Column and bar charts in Excel - Dashboard Guide

Dashboard Mode - Column and bar charts

Dashboard Goal

This dashboard helps a small store owner see monthly sales and compare product sales visually. It answers: "Which months had the highest sales?" and "Which products sold the most?"

Sample Data

Month	Sales	Product	Units Sold
January	1200	Apples	30
February	1500	Bananas	45
March	1000	Cherries	20
April	1700	Apples	50
May	1600	Bananas	40
June	1800	Cherries	60

Dashboard Components

• KPI Card: Total Sales
  Formula: =SUM(B2:B7)
  Result: 8800
• Column Chart: Monthly Sales
  Data: Months (A2:A7) on X-axis, Sales (B2:B7) on Y-axis
  Shows sales for each month as vertical bars.
• Bar Chart: Units Sold by Product
  Data: Products (C2:C7) on Y-axis, Units Sold (D2:D7) on X-axis
  Shows units sold for each product as horizontal bars.

Dashboard Layout

+----------------------+----------------------+
|      Total Sales      |   Monthly Sales      |
|       (KPI)           |    (Column Chart)    |
+----------------------+----------------------+
|       Units Sold by Product (Bar Chart)       |
+----------------------------------------------+

Interactivity

Add a filter for Month or Product. When you select a specific month, the Monthly Sales chart and Total Sales update to show only that month's data. When you select a product, the Units Sold by Product bar chart updates to show units sold for that product only.

Self Check

If you add a filter to show only April, which components update and what do they show?

• Total Sales: Updates to 1700
• Monthly Sales (Column Chart): Shows only April's sales bar
• Units Sold by Product (Bar Chart): No change because filter is by month, not product

Key Result

Shows total sales, monthly sales as column chart, and product units sold as bar chart for easy comparison.