Building a pyramid visual using a bar chart

SubhamG · October 2023

Author: Subham Garg is a Senior Data & Insights Architect at Anaplan.

Anaplan doesn’t have a pyramid chart option for reporting. However, there are certain metrics that work better with a pyramid chart than any other chart format. For instance, sales pipeline or number of employees at different ranks in a company are best displayed by a pyramid chart .

Fig 1: Upside down Pyramid chart

Fig 2: Pyramid chart

Prerequisites

Pyramid stages should exist as a list in the model.

Steps to create the pyramid visual using a bar chart

We will take sales pipeline stages as an example for the demo purpose.

Step 1: Create the source module.

This module serves as the source for the chart.

This module should have desired the pyramid stages as the dimension.
Add a line item which contains the original value of the metric.

In this example, we have sales pipeline stages in the column as the dimension and #Opps as the line item. Data is entered manually. However, it can be calculated in the model itself or referenced from the other module.

Step 2: Setup additional line items.

These line items will be used to provide the pyramid shape to the bar chart.

Add two more line items to the module and name them #Opps (+ve) and #Opps (-ve).
These two line items will have half of the value for the original line item. One will have positive value and the other negative.

Step 3: Create a saved view to use for the chart.

You can also use a custom view for it.

Hide the original line item.
Put line items in rows and the list in column.

Create a saved view to use for the chart

Step 4: Create the chart.

This chart can be normal or an upside-down pyramid chart.

Go to the dashboard in the app where this chart needs to be displayed.
Add a chart card, select the saved view created in the step 3 as the source and choose bar chart in chart type section in the overview tab.
Go to the chart tab in the card settings and choose “stacked” in the default settings for the series section.
Choose the same color for both the line items in the series section.

Step 5: Hide legend and the axis font (optional).

Hit edit on the chart card and go to the chart tab.
Go to the axis section and choose white in axis font color.
Go to the labels section and choose “hidden” from dropdown in legend position.

Step 6: Add a supporting data table (optional).

Create a saved view with list in the row and original line item (#Opps) in the column.
Add a grid card to the dashboard and choose the newly created saved view as the source.
Go to the grid tab, and choose the row height as medium to align it to the chart.