Dataskera

Waterfall Chart

The Waterfall Chart shows an arithmetic rather than a set of bars: a starting value, a run of changes, an ending value. Each bar floats at the height the running total has reached, so its position carries as much meaning as its height, and the chart says so when a stated total does not match the steps above it.

Data Requirements

Your Tableau worksheet should include:

  • 1 Dimension for the Step encoding. One bar per step, in the order Tableau delivers them. A waterfall is a narrative, so the steps are never re-sorted by size.
  • 1 Measure for the Value encoding. The change at each step, or the level after it, depending on the General tab.
  • 1 Dimension, optional for the Type encoding. Marks a step as a total or a subtotal rather than a change.

Add Waterfall Chart to your worksheet

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

Download waterfall.trex

Direct link: https://dataskera.com/downloads/waterfall.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 waterfall.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 Step and a measure onto Value. Add a dimension to Type if your data already marks its totals.
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/waterfall/waterfall.html

Signing in & access

Waterfall 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:

  • General: whether each value is a change or a level, the starting value, the words that mark a checkpoint, opening and closing bars, bar width and corner radius, connectors, value labels as a change, a share or both, axis and gridlines, 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.
A total that does not add up:
A checkpoint restates the running total instead of adding to it. When the value in your data disagrees with the sum of the steps above it, the chart reports the difference rather than drawing the bar as though it agreed. This is the one check a waterfall most needs and the one most implementations leave out.
Changes or levels:
Each value can be read as a change that adds to the running total, which is the usual bridge shape, or as the level after each step, in which case the bars become the differences between them. Both shapes of data draw the same chart.
Floating bars need labels:
Bars that share no baseline cannot be compared by eye, so the value labels are what make the chart precise. They are on by default and can print the plus or minus sign.