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Home > Blog > Microsoft Excel

How to Generate a Hierarchical Data Visualization?

Organizing and forming insights hierarchically is one of the tactics you can use to make your data stories credible.

Hierarchical Data Visualization

Our brains are engineered to identify order and rank in visual content promptly. So, you need hierarchical data visualization charts to create compelling narratives for your audiences (and readers).

Why?

The hierarchy charts display insights into data in a particular order. The order can either be bottom-up or top-down. The tested and proven chart for displaying hierarchical data is a Sankey Diagram.

You won’t find ready-made hierarchical charts in Excel. So, if you’re a devoted user of the spreadsheet application, you’ve got to explore other options.

It turns out you don’t have to do away with Excel. You can download and install an add-in to access a ready-made hierarchical data visualization chart.

In this blog, you’ll learn the following:

Table of Contents:

  1. What is a Hierarchical Data Visualization?
  2. Best Chart for Representing Hierarchical Data
  3. How to Create a Hierarchical Data Visualization in Excel?
  4. Benefits of Using Hierarchical Data Visualizations
  5. Wrap Up

Before we delve into the how-to guide, we’ll address the following question: what is a hierarchical data visualization chart?

What is a Hierarchical Data Visualization?

The word “Hierarchy” is in fact from the Greek word ‘hierarchy,’ which is interpreted as the “rule of a high priest.”

In today’s world, hierarchy is a structure of values (titles, objects, positions, etc.) in which each value is placed above, below, or equal to others.

In data analytics, hierarchical data visualization charts are used to display insights into data in a certain order. The hierarchy can be top-down or bottom-up, depending on your needs or liking.

The charts are amazingly noteworthy in data analysis because they uncover unseen patterns and relationships in your data.

A typical example of hierarchical data visualization is the file and folder system found on your computer. Usually, there are parent folders with sub-folders, which are somehow linked, depending on your criteria.

Another illustrative is a Mekko chart example, which provides a visual representation of data across multiple dimensions, similar to how folders and sub-folders are organized and related to each other.

Hierarchical data visualization charts are one of the powerful types of charts that create rank-like impressions in our brains. Each data point is represented by a node in the tree, and each node may have a pool of sub-nodes (also known as child nodes).

The association between the parent and the child nodes creates a tree network, which provides hierarchical insights.

In the coming section, we’ll take you through the best chart for representing hierarchical data.

Best Chart for Representing Hierarchical Data

The tested and proven chart for displaying insights into hierarchical data is a Sankey Diagram.

You can use Sankey Charts to visualize data with hierarchical and flow-like attributes, such as material, energy, cost, etc.

Best Chart for Representing Hierarchical Data

This chart draws the reader’s attention to the enormous flows and other insights. Besides, the visualization design uses links and nodes to uncover hidden insights into relationships between critical metrics.

The size of a node is directly proportionate to the number of the data points under analysis.

A flow that’s twice as wide represents double the value of the metric. You need a Sankey Chart in Excel to access this visualization for data storytelling.

The hierarchical data visualization chart provides you with a 360-degree view of your data, irrespective of its complexity and volume. And it accomplishes (the above) by transforming complex, raw data into insights for your data stories.

Use the Sankey Diagram to identify the areas that need urgent improvement in your business, such as customer satisfaction.

The visualization design is made up of the following:

  • Nodes: This is an element linked by “Flows.” Furthermore, it represents the events in each path.
  • Flows: Flows link the nodes. Each flow is itemized by the names of its source and target nodes in the “from” and “to” fields. Besides, the value in the width field states the thickness of the flow.
  • Drop-offs: A drop-off is a stream or flow without a target node.

In the coming section, we’ll take you through how to create a hierarchical data visualization in Excel.

How to Create a Hierarchical Data Visualization in Excel?

Excel is a trusted data visualization tool because it’s familiar to many. However, the spreadsheet application lacks ready-made hierarchical data visualization charts.

We understand switching tools is not an easy task.

Therefore, we’re not advocating you ditch Excel in favor of other expensive hierarchical data visualization chart makers.

There’s an easy-to-use and amazingly affordable visualization tool that comes as an add-in you can easily install in your app to access ready-made charts in Excel. The tool is called ChartExpo.

So, what is ChartExpo?

ChartExpo is an incredibly intuitive add-in you can easily install in your Excel without watching hours of YouTube tutorials.

With many ready-to-go visualizations, the hierarchical data visualization chart generator turns your complex, raw data into easy-to-interpret and visually appealing hierarchical data visualization diagrams that tell data stories in real time.

More benefits

  • ChartExpo is cloud-hosted, which makes it extremely light. You have a 100% guarantee that your Excel won’t be slowed down.
  • You can export your insightful, easy-to-read, and intuitive charts in JPEG, PDF, SVG, and PNG formats.
  • ChartExpo add-in is only $10 a month after the end of the trial period.
  • The app has an in-built library with a lot of different easy-to-customize and ready-made charts for your data stories.

In the coming section, we’ll take you through how to visualize hierarchical data using ChartExpo add-in.

You don’t want to miss this!

Example

This section will use a hierarchical data visualization chart (Sankey Diagram) to display insights into the table below.

