable to display multiple events on one row. Do you have any thoughts on how to do that?

I will try to put together a workbook with sample data to make things easier to understand.
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3. Re: Re: Time Blocks in Bullet Graphs

Ramon Martinez Jan 1, 2014 7:31 PM (in response to Karl Brown)
Hi Karl,

I prepare an hypothetical data sample to illustrate the way to visualize time blocks and events duration using Gantt Chart with dual axis, based on the description of your scenario.

Take a look at both data sample and workbook.

I hope this helps.

Best regards,
Ramon

data.csv.xls.zip 337 bytes

Gantt chart for blocks and events.twbx 24.0 KB
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4. Re: Time Blocks in Bullet Graphs

Karl Brown Jan 2, 2014 10:23 AM (in response to Ramon Martinez)

Great, thanks Ramon! I was able to format the Gantt chart correctly - I wasn't mixing my continuous and discrete Marks in the proper way. I really appreciate all of your help.
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5. Re: Time Blocks in Bullet Graphs

Ramon Martinez Jan 2, 2014 5:30 PM (in response to Karl Brown)

Hi Karl,

I'm glad you have a solution to visualize times blocks and events duration using Gantt Chart.

Best regards,
Ramon
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6. Re: Time Blocks in Bullet Graphs

Karl Brown Jan 3, 2014 2:44 PM (in response to Ramon Martinez)

I tried doing a sample data set, but I was not able to replicate my current situation, so I have some screenshots below.

My ultimate goal with this project is to calculate the utilization of each block. I have a formula set up to calculate the number of "in-block minutes" for each procedure, which is working properly. When the tooltips for procedures (black bars) are displayed, they show the correct information:

However, when I put the "in-block minutes" pill in the tooltip for the block (light blue bars), it is blank for any rows that have more than one procedure:

The data shows the values are all NULL, even though they show up properly for each procedure. How can I get a total value for "in-block minutes" to appear in the tooltip for all of the blocks?
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