Bernard K
Jan 19, 2023
Progress doughnut chart is used to visualize the percent of completion on a single metric. It’s one of the simple charts to create yet powerful when communicating the progress towards goals or targets.
In this article, I will be demonstrating different variations of the progress doughnut chart in Tableau.
To demonstrate this, I will be using this sample data showing the percent of completion on various tasks within a project.
(Note we’re interested on the metric ‘% Complete’, the metric ‘Gap’ simply shows what remains to achieve the target or to get to the maximum achievable value - in this case 100%)
Before we can start building the viz, lets first shape the data (pivot the data).
(Pivoting data simply packs the metric names in one column and the metric values on another column as shown above).
Useful: Learn how to pivot data in Tableau.
Useful: Watch another alternative to creating a progress donut chart in Tableau.
First create a placeholder using the spatial calculation below.
Drag the above calculation to the detail shelf.
Which results to a view (a map) with a single data point shown below.
Add multiple layers by dragging calculation ‘Placeholder’ to the Marks Layer.
Useful: Learn more about multiple map layers introduced in Tableau 2020.4
Add a total of four multiple map layers.
Change the marks card to Pie.
Remove ‘Latitude (generated)’ and ‘Longitude (generated)’ from the rows and columns shelf.
Note for my case have labeled the Pies (Pie 1 to Pie 4).
To create the first variation of the progress donut chart.
Apply a white color to Pie 1
Apply same color to Pie 2, and Pie 4 (for my case have chosen blue)
Drag Metric Names to the color shelf of Pie 3
Drag AVG (Metric Values) to the Angle shelf of Pie 3
Edit colors on the legend and assign the variable ‘Gap’ the same color applied to Pie 2 and Pie 4.
Add label by dragging the calculation ‘% Complete’ to the label shelf of Pie 1.
(Note, % Complete = If [Metric Names]=’% Complete’ THEN [Metric Values] END)
Resize the Pies accordingly to give you the right shapes
Disable Selection in all the Pies to create a single uniform donut chart (by grouping all pies together).
To create the second variation of the progress donut chart.
Using the same technique shared above,
Create two Pie charts.
Apply a blue color to Pie 1
Add Metric Names to the color shelf of Pie 2
Add AVG (Metric Values) to the Angle shelf of Pie 2
Edit colors on the legend and assign the variable ‘Gap’ the same color to that of the worksheet, in this case White.
Label the progress donut chart by dragging ‘% Complete’ to the Label shelf of Pie 1.
(Note, % Complete = If [Metric Names]=’% Complete’ THEN [Metric Values] END)
Resize the Pies accordingly to give you the right shapes
Disable Selection in all the Pies to create a single uniform donut chart (by grouping all pies together).
To create the third variation of the progress donut chart.
Using the same technique shared above,
Create three Pie charts.
Apply a White color to Pie 1
Apply slightly white color to Pie 2
Add Metric Names to the color shelf of Pie 3
Add AVG (Metric Values) to the Angle shelf of Pie 3
Edit colors on the legend and assign the variable ‘Gap’ same color to that of the worksheet, in this case White.
Label the progress donut chart by dragging ‘% Complete’ to the Label shelf of Pie 1.
(Note, % Complete = If [Metric Names]=’% Complete’ THEN [Metric Values] END)
Resize the Pies accordingly to give you the right shapes
Disable Selection in all the Pies to create a single uniform donut chart (by grouping all pies together).
To create the fourth variation of the progress donut chart.
Using the same technique shared above,
Create four Pie charts.
Apply a White color to Pie 1
Add Metric Names to the color shelf of Pie 2 & Pie 4
Add AVG (Metric Values) to the Angle shelf of Pie 2 & Pie 4
Edit colors on the legend and assign the variable ‘Gap’ same color to that of the worksheet, in this case White.
Add Metric Names (copy) which is a duplicate of Metric Names to the color shelf of Pie 3
Add AVG (Metric Values) to the Angle shelf of Pie 3
Edit colors on the legend and assign the variable ‘Gap’ a blue color, and the variable ‘% Complete’ same color assigned for Metric Names in Pie 2 and Pie 4.
Label the progress donut chart by dragging ‘% Complete’ to the Label shelf of Pie 1.
(Note, % Complete = If [Metric Names]=’% Complete’ THEN [Metric Values] END)
Resize the Pies accordingly to give you the right shapes
Disable Selection in all the Pies to create a single uniform donut chart (by grouping all pies together).
To create the fifth variation of the progress donut chart.
Using the same technique shared above,
Create five Pie charts.
Apply a dark color to Pie 1
Add Metric Names to the color shelf of Pie 2 & Pie 4
Add AVG (Metric Values) to the Angle shelf of Pie 2 & Pie 4
Edit colors on the legend and assign the variable ‘Gap’ the same color applied to Pie 1.
Add Metric Names (copy) which is a duplicate of Metric Names to the color shelf of Pie 3 & Pie 5.
Add AVG (Metric Values) to the Angle shelf of Pie 3 and Pie 5.
Edit colors on the legend and assign the variable ‘Gap’ a white color, & the variable ‘% Complete’ same color assigned for Metric Names in Pie 2 and Pie 4.
Label the progress donut chart by dragging ‘% Complete’ to the Label shelf of Pie 1.
(Note, % Complete = If [Metric Names]=’% Complete’ THEN [Metric Values] END)
Resize the Pies accordingly to give you the right shapes
Disable Selection in all the Pies to create a single uniform donut chart (by grouping all pies together).
To create the sixth variation of the progress donut chart.
Using the same technique shared above,
Create five Pie charts.
Apply a slightly white color to Pie 1
Apply Orange color to Pie 2 & Pie 4
Add Metric Names to the color shelf of Pie 3 & Pie 5
Add AVG (Metric Values) to the Angle shelf of Pie 3 & Pie 5
Edit colors on the legend and assign the variable ‘Gap’ a white color, and the variable ‘% Complete’ a light orange color (transparent color).
Label the progress donut chart by dragging ‘% Complete’ to the Label shelf of Pie 1.
(Note, % Complete = If [Metric Names]=’% Complete’ THEN [Metric Values] END)
Resize the Pies accordingly to give you the right shapes
Disable Selection in all the Pies to create a single uniform donut chart (by grouping all pies together).
Download the sample workbook here!
Next time you are building a progress donut chart, go beyond the basics by trying some of the ideas shared in this article.
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