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When making decisions, you’re likely to waste a lot of time chasing things that don’t matter.
Sometimes, you might find yourself shouting matches over what’s most important. To make matters worse, you can easily drift into analysis paralysis, unable to move the ball forward in this situation. And if you fail to move forward, you risk losing sight of the upside and inadvertently destroying the opportunities you’re trying to create.
Wouldn’t it be great having a way of resolving conflict and confusion with objectivity and evidence?
The Tornado Chart in Excel provides a viable way to identify those factors whose uncertainty drives the most significant impact. And this means you can focus objectively on what is essential.
Besides, you can save a ton of time, reduce frustration, and increase efficiency.
Excel does not have Tornado Chart native support.
You don’t have to ditch the spreadsheet app for other super-expensive data visualization tools.
You can easily supercharge your Excel to access ready-made Tornado Charts. Yes, you read that right. You can achieve the above by installing third-party add-ins (which we’ll discuss in the coming sections).
In this blog, you’ll discover:
Before diving into this how-to guide, we’ll address the following question: what is a Tornado Chart?
A Tornado Chart is a visualization you can use to compare two contrasting variables in your data. It has two contrasting colors to show the differences in the metrics under investigation.
Data visualization experts use the chart to depict the sensitivity of a result to changes in key variables. Also, it shows the effect on the output at varying values of input variables.
We recommend you choose a “low” and a “high” value for each input when plotting the chart.
The result is then displayed as a special type of bar graph, with bars for each input variable showing the variation from the nominal (or baseline value), mostly zero.
It’s a standard practice to plot the bars horizontally, and then sort them from the widest to the narrowest.
The sensitive variable in your data is modeled as having an uncertain value, while all others are held at baseline values (stable). This allows testing the sensitivity risks associated with one uncertainty/variable.
For example, let’s imagine you intend to visually compare 100 budgetary items and identify the ten items to focus on. It’s nearly impossible to do this using a standard bar graph.
In a Tornado Chart in Excel of the budget items, the top ten bars will represent the items that contribute the most to the variability of the outcome, and, therefore, your key target.
The chart uses contrasting colors to show variation in a clear way.
Applying color to different parts of Tornado Chart in Excel allows you to tell a more effective data story that engages your audience at an emotional level and captures their attention quickly.
More so, well-chosen and contrasting colors reduce the time your audience can decode insights faster.
In the ensuing section, we’ll cover the importance of a Tornado Chart.
Use a Tornado Diagram in Excel to identify the general trend of your key variables in your raw data.
Data points in this chart are grouped based on how close their values are, making it easier to identify outliers. Interestingly, the nature of the correlations can also be estimated based on a specified confidence level.
Tornado Chart in Excel is widely used by seasoned data visualization experts to display the causal relationships between two variables.
The relationship between variables can be positive or negative.
You can use this insightful chart to uncover hidden correlational relationships that exist in your raw business data.
Besides, interpreting Tornado Diagram in Excel is incredibly easy.
The key to interpreting this chart is to always remember the following: independent variables (metrics) are found on the horizontal axis (x-axis). And, the dependent variables are situated on the vertical axis (y-axis) in a Cartesian plane.
In the coming section, we’ll address how to create a Tornado Chart in Excel?
Excel is a trusted data visualization tool because it’s familiar to many. But the spreadsheet application lacks ready-made Tornado Chart in Excel.
We understand switching tools is not an easy task.
This is why we’re not advocating you ditch Excel in favor of other expensive data visualization tools.
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 sensitivity analysis-based charts, such as Tornado Chart 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 YouTube tutorials.
With many ready-to-go visualizations, the Tornado Chart in Excel generator turns your raw data into compelling, easy-to-digest graphs that tell data stories in real-time.
More benefits
In the coming section, we’ll take you through how to visualize data using Tornado Chart in Excel.
You don’t want to miss this!
This section will use a Tornado Chart in Excel to display insights into the table below.
| Product | Store A | Store B |
| Laptop | 100 | 100 |
| Mobile | 85 | 85 |
| Tablet | 75 | 75 |
| Speakers | 65 | 65 |
| Charger | 60 | 60 |
| USB | 55 | 55 |
| Mouse Pad | 20 | 20 |
| Portable | 40 | 40 |
| LED Screen | 35 | 35 |
| Bluetooth | 10 | 10 |
| Routers | 15 | 15 |
| Modem | 5 | 5 |
| Keyboard | 10 | 10 |
A Tornado Chart is a visualization you can use to compare two contrasting variables in your data.
Data visualization experts use the chart to depict the sensitivity of a result to changes in key variables. It shows the effect on the output at varying values of input variables.
A Butterfly Chart (also referred to as a Tornado chart or Divergent chart) is a type of bar chart you can use to compare varying data points. More so, it plots the data as two horizontal bars with the same X-axis in the center, resembling the butterfly wings.
No. Excel lacks Default Tornado Charts. So, the application is not reliable, especially if you work extensively with data. You don’t have to ditch Excel in favor of other expensive data visualization tools.
Download and install add-ins, such as ChartExpo, in your Excel to create ready-made Tornado Charts.
When making decisions, you’re likely to waste a lot of time chasing things that don’t matter.
Sometimes, you might find yourself shouting matches over what’s most important. To make matters worse, you can easily drift into analysis paralysis, unable to move the ball forward in this situation. And if you fail to move forward, you risk losing sight of the upside and inadvertently destroying the opportunities you’re trying to create.
The Tornado Chart in Excel provides just such a way by clearly identifying those factors whose uncertainty drives the largest impact. And this means you can focus objectively on what is important.
Besides, you can save a ton of time, reduce frustration and increase your efficiency.
Excel does not have Tornado Chart native support.
So, what’s the solution?
We recommend you install third-party apps, such as ChartExpo, to access ready-to-use Tornado Chart in Excel.
ChartExpo is an add-in for Excel that’s loaded with insightful and ready-to-go Tornado Charts. You don’t need programming or coding skills to use ChartExpo.
Sign up for a 7-day free trial today to access ready-made Tornado Charts that are easy to interpret and visually appealing to your target audience.
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