Usage of 3D Chart To Ease Data Analysis

Ever wondered how a 3D chart can come in handy? I want to give an example where a 3D chart can turn a tedious task into a simple procedure. It can be very useful for a quick analysis of a data set with a glimpse of an eye.

I used to work in a call center where the shift managers had to schedule shifts for their team agents every couple of weeks. The main guideline was to conduct a periodical rotation of shifts between the agents. The shift mangers used to look on the summarized count of shifts per agent and get a big headache. For roughly 20 agents, most humans I know would get a headache... Well, I came up with a remedy in the form of aligning all that data in a 3D chart. There were only 3 types of shifts and I set the axis the following way:

• X - Agent names
• Y - Count of shifts
• Z - Shift types
  

If you click to on the above image to enlarge it, you will see two inputs at the top for the selection of the Start date and the End date. These are actually drop-down menus which determine the range of dates that would be shown in the chart. The data which is feeding the chart is based on SUMPRODUCT functions which sum up the shifts per each agent for any given date range. This is also known as SUMPRODUCT with multiple conditions.

By inspecting the chart, the shift managers could immediately conclude for instance, which agents had a majority of night shifts and prioritize these agents to do other shifts in the upcoming schedule.

Eric will dispatch the file which features the 3D bar chart and the functionality behind it to the Insiders Subscribers.

3D XY Scatter Plot Graph

Hey everyone.

I just recently did a quick project for a guy who wanted to visually represent data along three dimensions. All I can say is thank goodness for Andy Pope and his charting wizardry!

By using Andy's "3d XY-Scatter" as a starting point, doing some clever formatting, and adding in some vertical error bars, I think I've accomplished a pretty decent looking 3D "push pin" sort of representation. I even used a little known trick to add transparency to the "heads" of the "pushpins", so that when they're close together, you can still distinguish them. Here's what it looks like:


(Click the image to open up a new tab/window with a larger version.)

Now, it'd be nice to add in the ability for the graph to automatically "resize itself" -- i.e. change the values that create the reference "cage", axes, and actual minimum and maximum X and Y axes values -- based upon the data to be plotted and the rotation of each of the axes. Maybe I'll work on it if someone else wants that. Just too many projects going on at once these days.

Insiders Subscribers, your file is on its way!

Later,

Excel_Geek