Any information is easier to perceive if it is presented clearly. This is especially true when we are dealing with numerical data. They need to be compared and compared. The best presentation option is diagrams. We will work in Excel program.

We will also learn how to create dynamic charts and graphs that automatically update their indicators depending on data changes. You can download a sample template as an example from the link at the end of the article.

How to build a chart from a table in Excel?

Let's select a different chart style (tab "Design" - "Chart Styles").



How to add data to a chart in Excel?

There are more difficult path adding new data to an existing diagram - using the “Select data source” menu (opened with the right mouse button - “Select data”).

When you click “Add” (legend items), a line will open for you to select a data range.

How to swap axes in an Excel chart?

How to pin controls on an Excel chart?

If you very often need to add new data to the histogram, it is inconvenient to change the range each time. The best option is to make a dynamic diagram that will update automatically. And to secure the controls, we transform the data area into a “smart table”.

We looked at how to create a “smart table” based on existing data. If we have a blank sheet of paper in front of us, then we immediately enter the values ​​into the table: “Insert” - “Table”.

How to make a percentage chart in Excel?

It is best to present information as percentages using pie charts.

Input data for example:

Gantt chart in Excel

A Gantt chart is a way of presenting information in bar form to illustrate a multi-step activity. A beautiful and simple technique.

When you need to build a presentable report of the financial activity of an enterprise, it is better to use means of graphical presentation of information.

Graphic representation of information is much more effective and quickly absorbed by the human visual perception of information than text and numbers. It is easier to carry out analytics, the situation is better visible, both as a whole and in individual details.

A simple Gantt chart is ready. Download the template with an example as a sample.

Ready-made examples of graphs and charts in Excel download:

An example of how to make a dashboard template for generating a report on the CSAT customer satisfaction index. Download the ready-made C-SAT dashboard for analyzing indices and indicators.

An example of creating a dynamic synchronous weekly schedule along with a daily one. Synchronous display of two timeframes on one chart.

Creating a simple dashboard for visual analytics based on indicators: service level, quality, productivity. Download a ready-made dashboard template for free.

An example of creating a template for a dynamic pie chart displaying KPI indicators on a dashboard. Download a pie chart of KPI indicators in percentages for the dashboard.

How to make a template, dashboard, chart or graph to create a beautiful report convenient for visual analysis in Excel? Select graph chart examples to interactively visualize data from smart Excel spreadsheets and use them to make better decisions quickly. Free download ready-made templates dynamic charts for use in dashboards, reports or presentations.

Charts and graphs were specially developed in Excel to implement data visualization.

№№ p/p	Description fragment	Short description	RATING: selected
			successfully	satisfactorily	unsuccessful
	Location of the survey	Organizations various types Moscow and Moscow region
	Survey time	01.03.2009 – 01.04.2009
	Type and technique of conducting a survey	Questionnaire

2.2. Generalization and analysis of respondents' answers.

Socio-demographic data:

Demographic composition of respondents: men – 34%, women – 66%;

Age of respondents: 20-25 years old - 7%, 26-30 years old 20%, 31-40 years old - 28%, 41 and older - 45%;

Education of the respondents: secondary specialized – 5%, incomplete higher or higher education – 85%, academic degree – 10%;

Work experience of respondents in their last managerial position: less than a year – 7%, 1-3 years – 31%, 4-5 years – 20%, more than 5 years – 42%.

Among the respondents stands out three types of managers depending on the form of ownership of the organization: managers of government organizations, non-governmental organizations and managers working in private enterprise (see Diagrams 3.1, 3.2, 3.3).

Diagram 3.1 Types of organizations in which a survey was conducted among managers.

Diagram 3.2. Answer from respondents about the presence of conflict situations in the organizations where they work.

Diagram 3.3. The attitude of managers to ongoing conflicts in the organizations where they work.

Almost all respondents answered positively to the question about the presence of conflicts in the organizations where they work. Further, we can say that among managers there is a widespread negative attitude towards any conflicts that arise at work. This is probably due to the fact that many organizational leaders either strive to suppress all conflicts or simply ignore them. However, both of these options are incorrect, since in the first case the manager gets rid of conflicts that are constructive for the organization, and in the second, he gives the opportunity to freely develop destructive conflicts that cause great harm to the organization and the people working in it.

