In the last post (apologies to Ford Madox Ford), we selected a Line Graph over a Bar Chart to represent a movement in values over a period of time.
Our graph looked like :
The above Graph clearly shows a comparative picture of the movement of three values over a period of time. It shows that from a simlar starting point, one share has appreciated over the tracked twelve-month period whereas another one has depreciated over the same period. A third share tracked on the same chart has remained within a range.
Who will be interested in presenting the above picture ?
The person / team representing the data that has performed well over the period tracked will have the greatest interest in presenting this data. Hence, in our example, if apreciation in value is the desired objective, the person / team representing Tata Motors would like to present the data in the above format at every opportunity.
Somewhat akin to histoy being written by the victors.
So what would the person / team representing Unitech, where there has been a depreciation in value, do ? Do they just present the data as shown in the graph above, and open themselves up to jibes and criticism about their performance ?
While data remains the same, and their poor performance cannot be airbrushed away, they do have an option of softening the blow.
This can be done through us of the "scaling" facility available in Excel.
Instead of the Y axis being automatically fixd at 250 by Excel, if they make the scale longer and manually fix it at a larger number, say 1250, the resultant graph will look like :
This makes the lines seem closer together and their own line a lot flatter than it was in the earlier graph.
This is not to be mistaken or confused with fudging of data or using incorrect data. Fudging of data or using incorrect data is not permissible under any circumstances.
If performance is poor, it still stays poor. This is only a way in which the conversation can be opened and relevant points made, rather than the conversation being hijacked by the negative slope of the line in the graph.
The vanquished may also get to write some history.
Our graph looked like :
The above Graph clearly shows a comparative picture of the movement of three values over a period of time. It shows that from a simlar starting point, one share has appreciated over the tracked twelve-month period whereas another one has depreciated over the same period. A third share tracked on the same chart has remained within a range.
Who will be interested in presenting the above picture ?
The person / team representing the data that has performed well over the period tracked will have the greatest interest in presenting this data. Hence, in our example, if apreciation in value is the desired objective, the person / team representing Tata Motors would like to present the data in the above format at every opportunity.
Somewhat akin to histoy being written by the victors.
So what would the person / team representing Unitech, where there has been a depreciation in value, do ? Do they just present the data as shown in the graph above, and open themselves up to jibes and criticism about their performance ?
While data remains the same, and their poor performance cannot be airbrushed away, they do have an option of softening the blow.
This can be done through us of the "scaling" facility available in Excel.
Instead of the Y axis being automatically fixd at 250 by Excel, if they make the scale longer and manually fix it at a larger number, say 1250, the resultant graph will look like :
This makes the lines seem closer together and their own line a lot flatter than it was in the earlier graph.
This is not to be mistaken or confused with fudging of data or using incorrect data. Fudging of data or using incorrect data is not permissible under any circumstances.
If performance is poor, it still stays poor. This is only a way in which the conversation can be opened and relevant points made, rather than the conversation being hijacked by the negative slope of the line in the graph.
The vanquished may also get to write some history.
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