Build a Pareto chart
Find the few categories that make up most of a total: bars sorted highest first, with a running-share line and a target line that highlights the vital few.
A Pareto chart answers "which few categories make up most of the total?" It draws one measure as bars by category, sorted highest first, and adds a line showing the running share of the total on a right axis from 0% to 100%. A target line marks 80% by default, and the bars it takes to reach it - the vital few - stay bright while the rest are muted. Pick Pareto from the chart type selector.
- Pick Pareto from the chart type selector.
- Drag a dimension to Category - product, customer, defect type, and so on.
- Drag a measure to Value, such as Sales or a count of tickets.
That's all it needs. The running-share line isn't a field on your shelves - Golden works it out from the bars wherever the chart is drawn, so it looks the same in Analyze and on a dashboard.
Change the target
Open the format pane and find Pareto options. Target sets the share the line marks, anywhere from 50% to 95%. Move it and the highlighted bars update to match - set 70% to see which categories make up 70% of the total.
What a Pareto needs
- One measure by one category. A date on Category won't work, because its order is time rather than size.
- A measure that adds up across categories: a sum, a count or a distinct count. An average, median, minimum or maximum doesn't add up, so a running share of it means nothing: turn a chart that uses one into a Pareto and its measure switches to Sum, with a message saying so. A measure that is already a ratio or rate can't be used.
- A plain measure. A measure carrying a table calculation is refused, since the running share is already drawn for you.
Build it from the chat
Ask the Analyst pane or a dashboard's Storyteller pane in plain words - "which products make up 80% of sales?" or "make this a Pareto" - and Golden builds it. Ask for a plain bar chart to turn it back into ordinary bars.