Heat Map Chart
A heat map displays a measure using a colored grid, where the value of the aggregated measure for a given combination of dimension values is used to determine the color of the grid at that location.
What is a measure? What is a dimension?A measure is generally used for aggregation, for example summation, averaging, correlation, etc., within a Crosstab, Chart, Text component, or Gauge. Adding a measure to the ‘Y’ region in a chart displays the computed aggregates by using locations on the Y-axis. Adding a measure to the ‘X’ region displays the computed aggregates by using locations on the X-axis. You can also display aggregates by using color, shape, size, or label. A dimension is used to break-down the dataset into multiple groups, often within a Crosstab, Chart, or Selection List. Adding a dimension to the ‘X’ region of a Chart distinguishes the different dimension groups by location on the X-axis. Adding a dimension to the ‘Y’ region distinguishes the different dimension groups by location on the Y-axis. You can add multiple dimensions into the ‘X’ or ‘Y’ regions of a Chart, or into the ‘Rows’ or ‘Columns’ regions of a Crosstab, to create multiple grouping levels. You can also distinguish groups in a dimension by using color, shape, size, or label in a Chart. |
To create a heat map, place the desired dimensions on the ‘X’ and ‘Y’ axes, and place the desired measure in the ‘Color’ region of the Chart Editor.
| Do not place any measures on the ‘X’ and ‘Y’ axes, and do not place any fields in the ‘Size’ and ‘Shape’ regions of the Chart Editor. You can place a measure in the ‘Text’ region if desired. (Placing a dimension in the ‘Text’ region will create a Word Cloud Chart instead.) To convert a dimension to a measure, right-click the dimension in the data source and select ‘Convert to Measure’. |
This example illustrates how to create a heat map that displays Quantity Purchased broken down by month of year and product.
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If you are new to charting, see the following sections first: Configure Your Data…The data source for the chart (data block or data model) should represent dimensions and measures as independent columns or fields, as shown below. See Prepare Your Data for information on how to manipulate your data, if it is not currently in this form. (Note: A properly designed data model will already have the correct structure.)
In some cases (e.g., Pie Chart), you may want your data to provide just a single measure. In other cases (e.g., Line Chart), you may want the data to supply multiple measures. If the data does not provide the correct number of measures, you may be able to alter the number of measures to suit the needs of the chart by “pivoting” or “unpivoting” the data. See Pivot Data in Prepare Your Data for more information about this procedure. Open a Chart for Editing…Watch Video: Create a Chart (Open the Chart Editor)This video might show an earlier version of the feature or operation that differs in minor ways from the current version. Follow the steps below to get started with a new Chart. See Basic Charting Steps for more details.
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Create a new Dashboard based on the ‘Sales Explore’ Data Worksheet. For information on how to create a new Data Worksheet, see Create a Data Worksheet.
The 'Sales Explore' Data Worksheet can be found in . You may need to download the examples.zip file from GitHub into your environment. (This requires access to Enterprise Manager.) See Import and Export Assets for instructions on how to import. -
Drag a Chart component from the Toolbox tree to the Dashboard, and press the ‘Edit’ button
at the top-right corner of the Chart to open the Chart Editor. -
In the Chart Editor, drag the ‘Quantity Purchased’ measure from the Data Source panel to the ‘Color’ region.
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Drag the ‘Name’ dimension from the Data Source panel to the ‘Y’ region.
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Drag the ‘Date’ dimension from the Data Source panel to the ‘X’ region.
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Press the ‘Edit Dimension’ button
next to the ‘Date’ field and set the ‘Level’ property to ‘Month of Year’. Press the ‘Apply’ button 
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Optional: You can add additional dimensions to the Chart if desired. See Trellis Chart (Grid) for information about adding multiple dimensions to a chart axis.
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Press the ‘Edit Color’ button next to the ‘Quantity Purchased’ measure, and choose the desired color spectrum to represent the aggregated values. (The built-in ‘Heat’ spectrum uses traditional shades of orange and brown, but you can use any other spectrum as well.)
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Press the ‘Close’ button
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Press the ‘Finish’ button
to close the Editor. -
Resize the chart to show the desired number of products.
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To increase the density of the chart by using a finer grid, see Adjust Chart Spacing in Basic Charting Steps.
You can proceed to edit the titles, legend, etc. See Basic Charting Steps and Chart Properties for more information. See Add Data Format for information on how to format text on a Chart.
The sample Call Center Team Performance Dashboard (in the ‘Examples’ folder) provides an example of a heat map.
To explore this sample Dashboard, download and import the Call Center Team Performance Dashboard into your environment. (This requires access to Enterprise Manager.) See Import and Export Assets for instructions on how to import.