Pet Shop Animals Type Animals Counts
Pet Shop Fish Catfish 50
Pet Shop Fish Gold Fish 37
Pet Shop Fish Tetra 33
Pet Shop Mammal Dogs 200
Pet Shop Mammal Cats 60
Pet Shop Mammal Mice 45
Pet Shop Reptiles Geckos 125
Pet Shop Reptiles Snake 75
Pet Shop Birds Zebra Finches 100
Pet Shop Birds Lovebirds 35
  • To install ChartExpo into your Excel, click the following link.
  • Open the worksheet and click the Insert button to access the My Apps option.
insert chartexpo in excel for Hierarchical Data Visualization
  • Select ChartExpo add-in and click the Insert button.
open chartexpo in excel for Hierarchical Data Visualization
  • Once ChartExpo is loaded, you will see a list of charts. Look for the “Sankey Chart” for Hierarchical Data Visualization, as shown below.
search Hierarchical Data Visualization in excel
  • Select the data in the worksheet and click the Create Chart From Selection button, as shown below.
create Hierarchical Data Visualization in excel
  • Check out the final chart.
hierarchical data visualization chart

In the coming section, we will tell you how to create a hierarchal data visualization/Sankey diagram in Excel.

In the coming section, we’ll address the benefits of using hierarchical data visualization charts.

Benefits of Using Hierarchical Data Visualization Charts

You’ll agree when we say extracting insights from spreadsheets and tables is ‘so 20th century’. Yes, it’s time-consuming and mentally exhausting.

You need intuitive tools to be fully data-driven. Yes, you read that right. You need tools that crunch massive hierarchical datasets for you and produce charts that are easy to read.

In our case, you need an easy-to-use hierarchical data visualization maker to access Sankey.

The charts like a Tree Map provide you with a view of your hierarchical data, irrespective of its complexity and volume. It achieves this by shifting complex, raw data into insights for your data stories.

Use this chart to recognize the areas that need crucial improvement in your business, such as customer satisfaction.

You can use hierarchical data visualization charts to transform raw and bulky data sets into insights. They achieve the task by providing in-depth information on patterns and relationships between key data points.

Also, you can easily infer the best and worst-performing metrics by simply examining the top and bottom of the hierarchy.

The relationship between the parent and the child nodes forms a tree network, which provides hierarchical insights.

Other benefits include 

  • Correlations in Relationships: Use this chart to identify correlations and associations in your complex data.
  • Trends over Time: Let’s face it. It is almost impossible to forecast or even speculate about the future without past data. Use a hierarchical data visualization maker to create charts that empower you to predict the future (your current situation versus your full potential).
  • Frequency: Frequency is closely associated with trends over time. This means you can examine the rate customers purchase to get a better feel for how leads might respond to strategies.
  • Quick and Better Analysis: Interactive data visualization examples make it amazingly easy to extract answers from your data to create compelling stories.

Imagine using the tables and spreadsheets to explain emerging patterns and other significant insights about a hospital to your audience.

How would they respond? Would you get buy-in after presenting the table to them?

  • Empowers Quick Action: Our brains grasp visual content, such as graphs and maps faster than table reports.

This means a compelling data story loaded with easy-to-interpret charts can empower quicker decision-making.

  • Identifying Patterns and Trends: Bulky data provides unlimited opportunities for businesses to extract actionable insights. Yes, insights that could spell the difference between your brand and competition.

Visualizing data helps pinpoint relationships and patterns between metrics. Exploring these patterns enables you to save immense resources, such as time, by focusing only on areas that need urgent action.

  • Finding Errors: Interactive data visualization charts can help you easily spot errors in the data. Working with error-free data validates the accuracy of the insights extracted.
  • Data Storytelling: The reason why we visualize data is to create data stories. Remember, poring over numbers in spreadsheets is monotonous, especially if you’re in front of an audience.

So, you need to create a compelling story with insights extracted from the raw data.

People love stories. Yes, and this is because they appeal to emotions.

FAQs:

How do you display hierarchical data?

The tested and proven chart for displaying hierarchical data is a Sankey Diagram.

You can use the chart to visualize data with hierarchical and flow-like attributes, such as material, energy, cost, etc.

This chart uses links and nodes to uncover hidden insights into relationships between critical metrics.

What is the best way to display hierarchical data?

The best way to display or visualize hierarchical data is by using the Sankey Diagram.

You can use the Sankey chart to visualize data with hierarchical and flow-like attributes, such as material, energy, cost, etc. This chart uses links and nodes to uncover hidden insights into relationships between critical metrics.

What is a hierarchy in data visualization?

In data analytics, hierarchical data visualization charts are used to display insights into data in a certain order.

The hierarchy can be top-down or bottom-up depending on your preference.

The charts are incredibly significant in data analysis because they uncover hidden patterns and relationships in your data.

Wrap Up

Organizing insights hierarchically is one of the strategies you can use to make your data stories persuasive.

Remember, our brains are engineered to recognize order and rank in visual content instantly. So, you need hierarchical data visualization charts to create compelling narratives for your audiences (and readers).

Why?

The hierarchy charts display insights into data in a particular order. The order can either be bottom-up or the other way around. The tested and proven chart for displaying hierarchical data is a Sankey Diagram.

You won’t find ready-made hierarchical charts in your Excel. So, if you’re an ardent user of the spreadsheet application, you’ve got to explore other options.

It turns out you don’t have to do away with Excel.

So, what’s the solution?

We recommend you install third-party apps, such as ChartExpo, to access a ready-to-use hierarchical data visualization chart.

ChartExpo is an add-in for Excel that’s loaded with insightful and ready-to-go hierarchical data visualization charts, such as the Sankey Diagram. You don’t need programming or coding skills to use ChartExpo.

More benefits

  • ChartExpo is cloud-hosted, which makes it extremely light. You have a 100% guarantee that your Excel won’t be slowed down.
  • You can export your insightful, easy-to-read, and intuitive charts in JPEG, PDF, SVG, and PNG formats.
  • ChartExpo add-in is only $10 a month after the end of the trial period.
  • The app has an in-built library with a lot of different easy-to-customize and ready-made charts for your data stories.

Sign up for a 7-day free trial today to access ready-made hierarchical data visualization charts, such as the Sankey Diagram, that are easy to interpret and visually appealing to your target audience.

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