Donut Chart

A donut chart is a Pie Chart with a hole in the center. The hole can be empty or display a KPI.

donut chart example

Simple Donut Chart

The simple donut chart is the same as a Pie Chart, but with an empty hole in the center. The hole is the same color as the chart background. The example below displays Total Sales by Year.

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.)

data source with dimensions and measures as columns

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.

  1. If necessary, create a new Dashboard. (See Create a New Dashboard.)

  2. From the Toolbox panel, drag a Chart component into the Dashboard.

    drag Chart component into Dashboard

  3. Resize the Chart as desired by dragging the handles.

    drag handles to resize Chart

  4. Press the ’Edit’ button in the center of the Chart or press the ‘Edit’ button Edit in the top-right corner.

    press Edit button on Chart

    This opens the same Visualization Recommender available for creating a new Dashboard. (See Create a New Dashboard.)

  5. To bypass the Recommender, press the ‘Full Editor’ button Full Editor at the top right to open the Chart Editor.

    press Full Editor to open Chart Editor

  1. In the Chart Editor, drag the measure field (e.g., ‘Total’) from the Data Source panel to the ‘Y’ region.

    What is a measure?

    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.

  2. In the Chart Editor, drag the dimension field (e.g., ‘Date’) from the Data Source panel to the ‘Color’ region.

    What is a dimension?

    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.

    drag measure to Y and dimension to Color

  3. Press the ‘Select Chart Style’ button Select Chart Style, and choose ‘Donut’. This converts the chart into a donut-chart representation.

    select Donut chart style

  4. Add the respective dimension values to the pie slices: Drag the dimension (‘Date’) field from the Data Source panel to the ‘Text’ region.

    drag dimension to Text region for labels

  5. Optional: For a date dimension, press the ‘Edit Dimension’ button Edit Dimension next to the field name in the Chart Editor, and set the ‘Level’ to the desired date grouping. Then press the ‘Apply’ button Apply.

  6. In the bottom-left panel, press the ‘Edit Size’ button, and choose the size of the donut hole.

    press Edit Size and choose donut hole size

  7. 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.

  8. Press the ‘Finish’ button Finish to close the Editor.

    completed simple donut chart

The donut chart is now complete.

Advanced Donut Chart

The advanced donut chart is the same as a Pie Chart, but with a hole in the center and optional text within the hole. The hole can be an arbitrary color. The text is often used to display a grand total or other KPI, which creates the appearance of a chart-gauge. (See Add a KPI for information about basic built-in Gauges.)

The example below displays Total Sales by Year.

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.)

data source with dimensions and measures as columns

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.

  1. If necessary, create a new Dashboard. (See Create a New Dashboard.)

  2. From the Toolbox panel, drag a Chart component into the Dashboard.

    drag Chart component into Dashboard

  3. Resize the Chart as desired by dragging the handles.

    drag handles to resize Chart

  4. Press the ’Edit’ button in the center of the Chart or press the ‘Edit’ button Edit in the top-right corner.

    press Edit button on Chart

    This opens the same Visualization Recommender available for creating a new Dashboard. (See Create a New Dashboard.)

  5. To bypass the Recommender, press the ‘Full Editor’ button Full Editor at the top right to open the Chart Editor.

    press Full Editor to open Chart Editor

  1. In the Chart Editor, drag the measure field (e.g., ‘Total’) from the Data Source panel to the ‘Y’ region.

    drag measure to Y region

  2. For a Dashboard, right-click the data block containing the measure field (‘Total’) in the Data Source panel, and select ‘New Calculated Field’.

    right-click data block and select New Calculated Field

    This opens the ‘Edit Calculated Field’ dialog box for a Dashboard. (See Create a New Data Field for more information about Calculated Fields.)

  3. Enter a name (e.g., ‘Total2’) for the new field, and select the ‘Detail’ option. Click the measure field (‘Total’) in the top-left panel to add it into the expression. This makes the new (calculated) field ‘Total2’ a duplicate of the existing ‘Total’ field. Select ‘Double’ from the ‘Return Data Type’ menu. Press OK to close the Editor.

    configure calculated field as duplicate measure

  4. In the Chart Editor, press the ‘Select Chart Style’ button Select Chart Style, and enable the ‘Multiple Styles’ option at the bottom of the panel. Then press the ‘Apply’ button Apply.

    enable Multiple Styles option and press Apply

  5. Press the ‘Switch to Single Graph’ button Switch to Single Graph button.

    press Switch to Single Graph button

  6. Drag the duplicate measure field (‘Total2’) from the Data Source panel to the ‘Y’ region.

    drag duplicate measure to Y region

  7. In the bottom-left panel, select ‘Total’ as the measure for which to set visual properties.

    select Total measure in bottom-left panel

  8. Drag the dimension field (e.g., ‘Date’) from the Data Source panel to the ‘Color’ region (for the ‘Total’ measure).

    drag dimension to Color region for Total measure

  9. Optional: If you want the donut hole to display a numerical value, in the bottom-left panel, select ‘Total2’ as the measure for which to set visual properties.

    select Total2 measure in bottom-left panel

    Drag the ‘Total2’ measure field itself from the Data Source panel to the ‘Text’ region (for the ‘Total2’ measure).

    drag Total2 measure to Text region

  10. Press the ‘Select Chart Style’ button Select Chart Style next to each measure, and choose ‘Pie’. This converts each measure into a pie-chart representation.

    select Pie chart style for each measure

  11. In the bottom-left panel, select ‘Total2’ as the measure for which to set visual properties. Press the ‘Edit Size’ button, and choose the size of the donut hole. Press the ‘Close’ button Close.

    press Edit Size to set donut hole size

  12. Press the ‘Edit Color’ button, and choose the color of the donut hole.

    press Edit Color to set donut hole color

  13. Click the text in the donut hole to select it. Select the Format tab at the bottom of the left panel. Adjust the formatting of the text as desired. (See Add Data Format for more details.)

    adjust text formatting in Format tab

  14. Optional: Press the ‘Edit Measure’ button Edit Measure next to each measure, choose the desired aggregation method, and press the ‘Apply’ button Apply.

    You must set both measures to use the same aggregation method. The ‘Average’ method should not be used, as this may produce an incomplete donut hole.

  15. Optional: Add the respective year values to the pie slices: In the bottom-left panel, select ‘Total’ as the measure for which to set visual properties. Drag the dimension (‘Date’) field from the Data Source panel to the ‘Text’ region.

    drag dimension to Text region for slice labels

  16. You can add additional dimensions to the Chart if desired. See Trellis Chart (Grid) for information about adding multiple dimensions to a chart axis.

  17. Press the ‘Finish’ button Finish to close the Editor. The donut chart is now complete.

    completed advanced donut chart

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.

Explore More…​

The sample Executive Sales Summary Dashboard provides an example of a donut chart.

executive sales summary dashboard donut chart example

To explore this sample Dashboard, download and import the Executive Sales Summary Dashboard into your environment. (This requires access to Enterprise Manager.) See Import and Export Assets for instructions on how to import.