The survey also showed that the worse a manager feels about conflict situations in his organization, the less often conflicts appear there.

The main problem is this: the idea of ​​the constructive function of conflict in an organization is by no means obvious to management personnel and is therefore clearly rejected. At the same time, for some reason, it is lost sight of the fact that the cause of any development of a conflict is precisely a contradiction, a collision of multidirectional forces and tendencies.

In general, the role of conflict naturally depends on how effectively it is managed. To manage organizational conflicts, managers or consultants need to recognize the causes of the conflict, the dynamics of the conflict situation, and be able to identify the parties to the conflict.

Defects at work – 19%

Failure to fulfill one's duties – 15%

Being late for work or leaving work early – 14%

Ineffective use of working time – 10%

Lack of creative initiative – 9%

Managers were also able to identify 5 main actions of the organization’s employees that deserve encouragement from management: 52

Effective use of working time – 18%

Demonstration of creative initiative – 15%

Willingness to help other employees – 14%

Work without marriage – 13%

Fulfilling all job responsibilities – 11%

The results of the study showed in what situations managers prefer to punish or, on the contrary, reward their employees. As a rule, managers prefer to discipline employees in private – 85%, and to reward them in the presence of other members of the organization – 89% (Diagrams 3.4, 3.5).

In schools or companies, surveys with hidden questions to find out the general atmosphere and opinions are very popular. Unambiguous answers (yes, no, multiple choice or scale divisions) provide the opportunity for quick processing via Excel. And to calculate important survey benchmarks, no special knowledge in statistics is required.

It's about visualization

A picture can speak louder than words, and a well-chosen chart conveys the results of a survey in an instant. While bar or pie charts are good choices for yes-no decisions, for surveys where values ​​are calculated on a fixed scale, a box graphical representation offers an excellent basis.

It intuitively transmits several types of data simultaneously: the minimum and maximum value is displayed through antennas (point contacts), and the block itself indicates the area where 50% of the data is collected. The median divides the block in half and its position marks the middle value in the presentation. If it is to the right or left of the middle, statisticians speak of a distribution that is skewed to the right or to the left.

If, when processing a survey, the block has an elongated shape, and antennas or point contacts reach the corresponding ends of the survey scale, it also becomes clear that the solution to this issue is by no means unambiguous - the results in this case are distributed over a wide spectrum. Short block with short antennas, on the contrary, shows concentration on a certain area of ​​​​the scale.

How to do it: step by step guide

If the data is not yet recognized, you will need to transfer it to an Excel sheet. If, as in our example, the scale goes from 1 to 6 (evaluation points), then only these values ​​should be specified. If you have null values ​​in your list, for example for invalid or missing entries, you should remove them.

First of all, you will need to find the maximum and minimum value of the number series. To do this, the following syntactic construction is used: “=MAX(B8:JF8)” and, accordingly, “=MIN(B8:JF8)”, and, of course, you will have to adjust the data range to suit your project.

The median denotes the middle value of the distribution or the second quartile. The syntactic construction is “=median (B8:JF8)”.

Now we will also need the first and third quartiles so that we can calculate the boxplots. Syntactic construction: “=quartile (B8:JF8;1)” and “=quartile (B8:JF8;3)”.

Since when constructing a block diagram we are talking about an additional representation of values, we will still need several differences as auxiliary values: H1=minimum; H2=1st quartile minimum; H3=median-1st quartile: H4=3rd quartile-median; H5=maximum-3rd quartile.

If you have calculated the auxiliary quantities as shown in the illustration, highlight the small table, but without the row with the fifth auxiliary quantity. Go to Insert | Diagrams | Ruled | Stacked line." You now have four bars of the same color displayed. Click on the “Edit Row | Column".

Now select the leftmost column of the chart and use the context menu to go to “Format Data Series”. Disable the Fill and Outline Color options. Do the same with the rightmost column. Leave the left column selected.

