Dataskera

Dumbbell Chart

Two values per category, a dot each and a connector between them. Before and after, actual and target, this year and last: the length of the connector is the change, and a column of them ranks who moved and who did not.

Data Requirements

Your Tableau worksheet should include:

  • 1 Dimension for the Category encoding. One pair per value.
  • 1 Measure for the Start encoding. The first dot: the earlier or the baseline value.
  • 1 Measure for the End encoding. The second dot: the later or the actual value.

Add Dumbbell Chart to your worksheet

First, download the manifest file. It tells Tableau where to load the extension from.

Download dumbbell.trex

Direct link: https://dataskera.com/downloads/dumbbell.trex

Then, in Tableau:

  1. On the Marks card, open the Mark type dropdown, and under Viz Extensions choose Add Extension.
  2. In the Add an Extension dialog, choose Access Local Viz Extensions, then open the dumbbell.trex file you just downloaded.
  3. When Tableau asks, allow the extension to access the data in the workbook.
  4. The welcome screen appears. Sign in with your Dataskera account, or on Tableau Desktop choose Use on Desktop without an account. See Signing in & access below.
  5. Build the chart: drag a dimension onto Category and the two measures onto Start and End.
Tableau Server or Cloud:
A site admin must allow the extension by adding its URL to the site's safe list, and the view needs the Download Summary Data permission. Extension URL: https://vizextension.dataskera.com/dumbbell/dumbbell.html

Signing in & access

Dumbbell Chart is free. Whether you need to sign in depends only on what you are doing. Viewing a dashboard never asks for an account, and authoring is free too.

Viewing a dashboard
No account

People who only view a dashboard are never asked to sign in and are never blocked.

Editing on Tableau Desktop
Optional

Sign in, or continue without an account in a single click.

Editing on Server or Cloud
Free account

Sign in with your Dataskera account to author on the web.

No account yet? Create one free in under a minute. No credit card required.

Format panel

Open the Format panel from the extension menu to customize the chart. It is for the dashboard author and is not shown to viewers. It has four tabs:

  • Layout: horizontal or vertical, the sort, click to select, background.
  • Marks: dot size, connector width, and whether the connector is neutral, a gradient between the two colours, or coloured by direction.
  • Axis and Labels: the axis and whether it starts at zero, value labels, the change label as a number or a percentage, number format and font.
  • Color: a palette, a precise colour per category, and the overall opacity.
  • Legend: show or hide it, its position around the chart, an optional show/hide toggle for viewers, the colour swatch, and the content of each entry.
  • Tooltip: show or hide it, its colours, decimals, and a template you write yourself from the placeholders the chart provides.
Sort by how far, not which way:
Sorting by change puts the largest rise first and buries the largest collapse at the bottom. Sorting by the size of the change, either way, puts the biggest movers at the top, which is the question people actually ask.
One measure is not a pair:
A category carrying only one of the two measures is drawn as a single dot with no connector, and the chart says how many. Otherwise a lone dot reads as a value that did not move.
Labels stay inside the plot:
A dot near an edge would push its value label into the gutter where the category names sit. The label goes on the other side of its own dot instead, so a small value never prints on top of its own name.
Asked for and not delivered is said:
When the pane is too tight for the value or change labels you turned on, the chart says so rather than dropping them in silence.