I would like to use histogram graphs in Phocas. This uses the defined boundaries to group data the same way as Phocas’ speed gauges. The difference is that I would like to see as many groupings as I want to define (100 groups would be nice because that corresponds with possible %) and it would be good to show that info as stacked bars or as singles as I choose. This is extremely useful when evaluating profit margin distribution as well as pricing behaviors. See the examples by % of profit margin which are in use here - but unfortunately not in Phocas.
Hi @Steve_Shuman, thank you for the suggestion, I’ve logged it. It looks like a useful feature but I’ll need to do some research to see if it’s feasible to add to Phocas.
Thanks Will. Since I used the term histogram, et me add some clarification. Excel histograms use FREQUENCY (count of occurrences within a category). That is useful, but I would not want to be limited to frequency.
This is a snapshot of a Power Pivot chart that illustrates closer to what I was looking for. It groups SALES DOLLARS by gross profit %. The horizontal axis is GP% rounded to an even number. However, this chart also shows a problem,
it only shows the values that are actually used. Note that there is no “23” in the chart for example. I would want to show every group from 0% to100%.
Steve Shuman
Revere Electric Supply
262-504-3617
Hi @Steve_Shuman, sorry for the late reply I just got back from holidays. Thanks for the additional information. I’ve added it to the suggestion.
Do you think this would be useful to the wider Phocas community? What insights do you get from these charts?
These would be very useful to the community. The primary use for histograms is to measure frequency (counting records) but the most useful way I have used them is to see the distribution of sales dollars by profit margin. This is a concept
I took from another source – not one I created. This would be useful in both graph and grid.
For example, the below histogram shows manually-priced sales dollars grouped by profit margin. It looks like we have a clear preference for 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%. If we could just encourage order writers to go up one percent more…
This would be useful in a stacked graph with a measure defined for each method of pricing we use. Standard pricing, manual, contract, etc. That way I can show the entire story in one widget, but filter to get to a single view.
As long as I have your attention, it would be nice to assign a color to a measure instead of having Phocas pick the default to a color. We do this with another BI system. That way I can easily correlate the same measure across different
visuals. So I might start with this combined measure type of pie chart and stacked histogram and then filter on the red measure (Override) to arrive at the red graph
I’d second this, we’ve done anaysis before on contribution by customer and so having flexibility in having control over the x and y axis and also have that as a frequency or value would be useful.
Thanks @Steve_Shuman for the reply. I’ve added that to our logged request.
We did introduce consistent chart colours in version 7.4.2 however I suspect in this case you mean consistent colours over multiple sessions and for users? I’ve logged a request for this.