Introduction
Business environments are constantly evolving, and businesses need data to drive decisions. The Sankey chart is a fundamental graph visualization technique for displaying the flow of value or activity between various entities. It’s a great tool for showing how information flows between different types of resources, such as investments, revenue, and expenses. In this article, we’ll explore the secrets behind creating and understanding the Sankey chart, including how it can be simplified to show flow and relationships effectively.
Understanding the Basics
A Sankey chart is a chart that has several connected nodes (the nodes are like points on a line that represent the different kinds of resources or activities) and connects nodes with links that show the direction of information flow from one node to another. Nodes can have multiple links that point to other nodes, and links can point back to nodes that have more than one parent node.
When creating a Sankey chart, you can use different shapes for the nodes based on the type of resource, such as arrows for investments, circles for expenses, or polygons for revenue. The different types of resources can be shown using different colors to add visual emphasis.
Applications of Sankey Charts
The Sankey chart can be used in various applications, including business analysis, finance, social sciences, and more. Here are some of the applications:
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Investment analysis: The Sankey chart can help you visualize how investments flow into and out of different sectors.
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Healthcare: In the healthcare sector, a Sankey chart can help you visualize how resources flow between different areas of healthcare, such as patient care, research, and administration.
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Engineering: In engineering, the Sankey chart can help you visualize how materials flow through various processes and how they interact with each other.
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Economics: In economics, the Sankey chart can help you visualize how different variables influence each other in the economy.
Simplifying the Data to Show Flow and Relationships
Creating a Sankey chart can be a challenging task, but there are ways to simplify the data and make it easier to understand.
Firstly, you can remove irrelevant data and only show the flow of information between nodes that are significant. This helps you focus on the most important elements to show the flow and relationships between resources.
Secondly, you can use different symbols to represent the flow and relationship between resources. For instance, the arrows on the nodes can be used to show the direction of the flow and the length of the arrow can be used to represent the amount of flow.
Additionally, you can use different colors to represent the resources, such as colors for different types of resources or shades of color to represent different amounts of resources.
In conclusion, the Sankey chart is a powerful tool for showing flow and relationships between different types of resources. By simplifying the data and showing the flow with different shapes and colors, you can make it easier to understand and act on.
Additionally, the Sankey chart can be applied to various applications including business analysis, finance, social sciences, and engineering. By applying different strategies and techniques when creating a Sankey chart, businesses can better understand and interpret the flow of information, leading to more informed decisions and better outcomes.
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