In the menu bar, go to Chart Tools | Layout | Error bars | Additional parameters for error bars...” Set the direction here to "Minus" and the relative value to "100" (the amount of error). After that, close the settings menu.

Now select the rightmost segment. Go to the context menu for error bars again. This time set the direction to "Plus" and in the "Error Value" section under "Custom" set the error value to "Supporting Data 5" to a positive value.

To do this, you just need to click the mouse button in the table with auxiliary values. Now, to finish creating your chart, you can turn off the legend and gridlines, and you have a great box graphic for visualizing a small survey.

Without drawings, information about ancient people would not have reached us, knowledge would not have been transmitted, and language would not have evolved.

Graphic illustrations and diagrams find their place in the world of highly developed writing and verbal expression. In particular, they are widely used in the technology industry. This article presents the most common diagrams that software testers work with.

Flowcharts are best at describing certain processes. They use special characters for each task/action that occurs within processes. They are usually contained in the plan and other documentation (BRD, FRD).

Common symbols and their meaning:

Oval- start and stop

Rectangle- action or task

Rhombus- solutions

A flowchart is a reference that quickly introduces a software product. Here are some ways to use this chart.

a) Flowchart for control flow analysis and statistics

Cyclomatic complexity is a metric that allows you to determine the complexity specific program. It makes it possible to understand how much time is required for functional testing to achieve full coverage.

Just create a flowchart as shown below and use this formula:

: = Number of connections or lines – number of nodes + 2

There are 7 nodes, 7 connections too.

Thus, cyclomatic complexity: 7-7+2= 2.

Below, the defect tracking process is presented in flowchart format. Everything here is also extremely simple:

#2) Transition Chart

Transition tables or diagrams are analytical tools for complex systems in which many transitions occur from one state to another. These transitions can be compared to the operation of a light switch: on/off.

Transition states are shown in the form of a table or diagram.

Let's look at a more complicated example. Let this be a system for issuing ballets.

Example. A ticket issued through the application. The first part of the process may involve navigating the system through several pages:

Page 1-> Select the number of passengers - adults, children and seniors.

Page 2-> Select the type of ticket: daily pass, weekly, monthly, etc.

Page 3-> Checking details.

Page 4-> Payment, etc.

So there can be a lot of transitions from one page to another . Transition diagrams are usually not created to illustrate visual transitions (this is rarely used) but rather the key elements of a system.

The diagram will show test scenarios and user transactions:

The three yellow lines are three end-to-end cases that cover the most important and frequently used areas of the application. This is a useful tool for creating test cases.

#3) Context diagram

Applications rarely function as independent systems. Simple programs(calculators, notepads and others) can work on their own, but corporate applications are more often combined with other software products.

By the way, you can work with payroll in an accounting application, man-hour tracking system and HR portals. The context diagram clearly shows all these relationships.

Below is a context diagram for the payroll system:

The context of a particular system and how other objects relate to it are clearly visible. These diagrams help testers understand the system in a broader sense; draw up test strategies that include all these incoming and outgoing connections with other objects. Usually, if it is possible to create a context diagram during testing, it will make it easier to understand.

#4) Connection diagram:

Each idea evolves with additional nuances added. And with the help of such a diagram you can track all this. This type of diagram is intended for the initial stage - to illustrate the main idea and write down each derivative.

Mind diagrams are used for almost everything.

They are popular in the industry software. For example, they help track the progress of exploratory testing. (If agile, rapid development and other rapid software development methodologies are used).

Example. A diagram for an e-commerce application that tracks the following aspects:

Start with a basic idea, a starting point - and add others. There are many convenient (and free) online charting tools available. For example, mindmup.com.

#5) ER diagrams (entity-relationship)

ER diagrams are used for database design. They show database entities and their relationships. Such diagrams initially serve an illustrative function.

There are many options for ER diagrams, the simplest looks something like this:

#6) Bonus: layout

Simple images (screenshots) that show the future UI page/component in a diagram. Mockups are very helpful in testing because... with their help you can get an idea of ​​the final product. This improves test design and analysis. As a result, testing efficiency is higher.

These can be simple, hand-drawn images, web page diagrams, or any other diagrams that show what the final product will look like.

A simple login screen layout could look like this:

In most cases, testers have to decipher diagrams, less often - create them themselves. MS Visio and SmartDraw are useful tools, but if you are looking for a free and simple tool, you can use draw.io.

If you do not have access to the network, you will have to pick up a felt-tip pen and draw a diagram manually. This is a somewhat labor-intensive method, but no less effective.

McKinsey's director of visual concepts, Gene Zelazny, knows everything about his job. This is not surprising: over the 55 years of his life that he devoted to studying diagrams and other visualization methods, he accumulated sufficient experience, which he shared in the book “Speak the Language of Diagrams.”

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Step 3: From Comparison to Chart – Select Chart Type

Each type of comparison corresponds to a certain type of diagram. Select the type of visualization based on the type of comparison.

Formulating an idea

Constructing diagrams begins with formulating the main idea that you want to convey to the audience with its help. The main idea is the answer to the question of what exactly the data shows us and how they are related to each other.

The easiest way to formulate the main idea is to put it in the title of the diagram.

The title should be specific and answer the question you pose to the audience. When choosing words, use quantitative and qualitative characteristics and try to avoid common phrases and expressions.

Examples of specific and general headings

Don't forget the main rule: one diagram - one idea. Don’t try to show all the connections and thoughts you found on one graph. Such diagrams will be overloaded and difficult to understand.

Determining the type of comparison

Any thought and idea can be expressed using one of five types of comparison. Your task is to choose the right type of comparison and select the appropriate diagram for it.

A little hint:

Piece-by-piece comparison - your data shows a certain proportion in relation to the whole.

Positional comparison – you want to show how data relates to each other.

Temporal comparison - you show how data changes over time.

Frequency comparison - you want to show how many objects fall within a certain range.

Correlational comparison - you show how data depends on each other.

Choosing the Ideal Chart

Each type of comparison has its own type of diagram. It was from him the right choice The clarity of perception of visualized data depends.

There are five types of charts and some of their variations and combinations:

1. Pie chart

The familiar “pie” is the most used type of chart. According to Jin, this is unjustified since this type is the least practical and should make up a little more than 5% of all diagrams in presentations.

2. Bar chart

The individual values ​​in this chart are represented by bars of varying lengths placed horizontally along the X-axis. In the author's opinion, this is the most underrated chart, the most flexible and versatile type, and should make up 25% of all charts used.

3. Histogram

Quantitative relationships of a certain indicator are presented in the form of rectangles, the areas of which are proportional. Most often, for ease of perception, the width of the rectangles is taken to be the same, while their height determines the ratio of the displayed parameter.

4. Schedule

Familiar to everyone from school line graphs consist of points on a coordinate grid connected by lines. Used to characterize variation, dynamics and relationships. Together with the histogram, they should make up half of the charts used.

5. Scatter plot

Also known as a scatterplot, a scatterplot is used to place data points on a horizontal and vertical axis to show the degree of influence of one variable on another. According to Zelazny, it should be used in 10% of cases.

Do not forget! The main purpose of any diagram is to clearly show the connections or dependencies between data. If the illustration is not able to show the relationships, it is better to use tables.

Double comparison

In some cases, it becomes necessary to show several types of data being compared and the relationships between them on one graph.

In such cases, it is necessary to determine the main type of comparison and select a diagram based on it. For example, if you want to show the contribution of individual divisions to the company's overall revenue by month, it is better to use chart types for time comparison: graph or histogram. And if you're more interested in specific achievements rather than changes over time, use bar charts.

Remember: if one chart cannot convey the main idea simply and clearly by combining data, it is better to use two separate widgets.

Scales, legends and other inscriptions

An ideal diagram is understandable without additional information on her. However, this doesn't mean you can't use a scale or legend to help get your point across.

Main rules when adding additional information:

They don't overload the diagram.

They do not distract from the main picture.

They complete the diagram.

You can find specific examples for each type of comparison and diagram in the book or use them electronic version on the publisher's website.